Leafs acquire Grabner from Isles.

[BG]

Haven't they already explicitly sent that "terrible" message though? They want to build a winner not first round fodder. So if moving guys at the deadline can help towards that goal, i don't think they sacrifice that opportunity because they are in the race. Forget the scraps, even if they get a great offer for a guy like Phaneuf you have to think they take it.

They've been pretty blunt about their expectations and plans.

..again it's not likely going to matter.

 

[Blueman]

With the amount of picks we have we don't really need additional picks this year. However, we could look at getting a first rounder by packaging 2nd or 3rd round picks with a roster player.

 

[Deckie007]

You can use additional picks to move around in the draft. You always can use more picks. I'd be pissed if the guys they gave pto to weren't traded for picks after having productive seasons.

 

[MindzEye]

With the amount of picks we have we don't really need additional picks this year. However, we could look at getting a first rounder by packaging 2nd or 3rd round picks with a roster player.

I wouldn't be surprised if they accepted better quality picks in 2017 partially because of just how many picks we're going to end up with for the 2016 draft. Grabner for example, I wouldn't be shocked if he landed us a 2017 1st at this year's deadline.

 

[Aberdeen]

I wouldn't be surprised if they accepted better quality picks in 2017 partially because of just how many picks we're going to end up with for the 2016 draft. Grabner for example, I wouldn't be shocked if he landed us a 2017 1st at this year's deadline.

I remember reading an article about the value of targeting picks a year in advance. I'd be all for this, it shows long term vision.

 

[LeafGm]

I wouldn't be surprised if they accepted better quality picks in 2017 partially because of just how many picks we're going to end up with for the 2016 draft. Grabner for example, I wouldn't be shocked if he landed us a 2017 1st at this year's deadline.

They already sort of started doing that last season. They got a 2016 2nd rounder in the Winnik deal (although it went back to Pittsburgh in the Kessel deal), Anaheim's 5th rounder in 2016 in the Brewer salary dump St-Louis's 2016 6th rounder in the Olli Jokinen deal.

It's not a bad strategy. Both so that you don't have too much of a prospect bottleneck in your system, which is an issue when you've only got a finite amount of roster spots and quality icetime to hand out on your AHL team, and there's a hard cap on the number of NHL contracts you can have. And also because teams seem to place less value on draft picks the farther away they are. Since the Leafs are right at the beginning of their rebuild and our entire front office is in it for the long haul, what does it really matter to us if the draft pick we're getting is one year farther down the line?

 

[BG]

We may be in the first year of the Shanny/Hunter rebuild, but really with 3 top 10 picks in the last 4 years we're further along than that.

 

[Pronger84]

We may be in the first year of the Shanny/Hunter rebuild, but really with 3 top 10 picks in the last 4 years we're further along than that.

Them bringing in Babcock/Lou/Lemaire I think accelerates things, also lets not forget Shanny's key words "the plan changes day by day".... so there's that..

 

[Rumpleforeskin]

Them bringing in Babcock/Lou/Lemaire I think accelerates things, also lets not forget Shanny's key words "the plan changes day by day".... so there's that..

I think we'll need to see a source on that qoute.

I assume you're thinking of this one, “The plan may change week-to-week because it’s pro sports. But you have to have the stomach for the vision to get through it. I have that stomach and I think everyone who is coming in here will, too."

If so then you missed the point he was making.

 

[hockeylover]

Thats not entirely accurate. They were only a playoff team for a few weeks after one 10-1-1 hot streak. Before that they were playing at an 86 point pace (9-8-2) which would have been the 7th worst record in the league and were a joke (do you not remember those Buffalo/Nashville games where they lost by a combined 15-4) and after that well...

and that was with Kessel.

They're pretty bad on paper.

I do. A few people here were all over me for my comments after those games but I'd seen enough at that point.

 

[hockeylover]

And sorry BG, I think you're wrong on this one. I think they would absolutely strip it down even if they perform above expectations.