Leafs off-season thread

[JDP]

Good to see him signed is he UFA or RFA at the end of his contract?

[YogiStewart]

some Clarkson stats for those who like the signing:

Season Team Lge GP G A Pts PIM +/-
2009-10 New Jersey Devils NHL 46 11 13 24 85 3
2010-11 New Jersey Devils NHL 82 12 6 18 116 -20
2011-12 New Jersey Devils NHL 80 30 16 46 138 -8
2012-13 New Jersey Devils NHL 48 15 9 24 78 -6

i see a player with a crapy +/- and lots of penalty minutes.

meanwhile - and sorry to use them as an analogy, but there weren't many trades happening yesterday - the Jets traded a 2nd round pick for a 1 year Setoguchi contract.

2010-11 San Jose Sharks NHL 72 22 19 41 37 -2
2011-12 Minnesota Wild NHL 69 19 17 36 28 -17
2012-13 Ontario Reign ECHL 10 4 9 13 2 7
2012-13 Minnesota Wild NHL 48 13 14 27 20 5

same 0.5 points per game, arguably better +/- and he's on the ice more due to a fraction of the PIM. only issue is that ) Steoguchi may have a partying problem b) he walks after one year. POsitive? a) has some upside b) he can walk after 1 year.

with Bernier's signing, the Leaf are at $54 mil, or $11 mil below the cap...with them still having to sign Kadri, Franzen and Gunnarson. and not having a 4th line centre. pay Franzen $2.5 mil/year, pay GUnnarson....$4 mil/year? Kadri gets...short-term contract where he can walk and be a UFA? man, they will be in some serious cap trouble this year. next year, it is clear that they let Phaneuf walk. for cap reasons, he has to.

[ATLTimekeeper]

Guys like Clarkson are hard to find. Strong corsi numbers, goals, hits and fights. The deal was terrible, only because of the length, but it gives us a year to go deeper into the playoffs and maybe that compels Kessel and Phaneuf to take a haircut on their next deal. I'm sure Kadri and Franson are asking for the moon right now. I'm used to the Leafs signing Komisarek and Blakes and Tim Connollys. This is actually a good fit and a good player.

[YogiStewart]

he's getting paid Kessel money and will never put up Kessel #s.
he is getting paid good-year Grabbo money and won't put up those #s.
you're talking about fights. you don't spend $5+ mil/year to have a guy sitting in the box for 5 minutes or risking a broken hand.
if this was 1975? sure.
honestly, unless i am clueless about what clarkson REALLY brings to the table, that's a $2-3 mil/year player, not a $5 mil player. he ain't no Wendell Clark.

[ATLTimekeeper]

he's getting paid Kessel money and will never put up Kessel #s.
he is getting paid good-year Grabbo money and won't put up those #s.
you're talking about fights. you don't spend $5+ mil/year to have a guy sitting in the box for 5 minutes or risking a broken hand.
if this was 1975? sure.
honestly, unless i am clueless about what clarkson REALLY brings to the table, that's a $2-3 mil/year player, not a $5 mil player. he ain't no Wendell Clark.

He doesn't have to be Wendell Clark. Yikes. He sits in front of the net and bangs home goals. He throws his body around and drops the gloves every once in a while. Those guys are valuable. Check out how much Lucic makes a year. We were already a tough team and we got a lot tougher.

If the cap raises by even $3 million that'll account for Kessel's raise. We're still one of the youngest teams in the league with our best prospect in years still on the way.

[TR50]

If we could resign Kessel for anything that resembles Clarksons deal, we should be laughing. That'd be a steal.

[whysoserious]

he's getting paid Kessel money and will never put up Kessel #s.
he is getting paid good-year Grabbo money and won't put up those #s.
you're talking about fights. you don't spend $5+ mil/year to have a guy sitting in the box for 5 minutes or risking a broken hand.
if this was 1975? sure.
honestly, unless i am clueless about what clarkson REALLY brings to the table, that's a $2-3 mil/year player, not a $5 mil player. he ain't no Wendell Clark.

He doesn't have to be Wendell Clark. Yikes. He sits in front of the net and bangs home goals. He throws his body around and drops the gloves every once in a while. Those guys are valuable. Check out how much Lucic makes a year. We were already a tough team and we got a lot tougher.

If the cap raises by even $3 million that'll account for Kessel's raise. We're still one of the youngest teams in the league with our best prospect in years still on the way.

Lucic is a far superior player to Clarkson. There's no denying Clarkson would be useful and help this team, but you don't pay 2nd line players like him, that aren't highly skilled and productive over 5 million per season. That's just bad cap management. For a team that lacks high end skilled players this is not a wise way to spend money.

There's also a trickle effect to this type of signing. Now Kadri has ammunition for his negotiations for a bigger pay day. Kessel, IMO is a 6 million dollar a year player, but you're paying a second line banger 5.25 million, you can't say Kessel is only worth 750k more than him and be taken serious in negotiations.

[YogiStewart]

he's getting paid Kessel money and will never put up Kessel #s.
he is getting paid good-year Grabbo money and won't put up those #s.
you're talking about fights. you don't spend $5+ mil/year to have a guy sitting in the box for 5 minutes or risking a broken hand.
if this was 1975? sure.
honestly, unless i am clueless about what clarkson REALLY brings to the table, that's a $2-3 mil/year player, not a $5 mil player. he ain't no Wendell Clark.

He doesn't have to be Wendell Clark. Yikes. He sits in front of the net and bangs home goals. He throws his body around and drops the gloves every once in a while. Those guys are valuable. Check out how much Lucic makes a year. We were already a tough team and we got a lot tougher.

If the cap raises by even $3 million that'll account for Kessel's raise. We're still one of the youngest teams in the league with our best prospect in years still on the way.

no.
you pay a moron like Orr or Mclaren to drop the gloves. you don't give a rat's ass is if they miss 5 min of a game for fighting or if they're concussed or if they break a hand hitting someone's helmet.

your second-highest paid forward should NEVER EVER drop his gloves. if he does, the other team should automatically get a win because that player was so f'ing stupid for eliminating himself from the game for 2-4 shifts.

throws his body around. fights. it is as if Don Cherry figured out realgm. it is 2013. fighting is so non-essential. only neanderthals think it should be part of hockey. it is never ever ever necessary nor does it change momentum. two guys are fighting. both teams get "amped". that thought that fighting does something positive is so bloody stupid.

but...in the end, you paid a mucker and a figher $5 million a year. congratulations. if he scores 15 goals and gets 100 PIM, that is incredible cap use. JvR had 18 goals LAST YEAR and 26 PIM. Clarkson had 80 PIM. so, that is roughly 50 less minutes that he was on the ice. hurray for PIM!!!!

[Waylon Mercy]

I cant remember the last time Ive liked every move the Leafs have done in an offseason
hopefully Nonis continues the good work. Also cant remember the last time we had a
good PF Gary Roberts?

They still need a good first line Center but its surreal that the Leafs are starting to become
very good.

[ATLTimekeeper]

Lucic is a far superior player to Clarkson. There's no denying Clarkson would be useful and help this team, but you don't pay 2nd line players like him, that aren't highly skilled and productive over 5 million per season. That's just bad cap management. For a team that lacks high end skilled players this is not a wise way to spend money.

We have high end skill players in the top 6. We lack star power in the top two defense pairing, but we have Morgan Reilly destined to end up there.

There's also a trickle effect to this type of signing. Now Kadri has ammunition for his negotiations for a bigger pay day. Kessel, IMO is a 6 million dollar a year player, but you're paying a second line banger 5.25 million, you can't say Kessel is only worth 750k more than him and be taken serious in negotiations.

Kadri can only negotiate what the market will allow him to negotiate. It's a cap world. If some team wants to blow the doors off on a RFA signing, we'll get the option of S&T or taking back the picks. Kessel might be a 6 million dollar player to you, but he was going to get more than that regardless of your opinion. Clarkson's deal doesn't make Kessel worth that much more.

Generally I don't like whining about deals like these until we see the fallout. I've noticed a general sense among Leaf fans that they're always waiting for the other shoe to drop. This is one of the more promising Leaf teams since the Gilmour days. I'd rather they not let Carlyle construct the roster, but I'm not going to complain about a young, deep team that scores goals and plays physical.

[LeafsRDaBest93]

What do you all think of bringing back Ian White if there's a few bucks left?

We keep upgrading our forwards but no one seems to care about our D and (at least from my perspective) seems to be the Leafs biggest weakness year in, year out.

[Ado05]

It is our weakness. But for some reason Nonis decided to not do anything about.

We have about 10 million left and 3 key RFAs (Kadri, Franson, Gunnarson) that will porbably want around 3 mill per on a shorter term deal. That leaves 9 million with Colborne and Fraser left. That pretty much means that we will have to trade for defence rather than spending some money.

[LeafsRDaBest93]

That's depressing... right now we don't even have a single dman who is considered a true top 2. Phanuef eats up minutes but has too many mental lapses.

Reilly can't get up here quick enough.

[JDP]

That's depressing... right now we don't even have a single dman who is considered a true top 2. Phanuef eats up minutes but has too many mental lapses.

Reilly can't get up here quick enough.

Phanuef is a top pairing Defenseman on any team in the league. The guy has some mental lapses but is pretty undervalued over here.

With that being said he would benefit greatly if this team could acquire another Top 4 stay at home defenseman.

[SharoneWright]

1 year deal for Colborne @ $600,000. Saw it somewhere.

[LeafsRDaBest93]

Phanuef is a top pairing Defenseman on any team in the league. The guy has some mental lapses but is pretty undervalued over here.

With that being said he would benefit greatly if this team could acquire another Top 4 stay at home defenseman.

I find that really hard to believe. Every game he seems to freeze up and stand in one spot, leading to a goal or decent scoring chance or play out of position or go for an ill-timed bodycheck that gives up an odd-man rush.

Maybe I'm being too hard on him but I just don't see it from your point of view. Either way, every team needs a scapegoat, neh?

[J-Roc]

I cant remember the last time Ive liked every move the Leafs have done in an offseason
hopefully Nonis continues the good work. Also cant remember the last time we had a
good PF Gary Roberts?

They still need a good first line Center but its surreal that the Leafs are starting to become
very good.

Gary was good, but I was always disappointed in him not being the Gary Roberts of old by the time he got here, even with his special diet.

[JDP]

I can't believe Jagr hasn't signed anywhere yet, am I the only one that thinks he would look fantastic on this team on a one year deal.

JVR Bozak Kessel
Lupul Kadri Jagr
Kulemin Bolland Clarkson
McClaren McClement Orr

That forward corps looks pretty good to me I think Kadri having Jagr on his wing would do wonders for him.

But who knows this is just wishful thinking for me since he is my favourite NHLer but I think his offensive presence and strong puck possession skills could really help this team.

[Toni]

I can't believe Jagr hasn't signed anywhere yet, am I the only one that thinks he would look fantastic on this team on a one year deal.

JVR Bozak Kessel
Lupul Kadri Jagr
Kulemin Bolland Clarkson
McClaren McClement Orr

That forward corps looks pretty good to me I think Kadri having Jagr on his wing would do wonders for him.

But who knows this is just wishful thinking for me since he is my favourite NHLer but I think his offensive presence and strong puck possession skills could really help this team.

I agree Jagr would be a very strong addition to this team. I think the Leafs were one of the worst teams in puck possession time last season as well, this will only help that cause. Plus he is a very professional and dedicated teammate.. I see nothing but positives.

Although, an addition to our defensive core would be a more pressing acquisition.

[YogiStewart]

Gunnarson re-signed for 3 years/$9.45 mil.
good deal.