How do you feel today about the Leafs future.

[HoweHullOrr]

Lots still to do. Finishing last and getting the first pick is not an accomplishment. Just look at the Oilers.

Maybe better than anyone else's future. Including the hype bag that is Winnipeg.

Hopefully yes. "Maybe" is correct though. "Lots still to do" is pretty accurate too IMHO. We are pretty good in the "hype" dept. ourselves.

 

[Mess]

Hopefully yes. "Maybe" is correct though. "Lots still to do" is pretty accurate too IMHO. We are pretty good in the "hype" dept. ourselves.

Leafs defense is not a pretty site for a team that finished 28th in goals against.

Lou likes to build from the net out so you know he is far from done remaking that into a good Dcore group.

Lots to do but luckily time is on our side.

 

[Mad Brills*]

top 4 lock RHD is still a long term option I would like to see fixed.

 

[Wafflewhipper]

Hey Matt Martin fights. Ohhhh no violence if some ***** dirty hits our prospects. Lol Middleton being picked and completely dumbfounding half the board to the reasoning behind the pick was pretty well something to behold too.

Middleton was picked because he is the toughest player in the Ohl. Lou knows why he picked Middleton and said he was the toughest player in the ohl.

Really glad to see management doing things that runs in the face of popular opinion here that fighting is extinct. Just saying and nice call by Lou!

 

[Magic Man]

I was convinced they were landing Stamkos and have been penciling him in for a year. The fact that he re-signed in Tampa and the Leafs are stuck with Bozak stings. The team is making the right moves though and nearly everything else that has happened has been a positive. I feel good overall.

 

[Smif]

I was convinced they were landing Stamkos and have been penciling him in for a year. The fact that he re-signed in Tampa and the Leafs are stuck with Bozak stings. The team is making the right moves though and nearly everything else that has happened has been a positive. I feel good overall.

Lol, same. I had Stammer penciled in as well as the 2 2nds we were going to get from the Bozie trade. Now, I gotta get use to Bozie playing out his contract here because you really do need solid Centre depth and can't expose AM for another year or two.

 

[Moorpheus*]

it ll be easier to convince john tavaras to come here

Feel bad for him, will be hard to adjust to 3c behind Mcdavid and Matthews

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Leafs defense is not a pretty site for a team that finished 28th in goals against.

Lou likes to build from the net out so you know he is far from done remaking that into a good Dcore group.

Lots to do but luckily time is on our side.

Correct. Plenty of time.

 

[NarcoPolo]

The Leafs will be the best Canadian team in 3 years time.

At this point in time that is flat out not true.. Some posters really need to temper expectations. Outside of Vancouver and Montreal imo, every other Canadian team has pieces in place that are either better or on par with the leafs.. We still have major holes to fill in our lineup, our defense looks like half of what Calgary's looks like, and their forward group is pretty well on par with ours.

 

[Battle Lin]

we've got top line players - matthews, jvr, marner, and nylander...these are super hard to find and we got em imo

legit 2nd line players - kadri, bozak, and komarov...potential ones in kapanen and brown...not easy to find either but we got em

goat, hyman, martin, rychel, and sosh add good bottom 6 depth...the forwards look great

we got a great goalie imo, he might not be elite, but u can win it all with a very good-great goalie

we do need that legit 1D to knock everyone down...cus rielly is a elite 2, potential great 3 and 4 guys in gardiner and zaitsev...and marincin and carrick have potential and are good 3rd pairings guys already

we're missing that one last piece, that might be hardest to find in hockey, right up there with ur 1C

 

[Dustin]

Feeling pretty good again today. Like the Martin deal and like even more that they didn't commit to any of the big names of the day.

 

[ConnorTO]

the future

is bright

and it isn't some faith crap either, we have legit prospects now

 

[indigobuffalo]

I felt better before the draft.

Now I'm still confident because I haven't really seen any clear mistakes but honestly I'm not sure that we really have something so different from Burke.

Burke + Dubas (analytics) and Hunter (better drafting, seems like, but yet to be proven).

 

[93LEAFS]

I'm waiting to see what happens with Russell and Demeres before I make a judgement. I'm 100% nervous on the Russell front. Wouldn't mind Demeres at a reasonable price, or a cheap gamble on Wis, but giving a small defender who's best skill is jumping infront of pucks long term money makes me nervous. I'll never go full "I'm leaving the team" but it would make me pause about my faith in managment.

 

[keon]

I feel that Toronto now has a solid core in Mathews, Marner, Nylander, Rielly, and Anderson. We need a top pairing RHD defenseman and a future 1st line LW. We have good complimentary players and a ton of prospects. The RHD and LW players will complete a very good core.

 

[Auston Matthews]

I like the direction of the team and as optimistic as I am, I believe we still are quite far away from contending for the Stanley cup, which is the ultimate goal of rebuilding and our suffering for the last 60 years.

I see us in a similar situation to what Buffalo was last year, meaning that we will likely move up a few spots to be in the middle of the pack, but still not a playoff team. Maybe I am underestimating the Babcock factor and what a legitimate goalie can do, but as it stands I think that is where we will finish.

I think we still need a shutdown defenceman who can play heavy minutes. The question is, how do we get that defenceman? I think our forward group may be ready as a contender, as long as the three headed monster reaches their potential and other prospects like Kapanen, Brown, Leipsic, Korshkov, etc, surprise everyone and play great.

 

[Znith]

Our big hole right now is a big, physical, 2 way #2 RHD to play beside Rielly.

At least its alot better than 3 years ago when our holes were #1D, #1C, and #1 G (among others)

 

[HoweHullOrr]

I see us in a similar situation to what Buffalo was last year, meaning that we will likely move up a few spots to be in the middle of the pack, but still not a playoff team.

If we have a similar trajectory to the Sabres, we would finish 23rd next year and get the 8th overall pick (lotto luck aside). That's still 6 spots away from the playoffs.

Hard to say if the Sabres can accelerate at the same pace this year (and next, etc.) as they did last year.

 

[Ash35]

I don't know about you guys but I'm starting to get a little nervous about recent decisions.

1. Anderson is a good goalie but couldn't we of gotten him or a comparable for much less if we waiting till we got closer to the expansion draft?

2. Rounds 2 -7 of the draft might work our great but at the same time the choices seem a bit experimental at such an important juncture in the rebuild expecially when many of them don't seem to have huge upside.

3. The Martin Signing might be great for our young guys to have that presence on the bench but couldn't we have gotten the same thing for cheaper out of Clune?

I hope it works out and I do have faith in the management. It just feels like we may have turned slightlighty off course.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I don't know about you guys but I'm starting to get a little nervous about recent decisions.

1. Anderson is a good goalie but couldn't we of gotten him or a comparable for much less if we waiting till we got closer to the expansion draft?

2. Rounds 2 -7 of the draft might work our great but at the same time the choices seem a bit experimental at such an important juncture in the rebuild expecially when many of them don't seem to have huge upside.

3. The Martin Signing might be great for our young guys to have that presence on the bench but couldn't we have gotten the same thing for cheaper out of Clune?

I hope it works out and I do have faith in the management. It just feels like we may have turned slightlighty off course.

I wouldn't worry too much. Not every move they make is going to be so obviously good that everyone will clap their hands and cheer in unison, building a team is a challenging endeavour. Andersen is probably the guy they wanted and he probably wouldn't be around later and the price wasn't that big. I trust that they drafted just fine, even if that's not the case there's no way we could tell that at this time anyway. And Martin >>>>>>>>>>> Clune, there's a reason one of them is getting a multi year deal for millions and the other is not. Check out the other signings, there were many that will likely look horrible a few years from now, Martin is small change compared to those. I remember when we signed Komarov, many were saying the same things that some are saying about Martin now - couldn't we have gotten someone else cheaper etc., now that signing is looking pretty good.

I don't think we've turned off course at all. We needed to solve our goaltending problem, Andersen addresses that issue. Other than that, we're drafting, developing and not rushing things. If it's true that we were only willing to pay Stamkos for 5 years that's a very strong signal that we're not staying the course.

I feel good about the future. There's a long road ahead but I feel like we're headed in the right direction.

 

[The Bad Seed*]

I don't know about you guys but I'm starting to get a little nervous about recent decisions.

1. Anderson is a good goalie but couldn't we of gotten him or a comparable for much less if we waiting till we got closer to the expansion draft?

2. Rounds 2 -7 of the draft might work our great but at the same time the choices seem a bit experimental at such an important juncture in the rebuild expecially when many of them don't seem to have huge upside.

3. The Martin Signing might be great for our young guys to have that presence on the bench but couldn't we have gotten the same thing for cheaper out of Clune?

I hope it works out and I do have faith in the management. It just feels like we may have turned slightlighty off course.

Thats not how you foster good relationships. We have been working well with the ducks for years. You take care of your alies on the other side of world. Plus we got the best goalie that will prob be available and we got him relatively cheap considering how fantastic he has been. You rip off the teams you have no desire of working with long term like columbus etc.

This draft was interesting. What it proved to me was that our new shannyplan still values size and strength. It's not all about skill.Last year was a great draft. This year is underrated. I think the Boys upstairs showed us that we are still playing hockey here.

Martin is a beast, sure it could of been cheaper however you need to pay your boys, esp the ones who do crappy jobs. They essentially gave him some of the gleason bo money after the next year. You take care of your grinders and they will take care of you.Hometown kid, plays with heart. Fan fav by Christmas.

I dont think we are of course. We tore up all the old laminate on the bathroom floor. All that is left is that old sink (lupal) I think it's going to be a prob as he dosent want to play ball and judging from the rumblings lately I think it's going to be an issue.

I thnk people forgot this is hockey. You need size and toughness. Sure not just Orr headpunchers but hard guys to play against that can throw em.This isn't soccer.

It was two horrible years in a row. I dont want to be edmonton. Its time to get better

 

[bigfreeze]

People seem to forget that we have Babcock. He can essentially make every player on the roster better.

We have a franchise centre in Matthews, and Marner and Nylander. We could get another Top 5 pick next season.

I'm very confident that the Leafs are heading in the right direction, and they can afford to make a splash in free agency next summer when all these contracts are off the books (Laich, Michalek, Greening, Bernier)

 

[REALTALK81]

We still have a bit to go but I feel pretty good. It's no secret that we need to address D. The league knows this as well and recognizes that we will be handcuffed, much like the Oil were with the Hall and Larsson trade. We need one more year of real pain before we can truly start competing. Drafting Max Gildon would be a solid addition on the left side however we need a top 4 RHD (with size preferably). Zaitsev isn't a lock but has the tools to possibly fit in to the second pairing.Perhaps Shattenkirk makes it to free agency and the Leafs sign him next year but one thing is clear...There will be pain.

 

[Dustin]

Figured I would update this once again. With Martin in, Polak in and Bernier out, I am pretty pleased.
We could have easily seen the Leafs trade away assets to bring in help now in hopes to compete sooner. We have seen this in the past and there was ample opportunity for the team to do it again. When you look at a player like Lucic, he was a player we would have thrown insane amounts of money at in the past.

Once again though we have a management group who are willing to be patient and try to do this right.

To be honest I am hoping this is all we do. Maybe sign a back up but other than that I kind of want to see which players are going to grab some NHL ice time next year.

 

[hullsy47]

I was convinced they were landing Stamkos and have been penciling him in for a year. The fact that he re-signed in Tampa and the Leafs are stuck with Bozak stings. The team is making the right moves though and nearly everything else that has happened has been a positive. I feel good overall.

if it anything is even remotely true about stamkos getting scared off by the leafs ,I'm glad hes not here anyways

I hope its just because hes loyal ,or maybe he knows his blood clot problem is lingering and its easier to fly under the radar in tampa .

I bet john tavaras would embrace Canadian tire ,the mayor and the leaf fan base .
lets start the the tavaras band wagon today