SAMSONOV WAIVED! Stuck In The Now, Hopeful Of The Future

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S6E25

Maple Leafs content, commentary and conversation. Norman James with Mike Augello. This is The Leafs Convo.

Hey what’s going on guys this is the Leafs convo for oakd Ford in London Ontario oakd for.com what a 2023 it’s been for vehicle sales and I owe you guys a debt of gratitude thank you so much for supporting me on the ground in the car business it’s not always easy

But you’ve made it that much easier and I really do appreciate it very much oakd for.com is where you’re going to find your next car you think that the deals were good in uh December that’s okay in January 2024 they’re going to be off the charts because Ford has to clear the

Ground for 24s coming in oakd for.com Norman oid for on Instagram happy New Year it’s the 31st of 2023 going into 2024 the mate beliefs on a three-game losing streak to wrap up the uh the year not necessarily the season but who knows this may be reflective of what’s to come

Mr rello good to see you this morning I hope um uh you’ve got some festivities planned for tonight before we get started just want to go into the community port portion of the YouTube channel uh youtube.com/ the Leafs combo community so last night after they lose to the Carolina Hurricanes

Sebastian AO Amazing by the way right now um my expression was ug ug and uh B Hy said golf season is coming Cory Trevor 5649 Marner LOL good grief and then kind of just summarizing my feeling and you know maybe getting me to wonder why I do feel

This way about a team that leaves a lot to be desired Peter CP Rail 8748 why are you so disappointed he asked we know what this team is a whole bunch of meaningful nothing now that might be a little extreme but Peter CP Rail on to something Michael the floor is yours

Good morning good morning um well it’s funny because I I wrote yesterday while I was uh at the Sabers Club Columbus game I write a a monthly column for full press hockey and I do like a wrap up of each division and I have you know the

Best success of the month the uh biggest disappointment the player of the month and what I call the Dennis Green award which is they are who they who we thought they were which is his famous rant when he was I think he was coach of the Arizona

Cardinals the Toronto maps are who that we thought they were which is a flaw team they they’re they were a flawed team over the last few years they have plugged holes and traded draft picks and traded prospects to plug those holes but they have not been permanent Solutions

And the reason that they’re not permanent Solutions is because they’re spending half of their salary cap on four forwards but we’ve covered that territory and there’s 11 million going into neander pocket right if if the rumors that are you know out there are true but this is you know okay so teams weather

Injuries they get through them good teams get through them Tampa Bay they kept their head above water while vasileski was out for two and a half months with a after having back surgery they’re right now in a wild card spot at least as of last night and coov is

Playing like a man on kucherov is playing at an MVP level right um the Florida Panthers make a cup run um they lose Aaron blad and Brandon Montour their two best defensemen they stockpile their blue line with a bunch of whole pluggers five six defenseman and they

Get through the first couple months at blad and Montour uh come back and now they’re climbing the uh the the the ladder in the Atlantic division now I give full credit to Simon benois and William logas plugging the hole while Lilia grin and

Uh and J Don were out so they did it a did a competent job but the difference with the Leafs is once the injury happened to Joseph wall the goal tending has been exposed and the ilas samsonoff that were seeing right now is not the ilas samsonov we

Saw last year if you remember I think his sa percentage was 918 something like that he he got them through the year after Matt Murray got hurt he got them through the first round then he got hurt in the second round and Wall came in but he was a good

Goenda long-term contract and one thing I’ll give Brad for living in terms of the decision making that he made coming right in uh was he went to arbitration with samsonoff and he signed him to a one-year deal God forbid this would have been Jack Campbell 2.0 why did he do that

Like because I think he doesn’t he he basically said it was a proven deal it’s like okay he couldn’t have foreseen the way he’s playing right now well no no you you don’t but but you also can’t reward somebody who’s had a history of being performing uh per Performing L

Unstable he has one good year and you’re gonna reward him no it’s like okay you do another good year you put up stats like you did last year you you play State you did last year and we’ll reward you with a long-term deal that may not

That may not have even been the case they may believe that Joseph wall is the number one I know Elliot fredman said that a bunch of times I believe that he you know he should be the number one because I think he’s got that kind of pedigree but they said prove it and

Maybe one of the reasons that samsonoff is folding is that right now he’s costing himself millions of dollars by the way he’s playing he is playing abysmal and we’ll talk more about what he’s done over the last few games but they cannot trust him anymore they cannot play him anymore right now rough

That is rough this is the Leaf’s combo for oakd Ford in London ontar oid for.com like the content subscribe to the channel OD dog Chong is here and he’s not too happy why would you bench camp for Holberg shelden Keefe needs to go Gio needs to be a bench coach and

Here’s odog Chung the Leafs are better with logus and benois in the lineup M quick comment on that oh by the way uh Mark Benjamin Happy New Year’s gentlemen hopefully 24 means a little more stability with the hockey club GE ah the way that 2023 wrapped up I don’t think

The beginning of 2024 is going to be any different y Samson off Mike you mentioned that he has a broken psyche yeah no doubt I mean I don’t even know if a psychiatrist a psychologist a you know a a Jedi could help get this guy uh

Get his mind right and um you know considering the Leafs are what third in the in the division right now they’re still like a plus 10 plus 11 they win they lose they look okay they really disappoint when you factor in the the problem between the pipe for this group

Joseph wool your young number one that really hasn’t proven anything is out you’ve got Martin Jones just patching holes and ilas Samson off who um is giving up more than a goal per game um goals against average wise than his career numbers uh represent I mean he’s three

94 goals against average in 23 24 he’s a 277 for his career um maybe we should just I wouldn’t say be satisfied with where the Leafs are but you know the expectations of of these lofty goals being met how the hell do you reach them when there’s so much

Turmoil going on with the club and I’m not necessarily saying you know social or emotional turmoil but with this group really not being able to uh nail itself down as a solidified sa bonifide Contender with the right people in place it’s revolving door back there and to make matters worse you have

A defensive group that is on the verge of collapse most nights well I I’ll address the camp thing in a in a bit but let’s stick with the goal tending um samsonoff has been bad from the drop remember his first game was the five goals against the Habs who are not a

Good team um it was easier to quantify the number of good starts had yeah rather than the number of bad ones now after now he has given up five goals against Buffalo six goals against Columbus and six goals against Columbus again those are three those are two of

The worst teams in the NHL and he gave up 17 goals against them so you know that that is not now he is it’s not all on we know no no it’s it’s not it’s not it’s it’s not all on him Norm you’re right but he is the last line of defense

And when he you know you could say against Columbus the the most recent Columbus game the first goal uh was a Lila grin giveaway behind the net and it went out to the slot and You Know It Beat It Beat Samson off like I think he

Needs to make that save but he didn’t but if you talk about the remaining five goals three of them were on him they were complete flubs and with each bad goal his confidence goes down more and more and this is the thing they gave him the Christmas break said you know

Spend Christmas with your family you know get away you sort of you know take a take a break come back refreshed we’re gonna set you up to play against the team that you should have beat Milo a couple weeks before and what does he do he costs them another point now you

Could say well they played Columbus three times and they got four of a possible six points and that’s like win that’s like winning twice and losing once okay and Columbus is not in a race with them for a playoff spot but that was six points on your on your Dole and

You got four of them when you should have had six so he cost them two points he cost them two points in Buffalo as soon as he gave up that goal uh that that second goal his confidence went and then they had to pull him after Tage

Thompson scored the he cannot be allowed to play a game right now OG’s comts what say you going back to that 65 overtime loss to the Blue Jackets the Leafs with 33 shots samsonov gives up that many goals on 21 shots I that is absolutely rough you could put Sebastian

Santomo in net for the map Leafs if you have the right defensive core and a defensive minded system he’ll suffice or you could put Carrie Price Prime Eddie Belfor Prime between the pipes have the guys you have now and you’ll get through but you you need one or the

Other you need a Bonafide goalie who’s ready to face the Rubber and who’s who’s game for it and who hasn’t isn’t having psychological problems or you need a defensive minded system uh surrounding a goenda times but you Empower because you’re there to support him well it’s just not right it’s nothing’s right Mike

At this point and there I wouldn’t say the future is completely Bleak but how does it change you need elas Samson off as a body to be there well Martin Martin Jones was expecting to you know be sit playing the miners or you know come up a

Game here and there now he’s Central to um the Leaf’s hopes and dreams uh you know starting in the right way in the in this 2024 uh portion of the campaign Mike this is this is it’s it’s it’s borderline bizarre right now Mike I I’ll be I’ll be uh I’ll be sarcastic and

Slightly insensitive at the same time by saying uh dunk Wilson could do a better job than Ilie Samson off right now he died a couple months ago I mean Vincent tromble or Peter in I mean you know we can go through the the laundry list of bad of

Bad goal tenders the problem is that Ilia samsonov actually has ability it’s just right now like you know apparently that this was the problem in in Washington that his highs were too high and his lows were too low and now you know he’s I think he’s down on

Himself and um I mean this is this is the overriding issue right now we can talk about Marner a sec we can talk about camp we can talk about their giveaways we can talk about their defensive problems in the end if they don’t have at least competent goal tender

They’re not going to win anything they can score as many they scored five goals against Columbus and they and they lost both games they scored five goals twice they scored five goals against Montreal and had to win an overtime you know they I mean this is not just one bad

Performance this is not everybody jumping off this is not overreaction he started 15 games in eight of them he’s given up four or more you know it’s like I mean my but my buddy Steve dangle after the after the game on uh on on Friday I thought he was going to have a

Stroke and you know what I think that reflects a lot of what is going on with with the fan base right now because I mean if this team Austin Matthews scored 15 goals in December he’s probably going to be player of the month and if you look at the standings right now Norm

They’re one point out of falling out of a playoff spot yeah speaking of the standing 17 wins 10 10 losses seven loser points guys make no mistake about it this team is a 500 hockey team and that’s okay but don’t tell me that they’re seven games above 500 they’ve

Lost 17 times just so happened they got points in seven of those losses which is beneficial to them right and again forget the standings for me right now other than um you know identifying your position and the the Peril that you’ve put yourself in sure you might be out of

A playoff spot but you know I also don’t want to emphasize that to the same degree as I’m not wanting to highlight that they two points out of first place at at at at at this point you’re you’re really cultivating and trying to get yourself

In motion and and and trying to build um you know some momentum and some some positivity and and some confidence going forward at least can’t do any of it right now Mike as You’ mentioned they’ve they’ve done what they’ve done which we expected them to do and that’s just set

The world on fire offensively um led by one of the best goal scorers of this generation Austin Matthews having another career kind of year when it comes to putting the biscuit in the basket but everything else everything else is suspect right now Mike Mr Captain 93 has marner’s time passed in

Toronto his play has plateaued and fans are turning on him should he be moved yeah just just just trade them dip dip dip I mean I I I I I I puzzle at the all of a sudden vehement hatred that’s out there uh uh you know it’s like it’s like the disdain

Of from of William neander has now it’s got to be one or the other we’ve discussed the whole Marner neander Dynamic I mean yeah let’s trade somebody who’s got averaging over a point per game and has 14 goals let’s that right now let’s do it um he’s really good

Player all you know and and okay first all other thing he’s got a no movement Clause so if he doesn’t want to go anywhere he he could tell the organization to go f themselves I’m not going anywhere he’s a year away from unrestricted free agency do you think he

Wants to the only way he goes somewhere in the off season is if he gets traded to a team that’s going to give him an eight-year deal and Toronto says we’re not going to give it to you that’s why the whole situation with the contracts and neander and how much they pay them

Is front and center of the problem with the organization not because Neil under is not a good player but because you’re paying four guys next year over 11 million and you you have to field a team not four players if it was a four player League this would be great he’s an eight

Million doll player that’s just totally irrelevant Spike 11 right totally irrelevant none none of that makes any sense right now paid what he’s being PA he’s paid what he’s being paid Mike sorry to interrupt you look um Marner is having a an inconsistent kind of season

Um you’d like to see two three points from him you know every two three games and then uh you know he’s at a point per game Pace right now but you think he should be doing better where he is at in his career and you know we talk about

Evolving we’re always going on about William neander adding more to his game so he can be a more complete player finally he’s he’s there at least to this point right Marner on the other hand seems like he’s I wouldn’t say he’s lost the step but I mean he’s struggling a little bit

However considering the vitriol that this guy faces on a daily on a daily basis just because he’s you know the the Messiah is having the the career year Marner could be you know playing at a two-o per game pace and he would still be disliked right especially when he’s

Giving pucks away and he’s running ragged and again you can’t say that this season looks like uh you know a season that’s better than anything he’s um you know put on Ice in the past so that doesn’t that doesn’t lend a support for for Marner and then that’s uh

Exacerbated by the fact that the the Ying to is Yang is having a career year so all the people are coming out to say look we got to get rid of this guy you can’t get rid of anybody right now OG’s Comer who are you gonna get rid of you

Can’t get rid of anybody this is the crew and as of today Janu or uh December 31st 2023 this is our this is our team love them or hate them this is the group uh come the offseason they’re going to most likely and hopefully be changes but as

Of today love them or hate them Lo them or love them this is the group Michael okay so odog Chong was asking about the camp benching um I think it was less about camp and more about the rest of the team uh Camp was minus one against Columbus he didn’t have any giveaways

Statistically didn’t have any giveaways I I I didn’t notice him standing out as being overly bad defensively he’s a fourth line center right now now you could have debated whether you should have signed him to a four-year contract for over two million bucks I I don’t think it’s bad money he’s a decent

Faceoff guy penalty killer um I think that Keef was trying to send a message to the rest of the team that okay this this is one of our better defensive guys and I’m gonna bench him because of the way that this team is playing right now

And that now you could say that that’s a the the act of a desperate coach well right now honestly there’s a need for desperation if you haven’t looked folks okay the last six games Rangers regulation loss Buffalo reg regulation loss they beat the one of the worst

Teams in the NHL 4 to One Columbus in Columbus before the break lost to Ottawa overtime loss to Columbus lost to Carolina um last time I look guys that’s five of the S last six games that they’ve lost uh there is cause for a little bit of desperation and if you

Look at the situation in goal like I said you’re starting Martin Jones in every key game and Martin Jones wasn’t good enough to make your team out of training camp so now because Joseph Wall’s out probably until the All-Star break you’ve got a month that you’ve got

To navigate with Martin Jones as your goalie and if you’re lucky you come out of the that month still in a playoff spot and I don’t know whether they will right so the Leafs don’t have competent goal tting go tening certainly not that’s um capable of taking you on a

Deep playoff run uh the defense is suspect but here we are on Mitch Marner right massakis Marner is not a playoff performer hasn’t looked the greatest in the last few playoffs uh Jeff size Marner is an immature player he always has been and our friend odog

Chun well bench Marner if you want to send a message okay so so let me let me ask the OG’s and comert what do you want a bench Marner for your complete disdain for the for the man just to watch him sit there and do

All well or do you want to bench him and get him going I saw find I saw the criticism of they bench Camp um for what he did against Columbus which was probably not much um but they that but they did uh did not bench Marner because

Of the like through the leg pass he made against Buffalo that cost him a goal at the end of the first period right um excuse me do people realize that star players and non-star players have different rules because Marner is a star player he was third in the Sky last year

Which is by the way folks best defensive forward um he kills penalties he scores he’s one of he’s one of the Best Wingers in the league he he’s not having he’s not having he’s not having the best year of his career and just again it it

Flames the vitriol it INF Flames the the the hatred for the guy he’s not doing himself any favors but you cannot tell me that on a team that is uh leaving so much to be desired that it’s number 16’s fault the beliefs are in this predicament come on give me a break like

You know like but again a lot of the OG’s and conerts are saying to to make a statement you don’t bench a mid-level guy or a you know third or fourth line kind of guy you bench one of the the the Marquee players well guess what Mitch

Marner has as many detractors as he has people who support him so he’s the guy everyone would see like to see bench my question to the ogis and comer who are anti- Marner why do you want that because you you are yearn to see somebody suffer or are you thinking look

This guy needs his ass pinned to the bench until he gets his together and if he does great we’re back on site I’d love to know that OG’s and conrades instead of going on about how much money he makes compared to what he should should be making you can’t do

Anything about that I don’t want to get all crazy and Wild on uh New Year’s Eve there’s nothing you can do about that right now none of that matters he’s not gonna resend you know a major chunk of his salary just to appease you yeah you know everybody’s overpaid but how do we

Fix this how do we get Marner into a position where he’s leading and leading this group among you know the nanders and the Matthews and making it a little bit easier for the staff to figure out how to uh fix the the things that ail

Them uh in the on the defensive end of things and I don’t know come up with some magic when it comes to how things are transpiring between the pipes Mike last couple comments to you we get out of here yeah uh I mean I I don’t think

It it suits a purpose to unless unless you know we’ve seen neander be benched in previous years if you know Marner makes a bad defensive giveaway I don’t think it’s above Keef to say sit down for a while do it but but but you know there is accountability there but right

Now team needs to score goals and he’s one of your main offensive weapons I mean my my my issue right now is in the here and the now I mean they can maybe straighten out some of the defensive problems in terms of adding a blue liner here or there before the deadline but

The here and the now over the next month is where do they get goal tending because according to what is being reported um I Heard uh through Elliot fredman he reported on his podcast a couple days ago that he had talked to a league GM and that the prices for uh go

Tending out there were essentially extortion now if that’s the case and the Leafs have limited assets because of a lot of the deals they made over the last couple years remember they don’t have a second round pick for the next three years they don’t have a first round pick after in

2025 they’re not going to trade guys like Easton Cowen or Fraser mitton so that limits your options so if you know if that’s the case then you know I mean it sounds like it’s been reported and I I had heard the possibility even last week when I went up for the the Marley’s

Game on boxing day Dennis hild Toby didn’t play and they were saying well they’re not going to call him up because he only played 15 he’s only played 15 AHL games well Samson off is so screwed in the head right now that they’re gonna

They may call uphill to be just to go on the road trip with with the team and play one game in Anaheim and hope that that can provide them at least stable enough goal tending and then you know maybe with a with a week off samsonoff

Can get his head straight but right now I mean they’re gonna have to rest their rest the weight on the shoulders of Martin Jones for the next month and that’s a scary proposition Michael Matthew just woke up on his yacht hey Mike you missed it we’ve been talking

About your buddy Mitch Marner um you know we know where we know where Mr Eminem uh lies in terms of the debate of pro or uh anti-ar and it’s certainly anti uh we have 84 Cole R Marner is too soft in the playoffs I I I’m not disagreeing with that massak is Marner

Takes up cap space to above average players that’s the issue okay we can talk about that but how does that apply to today not what is he going to be dealt at the deadline you’re going to bring in your two above average players and everything’s going

To be hunky dory and this team’s going to ride off into a Stanley Cup sunset come on guys that’s these are discussions for the off season right we can lament them and be pissed off about them uh and they can chew up our day psychologically but there’s nothing you

Can do about it um some comments I think OD dog Chong and there’s a few others who would like to see Sheldon Keith fired how the hell does a change of Coach change the Dilemma between the pipes how does the change of of you know of leadership behind the bench change

The lackluster group ragtag mle crew you have playing defense for this organization tell me that yeah I mean I don’t know like I don’t think that Sheldon Keefe is well he was given an extension it was a one-year extension do I think he’s like safe that like if they lose 10

Games in a row that he’s not going to get fired no I think you know I Brad TR living uh is a new general manager and the first thing that happens with a new general manager if the team goes bad is fire the coach right so uh do I think

Sheldon Keef is long for this world no I think I I think if they make the playoffs this year he’s not getting fired um if they even if they lose in the first round he’s not getting fired because this team is flawed they are it’s like and and it’s tough it is tough

11 is so good he’s just on fire yeah he won a cder cup I mean it’s it’s it’s really honestly I mean I understand the fickle the fickleness of fans I do because I because I am one and was one but now you have to you have to think

You have to think about what’s going on right now now Sheldon Keefe was hired by Kyle DUIs he’s been around for six years you could say okay maybe the players have started to tune him out but oh I these guys don’t have the pedigree to

Tune anybody out Jesus I can see how you tune out Mike Babcock or John torella I mean like again though she just making a change for the sake of change go ahead and do it I I I don’t know what it changes like let’s trade Marner because we just don’t like the

Guy Let’s uh uh deal Sheldon Keef or sorry let’s have fire fire Sheldon Keef because again the players are tuning him out G Gio let’s make him a bench coach because he’s too old so we you you you know bring back players for Marner um

You uh get a new head coach and you remove an old bugger from the defensive Court I mean unless you’re bringing back Nick Nick Lidstrom and Scott Stevens and you know felip pot van Prime for for for now nothing’s going to change like Pat Burns behind the back

Like there’s there’s no way that this group wins a Stanley Cup I mean it’s team’s going to have to catch lightning in a bottle and do something that no one would ever believe that could right based on the fact that you are so front-loaded and everything everything

Behind the center line is suspect no goalie no leadership on defense it’s hanging by a thread that that group’s capability to do anything and we’re putting our our ey and our angst and our anger towards you know a one of the the top scoring forwards in the league the

Last seven years yeah because we just have a dislike for the guy I get it maybe he’ll be traded at another point but where we sit today how can we amend this how can this team be amended to help itself now and get itself wred and in consistent position to do something

In the playoffs last word to you officially Mike and we’re done for 2023 okay here here’s a lesson for Leafs fans at the end of last year Who was the player that they most wanted to say adios enjoy go someplace else and get your money that was Michael bunting right what’s

Michael what did Michael bunting do last night scor scored against the leaes he’s got 25 points this year he’s doing pretty well you know he’s been up and down with them but he’s doing pretty well do you think that this team misses the sort of spark that Michael now

Michael bunting still draws penalties he’s still a target of officials I think this team misses a guy like you know would they rather have spent three and A5 million doll or whatever on Michael bunting or five and a half on Tyler berzi who sometimes doesn’t show up I

Mean that’s you know be careful what you wish for fans because you’ll get it and then you’ll regret it and maybe there are some fans that say oh Michael bunting sucks but there are some fans who believe Michael bunting was a good part of this team and they miss him

Right it I I know appearances can be deceiving but it always feels like X Leafs are somewhere better they end up somewhere better Mike V I wouldn’t trade Marner out of but because of his trade value 100% I mean that should be considered but but that is not something

That that’s not a trigger that can be pulled that easily right this this going to take some thought and again as much as we hate the guy we still have to present him as having uh value to the point where it makes sense for the other uh organization is

Involved in this transaction to relinquish you know their rights to players that they think could do something for them in order to get Mar right and and and again fans Fanatics were fickle these aren’t the best of times in terms of you know how we’re viewing this team and what we believe

This team is capable of but you know what a new year is coming here in the next 12 hours or so and hey uh we’ll move on to 2024 um and you know internally we’re all positive guys you know we wouldn’t be fans if if were anything but Mr aello

How are you going to close out the rest of the year um unsure at this point there may be a party but uh I plan on being at home by midnight because I don’t I don’t like being on the road late at late at night yeah 100% OG’s

Converts if you’re staying in you’re like Mike and myself if you’re going out please have a great time but more importantly be safe get your asses home into bed and if you got a bit of a hangover lots of water uh and then 24

We’ll get at it the Leafs are on the uh West Coast to get started uh in kind of the what we consider kind of the non-official second half of the season and you know maybe getting out of the the confines of Scotia Bank Arena is

Going to be good for the M start fresh thousands of miles away from your home ICE uh beat up on some teams you should beat and maybe uh surprise a few along the way and uh again I don’t think it’s going to change the plate between the

Pipes and what we’re dealing with on defense and you know the kind of the merry girl round of love and hate with the offensive group but that’s life supporting this uh God forsaken hockey team Mr rello thank you so much for everything in 23 I’ll see you next year

OG’s conference like the content subscribe to the channel the Leafs combo done for 2023 we be we’ll be seeing you in 2024 real soon have a great day guys