Recent content by bustaheims

And if he doesn’t end up playing more than a handful of games? He’s only a better addition if he plays a good chunk of the time he’s on the roster. Otherwise, it’s throwing an asset down the drain. Can you imagine the vitriol if the Leafs made that trade and Marchand only gets into 2 or 3 games...

Marchand went cheap because he’s damaged goods. He might not play before the end of the regular season, and, if not, that opens up the possibility he doesn’t play at the beginning of the playoffs either. I certainly wouldn’t be happy if the Leafs gave up assets for that. Laughton needs some time...

Yup. Just gotta bring their A game. As long as they look like they're capable of beating the Panthers, that's a good performance. Obviously, the points would be best, though.

Yup, classic trap game the Leafs fell right into.

Against a lesser opponent, I'd absolutely expect a let down game, no question. But, against a team they need to measure themselves against, I would hope they'd come out with their A game.

Marner hasn’t, but his agent has:

In a lot of ways, they’re repeating for the reasons you spell out - it’s similar to the package Carolina got from Dallas. It’s also already out there, so repeating it is playing it safe. That doesn’t mean it’s accurate info. We can’t be sure if it was offered by the Leafs, asked for by the...

I think that was a shot across Marner's bow. I'm sure the Leafs knew their odds of having the best trade offer on the table were slim. Also, it's just smart business to see if they can make that deal.

Ovechkin, too.

That's a cop-out excuse. The roster is filled with quality NHL players who are fully capable of chipping in on offence. No one is asking them to carry the load, just to make contributions. For the most part, they have not.

Except, if the supporting cast can't step up, it doesn't really matter how well the core plays. Cups are ultimately won because both groups made significant contributions. Should the core be able to score more than they have? Sure, there's an argument for that, but, if the supporting cast...

Not having succeeded is not the same as not being capable.

I don’t know. The way it’s getting portrayed makes it seem like his priority is to stick around. I wonder if the trade inquiry might have spooked him a little and made the possibility of playing somewhere else feel more real - especially since his response, per Friedman, was somewhere along the...

AHL trade deadline is the 14th. And since Johnson was already playing in the AHL, he’s good for the playoffs. Also, could definitely had been agreed to before the deadline and not reported until now, considering how minor a move it is.

I trust Friedman a ton more than Kyper. I think Kyper basically passes on anything he hears that isn’t absurd. He doesn’t look for corroboration or even check if it passes the smell test. That leads to a lot of inaccurate info, missing context, assumptions, etc. Friedman, on the other hand, is...