The Official Dave Ayres CC "All Thing Leaves" thread

[BigTuna]

Yeah that sudden 3 game winning streak killed you guys. You had 30th in your hands.
I know how it feels, one year Burke picked up Martin Gerber on waivers for no reason when the leaves were already out of the playoffs. He ended up playing much better than any Leaf goalie and the team picked up useless points the last month.
Vancouver needs to blow it up and dump the Sedins to get those top picks. But hearing Linden's comments on not being able to upset the twins..oye. Not how you build a winner.

[Blob Mckenzie]

Yeah that sudden 3 game winning streak killed you guys. You had 30th in your hands.
I know how it feels, one year Burke picked up Martin Gerber on waivers for no reason when the leaves were already out of the playoffs. He ended up playing much better than any Leaf goalie and the team picked up useless points the last month.
Vancouver needs to blow it up and dump the Sedins to get those top picks. But hearing Linden's comments on not being able to upset the twins..oye. Not how you build a winner.

The rebuild is already underway. The question is regarding the builders and if they are competent at their jobs.

Thing is if the Canucks management had a bit of luck or smarts they would be sitting on Sam Bennett instead of Jake the Fake and one of the Finns or Mathews instead of Skinny Minny Juolevi.

The twins can't be moved until next year even if they waive. The expansion draft is looming and no team would or should protect two guys who will be 37.

What absolutely needs to stop is the dumb dumb contracts handed out to guys like Sutter and Eriksson. Decent players but they make zero sense for this team at that term. Still you have idiots who think they were wonderful signings as if this was a competitive team. This thing CAN be turned around in three years if Elmer gets the boot in April.

[Strangelove]

"Terrible Goalie" Andersen now .919 on the season. Top 10 amongst goalies with 20+ starts.

Nineteenth amongst goalies with 13+ starts.

.919 is nothing to write home about and (again) it's way too early for these numbers...

leaves have a terrible future because they have horrible goalending was the argument, no?

Actually horrible defense was the argument.

Although an argument was presented about too much money + term for Andersen.

Let's see what his numbers are like after carrying the Number One load for an entire season

... behind that horrible defense!

Chances are that he wears down over the season and you are premature as usual.

Yeahno, Number One Goalies have to play 60+ games and be consistent.

Mr Andersen has yet to do that...

[Strangelove]

We're on our way up. When is the last time a team had 3 of the top 4 highest scoring rookies?

Well it was "3 of the top 4" a while ago, now it's 3 of the top 5 and dropping quickly.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/rookies.htm

(hmmm you're talking about the only 3 rookies in the top 6 to be on the negative side of +/-)

But if say... Matthews... is the superstar you say he is, he'll be getting $13M per yr in 2.5 years.

Finally the Leaves will have a player who makes more than the coach!!

But seriously, tough to build a top team in a salary cap world

... and superstars don't take "bridge contracts" anymore.

Wake up, you're an idiot for bragging about a team that to this point can't even make the playoffs!

I noticed Babcock doesn't seem to know how to use his new assets to maximize the team's chances of winning.

Exactly, Tuna is bragging about... something.

Hey Tuna, what year will your precious Leaves make the playoffs, or is this you:


................................. WINNING!!!

[Strangelove]

I just read a lengthy 'Re-sign Zaitsev" thread on a popular Leaves board.

Most of the Leafers were talking about how Evil Lou Lamoriello holds the hammer in negotiations

... and that he will no doubt use it to re-sign Zaitsev at a ridiculously low level.

It seems they were completely oblivious to the Group 6 UFA rules.

So I searched high+low on the internet... no one ANYWHERE seems to realize this applies to Zaitsev.

So you heard it here first.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHL_salar ... ree_agency

Group 6 free agents: Players who have reached age 25, who have 3 accrued years of professional experience (that is, beyond junior or collegiate hockey), and whose contracts have expired, but have played less than... 80 NHL games played for forwards and defensemen.

So, given the Leaves will miss the playoffs, all Zaitsev has to do is miss 3 or more games to injury this season

... and he becomes a UFA in the summer!

(yes I know he is listed as a pending RFA at sites such as capfriendly)

No question he and his agent realize this... Evil Lou as well.

So yeah, Lou does not hold the hammer, Leaves must pay him UFA-level dollars

... or watch him claim to have a groin-injury/flu-bug for a week and walk at the end of the season.

I believe Zaitsev chose the Leaves last summer because they were WIDE OPEN on the right side.

Reilly and Gardiner play the left side... and the rest of their dee belong in the AHL.

So yeah, Zaitsev knew it was the one team in the NHL where top ice-time was guaranteed.

Just call him Nikita Ka Ching Zaitsev...

[BigTuna]

I just read a lengthy 'Re-sign Zaitsev" thread on a popular Leaves board.

Most of the Leafers were talking about how Evil Lou Lamoriello holds the hammer in negotiations

... and that he will no doubt use it to re-sign Zaitsev at a ridiculously low level.

It seems they were completely oblivious to the Group 6 UFA rules.

So I searched high+low on the internet... no one ANYWHERE seems to realize this applies to Zaitsev.

So you heard it here first.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHL_salar ... ree_agency

Group 6 free agents: Players who have reached age 25, who have 3 accrued years of professional experience (that is, beyond junior or collegiate hockey), and whose contracts have expired, but have played less than... 80 NHL games played for forwards and defensemen.

So, given the Leaves will miss the playoffs, all Zaitsev has to do is miss 3 or more games to injury this season

... and he becomes a UFA in the summer!

(yes I know he is listed as a pending RFA at sites such as capfriendly)

No question he and his agent realize this... Evil Lou as well.

So yeah, Lou does not hold the hammer, Leaves must pay him UFA-level dollars

... or watch him claim to have a groin-injury/flu-bug for a week and walk at the end of the season.

I believe Zaitsev chose the Leaves last summer because they were WIDE OPEN on the right side.

Reilly and Gardiner play the left side... and the rest of their dee belong in the AHL.

So yeah, Zaitsev knew it was the one team in the NHL where top ice-time was guaranteed.

Just call him Nikita Ka Ching Zaitsev...

So now Zaitsev is good for the sake of this argument, right?

[Per]

Yeah that sudden 3 game winning streak killed you guys. You had 30th in your hands.
I know how it feels, one year Burke picked up Martin Gerber on waivers for no reason when the leaves were already out of the playoffs. He ended up playing much better than any Leaf goalie and the team picked up useless points the last month.
Vancouver needs to blow it up and dump the Sedins to get those top picks. But hearing Linden's comments on not being able to upset the twins..oye. Not how you build a winner.

See. This mindset is exactly why I hate the NHL system of rewarding the loser.

I would like the Stanley Cup Winners to pick first, then a straight lottery.
Or possibly give the President Cup Winners first pick; make winning the regular season mean something.
And whatever team comes 30th should be demoted to the AHL.

You know something is fundamentally wrong when fans are cheering for their team to lose.

Ending last should be something to fear, something that makes players and coaches wake up screaming and soaked in sweat from the nightmares they get about it. The Mayas used had some sort of sacred ball game where they sacrificed the players on the losing team to the gods. Maybe they were on to something...

[Chef Boi RD]

Let's just call a spade a spade. The Nylander Babcock relationship won't last.

[Topper]

Mayan Ball game was played until death. That is how someone lost.

I doubt if it was sudden death. More likely long excruciatingly painful slow attrition followed by a coup de grace.

[Per]

Mayan Ball game was played until death. That is how someone lost.

I doubt if it was sudden death. More likely long excruciatingly painful slow attrition followed by a coup de grace.

It was played over a period of 3000 years by Olmecs, Maya and Azteks though, so the rules were not the same over the entire time span. And it wasn't always to the death. I mean, they needed to get the players to excel at the game, so they couldn't kill half of them after every single game. But at certain times it was played until death. They had some hoops at the sides of the ball stadiums though, and if you sent the ball through the hoop, you won.
You could only hit the ball with your hip though, and the hoop was like six metres up, so that rarely happened.
A bit like catching the golden snitch in quidditch. But we digress. The morale of the story is simple; you never ever want to lose. Every game matters. And ending last in a thirty team league is so shameful, the team should just be disbanded and never heard of again. Certainly not be rewarded. Tanking should be a cause for suspension. And not just games, decades.

[5thhorseman]

Relegation to a lower league would do the job. But that would never happen in North American pro sports.

[SKYO]

Instead of fighting and trying to change an entire system, why not just use it to it's full advantage?

The Canucks even with all their fight and trying to win/be competitive (bless their hearts), injuries are surmounting and the team is losing games but at least they are going down swinging, take solace in that!

All you need is at least one high end pick to build upon, and that could be done this single year, if you lose the lotto, you can still get a quality player.

Unless JB makes a blockbuster deal to fix the holes up front, this team is destined to get another high pick, and to appease the IN's and Blobs, JB needs to deal some vets and get some picks (to shock the world) and get some kudos from enemies for seeing the light....which is the team is rebuilding.

The Sedins, Hansen and Miller are showing the young guns how to prepare daily for games.

Next season even more rookies will be joining the rebuilding team, gonna be awhile before this team is even close to contender status again.

[BigTuna]

So Laine is better than Matthews, Marner is a bust, Andersen is horrific and the Canucks will finish higher in the standings than the leaves you say?

Bad predictions on this board.

[Strangelove]

Tonight your Leaves set a record for blowing leads in the 3rd... you premature ninny!

Lol even when they win the game, they still blow!!

[Cousin Strawberry]

and the Canucks will finish higher in the standings than the leaves you say?

Bad predictions on this board.

Let me be the first to congratulate you and your laughs for having one more win and 4 more OT losses than one of the worst teams in the NHL.
You must be overwhelmed with all you have accomplished thus far