smitty55

I didn't say you were a Liberal, just that you sounded like one by figuring that an apology solves everything. BTW the Sens came a double overtime goal away in game 7 from making the finals 2 years ago. It certainly was worth celebrating ,the fans and the whole city were loving it. Way more than the leafs have ever had to celebrate for decades. Just sayin...

I certainly get where you're coming from, but the easy solution is to not let the garbage bother you, basically a "I don't give a rat's ass what you think anyway" attitude. Works for me anyway. Happy New year

Apologizing for the hijack doesn't make it right, you sound like a liberal lol. Happy new year.

I follow Hooked On Hockey and Gloves off Hockey on facebook. Let me tell you folks here are easy on the leafs compared to what I see there, specially on Hooked on. It seems to be that there's an almost universal hatred for the Leafs no mattter where you go. So at the risk of being accused as a hater by Chris I figured I'd share this stat about the last decade in the NHL

Jeez I'm real sorry Chris, I didn't realize that opinions weren't allowed on this thread, unless their yours it seems. This is a hockey thread you know, not just a leafs one. Btw there is no miserable hatred here, that's just your misguided opinion. If the leafs were the only Canadian team left in the playoffs I would actually cheer for them. Seems like you're the one with hatred issues when it comes to the Sens and Habs. But seeing as how easy it is to get you going it's no wonder some folks like to poke at you, I think that's maybe what you don't understand. I'm curious about one thing. You sure hate it when the term Laffs is used by MM but then you have no problem using the term Scabs instead of Habs. Kind of hypocritical don't you think? And of course you never jab at anyone else right?

Chris the Leafs should be so lucky to have a player like Brady, you could sure use one. He's exactly what you whine about the Leafs not having all the time.

Chris I'm not sure what you're talking about, I was just responding to Akrisoners post about the Sens. It's not my problem if you have thin skin and can't handle relevant rebuttal. I sure see an awful lot of anti Sens posts here but I guess they don't count. Most of my posts are based on stats with some opinion thrown in like my dislike for Mathews who can't even play defense and yes the odd jab here and there just for fun. So I'm wondering just what comment in particular you have an issue with, I have no prob discussing it with you. Cheers

The best socks you can get are Alpaca wool but they sure are pricey. I've always been somewhat susceptible to cold feet but what I do now is add a good thermal insole and put a foot warmer pack between two pairs of socks, but make sure to put it on top of the foot not the bottom where they get compressed and get no air so they don't stay hot. Cheers

That was a great game today to watch. Always exciting between the Canucks and the Yanks. I'm wondering how many players the leafs have in the tournament? I've heard Sandin mentioned but no one else. Is that it? Sens are looking good with three. Shane Pinto as the American #1 center, Bernard Docker in the top D pairing for Canada and Lassi Thomson as the Finnish captain. Two first round picks and a high second at 32.

Tkachuk scored 22 goals as a rookie, those numbers will increase with age and as he plays with better players. Same with Chabot, any team in the league would love to have him. Plus Brady has the ability to drag the team into battle with him on a daily basis, something you'll never get with that pussy Mathews. I'd still take him and his salary anytime. His farts have more class than Mathews. Btw I was talking about skaters, not goalies obviously. Yea sure Andersen is good but he also faces by far the most shots against in the league, not a recipe for success at all but is a good likelihood for burnout and injury. Then what happens, the Leafs will fall like an anchor for sure. There's a method for building a winning contender and by paying 40% of the teams salary on 4 forwards that sure as hell isn't how it's done. You do realize that the leafs defense has been their big weakness for so long now I can't even remember. Without a solid D corp the leafs will never get close to the cup, defense is was counts most come the playoffs, look what happened to Tampa last year. Btw you may want to check the standings before you talk about mediocrity. That's what happened to the Leafs forever until they tanked on purpose to get those high picks. Well it just so happens that Ottawa has a good chance of getting two first round picks in the top five no less, in what is considered to be the best draft in a long time. That's how our GM decided to build a team, not like Dubas did by having no cap space to do anything. All it will take is one issue with Andersen and your team won't even make the playoffs while spending more than any other other team in the league lol. Right now the leafs are 7th in the conference in points and that's not even counting games in hand by other teams in the race. So don't count your chickens too soon there. Cheers

I have no idea where you got that idea from. Trust me the Americans are into it big time as well as Canadians. Cheers

The fact that you don't think that Thomas Chabot is a star tells me all I need to know about your knowledge and opinion on Ottawa. The guy won the MVP of the WJC as a defenseman, I can't even remember the last time that ever happened. At 22 he's already way better than Rielly at 25. As for Tkachuk, at 20 years old I'd easily take him over anyone on the Leafs except for Marner, he is so much fun to watch and there are very few players in the league that play like he does. The Leafs would be so lucky to have a player like him but all Dubas wants is skill and no jam lol. Cheers

Chris I guess you missed the humor in my post. At least Misfish got it. Mostly though you seem to keep forgetting the huge difference in the situation between the two teams. The Sens are in the first year of a rebuild while the Leafs consider themselves a contender while recently firing and still paying the most highly paid coach in history. It must be nice when money is no object. Actually things are looking pretty good in Sens land considering. I'll be happy to point out some things to you seeing as you don't watch them. Yea Connor Brown is a top six winger on this team. His play has been excellent this year, highlighted by his defensive play. For 2M he has one point less than Rielly at 5M. Pretty good deal I figure. Tyler Ennis too has really picked up his game. First star against Philly with three points, that's why the coach rewarded him with the shootout. But you didn't know that so you assume. 10 points in his last ten games too, pretty damn good for a 800k Cap hit. On top of that he has 2 more points than Kapanen at 3.2M, four times the salary. Another great signing. How about Duclair? 6th in goal scoring in the league with 21, same as McDavid and only 2 less than Mathews. He would be 3rd in points on the Leafs btw. Salary 1.6M. Mathews salary this year 15M and he's not even your best player, Marner is. Great contract again. How about Pageau? Lets compare him to Tavares just for kicks. Salary 3.4M. Tavares salary 15M. Well go figure Pageau has three more goals and only one less point. He would be 4th in points on the Leafs btw. Just as important Tavares is actually a -3 on the "high scoring" Leafs, meanwhile Pageau at +19 on a sub 500 team is 5th in the whole league. Plus he's tied for the lead in shorties with 3. That sure looks pretty good, wouldn't you say Chris? I'm really hoping he wants to stay a Sen and won't test the market so they can get a long term deal done in the 4M range this season. To me he's the epitome of a legacy player for the Sens. #1 star of the game today, he is playing the best hockey of his career this season. He is always pitted against the the top lines and always has been best and most dangerous killer for many years now. I could go on again about our prospects and our picks this draft, #sharktank is even better than our pick right now. They are a mess to say the least, and now they're screwed with those crazy contracts So yea Chris, sorry to disappoint you but things are actually looking pretty positive in Sens land right now. Not the least is the culture and structure That DJ Smith has instilled to this team. I'm a huge fan That win today against Buffalo was a great reflection of how this team plays under him and his staff, you should watch it... Seriously I knew nothing about DJ with the Leafs before I heard he was climbing up the ladder as a hire. Never was a head coach but 4 years with the leafs in the NHL is great experience. I really like what he is doing in understanding that at this stage his job is all about the developmental process. Speaking of looking good, we have a true 22 year old Norris candidate defense man locked in for 8x8M. He's already better than Ek65 at 11M. I'll leave with this for now. The Sens will have 2 very good first round picks in this exceptional draft year, let alone the second round. That's a lot to feel good about too. Cheers

Way to go for the lad. Nice Grey. Looks like a good time, good weather helps too. Were you guys staying in that cottage? Cheers

Really Dave, that's a pretty lame statement considering 5 of those are short term injuries and even a day to day so it sure isn't like they no longer play for the Sens. 🙄 Plus 4 of those LTIR contracts and likely some UFA ones as well are expiring this year and will free up 30M in cap space, giving the Sens tons of flexibility in the next years. Also cap hit and actual cash paid is a different story and some of those contracts are paid by insurance. The Leafs meanwhile get no cap relief from their expiring LTIR contract as they are only using them for salary relief. One big difference is that the Sens used those contracts to help reach the floor while their prospects develop. Meanwhile the Leafs are cap bound with little to no flexibility for the future to the point that they are using 12M in borrowed money from LTIR contracts from next year to manipulate their cap space this year so they can afford those high salaries. They even had to purchase Clarkson's contract so they could sign Marner lol. Yea but Dubas is doing a great job, just like he's done with your goalie crisis having no backup and no cap space to find one for this season. Next year will be different though I guess, with 4 UFA contracts on defense some of that money could be used to find a decent goalie. Too bad you lost McElhinney to waivers, that was a real smart move considering how Sparks worked out. Oh but wait, you will need that money to pay for new defense contracts, you can't fill your D corp with rookies and expect to contend. So say what you want about the Sens contracts, right now I'd much rather be in the position they are in rather than the cap crunch the leafs have to deal with and with no relief in sight. Cheers

LOL so now you want it both ways. First you complain about all haters and now it's too quiet.

That's cool, but actually Chris I don't think it was the run so much that led to all the turmoil, most of it came from Melnyk cheaping out everywhere including staff along with the drama in the room mostly caused by a spoiled star who sucked up all the oxygen in the room. Plus there was Boucher, I was not a fan of his at all and neither were many of the players if you remember that cab ride. Like I mentioned the best thing they did was trade off Karlsson. We got 3 quite decent players, a first and second round pick, two conditional picks and the rights to Josh Norris who was a 2017 first round pick by the Sharks and was a strong player for the US development team. He was getting over surgery from an injury and is in his first year as a pro in Belleville where he's second in team scoring and just under a point a game player. So in that case I'd say we did quite well in that trade, Karlsson hasn't been the same player since that run and his injuries, only 3 goals this year and they are stuck with a huge 11 year contract for a player who is starting on the downturn of his career. #sharktank is trending strong in Ottawa As for Stone and Duschene, once they realized that a rebuild was on the way and with Boucher still there and along with the drama in the room there was no chance that they were going to give up their chance at free agency and I don't blame them one bit. The Stone trade hurt for sure and we still don't have a true first line center yet although they're hoping Logan Brown progresses to that eventually. Cheers

Chris I was merely pointing out that at least we've recently had a great playoff run to be excited about as a fan base, you need to follow the context of the paragraph bud. You should chill man and not take everything so adversarially. I'm not Matt. I'm starting to see where you're just kind of like/about as bad as the guys you're calling out lol. I figure it's developed on this thread over the years but regardless it doesn't really add much to the actual hockey conversation from either side. But I guess it's ok for you to react to a simple statement and bash the Sens with words like train wreck, embarrassment to Canada, appalled ?, and then spouting off about about trades you don't seem to have have much knowledge on. You can look up the Karlsson and Stone 😦 trades to see what we got back in trades and prospects if you want to actually bother. Just the Dzingle trade of a rental 1.8M ufa contract got us two second round picks from Columbus and then Torts the almighty was happy enough to throw in Duclair as a sweetener. If you haven't heard that interview about him from Torts you should find it. Well he did well enough for 21 games that he was resigned for one year at 1.65M. Well guess what he has 15 goals in 32 games, that would put him second in scoring on your team Chris, just saying. I bet he's faster than anyone on the Leafs too. He's got a real good shot , not quite Mathews like but he can score from distance. Best of all this coaching team has made the most of his always known skill set and is transforming him into a real good and dangerous penalty killer too, to finally solidify his "identity" as a hockey player. Watch his shorty, it's a beauty. He is thriving on the prime ice time he's getting in all situations, his confidence is high, and he's the happiest and most productive in Ottawa he's ever been as an nhl player. He's close to home in Montreal and I can see him resigning here for quite reasonable numbers. Pretty good for what you call nothing in return Chris. Then again like you said you never watch or follow the team so there you go... There is some basis to some points you made but it wasn't as bad as you portray it. There were two years of utter turmoil with ownership, dumping salary along with the problems in the dressing room. Even though they did did offer Ek65 big numbers they knew he wouldn't stay. IMO Best thing they did was trading him., that contract was an anchor as San Jose will find out. Cheers

Tks Akri, I figure a hockey thread should be more about constructive debate and discussion as opposed to senseless bashing that accomplishes nothing. I will say that it does seem to come from both sides here but I don't really know how it all came about. Nothing wrong with some friendly barbs the odd time, it just depends on how one goes about it. I did say something about a parade but that is almost a universal comment where it concerns the Leafs. So I just watched all the highlights from the game last night plus some of the TSN panel discussions. That's two games in a row now where the Leafs had lousy 3rd periods, Andersen just bailed them out against the Canucks but he sure didn't look too sharp last night, to me he's already looking tired after 6 straight starts. Even on a 95 second 2 man advantage for the Leafs they couldn't score and Sheldon didn't have much positive to say about most of the team. It doesn't matter what team it is, if they don't play for a full three periods they will lose more games than win. No points for Auston but at least Marner and Tavares have been clicking lately. You had mentioned about the leafs trending in the right direction since the coaching change, but they are now 6-4, somewhat but not really all that much better than under Babs. If this keeps up much longer I can see Leafs nation really getting up in arms and it won't be pretty. Meanwhile the Flames are now 7-0 under their new coach so it's working well there. Cheers

You really are dreaming. With the stock they have in the farm system and the number of their own picks they have and also the Shark's first round pick this year they will be doing quite well by then. Wouldn't surprise me at all if they're doing better than the leafs by then too. With 40% of the cap space taken up by four players and already in big time cap trouble I can't see any improvements happening in the near future. Meanwhile the Sens have tons of flexibility with all the ufa and rfa players they can let go of to make room for the high end prospects they have in their system like Drake Batherson for example, currently leading the AHL in points. Plus there are some highly touted d-men coming up the system like Brannstrom, Wolanin, and a very highly touted right shooting Finn Lassi Thomson who they selected in the first round last year. They are very excited about him, he's playing in the Finnish league this year and is expected to make a strong push to make the team next year. Excellent skater with great hockey sense, a strong offensive flair and a very accurate cannon of a shot from the blueline. As for the franchise being in trouble that's a joke. Melnyk has said he will spend to the cap once the rebuild has taken place. Besides that, billionaire Guy Laliberte would buy the team in a flash if he did decide to sell. I wish he would, I'm not a fan of his at all. Standings you say. The Sens are playing above expectations this year and the Leafs far below. Speaking of playoffs the Leafs aren't even in the playoffs right now, they're fourth in the wild card race lol. They've even allowed more goals against than the Sens this year. You have no decent back up goalie so Andersen will more than likely get burnt out from playing too much or get injured as well and then you're screwed. Your no.1 star player is a classless spoiled immature kid who still who gets his jollies from harassing and mooning a female security guard. He then got in trouble with the law over it and didn't even have the integrity to inform the team. He'll make a great captain I'm sure lol, unless he doesn't get it in which case he'll be a big sulk. I'll leave with this. Sens fans this year finally have something to be real excited about, unlike the last two years. Now we can actually start to see the plan coming together in front of us and I can assure you there are no unhappy Sens fans this season, except maybe tank nation. Meanwhile I've seen a pile of posts from unhappy leafs fans bashing their team this season, and I don't mean just here. I'd say Sens fans are having much more fun this year for sure. Also if you care to recall, only 3 seasons ago we came a game 7 overtime goal away from making the finals. Meanwhile the leafs were out in the first round as usual while the Sens took out Boston, something the leafs sure can't do. But go ahead, keep on dreaming and planning that parade, I just don't see it happening any time soon, not the way they are constructed right now. Cheers

I figure you're just getting on Matt's case but you do realize that the Leafs have only two more wins than the Sens so most of your points are moot.

D J Smith came in at the same time as Babs a year after being named OHL coach of the year, so he knows the Leafs players as well as anybody. I'm really enjoying his coaching style and old style attitude, it's pretty black and white, he knows it's all about developing talent. From what Chris has said I guess they're just playing better under DJ than Babs. This is from the coach today On Ron Hainsey playing in his 1,100th NHL game tomorrow night: "The best part about Ron is that his game has changed from an offensive guy to a defensive guy. He's found a way to stay in the league by doing it right and by not riding the ups and downs. He's an even keel guy win or lose, he's good to have around young guys, he treats everyone with respect and he's a guy in the locker room that kind of looks after everything." Sounds like the perfect guy to help on a rebuilding team. Don't forget the Leafs were last in the league in 15/16, so not that far away from what the Sens are doing now as an organization in a rebuild. Cheers

Yea Ennis started off slow this season but has been playing quite well the last dozen games or so. He also leads the team in pp goals, not that we have a lot of them being second last in the league. For the way he's playing now he's a great deal on a ufa 800k contract. As for watching the Sens Chris you should try watching the last two Boston games. At least you'd get to watch some hard working structured and physical play, something that's been surely lacking in some of the leafs games I've watched. The Philly game was a great watch too even though they lost in the last 5 minutes, couple of fights and tons of hitting.

Chris I don't know about the haters, but I will certainly dispute you on those three players. You only know those players as members of the leafs org under Babs. I have no prior familiar opinion on them at all. They have all been far from garbage for the rebuilding Sens this year. They have fit into their intended roles really well from what I see, Hainsey is a perfect example. He was brought in for his experience to bring some solid stability to a young defense and equally to provide mentorship to some hopeful defensemen coming up the pipe, just like how the Leafs used him with with Morgan Rielly. He has been rock solid on the ice, very vocal and he has no problem switching sides to accommodate who he's playing with. He's been good value for his salary and as a ufa I wouldn't be surprised if the Sens offer him another year. As for Zaitsev, considering his salary was basically a trade off with Ceci I have no problem with the way he's been playing, for the most part paired with Chabot. From what I've seen he's better than Ceci for sure, far less prone to mistakes and more physical in his play. In last night's game he was paired with Boro playing against the Bergeron line and they did a great job overall. He had 7 blocks, Boro had 6, no one else on either team had more than 2. Now he does have term left for sure but so far so good. As for Connor Brown, he's been one of the most consistent and hard working forwards we have this season. His defensive play has been excellent, he's 4th in team points and trending to 40. His hard work has garnered him several game stars. Considering he was added in as a sweetener to compensate for Zaitsev's term his play and contract of 2M has been a great deal for the team and as an rfa I can easily see the team offering him an extension next summer, specially if Pageau's agent prices himself out of what Ottawa is willing to pay for a real good 3rd line center. Cheers