PleaseBanMeForMyOwnGood

Member Since
May 29, 2018
Favourite Team
Toronto Maple Leafs
2nd Favourite Team
Winnipeg Jets
Forum Posts
10562
Posts per Day
18.76
Forum Threads
249
Forum: Armchair-GM17 minutes ago
Thread: What was Lou thinking
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Isles777</b></div><div>You're right , things don't always go as planned. Just like the leafs were supposed to be Stanley cup contenders and now there's a decent chance they don't even make the playoffs.

The blues had a ton of players 30+ on their roster. Perron, maroon, steen, bozak. Boston has backes and krejci. The islanders will have players on ELC in the top 6 and by the time their ELC are up, most of those contracts will be off the books. That's what you fail to recognize. Did backes and his 6 mill cap hit (at times a healthy scratch) prevent them from making it to the SCF?</div></div>

Here is the thing though, the Islanders are counting on 2 things to remain competitive. You are counting on your young players all taking small short term deals or hope they give you discounts. And you are hoping none of these 30+ year olds decline at all.

What happens if Barzal wants a long term deal? Whats that going to look like? He's your best offensive player and looks like he's going to be one of the better top line centres in the league. That isn't going to cheap. Sure you can hope for one of those new bridge deals but the are entirely full of risk and will result in even more cap dollars spent in 2-3 years after that. What is the plan with the goaltending? Varlamov has never been as good as he is right now and is also 31, what if he starts trailing off? Comparing yourself to St Louis who was a top team in the West for years before finally getting over the top last year is a awfully bold comparison. Same with Boston, who have the most flexible payroll in the league. In Boston's case, they got lucky getting Marchand and Pastrnak under contract before they broke out. Both of those guys should be making over 10.

So like I said, you need a tonne of things to go right for there to be zero problems ahead. But the chances are, guys like Lee, Bailey, Nelson, Eberle, and Varlamov will start taking steps backwards because it almost always happens. Look at guys like James Neal, he was a lock for 25+ goals and 50 points and now he's a shell of his former self. Andrew Laad was the same, as was Backes. And you have 4 guys like that at the top of your payroll right now. If just 1 of them falls off a cliff in the next couple of years, that is a major problem for you. What happens if all 4 decline rapidly. Its far more likely to see that for all of them to stave off any sort of decline.
Forum: Armchair-GM54 minutes ago
Thread: What was Lou thinking
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Isles777</b></div><div>In two years , four players in the top 6 will be 25 and under. Their best defenseman are all 25 or under right now and have one of the best d prospects in the NHL being integrated into the lineup. Every team has bad contracts, none of the contracts on the islanders will cripple the team. They will be contenders for years, especially with Barry Trotz as the head coach.

Josh Bailey is 30 and on pace for 60 pts and 20+ goals at 5 mill cap hit (nylander is on pace for 58). Lee's contract will look bad in 4 years but if the islanders win a cup it does not matter considering his contract is front loaded and is buyout friendly towards the end of the contract.</div></div>

Well if everything goes perfect we'd all be very happy. Unfortunately things don't always go as planned and certain things about your lineup are far more risky than others. You'll have a bunch of 30+ years olds with fairly big hits and term. The chances of them being game changers for their whole contracts is entirely unlikely. Its just the trend of the NHL, younger players are faster and you lose a step in your 30's and that could result in millions of cap space being used up by the next wave of Andrew Laad's on your team.
Forum: Armchair-GM1 hour ago
Thread: TORONTO WINNING
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>BurgerBoss</b></div><div>If he was more than a middle-6 winger TOR would use him in there, probably put him in the left side. Last year he played a good part of the year with Matthews when Nylander was without a contract, without any better results he has put up this year to be fair.

Also actually I'm not that sold on Kappy being slotted to the first line in EDM, since their first line of Draisaitl-McDavid-Kassian has been great. Why should they break up the line? Also if their wingers were just as useless bunch as you seem to think, EDM wouldn't be near the top in the Western Conference and above TOR in the standings...

Semantics argument to lower his value? That's the exact opposite that TOR fans did back in the summer when they thought of moving Brown to EDM lol. I can't count how many times I saw people saying that "Brown would be a 25 goal scorer with McDavid." but that doesn't exactly mean that Brown was more valuable, rather that means that McDavid is valuable. The players you allegedly could play with does not effect on the player's value. I personally think you overrate Kappy just a bit.</div></div>

Those Brown trades were usually a 2nd or 3rd round pick for Brown. And Kapanen is a RW and isn't half as effective on his off hand. He's admitted as much when he didn't get going playing with Tavares and Marner. However, he's been much better on his strong side. Anyways, it doesn't matter, Larsson is nothing special, he won't get you a top 6 winger.
Forum: Armchair-GM1 hour ago
Forum: Armchair-GM2 hours ago
Thread: TORONTO WINNING
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>BurgerBoss</b></div><div>I'd question Kapanen being a top 6 RW though. Think mid-6 is more like it. TOP6 winger would mean that Kappy could work as a first liner, which isn't something he's suitable. If I had to pick between a mid-6 RW or a 2nd pair RHD, I'd take the D in almost any situation.

Oh and also, I wouldn't pay much more than a B-prospect and a 2nd for Kappy either.</div></div>

His speed and skill with McDavid would be insane. You know with 100% certainty that is exactly where he'd start with Edmonton and likely do great things. He's shown he can play with elite Centres in Matthews and Tavares and would be a massive upgrade over the wing blackhole you have in Edmonton. Saying he is a middle 6 winger is just a semantics arguement to try to lower his value. He is a middle 6 winger in TO because they have two clear cut first line players ahead of him at RW. Which is why he's a 3rd liner in TO. Larsson on the other hand isn't really good. I'm not even sure his contract is worth his contributions.
Forum: Armchair-GM2 hours ago
Thread: TORONTO WINNING
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>palhal</b></div><div>I guess it's the chicken and the egg. The Leafs don't hit because they are not physical or are they not physical because they don't hit.

It isn't so much hitting, which I think is overrated, but some players avoid contact. It's my frustration with some Leafs and for years Kessel was the same. For instance a Leaf Dman will be engaged with an opposing forward for the puck. Nylander (for example) will just wait for the come out to him or poke at the puck. God man, all you have to is lean on the opponent and the puck will come to you or your defence mate.
And it's not like the Leaf players won't take a hit to make an offensive play, but it seems like they avoid contact to make a defensive play.</div></div>

That is the only part of Nylander's game that frustrates me. If he was just a little more inclined to go in and battle, he'd be insanely good and who knows, he's looked far more engaged under Keefe so far, maybe he'll be able to morph him into a more tenacious player.

As for hitting, I agree its an overrated stat, a big hit can fire up a team and Muzzin does deliver that from time to time, as does Holl and even Rielly every once and a while but often running around trying to hit everything leaves you out of position and can cause problems if you miss the mark. Also, if you have the puck more, which TO does, you don't have as many opportunities to hit.
Forum: Armchair-GM3 hours ago
Thread: Ducks Get Leafy
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Jah1722</b></div><div>Lindholm and Rielly have been equally as good but for different reasons. Rielly better offensively, Lindholm defensively. Manson has been better than Barrie. And Jones has been just a tick worse than Kapanen (who hasn’t been good at all this year). So no it’s not literally a downgrade.</div></div>

Lindholm is good but Rielly was 5th in Norris voting last year and is underrated defensively due to have garbage partners for the past 3 years. Manson has not been nor has he ever been as good as Barrie, who did stuggle under Babs but has a long track record of producing. Kapanen has been fine this year, he's a dangerous 3rd liner for the Leafs who is likely going to put up 20 goals and 40 points again. So nope downgrade across the board. Its a bad trade that makes zero sense for the Leafs.
Forum: Armchair-GM4 hours ago
Thread: Next year
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Eli</b></div><div>And although we've already had the debate on whether Backstrom signs that kind of a term over cap hit deal, I think the salary is allowed to change by 1M a year? So he can end up earning 1M a year in years that essentially become player option years, and in which he might not have any trade protection, but start out making the 8M next year that he's certainly worth, while still leaving the team enough cap space to extend Vrana and Ovechkin the next summer.

I thought about asking for a 6th from Detroit, but didn't want to get into too much of an argument about it. If each team gets prospects at positions where it needs depth, then hopefully both can call it a win.</div></div>

I am fairly certain that you can pay whatever you want across any years but the cap hit is the same regardless and there is the term limit. That prevents teams from giving guys those ridiculous long deals where the last years are 1 million. However, if you look at Tavares's contract, I am pretty sure the later years are super cheap since most of the money is given in bonus money. Doesn't help the cap situation. I'd wager that Backstrom would rather go for shorter term, like 4 years at a premium and re-evaluate after that. If he's still operating at a high pace, he'll sign another high cap deal but again shorter term.