Kadri, in particular, I think is the key loss. So much now rides on how Kerfoot can handle 3C duties. Or if not him, then either Nylander switched to center or a broken down Spezza taking that role.
As a Pens fan, I know full well how difficult the loss of a solid 3C in Bonino affected the Pens the past couple of seasons. At the time it was, "meh, he's only a 35 point 3C. I'm sure anyone can replace that", but as it turns out it's not that simple. I just see losing Kadri as potentially having the same impact on Toronto's depth.
For the Pens, they have relied heavily on their 3Cs for matchups. I remember the days of Jordan Staal and then Bonino and both those guys were important players. Our coach is a f***ing moron and turned Kadri (a complete mismatch for the Leafs at 3C) into a non-role non-productive player. Not only did he not give Naz a well defined role as a 3C, he never tried to match the 3rd line against the other teams' top lines. He always went with the JT line for that. Secondary to not giving Naz a role, he played 16 minutes a night of absolutely non-productive hockey trying to carry old man Marleau and Connor Brown (who I absolutely love but could not produce for whatever reason).
If it were any other coach and had Kadri been a big impact guy for us last season, I would agree that he would have been a big loss, but with the idiot coach we have, we can literally plug in a much inferior player in Kerfoot/ Spezza and honestly not miss beat because we were literally getting absolutely nothing out of our third line or our 4th line last year.
The biggest plus for us this year, is that we lost Marleau, Brown who made Kadri a null as a 3C. This year, at worst, we again have no 3rd line/ 4th line. At best, we have young skilled hungry kids graduating from the Marlies and signed via UFA who are anxious to contribute. Hopefully having lesser named players also means that idiot Babcock will give AM and JT lines much more ice time. That was yet another issue. Not only was Kadri not effective but realistically he should have been playing 2-3 minutes less per game and his minutes should have gone to Auston.
Johnny/ Mikheyev - AM - Willy/ KK >>>> Johnny/Marleau - AM - KK
Hyms - JT - MM ----- same as last year
Mikheyev/ Johnny- Kerfoot/Willy - KK/Kerfoot >>>> Marleau - Kadri - Brown/Willy
Moore - Spezza - Marchment >>>> Moore - Goat - Brown/ Ennis/ Willy
Extras: Goat/ Petan
Muzzin - Barrie >>>>> Rielly - Hainsey
Rielly - Harpur > Muzzin - Z
Dermott - Ceci >>>> Dermott - Oz/ Marincin/ Holl
Biggest plus for Leafs over Boston/ Tampa (to a much much lesser extent) is that their core is getting 1 year older and more experienced (even with their failure).
Boston has some great young players but right now are being carried by their vets primarily. Let's see how long that holds up and if the kids can shoulder the load when more lands on their plate. Tampa like I said is slightly less so because their core is still in their prime but they lost a few good role guys like Girardi, Stralman, Miller. I don't expect them to budge however because their kids are f***ing studs.
Matthews, Marner, Rielly, Moore, AJ, KK, Willy, Dermott are all young kids who will naturally progress. Not everyone will take a leap forward offensively maybe but their overall play should get slightly better.
