[Signing] Flames sign Josh Leivo (1yr, $875k)

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by Red

The only time Jankowski hit someone was when he dozed off during play and bumped in to someone.

Leivo may not have the quite the concentration of Jankowski to avoid contact.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by Red

The only time Jankowski hit someone was when he dozed off during play and bumped in to someone.

Accidentally did it 14 times in 53 games.

Buddy caught up to him in 5.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Well it’s a good thing the Flames only gave him $875K.

Admittedly he’s no Sven Baertschi or Jay Beagle. As for health, we’ll see. He played 76 games the previous season.

And recorded 24 points.

Seems like a useful player, we just need to keep expectations in check. 15 goals and 30 points would be fantastic. And staying healthy obviously because that's been quite the issue for three of his last four years.

If healthy, he is absolutely better than any forward the Flames lost from last year and not even that close.

[RedHot25]

Originally Posted by MikeMc

I enjoy how a Canuck who wasn't a huge priority to bring back for them, was injured for most of last year and who signed a one year deal at almost league minimum is being slotted into our 3rd line like its a not a complete hope and a prayer - super Flamesy

Originally Posted by MikeMc

Cool story Hansel.

Anyways, my buddy is a huge Canucks fan - here is his two cents on the player.

"Solid player. 3rd or 4th line. Energy, skating, decent hands, plays well with similar players. Wish we had him for the playoffs. Some ahole pushed him from behind and broke his kneecap. If his skating isn't affected he's a great signing for you. Another Benning cap casualty. "

Sent from my SM-G986W using Tapatalk

So, you complain he's likely to be put on our 3rd line, and to counter that point, you cite your Canuck fan friend, who says he would be great on the 3rd line .

Look, this is another example of what I've been harping at with the last number of signings. Are they first line, number 1 line all-stars? Nope. Are they all guaranteed to work out? Nope. Do they each have particular warts? Yup.

But are they cheap, give us multiple options on the 3rd and 4th lines, and a couple of them have been known to be able to fill in on the top line or two for a bit? Yup.

Fans of the other teams keep saying "oohhh, for that price, that's a great value signing, we should have been all over them for that price". And, circumstantial but we have other GMs talking about how they were working on something with the player, would have kept them but arbitration/salary cap issues, etc.

Its not that people can't criticize, but stop trying to make these more than they are.

[GranteedEV]

imagine if ricardodw was your bantam coach

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by MikeMc

I enjoy how a Canuck who wasn't a huge priority to bring back for them, was injured for most of last year and who signed a one year deal at almost league minimum is being slotted into our 3rd line like its a not a complete hope and a prayer - super Flamesy

You're welcome to your own opinion ... but enough with terms like Flamesy.

Man that grinds my gears.

The fact that you came back with a Canuck fan that supported what you termed to be Flamesy in the first place was pretty ironic though.

Vast majority of this site hasn't given Leivo anything in their comments. Good signing on a value contract and see where it shakes out.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

imagine if ricardodw was your bantam coach

My kid's bantam coach was the worst coach he ever had. All talk, no method.
15 minute "explanations" followed by one run through of a drill followed by 10 minutes of "what you should have done" followed by "OK, out of time". Blocking drills with regular pucks fired by the coach (who had a hard slapper and liked to show it off). He told a kid "if you do it right it won't hurt - I never miss" and then nailed him between the pants and shin pad. He once saw his kid messing around and fired a puck at him. Hit him in the head.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

My kid's bantam coach was the worst coach he ever had. All talk, no method.
15 minute "explanations" followed by one run through of a drill followed by 10 minutes of "what you should have done" followed by "OK, out of time". Blocking drills with regular pucks fired by the coach (who had a hard slapper and liked to show it off). He told a kid "if you do it right it won't hurt - I never miss" and then nailed him between the pants and shin pad. He once saw his kid messing around and fired a puck at him. Hit him in the head.

Peters?

(ducks)

[Monahammer]

I did see one enterprising individual slot Leivo on a top line with Monahan-Gaudreau (though I think they'd listed it as the 2nd line) and another who thought he might make a good fit on line 2. But the overwhelming majority of posts believe Leivo is at most an augment on the third line wing to Looch.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Peters?

(ducks)

I dunno how hard his slapper is.

[GioforPM]

Since when is slotting someone on the 3rd line some big over-compliment anyway? It's often where guys that have NHL skill but don't fit in end up.

Anyway, what Treliving has done is try and find the best UFAs for the money, sign them, and then let Ward fit them in. If he IDs a particular spot and needs a perfect player for that slot he ends up in a bidding war for a mediocre player. A LW who shoots right seems like a pretty useful guy to have - you can slot him RW if you want - I'm sure he's done it before.

[ricardodw]

Is he an upgrade on Jankowski?


intangibles?

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

Is he an upgrade on Jankowski?


intangibles?

He's more meat and potatoes which fits the bottom six better. Jankowski just didn't have any jam. You could live with that with Jankowski if he evolved into a top six, but when it becomes clear he won't, he's a square peg in a round hole slot.

Can't argue with his past production as a bounce back candidate, and I liked him on the PK, but five on five it was just hard to watch.

Change of scenery for sure, as he has just as much a chance to bounce back as anyone.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

Is he an upgrade on Jankowski?


intangibles?

Jankowski had more than enough talent to be a solid NHLer. But he had no drive, and just didn't play with passion.

Leivo is comparable to Jankowski from a talent level, but he plays the game the right way. As a result, he is a better player.

[Enoch Root]

Of all the guys that I would think ricardodw might champion, Jankowski is probably dead last on that list.

[GranteedEV]

I'm not going to get into Jankowski's intangibles/physicality/jam etc. I think sometimes these things get overstated when a player's real struggles might be something else.

For Jankowski, I think the issue was an inability to play at NHL pace. He struggled to play at pace, and I'm not going to speculate the reasons, because I don't know.

What I will say is this:

The past season, 5-on-5:

Leivo averaged 11.82 unblocked shot attempts / 60 minutes
Bennett averaged 10.54 unblocked shot attempts / 60 minutes
Dube averaged 8.97 unblocked shot attempts / 60 minutes
Jankowski averaged 6.81 unblocked shot attempts / 60 minutes
Lucic averaged 6.34 unblocked shot attempts / 60 minutes

So on paper that's a pretty big improvement in terms of shot generation for one of Bennett's linemates, whether that's in lieu of Lucic or Jankowski.

Discounting offensive zone intangibles (i.e. screens and such), it's possible that our 3rd line will be a lot better at generating shots towards the net. I guess we'll find out whether they go in or not, though. Knowing the Flames, they'll probably somehow manage a teamwide return to 2017-18 "40 shots but none go in" mode lol.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Leivo is pretty solidly a middle six winger, because he's actually defensively sound. In fact, "defensively sound" is probably an understatement. If you can score (and he does have a better wrist shot than most of the team) and you're reliable when playing without the puck, you're qualified to be a middle six winger.

Not only do I think Leivo can be effective on the 3rd line, I think he'll be capable of stepping into the top 6 in case of an injury.

[Jiggy]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Leivo is pretty solidly a middle six winger, because he's actually defensively sound. In fact, "defensively sound" is probably an understatement. If you can score (and he does have a better wrist shot than most of the team) and you're reliable when playing without the puck, you're qualified to be a middle six winger.

Not only do I think Leivo can be effective on the 3rd line, I think he'll be capable of stepping into the top 6 in case of an injury.

100% agree. When Chucky went down it would've helped to have someone like Leivo step up to the second line.

[ricardodw]

Okay here is another take on it...

Dube and Bennett played the best hockey in their careers with Lucic playing on their line in hard games.

Lucic finished last season with 9 goals and 26 points when you take in post season games.

After Lucic stepping up in the post season just take a soft somewhat skilled Canuck cast off and move Lucic to the 4th line??

Leino's Career year (playing up in the line-up) was 76 games 14 goals and 24 pts. That is pretty much what the Flames got out of bottom-6 Lucic last year.

I never knew that so many people here at CP were in such awe of the Canuck's team... a fringe player on their team is a big upgrade on the Flames team??

The exception being when they were described as a tire fire that Markstrom carried.

[AC]

Adding skilled depth to the roster pushing Lucic down to the 4th line, and Robinson/Rinaldo out of the lineup is a good thing. It's really not that complicated.

Also, if it appears that Bennett and Dube are missing Lucic... You can swap him back onto that line. Lines aren't set in stone and tend to change often throughout a season as needed!