krsmith17

I was just basing that on how much you've raved about him in the past. I don't know where I would rank him. I just think he's highly overrated, and his coaching style doesn't work well in the way the league is trending. Career savvy and always puts himself in a situation where he knows he can win? He literally just got fired a couple days ago... I don't believe this was ever about the players not conforming to him, it's that he never conformed to the way the general manager set this team up. He never adapted his coaching to get the best out of the players he had. Instead he tried to turn them into something they weren't. Coaches need to stop trying to jam square pegs in round holes. Dubas has done jack s*** at the NHL level, but he was hired as an NHL general manager for good reason. He's a smart dude. He's analytics driven, and that's exactly where the NHL is headed.

Since when do they ONLY have skilled players? They have a very strong top 9, and a line full of muckers / grinders. The problem is, Babcock relied too heavily on that 4th line, and not enough on his top 2 lines. Kadri was / is a solid shutdown 2C. Problem is, Tavares >>> Kadri, and you can't pay your 3C $4.5M when you have 3 guys making overly $30M. This. But also, F*** Mike Babcock.

B So, you think the only way we can get rid of Nielsen is giving up a 1st round pick? Got it.

I guess where we disagree, @ChristopherReevesLegs, is that you think Babcock is the best coach ever, and I think he's the most overrated coach ever. Dubas is a smart dude, and knows how to build a team in today's NHL. Babcock is a stubborn dude, and the way the game is played today is passing him by.

You really think overloading with offensively gifted players is a bad thing?...

It doesn't matter who the blame is. What's easier / makes more sense? Fire the coach or trade multiple players that were underperforming? Like you said, Babcock did not fit the style of game that Dubas was trying to build. The coach had to go. Regarding the bold.. I hope you're right. Revisit what? Did I say anything that isn't true?

And my point is, it had happened in the past and could happen again. I don't care how it happens, but Nielsen has to go...

Babcock absolutely should have been fired. He's a dinosaur. He refuses to evolve with the game, and unless he gets a big team, that plays "heavy" and "hard-on-pucks", I'm sure his next stop will end similar to this one. A good coach can adapt to the roster he is given. Babcock was given skilled players, and wanted them to play "grind-it-out" hockey. The Leafs have enough skill that they should be trying to win games 5-4, rather than 2-1. The problem was never that Matthews or Marner or whoever were too soft. It's that they weren't hard enough for Babcock. He'd prefer to rely heavily on the try-hards than the skill. Dubas overpaid his star players, and Babcock overplayed the role players. That's why it didn't work out. The skilled players are the one's that are going to win hockey games, not the role players. Analytics are taking over the sport, and for good reason. We've seen the enforcers role diminish, and now we're starting to see the same with the grinders role. The league is getting faster and more skilled every year. Babcock's style of coaching will never last, unless he's willing to change... He won't.

I don't think Neal was a "problem" though. He had one down season in which he scored 7 goals. The rest of his career he averaged over 30 goals per 82 games. It was just a bad fit in Calgary. I don't think the same can be said about Ryan or Eriksson. However, I'd probably make that trade with Ottawa, if they retained some salary. Lucic for Neal was one for one, with similar salaries. Nielsen for Ryan, we'd be taking on an extra $2M in salary. That would be the only reason I wouldn't make that trade... Lucic is just one example though. Clarkson was traded with 6 years remaining at $5.25M AAV. Phaneuf was traded with 6 years remaining at $7M AAV. Luongo was traded with 9! years remaining at $5.333M AAV. There are many other examples, but they're some of the worst I could think of. Nielsen can definitely be traded next offseason, and I don't think it would have to include another terrible contract coming back. If for whatever reason, Yzerman can't find a suitor, he could buy him out. At that point, there would only be 2 years remaining on his contract, so a buyout would remain on the books for 4 years. 2020-21 - $3,416,667 2021-22 - $4,416,667 2022-23 - $666,667 2023-24 - $666,667 Or just waive his ass... Regardless, Nielsen should not be on this roster beyond this season.

I hear ya. I just think it's dumb for anyone to still believe that so-and-so player is untradeable, because of terrible contract, when we've seen, and continue to see the most awful contracts get moved. Not directed at you. Someone as "in-the-know" as Khan, shouldn't be tweeting out such bulls***. And if that is in fact coming from anyone in the Red Wings organization (I'm not sure I buy it), I really question how much they're paying attention...

Milan Lucic was traded (one-for-one) for James Neal. There is no such thing an "unmovable" player / contract... They do not exist. If Yzerman wants to trade Nielsen (by far our worst player / contract), he can and will.

TMALSS: Mantha is a beast.

Regula for Perlini...

Christoffer Ehn for Haydn Fleury... Make it happen Yzerman!

Imagine the idiots that were actually upset with the Perlini and Fabbri trades...

And not a single right-handed forward...

Ehn is a 4th round pick that has played 70 games in the NHL. If he doesn't play another game after tonight, I wouldn't consider him a bust. He is what he is though, a borderline NHL player. He's not a player worth keeping around long term (beyond this season). He's just a placeholder...

So Athanasiou is a "marquis player" now? Everyone is well aware of AA's early season struggles. No one is disputing that. I pointed out that he has been playing well these past few games. You can't dispute that, other than the air tight +/- stat... I recognize secondary players all the time. Ehn isn't even that though. He's a scrub. Dime and dozen player. You can literally get an Ehn at any point in the year, from free agency, waivers or in the minors. "Secondary guys are the only positives on this team right now"?... Is this a joke? Larkin, Mantha, Bertuzzi and Hronek have been our best players, basically only bright spots all season. Sure, Helm and Abdelkader have had good games (and I've acknowledged that), but overall every other player on the roster has been pretty meh...

Again, creating quality chances, and 5 points in last 6 games, on a terrible team that struggles creating offense. That's good. The goals will come. I'm not concerned about that. Athanasiou - minus 19 / Mantha - minus 8 = bad Helm - plus 5 / Abdelkader - plus 1 = good I think I'm getting it... Who exactly are you referring to? Please tell me you're not referencing Ehn... LOL

"Washed up"? You do realize he's a 19 year old prospect, not a 39 year old vet, right? "Cut him loose already"? That's really smart asset management for a former (one year ago) 6th overall pick, that hasn't even played 10 games in the show yet... Stop reading all the bulls*** online and actually watch the kid play. Pay attention to what he's doing on the ice, not just on the score sheet. Will he be elite? Maybe not, but he will be a very good top six winger, at the very least. He's not a "bust". You don't throw a kid with his potential in a trade as an addon, just to mildly improve our goaltending situation. Howard has been bad. Really bad. But let's be honest, he hasn't gotten much help. Do you really think Holtby would be THAT much better? I don't.

The bold is pretty much where I'm at. The underlined, want to give our offense / power-play a big boost? Add some high-end, right-handed shooting forwards... F*** Torey Krug... Actual goal scoring, yeah, but his assists have gone up, and points about the same.

If all of that happens, then sure, maybe I would change my mind. But at that point, I'd probably trade a forward or two and address the defense that way. Or maybe I would say F*** it, go all in on Krug. A lot can change in the next 8 months...

Nah, it's not that. I advocated trading for Spurgeon a few years ago. Again, I like Krug a lot, and under different circumstances I'd be all in on him. And it's not even as if I'm saying I don't want to sign him. If he's willing to take a hometown discount, sure, but I don't see that happening... He's still producing at the same pace he always has... The argument (from me at least), was never that that injury would diminish him. It was that father-time would catch up to him (like everyone), and he would be a shell of his former self, when this team was finally ready to compete. Same applies to Krug for me.