sens @ Leafs - Oct. 2nd, 7:00pm - SN, TSN 1050

[Deebo]

Only the 2nd or later years of 35+ contracts count if they retire.

Tomas Plekanec for the Habs last year is an example.

 

[Kin]

I can certainly be pedantic about the semantics.

Hey, I'm just glad we're talking about my failure to account for the precise contractual mechanism the Leafs would use in that situation and not my garbled metaphors of "shaping into" a direction. That post was all over the place: F-.

 

[Coco-puffs]

Only the 2nd or later years of 35+ contracts count if they retire.

Tomas Plekanec for the Habs last year is an example.

Well shit.  I got caught with my pants down on that one.  Errr.

 

[Zee]

https://twitter.com/lukefoxjukebox/status/1179415552047140876

Ok, cool, I just don't get why you scratch him against Ottawa if it's just a random rotation. He was obviously looking forward to this one since he signed.

Based on Spezza's comments there's no lingering soreness or anything with him. This is just Babcock being Babcock, showing who's boss. 

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Only the 2nd or later years of 35+ contracts count if they retire.

Tomas Plekanec for the Habs last year is an example.

Well shit.  I got caught with my pants down on that one.  Errr.

Oh great! Now we have to go through all your other CBA-related posts. What else have you been wrong about?!

 

[wnc096]

https://twitter.com/lukefoxjukebox/status/1179415552047140876

Ok, cool, I just don't get why you scratch him against Ottawa if it's just a random rotation. He was obviously looking forward to this one since he signed.

Based on Spezza's comments there's no lingering soreness or anything with him. This is just Babcock being Babcock, showing who's boss.

Such a dick move

 

[Coco-puffs]

Only the 2nd or later years of 35+ contracts count if they retire.

Tomas Plekanec for the Habs last year is an example.

Well shit.  I got caught with my pants down on that one.  Errr.

Oh great! Now we have to go through all your other CBA-related posts. What else have you been wrong about?!

LOL.  Only Brandon Pridham knows.

 

[herman]

Babcock actually talked to Marleau about sitting out games down the stretch but they decided not to because of the Iron Man streak.

Well, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

https://twitter.com/jeffveillette/status/1179407067876151296
Fun, right?

The going theory is that Babcock has this older memory of Marleau and Spezza and that?s what he?s going off of today.

 

[Zee]

Babcock actually talked to Marleau about sitting out games down the stretch but they decided not to because of the Iron Man streak.

Well, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

https://twitter.com/jeffveillette/status/1179407067876151296
Fun, right?

The going theory is that Babcock has this older memory of Marleau and Spezza and that?s what he?s going off of today.

I mean at the end of the day it's probably a meaningless change and won't affect tonight's outcome, but so many people are dumping on this move it's just something that wasn't necessary.  Why create a negative story line going into the home opener as opposed to an easy slam dunk feel good story of Spezza debuting at home after all these years against his original team.  Really petty move on Babcock's part in my opinion.  He's not a fan of Spezza and decided to show it on game 1. 

 

[herman]

I mean at the end of the day it's probably a meaningless change and won't affect tonight's outcome, but so many people are dumping on this move it's just something that wasn't necessary.  Why create a negative story line going into the home opener as opposed to an easy slam dunk feel good story of Spezza debuting at home after all these years against his original team.  Really petty move on Babcock's part in my opinion.  He's not a fan of Spezza and decided to show it on game 1.

Babcock's been pretty clear since the preseason about this specific player. He's just pouting at the GM.

https://twitter.com/markhmasters/status/1179415587723911168

 

[ZBBM]

The Spezza thing does kind of read as strange. Both in the smaller "Why scratch Spezza for Ottawa" sense but also in the larger way of really wondering about the decision to bring him in at all unless you were pretty sure he was going to be on the team.

My hunch is that this is indicative of them being more or less convinced he's not going to play much and that we'll probably see a mid-season retirement.

I think you've nailed it.  Scratching him opening night?  Against his old team?  It screams Babcock not wanting this guy at all.  Get up to speed on the PP?  He's not some greenhorn.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/markhmasters/status/1179415587723911168

That 1 extra practice will certainly be what he needs to get ready for the 20 seconds of PK time he'll probably play a game.

 

[Frank E]

https://twitter.com/markhmasters/status/1179415587723911168

That 1 extra practice will certainly be what he needs to get ready for the 20 seconds of PK time he'll probably play a game.

Yeah, this really looks bad.  It's a ridiculous reason, and honestly I think the fans probably deserved a little better here too...makes for a nice thing to do with a guy that is almost certainly on his last contract.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Profanity warning:

https://twitter.com/brian5or6/status/1179439632477503488

I don't tend to believe in the whole "Dubas likes to throw shade at Babcock on twitter" thing... but he did start following Brian/Ben after this post...

 

[Guru Tugginmypuddah]

Starting to think that Mike Commodore is on to something.

 

[Zee]

Starting to think that Mike Commodore is on to something.

I didn't know about the Mike Modano thing too which was brought up again today. He has 1499 NHL games played. Babcock made him a healthy scratch when he was set to play 1500 lol

 

[Kin]

I don't really have a strong opinion on this one way or the other but I would say that if Babcock genuinely thinks the team is better with Shore in the line-up than I have no real interest in putting Spezza in the line-up as some sort of "classy" hat-tip to the veteran. The Leafs can pull that sort of thing with success under their belt, until then they should be scrapping for every point.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I didn't know about the Mike Modano thing too which was brought up again today. He has 1499 NHL games played. Babcock made him a healthy scratch when he was set to play 1500 lol

To be fair, that was hilarious.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I don't really have a strong opinion on this one way or the other but I would say that if
Babcock genuinely thinks the team is better with Shore in the line-up than I have no real interest in putting Spezza in the line-up as some sort of "classy" hat-tip to the veteran. The Leafs can pull that sort of thing with success under their belt, until then they should be scrapping for every point.

I got more irked about this when Babcock announced they already intended to play Spezza on Friday. If he genuinely believed Shore was the clear-cut better option (which would be odd since Babcock seemed to bury him all camp) then yeah like you said it's understandable. But for a pre-determined rotation, Spezza not getting this one just feels wrong.

 

[Zee]

I don't really have a strong opinion on this one way or the other but I would say that if
Babcock genuinely thinks the team is better with Shore in the line-up than I have no real interest in putting Spezza in the line-up as some sort of "classy" hat-tip to the veteran. The Leafs can pull that sort of thing with success under their belt, until then they should be scrapping for every point.

I got more irked about this when Babcock announced they already intended to play Spezza on Friday. If he genuinely believed Shore was the clear-cut better option (which would be odd since Babcock seemed to bury him all camp) then yeah like you said it's understandable. But for a pre-determined rotation, Spezza not getting this one just feels wrong.

If anything if Babcock really believed Leafs are better with Shore in, why sit Shore against the better team on the road in Columbus? This is nothing but Babcock's passive aggressive message to Dubas that he still controls the lineup