By admitting that he was wrong about Gardiner?
How can the Leafs coach scratch Gardiner for most of the season, yet when facing playoff elimination give him the most ice time of all the Leaf skaters.
Championships
Ottawa Sun regular season champion.
Yahoo.champion
Scoresheet championship
By admitting that he was wrong about Gardiner?
10 Team Yahoo Roto
Keep 3F, 1D, 1G (to max 2 years unless franchise keeper)
3C,3LW,3RW,4D,2G,2BN,2IR Roto-play 85games/position
Player: G, A, +/-, PIM, PPA, PPG, HIT, BS SOG, FW
Goalie: W, GAA, SV, SV%, SHO
C: (F1) Tavares, Stastny, Carter
LW: 1-Hall, Pacioretty, B.Schenn
RW: Mackinnon, Nyquist, Hornqvist
D: 1-Carlson, Josi, Faulk, Franson
G: Andersen, Mason
BN: Jones, Niemi
#- denotes number of years I have kept a player. 2 = I need to trade him this year, (F1) = Franchise Keeper, up to 4 years.
Hes earned it with his play last game.
Not to mention Fraser was out.
I am a big Gardiner guy. I believe teams need a top puck rusher from the back end. Like Green in Washington at his best for example. Just do not understand how to explain the coaching decision regarding his use this season.
Championships
Ottawa Sun regular season champion.
Yahoo.champion
Scoresheet championship
He wasnt healthy and when he came back he lost his confidence.
And he plays Tyler Bozak (goal, I know, but killed on the draw and not great defensively) way more than a vastly superior player in Grabovski.
In regards to Gardiner - when he first was called back up to the NHL this year, he didn't play well at all - many defensive miscues. I am a big Gardiner fan, and thought that he should play more, but to be honest when he did he did not play well.
All the sudden he is doing all the things he wasn't doing - being physical, being relatively responsible defensively, and making those great breakout passes that he's known for.
Great to see that he's turned it around.
Also with a future top 4 of Phaneuf, Franson, Gardiner, and Rielly this team will be beastly on the blue line.
You ready to give Gardiner and Rielly the crazy tough minutes that Dion has been logging? He's not worth 6+ in a new cap era, but there is no one to replace what he does right now. There is a reason he struggles at times...
After OEL and Z Michalek, he faced the toughest competition in the league last year (from a Corsi standpoint, which measures puck possession).
http://www.behindthenet.ca/nhl_stati...4+45+46+63+67#
And he started 41 percent of his shifts in the offensive zone. Simply put I don't think anyone else on Toronto's team can do the heavy lifting as well as Dion can.
Please elaborate on who he should be targeting and how he could make that happen.
Here's a link to the UFA's available this year:
http://www.capgeek.com/free-agents?y...D&fa_type_id=2
Not sure anyone jumps out as an improvement over Dion in terms of all-round game. Sure he's not in the same class as the NHL elite but what would be the price to pry one of them away from their teams? Most GM's would die in a fit of laughter if you called up asking about Suter, Doughty, Chara or any of the leagues other premier d-men.
It's also interesting to note that when you look at 5 on 5 icetime throughout the season or the playoofs Phaneuf isn't really getting any more minutes than Gunnarson or Kostka.
If you look at the premier d-men in the league you'll see they play considerably more than the next closest guy:
Doughty is almost 3 min
Sutter and Brodin were fairly even but after that it drops off almost 3 min
Webber is out front by almost a minute of Josi and then it drops off well over a min
Campbell is more than 2 min out front of Petrovic
Chara and Seidenberg were both well out front
Ehrhoff was over a minute ahead of Sekera and three min ahead of Myers
Karlsson over a minuted and a half in front of Methot and two and a half in front of the next
There are a few teams that seem to really spread around the d minutes 5 on 5 but in general the top dogs get the top minutes. Phaneuf is just barely playing more than Kostka or Gunnarson and as of right now Gardiner. I'm not sure the Leafs are under any illusion that he's one of the best d-men in the league
Totally agree with this...and this is why no one wants to go play in Toronto, because if you are well paid the fans will eventually wind up hating you no matter how hard you play for them. Such is the case with Phaneuf, in the new cap league he's not worth his contract, but that's hardly his fault. And the knocks against him are fair, the erratic shot, the lack of positional awareness at times in his own zone and poor decision making going for the 'big hit' (as we saw in the OT game). But the bottom line is that he logs massive minutes (he's top 10 every year), he plays in all situations and he logs a lot of tough minutes, blocks shots, hits everybody, and he's big and physical, guys like that are rare in the NHL that's why everyone wants this kind of blue-liner. If he moves on he'll leave a big hole behind that they won't be able to fill easily or on the cheap.
Last edited by mister_mcgoo; May 11, 2013 at 3:44 PM.
Thanks man, my TV debut... haha.
And it isn't propaganda. It's fact. The Leafs don't utilize Dion properlybecause they can't. Ideally he is a 2 or 3 who sees a crapload of PP time and not the toughest defensive minutes.
You acquire a #1 sure... not that easy though. And do you want Liles, Gardiner, Franson, Fraser et all playing tough minutes? They'd get eaten alive. It's really a no-win situation for Dion right now.
gee I'm sorry ****-wad I forgot I wasn't allowed to comment on any of your precious Leafs threads because I'm not completely delusional. Fans like you definitely overrate their players just like you do everything else about the franchise. But it's hardly contradictory to say that you guys also tend to turn on your players eventually...it happened with Kessel, it happened with Phaneuf, hell it even happened with Sundin to some degree. It's cognitive dissonance in action.