the worst part is him teasing us with promise last year, sure he never looked like the next gary roberts or anything, but he appeared to be developing into a tweener 2-3 line player.
Now he barley qualifies as a 4th liner

John Mitchell Sucks

breathe

hahahhahhhahhhahahhaahhaa

i still hate him

The issue isn’t to compare him based on what he does but what he does in relation to his salary.

he sucked before the injury

I’m sure there’s more that could be done with a response to this, but I don’t know how to access the CORSI numbers, etc. and I have a crapload of work to do, so I’m going to just leave my response at this:

Last year, most of us who watch the team night in and night out around here would have been hard pressed to say that Mitchell or Kulemin was a clearly and demonstrably better player than the other (each showed flashes, and Kulemin in particular, near the end of the year, showed some defensive talent that had previously gone more or less unnoticed). Whatever, my point is that neither of them was an obvious all star top 6 ZOMG player; they were both “guys who had potential”. Mitchell had 12 goals and 17 assists for 29 points. Kulemin had 15 goals and 16 assists for 31 points.

It would be inaccurate to say that Mitchell’s 2 fewer points place him in the “sucked” category whereas Kulemin was teh awesome. If Kulemin had sustained the knee injury and was slow to rebound from it….would you be saying that he “sucked” and deserves to be abandoned?

It is true that Mitchell has disappointed this year. I was at the Leafs/Kings game Jan. 26th and I thought Mitchell looked absolutely lost out there. His lack of jump and inability to get himself in position made me angry. So I get the frustration with his play, really, I do. I’m just saying that it’s too early to give up on a young guy that has in the past shown some jump, a reasonable amount of offensive promise, has the size and has shown the passion for the game in the past. I think his ceiling is probably as a 3rd line guy, but assuming that (in the future) the Leafs have other players in position whose job it is to play in the top 6, score goals, collect big cheques and make a lot of tv commercials, Mitchell can succeed in a 3rd line role.

I’m an advocate on keeping the kid around because he’s shown flashes of competence, but I’d dispute him being a serviceable bottom sixer thus far. If he’s not going to generate much offense then he needs to at least make sure he’s not getting scored on. That hasn’t been the case, he had pretty terrible defensive numbers last year and he started this year equally poorly.

Mitchell’s future on this team will depend on him getting smart about his positioning and responsibilities, I wouldn’t call him a serviceable player just yet. But he could be.

Physical infirmity can absolutely lead to confidence/mental issues.

That said I agree—I’d be much happier with him getting 10-12 MPG rather than the 15 he’s averaged this year.

I hope it’s in a reduced fourth line role with only the minimum required increase in salary

Agree, I think that’s all that can be justified right now. I’m just saying we shouldn’t entirely give up on him because he showed signs of being a better player than that last year.

I can get on board with this

It would be funny to have a KKK line centred by a guy actual KKK members/lunatics would probably like to hang from a tree.

he looks like a goldfish on the ice, mouth always open, eyes kinda bugging out
I call him Carp

He has the potential to be a 2nd tier playmaker or a 1st tier sniper, I’d prefer to have him continue to develop into the latter.

If we assume we’re going to toss money at a UFA C, I agree a short-term deal with Olli would be best. But I think the better course is not to throw money at short-term fixes just because you can. Save the cap space and roster spots so you can make a Phaneuf-ian deal down the road (or make a run at Semin in 2011—now that’s a UFA forth paying for, though I assume WAS will lock him up).

That seems pretty key to me. I think maybe two guys like that would not get along with Jarome, and he is the real leader in that room. He seems like a more Sundin, strong, silent type. If Olli is a demanding, grumpy gus, as long as he plays hard, bring him in. I don’t think he’d infect anyone.

woulda been worth it

Joe Nieuwendyk is the only other player of significance in that draft.

At worst, the Leafs got the second-best player available, and without injuries, he probably rates higher.

The problem is that the 1985 draft was lousy. Lots of B-listers, very very few A-listers.

Joe Nieuwendyk – 2nd rnd
Mike Richter – 2nd
Stu Grimson – 7th
and
Igor Larionov – 11th

Seeing goalies try to score on each other would be the highest of high comedy.