Could the Leafs Surprise In 2016-17?

[EDDIE20*]

tell me who's as talented as Price, Pacioretty, Galchenyuk, Gallagher, Plekanec, Radulov, Markov (slow and old, but still one of the top offensive D), and Weber from the leafs?

That talent sure helped the Habs last year...

 

[Kamiccolo]

If they were rarely blown out, how do you explain the second worst goal differential in the league at -48 last season? Only Vancouver was worse at -52 (yikes).

I know it's obvious, but to get out of the bottom 5, the Leafs need to significantly increase goal scoring while also significantly reducing goals against. This is very hard to do with a young team and will only happen over the course of a few seasons when the young inexperienced players get more games under their belt and cut down on their mistakes.

Actually the Leafs lost the most 1 goal games last year.

The issue was they couldn't score more than 1 goal a game. We lost a ton of games 2-1 last year. The issue wasn't defense, it was offense.

So based on this thread I see people expect the Leafs to finish dead last. I hope this gets bumped when they are ahead of the Habs Should be funny after all their trash talk in this thread.

 

[sharks9]

Actually the Leafs lost the most 1 goal games last year.

The issue was they couldn't score more than 1 goal a game. We lost a ton of games 2-1 last year. The issue wasn't defense, it was offense.

So based on this thread I see people expect the Leafs to finish dead last. I hope this gets bumped when they are ahead of the Habs Should be funny after all their trash talk in this thread.

Probably because the Leafs lost the most games in general

And do you seriously think the Leafs have a chance at finishing ahead of the Canadiens this year? Because there's 0 chance that will happen.

 

[Kamiccolo]

Probably because the Leafs lost the most games in general

And do you seriously think the Leafs have a chance at finishing ahead of the Canadiens this year? Because there's 0 chance that will happen.

Well Habs finished with 13 more points than the Leafs last year. Leafs got better, Habs got worse.

So yes, I do think they will be better.

 

[EDDIE20*]

Probably because the Leafs lost the most games in general

And do you seriously think the Leafs have a chance at finishing ahead of the Canadiens this year? Because there's 0 chance that will happen.

All you need is for Price to get injured again and the Habs will be finishing low themselves. Anything can happen.

 

[Aladyyn]

Well Habs finished with 13 more points than the Leafs last year. Leafs got better, Habs got worse.

So yes, I do think they will be better.

The difference between Subban and Weber is not nearly as big as between Price and whatever the hell Habs' goaltending was last season.

 

[The Podium]

Lol this is why majority of HFBoards don't take Leaf fans seriously. One sliver of hope and suddenly they're overrated as crap. No the Leafs will not be better than the Habs and you'd have to be a major homer to think otherwise. The Leafs will finish bottom 5 again and you will be on here saying how awesome it is that they finished bottom 5 because they're going to draft the next Lidstrom.

1 guy said that. 1 guy. Personally though, if Price isn't healthy Montreal won't be doing so well. I don't remember the last time a single player was so pivotal for a team's success. He would get my vote for the Hart in ever healthy season he plays during his prime.

This coming from someone who thinks the Leafs end somewhere between bottom 5-10 this season (and prays to Liljegren).

 

[Pyrophorus]

That is why I said "from a competitive perspective", because while the W/L record didn't reflect it the Leafs were a better team than their record reflected IMO. Other people will talk about the stats, but just from watching the games the Leafa were frisky in almost every game I watched and what killed them was LOFT (lack of f'ing talent). Babcock is a really good coach IMO, and I could see him getting the Leafs competitive in less tjme than many expect. Of course YMMV.

And I would like to say that I don't think they make the P/O's, but I just don't think it is impoosible like some are making it out to be.

I think many of us have been saying this. Especially the last paragraph.

 

[Pyrophorus]

LOL. I'm going to bookmark this post.

Why don't you make a poll?

MacTavish/Lowe/Tambelini vs. Lou

Tell me who wins?

 

[EDDIE20*]

Why don't you make a poll?

MacTavish/Lowe/Tambelini vs. Lou

Tell me who wins?

Given this place, my guess is MacTavish/Lowe/Tambellini.

 

[Pyrophorus]

tell me who's as talented as Price, Pacioretty, Galchenyuk, Gallagher, Plekanec, Radulov, Markov (slow and old, but still one of the top offensive D), and Weber from the leafs?

You, nor I, know.

Price will never be touched at this point.
Everything else will take a bit of time.

Team wise-since that's all the matters if your GF remains the same, we will catch you this season.

 

[RobBrown4PM]

We might be a bubble team but I'm expecting the team to place outside the playoffs this year.

 

[AvroArrow]

Probably because the Leafs lost the most games in general

And do you seriously think the Leafs have a chance at finishing ahead of the Canadiens this year? Because there's 0 chance that will happen.

Habs are one of the worst teams in the league without Price so it's gonna come down to whether or not he can remain healthy. I don't expect the leafs to finish ahead of the Habs but if Price goes down that would probably be our best chance.

 

[EDDIE20*]

We might be a bubble team but I'm expecting the team to place outside the playoffs this year.

This is my thinking as well. We'll be pushing to be a bubble team. There will be improvement from the past season though.

 

[lifelonghockeyfan]

Sabre/Leaf comparison

Not saying this is going to happen but:

Two years ago, Sabres finished with 54 points....last season 81 points. An increase of 50% or 27 points. The only significant addition to the Sabres was Eichel. Most of the "betterment" came from within.

Leafs last year had 68 points. With the addition of Matthews (and Zaitsev and Anderson) the Leafs should be better. Maybe 13 points would put them at 81 points like last years Sabres.

Knowledgable fans know the Leafs problem last year was goal tending and goal scoring. Not so much overall defensive play.

 

[Mugzy97]

Yeah it's me that's salty, the guy that made post about the Leafs in a thread about the Leafs.

Not the 7 guys that jumped out of their way to spew irrelevant attacks about my team in response, they all seemed quite calm and rational.

Both the Jets and the Leafs are going to be incredibly young teams going into the year, why would anyone be surprised if they don't have successful years?

They may finish last but I doubt it, and if they do this year it will be the last time for a long while. I just though maybe you were salty about us finally getting some momentum on building a team instead of patching holes. Maybe you're not, but there are plenty of salty folks who will only get saltier as the seasons go by.

Toronto will once again try hard to not lose games instead of try to win games.

Trying to win games will surprise me.

I can't see Babcock not trying to win. He's going to try to win every game just like last year. The only difference are his tools which will continue to get better and better. He's trying to build a winning culture around these kids.

 

[LeafFever]

Probably because the Leafs lost the most games in general

And do you seriously think the Leafs have a chance at finishing ahead of the Canadiens this year? Because there's 0 chance that will happen.

If Price gets hurt again that sure could happen.

 

[Subbaman]

I suppose them not getting a top 3 pick would be surprising, so I'll say yes!

 

[hizzoner]

From the hype about the individual members of the team and the Godlike status of the coach I would think anything less than a slam dunk would be a major disappointment to Leaf Nation. No doubt the brass will play down everything so as to look good when they "beat expectations".

 

[LeafFever]

From the hype about the individual members of the team and the Godlike status of the coach I would think anything less than a slam dunk would be a major disappointment to Leaf Nation. No doubt the brass will play down everything so as to look good when they "beat expectations".

And yet everyone will pick them to miss the playoffs. So where's the hype you speak of?

 

[jacks*]

Well Habs finished with 13 more points than the Leafs last year. Leafs got better, Habs got worse.

So yes, I do think they will be better.

I should save this post but why waste my time.
How did the Habs get worst? They got Price back.
Well thanks for the laugh anyways.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

I should save this post but why waste my time.
How did the Habs get worst? They got Price back.
Well thanks for the laugh anyways.

Weber is not better than Subban, not anymore

 

[sharks9]

Well Habs finished with 13 more points than the Leafs last year. Leafs got better, Habs got worse.

So yes, I do think they will be better.

The difference between Weber and Subban is minor.

The different between Price and Condon/Scrivens is enormous, not to mention the addition of a top-line winger in Radulov.

Toronto's a basement dweller and won't be anywhere close to Montreal this year.

 

[authentic]

I should save this post but why waste my time.
How did the Habs get worst? They got Price back.
Well thanks for the laugh anyways.

Plus they got Radulov, and Weber isn't a significant downgrade from Subban for now and could actually mesh better with the team. The Habs should definitely be a better team than last year and than the Leafs this year.

 

[hawksrule]

The Leafs are not a good team. A ton of rookies + bad defense = not close to a playoff team.