Thursday, June 28, 2007

Toronto is Laughland (Beer-infested rant)

Ah yes. The ideas never stop coming in Toronto or from any pathetic Leafs fan.
While James, a WFS reader mentioned the idea of the Leafs moving Bryan McCabe to Long Island to make room for Ryan Smyth, I can entertain the thought of the Buds ridding themselves of McCabe. Oh, that would be a blessing. But that is beside the point. The point is, that every fucking year in Leafland the fans demand that John Ferguson Jr signs a major player after July 1st, because the Leafs always need SOMETHING better.
Now the talks are that Sundin needs a speedy winger on his line. Enter the wishlist for Paul Kariya. Yeah, wouldn't he be a perfect fit. Wouldn't a lot of players?
The IQ of this team and it's fans continues to baffle me and push me further away from even cheering for a team that I have backed since I was 7 years old.
It's always about buying their way to a Cup. And it never changes. That type of mentality landed them with Pavel Kubina ($5 million), Hal Gill ($2.1 million), and Mark Bell ($2.6 million). There is almost $10 million right there. And it's a damned shame. They are also famous for cleaning out their supply of draft picks, especially at the trade deadline. It's a reverse pcychology from the days that Harold Ballard wouldn't ever spend a dime on the team, and let them rot.
Sundin needs a speedy winger? I forget where Darcy Tucker and Kyle Wellwood were good enough linemates for the Captain.
This guy even thinks that the Leafs will/should rid themselves of Raycroft, McCabe and/or Kubina to make way for guys like Jason Blake, Bertuzzi, Cujo, and Peca. Yeesh.
Peca is done in Toronto.
Kubina and McCabe are going nowhere.
Raycroft will back up Toskala, or they will share duties. A great 1-2 tandem.
The Leafs don't need an overhaul. They just need a change in mentality. They need to play cohesively and learn some team defence.
The overhaul of the team comes when there are several idiots on the team that refuse to perform (See Vancouver in the summer of 2006). Bringing in a bunch of new guys is only rolling the dice on team chemistry and/or ruining it. And it sure as hell doesn't work very often. That is a big reason why the Leafs are a joke, and why they are not going to get within a sniffing distance of the Cup anytime soon.
If the Leafs would just be a little more patient, build a good core of youth and give them a fair chance, and maybe risk missing the playoffs for a bit until that happens, then so be it. Look at how long Kyle Wellwood was held back until last season. How about the Laffs trading Alyn McCauley, Brad Boyes, and a 1st rounder to get Owen Nolan. How about the picks they pissed away to get Toskala and Bell? The blunders go on and on.
But oh no. You can't miss the playoffs in Toronto. You always have to WIN NOW! And you have to acquire the big-named, over-priced idiots to get the job done. The fans demand it. And really, I am sick and fucking tired of it. It's a cycle that never ends.
Ah crap, the beer is wearing off. I'm going to bed.

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6 Comments:

At June 28, 2007 at 9:39 a.m. , Blogger PPP said...

You realize that the Leafs have Wellwood, Steen, Stajan, Kaberle, White, Colaiacovo, Antropov and Ponikarovsky that they have drafted and developed on their roster. Not to mention guys that could make it like Williams and Kronwall.

Kubina and McCabe's contracts looked bad last year but each year they are going to look better and better. Kubina will have a good year after the problems he had last year and McCabe's 60pts and plus hockey are going to look pretty good at $5.75M after the signings on July 1st.

You can't seriously think that Gill was a bad signing.

And the Toskala-Bell trade was a good one. They gave up two picks in a weak draft and a fourth rounder. Bell is the kind of player that the Leafs have shown an ability to turn around or rehabilitate (Battaglia, Kilger, Devereaux) and he is only 26. He has had one bad year after a couple of very good ones.

Unfortunately, too many fans are insane like Gibson. His rant was idiotic.

Wellwood was held back because of some nefarious schems. He just wasn't ready. When he was they put him on the top line.

"How about the Laffs trading Alyn McCauley, Brad Boyes, and a 1st rounder to get Owen Nolan."

Maybe you don't remember but the Leafs were a cup contender and were trying to get the final piece that would get them past Philadelphia and hopefully to the final. They gambled and lost but it's not like they were a borderline playoff team and tried that trade.

 
At June 28, 2007 at 10:35 a.m. , Blogger James said...

The issue with the leafs isn't the team dynamic, the coaching or even the scouting. The problem is the douchebags at the top running MLSE as a way to give your hated Science 10 teacher a cushy retirement.

These assclowns are being enabled by another class of douchebag, the sushi-eating law firm types who buy every goddamn ticket available at the ACC and then give them to their scumbag clients or mistresses.

Until Peddie and Tanenbaum are frogmarched out of the building (and hopefully horse-whipped all the way down Younge street) nothing is going to change. JFJ is not the most competent of GMs, but when they are talking about bringing in a "Senior consultant" to hold his wee-wee for him while he goes #1, there is a degree of confidence lost.

Personally I do have some hope for the future. Like ppp mentions, there is a decent amount of up-and-coming depth and I didn't really have an issue with Kubina and Gill.

I don't think I would have gotten Toskala, mostly because I think euro goaltenders are too fragile for the TO spotlight. Cujo showed what it is like to be a success in this market, ie be a stand-up guy with a great off-ice reputation to fall back on even if he has a stinker game. Eddie too, because he's bat-shit crazy and doesn't give a fuck. Raycroft needs to visit some sick kids, stat!

Bell could come up as a decent power forward as long as he avoids The Beer Store on the drive home.

Srsly though, don't ever call them the Laffs again.. Leave the juvenile name-calling to Sens fans, it's what they excel at! ;)

 
At June 28, 2007 at 11:19 a.m. , Anonymous Anonymous said...

u and the crew get drunk last night eh?

 
At June 28, 2007 at 11:52 a.m. , Blogger Sean Zandberg said...

No, I had just enough beer in me to be angry.

Good points, PPP. The youth they have brought up is grande, and i am suprised they even have hat kind of talent around.

"Kubina and McCabe's contracts looked bad last year but each year they are going to look better and better"

I disagree completely.

I hate Hal Gill! HE is a monstrous, slow oaf!!!

I don't like the Toskala trade because, like the reason is that you and I disagree on, I didn't think raycroft was the problem last year.
Wellwood wasn't ready?? Are you sure? I say he was held back, probably by overpaid UFA's they acquired.
I stand by my half-drunken opinion. The Leafs are idiots who piss way prospects, weak draft or not. And if they get to the finals in the next 5 years, I swear to god on high, i will eat a plate full of dung.
I'll be more rational about this some other time.

 
At June 28, 2007 at 7:18 p.m. , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hal Gill was essentially a black & gold pylon when he played in Boston. Toronto can have him.

 
At June 29, 2007 at 1:19 p.m. , Blogger PPP said...

Hal Gill had the team's best plus/minus and was probably the team's best positional player which made up for his painful slowness.

Imagine how bad the PK would have been without him?

McCabe and Kubina's contract get better every year because they are a smaller percentage of the cap AND they are making less than comparable players. You'll see a different Kubina this year compared to the guy that had a knee injury and a new baby while trying to settle into a new city.

And yes, the problems start at the top with Peddie and Tanenbaum. If the Leafs had a single owner with brains (not Ballard or Stafford) then this club could be a dynamo!

I like you Zanstorm but I hope I see you eat that plate of shit ;) I'll remember your pledge!

 

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Waiting For Stanley was created in June 2006.