krsmith17

What I find interesting that I haven't seen discussed yet is, who's sitting tonight? Smith is obviously being inserted back in, but who's the odd man out? We all hope it would be Ericsson, but is Blashill capable of such a "bold" move? It obviously won't be DeKeyser or Green, it shouldn't be Ouellet, I hope it's not Jensen, so it would have to be either Kronwall or Ericsson... I'd love to see both scratched and roll with something like... Ouellet - Green DeKeyser - Jensen Smith - Sproul Unfortunately, that's not going to happen though, because Blashill... EDIT: Nevermind, Kronwall and Nielsen out (injured), Smith and Jurco in.

Is that all on Blashill though? I'm not so sure... Are you saying that Blashill comes up with the players on the two 5-man units and Torchetti comes up with systems? I would think Torchetti would at least have some say in who's on each of his units... Maybe he's the one that wanted Sheahan out there. I mean Blashill does have Sheahan down on the 4th line. I don't know, it's just annoying to see Blash get blamed for everything, even when he may not be the one responsible. Blashill's player usage is still a huge concern though. I just wish he would play the kids more, especially late in games when the game is on the line...

Sounds like coach / GM talk to me. That's bulls***. Sproul could have easily been playing on the 3rd pair getting sheltered minutes with Kronwall or whoever. It wasn't or at least shouldn't have ever been top 4 or bust for him...

So the 11 teams before Toronto didn't put in a claim, and I doubt any of the top teams would have. I'm guessing Babcock wanted him because he's a familiar body, and "good defensively"...

Leafs claim Marchenko.

We can blame Blashill for a lot of things regarding personnel usage, but why does he continue to get blamed for the power-play, which is Torchetti's responsibility? Sure, Blashill probably has some say in what happens with the specialty units, but in the end, it's on Torchetti (PP) and Houda (PK). But yet they never seem to get any of the blame...

Again, we need to shed at least two defensemen from this roster, so it's more than just Smith (or Marchenko) that needs to go. Marchenko has never shown any sort of real potential. He will never be anything more than a mediocre bottom pair defenseman at the NHL level. Those guys are a dime a dozen. Smith > Marchenko Ouellet / Sproul / Jensen > Marchenko Kronwall / even Ericsson > Marchenko It was the right decision. Marchenko is no loss to this team and if another team sees him as an upgrade to theirs, good for them and good for us. I'd love for Holmstrom to surprise everyone, but honestly, I just don't see it. I think at best, he becomes a decent bottom 6er, and we have an over abundance of them in our system, just like every team. I'd personally rather see guys like Turgeon, Bertuzzi and Smith make our bottom 6 than Holmstrom...

One of the "TSN Insiders" usually release that information. I'm guessing McKenzie or Dreger will tweet it sometime this afternoon. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets claimed, but I doubt many teams will put in a claim, and wouldn't be completely shocked if he cleared... I doubt if Sproul gets many more games this season to be honest, unless we get another couple injuries on the back end, or he's inserted for Kronwall for a few rest days down the stretch. Hopefully we make some moves at the deadline to alleviate the logjam. If we can move Smith and / or Green at the deadline, that also opens up a spot or two... As for Russo, no chance he sees any games this season, and maybe not even full time until late next season, or to start the '18-'19 season. However, if there are injuries on the back end next season, without Marchenko, there's one less (useless) player for him to have to jump... The thing I'm ecstatic about is the fact that Marchenko got waived in favour of Sproul. It at least shows some competence from management... Im getting sick of this notion that Andersson is still some wizard that picks late round gems every year. He doesn't and hasn't in nearly two decades. Scouting across the league, both North American and European is just too good to find steals in the late rounds anymore. The last competent NHLer that Andersson found in the later rounds (6th or later - absolute best you'd get for Marchenko), was Ericsson back in 2002, 291 overall. Do we really need another Jonathan Ericsson? Before that it was Zetterberg (1999, 210) and Datsyuk (1998, 171). It's not the late '90's anymore. Those kind of players just aren't available in the later rounds these days... You may still be high on Axel Holmstrom or Mattias Elfstrom, but do you really think either of those guys are going to develop into anything more than bottom 6 NHLers at best? I don't. And those type players are a dime a dozen, just like Marchenko... If we lose Marchenko (I hope so) and we needed to replace him next season, we have better options in Grand Rapids. Even if we had to replace him externally, there are better options every year in free agency and over seas... Like has been mentioned, players coming off injury hold little value. Let Smith get in some games, and then see what we can get for him closer to the deadline. We need to shed this roster of 2-3 defensemen, not one, so waiving Marchenko regardless of what happens with Smith was the right move.

This. We have defensemen in Grand Rapids that are much better than Marchenko right now. Next time we have to call up a Griffin, do we want it to be the unspectacular defensive minded Marchenko, just because he's the safe guy with experience? Or do we want the smart, offensive minded Russo? I can't speak for everyone, but I'd much rather get rid of that hurdle and let Russo be the next guy in line for a call up... Really hope a team claims Marchy tomorrow. I would be right there with people with pitchforks if it were Sproul that were waived, but Marchenko is not a big loss by any stretch. I'd even say it's addition by subtraction...

Players rarely get traded just coming off of IR. Trading Smith wasn't really an option. If he plays well for the next three weeks, he could be a good trading chip at the deadline. As much as everyone would have liked for us to trade / waive Ericsson, that simply wasn't / isn't going to happen, while playing in the top 4... No way we're going to trade / waive an assistant captain, so the only hope in Kronwall coming off this roster is LTIR. DeKeyser isn't going anywhere. Green could have been traded, although maybe the thinking there is his value should increase closer to the deadline. The only other options were Ouellet, Jensen (both clearly ahead in the pecking order, and for good reason), and Sproul. That was my biggest concern, I'm just glad Marchenko was waived in favor of keeping Sproul, who has a much higher potential.

Great news. I hope he gets claimed.

http://www.tsn.ca/patrick-has-decided-edge-in-tsn-hockey-mid-season-draft-ranking-1.661533

We can't send down Coreau because Howard will be in GR. We need a backup... And although I don't think you're serious about Larkin, sending him down would be beyond dumb... He's having a down year, but definitely not a problem with this team. Besides, we need to shed a defenseman, not a forward. We're not going to run with a roster of 12 forwards and 9 defensemen...

Smith expected back tomorrow night. A move needs to be made to make room for him, or we will lose another player for nothing... If it's Marchenko, whatever, if it's Sproul, f*** Ken Holland!...

Howard expected to play tomorrow night in Grand Rapids for conditioning stint.

Holland should do whatever he can to sell off some pieces. Vanek needs to be moved to the highest bidder, regardless of whether or not he wants to come back next season. I'd move one of Tatar or Nyquist, if there are any teams inquiring. I doubt Sheahan has much value right now, but maybe a team could think a change of scenery will get him going. I'd also throw Ott's name out there to see if we can get something, even if it's a conditional pick. On defense, we should be shopping Green hard to see what kind of return we could get. Smith is due back in a couple games, and unless a defenseman gets injured tonight or tomorrow night, someone will have to be moved before then, or a player will be lost for nothing. If that player is Marchenko, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, but ideally I'd like to see Ericsson waive his no-trade clause... A team could possibly have some interest in Ericsson if Holland is willing to eat half his cap hit. $2.125M isn't terrible for a big, serviceable 3rd pair defenseman. I'm hoping Kronwall eventually goes the way of LTIR to open up another spot for one of the kids. If Smith can get some good games in before the deadline, I'd be open to moving him as well. We need to shed salary, open up roster spots and go with the youth...

Why would we want Mantha on the power-play? He's no selke candidate. Everyone knows smart defensive players is what makes a good power-play run. Mantha may be one of our biggest, strongest players, and best shooters, but we need more defense on the power-play, not offense. I say swap out Vanek for Glendening while we're at it. Two short-handed goals against in one game? Glendog wouldn't allow that s***. Where the f*** is Miller we ya need him anyway?...

I agree. If there's any way we can land a Hamilton, Trouba, Faulk using our first and maybe a young defenseman, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, I don't see Holland making (or even inquiring) such a trade...

I wouldn't mind seeing what Chelios could do as a full time assistant for the defense and penalty kill, but as a head coach, no thanks... As for Hitchcock, it probably wouldn't be the worst thing to give him a call, but I'm not going to be all up in arms if he doesn't come "save this team"... As much as everyone (myself included) like to blame coaching and act as if Blashill is the worst coach of all time, I think the issues with this team, are much deeper than the man behind the bench. I b**** about Blash as much as anyone (well, maybe not...), but my biggest issue with him is and has been his personnel usage, and although it's still far from perfect, it has gotten MUCH better. I'd still like to see better usage for Athanasiou, Mantha (past few games), Jurco, Sproul, Mrazek, etc., but he does seem more willing as of late, to rely on the youth than he was at the beginning of the season. Besides, for those that want to "tank" or even rebuild, why would we want anything to do with a top 5 coach, on the last year(s) of his career? I'm definitely in the minority here, but I'd rather stick it out with Blashill, and if anyone becomes available this summer, then maybe we explore other options...

... is f***ing amazing.

I think Toews is definitely overrated league wide, especially in Canada and by Canadian media (TSN), but I also think he's being vastly underrated (hyperbole?) by some on here. I'm pretty sure it's just coming across that way because people are so sick of hearing how amazing he is (by Don Cherry and frankgrimes...), how he's a top 3-5 player in the NHL every year, or top 100 all time... He's not... Toews is still a very good player, and like has been mentioned, was never a huge point producer, but rather, relied upon for his elite two-way game. He's not worth close to his $13.8M salary ($10.5M cap hit), but he's obviously not near as bad as people are trying to make it seem...

McKenzie's mid-season draft ranking came out today. Based on organizational need and where I think we'll end up drafting, I'd like to see us land one of Vilardi or Tippett. Not much available in defenseman in the first round after Liljegren (I'm not even that high on him), so I'd have my sights on one those two, and go hard after defensemen in the 2nd and 3rd rounds (as well as late 1st if Holland is able to pull off a trade at the deadline)...

Ummm yeah, they're not and never were... No it's not a stick handling contest, it's a contest based on hockey skill, and on skill alone Nyquist and Tatar >>>>> McCarty and Maltby. And this coming from one of the biggest grind line fans. You could base it on a lot of other things like kliq mentioned, but purely on who's the better (or in this case worse) hockey player, it's a pretty easy answer...

"It just means I value defense over offense, and grit over skill..." Let me guess, this is a preemptive for when Jurco is the healthy scratch next game. If you think he has the skill (you're absolutely right), then give the kid an opportunity to prove himself. It doesn't even need to be 20 games, just give him 10 straight and see what he does with that... Scratch Sheahan for a couple games instead, maybe he will get his head on straight after being abysmal through 47 games...

I could be wrong, but I don't think most people are completely anti-fighting, it's the anti-enforcer that most are against. If a guy can't keep up with pace of the game, has limited "hockey skill", and all he's good for, is punching faces, that doesn't interest me at all. I would love to have another McCarty type with the skill to compliment any line, but can and will stand up for teammates at the drop of the hat... I'm really excited for Givani Smith because I believe he could potentially become that guy for us. Whether he pans out, time will tell, but I'm hopeful... There's definitely a time and a place for fighting, and in my opinion, this is one of those instances. I would love to have seen someone beat the face off Marchand in that game, or next game, after that slewfoot. Guy definitely has it coming, and will eventually get what's coming to him. Me personally, I just can't stand the staged fights where two goons square up because that's all the know how to do...