Leafs @ Sabres - Nov. 15th, 7:00pm - SN, SN 590

[princedpw]

As for Nonis, he's f'd up the Cap to the point we have no ability to help this situation. I don't even know what to say about having no frigging centres available. He should be embarrassed.

I'm totally fine with any criticism of the team, the cap management, and the coaching. But seriously, name any team that could lose it's top three centres and not be affected. How is that the GM's fault?

I think it's a fair criticism of a GM, provided that GM is Brian Burke. We're five years removed from his first draft and the supply of NHL ready, or near ready, forwards is a pretty poor reflection on his drafts.

I think this is good point.  Burke did both strike out and burn assets on acquiring "big" forwards with lesser skill multiple times in search of the next Lucic.  However, blame must be shared because one can also point to decisions made by Nonis.

And to those people claiming "hindsight" -- plenty of posters said at the time that getting rid of Colborne was stupid the instant the trade was made because it was clear that we had vastly more defensive and winger depth than we had center depth.  (And because cap-wise, you can't do better than Colborne.)  All it really would have taken is 1 injury to a centerman and Colborne becomes a useful player on the team.

Anyway, I'm mostly annoyed because of the cumulative effect of Nonis' decisions over the past year, not because of one minor trade.  A pretty large percentage of the time, I come away thinking "that makes no sense."

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

And to those people claiming "hindsight" -- plenty of posters said at the time that getting rid of Colborne was stupid the instant the trade was made because it was clear that we had vastly more defensive and winger depth than we had center depth.  (And because cap-wise, you can't do better than Colborne.)  All it really would have taken is 1 injury to a centerman and Colborne becomes a useful player on the team."

At least we've basically re-acquired Joe Colborne 2.0 today for Jesse Blacker. *high-five*

 

[lamajama]

As for Nonis, he's f'd up the Cap to the point we have no ability to help this situation. I don't even know what to say about having no frigging centres available. He should be embarrassed.

I'm totally fine with any criticism of the team, the cap management, and the coaching. But seriously, name any team that could lose it's top three centres and not be affected. How is that the GM's fault?

I think it's a fair criticism of a GM, provided that GM is Brian Burke. We're five years removed from his first draft and the supply of NHL ready, or near ready, forwards is a pretty poor reflection on his drafts.

I think this is good point.  Burke did both strike out and burn assets on acquiring "big" forwards with lesser skill multiple times in search of the next Lucic.  However, blame must be shared because one can also point to decisions made by Nonis.

And to those people claiming "hindsight" -- plenty of posters said at the time that getting rid of Colborne was stupid the instant the trade was made because it was clear that we had vastly more defensive and winger depth than we had center depth.  (And because cap-wise, you can't do better than Colborne.)  All it really would have taken is 1 injury to a centerman and Colborne becomes a useful player on the team.

Anyway, I'm mostly annoyed because of the cumulative effect of Nonis' decisions over the past year, not because of one minor trade.  A pretty large percentage of the time, I come away thinking "that makes no sense."

THIS...relates to my original quote that Nonis should be embarrassed.

 

[mr grieves]

As for Nonis, he's f'd up the Cap to the point we have no ability to help this situation. I don't even know what to say about having no frigging centres available. He should be embarrassed.

I'm totally fine with any criticism of the team, the cap management, and the coaching. But seriously, name any team that could lose it's top three centres and not be affected. How is that the GM's fault?

I think it's a fair criticism of a GM, provided that GM is Brian Burke. We're five years removed from his first draft and the supply of NHL ready, or near ready, forwards is a pretty poor reflection on his drafts.

That's true. But the development hasn't been a complete waste: in those 5 years the Leafs have drafted and otherwise acquired an impressive array of defensemen. You've said in the past one or more them should be/ is bound to be moved out for equivalent talent at forward -- is it not a fair criticism that Nonis should've done this sooner?

 

[Peter D.]

Did the game look as bad on TV as it did live? The Leafs could barely make or take clean passes, the amount of quality shots were few and far between, and they barely could generate anything.

Besides Bernier, the only other Leaf who really stood out in a good sense was McClement.