The Foolish Optimism Thread

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Seems like we pick in that range the year after a strong draft.

Just some bad luck with this franchise.

My early view is that this draft is a good one. Not as good as last year but better than average. Very deep on dmen. I think a top 10 pick gets you a really solid chance of drafting a top pairing or even #1 dman, which this organization needs badly.

I think you will see 3 forwards in the top 5 (Celebrini, Eiserman, Demidov) and then the rest of the top 10 could easily be D.

It's a good draft.

[spotthefan]

Originally Posted by SeanCharles

HAHA this is never going to happen..

The only hope is we can retain $2mill and trade him away.

I'm hopeful this organization has finally learned - Raymond, Brouwer, Neal, Kadri - and will never do this again.

How many times do you need to strike out to realize it doesn't work?

You only consider going down this path, IMO, if the player has been a elite/1st line player their whole career.

Continuing to do this for 2nd/3rd liners is madness!

Can't disagree with much of this except the unnecessary punch at Mason Raymond LOL. He was paid like a 2nd/3rd line forward and for his contract that was $3 mill/season i'd say produced close to those expecations on that team.

Brouwer, Neal for sure are horrible overpays.

Kadri has time to prove this wrong but the trend isn't good.

[SeanCharles]

Originally Posted by spotthefan

Can't disagree with much of this except the unnecessary punch at Mason Raymond LOL. He was paid like a 2nd/3rd line forward and for his contract that was $3 mill/season i'd say produced close to those expecations on that team.

Brouwer, Neal for sure are horrible overpays.

Kadri has time to prove this wrong but the trend isn't good.

LOL that's fair..

I think I point him out cause he got 3 years and always looked at him as replacement level. His speed allowed him to have a good career but other than that he wasn't overly adept at anything.

He doesn't quite belong in the same boat with the other 3 so you are right, maybe striking out on the other 3 finally means we are 'out' when it comes to these types of signings.

[bdubbs]

Edit: Wrong thread to bicker about goaltending! Sorry!

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by spotthefan

Can't disagree with much of this except the unnecessary punch at Mason Raymond LOL. He was paid like a 2nd/3rd line forward and for his contract that was $3 mill/season i'd say produced close to those expecations on that team.

Brouwer, Neal for sure are horrible overpays.

Kadri has time to prove this wrong but the trend isn't good.

Raymond was horrible. Signed a three year deal, sent to the AHL in his second year, bought out before his third year and out of the league shortly thereafter.

[RobotTalk]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

The insurance company may have something to say about that before paying out a gazzillion dollars.

Many seem to thing that players who retire on LTIR have made up injuries. Nothing could be further from the truth.

You are talking about close to 6 years of payments. A nagging injury doesn't tend to last 6 years..

I'm not sure how true that is. I remember a few years ago a Maple Leafs player (can't remember which, sorry) was forced into an LTIR retirement and then posted him snowboarding on Instagram with a caption along the lines of 'I'm not injured.'

I'm pretty sure almost every NHL player that's been in the league for a decade has enough body damage to justify retirement even though they can still play at a high level.

Edit: It was Joffrey Lupul https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl...heat-1.4294604

[calumniate]

Originally Posted by RobotTalk

I'm not sure how true that is. I remember a few years ago a Maple Leafs player (can't remember which, sorry) was forced into an LTIR retirement and then posted him snowboarding on Instagram with a caption along the lines of 'I'm not injured.'

I'm pretty sure almost every NHL player that's been in the league for a decade has enough body damage to justify retirement even though they can still play at a high level.

Edit: It was Joffrey Lupul https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl...heat-1.4294604

Steve Dangle used to talk about 'Robidas Island' as well, haha. Toronto were the masters of Cap / injury fandangling

[Finger Cookin]

I think part of the frustration is that we know this group is capable of better. That's why I'm reasonably confident this team can overcome a 2 games below .500 start and maybe finish around 90 points? Not sure what that might mean for playoff rankings. But they'll look a lot more competitive for a lot of the season than they have for the last week.

EDIT: Hmmmm, seems like 95 is a more reasonable target if this team has playoff hopes. Throw a heater or two in these remaining games and it's still do-able.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by RobotTalk

I'm not sure how true that is. I remember a few years ago a Maple Leafs player (can't remember which, sorry) was forced into an LTIR retirement and then posted him snowboarding on Instagram with a caption along the lines of 'I'm not injured.'

I'm pretty sure almost every NHL player that's been in the league for a decade has enough body damage to justify retirement even though they can still play at a high level.

Edit: It was Joffrey Lupul https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl...heat-1.4294604

That was one year, not 6.

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by spotthefan

Can't disagree with much of this except the unnecessary punch at Mason Raymond LOL. He was paid like a 2nd/3rd line forward and for his contract that was $3 mill/season i'd say produced close to those expecations on that team.

Brouwer, Neal for sure are horrible overpays.

Kadri has time to prove this wrong but the trend isn't good.

Mason Raymond scored 28 points in 86 games and was bought out. He performed nowhere near a 3 million dollar a year player. He was better than Brouwer and Neal but that is a low bar.

[iamca]

I honestly think that there is a lot to Big Z’s comments about players playing for themselves and not a team game are spot on.

Huska doesn’t strike me as a rah rah kind of person or coach, however they need someone on the coaching staff or a leader to invoke the hungry pack of wolves mentality with this group or start bringing up players from the Wranglers until that’s the type of team that they ice every game.




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[nieuwy-89]

We need to move on from Markstrom. We are getting killed at that position and I’m sick of it. Wins is the only stat that matters for goalies and he is killing us.

Bring up Wolf, give him a chance.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by nieuwy-89

We need to move on from Markstrom. We are getting killed at that position and I’m sick of it. Wins is the only stat that matters for goalies and he is killing us.

Bring up Wolf, give him a chance.

team will need to score to win still