kipwinger

Teams make space for players all the time. Look at Tampa and Vegas. It's not hard to find cap space if you need it. Boston could have traded their 5 million dollar backup goalie (for instance). What more needs to be said about what's going on in Bert's head? His coach just demoted him to the fourth line and said he couldn't (or wouldn't) execute a simple game plan. Sounds lazy and entitled to me. Pretty much jives with all the rumors we've heard over the years.

I think it's been solid but unspectacular. Our even strength defense has been amongst the worst in the league so far this season tho. I'd expect shaky play out of the depth guys, but Seider-Walman haven't been very good either.

A "cap heavy team" that lost Bergeron, Krejci, and Hall off their books couldn't find 5.5 million on a one year deal? Lol. They clearly didn't want him. Just like Detroit. But I'm sure it's a feather in his cap knowing that the criminally incompetent Maple Leafs were dying to bring him into the fold. What a great idea that's shaping up to be.

Boston chose not to re-sign him so that should probably tell you something. As for the rest, I'm sure you know how to use Google.

The aforementioned Hyman and Bunting didn't seem to have much of a problem scoring in Toronto's top six. Maybe Bert just doesn't like riding shotgun with better players. It's not like his bad attitude hasn't been well reported at this point.

If I were Toronto I’d be less worried about his lack of grit and more concerned that he can’t execute a game plan. That’s a huge red flag for an average skilled guy who relies on his “smarts” to be effective. Sounds like he just doesn’t get it. In the interest of fairness this article addresses the injury issue: https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs/latest-news/we-had-a-very-simple-plan-and-he-failed-to-execute-that-maple-leafs-head-coach-sheldon-keefe-explains-tyler-bertuzzis-demotion-in-game-against-bruins

Looks like the Wings dodged a bullet with this one… https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/leafs-tyler-bertuzzi-isnt-delivering-snot-or-scoring-punch-that-was-promised-175240156.html

I'd also be looking at stripping the bones of Vancouver and St. Louis as well. Keep an eye on them as their season plays out. If either team really struggles they're likely to start retooling sooner rather than later.

No it wouldn't. It would cost about as much as LA paid for Dubios (a comparable player to Thomas). LA gave a young center, a 29 year old cap dump, a mid level prospect, and a 2nd. In Red Wings terms that's something like Veleno/Berggren/Rasmussen, Fabbri/Maatta/Gostisbehere, Sodorblom/Johansson/Hanas, and a 2nd. Obviously the actual trade would be slightly different. For instance, if you upgrade the pick to a 1st then you probably don't have to give as much on the prospect. Or if you give a better prospect maybe you don't give a pick at all. But the value is right.

Here's a rumor that I'm starting on my own: While the entire world is thinking that General Manager SY is targeting Lindolm or Pettersson, the wily old devil will actually go back to the St. Louis well one more time and nab Robert Thomas at the deadline to round out this lineup. On the back of this trade the Red Wings will make the conference finals.

How'd that work out for them? About as good as it did for us when we gifted Bertuzzi prime minutes?

Let's not get carried away. Veleno wouldn't be doing this with Compher's usage. He's good BECAUSE he's in the bottom six, not in spite of it. This is one of the many things analytics nerds have gotten wrong over the years. They think because someone plays good in a lesser role that they can replicate the same results in a greater role. That's obviously false. Brendan Smith (for example) had good underlying metrics in Detroit because he was sheltered on the 3rd line. The second he was asked to play higher in the lineup his results cratered.

Says the guy who never misses an opportunity to talk about him. It's only "rent free" if he's not CONSTANTLY being referenced. It's not really all that complicated. He sucks now for the same reason Mantha sucks now. Because once they moved on from Detroit their ice time dropped and they weren't getting prime powerplay minutes. Bert is never gonna score as much as he did in Detroit again unless he goes to a bottom feeder, just like his look-alike Zadina did. Hell, he wouldn't wouldn't even be on our top powerplay unit this year if he was still on the team. If Raymond isn't good enough to play on our top unit Bert certainly isn't.

He just needed to learn how to play a more straight forward game. In junior he was always trying to deke and dangle and that's not his game. He's a big, strong, fast dude and he needs to play like that. He's been working in that direction for a few years and now it's playing off. The Sprong play is a great example. Two years ago Veleno would have tried to handle that puck and carry around behind the net. Now he just fires it home. His game is simpler but more effective when he plays straight ahead.

That's a little extreme but I think he's closer to the best players in the world than he is to the next few tiers below that. I said at the beginning of the summer that he's probably a top 12-15 NHL center and I'll stick by that. It's amazing how quickly perceptions of the guy changed the minute he had an actually talented team around him.

We talking about 2002 Todd Bertuzzi? Or that other dude who only has 1 point in 5 games playing with Matthews and Marner?

It's not a mystery, it tends to happen when you stop sucking and start scoring goals.

Nailed it!

Duuuurrrrrrrr…Dylan Larkin isn’t a top line center.

Scored a beaut last night too.

After watching how this team (centers in particular) plays stylistically - relentless puck pursuit, speed through the neutral zone, fighting and winning puck battles for every loose puck, and total commitment defensively - is there any doubt Marco Kasper is going to be fine?

I can see Sprong, Goatisbehere, and Fischer being re-signed and the others would get so little in return I’m sure SY is willing to eat the cost so as not to mess with his team’s chemistry.

If we're playing THIS good at the trade deadline we aren't selling anyone. Perron is absolutely indispensable on that top powerplay unit. His brain generates so many scoring chances on the man advantage. Might see one of the three goalies get traded but I don't see any roster players moving if we keep this up. This team is playing really well and the success seems to entirely be the sum of their parts.

I really want the hatty for Joe. duuuuurrrrrrrrr…Dylan Larkin isn’t a top line center.

I missed the first two periods. I see the score and the shots are inverse. Did we get outplayed or did they get a bunch of powerplays and not convert?