Saying Goodbye: Jason Blake
by PPP on Feb 1, 2010 10:00 AM EST
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PrintWith Sunday's big trades the Leafs have now said goodbye to six players. Sure, some of them might have left at the end of the year but it still has to be classified as a shock to see literally one third of the team that blew a 3-0 lead against the Canucks on Saturday night be shipped out less than 24 hours later. The most surprising of all has to be Jason Blake. He of the two years remaining at $4M per year on his contract was once thought unmovable.
Of course, that wasn't always the case. When Blake signed there were definitely some warning flags. He was 33 years old, coming off of an outlier of a season, and was pretty small. Of course, as a Leafs fan it was easy to think that he had less wear and tear, to remember the 2002 series when he was so effective, or to think that maybe Sundin could keep his offensive production up. Of course, some people wrote some ridiculous things in the aftermath:
The signing of Jason Blake will help to make the Leafs offence more balanced and more consistent.
Welp. Since that was back in the day when I was just writing for my dad to read I have no idea how the rest of you people felt except for MF37 who immediately made a ironclad case for this being a bad signing. As he is far more often than not, he was 100% right.
He has the numbers for the Jason Blake Era:
233 games prior to joining the Leafs: 90 goals
216 games with the Leafs: 50 goals
Blake didn't even have a chance to get off to a good start with his new team as he was diagnosed with a rare but thankfully manageable form of cancer during his training camp physical. Some times fans can forget what kind of pressure players are under but with three very young daughters and a wife it was clearly something that was on Jason Blake's mind. He said as much while he prepared to leave the Air Canada Centre as a Maple Leaf for the last time:
After being moved, Blake stood in a hallway in the Air Canada Centre and seemed visibly relieved.
"This is where it all is," Blake said. "It's not easy playing here. It's a great organization, great fans, but there's a lot of pressure. And it can get to you.
"Am I surprised? Yeah. Very. I never saw it coming. But I think it's a good thing."
- Bruce Arthur, National Post
His first year was understandably difficult and by the beginning of the Ron Wilson Era he was in the doghouse and not happy one bit. He improved to be referred to by the coach as one of the team's best forwards but ultimately his other affliction never improved. But his time with the Leafs was not without its highlights. He looked exactly like a hamster, earned not one but two PPP Dictionary entries, and even scored some really nice goals:
I'll give the last word to bkblades who does it much better than I could hope to:
But for Blake to thank the fans personally in his interview knowing how many people wanted him gone? That speaks volumes of his character and I can truly say I hope he does very well, in lieu of his overpriced contract.
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Another quote from Blake:
“It’s a difficult place to play, especially when you are not winning. To be honest, it can be stressful.”
Poor, poor millionaires.
To be honest, I never hated Blake. You always have to feel bad for a guy living with cancer, and at times he was good, but never brilliant. He was overpaid, but not grossly. I can’t say I’ll miss him, but I wish him well.
Loving the Leafs is like being in love with a drug-addled, gambling addicted prostitute with a heart of gold and a bunch of humanitarian awards from her youth. It’s hard. It hurts. But dammit! I just love them!
by Van Ryn's Neurologist on Feb 1, 2010 10:06 AM EST reply actions
OH HAI JEFFLER
finally decided to join the party, eh?
by Marc Pilgrim on Feb 1, 2010 10:19 AM EST up reply actions
i will so be looking for easons to use those still
they are too good not to
Puns, Innuendo and Bad Spelling, Yes We Got That
by JaredFromLondon on Feb 1, 2010 10:11 AM EST up reply actions
a happy dancing hamster is still good for goals/other good stuff.
I'll roll up on you smooth and punch you in the jeans
when we play anaheim
There is no "I" in team, but there is an "M" and an "E"
by Matt_Roberts on Feb 1, 2010 10:35 AM EST up reply actions
I used to be a bike courier
Having Jason Blake on your team is the equivalent to picking up a huge box on a same day service. In short, it sucks. It weighs you down, literally – slowing you down a killing your momentum, and takes up all the room in your bag, making it impossible to do your job efficiently until you get rid of it. Trading Jason Blake is like finally delivering that box and getting that huge weight of your back and shoulders and suddenly feeling like your back in the game with an empty bag, ready to hustle and make money again.
by general borschevsky on Feb 1, 2010 10:52 AM EST reply actions
Interesting factoids
Jason Blake and Gary Roberts put up points at an almost identical pace during their respective tenures with the Leafs, Roberts had a 0.66 PPG clip, Blake had a 0.65 PPG. The big difference being that Roberts had more goals on fewer (almost half as many) shots. Gary’s shooting % was 20.44% with the Leafs, Blake’s was 6.22%
Jason Blake has 804 shots in his 216 games with the Leafs, while Poni has more than twice as many games in a Leafs uni (472) but only 179 more shots (983.) That works out to 3.7 shots per game for Blake, and 2.08 shots for Poni. Blakes PPG rate is higher than Poni’s. Again, that shooting percentage, Poni’s shots hit the twine 11.22% of the time
I have nothing interesting to say.
by blurr1974 on Feb 1, 2010 11:15 AM EST reply actions
blake must love this as much as we do, the guy gets to live out in cali making 4 mil per for another 2 years after this one and rest and enjoy life out of the toronto spotlight, for an older guy with cancer this is probably a dream come true for him
There is no "I" in team, but there is an "M" and an "E"
by Matt_Roberts on Feb 1, 2010 11:25 AM EST up reply actions
And he gets to go to Disneyland, and live in the OC like on the TEEvee!
Moustache Fever, not to be confused with swine flu.
Man, this Blake trade has affected me completely differently than I expected. The guy was all class, and that’s something we’ve needed the past few years. It’s just too bad he had the off-ice issues to deal with, I feel like we never saw that side of him until he left.
"The only way out is in a body bag. Go Leafs Go." - Blinky
by Karina on Feb 1, 2010 11:43 AM EST reply actions
ONE BIG GIANT FIST PUMP for Jason Blake. He was never able to regain his scoring touch with us, but he always tried hard and I was always so happy to see him score, especially on home ice, because it meant huge fist pumps all around. Good luck in Anaheim, you should be able to pot a few goals until western conference goalies figure out your 2 special moves.
PuckingHilarious.com - funny hockey apparel for hard core puck heads.
As much
as I (and prolly everyone else here) bagged on Blake for his (at times) lack of on-ice production, I have to give credit to him for showing enough class to thank the fans who never truly appreciated him on the ice.
I hope he does alright in Anaheim. (unless it’s against Toronto next season…)
I dunno
Earl Sleek is showing just a little bit too much glee with this deal for my liking.
After the crap of this year’s Leaf season, I figure I’ve earned the right to see Jiggy be at least NHL average, injury to force actual extended playing time onto Toskalol and for Jason Blake to maintain his subzero shooting percentage.
Agreed. I hope Jason Blake sucks in Anaheim and Toskala too.
An ounce of class doesn’t make up for a gallon of suck.
"I will take the subway - we were on the subway last night...I'm not above riding the subway or riding on a bus, I don't care. As long as people don't hit me." --Ron Wilson
Earl’s reaction just means that both sides won in this deal.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
by PPP on Feb 1, 2010 1:36 PM EST up reply actions
In honour of Jason Blake’s departure, I am now doing multiple fist pumps.
leaf fan stuck in ottawa, a localized black hole that will suck everything in that area to oblivion.
anaheim must really have trouble skating the puck behind the net and losing it
There is no "I" in team, but there is an "M" and an "E"
by Matt_Roberts on Feb 1, 2010 12:18 PM EST up reply actions
Maybe they’re looking for a way to wear out opposing goalies’ chest protectors.
Why do we do this to ourselves?
They needed him
with Toskala, so they have someone to make him “have an accident” if he plays as bad as he has been.
Moustache Fever, not to be confused with swine flu.
I've never witnessed a more ineffective Leaf than Jason Blake.
blake chips puck into zone
blake fails to retrieve
blake pushed to ice by bigger defenceman
blake gets up, is quickly pushed away from puck by bigger forward
teammate retrieves puck, passes to blake
blake pins himself on the boards attempting to “cycle”
puck is easily stripped from blake by defenceman
opposition clears the zone
by TMLSiegeinVancouver on Feb 1, 2010 1:18 PM EST reply actions
repeat
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
by PPP on Feb 1, 2010 1:36 PM EST up reply actions
repeat, and then Jim Hughson chimes in:
Blake is really buzzing, but he keeps getting shut down by the impenetrable forces of LUUONNGOO
"I will take the subway - we were on the subway last night...I'm not above riding the subway or riding on a bus, I don't care. As long as people don't hit me." --Ron Wilson
from Elliotte Friedman's 30 points today
2. The Maple Leafs wanted to keep Blake – the organization felt much better about his work ethic than the fan base. They offered Jeff Finger to Anaheim instead, but the Ducks said no.
Man if we’d been able to give them Finger… that would have been superb.
"The only way out is in a body bag. Go Leafs Go." - Blinky
by Karina on Feb 1, 2010 2:09 PM EST reply actions
Man if we’d been able to give them the Finger… that would have been superb.
Fixed?
jrwendelman
The Artist Formerly Known as "Junior", who blogs at heroesinrehab.ca/blog
"But if someone so eager to engage into fist talk, we can always meet after season end in Minsk." (Mikhail Grabovski and a well-meaning but not particularly skillful translator)
well I still think we managed to do that.
"The only way out is in a body bag. Go Leafs Go." - Blinky
by Karina on Feb 1, 2010 2:14 PM EST up reply actions
I think I remember Burke implying this in the press conference when he was saying something about “a few different guys that could have wen’t with Vesa” or something along those lines.
Finger would have made the most sense because we have an excess of Dmen and lack of forwards. Plus, blake is only overpaid by about 1.8 mil while finger is overpaid by about 2.5
Moustache Fever, not to be confused with swine flu.
Even though Blake isn’t producing a whole lot this year, Finger is goddamn awful. His GAON/60 is 3.98, easily the worst on a bad team.
by Grabovski's better than you think on Feb 1, 2010 3:39 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah, and the fact that he’s a scratch most nights is the Killer. I would much rather have him off the books and play Gunnar (when Komi is healthy) and/or bring up Oreskovic or Frogren in his place.
Moustache Fever, not to be confused with swine flu.
Earl Sleek has a good look at why Blake was more attractive than Finger.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
by PPP on Feb 1, 2010 3:25 PM EST up reply actions
I don’t need to read that to know why Blake is better than Finger
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
Albert Einstein
by Say *plan the parade one more time*... on Feb 1, 2010 7:14 PM EST up reply actions
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