• Moderators, please send me a PM if you are unable to access mod permissions. Thanks, Habsy.

The ****ing Season Thread

Thanks for elaborating.

This should be interesting. Sort of a huge pick-up to convince him to leave London and take on the Leafs challenge - not even in a GM/AGM role.
 
Interesting. Who was the director before Hunter? Or was this a newly created role?

And yes, I really hope we get rid of these pro scouts. Ameteur needs an overhaul too. Considering our deep pockets, we should literally have the best and brightest in the league and be able to draft like the wings or hawks do. Especially in latter rounds.
 
ForeverTML said:
Interesting. Who was the director before Hunter? Or was this a newly created role?

And yes, I really hope we get rid of these pro scouts. Ameteur needs an overhaul too. Considering our deep pockets, we should literally have the best and brightest in the league and be able to draft like the wings or hawks do. Especially in latter rounds.
Click to expand...

I could be wrong, but I thought Poulin had the DPP role before?
 
LeafGm said:
I hope Morrison sticks around. I think our amateur scouts have done a good job---whether they've been picking high in the draft, when they haven't had a lot of picks to use, or with some of the gems they've unearthed in later rounds. A complete blunder like Tyler Biggs, I tend to blame on Mr. Truculenece and Pugnacity, Brian Burke. I didn't love the Gauthier pick either, but hopefully it was Nonis, and not Morrison or our scouts, who made the call to go with a "safe" pick instead of a more talented player like Andre Burakovsky, who went two picks later.
Click to expand...

Looking at the picks after Gauthier... Verhaeghe, Bibeau and Johnson have really had remarkable seasons since being drafted.
 
Still don't think Gauthier was a bad pick in the least.

Huge center who can skate who loves defense and who was around a ppg at age 17 in his first year in junior?

nothing wrong with that.
 
Like the hunter hire. That's the leafs flexing non-cap payroll advantage again. They should be doing that even more, but it's good to see them doing it.

Love that the "culture change" is happening from the top down, because that's where it has to start.

of course, Nonis and Randy are still here.
 
zeke said:
Still don't think Gauthier was a bad pick in the least.

Huge center who can skate who loves defense and who was around a ppg at age 17 in his first year in junior?

nothing wrong with that.
Click to expand...
Didn't Nonis or one of our scouts actually say at the time we drafted him that they projected him as a third-line center? I'm almost sure I saw that somewhere, and that's the issue I have. If you have a guy on your draft list that you've got pegged as anything less than a top-6 forward, top-4 defenseman or starting goalie, you shouldn't be taking them in the first round.
 
They said that they saw him at least as a third line guy, but were dreaming on higher potential than that. In that interview they compared him to the likes of Hanzal and J.Staal.
 
zeke said:
They said that they saw him at least as a third line guy, but were dreaming on higher potential than that. In that interview they compared him to the likes of Hanzal and J.Staal.
Click to expand...
So, when they were dreaming of higher potential than the 3rd line for Gauthier, they compared him to a couple of other third line centers?
 
LeafGm said:
So, when they were dreaming of higher potential than the 3rd line for Gauthier, they compared him to a couple of other third line centers?
Click to expand...

Where did they compare him to other 3rd line centres? Surely you're not suggesting that the 1st line centre for the Yotes and the 2nd line centre for the Canes are 3rd line centres?

If Gauthier turns out as good as either, that's huge for us.
 
MindzEye said:
Where did they compare him to other 3rd line centres? Surely you're not suggesting that the 1st line centre for the Yotes and the 2nd line centre for the Canes are 3rd line centres?

If Gauthier turns out as good as either, that's huge for us.
Click to expand...
Yeah, Jordan Staal and Martin Hanzal are third line centers. They may be playing higher up in their respective lineups, but to me, Staal is a second line center and Hanzal is a first line center like Tyler Bozak is a first line center.

Now, Jordan Staal is a very good third line center, mind you, but I have difficulty recognizing him as a top-6 forward when he's only cracked the 50 point mark once in his eight year career, and when he put up 40 points in a full 82-game season last year.

As for Hanzal, there may be cause to rate him as higher than a 3rd liner, but scoring at a 50-point pace for the first time in his career at the age of 26/27 over the course of a 65 game season last year won't do it for me. Not after he's failed to even crack the 40 point plateau for the other six seasons of his NHL career. If you want to call him a legit top-6 forward, he's got a lot more to prove, unless we all want to join hands with Dave Nonis and start proclaiming that David Clarkson is a top-6 forward.
 
Not sure you appreciate what 40-50pt production is nowadays.

what did the 2nd line Cs of the four cup semi finalists produce last year?
 
LeafGm said:
Yeah, Jordan Staal and Martin Hanzal are third line centers. They may be playing higher up in their respective lineups, but to me, Staal is a second line center and Hanzal is a first line center like Tyler Bozak is a first line center.

Now, Jordan Staal is a very good third line center, mind you, but I have difficulty recognizing him as a top-6 forward when he's only cracked the 50 point mark once in his eight year career, and when he put up 40 points in a full 82-game season last year.

As for Hanzal, there may be cause to rate him as higher than a 3rd liner, but scoring at a 50-point pace for the first time in his career at the age of 26/27 over the course of a 65 game season last year won't do it for me. Not after he's failed to even crack the 40 point plateau for the other six seasons of his NHL career. If you want to call him a legit top-6 forward, he's got a lot more to prove, unless we all want to join hands with Dave Nonis and start proclaiming that David Clarkson is a top-6 forward.
Click to expand...


I think the issue here is that you over estimate the production level of a 2nd line centre. There were 40, 50 point centremen last season. Hanzal has produced at 44, 48, and 51 point paces over the last 3 seasons. Also a strong possession player, strong defensively, etc. So we're talking about a guy with mediocre 2nd line centre production, with high end possession and defensive skills. If that's not 2nd line quality, then there aren't many 2nd line centres in the league.

As for Staal, it's a similar situation. 58, 66, 53, & 40 point paces over the last 4 seasons with again, excellent possession and defensive abilities. He's a solid, solid 2nd line C.
 
I think I'd really want to see him take a big step this year production wise to think he has any hope of being a 2nd line center. You would've hoped for a little better in his first post-draft year.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top