2017-18 Toronto Maple Leafs Season Discussion - 49-26-7 105 pts

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Sure.

"Babcock can do no wrong" and people complaining about things are two different things.

yes they are different, but saying "we have no room to complain bc we're winning" is essentially saying that nothing is going wrong. pretty sure you're one of the people in question anyway, and complained that I thought we'd lose to Columbus

 

[Warden of the North]

The schedule is just screwed up. Boston has three games in hand on us now, and at the end February will have 4 games in hand. They make up three of them in March and the fourth in the last week of the season.

Unless something goes off the rails with us or them, it looks like home ice between us will be decided in February, when we play them twice.

 

[Daisy Jane]

The schedule is just screwed up. Boston has three games in hand on us now, and at the end February will have 4 games in hand. They make up three of them in March and the fourth in the last week of the season.

Unless something goes off the rails with us or them, it looks like home ice between us will be decided in February, when we play them twice.

that was my point before
i don't really care if "we take care of business it points out." i always hate that we have to be the pace horse.

 

[wingman75]

that was my point before
i don't really care if "we take care of business it points out." i always hate that we have to be the pace horse.

I don't mind it if you have the points in the bank. I'd rather have the actual points rather than the potential points.

But agree on the scheduling, why are we always the league leaders in games played in the first half of the season?

 

[Warden of the North]

I don't mind it if you have the points in the bank. I'd rather have the actual points rather than the potential points.

But agree on the scheduling, why are we always the league leaders in games played in the first half of the season?

Last year we werent. It was actually exactly reversed between us and Boston, that we had 4-5 games in hand going into February.

Our hope is Boston gets burnt out in March I guess.

 

[wingman75]

Last year we werent. It was actually exactly reversed between us and Boston, that we had 4-5 games in hand going into February. Our hope is Boston gets burnt out in March I guess.

Thanks for that reminder. Alternatively, we simply beat them and not worry about it?

 

[Kiwi]

The schedule is just screwed up. Boston has three games in hand on us now, and at the end February will have 4 games in hand. They make up three of them in March and the fourth in the last week of the season.

Unless something goes off the rails with us or them, it looks like home ice between us will be decided in February, when we play them twice.

Good

Let the Bruins have the brutal schedule towards the end of the season when they will need to win games and just before the playoffs

This is good for us

 

[lovemyleafs]

The schedule is just screwed up. Boston has three games in hand on us now, and at the end February will have 4 games in hand. They make up three of them in March and the fourth in the last week of the season.

Unless something goes off the rails with us or them, it looks like home ice between us will be decided in February, when we play them twice.

I don't mind that one bit. We'd be more rested going into the playoffs. And Wingman75 made a good point, I'd rather have the actual points than the potential points as well.

 

[Warden of the North]

So I must say, one thing Ive been really impressed with this season is the ability of our skaters to strip the puck from a man on a breakaway, or stop an odd man rush without taking a penalty. Theyve been exceptional at it.

 

[Warden of the North]

So standings update. The Atlantic truly is brutal. We need to take advantage of that fact in the 2nd half of the season. Beating Boston when we play them will be critical to getting home ice in the playoffs. As it stands we are 9 points clear of a playoff spot.

 

[weems]

Hyman - Matthews - Nylander
Marleau - Kadri - Kapanen
JVR - Bozak - Marner
Martin - Komarov - Brown

Doesnt this look like a better more balanced 4 lines?

Komarov and Brown keep their PK responsibilities.

The Kadri line gets a offensive upgrade but also a player whos decent defensively.

I dont think they'd take Martin out but if so Komarov as 4th line LW and Moore at C also works.

 

[Daisy Jane]

so we don't do post game threads anymore?

 

[Mitchy]

so we don't do post game threads anymore?

I'm sorry, but

I think you have someone on your ignore list.

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

so we don't do post game threads anymore?

 

[Daisy Jane]

I'm sorry, but

I think you have someone on your ignore list.

i guess so.
do you mind just pm'ing me the link?

lol

 

[stickty111]

i guess so.
do you mind just pm'ing me the link?



lol

Thats awesome. Pretty soon we will get to the point where people start asking where did all the threads go

 

[Bullseye]

yes they are different, but saying "we have no room to complain bc we're winning" is essentially saying that nothing is going wrong. pretty sure you're one of the people in question anyway, and complained that I thought we'd lose to Columbus

There were peeps getting angry in the summer when it was pointed out that we have a very flawed defence and our only top-pairing band-aid UFA was Ron Hainsey. Turns out Hainsey has been excellent to most fan's surprise and relief. But the warts remain on our blue line.

I'm still of the opinion that over-achieving right now hurts our future. It makes Lou hang onto JVR, Bozak, Komarov for a playoff run as if they're our own rentals except that you just know he's gonna trade for another rental at TTD if we're 5 points in the clear. It means we don't use our assets to address our real need - Rielly, Hainsey, Gardiner, Zaitsev are mostly 2nd/3rd pairing guys playing 1st/2nd pairing(Rielly is obviously a 1st pairing).

Our organizational depth is not great despite having Dermott and Lily. No-one has any blue-chip pedigree. If Rasanen turns out to be a successful project he still a 2nd/3rd pairing guy.

 

[Loosie]

3 home games in the month of December....that's horrendous scheduling.

 

[WTFMAN99]

The season has been good, definitely better then last year but huge concerns on defense.

 

[Daisy Jane]

There were peeps getting angry in the summer when it was pointed out that we have a very flawed defence and our only top-pairing band-aid UFA was Ron Hainsey. Turns out Hainsey has been excellent to most fan's surprise and relief. But the warts remain on our blue line.

I'm still of the opinion that over-achieving right now hurts our future. It makes Lou hang onto JVR, Bozak, Komarov for a playoff run as if they're our own rentals except that you just know he's gonna trade for another rental at TTD if we're 5 points in the clear. It means we don't use our assets to address our real need - Rielly, Hainsey, Gardiner, Zaitsev are mostly 2nd/3rd pairing guys playing 1st/2nd pairing(Rielly is obviously a 1st pairing).

Our organizational depth is not great despite having Dermott and Lily. No-one has any blue-chip pedigree. If Rasanen turns out to be a successful project he still a 2nd/3rd pairing guy.

well, you can easily argue (and this isn't me rah rah cup or bust before i get started) - being "bad" or mediocre doesn't do anything for the present. the young players on the team deserve to have the support/moves done to further their development, not just plan for the future. does this change if we weren't "super" good - of course but you have to deal with the cards you are dealt with.

it honestly wouldn't bother me either way if we kept JVR (OR Bozak) if the dollars were right. but it can't be both, and it wouldn't bother me if it was neither. I've been saying this from the summer - I would rather keep our guys, then undersell their value (and regardless of what people feel - they do have value), and just get "something" so we can say "oh look we got "something"". cap space and the contract slot quite frankly is something, because it does allow you to go to Russia or something and you can entice them with an instant playing spot, and a bit more money. Do we do this every year? No. but it can work this year.

 

[Daisy Jane]

3 home games in the month of December....that's horrendous scheduling.

i wonder what was happening at the ACC, it' not like the Raptors were in Toronto either.

 

[Dragao6]

Hyman - Matthews - Nylander
Marleau - Kadri - Kapanen
JVR - Bozak - Marner
Martin - Komarov - Brown

Doesnt this look like a better more

Ive always thought the following makes sense

Jvr-matthews-nylander
Marleau- bozak- marner
Hyman-kadri-brown
Martin-moore-komarov

Jvr net presence while 34 and 29 do their thing
Marner and marleau help for bozak
Shut down line with skill on kadri
And left overs on 4th....untill we get rid of spare parts then kap sosh etc are inserted

Defence is concerning...gardiner should be renewed at cheap and then traded asap...and dermot time

 

[ErnieLeafs]

well, you can easily argue (and this isn't me rah rah cup or bust before i get started) - being "bad" or mediocre doesn't do anything for the present. the young players on the team deserve to have the support/moves done to further their development, not just plan for the future. does this change if we weren't "super" good - of course but you have to deal with the cards you are dealt with.

it honestly wouldn't bother me either way if we kept JVR (OR Bozak) if the dollars were right. but it can't be both, and it wouldn't bother me if it was neither. I've been saying this from the summer - I would rather keep our guys, then undersell their value (and regardless of what people feel - they do have value), and just get "something" so we can say "oh look we got "something"". cap space and the contract slot quite frankly is something, because it does allow you to go to Russia or something and you can entice them with an instant playing spot, and a bit more money. Do we do this every year? No. but it can work this year.

The funny thing about our guys, nd their value, and this board, is twofold:

1. If you ask people on this board, they're shells of themselves, ineffective, garbage, etc.

2. They want to use these same guys for help on the blueline.

Some people want to sell them all off for futures, and plug in "ready made" replacements we have on the farm. It's just not realistic, because if players on the farm coukd replace them, there's a good chance they would have.

 

[member 147413]

I’ve realized I need to take a step back when looking at the Leafs. If you told me 3 years ago that we’d be expected to make the playoffs, while having a top 10 player in the game. I’d have been ecstatic.

Last night, I was extremely frustrated by a team that should be better. I wanted players gone today, trades, trades, trades.

Realistically, this management team has preached patience and developed from within, they promised hard times and battling through. Meanwhile, we’re looking to make the playoffs for the 2nd year in a row and I’m complaining about a few bad players.

We need to be patient, there will be growing pains as we are still rebuilding believe it or not. We have players 23 and under carrying us to the playoffs. We are building for long term competing, trust the process.

In the day to day, I don’t want to see Gardiner, Polak, Carrick or Marincin on this roster. They make me angry.

 

[Bullseye]

The funny thing about our guys, nd their value, and this board, is twofold:

1. If you ask people on this board, they're shells of themselves, ineffective, garbage, etc.

2. They want to use these same guys for help on the blueline.

Some people want to sell them all off for futures, and plug in "ready made" replacements we have on the farm. It's just not realistic, because if players on the farm could replace them, there's a good chance they would have.

There's a lot in here to unpack but basically my position is that we aren't good enough on the blue line to win more than a round of the playoffs. Because we are well coached and the east is potentially serving up an equal or lesser team in the 1st round we can make it to the 2nd round. I respect Daisy's argument about experienced gained in the playoffs but I'm not sold on it being more important than gaining draft depth and relying on our players waiting(Kapanen) past the TTD and playoffs.

Can JVR net a 1st round pick at TTD? Yes a late pick. Depth has to be continuously drafted. Can JVR net us an effective longer term player(d-man) at the TTD - unlikely. So after the season is over what has more value to the team and fanbase:

making the playoffs and winning a round?

or

getting another 1st rnd pick to keep back-filling our depth with the potential that losing JVR with a month jeopardizes making the playoffs and going very far in them? I don't think we're going far in the playoffs regardless because of the defence issues but that's just me.

Just rambling thoughts on my part.