Trade: NJD/CLB

[Scott]

To Columbus

Kyle Beach

To New Jersey

Stuart Percy

[bma]

confirm

[Nick]

damn, nice time to grab Stu, crazy the value a crazy kid still has.

[Chris]

I love Percy. Had a chance to watch him this week. Struggled a bit against Sarnia -- Yakupov especially -- but he's so smooth in everything he does. His panic threshold is super high; his outlet game is clean, crisp, and mistake-free. I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see him contend for not only a spot on the WJCs, but for a spot with the Leafs next year.

[bills09]

lol @ percy in the nhl next year, gonna need another junior year and a ahl year imo

[Chris]

Watch the kid play. I'm willing to stake money he'll challenge for a spot next year.

[Nick]

I'll put money his play will decide his development path - OHL/WJC/OHL/AHL/NHL or whatever the sequence.

Nothing wrong with making a 'school of Burke" in the AHL - he's certainty put a lot of good players through at least *some* AHL time, not like Lou or Regher but still makes prospects wait until they are ready. I know I'd like Kadri up, but...Faith in BB.

[Chris]

Note that I'm not saying he'll make the team. I'm saying he'll challenge (i.e., contend) for a spot, which is tantamount to being NHL ready (maybe).

[Scott]

I'll put money his play will decide his development path - OHL/WJC/OHL/AHL/NHL or whatever the sequence.

Nothing wrong with making a 'school of Burke" in the AHL - he's certainty put a lot of good players through at least *some* AHL time, not like Lou or Regher but still makes prospects wait until they are ready. I know I'd like Kadri up, but...Faith in BB.

Mine's dwindling rapidly..

[bills09]

I'll put money his play will decide his development path - OHL/WJC/OHL/AHL/NHL or whatever the sequence.

Nothing wrong with making a 'school of Burke" in the AHL - he's certainty put a lot of good players through at least *some* AHL time, not like Lou or Regher but still makes prospects wait until they are ready. I know I'd like Kadri up, but...Faith in BB.

Mine's dwindling rapidly..

what has burke done to cause you to lose faith...

[Scott]

I'll put money his play will decide his development path - OHL/WJC/OHL/AHL/NHL or whatever the sequence.

Nothing wrong with making a 'school of Burke" in the AHL - he's certainty put a lot of good players through at least *some* AHL time, not like Lou or Regher but still makes prospects wait until they are ready. I know I'd like Kadri up, but...Faith in BB.

Mine's dwindling rapidly..

what has burke done to cause you to lose faith...

Kept Ron Wilson behind the bench.

[Nick]

hard to judge a coach with the roster we've had, was kicking ass to start the year, injuries have fucked us sideways.


show me a well received coach and I'll show you a good goalie show me a team high in the standings and I'll show you a team w/o injuries. We have neither of those things, and coach is easy to blame.

[Robin Hood]

hard to judge a coach with the roster we've had, was kicking ass to start the year, injuries have fucked us sideways.


show me a well received coach and I'll show you a good goalie show me a team high in the standings and I'll show you a team w/o injuries. We have neither of those things, and coach is easy to blame.

Very flawed argument. That being said yeah Wilson doesn't deserve the blame for the Leafs slide.

[Chris]

Find me a coach who can annually get his team to produce a top-notch power-play without a number one centre or a PK without a bona-fide starting goaltender, and I'll show you 20x more coaches who failed miserably without one and the other.

[Chris]

hard to judge a coach with the roster we've had, was kicking ass to start the year, injuries have fucked us sideways.


show me a well received coach and I'll show you a good goalie show me a team high in the standings and I'll show you a team w/o injuries. We have neither of those things, and coach is easy to blame.

Very flawed argument. That being said yeah Wilson doesn't deserve the blame for the Leafs slide.

Hardly. The more repetition you get with your linemates, the better you are. It's not rocket science.

[Scott]

Wilson's always gonna have a reason why this team is shit.. and if not Wilson, then who? Someone's to blame.. and it isn't just injuries... even when we were winning we were one of the most brutal defensive teams in the NHL. It was only a matter of time really.

[Robin Hood]

and if not Wilson, then who?

Until they got injured, Line 2 of Grabo and Kules. Gustavsson/Scrivens for letting in shit goals every fucking game.

[Nick]

hard to judge a coach with the roster we've had, was kicking ass to start the year, injuries have fucked us sideways.


show me a well received coach and I'll show you a good goalie show me a team high in the standings and I'll show you a team w/o injuries. We have neither of those things, and coach is easy to blame.

Very flawed argument. That being said yeah Wilson doesn't deserve the blame for the Leafs slide.

Hardly. The more repetition you get with your linemates, the better you are. It's not rocket science.

Although partially true, it's also easy to fall into habits that don't work. same reason why coachs regularly put wingers on their opposite wing on occasion, kicks them out of some habits. Same thing with a line... no doubt set lines are preferable, but change has it's value and place.

[Chris]

I realize that some people haven't played hockey -- and I mean that without malice or arrogance -- but I do blame Burke for not giving Wilson the proper players to utilize the system he wants to play. The Senators did a wonderful job last week by forcing the Leafs to play the 2-1-2 forecheck instead of allowing them to get space to transition quickly. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if teams start utilizing the Senators' approach to defending one of -- if not the best -- transition teams in the NHL.

And Nick, I agree. But I do think chemistry is inherently important for any young team. They need both repetition and familiarity to work their way out of funks.

[Nick]

It always depends on the funk for me. Kessel in one of his typical funks I agree, keep it the same and keep going at it. Kulemin or MacArthur in their current funks, push and change, demote and move and do something that makes them wake up from the shit they are currently doing - same thing I'd be doing with Ovy right now, pushing him, making him mad and fucking with his perfect easy bubble, centre, right wing, left wing, PK...anything to let him know that he actually isn't playing like himself right now, and that although he has earned the spot as the go to guy, if he's not going to do it someone else will.


Burke and RW agree on how to coach it seems, Crawford is the only free-agent, experienced, coach I can think of that meshes with Burkes mantra of high-paced, heavy forecheck hockey. I personally think RW lacks the forwards to run the PK the way he'd like, their inability to track plays while pressuring is startling, and one of the reasons why I hope a trade is coming... also why typically RW PK's (pre-leafs) use some of the best players on his team to PK, but is Phil going to block a shot? Cause stupid-face dupuis will....