Dermott's Future With Toronto

[JT AM da real deal]

You are one of the ones who is convinced he will stay. People here who claim to know the family have said he didn’t want to come.

He still lives in LA. Do you think he wants to stay?

Complete non-sense. My son partied with him in Woodstock in early August. He and his wife live right next to his uncle. I am not going to give you his address because some of you might disturb his peace. But it is a large family and they all live very close. There cook outs are very well known in Woodstock. I don't think he wants to stay I know he wants to stay. and my understanding is so do Leafs.

 

[ponder]

IMO Dermott is arguably our best defensive dman. His gap control and reads are ridiculous - he’s amazing at playing super aggressive D where he pressures the puck carrier like crazy, while almost never getting burned doing so. When Dermott is on the ice it’s WAY harder to enter our zone with speed, because he’s so disruptive in the neutral zone.

We’re overloaded with lefties, but Muzzin actually looked great with Rielly last season, in limited time. Rielly/Muzzin put up better advanced stats than any other Rielly/X pairing. I want to see this when Dermott is back:

Rielly/Muzzin
Dermott/Barrie
Sandin/Ceci

If those pairings click that could be an outstanding defence.

 

[sxvnert]

Next season:

Rielly Pietrangelo
Sandin Barrie
Dermott Liljegren

 

[Polaris1010]

People have such short memories they forgot how good he is

Play Dermott against the average NHL player, he looks good.

Play him against the good offensive players in the league, he gets exposed time and time again.

I think we hoped to see some improvement, so far none on that point.

 

[TheProspector]

Everyone knows you can't have two good centres, let alone two good defenceman, on the same team.

 

[Holymakinaw]

Dermott is in a pretty bad spot unfortunately for him with the emergence of Sandin and starting the season injuried.

Looking at just this year he is behind Rielly and Muzzin while fighting Sandin for the 3rd pairing spot.

Many are extremely high on Sandin (as I am to a slightly lesser extent) but the same could be said about Dermott at the start of last year and even over the summer with many many people penciling him onto the top pairing with Rielly.

Top 4D looks pretty set for this year to be honest and I would only expect a change because of injury or if Ceci falls off bad. Dermott wont be able to show if he can handle top 4 minutes/competition again this year.

Likely Dermott comes back and they pair him with Sandin on the 3rd pairing. Dermott is likely to be shifted to his right. I think his entire future as a Leaf hinges on his ability to play the right side and if he really struggles this year it will be interesting to see what happens.

Long term many are looking at Rielly and Sandin as the top 4 LDs. Leafs wont be able to run a guy like Dermott on the third pairing as their third pairing will largely be ELCs and league mins for the foreseeable future.

What are everyone's thoughts about Dermott? I think it is a little too early to lock Sandin in ahead of Dermott on the future depth chart but Dermott has a important and difficult season ahead.

LOL!!! One quick visit to the 'ol Leafer forum and I know why I don't come in here ever.

Terrible thread.

 

[Bigmarycombo]

Hmmmm

Reilly Ceci
Muzzin Barrie
Sandin Dermott

Next Year

Reilly UFA =Pietrangelo
Dermott Barrie
Sandin Liljegren

Fixed it for you

 

[PhiladelphiaKessel]

Next season:

Rielly Pietrangelo
Sandin Barrie
Dermott Liljegren

I wish

 

[Ziggdiezan]

LOL!!! One quick visit to the 'ol Leafer forum and I know why I don't come in here ever.

Terrible thread.

Did you actually read everything I said? I never said get rid of Dermott or anything like that, quite the opposite but his long term future is at risk if Sandin passes him on the depth chart and he cant play the right side effectively

 

[justafan22]

IF Sandin pans out to the extent where he's a top 4 guy as soon as next season, and you keep Barrie, I'd think about trading Dermott if you can get a similar aged RHD.

 

[lifelonghockeyfan]

I'm hoping we sign him to a cheap long term deal. Something like 3.5-4.5M for 6/7 years. It carries some risk, but I think Dermott is the real deal. That type of contract could end up being a fantastic value contract. I'd be shocked if he doesn't end up being a top 4 d (and a great one at that). He's already crushed bottom pairing usage and he's still going to get much better.

Yeah, I think so too. He can be the Leafs Hamonic. He signed long term at modest price. Avs did the same thing with Girard. Folks get so wrapped in these rankings of Dman, IMO they don't mean much . Either way you need 6 or 7 competent Dman to be successful. If Dermot plays 20 minutes of quality minutes....he's valuable.

 

[Durrr]

None of our defensemen throughout the years seemed to find chemistry with him..

Name me a bonafide second pairing defender he's played with in his tenure here besides Rielly and an aged Hainsey.

I'll wait.