It's apples to apples, if you ask me. There isn't anything Lapierre can do vastly better than anyone else currently on our team, aside from maybe his pest act, but even that's worn off lately. People just have this romanticized notion of Lapierre the player because he's having moderate success now that he's gone.
Everything I wrote about him, except possibly the hits, was true when he was on the team. He had moderate success in 2007-09 as well.
Also, another point I didn't mention. You brought up the fact that Armstrong, Nokelainen, and White can collectively do what Lapierre did as an individual. That's true, but I'll counter that there is value in having a single player with all those skills, rather than spreading those abilities over multiple players.
Why do you bring up "vastly better" btw? I don't think Lapierre is "vastly" better, but I'll settle for merely better.
Everything I wrote about him, except possibly the hits, was true when he was on the team.
Also, another point I didn't mention. You brought up the fact that Armstrong, Nokelainen, and White can collectively do what Lapierre did as an individual. That's true, but I'll counter that there is value in having a single player with all those skills, rather than spreading those abilities over multiple players.
Why do you bring up "vastly better" btw? I don't think Lapierre is "vastly" better, but I'll settle for merely better.
I didn't mean to say that it takes 3 players to do the job of 1 Max Lapierre, I just meant that Lapierre wasn't bringing anything to the team that we don't already have elsewhere.
And I'm only assuming that since the difference between Lapierre and what we have now is so negligible, someone would have to assume he's much better to bother pining over the loss of him. His skill set is pretty ordinary, and guys like him are usually available en masse come July 1st. But again, I think the allure of him being "a good one that got away" makes him look better to some than he really is. See also: Andrei Kostitsyn, Guillaume Latendresse, Ryan O'Byrne, etc.
- provide size
- draw penalties at an elite level
- score above 50% in the faceoff circle
- has marginal injury history
- is excellent on the penalty kill
- plays for relatively cheap
- provides secondary scoring to the tune of 10 goals and 10 assists a year
- is a 4th liner who can go on the 3rd line when there are injuries without destroying the team
I don't remember what we traded him for. I think it was Brett Festerling. Bad trade. I'd rather have Lapierre than White or Nokelainen.
I thought he was marginal as a PK guy. He will probably cost too much to sign as a #4 center(over 1 mil) so I think they'll stick with Dumont/White next year.
What got him traded was that he wasn't ok with a smaller role, maybe he accepts it now but he was a malcontent at that time.
I didn't mean to say that it takes 3 players to do the job of 1 Max Lapierre, I just meant that Lapierre wasn't bringing anything to the team that we don't already have elsewhere.
And I'm only assuming that since the difference between Lapierre and what we have now is so negligible, someone would have to assume he's much better to bother pining over the loss of him. His skill set is pretty ordinary, and guys like him are usually available en masse come July 1st. But again, I think the allure of him being "a good one that got away" makes him look better to some than he really is. See also: Andrei Kostitsyn, Guillaume Latendresse, Ryan O'Byrne, etc.
Those are the good players that got away, along with Chris Higgins, that would help out more than some guys we do have.
We know our own players better, and we keep track of them and we regret mistakes.
Notice that at the same, I don't see many fans clamouring for the return of Kyle Chipchura, Matt D'Agostini, Hal Gill, Mikhail Grabovsky, Tom Pyatt, etc.
A Leaf fan friend is speculating that one reason Burke was fired because he wanted to make more "win now" moves - looks like the Leafs are going to win or lose (tank?) with their kids. All of a sudden the Toronto media is open to building through the draft.
A Leaf fan friend is speculating that one reason Burke was fired because he wanted to make more "win now" moves - looks like the Leafs are going to win or lose (tank?) with their kids. All of a sudden the Toronto media is open to building through the draft.
Took them way too long to understand, but like Montreal the patience isn't always there and fans don't want to wait 4-5 years so management makes dumb moves to fix things which end up causing even longer rebuilding years
I didn't mean to say that it takes 3 players to do the job of 1 Max Lapierre, I just meant that Lapierre wasn't bringing anything to the team that we don't already have elsewhere.
And I'm only assuming that since the difference between Lapierre and what we have now is so negligible, someone would have to assume he's much better to bother pining over the loss of him. His skill set is pretty ordinary, and guys like him are usually available en masse come July 1st. But again, I think the allure of him being "a good one that got away" makes him look better to some than he really is. See also: Andrei Kostitsyn, Guillaume Latendresse, Ryan O'Byrne, etc.
Lapierre is pretty unique from anybody actually. Guys like him with this attitude are not as legion as we think. I also think Lappy had intangibles based on emotion and this came through in the playoffs against Washinton when paired with Dominic Moore, these guys were all over the ice.
A Leaf fan friend is speculating that one reason Burke was fired because he wanted to make more "win now" moves - looks like the Leafs are going to win or lose (tank?) with their kids. All of a sudden the Toronto media is open to building through the draft.
I think they were open to it, Burke was just not that type of guy to do it. When Fletcher stripped the club bare, it was the ideal time to rebuild and they went in and hired Burke who's the last person you go to for patience. Burke is a "big deals" guy to go for a cup run, he has absolutly no notion of what it is to wait and build something through the draft, he had scraps and he kept saying "this year we're gonna make the playoffs!" as if making the playoffs would be this magical thing that would make the Leafs much better. And it was putting pressure on his whole organization, giving responsabilities in the hands of guys that were not ready for it. I mean the way he would single guys out like Reimer and Kadri in the media was stupid. It's about time for a genuine Leafs rebuild.
Didn't read everything. So we want Lapierre back? LOL Please turn the page; it's another chapter. We don't need distraction. Yeah, he had a couple of good playoffs. So what? We are trying to move in the right direction, building a no non-sense team. Lappy doesn't help us go where we are trying to go.
Remember when Tim Connolly was a better UFA signing than Erik Cole? lol.
Remember yesterday when a poster here at the Habs board said that the Leafs would be better than the Habs this year because Lombardi and Connolly were going to be healthy !!!
I wish I could find that thread.
