Swedish defencemen Ros?n & Borgman signed to ELCs
- Thread starter CarltonTheBear
- Start date
herman said:
I mean I've already ordered my jersey so they better have been.
herman
Well-known member
herman said:
The Finger/Sauer story has to be one of the greatest Leafs-stories ever. Because it's 100% true. There's no way it isn't. I wish one day we get Finger's (or his agents) perspective of what happened.
Kin
New member
CarltonTheBear said:
See, I never bought that story. I always thought that Finger was a relatively young UFA coming off a year where he had pretty decent numbers(in the most superficial categories but still) and that was the sort of thing an old school guy would go for, senile or no.
I think we may be kidding ourselves if we think current GMs wouldn't do the same thing.
Nik the Trik said:
None of the stuff about Finger being some great shutdown defenceman or even being used as a shutdown defensemen lined up though. SOMETHING there was screwy.
bustaheims
Active member
CarltonTheBear said:
The truth is probably somewhere in between. I think they wanted to sign both of them, and the contract they gave to Finger was meant for Finger. I think they were just given the wrong talking points when it came to interviews and such, and, well, you know the rest.
Highlander
Active member
I'll give you the finger if we keep talking about the Finger 
Kin
New member
CarltonTheBear said:
You're only saying that through the lens of seeing things with intelligent modern eyes. Finger got a fair amount of PK time that year with Colorado and was a +12. That's more or less enough to be considered a good defensive defenseman if you're a dope.
Did they oversell it in the media? Sure, but keep in mind that everyone more or less immediately reacted to the deal with the same sort of disbelief we still have today so they were trying to fight the perception they were incompetent.
herman
Well-known member
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2017/05/17/ville-leino-calle-rosen-probably-best-skater-ive-played/
Leino played the past season with Vaxjo (and a bit of the year previous after a stint in the KHL), so he had a pretty good look at Rosen (and Holm).
To qualify his assessment of Rosen being 'probably the best skater [he's] played with', Leino's last few NHL seasons were with Philadelphia and Buffalo so that's not really a high hurdle. Leino did have half a season (and change) with Detroit at the start of their decline, including the twilight of Lidstrom's career.
Leino played the past season with Vaxjo (and a bit of the year previous after a stint in the KHL), so he had a pretty good look at Rosen (and Holm).
To qualify his assessment of Rosen being 'probably the best skater [he's] played with', Leino's last few NHL seasons were with Philadelphia and Buffalo so that's not really a high hurdle. Leino did have half a season (and change) with Detroit at the start of their decline, including the twilight of Lidstrom's career.
herman
Well-known member
Nik the Trik said:
Lidstrom won his final two Norris trophies in the year before and the season after Leino's stint with the Red Wings, not that I put too much stock in Norris voting patterns. That second-last season before retiring was monstrous for anyone, let alone a 40 year old.