Remember how crushing it would be to the Maple Leafs to lose Gary Roberts and Joe Niewendyk, not to mention Alexander Mogilny? Let's compare their current production with that of the players the Leafs chose to replace them with.
GP G A P
Moligny 9 4 4 8
Nieuwendyk 7 1 2 3
Roberts 6 0 0 0
Lindros 10 8 3 11
Allison 10 2 8 10
O'Neill 8 4 4 8
Yeah, I will take the 29 points (or a point a game) versus 11 points (1/2 a point a game) any year.
In the playoffs, however, those guys tore the heart out of the Sens.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to see them gone, but for different reasons...
The new guys will do the same!
ReplyDeleteI recall a lot of preseason pundits suggesting that:
ReplyDeletea) Lindros, Allison and O'Neill were too old/injury-prone to help the team and
b) The Leafs would never be the same without Nieuwyndyk, Roberts and Mogilny.
I am unsurprised that this analysis turned out to be flawed.
Of course most of the experts were leaf fans .I saw a lot of long faces when they found out they couldn't buy their team this year.Oh well look on the bright side Bud people . at least you will get a good draft pick next year.
ReplyDeleteMost of the media are simple minded idiots. They look at the fact that the Leafs spent $65 million in 2003-04 and didn't win the Stanley Cup, now that they have to spend less than $39 million they are going to suck big time. Most 'pundits' suggested the teams who will be hurt most by the new cap would be the Leafs and Red Wings. How wrong do they look now? But this is nothing new. They are wrong most of the time.
ReplyDeleteIf Eric Lindros could play his entire career in October, he'd be in the Hall of Fame by now.
ReplyDeleteIf Ottawa could play the playoffs in October, they'd have won a Stanley Cup by now, or at least had a remote chance of beating the Leafs.
ReplyDeleteYeah, can't imagine Ottawa beating the Leafs anytime soon .... (cough) 8-0 (cough)
ReplyDeleteIt's still October. May/June is when it counts.
ReplyDeleteAs some of the leaf fans seem so fond of pointing out "its may/june" when it counts...maybe they ought to start think how long their "one legal medium strength body check away from retirement" players are going to last. Its a long season....
ReplyDeleteI kinda have to agree with some of the naysayers. Roberts and co. aren't performing as well as their replacements, but I would really like him in the dressing room after an 8-0 loss. Leadership, and the fact that Roberts was a pretty tough old guy. Not saying the new guys don't have those qualities, but we're really starting to need them.
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