"Leafs Play in a Weak Division"

[OB34KNH]

I wasn't talking about ot games at all in that post so no idea what your response is about.

It's impossible to compare divisions directly since the teams don't play each other. But the fact is the top five in the east all finished ahead of every North team last year. I'll leave it at that.

Last year, the Leafs didn't have Bogosion, Lehtonen, and TJ Brodie. That's half of your D revamped.
Leafs didn't have depth like Wayne Simmonds, Joe Thornton.
Also, young players like Nylander, Marner, and Matthews have improved tremendously.

Last year does not matter, since, many teams in the North have improved over last year. Montreal added Josh Anderson, Edmundson, and, Toffoli.

We are talking about THIS YEAR. Not last year.

 

[Gurglesons]

The East only has 3 teams that have won more games than Vancouver in Regulation.

The Islanders are in the lead their division in RW with 10.

lol Boston only has 6 RW in 18 games

Yeah, it's called being in a competitive division.

 

[Divine]

Not talking about the rangers. Talking about Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, NYI.

The Islanders had the fewest games played in the league. Last season was misleading because teams played different amounts of games which was ridiculous.

Also, you can't compare last season to this. Montreal/Toronto/Winnipeg/Calgary definitely got better in the offseason.

 

[OB34KNH]

Letang has 7 points in his last four games.

Rust and Kapanen are on pace for over 50+ pts in an 82 game season.

Please, Kapanen is a non-factor. He would be on the 3rd/4th line on the Leafs. He is a 3rd line player, he played for the Leafs for 3 years.
He may be looking hot in this 15 game sample, but, trust me he had 18 goals in 41 games a year ago or so, and, he finished with 19 goals in 82 games.

 

[OB34KNH]

Yeah, it's called being in a competitive division.

GAME 1) ends 3-2 without going to overtime.
GAME 2) ends 3-2 in OT.

That means that 1 game was more competitive than game 2?

[MOD]

 

[Gurglesons]

Please, Kapanen is a non-factor. He would be on the 3rd/4th line on the Leafs. He is a 3rd line player, he played for the Leafs for 3 years.
He may be looking hot in this 15 game sample, but, trust me he had 18 goals in 41 games a year ago or so, and, he finished with 19 goals in 82 games.

You just called Wayne Simmonds "depth" so. I mean, cool.

 

[Gurglesons]

So if the game 3-2 without going to overtime.
And another game and 3-2 in OT.

That means that 1 game was more competitive than the other?
[MOD]

Would any team in the North currently be firmly in a playoff spot besides the Leafs if they were in their normal division?

None of them were last year.

 

[HTFN]

Last year, the Leafs didn't have Bogosion, Lehtonen, and TJ Brodie. That's half of your D revamped.
Leafs didn't have depth like Wayne Simmonds, Joe Thornton.
Also, young players like Nylander, Marner, and Matthews have improved tremendously.

Last year does not matter, since, many teams in the North have improved over last year. Montreal added Josh Anderson, Edmundson, and, Toffoli.

We are talking about THIS YEAR. Not last year.

What are you not getting about this? It's really hard, even just just mathematically, to say that anyone improved from last year because the conditions aren't the same. Take a 20 goal scorer, watch him score 30 this year (or, say, 30-40 over 82), then go back to 20 next year. Did he improve? Or was it just luck of the draw and a handful of goalies who don't necessarily play him well? A handful of teams and matchups that he really learned to exploit but wouldn't have in an 82 game season, maybe.

The point is that there aren't a lot of things that can be said definitively until the league goes back to a regular 82 game season, and we're able to see who comes out the other side changed and who just benefited from the new arrangement.

 

[TheHelmet]

The leafs are the team to beat.

YET 78% of the teams don't get a chance to.

Brilliant logic.

 

[Craig Button]

Yeah, it's called being in a competitive division.

no.
It's because they played fewer games in the East.
When the crappy teams like Buffalo, Devils and Rangers play more often maybe the better teams will pick up more RWs

 

[HTFN]

Please, Kapanen is a non-factor. He would be on the 3rd/4th line on the Leafs. He is a 3rd line player, he played for the Leafs for 3 years.
He may be looking hot in this 15 game sample, but, trust me he had 18 goals in 41 games a year ago or so, and, he finished with 19 goals in 82 games.

Lol, here's you doing the same thing to Kapanen that you don't want people to do to the Leafs.

 

[thaman8765678]

The Oilers are in 2nd place in the division. That's how bad the division is.

 

[OB34KNH]

Would any team in the North currently be in a playoff spot besides the Leafs if they were in their normal division?

Oilers. Currently #1 in the NHL for GF. Their #1D, Klefbom has been out the WHOLE season. You can't ever count out the 2 Best Centers in the NHL. 11-3, in their past 14 games, all of this without their #1D.

Jets. Currently top 10 in GA/Game. Top 5 GF/Game.
Schiefle, Ehlers, Dubois, Stastny, Connor, Wheeler. Does any team in the East have a better top 6 than them?

Habs. Added +Toffoli (12 Goals so far,) +Edmundson +Anderson.
Habs have a Top 10 Offense this season. Their GA/Game ranks near 11th best in the League so far.

Leafs.

 

[Jaska]

Last time a team from this division made the finals was 2010...and last championship was 1993.

 

[Henkka]

Would any team in the North currently be firmly in a playoff spot besides the Leafs if they were in their normal division?

None of them were last year.

Atlantic would be:
1. TBL
2. TOR
3. FLO
4. BOS (wild card battle)

Metropolitan would be
1. PHI
2. CAR
3. WSH
4. PIT/NYI (wild card battle)

Central would be:
1. MIN
2. COL
3. WPG
4. CHI/STL (wild card) + Dallas making a push later on season with Seguin + Radulov added.

Pacific would be
1. VGK
2. EDM
3. LAK
4. CGY/ARI (wild card battle)

Pacific would be the easy division with the normal format. Now it's Canadian.

Future Pacific will be weak too, because Seattle is not gonna be new Vegas. It will be lot worse, because everybody learned their lessons from last expansion. Arizona goes to weaken Central a bit.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

The Islanders had the fewest games played in the league. Last season was misleading because teams played different amounts of games which was ridiculous.

Also, you can't compare last season to this. Montreal/Toronto/Winnipeg/Calgary definitely got better in the offseason.

Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. Impossible to tell since they're just playing against each other. None were a top ten team last year though.

 

[OB34KNH]

Lol, here's you doing the same thing to Kapanen that you don't want people to do to the Leafs.

I'm telling you that Kapanen would be on the Leafs 3rd Line.
There's a difference between evaluating a team vs evaluating a player.

Kasperi Kapanen is good on the PK and he's very fast. But he doesn't have offensive vision.
He goes on hot streaks and than cools down.

He was once on pace for about ~40 goals, than finished the season off with 19 goals. I've watched him play for 3 years. He couldn't play with Marner, Matthews, Nylander, or Tavares.

Sidney Crosby is a world class player, clearly, he's inflating Kapanen's production.

 

[LEAFSANDBILLSFAN]

Why do these threads exist? Like we didn't have a large enough bullseye on our back already.

 

[Gurglesons]

Oilers. Currently #1 in the NHL for GF. Their #1D, Klefbom has been out the WHOLE season. You can't ever count out the 2 Best Centers in the NHL. 11-3, in their past 14 games, all of this without their #1D.

Jets. Currently top 10 in GA/Game. Top 5 GF/Game.
Schiefle, Ehlers, Dubois, Stastny, Connor, Wheeler. Does any team in the East have a better top 6 than them?

Habs. Added +Toffoli (12 Goals so far,) +Edmundson +Anderson.
Habs have a Top 10 Offense this season. Their GA/Game ranks near 11th best in the League so far.

Leafs.

Man, adding Joel Edmundson and a guy who has a bunch of goals against Demko and Holtby. True contender.

 

[Gurglesons]

I'm telling you that Kapanen would be on the Leafs 3rd Line.
There's a difference between evaluating a team vs evaluating a player.

Kasperi Kapanen is good on the PK and he's very fast. But he doesn't have offensive vision.
He goes on hot streaks and than cools down.

He was once on pace for about ~40 goals, than finished the season off with 19 goals. I've watched him play for 3 years. He couldn't play with Marner, Matthews, Nylander, or Tavares.

Sidney Crosby is a world class player, clearly, he's inflating Kapanen's production.

75% of Kapanen's production has come away from Crosby.

 

[Dave92]

The fun won't last. When they run into another Zamboni driver it will come crumbling back to Earth.

Luck for us he'll be to busy with the Disney movie. We only lose to our own zamboni drivers.

 

[HTFN]

I'm telling you that Kapanen would be on the Leafs 3rd Line.
There's a difference between evaluating a team vs evaluating a player.

Kasperi Kapanen is good on the PK and he's very fast. But he doesn't have offensive vision.
He goes on hot streaks and than cools down.

He was once on pace for about ~40 goals, than finished the season off with 19 goals. I've watched him play for 3 years. He couldn't play with Marner, Matthews, Nylander, or Tavares.

Sidney Crosby is a world class player, clearly, he's inflating Kapanen's production.

Sure, the difference is how many players you have to evaluate to be finished.

 

[OB34KNH]

The Oilers are in 2nd place in the division. That's how bad the division is.

You mean the team with the 2 best centers in the NHL?

Who did Crosby and Malkin have on their team when they made cup runs in the early 2010s?
They didn't have much better secondary scoring than the Oilers do, and, their defense wasn't spectacular.

Klefbom, Nurse, Barrie, Bear, Larsson > Letang, Dumoulin, Daley, etc.

The Oilers are playing this good without having their #1D in Klefbom.

Remember, they are a young team so they are improving every year by virtue.

 

[thaman8765678]

You mean the team with the 2 best centers in the NHL?

Who did Crosby and Malkin have on their team when they made cup runs in the early 2010s?
They didn't have much better secondary scoring the Oilers did, and, their defense wasn't spectacular.

Klefbom, Nurse, Barrie, Bear, Larsson > Letang, Dumoulin, Daley, etc.

The Oilers are playing this good without having their #1D in Klefbom.

Remember, they are a young team so they are improving every year by virtue.

They have missed the playoffs 3 straight years but nice try.

 

[CupsOverCash]

Who cares if they play in a weak ass division. Nothing matters until they do anything noteworthy in the playoffs. All they ever are is talk.