jeff@dciem.UUCP (Jeff Richardson) (12/28/84)
Tim Newman says: > I think that the reason that the Rangers traded Maloney to Buffalo is because > they are one of the most screwed up franchises in hockey. I believe that who- > ever is running that franchise has a mind of blue cheese. It looks like they > find a player that they dislike and then they "punish" him; i.e. the trade him > away for a nobody or tell him "you will rot in the minors forever." Herb Brooks > and the Rangers are nothing. I think that they make the Leafs look good. Very interesting. I got mail recently from a fan in Jersey who said that Maloney had been doing nothing worthwhile in recent years, that it was a good deal, and that Craig Patrick (Rangers' GM) is a genius. On the other hand, their performance this season would seem to support Tim's theory very strongly; however, I would still like to see some other examples of this sort of "punishment" and blue-cheese management. > Until Harold Ballard dies or something, the Leafs are going to have to be happy > with last place. A lot of people say that but, although he's part of the problem, I don't buy it. Ballard has all the money he needs and what he wants more than anything else is a winner. > The entire Leaf team, with the exception of Vaive and Frycer, seems to be a > team of mediocre players. What the Leafs need to do is trade 3 or 4 of their > average players for one good player on some other team. I agree; that would help immensely. But who would be interested in the average players from the worst team in the league? Nobody's going to give up a good player for a bunch of guys that might not even be able to crack the lineup. When you're in last place, your only tradeable players are your best ones. > The Leafs also have 4 goalies with NHL experience, > so perhaps they could throw in a netminder in this sort of deal. This would have worked at the beginning of the season, but everybody seems to have resolved their goaltending problems by now. (By the way, they have 5 now if you count Tim Bernhardt.) > Certain persons on the net were discussing the Leaf's "great" (?) young > defensemen. Personally, I don't believe that either Gary Nylund nor Al > Iafrate is any good. > Nylund is a goon and Iafrate is blatantly average. On every level of profes- > sional hockey that Nylund has played on, he has done nothing but draw > penalties. Iafrate, although touted as a great offensive defenseman on > Hockey Night in Canada, has never been a great scoring machine. When we said "great" we meant "potentially great". I know they're not great now but I wouldn't call Nylund a goon. NHL is the only level of professional hockey he has ever played, but if you had seen him play on Canada's world junior champions a few years ago, you would have agreed that he had the potential to become another Barry Beck only better. However, knee injuries and being forced to start his NHL career while recovering from a knee injury have probably ruined him for life, but you never know, he's still young and inex- perienced. As far as Iafrate goes, give the guy a break! He's only a teen- ager and this is his first year in the NHL. It often takes defensemen 3 or 4 years to develop the scoring touch. Now, if you said they should get rid Bob McGill, I wouldn't argue with you. He IS nothing but a goon. > The Leaf's problem is their defense. Any team which is giving > up close to 5 goals a game is in serious trouble. The Leafs should trade > away these players (particularly Iafrate and Nylund) who are perceived > to be great defensemen but who are really only journeymen wallowing in > mediocrity. Yes. Their problem is their defence. But it's not the players themselves it's the way they're trying to develop them. As I said before you can't throw a bunch of young inexperienced defensemen on the ice for a last place team and expect them to become a solid unit, but there's still hope for Iafrate and maybe even Nylund if they start bringing them along properly. > At any rate, nobody in the Norris can touch the Black Hawks. The only > reason that they didn't win the division last year was because of injuries, and > it's the same thing this year. Unless Chicago comes down with a rash of > injuries, they've got the patsy Norris sewn up. Injuries are part of the game and you have to be prepared for them. While the Black Hawks say "we can't win without our two top left wingers," good teams will say "the rest of us have to work harder but we can overcome this." Of course, you don't have to be a good team to win the Norris Division anyway. -- Jeff Richardson, DCIEM, Toronto (416) 635-2073 {linus,ihnp4,uw-beaver,floyd}!utcsrgv!dciem!jeff {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!dciem!jeff