Wednesday, November 26, 2008

DGB readers speak; Leafs listen

Mere hours after Down Goes Brown readers rose up and demanded the callup of Andre Deveaux in the comment section of this post, the Leafs have bent to the power of public will and announced that they'll do exactly that.

I'm not going to say that MLSE reads this blog and reacts immediately to our every whim. But I'm also not denying that.

Here's the scouting report on Deveaux, courtesy Steve at HockeyAnalysis.com.

I'm not completely sold on Deveaux as the answer to our glaring need for an enforcer. He can fight, and he's big, but I don't see him being a guy who'll drop them 20 or 25 times a year in the NHL. But every little bit helps, and hey, he can't be worse than Ryan Hollweg.




11 comments:

  1. So whose spot does Deveaux take - Blake's, while he's injured (he is injured, right?), or Hollweg's?

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  2. Not even close to being adequate. A large part of enforcing is the intimidation factor, and Andre Deveaux has neither the size nor the reputation to deter anyone.

    Who knows though, maybe the kid'll surprise us. I just think that if you assign a roster position to an enforcer, make it count (ie: acquire Brian McGrattan).

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  3. Scratch that - Deveaux has the size.

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  4. McGrattan is the anti-Mayers. He can fight (although guys like Orr figured him out in his final season in Ottawa), but he can't play at all. He's just an awful hockey player.

    The big knock on him, and the reason the Sens sent him packing, was that he didn't seem interested in getting better. His conditioning was bad, and his work habits were worse.

    I'm not sure I could see how the Leafs could run talented guys like Wellwood and Colaiacovo out of town because of their work habits, and then bring in a guy like McGrattan and hand him a lineup spot.

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  5. Good news for Deveaux: his jersey number is available on the big club...

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  6. Work ethic is everything. I had no idea there was that kind of a knock on McG.

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  7. Gretzky speaks out on McG.

    You've obviously seen him up close for years. I'm no McG homer, but the above is an interesting read.

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  8. I hadnt heard that about McGrattan either.

    Any chance you can acquire him in time for tomorrrow's game?

    Deveaux could have a tough time finding a dance partner tomorrow.

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  9. I don't see why Belak wasn't picked up off of waivers. He's a good skater, decent scrapper and funny as hell. Ryan Hollweg just ain't cuttin' it.

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  10. Maybe you should suggest that MLSE take a run at the mule when the wings can't afford him anymore.

    That goal last night was amazing.

    P.S. Amazing blog by the way.

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