Check my Stats

Dudes here just need to find the high road and take it more often with guys like him. The fact he is banned is laughable to me.

If there is an amnesty I hope it is because the system is being overhauled. If the system is the same (more or less) and teams are getting an amnesty, then that just sucks.

West being a sub-par 2nd option does them no favours either.

I don't understand why he was moved to defense, because of his shot? He is out of position all the time and backchecks only half the time.

Also Kessel is getting a ton of credit, and rightfully so, but no one should overlook what Dion is doing either. He is logging huge minutes, has a ton of shots, is staying out of the box and is a +8, dude is straight beasting, and has been since the all-star break last year. Also Colborne is beasting in the AHL right now with 7 points in 4 games. It is awesome how Burke has managed to restock our pathetic pool of prospects in such a short time, even when he sold our soul for Kessel.

The thing that is different with Kessel right now is that I used to always think of him as an opportunist. He would thrive off turnovers, broken plays, open ice rushes, etc. Right now though, I feel like he is creating his own opportunities to both score, and set up his teammates. There is obviously no way he continues this pace, but as long as his effort stays at this level, and he doesn't let up/get discouraged when the puck inevitably stops going in every 3 to 4 shots for him, he is not going to be the last pick at the all-star game, let's just say that. As much as I hate to see a guy get hurt, I am excited that Nazem will be joining the big club as a result. Even more so, I think Kadri-Bozak-Frattin has potential to be an awesome 3rd line energy line for us if Armstrong is out an extended period. Sounds like Clarke is out tonight too. Would like to see him get a shot on the Grabo line, could be a good boost for them, but it is probably pretty likely that Frattin gets the spot, which is fine because I am more and more impressed with the kid each passing game. As for tonight, it is going to be a tough game to say the least. If we play like last night, we won't win, or even be close, bottom line. We need to come out with energy from every line from the start, Boston is a team we can't be playing from behind on. Komi needs to be scratched, Schenn needs to get more time and figure out what is wrong and regain his form... he isn't going to regain his confidence sitting on the pine. But yeah, special teams, and secondary scoring, as usual are the two issues that need to be ironed out. Excited Nazem is probably going to be playing.

I'd be doing the opposite. Accumulate more young talent to put around Kanter/Favors.. try and get one of those sought after wings in the coming draft

Some of the responsibility has to be put on the Raptors organization as well. There is no accountability for our team, ever. Sure it'd be nice if players were always self-motivated, but a lot aren't. If Bargnani is hurting us (which he clearly is), then he needs to get his ass plotted on the bench. I guarantee you if he missed extended minutes/got less shots we would see him at least making an effort.

It will all come down to the money.

Honestly reminds me a lot of Mo-Pete (in his best years).

Watching our PP just hurts my eyes. Literally didn't control the puck for longer than 5 seconds at any point during that one.

Monroe and Knight maybe. No one else, seriously.

This will be the draft people look back and say: "Imagine the Cavaliers took Valanciunas instead of Tristan". Thompson seems like he is the size of the SF and even though he has the athleticism and the reach to almost make up for it, I just don't picture him being more than a role player. He is going to have to grow hugely offensively for me to consider this a half decent pick (and be better/comparable to Kanter/Val). We will have to wait and see, but right now I hate this pick for Cleveland (loved it for Toronto). I hope he proves me wrong and winds up being a beast as he is Canadian, but I just don't see the tools there for him to be more than a sparkplug type of player; not necessarily a useless player, just not the sort of player you use a top 5 pick on IMO. Bottom line, do you take the big with Tyrus type of skills or the big with Noah type of skills?

Kadri being optioned to the AHL. Really hope this is just a conditioning stint/an opportunity to get in his groove before returning to the big club. Kadri is too good to be in the AHL, the things that are problems in the NHL, specifically him trying to do too much rather than the simple play, are the sorts of things he can get away with in the AHL because of his supreme talent. He needs to play in the NHL and learn how to play that game, and learn the things he can and can't get away with in the NHL. He has shown he is an elite AHL player in half a season there, and now it is time to get him playing where he belongs, in the pros. Plus I feel like Kadri could be a definite boost to the power play as he might be our most skilled in zone player. We have a lot of guys good in open ice (Grabo, Kessel, etc), but on the power play I feel like Kadri would be a good addition in the other team's zone, his puck control/vision is better than a lot of our other top six forwards. I'd like to see a PP of Steckel/Bozak (until Tim is back) depending on the zone we are in with Kessel and Kadri on the wings. Also, I think it is time to send Jake down too. He had a sick pre-season but we might as well get him 25-30 a game in the AHL with powerplay minutes then just call him and/or Aulie up when injuries strike/trade/players play shitty, all 3 of which are extremely likely. Him sitting in the pressbox is pointless and Burkie already said he doesn't want him up here watching the games he wants him playing. EDIT: Well it sounds like Jake is suiting up tonight, which hopefully means Komi's useless ass is hopefully in the pressbox, but it is probably Franson again. who I honestly find to be extremely mediocre, albeit still better than Komi (who has been better, but is still bad). Reimer will get the start again tonight which is surprising. But it kind of makes sense because if I recall Monster has pretty good career numbers against the Bruins, so he will get the nod tomorrow in all likelihood. No game this early in the season is a must win, obviously, but this is the sort of game I feel like we have to win if we want to be a playoff team this year.

So let's say the BRI goes from 57 for the players to an even 50-50 split, what does this mean? Does the cap/salaries go down? What are the direct results of the BRI being adjusted.

You can take as many penalties as you want tomorrow night i promise it won't matter one bit.

I honestly think we are lucky to have come away from that game with 1 point. Aside from a couple of pressure filled moments from the Leafs, I really felt like Colorado controlled the game, and their speed really exposed a lot of our players. Our powerplay is also atrocious. We can't continue to go 0-for on the PP and expect to be a playoff team. And it isn't like we are getting chances and just getting turned aside, we aren't getting anything going.

Here's hoping he gets SIGNED if he leaves and doesn't force his way to a team.

Oh what a difference a shot makes for a franchise.

I might be classified as a Kobe hater but dude is still a top 5 (3) player, without question.

You should capitalize the first letter in your thread title.

So if Pat Riley was our GM all-stars would suddenly love to play in Toronto? How about Milwaukee? Charlotte? The fact that small market teams typically seem to have to be flawless in building their roster (the stars really do have to pretty much align) in order to be a contender is dumb. LA traded Caron Butler for Kwame Brown, sure they got Pau in another rape deal but don't tell me that teams like LA are excellently managed because they aren't (they gave Artest a blank check book). They just have Kobe Bryant, who actually forced his way to LA I think, I am ignorant to the issue as I was 5 at the time, but yeah players forcing their way off teams is far from an issue right? It's not like it still happens right? People point to San Antonio as inspiration that the system isn't broken, but in reality they won all these titles because they won a [expletive]ing draft lottery and got the best PF of all time. And he won before Manu and TP were relevant so don't even say their names; not trying to discredit SA's front office because they are obviously great, but just making a point. Washington, Chicago, these teams moving forward now are going to be contenders because they won a lottery, not because their management is so awesome. The bottom line is, you only win with superstars (minus anomalies like Detroit). There aren't enough superstars to go around to allow all 30 teams to compete (or even 16 teams to to have a shot at winning the title realistically), so there needs to be another way to spread the next level of talent around to even the playing field so that teams who aren't lucky enough to win the draft lottery or draft a superstar (or live somewhere nice enough just to sign them), can still find ways to win. If you want to have 2-3 stars on your team, then you should have difficulty filling the rest of your roster out, this is how I feel a hard cap helps the system. I just feel like people don't give enough credit to how much luck is involved in building a good team in the NBA.

RNH might not be as good a prospect as the past handful of top picks (debatable for Hall, I prefer RNH personally as I think Hall is going to wind up killing himself in a game before he is 25), but that doesn't mean he is a bad prospect by any means. Seems like he has first line talent without a doubt. The biggest knock against him, by the sounds of things, is his size. Which if true, is something that is definitely fixable, hockey IQ, talent and natural ability, however, typically are not.

The NBA needs worry about trying to equally distribute the talented players around the league before it worries about something as absurd as contraction.

4 goals in 3 games is impressive for an 18 year old. He is already bounds better than that reckless hockey player who was drafted first last year.