TSN: McGuire: Expect Leafs to be a 'home ice' team in Eastern Conference playoffs

[Mess]

The game has changed quite a lot since then, wouldn't you agree?

Yes, goals for have gone down league wide as have team defenses gotten stronger over time decade by decade.

The days of 120-150 point scoring leaders and many 50 goal scorers in same season are long gone.

Goal scoring is down in today's era significantly from the 1980s, 1900s and then 2000s and the rules are constantly being tweaked to try and generate more offense in the game, because goalies, goalie equipment and team defenses have gotten better making it harder to score as well as salary Cap and parity in the league.

 

[zeke]

Did LA and Boston have elite offensive talent ?

Damn right Boston did. Stacked offense with bergeron, krejci, lucic, horton, recchi, marchand, wheeler, seguin, Ryder, Chara. Good for 8th in the league in offense.

Kings were probably the worst offensive team of all time to win a cup. And they needed Quick's playoff heroics to win. Even then, they had all sorts of elite scoring in Kopitar, Carter, Williams, Gaborik, Doughty

Chi had Kane but he was there only elite offensive player .

crazy talk.

Kane, Hossa, Toews, Keith, Campbell, Sharp and unparallelled scoring depth. Elite offense.

 

[Menzinger]

Damn right Boston did. Stacked offense with bergeron, krejci, lucic, horton, recchi, marchand, wheeler, seguin, Ryder, Chara. Good for 8th in the league in offense.

Kings were probably the worst offensive team of all time to win a cup. And they needed Quick's playoff heroics to win. Even then, they had all sorts of elite scoring in Kopitar, Carter, Williams, Gaborik, Doughty



crazy talk.

Kane, Hossa, Toews, Keith, Campbell, Sharp and unparallelled scoring depth. Elite offense.

Even during the Hawks cup wins their 4th line was producing offense.

In an era where scoring is at a low point, teams which have considerable offensive prowess are at a distinct advantage over heir competitors

 

[zeke]

Lou Lam used the trap for a decade in NJ... I'd say he's well aware of what a great team defence can do for a team.

Marty might not be a HOFer if it wasn't for the defence first system in NJ.

Always love how people forget that those Cup Winning Devils we lost to at the turn of the millenium were one of the elite offensive teams in hockey.

And anchored by 2 elite mobile dmen in Nieds and Rafalski.

 

[zeke]

and Shanny and Lou have Cup rings based on "Defense wins Championships" so the team is aware of these methods.

Both Shanny's wings and Lou's devils were elite offensive teams, actually.

 

[zeke]

Defence is no more or less important than offence.

Less important, given how huge a role goaltending plays in "team defense".

 

[zeke]

Over that 4yr span between 1999-2003 when the devs won 2 cups and another cup final, they were top 5 in both goals for and against.

 

[Bluelines]

Always love how people forget that those Cup Winning Devils we lost to at the turn of the millenium were one of the elite offensive teams in hockey.

And anchored by 2 elite mobile dmen in Nieds and Rafalski.

This "people" didn't forget,this "people" was simply underlying that defence played a significant role in their cup win.

I'm on the lots has to come together to win cup train vs the shoot out the stars and defence be damned train...

 

[zeke]

This "people" didn't forget,this "people" was simply underlying that defence played a significant role in their cup win.

Don't forget having a top-3 alltime goalie.

 

[Gary Nylund]

This "people" didn't forget,this "people" was simply underlying that defence played a significant role in their cup win.

I'm on the lots has to come together to win cup train vs the shoot out the stars and defence be damned train...

I'm not sure anyone's quite saying that. From what I've seen (and this has been going on for quite some time now, not just this thread) it's Mess who's been saying defence wins and offence be damned so people are going to great lengths to explain that it's not that simple.

I agree with you, lots has to come together and absolutely defence is important. And defence is a team game - I'm looking at you JVR.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Don't forget having a top-3 alltime goalie.

Brodeur was good, I wouldn't put him top 3 all time though.

 

[Morbo]

Less important, given how huge a role goaltending plays in "team defense".

nope.

They're equally important. Your attempt to separate goaltending makes no more sense than separating out the forwards would.

 

[BodaciousBeefBazooka]

When your best acquisition over the summer for the big club this year who is Marleau, it just raises eyebrows. The team for the most part is exactly the same from last year. Then again we are a young team and I wouldn't trade any of the big three.

 

[ShaneFalco]

When your best acquisition over the summer for the big club this year who is Marleau, it just raises eyebrows. The team for the most part is exactly the same from last year. Then again we are a young team and I wouldn't trade any of the big three.

I wouldn't discount what Hainey and Moore will bring, but yeah I was expecting more moves. Has to happen at some point

 

[saltming]

I remember a playoff series years ago when Leafs took on Lou's Devils and in a game the Leafs mustered 6 shots on goal in a playoff game.



NJ architect Lou Lam knows full well about "Defense Wins" and our Leafs got taught that lesson the hard way.

Sadly the clutch and grab defensive era is over.

 

[hotpaws]

Damn right Boston did. Stacked offense with bergeron, krejci, lucic, horton, recchi, marchand, wheeler, seguin, Ryder, Chara. Good for 8th in the league in offense.

Kings were probably the worst offensive team of all time to win a cup. And they needed Quick's playoff heroics to win. Even then, they had all sorts of elite scoring in Kopitar, Carter, Williams, Gaborik, Doughty

crazy talk.

Kane, Hossa, Toews, Keith, Campbell, Sharp and unparallelled scoring depth. Elite offense.

In the post i responded to you said elite offensive talent , you now switched it to saying elite team offense .

also you can include Thomas in Boston needing his playoff heroics to win .

 

[Bomber0104]

When your best acquisition over the summer for the big club this year who is Marleau, it just raises eyebrows. The team for the most part is exactly the same from last year. Then again we are a young team and I wouldn't trade any of the big three.

The beauty of how the Leafs are constructed is that it's entirely likely that any/all of Matthews / Nylander / Marner will get even better than their rookie seasons.

They have further upside and development ahead, there's no question, and to address the argument above... that can come on either side of the puck ; offensively and defensively.

 

[FlareKnight]

I wouldn't discount what Hainey and Moore will bring, but yeah I was expecting more moves. Has to happen at some point

I'm not sure what I really expected from this offseason. But I don't think I was foreseeing big changes. Add some defense if the cost made sense which they did with signing Hainsey, Rosen, Borgman, and drafting Liljegren. I think they'll keep looking for ways to upgrade the blueline, but just have to see if the right trades present themselves.

There are always going to be more moves, but I don't see anything dramatic happening until close to the trade deadline.

 

[zeke]

nope.

They're equally important. Your attempt to separate goaltending makes no more sense than separating out the forwards would.

offense = defense + goaltending

 

[Bluelines]

Brodeur was good, I wouldn't put him top 3 all time though.

Ok ,,then Top 1....

 

[Bluelines]

Sadly the clutch and grab defensive era is over.

Now its the hack and slash defence, more stick work in today's game than there ever was in the clutch and grab era.

 

[saltming]

Now its the hack and slash defence, more stick work in today's game than there ever was in the clutch and grab era.

Yup. But that still allows skilled players to shine. When it was the clutch and grab you needed to be a wrestler to have a chance.
Let's see how the new rules play out on the slashing too.

 

[Mess]

Going to be exciting to see how far their young emerging super star center can carry them.

Having a potential top 10 player in the league leading the charge leads to a lot of optimism of potential success.

The team still needs work, but the direction is in a positive one.

 

[Ratboy]

It's so exciting. This year should be another step in the right direction, I want to make the second round.

The D still needs work but the forwards are so promising we could potentially outscore our issues many games.

also, the ads on this site are getting ridiculous.

 

[Damisoph]

Funny that we talk about NJ having elite defense during their heyday when it was really a team effort. The game we got 6 shots, it's not like we were in their zone all game and didn't get any shots off. We couldn't get out of our zone, we couldn't get any speed through the neutral zone...that's the forwards doing, team defense.