The same thing for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs can’t keep happening
Sportsnet: Frank Seravalli on Sportsnet on the Vancouver Canucks.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Ken Read: “Look, if there’s a fan base who have not been waiting for Festivus to air their grievances, it’s the fanbase in Vancouver. You’re seeing fans with bags over their heads like it was the Harold Ballard Leaf days back in the 80’s.
Does this team blow it up? What do they do?
Seravalli: “Well I think this holiday roster freeze in addition to the start of the season, the first third of it that’s been so ugly for the Canucks, really deserves some introspections. Some time for the Canucks to put together a long-term viable plan.
Enough of these years that we’ve seen mostly for the last decade since they were really so competitive. To put together a plan that’s long-term, the long haul. No more patch jobs. It’s time to rip the bandaid off and really begin to come up with a core, a number of pieces that you determine, whatever that is.
Whether it includes Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes, or Thatcher Demko. You begin to have some difficult conversations about which one of those pieces, if any of them, decide they should be on the move.
I think the point of where the Canucks are right now, is that they should be having a lot of difficult internal conversations where all the cards are on the table. Doesn’t matter how long you’ve been there. Doesn’t matter what your talent level is, or specifically, you’re age.
They need contract and cap flexibility. They need picks and prospects, and they need to do something different cause the same year-after-year approach of the same thing isn’t helping.
Sportsnet: Frank Seravalli on Sportsnet on the Toronto Maple Leafs.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Ken Read: “If I’m looking at the Leafs right now, let’s say I’m a Leafs fan, I see the same thing I’ve seen for the last few seasons.
I see a fantastic regular season hockey team but if you’re a Leafs fan, you have to thinking, go out and get a stud defenseman. Maybe upgrade somewhere, get some depth. You can’t go into the playoffs with the same old, same old again. Or can you Frank?
Seravalli: “No, I don’t think you can and I think this time around they have the cap flexibility most likely with Jake Muzzin‘s injury to afford themselves the opportunity to go out and continue to bolster this team.
Status quo isn’t an option. I’ve said since day one this season, this is a burn-the-boat-type year for the Toronto Maple Leafs. They shouldn’t be leaving any stone unturned when it comes to how this team shapes up entering the Stanley Cup playoffs.
You can accomplish all that you want in the regular season. You can throttle the Tampa Bay Lightning, as they did earlier this week, but to think that this team doesn’t have holes and can not improve, I think would be a mistake.
Everyone knows that this team is going to be judged by how they fair in the playoffs.