First of all, I don't believe he does, I believe he would be much better after 1 or 2 years as C. We had seen that he can be better, much better. If they move him, do it now! If you trade him, do it for someone who will be there for their whole career. Bouchard is the greatest possible option in return.
Second of all, STOP SHITTING ON MATTHEWS AND OTHER YOUNG PLAYERS!! Imagine when you were 20 and add that you don't have family most of the year with you and you are trying to carry one of the best franchises in hockey HISTORY on your fricking back. And after few bad playoff games which were played against the likes of Marchand, Chara, Bergeron, Backes, Krejci, McQuaid, Nash who are so much more experienced than young leafs, the 2 players that are experienced nearly as much as those 2 are Marleau and Plekanec (and him just for that age thing). Yes, Bruins also have rookies, but they are surrounded by those experienced vets who had been around for a while, LEAFS are learning as a team in process, they are already ahead of sheduled rebuild. Just CALM DOWN people, we are showing in year 2 that we can beat Bruins in their own arena (GM5 win)!! It does not matter if they get to 2nd round or would be out in the 1st. IT DOES NOT MATTER BECAUSE THEY'VE LEARNED! THEY GET EXPERIENCE FROM IT AND I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT THEY WILL USE IT IN THE BEST WAY!
Things that I can see happening next season and seasons after:
-Dubas named new long-term GM, Hunter will be head of scounting and GM of Marlies, which was Dubas's job. Lou will be named Senior Advisor and will have everything both of those guys are doing under control, he will have this control for 2-3 years until he is 110% sure Dubas is right man for the job.
-no captain named yet, Babs is the Captain! Desicion on captaincy would be given after 2018/19 season's POs.
-they would go hard on Joe Thornton to sign for 1 year and than retire along with his longtime line mate Patty Marleau. Stay classy!
-Matthews, Marner will have 8year deals kicking in 19/20 done in the summer of 2018. 11 mil. per, 7 mil. per respectively. If Nylander stays he gets 6.5 on 8 year deal.
-4 alternates named. Rielly, Marleau, Matthews and 1 more player. I would LOVE to have HYMAN wearing "A" on his jersey, he delivers every night, plays extremely hard!
-if trade below happens (not happening, just if option), Bouchard would play in NHL right away. He has all the tools to be leader, defensively very good and offensively to be really good too. If there is one defenceman after Dahlin who is NHL-ready, it is Evan Bouchard.
-Hainsey's ice time is sheltered, he was used on every PK and on the 1st pair all year while being 36/37 years old. He has something in the tank left, but needs to be fresh, I'm okay with him being 50gm player next season, while resting second games in back-to-back games. He needs to be fresh for POs, he can be good, we had seen that.
-Zaitsev had sophomore slump, that happens. He is also washed up, he has no energy left, the thing is not his physical abilities, the matter why he is washed up, is his mental aspect of the game, you could see after gm2 when he was seriously horrendous that he was saying that he was shite, he felt it that way, needs to be mentally stronger and that will help his game. Zaitsev would be much better next season, trust me.
-Bracco, Marchment, Timashov, Brooks (who will be much better) will get the taste of their first NHL games. Bracco will step in the lineup regularly right after Marleau retires.
-Sparks will play atleast 5 NHL games. From 19/20 regular backup playing 20 games per season.
-none of Carlson, Tavares or anybody would be signed, not even Doughty after 18/19 season. I predict him staying in LA or signing in DET (yeah really, they would have money to do so and his home is not far from Detroit too).
-Money would be spend in the best possible, meaning it would be spread throughout the lineup to have solid team full of great players.
-Leafs getting the organization of Draft somewhere between 2021-2025.
-Gordeev emerges as a surprice playing his heart out and earning a spot in NHL by 2022 along with Eemeli Rasanen (who will pend between Marlies and Leafs), both are same age as me, so they would be 22/23 when cracking NHL lineup. Gordeev playing for Leafs would be so great story!
-Bracco will be the new winger for Matthews, the other would be Johnsson, or Hyman stays there.
-Babs wins Jack Adams in 2020.
-There would be a busty player in the organization, who will Leafs fans have faith in but he will not accomplish such success..
-Seattle Kraken will pick Dmitro Timashov/Andrew Nielsen in 2020 expansion draft.
Early 2020s lineup..
Johnsson-Matthews-Bracco
Hyman-Kadri-Marner
Grundstrom-Brooks-Brown
Korshkov-Aaltonen-Kapanen
In the process of making the leafs legit good for many tens of years why would they give up 11mil for Tavares or 7 mil on Carlson on longterm deals which will cause total collapse of the Shanaplan? It makes no sence. Let the leafs develop its own players that will carry the team for years. Have the patience please.
I couldn't agree more and like always IF these kids pull off 2 more wins everybody will stop this over criticizing and think this team will win the cup but they need to stop being baited into penalities, stop taking stupid penalites, and Stop tapping on broken Bruin sticks!!!
I totally agree with just about everything you said. Bouchard is my #2 defensemen in this draft for sure. So you think no Bozak, JVR or Komarov? I thought maybe one of them might be signed...but maybe not if they go after Thornton.
I totally agree with just about everything you said. Bouchard is my #2 defensemen in this draft for sure. So you think no Bozak, JVR or Komarov? I thought maybe one of them might be signed...but maybe not if they go after Thornton.
I will say my issue on each of them.
Bozak=will get his opportunity elsewhere, but we need C who actually is willing to defend.
JVR=very good goal scorer, but is just one-dimensional and resigning him would require longer term (atleast 5-6yrs) and that is not good for Leafs because of the guys they have in the system.
Komarov=he is likely gone from NHL, just washed up, he is just not good enough and on the 4th line, we can have Grundstrom, who is Komarov 2.0, but younger and faster and stronger.
Personally, the only way I see them trading Nylander is to get a top pairing D-man like Doughty or maybe Roman Josi. I just feel like they can get him signed to a 6-7 year deal in the $6 mil range and when he breaks out, that contract looks real good. Similar to Pasta or Ehlers. You don't give up on a guy like that unless you're positive that the guy coming back makes the team better long term. Bouchard is too risky of a target to get rid of Nylander for.
A rookie defender straight to top pairing in a media mad market like Toronto is not plausible. Brown is a fantastic, industrious worker-bee type. He's not going to give Matthews the creativity or offensive flare to make that top unit a dominant force. It will be either Kapanen or Marner in the long run.
Personally, the only way I see them trading Nylander is to get a top pairing D-man like Doughty or maybe Roman Josi. I just feel like they can get him signed to a 6-7 year deal in the $6 mil range and when he breaks out, that contract looks real good. Similar to Pasta or Ehlers. You don't give up on a guy like that unless you're positive that the guy coming back makes the team better long term. Bouchard is too risky of a target to get rid of Nylander for.
Nylander thinks he's Patrick Kane. He wants 9-10 M for 7-8 yrs. They'll try to bridge him for under 4 for two.
Hey man not a bad post but Phily is certainly not interested ! Just because we have no need for him and already have several 4th line players locked up.
I will say my issue on each of them.
Bozak=will get his opportunity elsewhere, but we need C who actually is willing to defend.
JVR=very good goal scorer, but is just one-dimensional and resigning him would require longer term (atleast 5-6yrs) and that is not good for Leafs because of the guys they have in the system.
Komarov=he is likely gone from NHL, just washed up, he is just not good enough and on the 4th line, we can have Grundstrom, who is Komarov 2.0, but younger and faster and stronger.
I agree 100% with your assessment of the 3 UFAs and Grundstrom
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