Comments for Battle of Ontario....
Classic. Thanks for making my day.
I'd say send him down to the Marlies but then he'd be a cancer in a room full of young impressionable kids and destroy any future they have in the NHL.
-Jaredoflondon
I thought Blake had an OK year by his standards but was absolutely snakebitten when it came to goals. 332 shots and a 4.5 sh%, when his career number is 8.2%. That could easily have been a 25-30 goal season. He should rebound next year, as much as a 35 year old can rebound.
If I were a GM I'd take him for nothing, as long as some other value contract or asset (prospect/picks) was thrown in to balance out the $4M-for-nothing that Blake will be later on in his deal.
At $5M a year coming off a 15-goal season
That is kind of misleading. His salary cap hit is only $4 million and he actually only has $15 million over 4 years left so his actual salary averages out to $3.75 million per year. His 52 points were more than Mike Fisher's 47 points and Fisher will make $18 million over the next 4 years. Fisher has never had a 50 point season, Blake has had 4 in the past 5 seasons. Fisher was -10 last year, Blake was -4. Fisher is injury prone, Blake is not.
What the Leafs need to do is sign Alexei Yashin to a one year contract, let he and Blake play well together like they did in New York, and then trade both of them away for draft picks at the trade deadline.
You're right DJ. His cap hit is only $4M a year. Still, according to JFJ there wasn't one phone call about Blake leading up to the trade deadline while JFJ was still GM. That's pretty telling.
The good news is that Blake must know he has to play some damn good hockey for the first 1/2 of the year if he's to get traded at deadline. If he really wants to leave he'll have to play his best.
Which I suppose is better than him being happy to hang around for four years and collect a paycheque.
If he really wants to leave he'll have to play his best. Which I suppose is better than him being happy to hang around for four years and collect a paycheque.
You're right, this is good news for sure.
The guys that refuse trades get bashed, the guys that say they're willing to be traded get bashed. Tough to do anything right if you're a Leaf player.
I'm all behind DJ's suggestion that the Leafs go out and sign Yashin. That would be absolutly awesome.
And the Leafs should bring in Millbury to be GM.
While Blake is almost certainly overpaid regardless, I'm inclined to agree with Jeff -- no way he has as bad puck luck next year. For a guy who was in the Top 10 in the league in shots to shoot under 5% is just criminal.
He'll revert back to being an overpaid 20- to 30-goal scorer this season, I think.
The guys that refuse trades get bashed, the guys that say they're willing to be traded get bashed. Tough to do anything right if you're a Leaf player.
Is it really that simple for you?
He'll revert back to being an overpaid 20- to 30-goal scorer this season, I think.
I'm having a hard time saying anything positive about him right now because of how selfish and stupid he was to say something like that to the press.
But for all his shortcomings last season, his speed and his energy has an impact. He did a lot of work on goals he didn't get points for, and GM's notice this kind of thing.
So if he can reach the goal totals you mentioned I think that makes him decent value for his salary.
I'd be happy with Blake if he scored 25 goals next season, to be honest.
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