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Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

Welcome to the Neno's Place!

Neno's Place Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality


Neno

I can be reached by phone or text 8am-7pm cst 972-768-9772 or, once joining the board I can be reached by a (PM) Private Message.

Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

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Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

Many Topics Including The Oldest Dinar Community. Copyright © 2006-2020


    Toronto Maple Leafs

    jedi17
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    Posts : 10738
    Join date : 2013-02-20
    • Post n°1

    Toronto Maple Leafs Empty Toronto Maple Leafs

    Post by jedi17 Mon 20 Feb 2017, 9:49 pm

    Leafs plan to challenge young core group, use deadline to add assets
    February 20, 2017, 4:37 PM ET [120 Comments]
    Mike Augello
    Toronto Maple Leafs Tor Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • RSS • Archive • CONTACT
    For the latest Leafs updates or  on Twitter

    The Toronto Maple Leafs broke a two-game losing streak and kept pace in the tight Eastern Conference playoff race with a 4-0 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC on Sunday. 

    Connor Brown scored a pair, Auston Matthews and Jake Gardiner scored for Toronto and Curtis McElhinney made 37 saves for his fifth career shutout. 

    McElhinney kept the Leafs from falling behind early with 15 saves in the first period. James van Riemsdyk set up Brown for the opening goal early in the second, but the Matthews goal midway through the middle frame turned the tide in the contest. 



    The Toronto rookie fought through the interference of Canes forward Phillip Di Giuseppe and slid the puck between the pads of Cam Ward for his 28th goal of the season, tying Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine for the NHL rookie goal scoring lead.  

    With the victory, Toronto split the set of weekend back-to-back games, keeping pace in the very tight Eastern Conference playoff race, but their recent struggles have wasted their games-in-hand advantage. 

    Boston (66 pts) holds a one-point lead for third spot in the Atlantic and has played just one more game than the Leafs. Florida and the New York Islanders (64 pts) trail Toronto by one point, Philadelphia (63 pts) trails by two and Buffalo by three. 

    The difference between most of those teams and the Leafs is that their management will likely to explore short-term options to upgrade their rosters before the March 1 trade deadline. Toronto appears more interested in giving their young corps group a chance to know what it is like to compete down the stretch and perhaps use their financial advantage to accumulate more future assets. 

    “We have a long term project here and we understand that totally. If you can ever improve your team for the future, I think it is way different than when you think you are going to win the Cup and have an opportunity and you need more bodies.” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said over the weekend. “There’s two things that are involved this year, everyone looks like they are the same and still in it. The second thing is there’s an expansion draft, so there are two parts to it that make it way different this year.”  

    On Saturday, the Leafs made their first move by trading defenseman Viktor Loov to the New Jersey Devils for forward Sergey Kalinen. 

    The 24-year-old Loov is a restricted free agent this summer and has fallen behind Justin Holl, rookies Andrew Nielsen and Travis Dermott on the Leafs depth. Kalinen is exempt from being exposed in the expansion draft, but could be an asset that is used in a future deal or to shore up the Marlies up the middle in the short term. 

    With the contracts of Joffrey Lupul, Nathan Horton and Stephane Robidas being placed on long-term injured reserve, Leafs GM Lou 
    Lamoriello has the option of being a player on March 1 with an additional $13.55 Million in available cap space. 

    It is unlikely that Lamoriello will use the freed up cap space to add rental players, since Toronto would have to sacrifice young players or draft choices to acquire them. 

    Those looking for depth on the blueline may have interest in inexpensive options Matt Hunwick and/or Roman Polak, as Toronto can either retain up to 50% of their cap hit or take back a salary to acquire young prospects or additional picks. 

    Cup contenders (Anaheim, Pittsburgh and Minnesota) face potential expansion roster problems that Toronto could benefit from if they decide to move players like Kevin Bieksa or Jonas Brodin.  

    Montreal, who may be looking to open up space to make other trades, may find Toronto willing to take on the contract of pending UFA David Desharnais, which would have little or no effect on the Leafs NHL roster if they bury the Habs forward in the AHL as they have with Colin Greening, Milan Michalek and Brooks Laich.
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