Around the NHL, Part III

[Pavels Dog]

That's the power of the 1OA. Matthews, McDavid.

Players you're almost guaranteed to see as franchise guys that are you're almost just as guaranteed aren't found after the first 5 picks.

Watching Marner, Nylander, and Matthews, all young as hell and very very good. I can't help but think that Toronto's timeline has sped up by a few years. I think they could make playoffs within the next 2. Maybe even this season. Their defense is bad but is it really all that much worse than ours? I think they get a cup before we do at this point.

The fact they got a legendary performance by Matthews and they still lost the game should tell you all you need to know about their chances to make the playoffs this year. It will just get more obvious against better teams than Ottawa.
Andersen may also slow down their process as much as Matthews speeds it up. They still have a long way to go.

 

[Flowah]

The fact they got a legendary performance by Matthews and they still lost the game should tell you all you need to know about their chances to make the playoffs this year. It will just get more obvious against better teams than Ottawa.
Andersen may also slow down their process as much as Matthews speeds it up. They still have a long way to go.

They lost 1 game. In overtime.

We got blown out by the Blues a few years ago in our opener and still made the playoffs.

It's really not that far off for them. They have some *elite* talent. Which we absolutely lack. Their elite talent is young and going to hit their prime in a couple years. Our "best talent" is all on the wrong side of 30 other than Mrazek I guess.

 

[Frk It]

Our "best talent" is all on the wrong side of 30 other than Mrazek I guess.

 

[Pavels Dog]

They lost 1 game. In overtime.

We got blown out by the Blues a few years ago in our opener and still made the playoffs.

It's really not that far off for them. They have some *elite* talent. Which we absolutely lack. Their elite talent is young and going to hit their prime in a couple years. Our "best talent" is all on the wrong side of 30 other than Mrazek I guess.

Sure, anything's possible. But in terms of this season and probably next I wouldn't expect big things out of the team as a whole. They're putting the foundation in place, a lot of work still remains when it comes to building around them.

 

[njx9]

Their defense is bad but is it really all that much worse than ours? I think they get a cup before we do at this point.

I think, even if you think the defenses are equivalent, our forwards are better defensively, and Mrazek is potentially much better than Andersen. That said, I agree... I don't think they're as far off as I would've guessed a few months ago, and I think they're trending towards a Cup, while we're treading water.

 

[Yemack]

Only saw the highlight but none of the goals scored by both Leafs and Sens were impressive in my opinion. Nice play by Matthew on couple for sure but both goalies played like they didnt even belong in AHL. Nice of Matthew to take advantage though. Not everyone can. On the second goal, he had a pretty sharp eye. Superb accuracy and confidence on his shot.

 

[Zetterberg4Captain]

The leafs will 100% guaranted dramatically improve their blueline before we do.

 

[Flowah]

I don't think Larkin is anywhere close to Mrazek in terms of "eliteness" at their position. And he's definitely nowhere close to Matthews.

Larkin is, at best, Toews-level. More like Toews-lite. That's great. That's 1C on a lot of teams. He's not elite though.

Sure, anything's possible. But in terms of this season and probably next I wouldn't expect big things out of the team as a whole. They're putting the foundation in place, a lot of work still remains when it comes to building around them.

The thing is, they're farther ahead than us I think. They've done the hard part.

1. A great coach.
2. A stud of a centerman and a teenaged one at that.
3. Some other top flight forward talent.
4. What looks to me like an actual 10 year plan by Shanahan and Lou vs whatever hodgepodge, ad-hoc plan Holland has.

I think the Wings likely finish ahead of them this season but I think they're poised to leapfrog us pretty damn quick. Who do we have in our system? In terms of defenseman it's nothing. In terms of forwards it's Bertuzzi, Mantha, Svechnikov and the rest are with the club. None of those guys, to me, project to be better than the trio the Leafs have. Got em beat on the goalies I guess.

We've got an excellent supporting cast but you need the core. They look like they've got one hell of a core developing there. Do we?

 

[TheRatPoisoner]

Only saw the highlight but none of the goals scored by both Leafs and Sens were impressive in my opinion. Nice play by Matthew on couple for sure but both goalies played like they didnt even belong in AHL. Nice of Matthew to take advantage though. Not everyone can. On the second goal, he had a pretty sharp eye. Superb accuracy and confidence on his shot.

I dunno man, that second goal by Matthews looked pretty damn impressive to me. But at the same time, yeah, last night wasn't exctaly a goalie clinic on either side, not to mention that the Sens just didn't really look to good at all.

 

[Yemack]

I dunno man, that second goal by Matthews looked pretty damn impressive to me. But at the same time, yeah, last night wasn't exctaly a goalie clinic on either side, not to mention that the Sens just didn't really look to good at all.

There's absolutely no doubt he's an exceptional talent. I like how he thinks the game and the manner he wins battles. He thinks very quick and has skill to match it. Or maybe it's skill that allows him.

At the same time, judging from what I've seen in preseason and last night's score, I think this could be the start of high scoring era in NHL. Maybe it wasn't the goalie. We will see.

 

[Chance on Chance]

Ducks claim Etem

so they traded Etem to New York for Hagelin, traded Hagelin to Pittsburgh for Perron, let Perron walk to St. Louis for free, and picked Etem back up from Vancouver

 

[TheRatPoisoner]

There's absolutely no doubt he's an exceptional talent. I like how he thinks the game and the manner he wins battles. He thinks very quick and has skill to match it. Or maybe it's skill that allows him.

At the same time, judging from what I've seen in preseason and last night's score, I think this could be the start of high scoring era in NHL. Maybe it wasn't the goalie. We will see.

Yeah, there were a lot of high scoring games last night, wasn't there? I know they shrank some of the goalie equipment for this season, so wonder if that's having an impact. Obviously too early to tell, but t's gonna be interesting to watch like ya said.

 

[Bench]

Ducks claim Etem

so they traded Etem to New York for Hagelin, traded Hagelin to Pittsburgh for Perron, let Perron walk to St. Louis for free, and picked Etem back up from Vancouver

Who starred in a movie with KEVIN BACON!

 

[Reddwit]

The fact they got a legendary performance by Matthews and they still lost the game should tell you all you need to know about their chances to make the playoffs this year. It will just get more obvious against better teams than Ottawa.
Andersen may also slow down their process as much as Matthews speeds it up. They still have a long way to go.

First game of the season tells us "all we need to know" about our playoff chances, folks. A lot riding on tonight's game!

 

[Reddwit]

Yeah, there were a lot of high scoring games last night, wasn't there? I know they shrank some of the goalie equipment for this season, so wonder if that's having an impact. Obviously too early to tell, but t's gonna be interesting to watch like ya said.

I thought they decided they wouldn't implement those changes until next season...?

 

[Cyborg Yzerberg]

First game of the season tells us "all we need to know" about our playoff chances, folks. A lot riding on tonight's game!

The odds of the Leafs making the playoffs were already fairly low though.

 

[PullHard]

Who starred in a movie with KEVIN BACON!

Lmao

Matthews is going to score a lot of quick sneaky goals this year, he has that sense of when to pounce. Exciting player to watch.

 

[HIFE]

LA looked like crap last night. I'm not feeling that team anymore. King, Brown, Clifford, Shore...they are actually icing Setoguchi. Matt Greene on D was the most embarrassing thing possible. Beyond Doughty and Muzzin (possibly Martinez who looked very pedestrian) they are thin on defense. Kopitar, Carter, and Taffoli can't do it alone. Just one game but San Jose pawned them hard.

 

[odin1981]

LA looked like crap last night. I'm not feeling that team anymore. King, Brown, Clifford, Shore...they are actually icing Setoguchi. Matt Greene on D was the most embarrassing thing possible. Beyond Doughty and Muzzin (possibly Martinez who looked very pedestrian) they are thin on defense. Kopitar, Carter, and Taffoli can't do it alone. Just one game but San Jose pawned them hard.

Their window is likely closed now that they are all pretty much all ufa (sans Doughty I think?) and capped out. Might be a bubble team until there cap gets shifted around or pieces get dealt for prospects/picks.

 

[TheRatPoisoner]

I thought they decided they wouldn't implement those changes until next season...?

So you're right now that I look into it. Seems they couldn't get all the changes implemented before the start of the season. Too bad. Whelp, there goes that theory.

 

[Pavels Dog]

First game of the season tells us "all we need to know" about our playoff chances, folks. A lot riding on tonight's game!

If Larkin scores 4 goals and we lose because of our defense and goaltending (Mrazek), I will 100% get on the "we are missing the playoffs" train.

 

[PullHard]

LA looked like crap last night. I'm not feeling that team anymore. King, Brown, Clifford, Shore...they are actually icing Setoguchi. Matt Greene on D was the most embarrassing thing possible. Beyond Doughty and Muzzin (possibly Martinez who looked very pedestrian) they are thin on defense. Kopitar, Carter, and Taffoli can't do it alone. Just one game but San Jose pawned them hard.

Their window is likely closed now that they are all pretty much all ufa (sans Doughty I think?) and capped out. Might be a bubble team until there cap gets shifted around or pieces get dealt for prospects/picks.

Keep in mind that Pearson is suspended and Gaborik (and now Quick) are injured

Not that those guys are going to make a world of difference, but they help their W depth a good amount IMO

But yeah they've been hurting on the backend ever since Voynov's departure, and now the cap has kind of closed off any chance they had of replacing his impact with another similar player

edit: I think they also started off like 0-6 last year and looked like absolute trash in the process, I don't think the sky is falling for them. Assuming they get into the playoffs and are healthy, guys like Kopitar, Doughty, Carter, Quick have the ability to do damage. But they aren't nearly as deep as they used to be.

 

[Frk It]

If Larkin scores 4 goals and we lose because of our defense and goaltending (Mrazek), I will 100% get on the "we are missing the playoffs" train.

What about if Larkin doesn't score 4 goals but we still do those things?

 

[gretskidoo]

So Anaheim just signed Rakell and now they have zero room to sign Lindholm. Trade incoming?

 

[Cyborg Yzerberg]

So Anaheim just signed Rakell and now they have zero room to sign Lindholm. Trade incoming?

Lindholm is by far the most important guy they have on the blue line too. Would be crazy if they lost him.