Line Combos: Best Leaf Team in last 25 Years?

[highslot]

If you could pick any Past or Present Leafs in the last 25 years, what would your team look like?

Clark L Gilmour C Kessel R
Roberts L Sundin C Mogilny R
Andreychuk L Nieuwendyk C Thomas R
JVR L Tucker C Gartner R

Iafrate Ellett
Mccabe Kaberle
Gill Phaneuf

Joseph
Belfour

This would be my picks. There are some players on the team currently that are close or on the way (Kadri, Rielly, Gartner).

sundin, gilmour, kessel
jvr, sullivan, mogilny
roberts, lindros, niewendyk
clark, steen, santorelli

maacauley

leetch-kubina
kaberle-stralman
lefavbre-rielly

yuskevich.

belfour
joseph

cup winning team right there. work ethic, leadership, grit, skill and size.


1st unit powerplay:

Sundin, JVR, gilmour

leetch, kaberle


1st unit penalty kill

gilmour, roberts, niewendyk/santorelli.

lefabvre, stralman

 

[Gary Nylund]

sundin, gilmour, kessel
jvr, sullivan, mogilny
roberts, lindros, niewendyk
clark, steen, santorelli

maacauley

leetch-kubina
kaberle-stralman
lefavbre-rielly

yuskevich.

belfour
joseph

cup winning team right there. work ethic, leadership, grit, skill and size.

Santorelli is among our top 12 forwards over the last 25 years? Yikes!!

 

[highslot]

Santorelli is among our top 12 forwards over the last 25 years? Yikes!!

I'd put him on fourth line although i might switch him out for komorov. who did you put on your fourth line?

 

[TimeZone]

Are you serious? Sundin had great wheels in his 20s and was just fine in the later part of his career. Maybe post 05 lockout Sundin lost a step but I really don't think a prime Sundin would be lost today. In the mid 90s he was dangling and blowing by top pairing dmen on a regular basis.

Clark however would be a 4th liner in today's NHL.

I remember Sundin blowing by Briere into his late 30's. He had great speed until his last season or two.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I'd put him on fourth line although i might switch him out for komorov. who did you put on your fourth line?

I didn't make a lineup. Too depressing.

The lineup I commented on doesn't look too bad, Santorelli, Sullivan and Macauley I'm not sure about. I think I'd put Kadri instead of one of those three, also Andreychuck. The D could be done a lot differently too but there's so many guys on roughly the same tire that is probably doesn't matter too much. Macoun, Ellett, Mccabe are potential candidates.

I'd also tweak the lines a bit for better balance. As an example, JVR with Sullivan and Mogilny wouldn't fare well in physical battles IMO.

 

[LeafalCrusader]

If you could pick any Past or Present Leafs in the last 25 years, what would your team look like?

Clark L Gilmour C Kessel R
Roberts L Sundin C Mogilny R
Andreychuk L Nieuwendyk C Thomas R
JVR L Tucker C Gartner R

Iafrate Ellett
Mccabe Kaberle
Gill Phaneuf

Joseph
Belfour

This would be my picks. There are some players on the team currently that are close or on the way (Kadri, Rielly, Gartner).

Not bad. Needs a Markov Yuskevich pairing though.

Clarke Gilmour Kessel
Roberts Sundin Mogilny
Andreychuk Damphousse Nolan
JVR Nieuwendyk Thomas

Kaberle McCabe
Phaneuf Kubina
Yuskevich Markov

Cujo
Belfour

 

[highslot]

I didn't make a lineup. Too depressing.

The lineup I commented on doesn't look too bad, Santorelli, Sullivan and Macauley I'm not sure about. I think I'd put Kadri instead of one of those three, also Andreychuck. The D could be done a lot differently too but there's so many guys on roughly the same tire that is probably doesn't matter too much. Macoun, Ellett, Mccabe are potential candidates.

I'd also tweak the lines a bit for better balance. As an example, JVR with Sullivan and Mogilny wouldn't fare well in physical battles IMO.

fair points and i agree about the d.

kadri might be better in a lot of respects, but imo maccauley is a better 2way, sullivan has much better vision and straightline speed, santorelli has at least as much grit and can win board battles. he's part of the reason kadri looked so good.

someone like vaive and sitler have more natural talent, but i'm looking at it like can they play in any era including today? i'm not convincing salming could keep up speed wise for example and we need a fourth line energy grit line imo.

i'd be happy to flip out maccauley and put in sitler though.

about tweaking the lines, i'd let coach babcock and his assistant pat burns decide who plays with whom.

 

[Gary Nylund]

fair points and i agree about the d.

kadri might be better in a lot of respects, but imo maccauley is a better 2way, sullivan has much better vision and straightline speed, santorelli has at least as much grit and can win board battles. he's part of the reason kadri looked so good.

someone like vaive and sitler have more natural talent, but i'm looking at it like can they play in any era including today? i'm not convincing salming could keep up speed wise for example and we need a fourth line energy grit line imo.

i'd be happy to flip out maccauley and put in sitler though.

about tweaking the lines, i'd let coach babcock and his assistant pat burns decide who plays with whom.

We're only going back 25 years so Sittler is out, so is Vaive.

I was thinking how the players are relative to peers so not thinking about how players would fare today. Not saying it's wrong to do that, I don't think the OP was clear. Many things weren't clearly defined. It's also strange to pick guys that only played for a short time with Toronto and were past their peak at the time. If I pick Lindros, do I get him at his peak? Or at the level he was when he was here? If I get him at his peak then I guess he's my #1C, if not he's not on the team.

Also are we picking a team to play one year, one playoff year, or are we drafting a team to play many years? To really get into it we'd have to define a bunch of parameters.

I forget about Steve Thomas, he's another guy I put ahead of Santorelli easy. But them I'm a little biased, I always liked Thomas.

 

[CDN24]

If you could pick any Past or Present Leafs in the last 25 years, what would your team look like?

Clark L Gilmour C Kessel R
Roberts L Sundin C Mogilny R
Andreychuk L Nieuwendyk C Thomas R
JVR L Tucker C Gartner R

Iafrate Ellett
Mccabe Kaberle
Gill Phaneuf

Joseph
Belfour

This would be my picks. There are some players on the team currently that are close or on the way (Kadri, Rielly, Gartner).

I like your list and it is very telling of what has been wrong with the leafs for the last 40 years. They have ignored the draft. Only 3 of your 20 guys (clark, Iafrate and Kaberle) were drafted by the Leafs. looks like the phlisophy has changed re the draft -hopefully management has the intestinal fortitude to stick with the plan.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I like your list and it is very telling of what has been wrong with the leafs for the last 40 years. They have ignored the draft. Only 3 of your 20 guys (clark, Iafrate and Kaberle) were drafted by the Leafs. looks like the phlisophy has changed re the draft -hopefully management has the intestinal fortitude to stick with the plan.

3 out of 20, wow. Agree completely, nice post!

 

[Darcy Tucker]

"Draft Schmaft" - Cliff Fletcher in the 90s

 

[BayStreetBully]

I like your list and it is very telling of what has been wrong with the leafs for the last 40 years. They have ignored the draft. Only 3 of your 20 guys (clark, Iafrate and Kaberle) were drafted by the Leafs. looks like the phlisophy has changed re the draft -hopefully management has the intestinal fortitude to stick with the plan.

Well, we did make some very good grades over the years. Other than Kessel, the rest of the traded-for players on this "last 25 years" lineup were acquired in trades where we did not lose.

But yes, drafting needs to improve, that's a given.

 

[Darcy Tucker]

let me give this a try I guess:

Roberts - Sundin - Mogilny

Clark - Gilmour - Borschevsky

Andreychuk - Grabovski - Thomas

Corson - Zezel - Tucker

(R) Kulemin, Domi


McCabe - Kaberle

Phaneuf - Yushkevich

Macoun - Mironov

(R) Markov


Belfour
Potvin

(R) Joseph

If all these players had their best seasons as Leafs somehow amalgamated into one team for a season; definite cup winner. It is not that bad of a pool like some suggest.

 

[Gary Nylund]

let me give this a try I guess:

Roberts - Sundin - Mogilny

Clark - Gilmour - Borschevsky

Andreychuk - Grabovski - Thomas

Corson - Zezel - Tucker

(R) Kulemin, Domi


McCabe - Kaberle

Phaneuf - Yushkevich

Macoun - Mironov

(R) Markov


Belfour
Potvin

(R) Joseph

If all these players had their best seasons as Leafs somehow amalgamated into one team for a season; definite cup winner. It is not that bad of a pool like some suggest.

If that's the criteria (every players best season ever) then every team in the NHL that's been around 25 years could put together a cup winning team.

Also not to quibble but if the criteria is anyone who played for the Leafs at their best season ever, than your team could be much stronger than it is. Lindros and Leetch are pretty obvious improvements over what you have there. I mean Grabovsky/Borshevsky, is that the best you can do?

 

[Darcy Tucker]

The criteria is what they did as Leafs. Borschevsky lead the Leafs in goals the season Gilmour had his massive 127 point Selke run. He also scored one of the clutchest goals in team history. Grabovski's 58 point season where he had Kulemin scoring 30 and Mac notching 60 points was one of the best for a center this team has had outside of Sundin. our center pool is WEAK and I'm not going to just throw Nieuwyndyk in there because he is in the Lindros, Francis, Leetch category. 1 year rentals don't count.

 

[Gary Nylund]

The criteria is what they did as Leafs. Borschevsky lead the Leafs in goals the season Gilmour had his massive 127 point Selke run. He also scored one of the clutchest goals in team history. Grabovski's 58 point season where he had Kulemin scoring 30 and Mac notching 60 points was one of the best for a center this team has had outside of Sundin. our center pool is WEAK and I'm not going to just throw Nieuwyndyk in there because he is in the Lindros, Francis, Leetch category. 1 year rentals don't count.

If you say so. I don't believe the criteria was clearly defined so I suppose everyone's free to do whatever they like. Borshevsky had 122 points in his entire NHL career but sure, put him on your team if you want.

 

[JackJ]

93 & 94

 

[Darcy Tucker]

Sub in Kessel for Thomas or Borschevsky . How did I forget about Phil . He would look good playing with Gilmour in his prime.

If you take all teams and do lists like this we stack up pretty good in a playoff series against all of them except Pens, Wings and Devils who have too many legends. But we wouldn't get rolled. We have grass is greener syndrome for our own legends. Sundin and Gilmour in their primes are beasts. They could carry that team I listed a long way.

You can't just look at stats going into a playoff series. The amount of grit, two way play, physicality , and balls my lineup has will get the job done against most teams.

 

[Darcy Tucker]

If you say so. I don't believe the criteria was clearly defined so I suppose everyone's free to do whatever they like. Borshevsky had 122 points in his entire NHL career but sure, put him on your team if you want.

He could play the game. He had sick hands and a lethal shot. His short career was because he was a USSR import. He could have put up huge NHL numbers if he played here for his prime years. He also scored 7 goals in 8 games for the Unified USSR team in their Olympic Gold run in 1992.

 

[Gary Nylund]

He could play the game. He had sick hands and a lethal shot. His short career was because he was a USSR import. He could have put up huge NHL numbers if he played here for his prime years. He also scored 7 goals in 8 games for the Unified USSR team in their Olympic Gold run in 1992.

Yeah he wasn't a bad player but if were talking about what a player did in his prime playing elsewhere who played for us for a only short time then there's a lot of players (like Lindros) who we could list and Nikolai doesn't make the cut IMO.

 

[Darcy Tucker]

Yeah he wasn't a bad player but if were talking about what a player did in his prime playing elsewhere who played for us for a only short time then there's a lot of players (like Lindros) who we could list and Nikolai doesn't make the cut IMO.

that's a good point but I'm sticking to the criteria that they must have played more than one season for the Leafs. Borschevksy did play more than 1 ; so his 34 goal/74 point season capped off by his series clinching goal against the Wings is easily better than anything our rentals contributed to our history books.


edit
If we're able to stack prime Lindros, Francis, Nieuwy , Leetch and Mogilny then we are looking at being able to compete with the Penguins and Wings. But that's just too hypothetical to bother with. This thread should be just what players did wearing the Maple Leaf sweater.

 

[wetcardboard]

Where the hell is Karl Peelash?