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Around the League 2019-2026 Edition

That Burke traded a legit 2nd pair defenseman in Kubina pretty much straight up for a 5th pairing, knuckle-dragging enforcer who nominally played defense isn’t even the best part.

It was also a salary dump that cleared the necessary space for him to go out that same day and hand a 5 year/$21.5 contract (in an NHL where the cap ceiling was under $60M) to Mike fucking Komisarek.
 
Many of those early UFA deals were ridiculous. It only took most NHL GMs a decade to figure out 4th grade math.
 
It also goes to show you how much “toughness” was valued... not that Komi was particularly tough (but that’s another story)
 
LeafGm said:
Where this started was zeke trying to throw shade at the Islanders’ playoff success by pointing out that they’ve been swept by Carolina, and bragging that in comparison, these Leafs have never been swept.
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Correct. Mbow said the leafs are often too easy to play against, unlike the Isles who are not. So I pointed out that the leafs have never been easy to play against in the playoffs, while the isles have.
 
LeafGm said:
That Burke traded a legit 2nd pair defenseman in Kubina pretty much straight up for a 5th pairing, knuckle-dragging enforcer who nominally played defense isn’t even the best part.

It was also a salary dump that cleared the necessary space for him to go out that same day and hand a 5 year/$21.5 contract (in an NHL where the cap ceiling was under $60M) to Mike fucking Komisarek.
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A dark day.
 
Komisarek, a 6-foot-4, 240-pounder gives Burke what he wanted most, a shutdown defenseman who at 27 is still in his prime to add to a blue line corps that includes promising second-year player Luke Schenn. Komisarek has never scored more than four goals but he is a punishing defender and excellent shot-blocker.

"We are extremely pleased to add a player with Mike’s ability and leadership qualities to our lineup," Burke said. "He’s a respected competitor in this League and we know that he will bring his hard-nosed approach to our team on a consistent basis."

The Leafs didn't get Komisarek for his offense. In 66 games with Montreal last season he scored 2 goals and added 9 assists for 11 points with an even plus-minus. He led Montreal in penalty minutes with a career-high 121 while averaging 20:37 of ice time. More important to the Leafs, Komisarek led Montreal with 191 hits and 207 blocked shots. He was voted to the starting lineup of the Eastern Conference for the 2009 NHL All-Star Game.
 
LeafGm said:
This comes back to something I mentioned earlier in the off-season. For me, the value of advanced stats is purely whether or not they give teams another way to reliably guide them towards on-ice success.

For someone who’s gone completely off the deep end like zeke, they’re a wholesale replacement for success. The XGF% contest is more important to him than real goals or actually winning games.
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The only win that matters is winning the cup.
 
Preston said:
Exactly and I think this is what zeke is arguing. Which is fine. I get it. But the thing is, the leafs advanced stats don't really prove they're elite. They're an average+ team. 12th ranked xgf% in the NHL this past season. Good team but it's a team that hasn't separated itself from the tier 2/3 teams.
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Their improvement in xgf% and especially xga under Keefe matters quite a bit.
 
CH1 said:
He was voted to the starting lineup of the Eastern Conference for the 2009 NHL All-Star Game.
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Red Line said:
poor Zeke never recovered from the Bruins coming back from being down 4-1 in the third and now spends his days trolling multiple hockey forums

i feel sad for the poor **** that a sport affects him to this degree
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wait was that the same year trump got elected?

that would explain so much
 
i find the anti islanders thing funny though

for better or worse (the answer is worse) the rules change in the playoffs - some teams combine a style mixed in with luck and matchups to make it far

it was why the leafs were able to defeat the sens even though the sens had a much better regular season xgf%
 
worm said:
i find the anti islanders thing funny though

for better or worse (the answer is worse) the rules change in the playoffs - some teams combine a style mixed in with luck and matchups to make it far

it was why the leafs were able to defeat the sens even though the sens had a much better regular season xgf%
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this is something they really need to change. the quality of the product just decreases throughout the playoffs. and it emphasizes all the wrong things.
 
worm said:
does this apply to the sabres or oilers though?

or just the leafs?
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I don't think the 3 organizations are that similar really. Sabres have been a tire fire. If the Leafs performance had been similar to the Sabres performance the last 3-4 years, I'd completely understand the rage.

The Oilers have been slightly better but overall pretty rough over the same time period. The Leafs have been consistently good (varying from somewhat good to very good) over the last 4 years. They're actually a good example of the "but they won a playoff round" banner that Zeke is railing against the usefulness of here. Edmonton won a playoff round 4 years ago and have been pretty trash since. The fact that we're being lumped in with them is kind of horseshit.
 
worm said:
i find the anti islanders thing funny though

for better or worse (the answer is worse) the rules change in the playoffs - some teams combine a style mixed in with luck and matchups to make it far

it was why the leafs were able to defeat the sens even though the sens had a much better regular season xgf%
Click to expand...

But the same teams of that type very rarely repeat their results. Teams that don't play a "playoff" style of hockey often learn to as they develop though.

Congrats to the Islanders for making the ECF and all, but we've all seen this movie by now, haven't we? A bad Sens team was a game 7 OT away from the cup finals, a mediocre Sharks teams made a WCF run after most of their impact guys had gotten old (and they subsequently fell apart the year after if memory serves). That it's a different team "built for playoff hockey" that makes a bit of noise kind of dispels the notion that they're actually built for playoff hockey, doesn't it? If that was actually a better style of play in the playoffs, we would mediocre teams with meh skill go deep more regularly, no?
 
I think we're about to find out that there are only two really good teams in the East. Boston and Tampa. Tampa will make quick work of the Isles.
 
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