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Leaf Rumours

When Komi was out, the team looked considerably softer and weaker. You can't just dismiss the impact of new player acquisitions.

besides, it's always the case that when a GM takes over a team, majority of players are holdovers. It's not however, always the case that the said GM adds young sniper + top goalie prospects + tough minute eaters on defense all over one summer.
 
That's irrelevant. I'm not talking about the job Burke has done.

The point is whether adding just the few players that he has has reformed the identity of the entire team. Like I said, I don't think that's the case.
 
Only a moron would come into an organization and replace the entire roster. You have to evaluate every player to see what you've got first. It's funny, but he gets criticized for this, yet also gets critized for building the Anaheim Cup winner around the team he inherited there.
 
For **** sake. A bunch of illiterates.

Who's criticizing anyone??

The question is whether 5 new guys can set the identity for 20 players.

I want to run through a brick wall sometimes here.

READ for **** sake.
 
Don't be silly. You have been ranting all year about at least 10 players you think should have been jettisoned before the season even started.
 
LeafOfFaith said:
For **** sake. A bunch of illiterates.

Who's criticizing anyone??

The question is whether 5 new guys can set the identity for 20 players.

I want to run through a brick wall sometimes here.

READ for **** sake.
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ok then, if the question is whether changing 1/4th of the team, inserting players who play significant minutes too, can affect/change the identity of the team........then yes I think it can.

it's not like those 5 players have been bunch of healthy scratches/4th liners.
 
Adding Kessel alone changed the identity of this team more than any combination of moves that Ferguson and Fletcher (during his second-go around) made. Hell, maybe even Quinn, too.

It substantially altered this organization and the team's future. The Leafs haven't made a move like that since trading for Sundin.
 
LeafOfFaith said:
I agree with that principle in general, but not in this case.

The vast majority of the roster are holdovers. And the guys you mentioned haven't been lighting the world on fire or anything to have infected anyone else on the team.
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Yeah they have. They added the exact kind of presence being talked about here.
 
LeafOfFaith said:
I agree with that principle in general, but not in this case.

The vast majority of the roster are holdovers. And the guys you mentioned haven't been lighting the world on fire or anything to have infected anyone else on the team.
Click to expand...

Burke has done a few things that have changed the attitude in the Leafs room.

He's changed the voices in the Leafs room, adding Komi and Beach.

He's added some beef which has allowed the young players to play without fear, and allows the light-weights to play a more physical game.

He traded for some elite talent, adding a scoring dimension that has clearly been missing since the Sundin/Mogilny days.

Wooing Gustavsson was a HUGE win for the Leafs, not only has it helped the team on the ice (you can't tell me that you don't see a difference in team play) but it proves that Toronto is once again a destination, especially for young players.

He traded away immediate futures, meaning no more excuses. Psychologically the players know that the team is only going in one direction - that is Burke won't be pulling the pin at any time during the season. Every move made now will be with one ideal in mind - playoffs.

It's like watching a different team this year, and if not for a poor start and a string of games with our 3rd stringer we'd be holding a playoff spot - no doubt in my mind.
 
All of this is fine and dandy, BG. The one and only issue here is whether this new "inspired and intense" team is the result of Komi and Beauch on the blueline, Kessel up front, and Gus in the net for half the games so far.

These four or five additions made all the other 15 players intense and inspired, whereas they were not intense and inspired last season?

That is the ONLY question. Anyone who flunked reading comprehension in school, please don't respond.
 
CTheBigPicture said:
ok then, if the question is whether changing 1/4th of the team, inserting players who play significant minutes too, can affect/change the identity of the team........then yes I think it can.

it's not like those 5 players have been bunch of healthy scratches/4th liners.
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I've never said those guys didn't make ANY impact. I really like all of them and I believe they HAVE made an impact.

But the notion being advanced was that the other 15 guys have less of an impact on team play than these handful of acquisitions, and that's just not true.
 
LeafOfFaith said:
All of this is fine and dandy, BG. The one and only issue here is whether this new "inspired and intense" team is the result of Komi and Beauch on the blueline, Kessel up front, and Gus in the net for half the games so far.

These four or five additions made all the other 15 players intense and inspired, whereas they were not intense and inspired last season?

That is the ONLY question. Anyone who flunked reading comprehension in school, please don't respond.
Click to expand...

I believe that to be true, and I'd easily add Orr, Exelby and Primeau to that list.
 
It affects it.

But to say he completely changed it from one year to the next with the addition of a few players is silly.
 
That's semantics.

When you add a 1st liner, two top 4 dmen, a new goalie and an entire new checking line, these major changes change the dynamic of the team quite a bit.
 
Wilson did have this team playing pretty solid hockey last year, until they ran out of gas. I think they're all in better shape this year, which has helped. But definitely the addition of Kessel alone affected the makeup of the club, knowing they had a gamebreaker out there. They've been a much better team since he arrived.
 
They're still completely inconsistent.

Hard hitting and skating their asses off one game, soft and lazy the next.

That's why I say that the few changes have affected the team, but the team is not this "intense and inspired" club.

Maybe next year, when a good 1/3 of the team is gone via UFA and trade, we'll really see something good, but certainly not yet.
 
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