14 Nov 2020 01:40:15
Trade proposal
Toronto trades Nylander and Holl
To
Nashville for
Luke Kunin, Egor Afarasyev, 1st in 2021

Toronto trades
Kerfoot
To
Dallas for
Stephen Johns Rd

Lines
Robertson Matthews Kunin
Hyman Tavares Marner
Mikheyev Thornton Barbanov
Vessy Spezza Simmons

**J. Anderson, Travis Boyd

Reilly Brodie
Muzzin Johns
Lethonen Bogosian

**Sandin Dermont

Cap Hell fixed with Good Balance!
Speed, Size and Scoring from all four lines!

14 Nov 2020 15:17:44
I don’t think either of these moves helps us. The team looks weaker. But I do love the size of all these guys.

I know you check this site often, so I know that you know that I absolutely am of the bigger is better mind set. Lol. How could I not love the idea of swapping out Nylander for someone like Kunin and Afanaseyev? Even Kunin is a big dude. 6’00 and 200 lbs of solid muscle is a guy that has entered into beefcake territory.

I actually don’t think the Leafs have a “small” team. Most of the guys are over 6’00 and 200 lbs. Which does say something about the size that it takes to be an NHL player. When the vast majority of the players in the league are the size of an amateur bodybuilder, you have entered a whole new world of compete.

This is another area where I disagree with Dubas and his philosophy obviously. This whole strategy of drafting smaller skilled guys because he thinks they are undervalued is faulty in its premise. Instead of picking up two nickels, he keeps looking for a dime. He is trying to hit big every year at the draft and backfill the bottom six with players the other teams don’t want. He’s dumpster diving in order to keep the team fed while skipping the buffet looking for the lobster.

It reminds me of a fisherman looking for the big catch. He figures one big fish is equal to two little fish. So he throws back the little fish and keeps looking for the big one. Every now and then he catches a good sized fish. But mainly gets nothing. The result is that he is slowly starving himself to death while staring at food the whole time.

I think I used enough analogies here to give the idea.

14 Nov 2020 20:24:26
So, everyone likes to point out "size" as an issue.

I actually find this argument quite odd. The team doesn't have as many "small" players as one may assume listening to the media and fans perceptions. Tie Domi wasn't exactly a behemoth was he? Same for Darcy Tucker. Wendel Clark. What difference does size actually make?

I get very tired of this point. Mathews is a big man. Goat is a big man. Tavares isn't a "small" guy. I could go on and on. Just because you add "size" doesn't mean a whole helluva lot. It's up their with the "grit" argument. If you were to believe the hockey purists then Clifford would have made this team contenders. He would have made far more if an impact than Willy does. This just isn't the accurate, objective truth.

Nick Robertson is not a big guy. He came into that series and Everytime he hopped over the boards he was like a hat out of hell. That's why we all like him so much. Has nothing to do with "size" and "grit". I am actually Beginning to believe people are confusing "size" with effort which just isn't accurate. We all really just want the team to be "harder to play against". That doesn't mean bring Colton Orr and Tiger Williams out of retirement it means light a fire under the ass of every single player every single time they hit the ice.

These trade make the team bigger but worse overall. It just isn't worth it.

If you want size and toughness trade for Lucic. He's a grinder and I'm sure they will give him away. He how that works out for you. Go sign Phaneuf. He's a big guy that hits. Why not make him our top defenceman again? We suffered through Burke as GM attempting to build the 76' Flyers and it was an absolute failure in many, many ways.

I want everyone to think about the top players of the last 10 years. Ovechkin is an ass kicker. He's tough as nails but also scores 50 goals. Crosby works hard and motivates his team even if he isn't the "toughest, grittiest" guy around.

Stop thinking toughness as in Kyle Clifford and start thinking more Can Neely. Guys that work hard, score, hit, fight, players who understand every aspect of the game not just how to stand around at 6'6 250 like a pylon and fight someone once in awhile.

Whole thing wasn't completely directed at you just got me thinking about size.

14 Nov 2020 22:28:03
Whew. Good read LL. That was awesome.

I guess when we talk about “size”, only one muscle really matters - the heart.

I think everyone secretly roots for the underdog. The Rudy’s and the Fluties. The guys that just overcome all obstacles and will themselves on to success. I know I do. When you see a player like Gerbe and Ennis, they have to be respected. There’s always room on a team for one or two of those guys.

Do I think a championship team can be assembled entirely of players like that? Of course not.

In order to be a true champion at any sport, a trifecta is needed: skill, will, and your natural god given physical abilities. You need all three attributes to succeed. Many of the Leafs seem to have two out of three of these attributes. They have the skill and the size, but seem to lack the will to push on to the next level.

And unfortunately for a lot of the guys that boast the first two and lack in the latter, the elite athletes that dominate the sports of today have all three in abundance. Genetics are just as important, if not more so, than the other two.

The game is rigged, as are all games of athletics, to take advantage of the physical attributes that make up an ideal athlete. Size does matter. So long as the player knows how to to leverage his size to his advantage, he will be more successful than an equally skilled and willed player. I

Is it fair? No. But no one ever said life was fair, let lone professional sports.

15 Nov 2020 04:15:12
I can agree with most of that HL but I will add that not all physical prowess comes in the form of size. In fact most players now are not huge. They are bigger than your average man on general society but not NFL big. Not many 6'8 350lbs lineman skating around.

The one thing I think that no one can disagree with is the three aspects of winning. Hedman is probably the best example of that to me. He just wasn't willing to quit in these playoffs. I see that same attitude developing in Mathews and Reilly but have yet to see it in either Marner or Willy.

15 Nov 2020 13:17:59
Kunin is 1 pound more than nylander and his offensive upside is 3 tiers below nylander

Beefcake?

First deal sucks and big time

Johns now that’s a beefcake but an often injured one at that but I still have wanted him fir a long time now. Don’t think leafs need him that much now with bognosian basically able to do same as johns would. The extra million in cap space would help but not at expense of kerfoot

If Dallas adds a pick or prospect than I’d be more intirigued.

15 Nov 2020 13:21:35
Awesome points leafslife agree

It’s the size of the heart and not size of the skate that makes a player tough.

15 Nov 2020 19:47:13
Exactly what I was thinking craiggers. Need more heart from the entire team not just Bogosian sized guys.

15 Nov 2020 20:01:41
Grit and toughness come from "heart", drive and desire. Grit and toughness are typically essential to success as they are hand in hand with the other attributes 90% of the time.
I would also argue that in the Clb series, Clifford was more effective than Nylander. That 4th line was our second best line all series. Clifford played with drive and Nylander did not. All his skill couldn't overcome his lack of drive.
I wish we had of played the Clifford line more.

15 Nov 2020 21:37:58
I didn’t say the trade was good. Lol. In fact, the first thing I said was that neither trade helps the Leafs.

And yes, I consider anyone around 6’00” and 200 lbs as a beefcake.

6’01” and 185 lbs is the size that is required to be a top model. The guys that get paid to stand around in underwear while a pretty blonde girl with fake boobs suck on their earlobe and some guy with a camera takes pictures.

Anyone 5’08” - 6’02” with a body weight between 180 lbs - 220 lbs is in beefcake territory.

Anyone bigger than that is getting into the “I’m going to break your legs for money size”.

Anyone below that probably suffers from some form of “little guy” status. Either they are insecure about their height. Or they are insecure about their weight. Depending on what they do about it, they are either of no consequence, or they turn into a pit bull. If they are the latter of the two, you want them on your side.

Tortorella wouldn’t have Gerbe on the team if he didn’t trust him to do the job. He’s tenacious and won’t ever give up. If he ended up a Leaf I would probably have little to say.

Unless it was Dubas that acquired him.

Then I would be outraged.

16 Nov 2020 00:18:09
I was just letting everyone know that nylander and kunin
Are in fact same height and 1 pound difference between the 2.

I totally got that hockeyluvr didn’t think this trade helps the leafs

Conclusion trade kerfoot with prospect for kunin as prospect makes up cap and age difference.