Preview: Maple Leafs vs Capitals

@ Charlie:

Ask him about the cap hit thing – cuz I’m pretty sure the cap relief only lasts one year (which is why I was saying we would recall them, or buy them out). I think we could get a return for Jason Blake though. He is a solid player on the wrong team. A team that isn’t cap conscious, but is competitive, could really use him (ie. Nashville).

@ Julie Sucks:

No, that’s actually the consensus of Leafs fans who don’t like Blake, and see him only as an obstacle to signing bigger free agents to more expensive contracts. To a team that is competitive, and could have Blake on their 3rd line, Blake would be an extremely valuable third line player. He’s been our most consistent player this year, even if the numbers aren’t there to support it. Don’t let your blind hate for him obscure the fact that he’s a solid player.

@JK3

Or he needs someone else to drive the net so that his shots can actually be taken advantage of. Sure, he hits the chest a little more often than I would like, but if someone was driving the net for him, I bet you he would the pads and create rebounds a lot more often. As it is, he knows he’s one man on the attack, and so he has to shoot for the corners, which he sucks at. Part of the reason he and Moore were so successfuly was that Moore would do ANYTHING to score. We don’t have anyone like that. Other teams do.

All of this said, I don’t vote for trading Blake. I’m fine with him occupying time on the third and fourth lines. He hits, and creates a lot of energy, and occassionally buries goals. On a better team, he would draw more calls too. The refs don’t give him the benefit of the doubt here because of the suck factor of the team in general. If he played for Pittsburgh (just an example, not stating they are a trade partner), he would get a lot of respect.