DeNiro

Credit to Bo but come on he plays with Petey and Hughes on the powerplay. I think any player with a quick accurate release could find success there. Similar to Nugent Hopkins in Edmonton, good player but look who he plays with. Difference is he’ll be making 3.5 mill less than Bo.

Coaches are short term and should have no say in it. They aren’t in the room enough. It should be 100% on the players to decide.

Surprised he could only get a PTO after going to the finals with the Panthers. Had an average season but looks to be a decent fourth liner and is only 26. What gives?

So looks like Archibald out and Motte in. Good for him there’s no reason why he shouldn’t have a contract. He’s a very good penalty killer and physical player. Just can’t stay healthy.

If it ain’t Darren I don’t care!

November 15th seems like a good date. Bo can hand the C to Quinn for free…

Yea but we don’t have to watch him night after night sit up there. Just leave his legacy here the way it is, no need to tarnish it. We also don’t need to be blocking our younger players path to the NHL. Hirose, Brisebois, and Rathbone all deserve a chance to prove they can play in the NHL. And if they’re not ready Irwin is more than capable of filling in.

Only place he would have is on the bottom pair with Myers. I don’t even wanna entertain that thought. Soucy and Myers should be the bottom pair. And the idea of Edler finishing out his career in the press box just makes me sad.

Need more gunslingers in this league. Too many conservative GMs happy to do just enough to try and keep their jobs. The NHL would be much more exciting if we saw more player movement like in the NBA.

Years ago. I doubt they still walk around the locker room calling him Huggy bear.

You think other teams call him Huggy Bear? That’s literally a dumb nickname that only fans still use. Also yes they would be afraid to lose to him because he’s a dynamic skater that can skate circles around them. Most teams game plans revolve around shutting him down. All around dumb statement from a clearly fair weather fan.

Didn’t he request a trade? Briere is in damage control trying to not get bent over by other teams. I’d be surprised if he is the starter there opening night.

Pointless. We need to trade winger depth for center depth not center for center. Way too early to give up on Raty. He might have higher upside than Pinto.

That being said still having your practice facility on a university campus would seem a little Mickey Mouse. Hopefully this story is simply a leak to gain leverage in other negotiations.

I mean I’m sure the team would have more control and it would likely be a brand new state of the art facility. Division 1 arenas are typically very nice.

I’m sure they could get a bunch of provincial and city money kicked in. Not an ideal location however being 40 minutes from downtown. A brand new facility would be nice though.

If this was an established veteran team with lots of veteran leaders that was a perennial playoff team, Miller would be a good choice. I just don’t see him being able to pull this team out of a funk if things go poorly. When things go bad Miller becomes mister grumpy pants. A captain needs to be more even keeled and play better when things are going poorly.

Not to mention one of the better players at drawing penalties in the entire league. We want our powerplay going to work as much as possible. Beauvillier brings nice speed and can produce as a support player. He doesn’t bring much else though. We need guys that bring more than that.

Every young Finnish boy grows up dreaming of playing for the Leafs. Didn’t you know?

The fact is we couldn’t justify what he was asking for. We weren’t just going to lock in the same team that couldn’t get it done. This team needed changes. No team was going to offer us anything significant unless there was an extension in place. The Isles were clearly the only ones that weren’t scared away by his high demand. He went for the money, good for him. We need a captain that will sacrifice for his team though.

Team needs Murray for the Olympics badly.

You’re assuming too many things. How do you know Raty doesn’t keep developing into a very good second line center? What if Hronek is locked in and puts up 50-60 points while being a good two way D man? What if Beauviller established himself as a really good second line winger here, or at the very least fetches a 2nd round pick at the deadline? All of those things are very possible which is why it’s too early to know the full scope. I’ve seen lots of deals that people immediately praised that turned out to be a bunch of nothing later. A roster player, prospect, and pick is pretty standard in any deal. Especially for a pending UFA at the deadline.

The scope of the deal can’t be known yet as Raty is still developing and Beauvillier can still bring a return. Not to mention whether Hronek can be a core piece for us.

Conservative when he needs to be conservative (sticking to his guns with Horvat) and aggressive when he needs to be aggressive (trading for Hronek at the deadline, buying out OEL).

This sounds a lot like Hughes Captain from 1979-1982. The smooth-skating defenceman took over from Lever beginning in the 1979-80 season. He was only 22 years old at the time, but he was named captain for a team that was beginning to climb out of the NHL’s basement. Perhaps he was a good luck charm for the Canucks, as they made the playoffs in each of his three seasons as captain. What wasn’t good luck was that he broke his ankle right before the Canucks’ Stanley Cup run in 1982. That allowed Stan Smyl to establish himself as the leader of the Canucks for years to come. Let’s hope for everything but the broken ankle obviously. Can anyone name this captain?