If you were Shanny

[Mike]

and Foxhole Bergy called and said:

"Galchenyuk for your #1 pick"

What would you say?

[Gerry]

"Done!" <pause>

"You do mean our #1 pick from the Penguins, right? #26 overall? Or else you were joking?"

Matthews is projected to be a franchise player, Shanny wouldn't give him up for 3 Galchenyuks. (And I like Galchenyuk more than most people do).

Marner, Nylander, Matthews... things are about to get fun for the Leafs.

l8r,
Gerry

[Chuck]

After the mess Burke made trading 2 top 5 picks, there will be no thoughts of listening to offers for the #1 pick

[jbro...@yahoo.com]

You forgot to mention Stamkos. Most Leafs fans in state of shock after actually winning something, expecting Matthews to end up like Yakupov.

[Gerry]

There is an awful lot to like about the Leafs these days.

I think it will be important to them to find a way to sign Stamkos to a non-crippling contract, however. If he breaks ground on a $12M cap hit for 8 years or something like that (which would be entirely fair for a player of his stature hitting the UFA market, ordinarily)... well, it opens them up to a can of risk. They have done very well so far using their financial power to advantage in terms of taking on contracts, retaining money on Kessel, and will proceed with some buyouts, presumably. It's going to add up at some point, however. Stamkos is coming off some health and productivity issues - it's not impossible he could be headed for a decline. Not "likely", mind you. But "possible". Hopefully for the Leafs he really has his heart set there and can be convinced of some of the financial fringe benefits of being there. He'll be able to make a lot of money outside of his salary.

The Leafs will presumably play possum to some extent next season as well, breaking in a young goalie and some of the younger players, but also still riding out a few of their lingering bad contracts. And get another good draft pick. To go with a system that is already well-stocked and the boatload of picks they have this year.

I'd be pretty excited if I was a Leafs fan. Not being one, I think it will still be hard to dislike them. The personalities of the front office guys and style of players, the focus on skill and youth, it is a mix that will be hard to dislike. At first. Then of course presuming they do hit their stride as a major contender in the next few years, well, when that happens and the media frenzy puts the Leafs logo everywhere and the rest of Canada has to put up with that... things will change. It has kind of been a nice little interlude where Leaf Nation hasn't been quite so pre-eminent in the media, where fans have demonstrated a good dose of humility (and are even a little cautious now when things look so bright for them)... but it's definitely going to change. And we're not going to like that. :)

l8r,
Gerry

[Mike]

and by then we'll just be crawling out of the foxhole, covered in mud
and horse shit. Bewildered as we watch Carey Price win a cup in Anaheim
or San Jose or some far away place nobody gives a rat's ass about. PK
will be lighting it up in Edmonton, having won his 3rd Norris and we'll
have to stomach the Leafs .... again or worse, the Leafs winning a cup.
Meanwhile, we'll be fumbling around looking for the light switch as the
next great Francophone coach hides in the dark, getting ready to jump
out to lead us to the promised land.

All kidding aside, this past year has been a revelation for me. My
respect for the team's management and ownership is as low as it can get
and don't even get me started about the coach - he's an absolute ass
clown and by the time he and Foxhole Bergy are gone, the team's once
promising core will be either ruined or playing elsewhere. As far as the
players go, we've got a world class goalie, a defenceman who is easily
in the top 5-10 in the world and a captain who appears is struggling
with leadership and is too streaky to be relied on constantly and a
young centreman who may or may not be our #1 centre next year depending
on where Mr Respek feels DD should play. The rest? All filler or over
the hill or over rated.

I have little faith in anyone in that organization, on or off the ice.
If Price can't play healthy next year, I see no reason why we won't be
back where we are today. Another middle of the road pick and another
year of mediocrity waiting in the wings.

[Mike]

Oh and I should add, I'm actually happy for the Leafs - they finally
seem to have got their shit together and are building a winner. Good for
them!

[jbro...@yahoo.com]

It's a sorry testament to the Leafs that they have earned pity from Habs fans! Worse was a quote from a fan after winning the draft lottery that it was the best moment of his life as a Leaf fan. Winning the draft lottery. As a Leafs fan I obviously tread carefully in a neighbouring group (although Leafs group now non-existent), but I did feel badly for you guys this year after Price went down.

You guys are pretty hard on coaching/management but man, they were looking great until he was injured. The thing is, without him the defence (especially Subban) didn't seem like they played the same game and it filtered up through the whole team. It was like Buffalo without Hasek. Anyway, good luck next year! The saddest moment of my Leafs fan-life (month many) was when we were denied a Leafs-Habs Stanley Cup final in '93. Was also in standing room at the Forum for Roy's last game against Detroit when I studied at McGill.

[Gerry]

On Monday, May 2, 2016 at 1:33:55 PM UTC-4, jbro...@yahoo.com wrote:
> You guys are pretty hard on coaching/management but man,
> they were looking great until he was injured.

They kept going long enough after he was injured to make it clear to those who watched every game that it wasn't all about Price being injured. In fact, if you wanted to correlate the downfall to an injury, it much more closely correlated to Gallagher going down. But in reality, there wasn't any injury correlation - not even Price. They failed on many levels, and coaching/management was incapable of adapting over a sustained stretch.

But it becomes a convenient excuse, and one that is easily adopted by the media and those who don't follow the team closely to just lump it all on the Price injury. It's not at all surprising that has become the narrative.

> The thing is, without him the defence (especially Subban)
> didn't seem like they played the same game

Again, if you watched the team, you would know that while Subban started slow, he actually got much better as the season progressed, peaking during Price's absence.

FWIW. No big deals there. I'm sure the popular narrative will completely obscure the reality of the season in due time, if it hasn't already. But those of us who lived it can't help but make a few notes for posterity. Maybe future internet archaelogists will one day unearth a dusty archive of usenet posts and be amazed at how the truths contained therein challenge the posthumously-sanitized accepted gospels. :)

l8r,
Gerry