Stralman Owners Rejoice!

[Philly]

Tough start for Stralman this year in his AHL games but the last two have been great. 1 goal and 3 helpers followed the next night by 2 goals. Should be good for the confidence!!

[angus]

nice - hopefully he has a full time spot next year (with ample PP time).

+1

[Chicleteur]

With one of the Ks possibly gone (Kaberle and/or Kubina), I can\'t see why he wouldn\'t be with the big full time.

[bluejays]

1 word - Burke
That should of been his role THIS year.
I think its apparent that Burke likes White ahead of him anyways. He\'s a burn unless he gets moved.
Huge bust IMO.

[Forever_Flames]

Say it ain\'t so, bluejays....
Actually, Stralman being a bust wouldn\'t surprise me much. I acquired him a few months ago as essentially a throw in. I am in rebuild mode in this league, and have several potential D-men to groom and wait out, including Bogosian, JJ, Brian Lee and Gilbert. it would be nice to see Steralman turn into an offensive dynamo, but you\'re right, Burke is an ian White fan, proved by the late bloomers ridiculous ice time of late...

[4horsemen]

You guys sure know how to piss on a parade!

I have very high expectations for Stralman and from what I can tell so do the Leafs. His lack of a spot in the lineup is more a result of them wanting to get him maximum playing time in all situations than some major flaw in his game. I watched him closely in his time with the big club and he showed great offensive potential! Obviously there were holes in his game but he\'s a young guy on a team loaded with defensemen.

The leafs WILL move some defense and Stralman WILL play on the big club next year!!! Top PP within three years.

MARK MY WORDS

p.s. Bluejays, why hate on Burke for allowing Stralman to develop in the AHL? He\'s obviously not concerned about your fantasy hockey squad, he has a real one to run.

& Forever Flames, Burke isn\'t coaching this team, Wilson is.

patience guys, Stralman is a big part of their future.

[bluejays]

Well, with TO keeping both \"K\'s\" his future is a ways away.

He is clearly not part of the plans (if so 3+ yrs). Toskola is done, and yet they keep Anton in the AHL? What are they waiting for? They rather give valuable ice time to a #5 in Sifers???

Give me a F\'n break. Sorry, I\'m just very sour. Just b/c Burke is the boss everything has to be blown up? Like seriously, settle down w/ the power trip.
Althouh I like Burke, giving Antropov away for a 2nd??? Like c\'mon, I don\'t care who he has scouting TO fans expect to be competitive every night. That losing shit won\'t last.

[Diamond Joe]

bluejays wrote:

Well, with TO keeping both \"K\'s\" his future is a ways away.

He is clearly not part of the plans (if so 3+ yrs). Toskola is done, and yet they keep Anton in the AHL? What are they waiting for? They rather give valuable ice time to a #5 in Sifers???

Give me a F\'n break. Sorry, I\'m just very sour. Just b/c Burke is the boss everything has to be blown up? Like seriously, settle down w/ the power trip.
Althouh I like Burke, giving Antropov away for a 2nd??? Like c\'mon, I don\'t care who he has scouting TO fans expect to be competitive every night. That losing shit won\'t last.

I think the losing can and will last. The team has no prospects to speak of worth getting very excited over and exploring the free agent market is no way to build a team. At this point all of their options are exhausted except some good drafting. And from what I know, lots of the fans accept this.

I sell a lot of my tickets because they\'re a bottom feeder and other people still love to go to the game regardless b/c they work their asses off most of the time.

The team wasn\'t getting anywhere with Antropov. Fact is 2 strong years of drafting will go a long way for this team.

You think Stralman is a bust because of what 2 seasons of on and off again play? With the big 2 d-men still here (Kaberle + Kubina) he\'s better off down in the AHL. Who needs him playing 8 minutes a night on the Leafs anyhow? He\'d be better off playing 16 minutes on the Leafs/Marlies and for the time being he\'s getting that time on the Marlies.

He\'s like 22 years old and was a late-bloomer, you can\'t expect him to step in and fire off 40 pts on a team where a lot of the players have earned their time. He\'ll get his shot eventually.

[4horsemen]

Hey Bluejays are you a betting man? I\'ve got $100 that says as long as Stralman is with the Leafs he\'s a full time player before three years. Write me a message and lets do this.

Furthermore, what exactly has Burke \'Blown UP\'????? Usually when a GM tinkers with a team that hasn\'t made the playoffs in 3 years and has no solid core of prospects to speak of the term \'Blown Up\' doesn\'t apply. I\'ve been amazed at how cautiosly Burke has approached the whole situation.

Lastly, I don\'t understand how Toskala going under the knife should affect Stralman\'s playing time. This kid is not seen as a depth blueliner like Sifers or Frogren, he\'s going to be top four, no doubt. Anyone who understands this will also understand that it\'s not a smart move to have him spinning his heels with 6-8 minutes of playing time a game. At the moment Toronto has Kaberle, Kubina, Schenn, Van Ryn and Finger all ahead of him on the depth chart and all making over 3 million with the exception of Schenn. Like I said before, at least one of them (not named Schenn) WILL be moved and Stralman WILL get his chance.


p.s. I do agree that a 2nd wasn\'t enough for Antropov though :S should have been a 1st or nothing.

[Diamond Joe]

I think the 1st or nothing was Burke saying it\'s a 2nd or nothing, personally. He put that statement up a little while ago and he even said in an interview that a month ago Antropov was not playing well enough to garner a 2nd pick. Personally I think it was tossing out a curve ball and he got the 2nd he thought he\'d get all along. IMO

1st would have been kickass though. I think that 2nd can/will be used to move up in the draft though.