Helping Me Answer Questions

1: We don’t really have a consensus about Sundin. Mention his name and you have a long back and forth. We could debate it all night, much like the questions “What is the meaning of life?” “Could Jesus microwave a burrito so hot even He could no eat it?” And, “What Flaor is Flava Flav?”

2: uhhhhhhh….pass

3: It would feel better if we weren’t constantly reminded of this every single game and in every single news story GAH STOP IT! STOPPIT SHUT IT OFF! (curls into fetal position repeating "top draft picks, top draft picks " over and over again)

4: Cliff Fetcher’s age is not a concern since being 612 means he’s on the Willie Nelson plan for immortality (seriously, look at them: Fletch and Willie

5: We’re Leafs fans,. We wouldn’t exist without hope

1. There is no consensus on the Sundin issue. The one thing that most knowledgeable Leafs fans will acknowledge is that Sundin gave us the best years of his hockey life, and always performed to the standards expected of him. He was always a point-per-game player even though he was surrounded by talent that never matched his own. We can all agree that he wore the Leafs jersey with pride, and was well-deserving of the captaincy. We can all agree that his numbers speak for themselves: he is the highest scoring Toronto Maple Leaf. Period, full stop. We can all agree that Sundin gave us a ton of amazing memories. As to whether Sundin should have waived his NMC, we could debate that until the cows come home. Actually, myself at Sports And The City and Sean at Down Goes Brown have done just that.

Long live Mats Sundin…

2. The worst deal the Leafs have done? That’s a tough question. I’m forced to not go with a player here, but management. Bringing in John Ferguson Jr. was the worst thing the Leafs have done in the last five years. He fucked us royally, and it’s going to take some time to clean up the mess he left behind. From signing guys like Ed Belfour, Mariusc Czerkawski, Jason Allison, Eric Lindros, to the worst of all, Andrew Mother Fucking Raycroft.

The best deal the Leafs have done in the last five years? Simple. Firing John Ferguson Jr.

3. How do you think it feels, man?

4. Those rumours about his are absolutely unsubstantiated. He’s actually 315 years old. But Cliff’s age is not a concern for Leafs fans. He has found the fountain of youth. Cliff Fletcher will live forever. I mean, look at him. He looks like he’s 70! And, might I add, he looks fucking fantastic.

5. We’re not holding out hope for Brian Burke, per se. We’re holding out hope for a competent general manager who can return us to our lofty post. Someone who can help deliver a Stanley Cup and make you guys out west hate us even more because, you know, that’s how we get off.

Remember, when you’re at the bottom, there’s no where to go but up. The Toronto Maple Leafs, and a Stanley Cup banner, will rise once again.

Go Leafs Go.

Cheers,
eyebleaf

1. Best answered in two words. Yes, No, Yes, No, No, Yes, No, Yes, Yes, No x infinity, Yes x infinity+1, No x infinity+1 to the power of pi, yes x infinity…(you get the idea)

2. Raycroft. The deal itself didn’t appear to Raycroftian at the beginning, but about ten games in, we knew we’d been Raycrofted (how’s that working out Avalanche?)

3. It feels right. Like kicking kittens and punching babies.

4. No, the knowledge of the universe is at our disposal…

5. No, I don’t. I hold out hope that Cliffy doesn’t expire and he’s secretly a vampire, cursed with eternal life and an insatiable thirst for blood

1. Well, I’d like him back, but wonder what it would do to this newfandangled chemistry thing.

2. Raycroft, Raycroft and more Raycroft.

3. Don’t forget that in a 30-team league, at least 20 teams are on a minumum 10-year drought.

4. Don’t care. Bowman is older, and we all wanted him.

5. Don’t think Burke will wind up here. I see another year of Fletch before the dawn of the Nieuwendyk era.

1. Sundin’s fantastic and most people here loves, adores and worships him until they remember that he’s not Canadian. Do you know the old saying “soon as people see snow flakes they forget how to drive”? Well think of it that way except replace people with Leaf fans, snow flakes with European, and how to drive with common-fucking-sense.

2. eyebleaf covered it perfectly, worst: hiring JFJ, best: firing JFJ

3. Let me tell you something, it feels fantastic to know the last time the Leafs won the cup it was a 6-team league. Here’s why. Today there are 738 active players in the NHL, SEVEN HUNDRED THIRTY EIGHT. Now I can’t find an exact figure for 1967 but it would reasonable to assume that there were no more than roughly 150 active players in a league with 6 teams. ONE HUNDRED FIFTY. Why is this important:? Think about it, what is tougher to crack? A top-tier league with 150 players, or a top-tier league with 738 players? You damned well be fucking uber at what you do to make it in a top-tier hockey league composed of 150 players.

The Leafs had their best years competing in a league that wasn’t diluted with talent, sure they were stacked but they played and won the Cup against other stacked teams, they didn’t face teams composed of pros and minor leaguers, they faced the best of the best, the cream of the crop and came out triumphant and smite’d their powerful foes in glorious victory. A meaningful and magnificent, that’s the shit I’m talking about. I’ll rather them go winless in 5 decades then have them Trap their way to the Cup every couple of years.

4. We’re not concerned about Fletcher’s age because we don’t have Sarah Palin in the wings ready to take over when he kills over.

5. Real Leaf fans know that we’re really holding out for Scotty Bowen, the whole Brian Burke thing is just to distract everyone else while we go for the real prize. It’s like Area 51 and Roswell, there’s no alien conspiracy, its just there to distract the conspiracy theorists while the government works on taking over the world.

Keep them coming and don’t forget to think of questions to fire back at OilersNation.

In what Bizarro universe is 1990 considered recent? Nobody under 30 has any vivid memories of the Oilers as a powerhouse.

1. Thanks for the memories, have fun at the buffet, we’re doing just fine without you. See you at the HOF induction.

2. 5 years isn’t very long, especially given the long history of screwups. I’d say, with hindsight, Rask for Raycroft is looking to be a terrible deal, especially considering that Pogge still struggles. Pogge’s career is tied to Rask’s now, and so far things don’t look so great.

3. Hard to answer that one, considering most of us weren’t even cognizant the last time we won. The worst part about it in my mind is the fact that fans of teams with less history and fewer or no cup wins somehow feel the need bring it up constantly. I’m looking at you, Vancouver and Ottawa. The Leafs have actually had a decent amount of playoff success in the 30 team NHL, unless you believe the NHL didn’t exist before the lockout.

4. We only need him to last until July.

5. I hold out hope for the most competent GM that we can conceivably hire over the summer. If that happens to be Burke, so be it. Likely, and hopefully, it won’t be.

1. There is no consensus. I really want him to come back and will be very dissapointed if he doesn’t. Some people feel the opposite. Some people feel somewhere in between. There seems to be no consensus at all.

2. The worst deal is Raycroft, no doubt. The damage that move caused alone is wholly depressing. The best deal, my opinion, was picking up Moore for nothing.

3. Seems to be 2 seperate questions. Being a member of the Original Six is a source of great pride. Not having won the Cup since the days of the Original Six is the source of our deep suffering.

4. The Silver Fox is a genius. There is no concern, only pride and appreciation.

5. To be honest, I could care less about Burke, but if he’s the best available man for the job, and as long as it guarantees we won’t have another JFJ on our hands, terrific.

1. Divided. Those who advocate staying the course worry that Sundin’s return would provide little benefit (as far as team success) and delay or derail entirely the development of young forwards gobbling up prime minutes in important situations. Those who don’t see the team obtaining a top five draft pick anyway want him back to teach the youngsters the way. Those who are cannibals think he looks delicious.

2. The worst on-ice deal has to be Red Light Raycroft. Colorado Avalanche fans (both of them) are by now learning that with “Razor” (cough) in net, the “scoring area” now includes all four corners of the rink, most washrooms on the mezzanine level of the arena, and a substantial portion of the state of Colorado. There are no guarantees that Tuuka Rask (who the Leafs traded to get Raycrap) will ever be Martin Brodeur v. 2.0, but that deal perfectly symbolizes the ineptness of the JFJ management regime: JFJ evidently failed to foresee that Ed Belfour would age, because he failed to have a suitable successor ready to take over from within the organization; he then badly overpaid for Raycrap (both by way of trade and by way of mammoth contract), a goalie whose “talent” he over-estimated; to fix his own mistakes in that regard, the Leafs were then required to trade for Vesa Toskala. The best deal may well be Cliff’s most recent Risebrough: a 2nd-rounder for Mikhail Grabovski.

3. How did it feel when Chris Pronger and his wife basically hocked a loogie on the statue of Gretz out front of the Rexall Place/Skyreach Centre/Edmonton Coliseum/Northlands Coliseum? How did it feel when Roli the Goalie got steamrollered in Game 1 of the ‘06 Final, following which the Oil coughed up a three-goal lead and went on to lose the series in 7 games? That’s gotta hurt. Anyway, take those feelings, transplant them on a fan base that actually keeps coming to the games when the team doesn’t have a freakish run of success, and you get the idea. Laugh it up out there, Oiler fans – at least our team never lost the Cup to a bunch of itinerant hillbillies.

4. It is true that Cliff Fletcher is so old, he was once a contestant on a game show where the big prize was “fire”. Nevertheless, the front office is one place where the “wily veteran with a track record of success” is much preferred over the “promising but unproven talent”: see the entry in Failopedia for “Ferguson, John Jr.”. By the way, hope that Steve Tambellini thing works out for you guys. Really.

5. I personally want Brian Burke to come town about as much as Kevin Lowe would like to carpool with the guy. Burke’s record – both as it relates to the draft and his ability to assemble a well-rounded team (or even one NHL calibre starting goalie) is doubtful, as I’m sure the seven time Stanley Cup Champion Vancouver Canucks would agree. His record with the Ducks raises questions about his ability to manage the cap, though Niedermayer and Selanne have to bear some of the blame for that. It would, however, be fun to watch Burkie berate the local mittenstringers like a drill sergeant with PMS on a daily basis. Put me down for “meh.”

Questions, I gots questions…

on top of my initial one…players fearing for their lives at the thought of staying Edmonton after signing there (or just before…)

2. If it weren’t for a belly up US dollar and revenue sharing from teams that make more money (Maple, cough Leafs, cough…) how would it feel to be like Winnipeg?

3. Does losing the Avco World Trophy to Winnipeg still sting? It’s got to, a little bit, no?

4. What’s it like cheering for a team who’s superstars never retire in your team’s jersey?

5. Those 3 first rounders you got in the Gretzky deal. How’d they work out…?

   1. What is the consensus amongst Leaf fans about the Sundin situation?
How did Sundin not rub off on Alfredsson?

   2. What is the worst deal in the past 5 years that the Leafs have done? What has been the best?
Phil Housley [5.5 yrs]

   3. How does it feel knowing that the last Stanley Cup that the Leafs won was when there were 6 teams in the league?
  like a dick that just won’t raise, still better than ottawa

4. Rumor has it that Cliff Fletcher is 612 years old. Is this a concern for Leafs fans?
  Concerned? nope, his wizardry is the only thing to fend off the ghosts of furg

   5. Do you hold out hope for Brian Burke coming to town?
Yes. we also hope he brings the mighty ducks.

and it’s tied to others:

What’s worse, not winning since ’67 or trading away the best player that ever played in his prime?

   1. What is the consensus amongst Leaf fans about the Sundin situation?
- Just Fucking Choose something!
   2. What is the worst deal in the past 5 years that the Leafs have done? What has been the best?

-Best – I think Grabs will pan out to be the best, but ill go with Cliffy moving us up in the Draft to get schenn
-Worst- Raycroft for Rask

   3. How does it feel knowing that the last Stanley Cup that the Leafs won was when there were 6 teams in the league?
- I have a drinking problem for a reason.
   4. Rumor has it that Cliff Fletcher is 612 years old. Is this a concern for Leafs fans?
-only that he might get lost in a mall looking for someone to help him with his katchup problem.
  
 5. Do you hold out hope for Brian Burke coming to town?
- I am anti-Burke, as much as I want to see him demo the media over and over, I don’t think he is who we need at the helm. In Cliff I trust