• Moderators, please send me a PM if you are unable to access mod permissions. Thanks, Habsy.

Leaf Rumours

Boston has Thomas locked in for five years.

He has continued to perform at a high level.

And with Chara only signed for one more season and Savard nearing his mid-30s (not to mention being in need of a running mate who can score), trading Rask probably makes sense for that organization.

They need top end talent. Rask is a player who should be able to bring that back, and with the reigning Vezina winner on the roster, can be deemed expendable enough to deal.
 
Tim Thomas has had a similar career progression to Roloson, who is about to turn 41 and still playing at a high level. Brodeur is turning 38 and still playing at a high level. Joseph and Belfour were good until they were 38 and 39 respectively. Roy was still at the top of his game when he retired at 37. Hasek performed at a high level into his 40s.

There is no reason to think that Thomas doesn't have another two or three seasons of top notch play left in him. And possibly more given how light his workload was until he entered his 30s.
 
zeke said:
Beauchemin for Halak?

you guys don't seem to understand the value of goalies, especially backup goalies.
Click to expand...

Price is 11-16-4 with a 2.73 and .910.

Halak is 14-7-1 with 2.45 and .930.

I'm not sure why Halak is considered the backup or worse than Price, except that they don't play him as often.

I can guarantee you that if they trade him, it will end up turning out that Halak is much better than Price.

A team with a real need for a starter will give up a really good player for him. Or at least should.
 
It definitely is not a guarantee that Halak is a superior goalie, though he might turn out to be.

At the same time, Price would net a much bigger return in a trade.
 
msun30 said:
Tim Thomas has had a similar career progression to Roloson, who is about to turn 41 and still playing at a high level. Brodeur is turning 38 and still playing at a high level. Joseph and Belfour were good until they were 38 and 39 respectively. Roy was still at the top of his game when he retired at 37. Hasek performed at a high level into his 40s.

There is no reason to think that Thomas doesn't have another two or three seasons of top notch play left in him. And possibly more given how light his workload was until he entered his 30s.
Click to expand...

Maybe so, but Thomas has already seen his numbers drop sharply since last year. 2.10 and .933 to 2.53 and .915.

So would they part with Rask for an unproven Gus under these circumstances? I doubt it.
 
LeafOfFaith said:
Maybe so, but Thomas has already seen his numbers drop sharply since last year. 2.10 and .933 to 2.53 and .915.

So would they part with Rask for an unproven Gus under these circumstances? I doubt it.
Click to expand...

Since the lockout his save% have been

.917
.905
.921
.933
.915

Nope, nothing to worry about. He posted a god-like .933 last year. Not playing up to that standard again shouldn't be held against him. ****, Brodeur's never even topped .927 in a season, and has only done that once.

That his save percentage is holding firm in the .915-.920 range suggests that Thomas is still an upper echelon starting goaltender.
 
Everyone thought they would have to lose Staal, or maybe even Malkin.

But no. They moved Whitney. They let go of Scuderi. They let go of Ryan Malone.

And signed all of their top players.

Moral of the story. Don't waste money on second liners.
 
Yeah. And that the right way to do it. They don't need to be the top two centers in the NHL. There are lots of big money players out there.

Don't waste money on 2nd liners.
 
I know I already said it, but there is a large group of 2nd line caliber talent out there. Lots of them are available every year coming off of bad years, and sign cheap deals. But everytime the Leafs venture into this market they sign guys coming off career years to expsensive, long deals.

Thats not the right way to do it.
 
leafman101 said:
I know I already said it, but there is a large group of 2nd line caliber talent out there. Lots of them are available every year coming off of bad years, and sign cheap deals. But everytime the Leafs venture into this market they sign guys coming off career years to expsensive, long deals.

Thats not the right way to do it.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I think the best policy is to try your hardest to environmentally produce your players from the second line down.
 
teeds said:
Agreed. I think the best policy is to try your hardest to environmentally produce your players from the second line down.
Click to expand...

Yep. at least then if you have to sign them to a big contract to keep them you know exactly what you are getting, how they fit into the dressing room and how they fare on the ice.

All the scouting in the world still won't give you a complete picture of how a player will fit on a particular team.
 
axlsalinger said:
By finishing last (Fleury) and second-last (Malkin) in the right years, and by winning a rare post-lockout draft lottery?
Click to expand...

The Pen's finished last in 2003/04, but the Caps won the lottery to give them the first overall pick, and thus Ovechkin. If the Pens had picked first overall that year they probably wouldn't have received first overal in the 2005 lottery.
 
voyager said:
The Pen's finished last in 2003/04, but the Caps won the lottery to give them the first overall pick, and thus Ovechkin. If the Pens had picked first overall that year they probably wouldn't have received first overal in the 2005 lottery.
Click to expand...
Perhaps, yeah. The best thing that happened to them was winning the draft lottery to get Crosby after the lockout.
 
voyager said:
The Pen's finished last in 2003/04, but the Caps won the lottery to give them the first overall pick, and thus Ovechkin. If the Pens had picked first overall that year they probably wouldn't have received first overal in the 2005 lottery.
Click to expand...

That was Pittsburgh's lucky break no doubt. If they get Ovechkin, chances are there's no Crosby.
 
I don't understand why that is....the year after Ovy's draft was the lockout...it's not like the Pens finished last overall again or anything.

Ovy & Sid were rookies in the same year
 
Pittsburgh had two ridiculous lucky breaks

1) Getting maybe the best 2nd overall draft pick of all time in one of the very few drafts every he would have gone 2nd in

2) Winning the lock out lottery for Sid
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top