12/21/24
March 03, 2015
SportsFilter: The Tuesday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
Well, Phaneuf is the captain, and that role comes with a target. And Kessel is the highest paid and most talented Leaf, so that also comes with a target.
The fact that the media attention is negative is strictly because of the team results. When the Leafs were winners, players like Doug Gilmour were lauded like gods among men by the media.
Hockey in Toronto (and Montreal) is unlike any other club sport in any other city in the world, except maybe football in Dallas. You're talking about the nation's most popular sport, in the nation's most populous city, without any other competing team. You also have quite a few media empires that are centered around Toronto (Bell, Rogers, Sun, Star) and now you have to produce infotainment to fill those eyes/ears/bits. When the team stinks, it's easy to write a new article every day that explains how they stink, why they stink, who should be blamed for the stink, and how you think it should be fixed. Who do you blame?
Coach, GM, captain, star..those are the easiest choices.
posted by grum@work at 02:41 PM on March 03, 2015
Perhaps inspired by the quality of basketball back home, the Phillies managed to lose to the University of Tampa, 6-2.
Phil Kessel's comments regarding the media treatment of Dion Phaneuf in Toronto are really interesting.
Not that surprising. Last time I remember him in a dust-up he came out swinging a pretty big stick.
When the Leafs were winners, players like Doug Gilmour were lauded like gods
Unfortunately Gilmour acted a little too much like Zeus.
Like it or not, I'll be here all week. Tip your waitress.
posted by yerfatma at 02:51 PM on March 03, 2015
Fitting perhaps that just as the legal woes resulting from his adventure burst into being before his eyes, Gilmour was sent from the Blues to the Flames.
posted by beaverboard at 03:59 PM on March 03, 2015
I guess I wonder whether or not the environment is fertile enough for Doug Gilmours to thrive again.
Kessel was DOA and a lightning rod due to the moves management made to get him. Phaneuf didn't get a ton of rope before he was the horse everyone wanted to beat. Kadri hardly had his skates on before he was too fat, too slow, and guys were convinced he should be dealt. Kaberle. Schenn. Steen. It's not a short list of guys who had a tough time winning friends in Toronto.
This is a team that's got a fundamental development problem, and the problem with Phaneuf and Kessel isn't that they are costing the team wins - it's that they're both probably too old for how much of a rebuild this squad needs. You couldn't plug a player that's been truly available since either of them arrived into this squad and turn it into a contender. Doug Gilmour as captain in his prime in place of Kessel couldn't save this squad.
They have no legitimate #1 goalie. They don't have a legitimate NHL coach. They haven't had a #1 centre since Sundin left. They have very few puck possession players, either in the NHL or coming up. They're just now developing an analytic capability. They're a decade behind some teams in terms of scouting philosophy, system development, and coaching.
They've got money, and likely a top draft pick this year, plus Reilly and a few guys like Fred Gauthier and Nylander, and some guys who may or may not play a role like Gardiner, Kadri, Bernier and Holland. That's not a lot to add a top center and defenseman that are better than Kessel and Phaneuf to.
They should deal Phaneuf and Kessel in the next year or two because their career timeline isn't going to match their rebuild. I was worried the Leafs would take a subpar deadline deal for Phaneuf simply to get him out of town and to respond to the outrage over how bad this team is.
posted by dfleming at 04:15 PM on March 03, 2015
Eagles (maybe?) trade LeSean McCoy to the Bills?!
posted by yerfatma at 07:18 PM on March 03, 2015
The Eagles also just released CB Cary Williams and some mock drafts already had Philly taking a DB in Round 1, so not sure if they're going to try to come up with a replacement for McCoy further down the board.
posted by beaverboard at 08:07 PM on March 03, 2015
The original rumours involving McCoy were about grabbing picks to move up to get Mariota. Alonso effectively replaces Cole with a cheaper, better option, but unless they bring Maclin back, there are a lot of key positions without players for Chip Kelly to be thinking about paackaging multiple picks t move up in the draft. Something doesn't quite add up.
posted by dfleming at 09:31 PM on March 03, 2015
Overuse of sabermetrics in cricket? An interesting debate and some good commenting from The Spin.
posted by owlhouse at 09:36 PM on March 03, 2015
Well, the Florida Panthers/Toronto Maple Leafs game just got a little more interesting...
posted by tommybiden at 10:20 PM on March 03, 2015
Phil Kessel's comments regarding the media treatment of Dion Phaneuf in Toronto are really interesting. It's not quite a statement that he wants out of the city because of the media, but it's pretty damn close.
I wonder whether or not the general tone/animosity of the media in a particular city is a consideration for players when deciding where to play. The impact on players' life of a 24-7 media cycle certainly must be more than it was even 20 years ago.
I also wonder whether or not the sheer volume of negative, very personal, media attention in Toronto is actually causing the situation to get worse. I think the proportion of the media that's been devoted to Phaneuf and Kessel seems significantly disproportionate to the reasons the team is so bad. They aren't the ones who were unable to get a legitimate top-line centre for the last decade or the ones who failed to discover analytics until this year. They're also not the ones who appointed a coach who seems so bought into his "system" that the evidence - every single one of his players playing worse - doesn't seem to impact the game plan.
I get that it's hard to spruce up 80 or so "management is awful" articles a year on the Leafs (especially now that they know the coach is interim and never coming back), but on some level I wonder whether or not the media in Toronto have a role in making it tough to be a happy, motivated player in Toronto.