Toronto Maple Leafs: Martin, Free Agency, Radulov, Stamkos
I am happy to report that each Monday I will be posting a new “Goals, Assists, and Penalties” where I give you my two cents on the weeks news around the NHL and Toronto Maple Leafs. I break it down into Goals (positive news), generally positive news or something is lacking (assists), and negative news (penalty). These are purely my subjective opinions.
Assist: Signing Matt Martin to four years and $10M to assist in the protection of the younger players on the team. Four years seems like a big commitment for a fourth liner but hey, maybe he will be worth it alongside Brooks Laich. Leadership is definitely needed for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Hat Trick: Auston “going to be better than Stamkos (maybe)” Matthews.
Penalty: Hall for Larsson. I mean, are you kidding me? Chiarelli has now traded Taylor, Tyler and Phil. This guy is allergic to talent. Watch out McDavid because nobody is safe under Chiarelli management.
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Goal: Entertainment value in the craziest 30 minutes in recent NHL off-season history. The trade between EDM-NJ, MTL-NSH, and Stamkos resigning in Tampa was a memorable few minutes of “what”!?
Assist: Leafs not Signing Stamkos. Some people will fairly point out I tried to get #91toTO some steam on twitter to help Stamkos-to-Toronto supporters unite. But I only ever thought he would be a good addition at the right price…not at all cost. A Leaf team with Stamkos would have undoubtably been better for next few years, but for it to have worked for the next decade, it would have had to have been at a price similar to what he signed for in Tampa and that wasn’t going to happen here in TO.
Goal: Shane Doan returning on a one year contract to Arizona. Great to see guys staying in the city that drafted them for their entire careers. I hope he doesn’t end up leaving for one season at the end of the career. It’s just cool to see guys play 100% of their hockey in the town that they got drafted to. A rarity that is appreciated.
Goal: Steve Yzerman signing Stamkos, Hedman, and Vasilevsky all to new deals and at very very reasonable cap hits. Call me impressed/jealous.
Assist: Radulov signing in Montreal. Where did this come from. I thought he was using the NHL as a bargaining chip for a better contract in the KHL. What is with Montreal taking on one year contracts with Russian players with talent but questionable motives. See Semin.
Goal: Toronto Maple Leafs not spending stupid money on overrated free agents. Gosh, is this what good management feels like? It’s so warm and cozy and nice.
Goal: Reimer finding a team that will support him. At 5 years, Reimer has found a team that truly wants him. But boy was I surprised on this one. Behind Luongo? Weird.
Goal: Matthews, Marner, JVR, Komarov, Lupul, Soshnikov, Rychel, Martin, Bozak, Kadri, Nylander, Laich, Greening, Michalek, Leipsic, Brown, Kapanen, Leivo, Lindberg, Holland…are all players that have realistic chances at being part of the forward lines this season, 20 in all. and Gauthier, Johnson, Froese have some sort of chance. 23 players for 12/13 spots. Gotta love that competition!
Assist: Is it just me or is everyone else a little taken aback by all the overagers taken by the Toronto Maple Leafs in this draft? But Kudos to management for going outside the box and norm because if it turns out to be a great draft year for the Leafs, it could change drafting as we know it.
Assist: To all those that participated in the #91toTO campaign, thank you.
Penalty: Still three months until the season starts…aghhhhh! I just want to find out now if Marner is going to make the team or not. Is that too much to ask? Yes, yes it is.
Penalty: McDavid not winning the Calder. Yes, I know he didn’t play a whole season, but he clearly had a better result while playing. This wasn’t a 10 game stint he participated in. If we are making players play a whole season to be eligible to win the Calder, shouldn’t they have to play the ENTIRE season? Panarin missed a couple games. Neither player played an entire season. But for me, McDavid played enough of it. The number of games that is needed is too subjective.
Next: TML: Managing Expectations
Under Review: Toronto Maple Leafs re-signing Polak. Still haven’t made up my mind on this one.