What's Next for The Maple Leafs?

No one on the leafs will sniff 56 goals. The Sharks had one of the best playmaker in the game, playing with a sniper who's all heart.

Leafs have neither.

I can't for the life of me figure out why Burke would even contemplate an offer sheet for Kessel. First, they are finally in a position where the fans would accept a true rebuild, which is what they ought to do. Giving away a small army of picks for a guy who is very one dimensional seems crazy. Furthermore, Kessel got 36 goals, but he had Savard feeding him the puck, one of the premier playmakers in the league, and Toronto has nothing remotely similar. This just reeks of a bad move all around.

Hey, what's Nazem Kadri's upside?

Bringing in a new fanbase...who is also on the no-fly list

davetherave wrote:

asq2 wrote:

davetherave wrote:Wilson is going to instruct his boys to mash the opposition to a pulp.

They'll be pretty good at that.

I don't know how good they'll be at the combination of stopping their opponents from scoring and scoring themselves. I think it's going to be a choice to be good at one or the other.

I would say teams playing the Maple Leafs will be various shades of blue (and black) when they leave Toronto.

It's the Conn Smythe philosophy.

Without a Conn Smythe eligible team

davetherave wrote:Hey, what's Nazem Kadri's upside?

70 point Mike Cammaleri.
Thats his potential.

cas wrote:

davetherave wrote:Hey, what's Nazem Kadri's upside?

70 point Mike Cammaleri.
Thats his potential.

If B-Squared manages to trade for some decent forwards, watch out for Kadri.

davetherave wrote:Hey, what's Nazem Kadri's upside?

Probably at best he's a Derek Roy-esque 1a/1b centreman. Not a forward you can build an offence around, but definitely a good complementary scorer (well, passer).

That's basically what their offence consists of now, although his upside is better than any offenceman on the current roster is now (much as I like Hagman).

He, Kulemin and Bozak all have the potential to be pretty productive guys going forward, but they still lack that main guy on offence. That's why IMO a Kessel offer-sheet makes sense. I don't think they're going to be bad enough to get that main guy via the draft.

hemlock wrote:I can't for the life of me figure out why Burke would even contemplate an offer sheet for Kessel. First, they are finally in a position where the fans would accept a true rebuild, which is what they ought to do. Giving away a small army of picks for a guy who is very one dimensional seems crazy. Furthermore, Kessel got 36 goals, but he had Savard feeding him the puck, one of the premier playmakers in the league, and Toronto has nothing remotely similar. This just reeks of a bad move all around.

Burke isn't a good GM The talk about being known for "building winners" is always pluralised for no apparent reason. He's been co-architect of one team that won one Cup in extremely controversial fashion. No team since the lockout has come anywhere near getting the officiating help/breaks the Ducks did.

Regardless, Pronger and Niedermayer fell into Burke's lap and he had the benefit of Murray bringing in McDonald, Penner, Kunitz, Getzlaf, and Perry, while Selanne came back home to roost

What exactly did Burke do?

asq2 wrote:

davetherave wrote:Hey, what's Nazem Kadri's upside?

Probably at best he's a Derek Roy-esque 1a/1b centreman. Not a forward you can build an offence around, but definitely a good complementary scorer (well, passer).

That's basically what their offence consists of now, although his upside is better than any offenceman on the current roster is now (much as I like Hagman).

He, Kulemin and Bozak all have the potential to be pretty productive guys going forward, but they still lack that main guy on offence. That's why IMO a Kessel offer-sheet makes sense. I don't think they're going to be bad enough to get that main guy via the draft.

B2 will probably make a deal for some more than decent talent up front.

Agreed. He's terribly overrated, and has left messes behind in both Anaheim and Vancouver. My guess is that he'll finally leave the Leafs at some point, cupless and in worse shape then they are now.

asq2 wrote:

davetherave wrote:Hey, what's Nazem Kadri's upside?

Probably at best he's a Derek Roy-esque 1a/1b centreman. Not a forward you can build an offence around, but definitely a good complementary scorer (well, passer).

That's basically what their offence consists of now, although his upside is better than any offenceman on the current roster is now (much as I like Hagman).

He, Kulemin and Bozak all have the potential to be pretty productive guys going forward, but they still lack that main guy on offence. That's why IMO a Kessel offer-sheet makes sense. I don't think they're going to be bad enough to get that main guy via the draft.

good point and thats a better comparison than mine...Same idea still, but he has more of that D.Roy flare.

Is Kessel really that main guy, though?

cas wrote:

hemlock wrote:I can't for the life of me figure out why Burke would even contemplate an offer sheet for Kessel. First, they are finally in a position where the fans would accept a true rebuild, which is what they ought to do. Giving away a small army of picks for a guy who is very one dimensional seems crazy. Furthermore, Kessel got 36 goals, but he had Savard feeding him the puck, one of the premier playmakers in the league, and Toronto has nothing remotely similar. This just reeks of a bad move all around.

Burke isn't a good GM The talk about being known for "building winners" is always pluralised for no apparent reason. He's been co-architect of one team that won one Cup in extremely controversial fashion. No team since the lockout has come anywhere near getting the officiating help/breaks the Ducks did.

Regardless, Pronger and Niedermayer fell into Burke's lap and he had the benefit of Murray bringing in McDonald, Penner, Kunitz, Getzlaf, and Perry, while Selanne came back home to roost

What exactly did Burke do?

You're just being mean 'cause Brian always leaves his tie half undone.

hemlock wrote:Agreed. He's terribly overrated, and has left messes behind in both Anaheim and Vancouver. My guess is that he'll finally leave the Leafs at some point, cupless and in worse shape then they are now.

If he pulls off this offer sheet business, that would be a good bet to make.

cas wrote:

asq2 wrote:

davetherave wrote:Hey, what's Nazem Kadri's upside?

Probably at best he's a Derek Roy-esque 1a/1b centreman. Not a forward you can build an offence around, but definitely a good complementary scorer (well, passer).

That's basically what their offence consists of now, although his upside is better than any offenceman on the current roster is now (much as I like Hagman).

He, Kulemin and Bozak all have the potential to be pretty productive guys going forward, but they still lack that main guy on offence. That's why IMO a Kessel offer-sheet makes sense. I don't think they're going to be bad enough to get that main guy via the draft.

good point and thats a better comparison than mine...Same idea still, but he has more of that D.Roy flare.

Is Kessel really that main guy, though?

Well, he has more potential to be than anyone they currently have. Probably significantly more potential.