Is this version of Maple Leafs better then last year
- Thread starter MJ65
- Start date
It's better for the regular season because it is a year older. The only question for this team now is, are they built for the playoffs ? Mostly Dubas did some fancy cap doodling to keep the big 4 intact...one more year. We are still soft as butter and counting on the refs to protect our stars but that is cap hell. To win a cup the Leafs still need a physical top 9 winger who can score and one more Veteran defenseman who is hard to play against. We will be better offensively than ever before though with Andersen more rested.
as Pure as Evil
Registered User
no debate we are deeper better in both forward and defense our back up will be better no matter whos in net
A1LeafNation
Obsession beats talent everytime!!
- Oct 17, 2010
- 27,392
- 17,337
This is probably the best Leaf team ever assembled...on paper.
Last edited:
yubbers
Grown Menzez
- May 1, 2013
- 36,237
- 5,307
I said we weren't. But AM has always been the wildcard. And he looks like he's stepping into his own which will be dangerous
This version is definitively better than last year’s Leafs. Losing plugs like Marleau and Zaitsev is a huge upgrade to begin with. Add in Mr. Game 7 and I think this is one of the best defensive corps I’ve witnessed a Leafs team field.
As some others have expressed, I feel that this year in particular is going to be one of our very best chances at winning it all during our window. It’s complete bad luck that we ended up in the same division as Boston and Tampa but it is what it is and we have to beat one them at least most likely this year.
As some others have expressed, I feel that this year in particular is going to be one of our very best chances at winning it all during our window. It’s complete bad luck that we ended up in the same division as Boston and Tampa but it is what it is and we have to beat one them at least most likely this year.
soo hound girl
Registered User
- Oct 20, 2017
- 995
- 692
You guys are gonna love Sandin when he played in the Soo two years ago at the age of only 17 he was one of the best defence men in the league.
Smart ,smooth and has the resemblance of a Nick Lidstrom in my opinion I will check back later to see what you guys think of him remember he is only 19
Smart ,smooth and has the resemblance of a Nick Lidstrom in my opinion I will check back later to see what you guys think of him remember he is only 19
Face Of Bear
Registered User
- Jul 30, 2012
- 2,038
- 1,165
mix1home
Registered User
See, this is not even debatable that we are better. Dubas did masterful job trades wise. Slight problem is though that he would need to do even better job managing cap going forward as his signings are not ideal. I don't know what the plan is, but I don't think that keeping this group together is possible even for next year. And then we are right to square one with either losing assets for nothing and/or having subpar defense. We already lost Gardiner and other assets including 1st next year due to cap.
And I doubt we will see Leafs team as strong as this year on F, D and G simultaneously going forward. It will be virtually impossible. There is also potential for lockout and that can bring a lot of change. And expansion draft will not help as we will sure lose valuable player unlike in last one. So this would be the year to go after it, but Tampa and Boston are still in our division and we did not experience any success in PO with this group. It would have been much better chances wise if we actually advanced past Boston last year. Oh well. Drop the puck already!
PS. Holly! I'm here for 10 years! Old-timer. Lol
And I doubt we will see Leafs team as strong as this year on F, D and G simultaneously going forward. It will be virtually impossible. There is also potential for lockout and that can bring a lot of change. And expansion draft will not help as we will sure lose valuable player unlike in last one. So this would be the year to go after it, but Tampa and Boston are still in our division and we did not experience any success in PO with this group. It would have been much better chances wise if we actually advanced past Boston last year. Oh well. Drop the puck already!
PS. Holly! I'm here for 10 years! Old-timer. Lol
Last edited:
DarkKnight
Professional Amateur
- Jan 17, 2017
- 32,101
- 49,385
Iapyi
Registered User
Debatable right now.
Never really know how guys will mesh until they've played at least 10 games together as a team.
That said I am pumped for the season this year.
Never really know how guys will mesh until they've played at least 10 games together as a team.
That said I am pumped for the season this year.
No. But this is actually a stronger team than most anyone thought Dubas was going to be able to swing.
The risk to this view is Sandin and Liljegren significantly outperforming. Which, of course, is quite possible.
It's close. Dubas is doing his best to maximise the window over the longest possible time. He knows what he's doing.
The risk to this view is Sandin and Liljegren significantly outperforming. Which, of course, is quite possible.
It's close. Dubas is doing his best to maximise the window over the longest possible time. He knows what he's doing.
Not sure why some voted for no or even debatable.
On paper, our core is one yr older with more experiences.
Willie is with the team from the start which is better than Ennis and Leivo who filled in for him.
AJ and Marleau is a wash since we didn’t expect Marleau to drop off that much after a yr.
Barri and Ceci are better than Jake and Zai. Muzzin a better player than Hainsey.
Kadri is a better player than Kerfoot
Moore is equal to Brown
The team is better on paper and how they compete night in and night out will be key.
On paper, our core is one yr older with more experiences.
Willie is with the team from the start which is better than Ennis and Leivo who filled in for him.
AJ and Marleau is a wash since we didn’t expect Marleau to drop off that much after a yr.
Barri and Ceci are better than Jake and Zai. Muzzin a better player than Hainsey.
Kadri is a better player than Kerfoot
Moore is equal to Brown
The team is better on paper and how they compete night in and night out will be key.
mallory67
Registered User
How is this debatable? The list of players now gone is like a who's who list of the players we hated and thought were dead weight.
Marleau, Brown, Hainsey, Kadri, Gardiner, Zaitsev
Dubas got rid of every single guy we singled out! I am convinced he reads these boards!
We aren't just a little better ... we are A LOT better.
Marleau, Brown, Hainsey, Kadri, Gardiner, Zaitsev
Dubas got rid of every single guy we singled out! I am convinced he reads these boards!
We aren't just a little better ... we are A LOT better.
Caroline Says ll
Mmm
The roster alone is elevated via the subtraction of players who were over used.
How Hainsey ever saw the full two minutes of a PK was nonsense. Other teams with far more inferior D cores would never play one player that much on a kill - yet we allowed Hainsey to do that often. Why Hainsey was on the ice in the final minutes also swamped us with a player who struggled with coverage and zone exits in the most crucial moments.
Speaking of zone exits, no more will our roster have Brown to be used as some sort of défensive specialist when all underlying stats last season showed him below standard. No more struggling with zone entries and exits, passing, and clearing the puck from him.
The league is moving to a more offensive minded PK and using their top lines in the final minutes to defend a lead. More often talented players can read a play and break up a play. More often a talented player can clear their a zone with a nice pass or clean exit. We have removed players who struggled yet were improperly valued.
How Hainsey ever saw the full two minutes of a PK was nonsense. Other teams with far more inferior D cores would never play one player that much on a kill - yet we allowed Hainsey to do that often. Why Hainsey was on the ice in the final minutes also swamped us with a player who struggled with coverage and zone exits in the most crucial moments.
Speaking of zone exits, no more will our roster have Brown to be used as some sort of défensive specialist when all underlying stats last season showed him below standard. No more struggling with zone entries and exits, passing, and clearing the puck from him.
The league is moving to a more offensive minded PK and using their top lines in the final minutes to defend a lead. More often talented players can read a play and break up a play. More often a talented player can clear their a zone with a nice pass or clean exit. We have removed players who struggled yet were improperly valued.
Leaf4Life
Registered User
- Feb 8, 2010
- 2,566
- 1,994
Couldn't agree more. Looking at that list I still can't believe we got rid of ALL of them. Amazing!
Edit: and you forgot Sparks!
Is the *healthy* version of the Maple Leafs better at Game 1 versus last year?
I think the answer is yes, with one big caveat.
Up front, notables you lose Kadri, Marleau, Brown. You replace them with Kerfoot, Spezza, and Moore. IMO, they certainly got "shallower" as Kadri is better than Kerfoot, Marleau better than Spezza, and Brown at least looked better than Moore. However you gain a year of age and experience for Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Kapanen and Johnsson. Overall, I think the group is better this year, with one caveat being that having Matthews-Tavares-Kadri down the middle last year would have been great for the playoffs if Kadri could keep his nose clean... this year, we're more top-heavy.
On D, notables out are Gardiner, Hainsey and Zaitsev, being replaced by Barrie, Muzzin and Ceci. To me, that's a pretty big upgrade.. Barrie is a good chunk better than Gardiner, Muzzin a reasonable upgrade on Hainsey, and Zaitsev-Ceci being likely a wash.. maybe the Leafs take a bit of a downgrade on that swap... but overall it's an upgrade, even without development from Dermott.
In goal, maybe a slight downgrade as Sparks had upside, whereas Hutchinson is more of a know-what-you-have guy.
The caveat however -- last year's Leafs had the flexibility to add Jake Muzzin midseason without subtracting from the roster. This year's Leafs have ZERO cap flexibility. The group of players they start with, will likely have to be the group they finish with, save for subbing out sub-$1m players.
I think the answer is yes, with one big caveat.
Up front, notables you lose Kadri, Marleau, Brown. You replace them with Kerfoot, Spezza, and Moore. IMO, they certainly got "shallower" as Kadri is better than Kerfoot, Marleau better than Spezza, and Brown at least looked better than Moore. However you gain a year of age and experience for Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Kapanen and Johnsson. Overall, I think the group is better this year, with one caveat being that having Matthews-Tavares-Kadri down the middle last year would have been great for the playoffs if Kadri could keep his nose clean... this year, we're more top-heavy.
On D, notables out are Gardiner, Hainsey and Zaitsev, being replaced by Barrie, Muzzin and Ceci. To me, that's a pretty big upgrade.. Barrie is a good chunk better than Gardiner, Muzzin a reasonable upgrade on Hainsey, and Zaitsev-Ceci being likely a wash.. maybe the Leafs take a bit of a downgrade on that swap... but overall it's an upgrade, even without development from Dermott.
In goal, maybe a slight downgrade as Sparks had upside, whereas Hutchinson is more of a know-what-you-have guy.
The caveat however -- last year's Leafs had the flexibility to add Jake Muzzin midseason without subtracting from the roster. This year's Leafs have ZERO cap flexibility. The group of players they start with, will likely have to be the group they finish with, save for subbing out sub-$1m players.
I totally agree with you but you forget to mention Mikeyehev as he is going to be big part this season, I am not sure how big a difference is between Spezza and Marleau (but please keep in mind the cap hit for Spezza is $700 K vs $6.25 M that we were paying Marleau), also I believe Nylander is going to be way better this season then he was last year
Not only is there no $$ to upgrade...there are zero roster spots available on this super-team! This team, with it's best lineup, is a 20 man roster...with no margin for addressing D2D injuries. Of course they look better on paper, but at the expense of moving from a 23 man NHL roster to a 20 man roster.
Maybe a better assessment of whether this team is better than last year, or not, is to remove one of Ceci, Hyman, Kerfoot, Kapanan, Johnsson...and then replace them with 2 cheaper players, so there is at least 1 extra body. Because it seems extremely unlikely to me that this house of cards can continue for very long, once Dermott and (maybe he's asked to stay on LTIR a bit longer?) Hyman.
At 35 years old, this is the best Leafs team of my lifetime, by a big margin.
Omark
Tesla stock
Nowadays everybody uses "then" instead of "than". It's so weird I actually found out this year that it isn't a typo but it's actually more common these days. At least in here.
Even bigger mind blow is that how in earth did Leafs upgrade their roster when Marner's rookie contract switches to 11M contract. That's insane.
Even bigger mind blow is that how in earth did Leafs upgrade their roster when Marner's rookie contract switches to 11M contract. That's insane.
613Leafer
Registered User
- May 26, 2008
- 12,827
- 3,652
I think it's definitely better on paper.
Nylander can't be as bad as last year.
Matthews will hopefully be healthy, and show some slight progression overall too.
Muzzin + Barrie here right from training camp.
Hutchinson is unlikely to be as bad as Sparks.
Kapanen/Johnsson are both skilled young players that could show some progression as well.
Our PP the 2nd half of last season was pretty cold - I'd hope our smart management/coaching team have found a way to avoid this given the talent we have.
Nylander can't be as bad as last year.
Matthews will hopefully be healthy, and show some slight progression overall too.
Muzzin + Barrie here right from training camp.
Hutchinson is unlikely to be as bad as Sparks.
Kapanen/Johnsson are both skilled young players that could show some progression as well.
Our PP the 2nd half of last season was pretty cold - I'd hope our smart management/coaching team have found a way to avoid this given the talent we have.
Blowfish
Count down ...
On the downside...
Hainsey +30 last year big minutes/injury free/solid/reliable/PK specialist
Ceci/Barrie consistent minus players year after year / far from reliable in the D end
Who replaces steady Eddie Hainsey?
That is a major concern when it comes to this year's leavs.
Gee, I don't see how they are better. Forwards and goalies the same value. But IMO, they are worse on defence.
Lost three NHLers and only got two return.
Lost three NHLers and only got two return.
Ad
Latest posts
-
Pre-Game Talk: Bruins @ Leafs - Game 3 - 7pm - Series tied 1 - 1- Latest: The Masters
