Official 2011-2012 Thread

[Cat Smasher]

Ya it's gonna be a long summer. Leafs need Richards, but I think they should pass for anything over 7 million.

I hope they can somehow manage to draft Oleksiak.

[leafs_fan77]

Looking forward to the draft in a couple days. Wonder what Burke will pull off this year. He actually has a little bit to work with for once haha.

[grits207]

Oleksiak is an interesting prospect because of his size and skating but I don't really want the Leafs to draft him. Listening to Greg Cronin (Leafs new assistant coach and Oleksiak's coach at Northeastern) talk about how frustrated he was Oleksiak's lack of physicality makes Oleksiak sound like Hal Gill 2.0. Plus in order to get him Burke would likely have to trade into the top 15 which won't be easy especially with other teams like Phoenix and Anaheim trying to move up, not sure he is worth it.

My dream scenario is Burke doesn't trade up and ends up drafting Matt Puempel at #25, Tyler Biggs at #30 and Stuart Percy at #39. We would be getting high end offensive potential in Puempel, a tough and mean power forward in Biggs and some defensive depth in Percy. The Leafs have already showed a lot interest in Puempel and Percy, and Biggs is the prototypical "Burke type player" who can score, hit and fight, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if Burke tries to draft all three of them.

[I_am_Belak_2]

I hope they can somehow get Brayden Schenn from the Kings, but it's doubtful...

Bring Giguere back as Reimer's backup/mentor. Send Gustavsson packing.

The defense is pretty much set...

Phaneuf-Schenn
Aulie/Gunnarsson
Komi/Lashoff?

[BROKEN*ORBITAL]

Originally Posted by I_am_Belak_2

I hope they can somehow get Brayden Schenn from the Kings, but it's doubtful...

Bring Giguere back as Reimer's backup/mentor. Send Gustavsson packing.

The defense is pretty much set...

Phaneuf-Schenn
Aulie/Gunnarsson
Komi/Lashoff?

No way Brayden joins Luke here in TO. F*ck would that ever be awesome though.

===============

Bringing Giguere at any price tag makes zero sense. He has 2 bad groins and showed without a shadow of a doubt last year that he couldn't be relied upon.

Remember the game late in the season against Atlanta when Reimer got kicked/kneed in the head? He went to the bench and wanted out of the game but they had to leave him in for a few more whistles so Giguere could stretch himself out. No thanks. That kind of unreliability serves no purpose.

I figure Gustavsson will be on his way out too, or at least will be with the Marlies until they figure out what to do with him. He had heart surgery. There were complications and he required a second surgery. Burke acknowledged that people who suffered from Gustavsson's heart ailment often needed a 2nd surgery and that things would be alright. Then it happened again.

A guy who has 3 heart surgeries in the same year has pretty much run his course as I see it. Why continue to run the risk? We may laugh as Leaf fans (you can certianly laugh at me) but I think a guy like Patrick Lalime is coming to town.

=====================

And lastly, that D isn't good enough. Lashoff and Lebda should be considered 7,8 depth defenseman. We need to sign someone else to fill out that blue line.

Kevin Bieksa?

[BROKEN*ORBITAL]

Originally Posted by grits207

Listening to Greg Cronin (Leafs new assistant coach and Oleksiak's coach at Northeastern) talk about how frustrated he was Oleksiak's lack of physicality makes Oleksiak sound like Hal Gill 2.0.

So he would play a lot of minutes against the other team's top players. He would play just about very game of every season. He would use his mile long reach to break up plays. He would block shots like a fiend, and basically be a plus player his whole career.

What's the problem there?

[grits207]

Originally Posted by BROKEN*ORBITAL

So he would play a lot of minutes against the other team's top players. He would play just about very game of every season. He would use his mile long reach to break up plays. He would block shots like a fiend, and basically be a plus player his whole career.

What's the problem there?

No problem, I just think the Leafs have bigger needs than adding another defensive defenseman when they already have Schenn and Aulie. Oleksiak probably has more offensive upside than Schenn or Aulie but I still think we need more help up front than we do on defense. If Burke trades up I would hope it would be for a power forward like Mark McNeill or Tyler Biggs.

[Perrott26]

Originally Posted by grits207

Oleksiak is an interesting prospect because of his size and skating but I don't really want the Leafs to draft him. Listening to Greg Cronin (Leafs new assistant coach and Oleksiak's coach at Northeastern) talk about how frustrated he was Oleksiak's lack of physicality makes Oleksiak sound like Hal Gill 2.0. Plus in order to get him Burke would likely have to trade into the top 15 which won't be easy especially with other teams like Phoenix and Anaheim trying to move up, not sure he is worth it.

My dream scenario is Burke doesn't trade up and ends up drafting Matt Puempel at #25, Tyler Biggs at #30 and Stuart Percy at #39. We would be getting high end offensive potential in Puempel, a tough and mean power forward in Biggs and some defensive depth in Percy. The Leafs have already showed a lot interest in Puempel and Percy, and Biggs is the prototypical "Burke type player" who can score, hit and fight, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if Burke tries to draft all three of them.

I could see that happening. Stuart Percy sounds like the defenseman they want. Ty Rattie is another player they've shown particular interest in.

25. Boone Jenner/Jonathan Miller
30. Ty Rattie
39. Stuart Percy

[I_am_Belak_2]

Originally Posted by BROKEN*ORBITAL

A guy who has 3 heart surgeries in the same year has pretty much run his course as I see it. Why continue to run the risk? We may laugh as Leaf fans (you can certianly laugh at me) but I think a guy like Patrick Lalime is coming to town.

Lalime is far more damaged goods than Giguere, isn't he? Ray Emery would be cool, but I'm pretty sure he wants to be a #1 goalie.

[grits207]

Originally Posted by Perrott26

I could see that happening. Stuart Percy sounds like the defenseman they want. Ty Rattie is another player they've shown particular interest in.

25. Boone Jenner/Jonathan Miller
30. Ty Rattie
39. Stuart Percy

That would be good as well. If Burke doesn't trade up I hope he uses one of the first of the first three picks on a "boom or bust" forward prospect with high potential, one of the picks on a "safe" prospect who may not have 1st line potential but is pretty much a lock to be a good 3rd liner like Boone Jenner or Tyler Biggs, and then use the third pick for a defenseman.

If we don't get Tyler Biggs then I hope we get Kale Kessy or Travis Ewanyk in the 3rd or 4th round since I still think we could use more depth in terms of toughness.

[Cat Smasher]

Biggs would be a nice pick up, I guess they say Burke has personally scouted Purcey.

Ah Tim Brent, like the guy, worked his but off to make it, but honestly I would replace him with Konopka in a heartbeat.

Little bit of a sticky situation, hope the Leafs start off good, or hope they start off bad to get rid of Wilson, hmmm.

[leafs_fan77]

MacArthur looks to be heading for salary arbitration.

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/06/21...-for-macarthur

Article is a couple days old, but here it is for those who haven't seen it.

[grits207]

Burke just said in an interview on TSN.ca that he no longer thinks he will trade up in the draft since he doesn't think the quality of the 15-20 range is that much better this year than the 25-30 range.

As I said earlier in this thread, I would be more than content if Burke stands pat. There are plenty of good prospects who I would be happy to get in the 1st round including McNeill, Scheifele, Puempel, Oleksiak, Biggs, Saad, Phillips, Jenner, Rattie, Morrow, Mayfield etc. if Burke manages to land two of those guys I will be ecstatic.

[Cat Smasher]

Originally Posted by leafs_fan77

MacArthur looks to be heading for salary arbitration.

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/06/21...-for-macarthur

Article is a couple days old, but here it is for those who haven't seen it.

I think Burke said if he goes that way, he can walk.

[grits207]

According to Darren Dreger the Leafs were offering Kadri + Kulemin + a pick for Mike Richards but Philly wanted both Carter and Richards out of the Eastern conference.

Also, sounds like Brad Richards turned down a trade to Toronto.

Looks like it might be Stastny or bust for Burkie. If we can't get him then I guess the next best option would be Stephen Weiss, he's really not a #1 center but he would still be a lot better than Bozak.