I as well as many other Leaf fans really liked him and hoped he would resign cheap after flopping in Pitts. I think he should do well for you guys and consistently put up 20 goals. Doesn't hit at all but is can decently protect the puck. A couple years back he got his Canadian citizenship so I thought he might stay in Canada as a first option...
Good signing. I expect we will see him with Handzus to start out.
From what I have been reading he seems to like to shoot a bit more than Frolov, and is responsible defensively. Plus we all know that Zeus makes any winger that plays with him better. I expect he will be a good fit with Murray's system. Kids like Moller, Loktionov, and Schenn are going to have to step it up if they want to make the team. Lots of competition in camp among the youngsters and that is a very good thing.
Let's see the terms. I'm guessing 2-3 years for a cap hit of around $2.5-$3M.
Pretty much an even swap with Frolov outside of enigmatic potential.
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"It has not been a good day. I lost my glasses early this morning and I had to go buy a pair of 79 dollar reading glasses today. 79 bucks. You can literally get them at Costco, three-for-20." - Darryl Sutter's response to going up 2-0 in the series.
He's also prone to HUGE brain farts. Once in a game against Carolina he had an open net (Goalie pulled) with a minute in the game, and he didn't shoot, and had the puck stripped-- only to have Brindamour score and tie the game before they won in Overtime.
Frolov's last two seasons: 158 GP, 51G, 59A, 110 P
Ponikarovsky's last two seasons: 159 GP, 44G, 67A, 111P
If you go back further than Frolov's track record is better, but over the last two seasons their production's remarkably similar. It's pretty much a lateral move in that respect.
Pretty decent for a big man. Nothing great but fairly average, he is a good complimentary player and played very well with Kessel and Bozak before the trade deadline.
Another Leaf fan here. He's a good player, somewhat of a tweener 2nd-3rd line winger. He hits a bit but never lays out any devastating checks like you'd think a player as big as him (that apparently hits that much) would do.
He provides a nice level of offence, you can probably count on 45-55 points from him, 20 goals are practically a certainty. He's underrated defensively, but he's not a PK-unit type of forward.
He plays well in a variety of roles, he can be a complimentary winger on the 1st line, though much more suited for the 2nd, and is a pretty effective 3rd liner for reasons I described above. He's not overly fast or a good skater, but he is strong on his skates and has an OK shot. Like was mentioned earlier, however, he's not the kind of guy who stays put in front of the net - he just doesn't seem up to the punishment that goes with being a true net-crasher.
And he began taking some ridiculous penalties in his last season or two with the Leafs, like when we were on the PP or in the attacking zone. Funny thing is, he doesn't take too many penalties overall so it's frustrating that when he does, they come at the worst time possible.
Overall he's honestly a good hockey player, he just got a bad rep being a default 1st liner in Toronto and not producing when he played with Malkin. I wouldn't expect a repeat performance of his time with the Penguins.
Good signing. I expect we will see him with Handzus to start out.
From what I have been reading he seems to like to shoot a bit more than Frolov, and is responsible defensively. Plus we all know that Zeus makes any winger that plays with him better.
Let's see the terms. I'm guessing 2-3 years for a cap hit of around $2.5-$3M.
So you think he will be on the 3rd line? From what i know of him, he really isnt a great shutdown guy which scares me. (helene is bashing him lol)
I dont think he will fit with Stoll on the 2nd line because there are no real playmakers on that line.
Sounds like a stopgap. We could do much worse than Ponikarovsky while waiting for a legitimate top line winger to become available. Pretty excited to see how he fares here.
He's also prone to HUGE brain farts. Once in a game against Carolina he had an open net (Goalie pulled) with a minute in the game, and he didn't shoot, and had the puck stripped-- only to have Brindamour score and tie the game before they won in Overtime.
This incident is constantly brought up because its the only real major brain fart he has had. You shouldn't really worry about this, all Leafs fought hard to find ways to lose leads/games in the last 5 minutes. Antropov got so much flack as well as a mediocre stint with NYR but has been great for Atlanta.
Pretty much an even swap with Frolov outside of enigmatic potential.
Umm sorry but no. This guy has a career high of 23 goals and his offensive potential is far less than Frolov. In Toronto he's played with decent players (Sundin,Stajan) and in Pits he played with another decent player( Malkin) so I don't expect him to score more than his 20ish goals playing with Kopitar or Handzus.
Overall I guess I like the signing because he's no worse than any of our other wingers but I still wish we had Frolov instead. I'll wait until the terms are released before I judge Lombardi on this.
So you think he will be on the 3rd line? From what i know of him, he really isnt a great shutdown guy which scares me. (helene is bashing him lol)
I dont think he will fit with Stoll on the 2nd line because there are no real playmakers on that line.
Be interesting to see where they put him.
I don't think there is a noticable difference between how Murray uses the so-called 2nd and 3rd lines. Every new winger seems to break into the system playing with Handzus, so we shall see.
Poni doesn't go to the net as hard as Simmonds will, but he does have a pretty good shot and isn't as reluctant as Frolov.
You know TM is going to use every line combination possible before the season is over anyway. A guy like Richardson could very well have a good camp and great start to the season and see a bunch of time on the 1st or 2nd/3rd line.
Thanks to all the Leafs fans for coming over and giving us their two cents.
He's hit at least 50 points each of the last two seasons and four of the last five years he's reached 20 goals. the one year he didn't, he had 18 in 66 games, so he would have done so if he hadn't missed 16 games.
Good size, and as one poster noted, basically the same numbers as Frolov. It will be interesting to see what he can do away from Toronto though, which is why i hope it's no more than a 2 year deal. DL doesn't have the greatest UFA record, so hopefully it's a low cap hit of 2.5 M or less for one or two seasons.
Wow, Helene is pretty classless. She's a reporter, yet is bashing a guy we just signed. Pretty tasteless if you ask me. Makes me not want to read anything she writes. She's spent too much time around Kings fans obviously. Pulling the trigger before the gun is even loaded.
Wow, Helene is pretty classless. She's a reporter, yet is bashing a guy we just signed. Pretty tasteless if you ask me. Makes me not want to read anything she writes. She's spent too much time around Kings fans obviously. Pulling the trigger before the gun is even loaded.
She was talking about Frolov...nonetheless...still classless.
