General Leafs Talk v2.0

[dappleganger]

Kulemin can handle center. Leafs should try him there.

Also, we should try to acquire Steve Ott if Buffalo is in fire sale mode.

 

[Stickytape]

I heard somewhere that Gardiner has some experience at center.  Am I crazy for sorta wanting to see that?

 

[Leafaholic99]

They are at the max roster limit, so if they call someone up, someone has to go down. Who is waiver exempt besides smithson, who won't be going down.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

They are at the max roster limit, so if they call someone up, someone has to go down. Who is waiver exempt besides smithson, who won't be going down.

Liles can still go back down without having to go through waivers again.

 

[Guru Tugginmypuddah]

I heard somewhere that Gardiner has some experience at center.  Am I crazy for sorta wanting to see that?

They said last night on the broadcast he played center in highschool. 

 

[hap_leaf]

I heard somewhere that Gardiner has some experience at center.  Am I crazy for sorta wanting to see that?

If something happens to McClement in the next few games, you will see things to remember.

 

[Kessel Run]

They are at the max roster limit, so if they call someone up, someone has to go down. Who is waiver exempt besides smithson, who won't be going down.

Don't think Bodie or Liles would have to clear waivers, but why even have them wasting cap space if they aren't even going to play. Bodie had like what, 1 minute of ice time last Saturday? Pointless.

 

[mr grieves]

They are at the max roster limit, so if they call someone up, someone has to go down. Who is waiver exempt besides smithson, who won't be going down.

Don't think Bodie or Liles would have to clear waivers, but why even have them wasting cap space if they aren't even going to play. Bodie had like what, 1 minute of ice time last Saturday? Pointless.

Well, they only have nine or ten forwards that can be trusted to play any time at all during an NHL game. And that should tell you all you need to know about the team's current organizational depth up front.

 

[Leafaholic99]

It would make sense to send Liles down if he isn't going to play, save some cap space and give him playing time to maybe get some interest in him from other team, although highly unlikely anyone trades for him unless we eat some of his cap.

Could always extend an offer to a UFA for one season to help fill the void, we do need a center for at least 3 months, most likely longer. There has to be someone out there that can play on the third line and sign a league minimum contract, does Antropov have an NHL out clause?

 

[Highlander]

Why not give Gardiner a shot at centre if he has previous experience playing it, he is an extremely talended puck handler, can probably give us Kadri style possession, what we don't need are defensive plugs handling the puck, we need offence. Or bring McKegg up here and give him a chance.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Trevor Smith has been called up and Liles sent back down.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

It would make sense to send Liles down if he isn't going to play, save some cap space and give him playing time to maybe get some interest in him from other team, although highly unlikely anyone trades for him unless we eat some of his cap.

With or without Liles, the Leafs are technically over the salary cap right now. They're only cap compliant because of relief from LTIR. So they haven't been banking any cap space for awhile.

 

[mr grieves]

Couldn't find a JVR thread to bump. Wanted to say: Love the guy, looks like an elite winger, maybe Burke's greatest trade. But after 3 games and a lifeless top line, I'm beginning to think the guy isn't cut out to play center.

Notable quotes:

Jonas Siegel ‏@jonasTSN1050 43m
Asked if recent struggles offensively were related to his moving to centre, JVR replied, "That's not for me to decide."

James Mirtle ‏@mirtle 44m
Carlyle on keeping JVR at centre: "I don't have anybody else."

James Mirtle ‏@mirtle 36m
Carlyle on JVR at centre: "What else do you want me to do? Am I going to put a defenceman at forward? Is that what you suggest I do?"

 

[TML fan]

Just use the centres you have, Randy. That's what I'd like you to do.

 

[ZBBM]

So Carlyle is getting a little testy?  Good.  He deserves a bit of criticism.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

There was a post last week that asked how many teams have more than 4 NHL centres on their roster. I tried looking for it but I couldn't find it. Maybe I misunderstood the tone of the post, but I remember chuckling because a) it seemed to be in defence of the Leafs depth problems and b) the answer was obviously most of them.

Well, someone took a look and found the answer is/was 29 of them: http://hopeinthebigsmoke.ca/depth-perception/

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Here you go (sorry Zee):

I realize the Clarkson signing and the current Leafs' center issues are completely independent events, but I can't help thinking that that we signed someone else for much cheaper, we would have been MUCH better off reacting to the rash of center problems we have now.  Nonis really handcuffed the team with Clarkson's contract...

You can't plan for two center injuries and a third suspended at the same time.

Yeah, who could've possibly anticipated that going into the season with only 4 NHL centers in the organization carried any risk at all?

Oh. Lots of people:

Drummond said:

What concerns me though is that the Leafs do not have any depth at C. Should any of Bozak/Kadri/Bolland/McCLemment go down with an injury the next in line is I guess McKegg.

Carlton said:

Aside from his cheap contract, he's also the type of player who can fill in on pretty much any line in the NHL. Obviously, he would be less successful on the 1st or 2nd lines at the moment than he would be on the 3rd or 4th, but he had a lot more versatility than most spare forwards would have.

princepw said:

I just re-watched Colborne play a nice game last year against the Bruins in the playoffs.  His play was significantly better than anything one could ever dream of getting out of a guy like Orr.  And Colborne has lots of time to improve.  And Colborne has a smaller cap hit.  And injuries will likely strike during the season and we have a lack of NHL center-depth but plenty of wingers.

I said:

It's also notable that Colborne can play center... Not very impressively, but the team seems thin at that position.

Potvin said:

I don't know why the team never wants to have a 4th line that can do more than fight and occasionally hold onto the puck for 5 seconds - it would be to the team's benefit to have better overall players on the 4th line.  You're going to have games where you might want them to play some more minutes, but as it stands, I wouldn't trust them to.

Lots of people around here could envision a scenario where the team would need more centers than it started the season with.

How many teams in the league are carrying more than 4 NHL centers?

 

[Zee]

Here you go (sorry Zee):

I realize the Clarkson signing and the current Leafs' center issues are completely independent events, but I can't help thinking that that we signed someone else for much cheaper, we would have been MUCH better off reacting to the rash of center problems we have now.  Nonis really handcuffed the team with Clarkson's contract...

You can't plan for two center injuries and a third suspended at the same time.

Yeah, who could've possibly anticipated that going into the season with only 4 NHL centers in the organization carried any risk at all?

Oh. Lots of people:

Drummond said:

What concerns me though is that the Leafs do not have any depth at C. Should any of Bozak/Kadri/Bolland/McCLemment go down with an injury the next in line is I guess McKegg.

Carlton said:

Aside from his cheap contract, he's also the type of player who can fill in on pretty much any line in the NHL. Obviously, he would be less successful on the 1st or 2nd lines at the moment than he would be on the 3rd or 4th, but he had a lot more versatility than most spare forwards would have.

princepw said:

I just re-watched Colborne play a nice game last year against the Bruins in the playoffs.  His play was significantly better than anything one could ever dream of getting out of a guy like Orr.  And Colborne has lots of time to improve.  And Colborne has a smaller cap hit.  And injuries will likely strike during the season and we have a lack of NHL center-depth but plenty of wingers.

I said:

It's also notable that Colborne can play center... Not very impressively, but the team seems thin at that position.

Potvin said:

I don't know why the team never wants to have a 4th line that can do more than fight and occasionally hold onto the puck for 5 seconds - it would be to the team's benefit to have better overall players on the 4th line.  You're going to have games where you might want them to play some more minutes, but as it stands, I wouldn't trust them to.

Lots of people around here could envision a scenario where the team would need more centers than it started the season with.

How many teams in the league are carrying more than 4 NHL centers?

I still maintain my original position -- what team in the league won't be scrambling to find centers if their top 3 are out?  Sure you can bring up guys from the minors, but they're in the minors for a reason.  Everyone talks about Colborne this, Colborne that...he was brutal in preseason and lost his job.  Could the Leafs have kept him up as a winger/center, sure, but he didn't deserve the spot.  The Leafs couldn't send him down without him clearing waivers and he's gone, simple as that. 

For what it's worth, the mighty Colborne has 4 points in 19 games with Calgary.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I still maintain my original position -- what team in the league won't be scrambling to find centers if their top 3 are out?

That link I posted shows that every team in the league would have an easier time with it than we did.

 

[Zee]

I still maintain my original position -- what team in the league won't be scrambling to find centers if their top 3 are out?

That link I posted shows that every team in the league would have an easier time with it than we did.

I looked at your link, the centers listed after each teams top 3 don't exactly scream high quality.