Bad Times in Leaf Nation

This is such a bad thing that they're sucking this badly. Words can't describe how much we all do NOT want the Boston Bs to have a lottery pick. They're already good, this would make them very good.

But...Phil Kessel leaving was something that they haven't exactly adapted to as evidenced by the fact that they don't score, so perhaps in a weird round about way the Bs can replace Kessel by drafting someone with the pick they got from...Toronto, who will try to get Kessel going so that he's worth the lottery pick (and then another one next year) and the 2nd rounder (which is like a glorified 1st rounder).

^ That's literally the worst scenario they could have ever imagined. Burke must cry himself to sleep at night.

What happened to Exelby?

A couple of years ago he was a young and up and coming dman who was one of the most feared hitters in the game next to A-Train.

Has he Wade Redden'd?

Burke's too truculent to cry.

SDH89 wrote:What happened to Exelby?

A couple of years ago he was a young and up and coming dman who was one of the most feared hitters in the game next to A-Train.

Has he Wade Redden'd?

Injuries (I think) have made him beyond slow. I think I could outskate the guy. It's..no longer NHL level. Something's wrong with him.

Exelby has never really had anything apart from his hitting. People saw him on highlight reels and got an inflated sense of his talent.

He's barely NHL-calibre and has been his whole career IMO. That Kubina trade was just horrendous.

asq2 wrote:Exelby has never really had anything apart from his hitting. People saw him on highlight reels and got an inflated sense of his talent.

He's barely NHL-calibre and has been his whole career IMO. That Kubina trade was just horrendous.

1.Who's that in your avatar?

2.He was better than this. Did he get injured earlier this year or last year?

SpezDispenser wrote:

asq2 wrote:Exelby has never really had anything apart from his hitting. People saw him on highlight reels and got an inflated sense of his talent.

He's barely NHL-calibre and has been his whole career IMO. That Kubina trade was just horrendous.

1.Who's that in your avatar?

2.He was better than this. Did he get injured earlier this year or last year?

Looks like Karlsson to me. asq2 is right in that Exelby seems to have gotten by on a reputation as a big hitter and little else.

The worst part about this all is when the Bruins draft (insert 2nd/3rd/4th/5th overall pick here).

PKC wrote:The worst part about this all is when the Bruins draft (insert 2nd/3rd/4th/5th overall pick here).

Fowler + Niederreiter style

SpezDispenser wrote:

asq2 wrote:Exelby has never really had anything apart from his hitting. People saw him on highlight reels and got an inflated sense of his talent.

He's barely NHL-calibre and has been his whole career IMO. That Kubina trade was just horrendous.

1.Who's that in your avatar?

2.He was better than this. Did he get injured earlier this year or last year?

1. That scrawny Swedish kid we wasted our first rounder on, even though a 67 was still on the board.

2. He was better, but he was never particularly good. I think the hitting impressed people, but he's always been like Phaneuf without the offence.

I should note that I was saying this long, long before the Leafs acquired him. My criticisms aren't purely stemming from homerism.

hemlock wrote:
Looks like Karlsson to me. asq2 is right in that Exelby seems to have gotten by on a reputation as a big hitter and little else.

Not solely IMO. I think everyone would concede that Exelby used the be a devastating player in front of the net until they started to really call penalties on him. He was kinda the guy I thought the Sens would be looking for, a tough bastard to stand in front of the net and put guys teeth down their throat, but we lucked out so large with Matt Carkner. Wow, he's literally twice the player XLB is.

EDIT: This was before I realized he could no longer skate...at all.

SpezDispenser wrote:

hemlock wrote:
Looks like Karlsson to me. asq2 is right in that Exelby seems to have gotten by on a reputation as a big hitter and little else.

Not solely IMO. I think everyone would concede that Exelby used the be a devastating player in front of the net until they started to really call penalties on him. He was kinda the guy I thought the Sens would be looking for, a tough bastard to stand in front of the net and put guys teeth down their throat, but we lucked out so large with Matt Carkner. Wow, he's literally twice the player XLB is.

EDIT: This was before I realized he could no longer skate...at all.

Oh yeah, give me Carkner everytime over XLB. Even in a few years if our 3 D prospects are panning out nicely, and assuming we've got Phillips/A-Train, Carkner is a guy that I'd hang on to...over Campoli, Lee or Picard. He's does alot of things that you love to be able to have the option to chuck into the lineup when the situation calls for it. If someone goes down to injury, you can throw him in there and he wouldn't look out of place.

hemlock wrote:
Oh yeah, give me Carkner everytime over XLB. Even in a few years if our 3 D prospects are panning out nicely, and assuming we've got Phillips/A-Train, Carkner is a guy that I'd hang on to...over Campoli, Lee or Picard. He's does alot of things that you love to be able to have the option to chuck into the lineup when the situation calls for it. If someone goes down to injury, you can throw him in there and he wouldn't look out of place.

Diddle yeah. I haven't seen that guy quite once this year, he's a warrior.

SpezDispenser wrote:

hemlock wrote:
Oh yeah, give me Carkner everytime over XLB. Even in a few years if our 3 D prospects are panning out nicely, and assuming we've got Phillips/A-Train, Carkner is a guy that I'd hang on to...over Campoli, Lee or Picard. He's does alot of things that you love to be able to have the option to chuck into the lineup when the situation calls for it. If someone goes down to injury, you can throw him in there and he wouldn't look out of place.

Diddle yeah. I haven't seen that guy quite once this year, he's a warrior.

This is a guy who's waited pretty much half of his life for this opportunity, and he plays like it every single night. He is probably the best bang-for-buck on this team -- although with Elliott, Regin, Foligno, and Shannon, he does have a lot of competition.

This is the big different with OTT this year -- getting the most out of the guys they're paying $500K-$1mil. How many guys on this team are going to finish with 20 or more goals? 4 or 5? How many more with 10+? Another 4 or 5? F'ing awesome. That's how you win in this new cap era.

rooneypoo wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

hemlock wrote:
Oh yeah, give me Carkner everytime over XLB. Even in a few years if our 3 D prospects are panning out nicely, and assuming we've got Phillips/A-Train, Carkner is a guy that I'd hang on to...over Campoli, Lee or Picard. He's does alot of things that you love to be able to have the option to chuck into the lineup when the situation calls for it. If someone goes down to injury, you can throw him in there and he wouldn't look out of place.

Diddle yeah. I haven't seen that guy quite once this year, he's a warrior.

This is a guy who's waited pretty much half of his life for this opportunity, and he plays like it every single night. He is probably the best bang-for-buck on this team -- although with Elliott, Regin, Foligno, and Shannon, he does have a lot of competition.

This is the big different with OTT this year -- getting the most out of the guys they're paying $500K-$1mil. How many guys on this team are going to finish with 20 or more goals? 4 or 5? How many more with 10+? Another 4 or 5? F'ing awesome. That's how you win in this new cap era.

Really? I would disagree because Elliott, Shannon, and Foligno all had good seasons last year just the makeup of the team was totally off along with some coaching. Might be a case of too litter, too late though.

This year the biggest difference IMO is a more disiplined team that works its off. The Sens for the most part never give up and are constantly getting better.

I would say Elliott is absolutely the best bang for the buck though. I dont see Carkner getting first star if the week anytime soon as much as I love him.

Burke is an absolute moron though, Ive been screaming that from the second he got that job. The only deal I liked was getting Joey Mac as a UFA.

N4L wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

hemlock wrote:
Oh yeah, give me Carkner everytime over XLB. Even in a few years if our 3 D prospects are panning out nicely, and assuming we've got Phillips/A-Train, Carkner is a guy that I'd hang on to...over Campoli, Lee or Picard. He's does alot of things that you love to be able to have the option to chuck into the lineup when the situation calls for it. If someone goes down to injury, you can throw him in there and he wouldn't look out of place.

Diddle yeah. I haven't seen that guy quite once this year, he's a warrior.

This is a guy who's waited pretty much half of his life for this opportunity, and he plays like it every single night. He is probably the best bang-for-buck on this team -- although with Elliott, Regin, Foligno, and Shannon, he does have a lot of competition.

This is the big different with OTT this year -- getting the most out of the guys they're paying $500K-$1mil. How many guys on this team are going to finish with 20 or more goals? 4 or 5? How many more with 10+? Another 4 or 5? F'ing awesome. That's how you win in this new cap era.

Really? I would disagree because Elliott, Shannon, and Foligno all had good seasons last year just the makeup of the team was totally off along with some coaching. Might be a case of too litter, too late though.

This year the biggest difference IMO is a more disiplined team that works its off. The Sens for the most part never give up and are constantly getting better.

I would say Elliott is absolutely the best bang for the buck though. I dont see Carkner getting first star if the week anytime soon as much as I love him.

Burke is an absolute moron though, Ive been screaming that from the second he got that job. The only deal I liked was getting Joey Mac as a UFA.

This is my new favourite Neely quote. This is right up there with 'Diabeeties' I missed you man.

That one was just a type o, the others are pretty legit.

N4L wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

hemlock wrote:
Oh yeah, give me Carkner everytime over XLB. Even in a few years if our 3 D prospects are panning out nicely, and assuming we've got Phillips/A-Train, Carkner is a guy that I'd hang on to...over Campoli, Lee or Picard. He's does alot of things that you love to be able to have the option to chuck into the lineup when the situation calls for it. If someone goes down to injury, you can throw him in there and he wouldn't look out of place.

Diddle yeah. I haven't seen that guy quite once this year, he's a warrior.

This is a guy who's waited pretty much half of his life for this opportunity, and he plays like it every single night. He is probably the best bang-for-buck on this team -- although with Elliott, Regin, Foligno, and Shannon, he does have a lot of competition.

This is the big different with OTT this year -- getting the most out of the guys they're paying $500K-$1mil. How many guys on this team are going to finish with 20 or more goals? 4 or 5? How many more with 10+? Another 4 or 5? F'ing awesome. That's how you win in this new cap era.

Really? I would disagree because Elliott, Shannon, and Foligno all had good seasons last year just the makeup of the team was totally off along with some coaching. Might be a case of too litter, too late though.

This year the biggest difference IMO is a more disiplined team that works its off. The Sens for the most part never give up and are constantly getting better.

I would say Elliott is absolutely the best bang for the buck though. I dont see Carkner getting first star if the week anytime soon as much as I love him.

Burke is an absolute moron though, Ive been screaming that from the second he got that job. The only deal I liked was getting Joey Mac as a UFA.

Yeah, I guess I should have said "This is the big difference with OTT this year -- they're getting the most of out those low salary guys, all year long." I agree, those same players picked it up huge for us last year when Clouston came in. Still, there's a pretty big difference in my mind between playing well when there's very little on the line, and playing well when the season is on the line.

I would agree with everything else, tho', although I would hesitate to add that, while Elliott has been absolutely standout for this month, Carkner has been standout pretty much all season. Elliott's performance brings more to the table and is more important in some ways, sure, but Carkner is the guy who's been contributing steadily all year long. That's partly what I had in mind with the 'best bang for buck' comment -- consistency.

Anyway, a lot of our kids looking really good at the moment -- Foligino, Karlsson, Elliott, Z. Smith (and I'm guessing we're going to be seeing more of him very soon). Karlsson has come along by leaps and bounds over the last month, in particular. The last three-four games, he's playing so confident and rushing & defending so well that he actually looks bigger than he is.