The ****ing Season thread, 2015/16 Edition

[LeafGm]

I think he's available, absolutely. If someone coughed up a 1st or fairly high end prospect Hunter/Dubas were high on I think Leo would go bye bye, absolutely. Is he gone in the way the names I mentioned are? No.

Guys with term are more likely to be summer deals anyway. Leo & Bozak specifically. Deadline tends to be populated with expiring guys moving around, with teams avoiding term. Though, with Bozak and Leo both on really team friendly contracts, I could see a GM make an exception there.

$4.2M for this year and next is pretty team-friendly, for sure.

And there's even a few teams that are right up against the cap, but also have contracts roughly equivalent to Bozak's that I'm sure they'd love to get rid of, and that they'd be ecstatic to exchange for a player who could actually help them:

Chicago - Bryan Bickell ($4M until 16/17)
Dallas - Ales Hemsky ($4M until 16/17)
Washington - Brooks Laich ($4.5M until 16/17)
St-Louis - Patrik Berglund ($3.7M until 16/17)
Minnesota - Niklas Backstrom ($3.4M until 15/16)

 

[MindzEye]

$4.2M for this year and next is pretty team-friendly, for sure.

And there's even a few teams that are right up against the cap, but also have contracts roughly equivalent to Bozak's that I'm sure they'd love to get rid of, and that they'd be ecstatic to exchange for a player who could actually help them:

Chicago - Bryan Bickell ($4M until 16/17)
Dallas - Ales Hemsky ($4M until 16/17)
Washington - Brooks Laich ($4.5M until 16/17)
St-Louis - Patrik Berglund ($3.7M until 16/17)
Minnesota - Niklas Backstrom ($3.4M until 15/16)

If we took bad salary back to even it out, the way Bozie is playing (while dispelling the thought that he was useless without Kessel, a thought that I fully admit I was a big proponent of), he gets us into the top of a lot of prospect pools for a team looking to land him.

The question is, who needs a 2C?

 

[LeafGm]

I don't even think you're necessarily limited to teams that need a #2 center.

Just looking again at the teams I listed above, here's their center-ice situation:

Chicago - Toews/Anisimov/Danault/Rasmussen
Dallas - Seguin/Spezza/Eakin/Fiddler
Washington - Backstrom/Kuznetsov/Beagle/Latta
St-Louis - Stastny/Backes/Lehtera/Jaskin
Minnesota - Granlund/Koivu/Haula/Stoll

Even if Bozak doesn't necessarily displace one of their top-two centers, I think at least a few of those teams would be really happy to have him as their #3 center. Especially if it ends up being a cap neutral deal for them. And yeah, while I've previously argued Bozak could get you a first round pick, if you also take back a bad contract, I think that price goes up even higher.

Outside of those six teams, some other teams in the playoff hunt that could use some help up the middle are Detroit, Tampa Bay, Vancouver, Nashville & Calgary.

 

[leafman101]

Bozak should be easy to deal. I'm not his biggest fan but he does things well at a position all teams are looking to strengthen. He's only 29, and signed to a good contract.

Just need to wait for a good offer. I t'll likely come, wether at the deadline, or in the offseason. There is no rush to move him.

 

[JackBurton]

The "He Can't Score Without Kessel" is dead. Now Bozak can be moved for sure and has a nice deal. He'll be moved when the time/deal is right,
I'm not sure Babcock would want to see Leo go, even though his value will never be higher and the right thing to do is deal him. That's why I have doubts he'll get traded.

 

[PKForce81]

The "He Can't Score Without Kessel" is dead. Now Bozak can be moved for sure and has a nice deal. He'll be moved when the time/deal is right,
I'm not sure Babcock would want to see Leo go, even though his value will never be higher and the right thing to do is deal him. That's why I have doubts he'll get traded.

Yeah for sure. I've listened to Babcock's comments before and after the game(almost all of them) and you can see he really likes Leo. Having said that, for the right price i'm sure anyone can go(as ME pointed out, you are offered a strong first round pick you gotta think hard).

Funny about Bozak, a number of times this season Babcock was asked about him, he would just go a bit from that and mention Naz's good game..lol..Then later on he would say that he bugs Bozak about his play without the puck(which he should because this year his offensive game is up but i have for most part hated his defensive game...i think he was better defensively with Phil..maybe because that's all he focused on and now is way too relaxed out there?).

 

[LeafGm]

Bozak should be easy to deal. I'm not his biggest fan but he does things well at a position all teams are looking to strengthen. He's only 29, and signed to a good contract.

Just need to wait for a good offer. I t'll likely come, wether at the deadline, or in the offseason. There is no rush to move him.

Agreed. The only guys you have to move by the deadline for whatever you can get are the pending UFA's.

With everyone else, we can afford to wait for the right deal. There's no urgent need to clear anyone's contract off the books.

 

[Deckie007]

Yeah for sure. I've listened to Babcock's comments before and after the game(almost all of them) and you can see he really likes Leo. Having said that, for the right price i'm sure anyone can go(as ME pointed out, you are offered a strong first round pick you gotta think hard).

Funny about Bozak, a number of times this season Babcock was asked about him, he would just go a bit from that and mention Naz's good game..lol..Then later on he would say that he bugs Bozak about his play without the puck(which he should because this year his offensive game is up but i have for most part hated his defensive game...i think he was better defensively with Phil..maybe because that's all he focused on and now is way too relaxed out there?).

I dunno, dude's CF% went from 46% last year to 51.5% this year, hard to say he's been worse defensively.

 

[PKForce81]

I dunno, dude's CF% went from 46% last year to 51.5% this year, hard to say he's been worse defensively.

I don't take those seriously unless they are over a longer period. The team is playing much better defensively so for most part they all look better out there. When you watch his effort level on most nights, it feels like he takes a lot more risks offensively and then kinda relaxes too much on a defensive play(last season he was trying to find Phil every time and so he had more focus and energy on being in the right spot to defend).I think this year he counts on his 2 wingers to do quite a bit on both ends(and credit to those guys they've done a nice job). Babcock has been a magician so far so i'm sure he can improve Bozak's overall play more. Last night for example, the only goal we gave up was Bozak's fault. He initially had Kulemin, but then basically forgot about him and Kulemin hid behind him and tipped a point shot(while Bozak is standing in front of Kuley and basically screening our goalie even more).

 

[BKerr]

Let's face it, the deal is horrible for Pittsburgh. Kessel isn't scoring and the team is terrible. Nothing can fix them. They are old, slow, can't hit, no depth, no prospects and the "Stars" are not playing like it anymore.
Good luck trading Phil when Crosby wants out.

Pittsburgh's team building is horrible... no defence who get their forwards the puck (outside of Letang).

 

[MindzEye]

i think he was better defensively with Phil..maybe because that's all he focused on and now is way too relaxed out there?).

He was abysmal defensively with Phil. Easily the biggest reason that line was tragic in their own end. He's been better this year, but a lot of that is likely system and usage. He's in a much better system, and no longer being used as a 20mpg uber 1st line match up centre.

 

[PKForce81]

He was abysmal defensively with Phil. Easily the biggest reason that line was tragic in their own end. He's been better this year, but a lot of that is likely system and usage. He's in a much better system, and no longer being used as a 20mpg uber 1st line match up centre.

We'll agree to disagree here. There is such a thing as being more responsible but not very effective so it could be that(which i think he was...saw him break up so many plays where they were sure goals). Also, this year i wanted to see how he does with a world class player like Sid. Guess what? They were spending so much time in their own zone, couldn't get out if their life depended on it...big reason why Pens fans are already hating Phil and why he was moved from Sid's line to playing with Malkin(not sure if that's still going on but they did make that move). Imagine 2 incompetent wingers who always shy away from checks and allow dmen to pinch in to keep pucks(which is what happened every time that line was in our zone) and is happening in Pittsburgh. You can be the best 2 way player on the planet, you will be spending a lot of time chasing guys because it's simply not possible for you as a center to be covering 3 guys at the same time(getting your man and hoping the other 2 get theirs). It kept happening over and over and it's happening in Pittsburgh too. That team is a prime example how you can have elite talent througout the lineup(and they can add a few more and they'll stick suck) but without proper balance where you add some heavy lifters(guys who are willing to go in corners and win battles) you aren't doing jack shit.

 

[JackBurton]

Bozak looks better defensively because of Babcock. They actually have a system in place and are following it.

 

[leafman101]

Bozak looks the same. He's still a pussy down low but he just has the support of his wingers now. They are much more involved down low in babcocks system.

 

[Preston_Mizzi]

It's funny seeing the nerds squirm about him. Some taking the stance that he still sucks and isn't an NHLer and other admitting he's playing better than usual but they were still right about him all along.

 

[JackBurton]

Leafs MVP is Mike Babcock all the way.

 

[MindzEye]

Guess what? They were spending so much time in their own zone, couldn't get out if their life depended on it

That's usually, usually, the centres fault. For example:

Kessel: 52.8 CF%
Crosby: 48.8 CF%

Kessel on a different line has not improved Crosby's game even a little bit this season.

So basically, you're making up shit as you go along to suit your pre determined narrative.

 

[MindzEye]

It's funny seeing the nerds squirm about him. Some taking the stance that he still sucks and isn't an NHLer and other admitting he's playing better than usual but they were still right about him all along.

Meh, I was wrong about him. I did complain about usage and system, but even under Babcock I expected him to get a bit more complete defensively (which he has...not good by any stretch, but passable) and fall off the map offensively without Phil (and the complete opposite has happened)

 

[PKForce81]

Bozak looks the same. He's still a pussy down low but he just has the support of his wingers now. They are much more involved down low in babcocks system.

So now you're saying the wingers do make a difference in whether a line will spend so much time in their own end? Well you didn't say that last year. It was all Bozak's fault because he's the centre and it makes no difference what the wingers do.

 

[Preston_Mizzi]

Meh, I was wrong about him. I did complain about usage and system, but even under Babcock I expected him to get a bit more complete defensively (which he has...not good by any stretch, but passable) and fall off the map offensively without Phil (and the complete opposite has happened)

Oh I was wrong too. The nerds got nuts about him though and literally only talked about him for months, panicking that he sucks and that Kadri is light years better, screaming violently at those who disagreed. Now they don't know what to do - It's just funny to me.