Does Mike Brophy of Hockeycentral know it's pre-season?!?
Posted 10:34 AM ET | Comments 0
I know that he's put in his time. 14 years at a paper in Peterborough, 16 years at the hockeynews and now with Rogers Sportsnet's and the fan590 on Hockeycentral, but really, c'mon. The Leafs have played 2 pre-season games. 2. They've been in camp for all of a week. They've barely had a second to take in the city, let alone the media throng that is you and Howard.
I heard you talking about Jeff Finger on yesterday's program and that he didn't look very good in his first foiree into his first game as a Maple Leafs on Monday night against the Buffalo Sabres. You mentioned that he did look steady. But not the kind of steady that merits 3.5-4 Million Dollars per. Need I remind you that at the time of his first game, he had been in Training Camp for all of 4 days. 4. The other thing that you need reminding about is that the previous management group had made the mistake of signing defenseman that don't play very well on defense. So steady is good. Actually, Steady may be great.
The other thing to keep in mind is that it's Training Camp. Jeff Finger is not auditioning for a role. He is here to anchor the Toronto Maple Leafs Blue Line. He is here to set an example for the young Luke Schenn and bubble defensemen Ian White, Carlo Coliacovo and Niklas Kronwall. Although it is completely fair for you to question why Cliff Fletcher would have thrown such a disproportionate amount of money at 28 year old Jeff Finger, it is not as fair to judge him against it after 1 game. It is also unfair to judge him against Bobby Orr which is he is surely not. Try someone more like Dmitri Yushkevich or Rob Ramage or Rod Langway and maybe eventually someone like Scott Stevens, I'm sure you'll be much more pleased with your results.
Jeff, if you are at all interested in judging Mike Brophy's first week on his new show. Feel free to use words such as steady or phrases such as not living up to his salary. Although you may want to relax a little on him, as it is only training camp.
Stoneford
I heard you talking about Jeff Finger on yesterday's program and that he didn't look very good in his first foiree into his first game as a Maple Leafs on Monday night against the Buffalo Sabres. You mentioned that he did look steady. But not the kind of steady that merits 3.5-4 Million Dollars per. Need I remind you that at the time of his first game, he had been in Training Camp for all of 4 days. 4. The other thing that you need reminding about is that the previous management group had made the mistake of signing defenseman that don't play very well on defense. So steady is good. Actually, Steady may be great.
The other thing to keep in mind is that it's Training Camp. Jeff Finger is not auditioning for a role. He is here to anchor the Toronto Maple Leafs Blue Line. He is here to set an example for the young Luke Schenn and bubble defensemen Ian White, Carlo Coliacovo and Niklas Kronwall. Although it is completely fair for you to question why Cliff Fletcher would have thrown such a disproportionate amount of money at 28 year old Jeff Finger, it is not as fair to judge him against it after 1 game. It is also unfair to judge him against Bobby Orr which is he is surely not. Try someone more like Dmitri Yushkevich or Rob Ramage or Rod Langway and maybe eventually someone like Scott Stevens, I'm sure you'll be much more pleased with your results.
Jeff, if you are at all interested in judging Mike Brophy's first week on his new show. Feel free to use words such as steady or phrases such as not living up to his salary. Although you may want to relax a little on him, as it is only training camp.
Stoneford