Toronto Raptors: Free agency rumors surrounding Serge Ibaka

Toronto Raptors: Free agency rumors surrounding Serge Ibaka

Free agency begins in a couple of days for the Toronto Raptors and the NBA. The Raptors have some high profile free-agent decisions to make, and Serge Ibaka is one of them while rumors abound about his status. The Toronto Raptors 2020 off-season choices may be the most consequential decisions the franchise has made in […]
Toronto Raptors: Free agency rumors surrounding Serge Ibaka – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Jason Mills / Raptors HQ

My (horrible?) idea for a P.K. Subban to the Leafs trade proposal

I could tell a couple of days ago that I would get carried away with Leafs trade speculation. The fact that we were treated to an early Kasperi Kapanen trade, we’re seeing a barrage of Frederik Andersen rumours, and the fact that we’ve still got over a month until the draft means that there is going to be a lot of trade talk going forward. Also a lot of draft talk. A lot of free agent talk. And probably a lot of Assistant Coach talk. Today we’ll revisit one of the players who has historically dominated Leafs trade speculation, and that’s P.K. Subban.
It’s probably worth acknowledging right off the hop that P.K. Subban isn’t P.K. Subban of a couple of years ago. Time makes fools of us all. In this case I’m probably the fool for not letting go of the idea of trading for Subban. There’s also the small matter of Subban’s contract, a contract that will carry a cap hit of $9M in each of the next two seasons. That’s not particularly attractive.
Now, …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

The Rangers’ reported asking price for Lance Lynn was ridiculously high

A couple of days before Monday’s trade deadline, it was reported that the Blue Jays were one of a handful of teams interested in Texas Rangers’ ace Lance Lynn.

Lynn would have made all kinds of sense for the Jays, given the fact that beyond pitching very well this season, he’s also under control at a reasonable price for next year.
But, the deadline came and went and Lynn remained in Texas. The Jays, as we know, ended up acquiring a handful of players, Robbie Ray from Arizona, Ross Stripling from Los Angeles, and Jonathan Villar from Miami, but didn’t pull the trigger on a deal for a top-of-the-rotation guy like Lynn.
Given the reported ask the Rangers had for their ace’s services… I can see why.
According to David O’Brien, an Atlanta Braves reporter for The Athletic, Texas was seeking either Cristian Pache or Drew Waters, who rank as the organization’s top two prospects. Even the gun-slinging Alex Anthopolous, a guy who, as we know, isn’t afraid to make a big trade, backed off.

#Braves were talking to the Rangers right up until …

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Author: Cam Lewis / Blue Jays Nation

More trade proposals from around Leaf Land

A couple of days ago we put out a call for trade proposals. We took a look at some of them in the post below…
Taking a look at the trades you want the Leafs to make

Given the number of trade proposals we received we’ve decided to do a follow up post a few of the other interesting proposals we received. So without further adieu…

To TorontoParayko
To St. LouisJohnssonLildjgren15th OA pick
— Tim Smitten (@TSmitten9) August 30, 2020

Scott:  This is one of those trades where I’m hesitant to say yes, but deep down know it’s a solid trade, which probably means that it’s good for both sides. That’s just my biased opinion, but I have no problem with this trade, although if anyone says no, it’ll be St. Louis.
Michael: Not 100% sure this will be enough of a return to convice the Blues to part ways with Parayko since they value him so highly. I like the idea behind it and more often than not this the kind of package teams need to give up to get a defeceman like …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

Toronto Raptors: Fred VanVleet’s Biggest Bet Yet

With the NBA’s play-in period set to commence in a couple of days, the Toronto Raptors are counting on a man who is playing for more than just another ring. Having overcome adversity throughout his entire life, the NBA bubble represents just another challenge for the former Wichita State Shockers point guard. Standing at just […]
Toronto Raptors: Fred VanVleet’s Biggest Bet Yet – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Mauricio Scott / Raptors HQ

Tanner Roark’s strong debut leads the Blue Jays to another win in Washington

After a couple of frustrating losses in Tampa Bay, the Blue Jays have bounced right back in Washington, completely shutting down the defending champs in back-to-back wins.

Things worth mentioning…

Tanner Roark made his Blue Jays debut in a familiar setting, going up against his former club as a visitor in Nationals Ballpark for the first time in his career. Though Roark wasn’t a sexy, big-name signing like Hyun Jin Ryu, there’s no doubt that adding him to the back of the rotation is a pretty significant upgrade on some of the guys (Clayton Richard, Edwin Jackson) that the Blue Jays trotted out last season. Roark tossed five innings of one-run balls, scattering three hits, walking none, and collecting five strikeouts. Having your fifth starter give you a chance to win like that is all you can ask for.
After Roark left the game, the Jays had four innings to navigate and a depleted bullpen. But, unlike on Saturday in Tampa Bay, the B squad that came out the ‘pen got the job done without any issue at all. Jacob Waguespack tossed two scoreless frames in his season debut, Wilmer Font tossed a clean …

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Author: Cam Lewis / Blue Jays Nation

Scott’s Thoughts: Debunking the narratives of the Leafs-Blue Jackets series

There’s been a lot of talk these past couple weeks about the “will” of the Columbus Blue Jackets, and how their experience should scare the Leafs.
That’s right, the Columbus Blue Jackets, who have as many playoff appearances in the last decade as the Leafs, and have just one series win in their entire franchise history, have so much more experience than the Leafs. Sure, it was last year, but that’s more just showcasing the recency bias of most peoples opinions on hockey teams they don’t care about.
Let’s face it, the only reason the Blue Jackets are painted as a Goliath to the Leafs is because everybody has an inferiority complex with the Leafs. They like hating on the Leafs because that’s their only personality trait, and are never willing to actually give the Leafs credit when it’s earned.
So, let’s take some of these narratives that have been spewed during everyone’s predictions as to why the Blue Jackets are a Clearly Superior Team, and apply some logic to show why they don’t hold up.
If the …

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Author: Scott Maxwell / The Leafs Nation

Despite all the panic, the Leafs were better than the Penguins this week

Aside from an a couple penalty kills that looked utterly gross on Tuesday night, I don’t think this Leafs set with the Penguins was nearly as scary as everyone was leading on. Just like you don’t want to put too much stock in last night’s strong performance in Toronto, it wasn’t wise to declare this team dead earlier in the week. But there’s no doubt people have done both.
Put simply, the Leafs had their share of breakdowns and gave up the special teams tap-ins in the opener of this home-and-home with the Penguins, but in terms of territory I never saw them get run out of the rink like a lot of hockey pundits felt they did. All over the airwaves these last couple days people have been chucking around words like “embarrassment” and dropping quotes like “The Leafs learned a lesson from a real contender” as if Toronto didn’t deserve to share the same ice. Sure, the Penguins are one of the stronger teams in the league, but it shouldn’t ever feel like this Leafs team should fear an …

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Author: Ryan Fancey / The Leafs Nation

How I learned to love the (rumoured) Muzzin contract

By now we know a couple of things.
The Leafs have a contract ready to go for Jake Muzzin, but do to the collective agreement the Leafs can’t announce it until March 1st.
The contract is likely in the $5.5M range, it’s for four years, and it’s believed to be front loaded.
Via Darren Dreger:
“I believe there’s an agreement in place for Jake Muzzin to extend with the Toronto Maple Leafs [at] four years just over $5.5 million [per year],” Dreger said Thursday on Insider Trading. “I believe it’s a heavily front-loaded contract extension for Jake Muzzin. It will have some variety of forms of trade protection. Now, because of the tagging issues – the salary cap complications the Toronto Maple Leafs continue to wrestle with, I don’t believe that the Maple Leafs will announce are going to announce anything until perhaps later this month or early in March.”
All of these things fall into what should seemingly be considered good news, but given that Muzzin is older and showing some signs of wear and tear, we might need to …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

Rasmus Sandin named top defenceman at World Juniors

It’s been a good couple of days to be Rasmus Sandin.
The Toronto Maple Leafs prospect was just named to the AHL all-star game Friday, and today he won a bronze medal in the World Juniors with Sweden.
But even better, the young defenceman was named the tournament’s top defenceman and was also named to World Junior all-star team. — and boy, was it well deserved.
The 19-year-old led all rearguards in the championship notching three goals and 10 points good enough for fifth overall in scoring. Sandin, a 2018 first-round pick of the Maple Leafs, is in the midst of a great season with the Toronto Marlies scoring 12 points in 19 games.
He’s appeared in six games with the big club this year totaling two assists in those appearances. He’s certainly making a strong case to be deserving of a recall as the season progresses.
Canada’s Alexis Lafreniere was named the tournament MVP. Here’s a full look at the all-star team:
Goaltender: Joel Hofer, Canada
Defenceman: Rasmus Sandin, Sweden
Defenceman: Alexander Romanov, Russia
Forward: Samuel Fagemo, Sweden
Forward: Barrett Hayton, Canada
Forward: Alexis Lafreniere, Canada
Most Valuable Player: Alexis Lafreniere, …

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Author: Zach Laing / The Leafs Nation