Line-up changes

[Kin]

LIke I said, BB moved Lebda and got a very good return. So its duable.

Lebda had essentially nothing to do with the Nashville trade. It was basically the Leafs agreeing to take on Lombardi's salary and get Franson as a bonus. Lebda was just a way to balance out the salaries some.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

LIke I said, BB moved Lebda and got a very good return. So its duable.

Lebda had essentially nothing to do with the Nashville trade. It was basically the Leafs agreeing to take on Lombardi's salary and get Franson as a bonus. Lebda was just a way to balance out the salaries some.

And Lebda's contract was hardly a burden like Komi's, he just sucked.

 

[Zee]

LIke I said, BB moved Lebda and got a very good return. So its duable.

Lebda had essentially nothing to do with the Nashville trade. It was basically the Leafs agreeing to take on Lombardi's salary and get Franson as a bonus. Lebda was just a way to balance out the salaries some.

And Lebda's contract was hardly a burden like Komi's, he just sucked.

Komisarek isn't as bad as some people make out though.  If a team is looking for a veteran d-man who can block shots you can do a lot worse than Komisarek.  Given that he only has 2 years left after this season, it's doable.  Even bring him in as a vet/mentor for some younger defensemen if you want to sell it that way.

 

[Kin]

Komisarek isn't as bad as some people make out though.  If a team is looking for a veteran d-man who can block shots you can do a lot worse than Komisarek.  Given that he only has 2 years left after this season, it's doable.  Even bring him in as a vet/mentor for some younger defensemen if you want to sell it that way.

I'll believe any of that when I see it. To trade Komisarek right now you'd have to convince a team that he's a better option than what they have and worth the price you'd be paying him. I don't think that's something Burke, or any GM could do, without taking back a contract that's just as problematic.

Personally, I keep coming back to a simple question. If I were running a hockey team, would I trade for Komisarek? The answer is a pretty resounding no. I don't think Komisarek offers anything that couldn't be gotten cheaper on the FA market.

 

[Mikhail Bloodnovsky]

Komisarek isn't as bad as some people make out though.  If a team is looking for a veteran d-man who can block shots you can do a lot worse than Komisarek.  Given that he only has 2 years left after this season, it's doable.  Even bring him in as a vet/mentor for some younger defensemen if you want to sell it that way.

I'll believe any of that when I see it. To trade Komisarek right now you'd have to convince a team that he's a better option than what they have and worth the price you'd be paying him. I don't think that's something Burke, or any GM could do, without taking back a contract that's just as problematic.

Personally, I keep coming back to a simple question. If I were running a hockey team, would I trade for Komisarek? The answer is a pretty resounding no. I don't think Komisarek offers anything that couldn't be gotten cheaper on the FA market.

Yeah. We are talking about a 5 million dollar d man who  is increasingly a healthy scratch for one of the worst defensive teams in the leauge.

 

[Optimus Reimer]

Komisarek isn't as bad as some people make out though.  If a team is looking for a veteran d-man who can block shots you can do a lot worse than Komisarek.  Given that he only has 2 years left after this season, it's doable.  Even bring him in as a vet/mentor for some younger defensemen if you want to sell it that way.

I'll believe any of that when I see it. To trade Komisarek right now you'd have to convince a team that he's a better option than what they have and worth the price you'd be paying him. I don't think that's something Burke, or any GM could do, without taking back a contract that's just as problematic.

Personally, I keep coming back to a simple question. If I were running a hockey team, would I trade for Komisarek? The answer is a pretty resounding no. I don't think Komisarek offers anything that couldn't be gotten cheaper on the FA market.

I still cannot believe how Burke unloaded Poni, Blake, Toskala, Beauchemin, Stajan, Hagman, White etc. and got a better return.  Of those players listed, I believe Komi brings more to the table than any of those players, so it is feasible for Burke to be able to trade Komi.  On the flip side, the intent for the other GM is to strengthen his team for this playoff run, and if that GM does believe Komi can help his team out now, a trade can be made, depending on what the other GM is willing to give up, and what Burke is willing to take back. 

 

[bustaheims]

Komi's the guy that needs to be traded, you know it, I know and everybody else should probably know it also. Every other defenseman we have has a place on this team IMO.

While that's true, don't expect anything to happen with Komisarek until the summer at the earliest.

 

[Kin]

I still cannot believe how Burke unloaded Poni, Blake, Toskala, Beauchemin, Stajan, Hagman, White etc. and got a better return.  Of those players listed, I believe Komi brings more to the table than any of those players, so it is feasible for Burke to be able to trade Komi.

I'm sorry, but if you think that Komisarek right now is bringing more to the table than White did, or Hagman who was on pace for a 30 goal season, then you're nuts. He's the team's 5-6 defenseman and the best people can say about him is that he's not a complete trainwreck. Stajan and Beauchemin also had legitimate value when they were dealt.

As to the issue of guys like Blake, the answer is easy. Burke was able to trade him in return for taking back a bad contract. Toskala was an expiring contract who the Ducks had no problem flipping. Poni? I mean, they got a so-so prospect for him.

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

Komi's the guy that needs to be traded, you know it, I know and everybody else should probably know it also. Every other defenseman we have has a place on this team IMO.

While that's true, don't expect anything to happen with Komisarek until the summer at the earliest.

That maybe true also, but maybe there is a team that sees things differently than we do. Stranger things have happened. All I meant is that it's much easier to trade Komi now than say last year.

 

[Optimus Reimer]

I still cannot believe how Burke unloaded Poni, Blake, Toskala, Beauchemin, Stajan, Hagman, White etc. and got a better return.  Of those players listed, I believe Komi brings more to the table than any of those players, so it is feasible for Burke to be able to trade Komi.

I'm sorry, but if you think that Komisarek right now is bringing more to the table than White did, or Hagman who was on pace for a 30 goal season, then you're nuts. He's the team's 5-6 defenseman and the best people can say about him is that he's not a complete trainwreck. Stajan and Beauchemin also had legitimate value when they were dealt.

As to the issue of guys like Blake, the answer is easy. Burke was able to trade him in return for taking back a bad contract. Toskala was an expiring contract who the Ducks had no problem flipping. Poni? I mean, they got a so-so prospect for him.

Komi's has been decent since his return and is a physical stay at home defenceman type that a GM will covet at the trade deadline.  True, he will not score 30 goals, but that is not his job.  All I was saying was that if Burke was able to trade those other players, he should have an easier time trading Komi if he decides to do so. 

 

[Kin]

Komi's has been decent since his return and is a physical stay at home defenceman type that a GM will covet at the trade deadline.

The issue is that he's not an exceptionally good defensive defenseman and he's got a bad contract. There will be other defensive defensemen available and some of them will be impending UFA's.

All I was saying was that if Burke was able to trade those other players, he should have an easier time trading Komi if he decides to do so.

But most of the guys you list are guys who were exceptionally easy to trade. Matt Stajan was 26, on pace for a 60 point season and coming up on free agency. No GM, heck no person, would have a problem trading someone like that. Ditto a guy like White who was young, affordable and playing a valuable role.

You're talking about trading someone who's of questionable value and who has a bad, multi-year contract. Better players than Komi are signing one year, 1 million dollar deals in free agency.

Is trading him possible? Sure, in the Jason Blake sense of taking back a similarly bad contract.

 

[princedpw]

Komi's the guy that needs to be traded, you know it, I know and everybody else should probably know it also. Every other defenseman we have has a place on this team IMO.

While that's true, don't expect anything to happen with Komisarek until the summer at the earliest.

That maybe true also, but maybe there is a team that sees things differently than we do. Stranger things have happened. All I meant is that it's much easier to trade Komi now than say last year.

In terms of value, I see komisarek playing like perhaps a $2 million UFA so he has substantial negative value to any team that is not in financial difficulty.  So I see a couple of ways of trading him:

1. Trade Komi + a good prospect to a rebuilding team that can afford to overpay for a guy like him temporarily. This is like the leafs taking on lombardi's or lupul's contact to get gardiner or franson respectively.  There are not too many teams that have the combination of cap space, wealth, and are rebuilding.  Montreal is perhaps the only team I can think of.  However, I don't think the leafs are quite good enough or loaded up enough with prospects to go this route yet.

2. Trade Komi to a team in financial difficulty.  The other team uses the fact that Komi is paid $1 million less than his cap hit next year in order to pay less than the cap floor and thereby save the owner money.  It would also help if the team Komi was traded to was weak and shallow on D so Komi was less of a detriment to his new team than to the leafs.  Knowing that Komi has negative value to the leafs, the leafs would have to take back some salary though but perhaps that salary could be buried in the minors.  Perhaps a team like the islanders could benefit from this sort of exchange with the leafs. They are weak on D and a low spender.  I don't know who would come back to the leafs -- surely someone we don't want.

3.  trade Komi to a team who is weak on D but has an overpaid forward that they want to dump.  For example, I could imagine a trade with the blue jackets involving some kind of exchange involving Komi and brassard (17 points, -19 this year, paid 3.7 million next year).

 

[Kin]

2. Trade Komi to a team in financial difficulty.  The other team uses the fact that Komi is paid $1 million less than his cap hit next year in order to pay less than the cap floor and thereby save the owner money.  It would also help if the team Komi was traded to was weak and shallow on D so Komi was less of a detriment to his new team than to the leafs.  Knowing that Komi has negative value to the leafs, the leafs would have to take back some salary though but perhaps that salary could be buried in the minors.  Perhaps a team like the islanders could benefit from this sort of exchange with the leafs. They are weak on D and a low spender.  I don't know who would come back to the leafs -- surely someone we don't want.

I generally agree with this post about the realistic options for dealing Komisarek but I do think that we've tended to over state the importance of the value of guys who have a team friendly discrepancy between their salary and cap hit like Komisarek. I think the reason that we did, or do, is that we can forget that even poorer teams are run by competitive people who have serious incentives to win.

In a way, a team at the floor has the exact same dilemma as a rich team when it comes to Komisarek. The Leafs may say that they only have 63 million of cap space and they don't think Komisarek is worth 4.5 million of it but a team like the Islanders(who are above the floor but work in this sense) will have to decide if he's worth paying 3.5 million of the team's limited 48 million dollar budget. I'm not sure it's all that easier a question.

Along those lines, if I'm Garth Snow and I know that my owner has to pay 48 million a year I think I'd want to use every one of those dollars to put a competitive team on the ice. Sure, he'll score some points going to his boss at the end of the year and saying that he got the results he did while paying a million or so less in actual dollars but I have to think that any GM with a pulse would rather use that million dollars on an actual player and see if they can improve the results. Unless you're actually dealing with the owner I can't imagine too many GM's are going to be that business focused.

 

[Tigger]

The trick would be in the contract coming back and I haven't found a team that has something really noteworthy that way that also has cap floor issues ( or would see value in paying less while hitting more ) and needs a dman of his ilk, certainly not the Islanders with 12 players headed to ufa and only 6 contracts with meaningful term ( not including MacDonald) that all seem out of whack in one way or another for a trade like that.

Probably have to see what mistakes other gm's might make in the offseason that could work.

 

[Kaberle15]

In terms of value, I see komisarek playing like perhaps a $2 million UFA so he has substantial negative value to any team that is not in financial difficulty.  So I see a couple of ways of trading him:

1. Trade Komi + a good prospect to a rebuilding team that can afford to overpay for a guy like him temporarily. This is like the leafs taking on lombardi's or lupul's contact to get gardiner or franson respectively.  There are not too many teams that have the combination of cap space, wealth, and are rebuilding.  Montreal is perhaps the only team I can think of.  However, I don't think the leafs are quite good enough or loaded up enough with prospects to go this route yet.

2. Trade Komi to a team in financial difficulty.  The other team uses the fact that Komi is paid $1 million less than his cap hit next year in order to pay less than the cap floor and thereby save the owner money.  It would also help if the team Komi was traded to was weak and shallow on D so Komi was less of a detriment to his new team than to the leafs.  Knowing that Komi has negative value to the leafs, the leafs would have to take back some salary though but perhaps that salary could be buried in the minors.  Perhaps a team like the islanders could benefit from this sort of exchange with the leafs. They are weak on D and a low spender.  I don't know who would come back to the leafs -- surely someone we don't want.

3.  trade Komi to a team who is weak on D but has an overpaid forward that they want to dump.  For example, I could imagine a trade with the blue jackets involving some kind of exchange involving Komi and brassard (17 points, -19 this year, paid 3.7 million next year).

How long before the Columbus, Toronto talks start about Jeff Carter ?

 

[slapshot]

I see just one change coming to the Line-up, barring injury. Armstrong will move up to play alongside Connolly and Lombardi, while Crabb drops back to play with Brown and Steckel. Hopefully Armstrong will provide some spark for Connolly, while Lombardi's game is improving. I see him have a stronger year next year. Not unlike Lupul recovering from a year off, but not likely improving the that extent, but into the 20-goal season territory.

 

[maplesyrup]

So Grabovski loses his job to Connolly... I see. Line-up at practice;

LW MacArthur / C Connolly / RW Grabovski

(Kulemin demoted to 3rd line)

Can someone 'splain this to me? 

Edit: Nevermind...

David Alter @DavidAlter590
#Leafs lines, Lupul-Bozak-Kessel, MacArthur-Grabovski-Connolly, Crabb-Lombardi-Kulemin, Boyce-Steckel-Brown-Armstrong.

... RW hasn't gone completely mad.

 

[bustaheims]

So Grabovski loses his job to Connolly... I see. Line-up at practice;

LW MacArthur / C Connolly / RW Grabovski

(Kulemin demoted to 3rd line)

Can someone 'splain this to me?

They're trying things in practice that may never make an appearance in a game? After a terrible effort, they're shaking things up in the hope of creating a spark? Connolly and MacArthur had good chemistry earlier in the season and Grabovski and MacArthur have had good chemistry of late, so, why not try them all together? It's not like Grabovski's really being demoted or losing his job to Connolly - they're trying him on the wing in practice, and, of the two, he's the one that can most easily make the transition to the wing.

 

[maplesyrup]

You missed the edit...

 

[bustaheims]

You missed the edit...

The rest of my points still stand.