Preseason - Leafs @ Sabres - Sept. 29th, 7:00pm - TSN4, TSN 1050

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

I wish they would ship out Polak already. It bums me out that he is going to play ahead of some of the younger guys.

I know, tire fire, protect the kids etc, but there are clearly better dmen than him in the organization.

He's my early candidate for whipping boy.

 

[bustaheims]

I think that it's relevant to the whole Mike Richards saga too. Caught with pain killers? Contract terminated. Driving under the influence/hit & run? Well, the team sure isn't penalizing him in any way, and I doubt the league gives him anything more than a fine too.

Yeah. The Kane situation is a little harder to pin down, as there are legitimate questions about what happened, who was involved and how, etc. But, the O'Reilly situation is pretty cut-and-dry. There should have been some form of punishment here, for sure.

 

[bustaheims]

I wish they would ship out Polak already. It bums me out that he is going to play ahead of some of the younger guys.

I know, tire fire, protect the kids etc, but there are clearly better dmen than him in the organization.

He's my early candidate for whipping boy.

Only teams with expectations of success get to have whipping boys. Otherwise, we'd have a full roster of them.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Yeah. The Kane situation is a little harder to pin down, as there are legitimate questions about what happened, who was involved and how, etc. But, the O'Reilly situation is pretty cut-and-dry. There should have been some form of punishment here, for sure.

I think mostly everyone agrees that if Kane was charged with something the NHL should be forced to act. O'Reilly has been charged, and nothing happened. Richards was punished by his team before he was charged.

 

[Kin]

For all the talk of suspending Patrick Kane.  Why no word from the NHL/Sabres on fining/suspending Ryan O'Reilly for driving drunk into a Tim Hortons and then leaving the scene.  Seems like driving drunk along should get some form of punishment, but doing a hit and run too?

Well, I think the question there is whether or not you think the League should suspend people out of some sense of extrajudicial obligation or if the suspension power they have in these matters is about legitimately protecting the league.

Because in that regard issues of domestic violence or sexual assault are fairly different from just about any other crime.

 

[bustaheims]

Yeah. The Kane situation is a little harder to pin down, as there are legitimate questions about what happened, who was involved and how, etc. But, the O'Reilly situation is pretty cut-and-dry. There should have been some form of punishment here, for sure.

I think mostly everyone agrees that if Kane was charged with something the NHL should be forced to act. O'Reilly has been charged, and nothing happened. Richards was punished by his team before he was charged.

Absolutely. If Kane is charged with anything related to rape/sexual assault/etc, the league needs to act. They should have acted with O'Reilly.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I wish they would ship out Polak already. It bums me out that he is going to play ahead of some of the younger guys.

I know, tire fire, protect the kids etc, but there are clearly better dmen than him in the organization.

He's my early candidate for whipping boy.

I don't know about "better". I think that I would rather have Harrington in the line-up because he's potentially past the stage of needing AHL seasoning and I'd like to see him get some NHL experience, but Polak's not a bad defenceman when utilized properly. And it looks like Babcock will use Phaneuf and Rielly on the right-side which will slot Polak in his ideal spot on the 3rd pairing.

 

[Frank E]

Where was it said he was signed as protection for Nylander?

You know, I can't seem to find the reference, and it might have been a comment I internalized as fact. Sorry about that.

He talked a bit about the need to have that type of presence when they signed Justin Johnson to an AHL-deal: http://kylethereporter.com/2015/08/28/leafs-looking-to-protect-their-future-investments/

I'd be pretty floored though if Clune played an everyday, top-6 role for the Marlies when you consider the wingers that Keefe will have available to him.

From that article, on Johnson:  ?He?s played in the NHL, played in the American league and been a favourite of every one, coaches, trainers and so forth,? said Dubas. ?I know sometimes it?s a struggle to see the value, but that?s fine.?

 

[Kin]

I wish they would ship out Polak already. It bums me out that he is going to play ahead of some of the younger guys.

I know, tire fire, protect the kids etc, but there are clearly better dmen than him in the organization.

He's my early candidate for whipping boy.

I don't know about "better". I think that I would rather have Harrington in the line-up because he's potentially past the stage of needing AHL seasoning and I'd like to see him get some NHL experience, but Polak's not a bad defenceman when utilized properly. And it looks like Babcock will use Phaneuf and Rielly on the right-side which will slot Polak in his ideal spot on the 3rd pairing.

And lets keep in mind, we should be openly rooting for Polak to be this year's version of Jeff Petry.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

From that article, on Johnson:  ?He?s played in the NHL, played in the American league and been a favourite of every one, coaches, trainers and so forth,? said Dubas. ?I know sometimes it?s a struggle to see the value, but that?s fine.?

He played 2 games in the NHL with the Islanders, so Dubas is being pretty complimentary there. He spent all of last season in the ECHL, and he'll probably spend most of this season there too. If the Marlies feel like having a tough guy in the line-up it'll probably be Clune.

 

[brothert]

For all the talk of suspending Patrick Kane.  Why no word from the NHL/Sabres on fining/suspending Ryan O'Reilly for driving drunk into a Tim Hortons and then leaving the scene.  Seems like driving drunk along should get some form of punishment, but doing a hit and run too?

Well, I think the question there is whether or not you think the League should suspend people out of some sense of extrajudicial obligation or if the suspension power they have in these matters is about legitimately protecting the league.

Because in that regard issues of domestic violence or sexual assault are fairly different from just about any other crime.

So what if O'Reilly was part of this mess..

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/vaughan-crash-family-statement-1.3248416

at what point does drunk driving go from no big deal to big deal...

 

[Frank E]

For all the talk of suspending Patrick Kane.  Why no word from the NHL/Sabres on fining/suspending Ryan O'Reilly for driving drunk into a Tim Hortons and then leaving the scene.  Seems like driving drunk along should get some form of punishment, but doing a hit and run too?

Well, I think the question there is whether or not you think the League should suspend people out of some sense of extrajudicial obligation or if the suspension power they have in these matters is about legitimately protecting the league.

Because in that regard issues of domestic violence or sexual assault are fairly different from just about any other crime.

So what if O'Reilly was part of this mess..

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/vaughan-crash-family-statement-1.3248416

at what point does drunk driving go from no big deal to big deal...

I'd guess when you actually kill people, and not just driving your truck into a building not injuring anyone (thankfully).

I'm not defending O'Reilly, I'm just saying that what the result of his actions were aren't obviously nearly as serious.

 

[Kin]

So what if O'Reilly was part of this mess..

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/vaughan-crash-family-statement-1.3248416

at what point does drunk driving go from no big deal to big deal...

Well that strikes me as less of a question for the NHL and more of a question for our society and judicial system. I think it's a little incongruous for us to think that what O'Reilly did was awful and terrible and needing the NHL to come down on him when he's not going to jail. If O'Reilly were on trial and facing serious jail time he'd probably be suspended but he's not so he isn't.

 

[dappleganger]

RE: O'Reilly, The NFL suspends players for these type of actions. The NFL might go over board in some situations, Josh Gordon imo.

Mark Bell was suspended 15 games for a DUI collision. http://hockeyanalysis.com/2007/09/13/bell-suspension-new-policy-inconsistent-discipline-or-piling-on/

 

[Kin]

RE: O'Reilly, The NFL suspends players for these type of actions. The NFL might go over board in some situations, Josh Gordon imo.

The NFL doesn't just "go overboard" though. The NFL, when they get taken to arbitration or court, have been getting their butt kicked over thinking they can suspend players whenever they want for as long as they want.

Which is because the commissioner of the NFL is a moron. Gary Bettman, disagree with him all you want, really isn't. I think he knows that ultimately criminal behaviour is up to the courts to deal with and that he only has an obligation or responsibility to step in when a player's conduct has real ramifications for the league.

 

[herman]

He talked a bit about the need to have that type of presence when they signed Justin Johnson to an AHL-deal: http://kylethereporter.com/2015/08/28/leafs-looking-to-protect-their-future-investments/

I'd be pretty floored though if Clune played an everyday, top-6 role for the Marlies when you consider the wingers that Keefe will have available to him.

Oh yeah, that's the one. Clune was back-to-back with the Johnson signing so they probably got blended into one person in my brain.

My wishful-thinking top 9 (with players currently in our non-NHL system):
Timashov - Nylander - Brown
A. Johnson - Marner - Kapanen
Soshnikov - Gauthier - Leipsic

 

[Sudafederov]

Looks like Nylander was a little hungry.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Brown and Nylander just connected on a very nice-almost goal.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Brown and Nylander just connected on a very nice-almost goal.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Rob Longley
‏@longleysunsport
Brutal Gardiner giveaway led to that beauty Eichel goal. Five points already in the pre-season and this is his 3rd game. #Leafs #Sabres

Eichel pretty clearly tripped Gardiner along the boards, Lupul then got the puck and a very weak passing attempt by him was picked off by Eichel who scored on a breakaway. But yeah, Gardiner's fault.