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General Leafs News & Notes

So to change the topic a bit, what happens with Grabs after this season? Trade? Amnesty? Hold?

Tough to see us holding on to him and Bozak, though.
 
I don't think you amnesty him this year.

Hold him for one more year to see if this was just an off year. If he still sucks then think of amnestying him next year.
 
Yeah, if we can wait until next summer until we use the amnesty, we may as well. Not like there's much available in this year's free agent crop.
 
So no changes down the middle this year?

Not so sure Nonis will see it that way. Size and increased production down the middle will surely be on the menu as we hit the offseason. Can't keep putting Bozak out there for every draw, either.
 
I'm more surprised that BL completely ignored sample size too. Cechmanek doesn't qualify for the career leaders list according to HR's requirements:

Save percentage: Minimum 0.3125 games played per scheduled game (season), 250 games (career), 5 games (playoff year), 25 games (playoff career), 75 games (franchise career).
Click to expand...

Cechmanek only played 212 career games so he doesn't qualify for the minimum number of appearances.
 
Guh. I ignored nothing. I didn't make the list. It's not like having 6'3'' Chechmanuk in there helps my case. Exactly the reverse.

Whatever the case, the site I used is the site I used. You can argue that some other sites have more accurate height and weight measurements, but if anything one should err on the side of being conserative with those measurements, as they are regularly embellished. For example, Doug Gilmour is listed on THN as 5'11'' .... I've met him face to face and he's not that height, as that's my height and he was definitely shorter than I (probably by at least an inch if not 2).
 
leaffan2005 said:
So no changes down the middle this year?

Not so sure Nonis will see it that way. Size and increased production down the middle will surely be on the menu as we hit the offseason. Can't keep putting Bozak out there for every draw, either.
Click to expand...
I'm all for changes down the middle if we improve. Pretty much nothing out there on the free agent market though. It'd have to be through a trade. So, if we trade for a better center than Grabovski and need to dump Grabbo's salary, buy him out. No sense in jumping the gun before then.

And then if we can't make a trade that makes sense and improves us down the middle, then you just hang on to Grabovski and hope that this year was just a blip.
 
hockeylover said:
So is there any big fish out there to fill that #1C spot that is actually realistic?
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If San Jose had choked and missed the playoffs, Joe Thornton would probably have been out there. Now that they're in the second round, he's not going anywhere. I can't really think of anyone else that I'd want that would actually be realistic.
 
hockeylover said:
So is there any big fish out there to fill that #1C spot that is actually realistic?
Click to expand...

No...nobody trades legitimate #1C's


Our best bet imo, is to let Bozak walk, hope Grabo rebounds, and go get a good (preferably big, difficult to play against) 2 way centre, or someone legitimately talented to play behind Kadri

Kadri-XXXXXX-Grabovski-McClement

Then hope that Kadri-XXXXXX forms a nice 1-2 combo next year so we can amnesty Grabo.

Potential targets (FA or trade) as XXXXX would include:

Elias
Ribeiro
Stastny
Hanzel
Pavelski
 
well, who are the legit frontline Cs in the league?

Crosby
Malkin
Stamkos
Giroux
Getzlaf
Spezza
Backstrom
Datsyuk
Toews
Tavares
Sedin
Staal
Kopitar
Zetterberg
Thornton
Ribeiro
Elias
Benn
Duchene
Lecavalier
Koivu
Bergeron
Nugent-Hopkins


anyone else that would be a significant upgrade?
 
No...and other than Ribeiro in free agency, the only one of those names who wouldn't be prohibitively expensive would be Lecavalier.
 
There's a chance that whatever ails Grabs is something he's powering through during the playoffs, but may end up affecting him next season..but I like him, I'd keep him.
 
Bleedsblue&white said:
There's a chance that whatever ails Grabs is something he's powering through during the playoffs, but may end up affecting him next season..but I like him, I'd keep him.
Click to expand...


He was going to be hard pressed to be worth his contract regardless...this stomache issue has got to be the deal breaker, even for the Grabo fanboys, no?

That's just too much money to lock up in a centreman who we can't depend on to be a consistent offensive presence.
 
He's earned the shot at having next year to prove himself, unless some amazing opportunity arises to get a top center.

If he rebounds, we're in great shape. If not, we bite the bullet at the end of next year.

It is somewhat concerning to go into next year without one certainty in the C spot. The way Kadri's played in the playoffs is ugly, Bozak has been good but not great, and Grabs has been a guided missile but one that can't find the net.
 
Improving at centre is a must for Nonis.

Basically the apparent options boil down to signing Ribeiro as a free agent, or making a trade with a team like Colorado or San Jose who have a surplus of guys who can play the position and put up points. Not sure what San Jose would want, but Colorado clearly needs help on D.

I would prefer just to sign Ribs and be done with it. It's not going to take a huge long term deal. Ribs-Kadri-Bozak/Grabo-McClement is good enough at centre with the scoring power we have at wing, especially if Kadri can be a consistent offensive producer.
 
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