Slegr

I think the reason Benning didn’t get the deal done when he could have a few months ago was because he didn’t know if other leagues (AHL, etc) would be running, meaning there might be multiple prospects that need playing time and to be potentially signed by the big club. But still, given Tryamkin’s desire to sign, and the need he would fill, I agree that it should have been a sign-and-loan to KHL.

This guy has no quit. I’m not sure if I’m in favour of it at this point. After all the comeback attempts last season, it ended up hurting the team a bit because he’d do one shift and then miss the rest of the game each time it seemed. I love the idea of a healthy Ferland, but my common sense is telling me it would just be a matter of time before he just vanishes with symptoms again. If I was him, I’d look at prioritizing my health and staying on Long term injury status.

Interesting. The Leafs may want to move their farm team to the OHL, since their players don't body check anyway.

Oh my, there have been so many stories on Sportsnet about this bum. Who knew a league minimum signing could be the holy grail for the Leafs. They’ve won another Stanley Cup in the offseason it would appear.

I must be a sucker to think that Virtanen might be a real surprise this next season. I was very disappointed in his post-season performance, but at least he still showed some signs of life here and there, with a fight and some timely points. Gaudette, on the other hand, looked pretty useless out there.

If we keep this guy, we really need to make him a regular fixture on the penalty kill. Let’s put his speed to work and score some shorties. I think he’d be willing to take on that kind of roll and it would force him to think more about defense too.

I just can’t see it working well in the locker room. Big Joe will feel he needs to be a leader, while so do all the overpaid Buds. Who will be the followers? And who will actually get in the corners and go after the puck?

I like his spirit too. What do folks think about how he was suspended for 20 games for violating the NHL's performance-enhancing drug policy? My honest guess is that there's a lot more violations going on than are identified. I'd wager that Pavel Bure was sneaky enough to get away with it. Quite honestly for me, while I'd never do drugs, I don't really mind players on the Canucks trying to get any kind of edge. That view is probably shunned though!

You mean Schmidt has had TWICE as many fights as Tanev in their NHL careers? Sweet. Nick “Knuckles” Schmidt.

I like the fact that he isn’t afraid to drop the gloves from time to time. That was a sore spot with Tanev.

I sure hope the possibility of an out clause comes to fruition for this year. Honestly, the fact we didn’t land on a contract with this guy when we could have a couple of months ago hurt more than losing Tanev and Stecher to unrestricted free agency. I’ll be so pumped when we bring Tryamkin back.

I’m glad we kept Demko and didn’t sign Markstrom to a long expensive contract. I’m also glad we didn’t sign Tanev to four years given his horrible injury record. Stecher is a non factor. Toffoli kind of hurts. He has some pure offensive abilities that looked good in our mix. I’m patient enough to see how this unfolds though. Benning has still done a good job over all.

I read this shade on a comments page from Sportsnet. COVID and flat cap are exact cause of the issue. This team was the best Canadian team, nearly making it into the Western finals. It’s because of a well rounded team that we did that. Successful teams are hard to keep together.

I like the idea of buying out his KHL contract and signing him for this season. I hope that it’s an idea that management is at least exploring. It would solve some immediate problems and not hurt our cap situation.

Well, call me old fashioned, but to me it’s very disrespectful to fans. Would the Sedins have ever played for the Flames? Or Trevor Linden?