Gunnarson traded to the Blues for Polak, draft pick

[MindzEye]

THE PROBLEM WITH THE PK IS THE TEAM'S BEST DEFENSIVE BLUELINER!

Not dropping the blame for a shitty system on Randy, where it belonged, is going to cost us in a bunch of trades I think. Much like dropping the blame on players like McCabe, Kubina, Steen, etc instead of on JFJ for not getting real NHL goaltending, hurt us previously.

 

[MindzEye]

Disagree- One player cannot sink a PK that badly in a span of a year. The problem is a systematic thing, in 12/13 Carlyle employed a very aggressive PK that charged at the points and gave other teams little to no time to set up a play, they came right up and didn't sit back in front of their net. Last year, the PK was far more passive and the players tended to collapse back in front of their net in hopes of taking away inside shots and passing, problem is that it exposed the points and as a result they were scored on a lot more then they were on the PK then they were in 12/13.

Whoosh

 

[BeLeafer]

*whoosh*

 

[hockeylover]

Disagree- One player cannot sink a PK that badly in a span of a year. The problem is a systematic thing, in 12/13 Carlyle employed a very aggressive PK that charged at the points and gave other teams little to no time to set up a play, they came right up and didn't sit back in front of their net. Last year, the PK was far more passive and the players tended to collapse back in front of their net in hopes of taking away inside shots and passing, problem is that it exposed the points and as a result they were scored on a lot more then they were on the PK then they were in 12/13.

 

[Metalleaf]

I can't fully judge this trade until I see what else they do, I'm fully expecting wholesale changes.

 

[zeke]

Exactly.

It's so sad that they didn't clean house at the end of the season. This trade also has Carlyle's fingerprints all over it. Yeah, the problem with the pk is the players! I still can't believe that they not only didn't fire his ass, but extended him. What a cluster****.

don't worry.....according to our asssistant GM, Polak is "NASTY!", so it's all good.

 

[JaysCyYoung]

Gunnarsson was one of the rare examples of the Leafs getting great value from a later draft selection. And they piss it away ... of course.

Like zeke said, Thommie Bergman is the only bloody guy in the entire organization who appears to consistently know what he's doing. Christ.

 

[MindzEye]

Like zeke said, Thommie Bergman is the only bloody guy in the entire organization who appears to consistently know what he's doing. Christ.

Scary thing is that he's 66 yrs old.

 

[LeafOfFaith]

don't worry.....according to our asssistant GM, Polak is "NASTY!", so it's all good.

I was the biggest Gunnar supporter of anyone here over the years, but I'm good with this deal if we're getting the player as advertised. The tsn panel was talking about how tough he is to play against, his hitting, his crease clearing, his nastiness. We're lacking in all these departments, so if he can bring it, that's a big upgrade.

Gunnar I always thought of as a good two way dman. All this about being a defensive stopper, I never really saw it. He was soft. I think they want to get rid of that element from the team unless a guy is offensively special like Gardiner.

So I'm going against the tide and saying good deal unless polak isn't what they say he is.

 

[Volcanologist]

Classic case of a very good player having his value tanked by a stupid team getting traded for a bad player having his value boosted by playing for a very smart team.

Gunnar is going to excel as a top 4 dman for the Blues, paired beautifully with Shattenkirk on the 2nd pairing. Polak is going to struggle as a #6 in Toronto, and bring down whichever of Rielly or Gardiner they decide he can "help".

and we gave up a pick and salary.

Nonis is an embarassment.

yeah, unfortunately I think that's pretty much accurate.

When you consider that Bolland will probably walk now and Bernier was Lieweke's idea, Nonis has been very unimpressive here.

 

[BeLeafer]

On the bright side, we should have another high pick coming for the new GM next year.

 

[JaysCyYoung]

Nonis is an empty suit and he looks completely intimidated by the job that he has been entrusted with every time you see him. Dude is terrified to be here in a position of responsibility.

 

[JaysCyYoung]

On the bright side, we should have another high pick coming for the new GM next year.

Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel please.

 

[MindzEye]

I was the biggest Gunnar supporter of anyone here over the years, but I'm good with this deal if we're getting the player as advertised. The tsn panel was talking about how tough he is to play against, his hitting, his crease clearing, his nastiness. We're lacking in all these departments, so if he can bring it, that's a big upgrade.

Polak is a slightly better, right handed version of Mark Fraser.

Gunnar I always thought of as a good two way dman. All this about being a defensive stopper, I never really saw it. He was soft. I think they want to get rid of that element from the team unless a guy is offensively special like Gardiner.

People score lots of goals against us as a team. But when Gunnar is on the ice (both with and without Phaneuf), teams score way less goals against us. But because he doesn't do this in a loud way, nobody notices.

So I'm going against the tide and saying good deal unless polak isn't what they say he is.

He's not what the panel was saying he is.


Someone on R/Leafs on reddit summed this up pretty coherently in one sentence so I'll steal what he said: This is a case of a club that uses advanced statistics abusing a club that doesn't.

 

[BeLeafer]

Polak is a slightly better, right handed version of Mark Fraser.

Ouch.

 

[LeafOfFaith]

How are you guys so familiar with a player we only saw once or twice a year, and in a supporting role?

 

[MindzEye]

How are you guys so familiar with a player we only saw once or twice a year, and in a supporting role?

I spend half of my life in Alberta watching western conference hockey because the Leaf game is over by 730 pm for me.

 

[MindzEye]

Ouch.

Borrowed from reddit:

Just butting in here as a Hawks fan who has seen a lot of Polak: Shut down defense man is just a nice way of saying slow, bumbling, and mistake prone. He's a big hitter sure, and plays with a bit of a mean streak if that's what moves you, but he was easily St. Louis' worst d-man.

 

[hockeylover]

Nonis is an empty suit and he looks completely intimidated by the job that he has been entrusted with every time you see him. Dude is terrified to be here in a position of responsibility.

He probably is just a mouthpiece at this point.

 

[MindzEye]

I think what you'll see here is a clash of differing philosophies. If you value big, mean defenders who push people around and make really loud plays, you'll like Polak and probably didn't think much of Gunnarsson.

I personally have no time for a defender that can't competently move the puck. Throwing someone around in the corner to win a puck battle and then not having the requisite skills to move the puck out of the zone competently is useless.

This strikes me as a mis read of our defensive zone problems last season. We didn't suck defensively because our defenders couldn't win puck battles. We sucked defensively because a forward in the corner with the puck just had to wait for the cheating winger to come down for assistance (very much a systemic aspect of our defence) because Randy prefers the wingers playing low to help the defenders, opposition kicks the puck back to a wide open defender at the point...defender shoots, rinse and repeat. Polak is the type of defender who you don't "have" to send a winger into a puck battle to help. But that's Randy's shit system, the defenders weren't losing position battles to forwards with the puck in the corner. They were keeping them to the outside very competently.