2006 NHL Entry Draft

[devilbat]

My take on the trades:

Tanguay to Calgary for Leopold and 2 second round picks:

Great trade for the Flames. They acquire a guy who can light the lamp, and they needed it. Their defense is strong, and losing Leopold is manageable.

Stefan and Modry to the Stars for Kapanen anda pick:

Nice job Stars! They picked up a decent second or third line forward and a reliable defenseman, and gave up a deffensive forward and a seventh round pick. Smells like salary dump to me.

Raycroft to Leafs for Rask and a pick:

I really think the Bruins got the better of this one. I understand Pogge is the goalie of the future in Toronto, but Rask is GOOD. If history doesn't teach you that not all goalies pan out as expected, then you've had your head in the sand. If I'm Leafs management, I would want to keep both in the system for as long as possible. I highly doubt that Raycroft will be able to handle the pressure in Toronto. Remember, he's the guy that lost the starter position to Tim Thomas.

Demitra to the Wild for O'Sullivan and a pick:

I like Patrick O'Sullivan. But Demitra will add scoring punch to a listless Wild offense. I doubt Demitra will last long in MN. He seems to wear out his welcome pretty quick.

 

[Agamon]

Yeah well next to Montreal, the Leafs are always looking to get the Cup.

The Leafs aren't doing a very good job of it then. Next season marks the 40th aniversary of no Cup for the Leafs. Fairly impressive streak. Pretty soon they'll be vying with the Cubs as sports' lovable losers...or not so lovable...

 

[Agamon]

My take on the trades:

My thoughts almost exactly.

 

[Welverin]

Well all I have to say is if his wife wants out of Edmonton, I hope the Flyers make him an offer.

God knows we need the defense.

Ooo, Pronger and Jovanovski!

Uh-oh, I'm starting to sound like Knicks fan!

So far I don't know what to think of Philly's picks, but I guess they are trying to replenish their foward positions some. D men picks...eh we'll see.QUOTE]

They need help on D now, and anyone they get where they're drafting likely wouldn't be able to help immediately anyway. Though I'll still blame Clarke for being clueless.

The Leafs aren't doing a very good job of it then. Next season marks the 40th aniversary of no Cup for the Leafs. Fairly impressive streak. Pretty soon they'll be vying with the Cubs as sports' lovable losers...or not so lovable...

Just because you're trying, doesn't mean you're doing a good job of it.

Just look at the Rangers since they last won the cup. They continually gave away young talent for old talent and just kept getting worse, same is true of the Knicks in the NBA.

The pressure to win and a bucket full of cash fails as often as not.

 

[Agamon]

More often than not, I find.

The Rangers have sucked for 10 years. 10 years of throwing money around like it grew on trees. This year, they take Jagr, surround him with a few buddies and a lineup that's two-thirds inexperienced. Not until then did they finally have a half-decent season.

The Leafs, with their aging 'talent', suck all season long, until said 'talent' gets injured. Then they have to rely on some youngsters. That's when they started playing better. If I was Leafs GM...well, before I shot myself, I'd tell my successor to go with the young squad and rebuild. It's what they need to do. And don't worry about Joe Leaf Fan. If he stuck around through the 80's, a couple rebuilding years ain't going to hurt.

That said, I hope they gun after the 35+ UFAs again this season. Just so the Leaf fans can proclaim once again that this year is THE YEAR!!!

 

[Welverin]

That said, I hope they gun after the 35+ UFAs again this season. Just so the Leaf fans can proclaim once again that this year is THE YEAR!!!

I sense a little hate there.

As to the rest of your post, I agree with it. What inevitably happens is that a team tries to be good all the time, is never willing to take a couple bad years off to build right and just ends up being continuously mediocre. Only the yankees and Red Sox seem capable of continuously throwing money away and making it work, bu then the MLB's system is screwy.

 

[Teflon Billy]

...If I was Leafs GM...well, before I shot myself, I'd tell my successor to go with the young squad and rebuild...

I agree with everything in this sentence

 

[Agamon]

I sense a little hate there.

If you are

a) Canadian

b) a hockey fan

c) not a Leafs fan

...then you hate the Leafs. There is no middle ground there. It goes double if you're a Montreal or Ottawa fan, but the western teams' fans hate them, too. Let's see if I can explain why.

Imagine you are an NFL fan of a team other than Cowboys. Yet every time you turn on the TV, you hear nothing but how the Cowboys are wonderful and great and are America's Team. Then when they aren't wonderful and great, you still hear about them ad nauseum about what they need to do to fix things. Their coach and players all whine when things don't go their way, they are always listed (often first and foremost) as a possible destination for every decent player rumoured to be changing teams, and the kicker, they're always on Monday Night Football, every week because, of course, everyone loves to watch the Cowboys. (I realize some football fans hate the Cowboys because some of the above is, or used to be, true. That's why I picked them as an example.)

So, yeah, there's a little hate. I have a couple Leaf fan friends, so it's good natured, but it's really not hard to poke fun. It's almost not fair, in fact.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

I encountered a bizzare double posting. Disregard this post.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Lord Zardoz]

Flip side of the Leafs question

The Maple Leafs have a strange duality in terms of Canadian fan base.

Much of what Agamon says is true, but there are some important things he leaves out.

The Maple leafs do have a retardedly large fan base. Large enough to support a cable channel devoted only to them. Large enough that for the Buffalo Sabres, there are more Leafs fans than Buffallo fans if its a home game against the Leafs. A big part of the reason for the size of their fan base is that until the Vancouver Canucks came along, they were the only hockey team that represented english speaking Canada. this also results in many Leafs fans throughout the country.

This means that for the CBC, it always makes more financial sense to air the Leafs game instead of any of the other eastern teams games. The CBC's french affiliate does the same, but for the most part, on Hockey Night in Canada, if your in English speaking Canada and watching in English, your going to be watching the Leafs game. This annoys the hell out of fans of Montreal and Ottawa. It also does not help their credibility that they have failed to win the Stanley cup since 1967. So to fans of Edmonton, Calgary, and Montreal, which have won the Stanley Cup in the past 20 years, Toronto fans also seem a bit like idiots. And annoying idiots at that, since the Leafs are now running up on 40 years of Stanley cup futility, and the enthusiasm of those fans has not noticibly diminished. And unlike Montreal fans, Toronto fans dont have quite the same championship pedigree. Toronto has 13 wins to Montreals 24, and none of Toronto's wins are in any way recent.

The last factor is pseudo political. Montreal vs Toronto games are a microcosm of English vs French. And for any Western team vs Toronto, its Western Canada vs Eastern Canada. Toronto and Ottawa are simply just rivals by proximity, but that rivalry has been re-enforced in the playoffs. Toronto vs Ottawa is not nearly as intense as Calgary vs Edmonton. Most of the same factors as Edmonton / Calgary apply, but Edmonton and Calgary were both Championship calibre (For most of the 80's, either Edmonton or Calgary was in the cup final), while Ottawa and Toronto have not been.

I will concede one thing though. No one disputes that both Calgary and Edmonton went insane during their recent runs at the cup. But in the event that Toronto makes a similar run, Toronto will probably reduce its self to a smoking pile of rubble.

In summary, to correct Agamon, I put forth the following Axiom.

If you are a Canadian Hockey Fan, you either love the Maple Leafs, or you hate them dearly.

END COMMUNICATION