Training Camp Thread

[Sudafederov]

Open mouth, enter foot and chomp?well spoken Tim, how bout a boot up your ass from Dafoe..oh ya he can't kick!

He's constantly putting his foot in his mouth. My personal favorite was from the 04 / 05 lockout where he said:

"The fan has become a high priority for us "

Gee thanks Tim, so we weren't before? Gotcha.

http://articles.latimes.com/2005/mar/26/sports/sp-hockey26

 

[Bates]

Maybe he was talking about his Son in law?  Wonder how much flak he gets about Father in Law's talk?

 

[L K]

He later backtracked, saying he meant the league rather than the Leafs, specifically.

"Players we have in our organization" certainly is ambiguous.

Perhaps he can talk about how much he fixed Toronto FC again.

 

[bustaheims]

He later backtracked, saying he meant the league rather than the Leafs, specifically.

"Players we have in our organization" certainly is ambiguous.

Well, for someone who likes to blow a lot of hot air, it could be.

 

[Britishbulldog]

He later backtracked, saying he meant the league rather than the Leafs, specifically.

"Players we have in our organization" certainly is ambiguous.

[sarcasm]He actually was even more vague than that.  I went back and listened and this is verbatim what he said:
"There are players we have in our organization today who numbers are off the chart good and whose character is just terrible"

That could mean anyone from the zamboni driver to the girl at the ticket counter and it could have meant any team in the league at any point in history.[/sarcasm]

Man I wish he didn't retract it because it is what has been on some of our minds the last 3 years anyway. 

 

[Sudafederov]

Who is this ticket counter girl potting these filthy upstairs cheddar snipes and where can I buy her jersey? 

 

[mc]

if character is so terrible you had time to fix it...to trade players to acquire players...now that you are on your way out you want to throw everyone under the bus. classy.

 

[sneakyray]

probably not talking about clarkson...or dave bolland...those guys just ooze character.

 

[Tigger]

I like the Tallinder invite, if he hasn't lost his legs he could be pretty helpful defensively.

 

[Highlander]

While I appreciate the compete level will be much higher in camp than in previous years, we invite some new guys on D to fill in number 7?  Sorry but we have a lot of very talented youngsters on the farm whom will start to need or demand to fill in on the Leaf roster.
The idea of building a strong farm system, that seemed to start with Burke, is to be able to use the guys on the farm.  I don't know how many of you saw the two Rookie games to date, but I wouldnt mind seeing Loov as our 7th man.  He hits like a banshee and has very good defensive/offensive playmaking. Why bring in a couple of journeymen?  It seems to me that if the guys on the farm don't see any openings in the next two years then they may say what's the point. We have to make space of Leivo, Holland, Nylander, Loov, Granberg in the next year or two.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Well for one I doubt you can make many observations off of Loov from sloppy, disorganized rookie games vs. other rookies, and two he's yet to play an actual game in North America, and three he's only 21 turning 22 so it seems preferably coming from Sweden you'd want him learning the NA game, not sitting in the pressbox.

It's not like a guy like Tallinder would be signed long-term.

 

[Kin]

I don't know how many of you saw the two Rookie games to date, but I wouldnt mind seeing Loov as our 7th man.  He hits like a banshee and has very good defensive/offensive playmaking. Why bring in a couple of journeymen?

Because talented young players, like you seem to think Loov is, aren't well served as the #7 man on a defense and rarely playing?

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Just to echo the last two posts, we have 6 legitimate NHL defencemen on the roster right now. This isn't a case like last season where our 5-7 guys were being rotated in and out of the line-up all season long. That means whoever our number 7 is will pretty much be on the roster just for practices and to fill in when somebody gets hurt. And even if somebody gets injured, he's not guaranteed to step into the line-up as the Leafs could just as easily decide to call-up somebody like Loov or Granberg or Percy to fill in instead.

 

[ZBBM]

I don't know how many of you saw the two Rookie games to date, but I wouldnt mind seeing Loov as our 7th man.  He hits like a banshee and has very good defensive/offensive playmaking. Why bring in a couple of journeymen?

Because talented young players, like you seem to think Loov is, aren't well served as the #7 man on a defense and rarely playing?

The real issue IMO is why we aren't giving these young guys a chance instead of, say, Franson (and even Polak).  I want to get to the future of the blueline, and those guys ain't it.

 

[Kin]

The real issue IMO is why we aren't giving these young guys a chance instead of, say, Franson (and even Polak).  I want to get to the future of the blueline, and those guys ain't it.

I think that if the Leafs really thought any of these guys were ready you wouldn't have seen the Robidas signing or Polak coming back in a trade. I don't know if it helps the team, long term or short term, to throw a bunch of young defensemen into a situation they're not ready for.

Well, unless you mean a larger "why aren't they scrapping/rebuilding" sort of thing but that seems like a different conversation entirely.

 

[bustaheims]

The real issue IMO is why we aren't giving these young guys a chance instead of, say, Franson (and even Polak).  I want to get to the future of the blueline, and those guys ain't it.

Because you don't just hand roster spots to people who haven't earned them yet. Outside of a full rebuild, these prospects need to prove they're at least as good as - if not better than - the current NHL players on the roster. There's no sense in rushing to the future. It will get here in due time.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

The real issue IMO is why we aren't giving these young guys a chance instead of, say, Franson (and even Polak).  I want to get to the future of the blueline, and those guys ain't it.

Outside of Holzer, all the guys on the farm are entering their 1st or 2nd professional seasons in North America. There's no harm in letting them develop in the AHL for a little while longer.

 

[Kin]

The real issue IMO is why we aren't giving these young guys a chance instead of, say, Franson (and even Polak).  I want to get to the future of the blueline, and those guys ain't it.

Because you don't just hand roster spots to people who haven't earned them yet. Outside of a full rebuild, these prospects need to prove they're at least as good as - if not better than - the current NHL players on the roster. There's no sense in rushing to the future. It will get here in due time.

This might be a minor distinction but I don't think that the standard should be whether or not a young player is already better than the marginal players already on a NHL roster but, rather, whether they're capable of doing the job credibly(which, admittedly, might not be a big difference considering the players the Leafs have).

If a player comes to camp capable of playing in the NHL then giving him a roster spot over a more talented veteran isn't just "giving" them a spot. The work they did in the off-season/minors earned them their spot and the Leafs should be primarily concerned with developing players. As Rielly, I think, showed us last year if a young player is NHL ready they should be in the NHL.

 

[ZBBM]

The real issue IMO is why we aren't giving these young guys a chance instead of, say, Franson (and even Polak).  I want to get to the future of the blueline, and those guys ain't it.

Because you don't just hand roster spots to people who haven't earned them yet. Outside of a full rebuild, these prospects need to prove they're at least as good as - if not better than - the current NHL players on the roster. There's no sense in rushing to the future. It will get here in due time.

You've almost made my point for me.  We don't need a full rebuild, but OTOH we are likely not even making the playoffs this year so we are in the process of (called it what you will) retooling.  They've committed to Phaneuf, Gardiner, and presumably Rielly as the core, and I'd rather see icetime divvied up among the youth for the 4-5-6-7 spots.

 

[L K]

The real issue IMO is why we aren't giving these young guys a chance instead of, say, Franson (and even Polak).  I want to get to the future of the blueline, and those guys ain't it.

Because you don't just hand roster spots to people who haven't earned them yet. Outside of a full rebuild, these prospects need to prove they're at least as good as - if not better than - the current NHL players on the roster. There's no sense in rushing to the future. It will get here in due time.

You've almost made my point for me.  We don't need a full rebuild, but OTOH we are likely not even making the playoffs this year so we are in the process of (called it what you will) retooling.  They've committed to Phaneuf, Gardiner, and presumably Rielly as the core, and I'd rather see icetime divvied up among the youth for the 4-5-6-7 spots.

2/3 of that top 6 is already a commitment to youth though.  You can't run with 5 young defensemen plus phoneys as a blueline.  I think you have an argument for a guy like leivo looking pretty good but not in a position to fight for a spot.  I don't really see anyone on the blueline outside of holder who has proven they have mastered the AHL game.