Maple Leafs are better, but are they a playoff team?
- Thread starter cw
- Start date
I don't understand why a heavyweight needs to dress at all generally these days. I don't see many of them taking cheap shots regularly, rather, acting as a team golem to answer the bell for a lightweight pest so make the pests answer, yadda yadda. Orr seems like a stage prop/guilty pleasure but the Leafs need guys who can play given how average and somewhat specialized their talent is, if they want to make the playoffs,....and they seemed to play just fine without him. It's hard for me to believe that Burke would send Orr down or trade him but that's what I'd explore just to free up some cap space.
Speaking of which I miss Mr.T's Capology-info threads and posts, I have a question about LTIR and I have a feeling the answer was in the old database. If a player finishes the year from start to finish on LTIR, say Lombardi, is a team allowed to have a year end payroll that exceeds the year end cap by said players contract? I can't remember, my hunch is no but I haven't found anything definitive.
Speaking of which I miss Mr.T's Capology-info threads and posts, I have a question about LTIR and I have a feeling the answer was in the old database. If a player finishes the year from start to finish on LTIR, say Lombardi, is a team allowed to have a year end payroll that exceeds the year end cap by said players contract? I can't remember, my hunch is no but I haven't found anything definitive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE2akwOU10Y
I don't want to see Aulie fighting all the time, nor Phaneuf etc. but I'd much rather see a Leaf fight his own battles and do something useful with the 4th line spot.
Also, to see Aulie put Hartnell down again is nice.
Notice how he gets Brieres number after the cross check too...
I don't want to see Aulie fighting all the time, nor Phaneuf etc. but I'd much rather see a Leaf fight his own battles and do something useful with the 4th line spot.
Also, to see Aulie put Hartnell down again is nice.
Notice how he gets Brieres number after the cross check too...anton girdeaux
New member
Bender said:
Yeah that Yakupov looks great, but I'd rather we make the play offs and have a competitive season, although i appreciate it may be better to land Yakupov in the long run lol
Bullfrog
Active member
I agree with you Tigger. I don't see the point in having a heavyweight if his only useful contribution is his fists. I'd rather see a skilled player in that spot, meaning skilled in some aspect of hockey other than fighting. I think a guy like Mike Brown is a good 4th liner.
moon111
New member
I really don't see the need for a goon on the Leafs. If you were protecting a Wayne Gretzky at all costs, then sure it might make sense. But if someone really wants to go give Connolly an elbow to the head, well there's other centers that can and have had to do the job. The Leafs are tough enough to protect the players they have. But does Orr bring more then just fighting?
showmethemoneyman
New member
i think we will fight with Tampa for 7th , as they have a pull back , but ultimately we finish in 8th. Montreal is 9th , Carolina 10th.
Montreal?s D looks horrible , they have to pray Markov?s wonky knees hold up , Subban has no sophomore jinx , and ??? That 4 AHLers play like NHLers ? , Or Gill and Spacek get 10 years younger ?
Carolina got incredibly lucky with No injuries last year , and i think they will miss Cole , even more than his numbers.
Toronto has a ?1 line , this year , and their third line should be better. Lombardi would be a bonus. Healthy Armstrong , Kadri ready for a breakout
Their D looks solid with Liles and Franson replacing Kaberle and Lebda. Komi Lashoff and Finger add depth. There are always injuries. Tell me another team that has the depth of a Finger at #9? Thats even assuming Holzer Blacker and Gardiner aren?t ready for the jump.
I think the Monster has a bounce back year, assuming no more heart surgeries.
And Reimer all year is a step up over the groin ravaged Giggy.
PP and PK should be better,
Removing Acton is good for 10 points alone!
Montreal?s D looks horrible , they have to pray Markov?s wonky knees hold up , Subban has no sophomore jinx , and ??? That 4 AHLers play like NHLers ? , Or Gill and Spacek get 10 years younger ?
Carolina got incredibly lucky with No injuries last year , and i think they will miss Cole , even more than his numbers.
Toronto has a ?1 line , this year , and their third line should be better. Lombardi would be a bonus. Healthy Armstrong , Kadri ready for a breakout
Their D looks solid with Liles and Franson replacing Kaberle and Lebda. Komi Lashoff and Finger add depth. There are always injuries. Tell me another team that has the depth of a Finger at #9? Thats even assuming Holzer Blacker and Gardiner aren?t ready for the jump.
I think the Monster has a bounce back year, assuming no more heart surgeries.
And Reimer all year is a step up over the groin ravaged Giggy.
PP and PK should be better,
Removing Acton is good for 10 points alone!
Tigger said:
I wasn't clear on what the question was.
As I think you are aware, LTIR salaries don't really come off the cap - the amount a team is allowed to spend goes up by a max of the LTIR salary (calculated daily by the league but not by most fans). For discussion purposes, most folks seem to ignore the LTIR salary and just work with the salaries on the active roster ... and that's usually close enough.
If the Preds were near the cap, in theory, they would have been allowed to exceed the cap by Lombardi's salary last season (ignoring the finer points of the rules and Lombardi's games played, etc).
If Lombardi is still on LTIR (for the first 10 games or 24 days - whatever the constraint is for this season), the Leafs will be able to exceed the cap by Lombardi's salary if they're running into the cap.
I'm not aware of a LTIR qualifying carryover if Lombardi is injured for the first five games of this season (not enough games for LTIR) for example. Someone please chime in if they're aware of such a thing.
- that's a rough stab at an answer if that was what your question asked ...
I understand that Lombardi counts against the cap no matter what and that the LTIR provides for additional funds however I've also read about players coming back and how that affects the LTIR replacement space or better yet the cap, a team had to make space for the returning player.
Specifically I wanted to know about the year end totals should a player not return from LTIR at all during a season.
I was thinking, well before I heard the interview with Matthew, that should Lombardi not play at all this season the Leafs could have a salary cap closer to 68 mil with LTIR relief ( and Lombardis contract... ) if they ran it right close to the edge all year ( not a good argument for likelihood, still )
Specifically I wanted to know about the year end totals should a player not return from LTIR at all during a season.
I was thinking, well before I heard the interview with Matthew, that should Lombardi not play at all this season the Leafs could have a salary cap closer to 68 mil with LTIR relief ( and Lombardis contract... ) if they ran it right close to the edge all year ( not a good argument for likelihood, still )
A quick look at some stats given the possibility of having Lombardi on a Toronto PK unit. It is noteworthy that he had some pretty good goaltending behind him in Calgary and Phoenix but it's also interesting to see the fluctuation of pk effectiveness over the years. The position after the year date is how the team ended up in terms of pk effectiveness.
10-11 26th Phx n/a
09-10 6th Phx 0:47 SHtoi but lead the team in PPtoi, a shift from his previous role and he doubled his pp points from the previous year.
08-09 4th Cgy 1:48 SHtoi. Traded after playing 50 games to PHX who finished 28th in pk that year.
07-08 20th Cgy top forward SHtoi 3:01.
06-07 22th Cgy top forward total SHtoi, SHtoi 2:28, also had 2:29 PPtoi with 13 pts, 3 off his best with Phx in 09-10.
It seems he's been a decent part of successful pk units and been a major toi muncher for some slightly less successful pk units but with good goaltending. If he can play, hockey jeebus willing, maybe he's the pk forward the Leafs so desperately need. Just hope he doesn't block a shot with his brain.
10-11 26th Phx n/a
09-10 6th Phx 0:47 SHtoi but lead the team in PPtoi, a shift from his previous role and he doubled his pp points from the previous year.
08-09 4th Cgy 1:48 SHtoi. Traded after playing 50 games to PHX who finished 28th in pk that year.
07-08 20th Cgy top forward SHtoi 3:01.
06-07 22th Cgy top forward total SHtoi, SHtoi 2:28, also had 2:29 PPtoi with 13 pts, 3 off his best with Phx in 09-10.
It seems he's been a decent part of successful pk units and been a major toi muncher for some slightly less successful pk units but with good goaltending. If he can play, hockey jeebus willing, maybe he's the pk forward the Leafs so desperately need. Just hope he doesn't block a shot with his brain.
Tigger said:
If Lombardi didn't play at all, the player they replaced him with made the same salary and the team was at the cap, they could exceed the cap by Lombardi's salary for the year (ignoring bonuses).
Where teams can get into trouble is when they acquire a replacement player and try to keep them both when the player on the LTIR returns. If the player they replaced Lombardi with (in this example) makes the same salary and the team is right up against the cap, they have to make cap room elsewhere for the total amount of Lombardi's salary when he returns if they keep the replacement player.
Tigger said:
There are nuances to the rule and I haven't checked their cap space (as it depends on us looking at the same the roster they wind up with, etc). But the simple answer to the gist of your question is yes.
There are scenarios where they could have the $64.3 cap limit plus Lombardi's $3.5 mil to spend on salaries and bonuses (including Tucker's buyout) this season if Lombardi is on LTIR all season.
Boston Leaf
New member
Im sick of that Tucker buyout.. I hope he is finally off the books after this year.
Boston Leaf
New member
Saint Nik said:
darn it seems like eternity we will keep seeing that..