NHL Head Coach: Toronto is the third most talented team in the East

[Rick74*]

IDK i mean yes but how is sucking for sooooooo long you draft out high end talent and feel proud about this? i dun get it.....

Also i don't think you guys appreciate Bozak enough.

Should Pittsburgh or Chicago feel proud?

Edmonton?

How did Tampa get Stamkos?

 

[ViewsFromThe6ix]

I don't get how the Caps aren't exploiting that bad D core, but they've been a ton of fun to watch and I love an underdog upset.

maybe because there is nothing to exploit? The Leafs D is actually pretty good.

 

[zeke]

At some point people will realize that not a lot of teams have 3 young 2-way dmen as good as Mo, Jake, and Zaitsev. And that Mo and Jake specifically are rare talents that can control the puck like few others can.

I'll just wait patiently until they can no longer deny it.

 

[Apotheosis]

Super teams have home grown talented defenseman that they have groomed in their organization. Reilly is not that guy. In order for the leafs to be better they have to trade their wealth of offense for some defensive help, otherwise they will continue to be mediocre. You can't just buy a number 1 defenseman unless you are willing to overpay or trade way too many assets to get them.

These proclamations of being a powerhouse would make sense if all it takes to win games is high scoring teams.

Rielly has been the best D in the series so far. He's a 1D as of right now should this play continue in to next season and beyond. And you're so far off base, it's hilarious.

 

[morph]

IDK i mean yes but how is sucking for sooooooo long you draft out high end talent and feel proud about this? i dun get it.....

Also i don't think you guys appreciate Bozak enough.

The thing is we kept trading our 1st/2nd round draft picks only to miss the playoffs. That's why we sucked for so long, our short-sighted GMs thought they could turn the team around in one off-season and this only prolonged our mediocrity. I suspect a lot of this was a result of mandates given by the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan (who used to own the leafs) to try to compete in the short-term. Well you can't optimize for the short-term and the long-term simultaneously. That's why all of the "re-tools" and "accelerated rebuilds" failed.

draft picks/prospects/promising players we traded for to keep our team "competitive" in the short term:

Tuuka Rask for Andrew Raycroft
2 first round picks(Tyler Sequin and Dougie Hamilton) for Phil Kessel
1st and 2nd round draft picks(SJ traded for Logan Couture) for Vesa Toskala
a bunch of others that I'm forgetting

The leafs sucked for so long and came up empty handed because of our short sighted owners (The Teacher's Pension Plan) and their general manager lackeys. The leafs rebuild only started 2 years ago. Before then we were trading draft picks to make a failed run at the playoffs. These manager lackeys drafted for grit/"nhl ready" players like Luke Schenn and Tyler Biggs with their lottery picks, in their short sighted attempts to re-tool the team.

Now to answer your question: Why should Leaf fans be proud of their team turning it around? Well when the management finally did what the Leaf fans have been clamoring for the past decade, the team managed to turn it around in 2 short years. We knew we sucked most of us wanted to tank and bottom out.

If the same "re-tool" philosophy had been in place last season we probably would have ended up trading Auston Matthews (+ 2017 1st and 2nd round draft picks) for another Phil Kessel.

 

[Kelly]

IDK

Probably should've stopped there.

 

[Flair Hay]

Not gonna lie, kind of enjoying the Leafs making Washington **** their pants.

This is a nice thread for the dozen or so guys who like themselves being patted on the back though lol. You're a dog up 2-1 in a series and all of a sudden someone praising their skill means they are 3rd best team in the East?

 

[tony d]

They certainly are talented. Matthews looks like the real deal. That said they need to improve their defense so no they're not the 3rd most talented team in the East.

 

[ViewsFromThe6ix]

They certainly are talented. Matthews looks like the real deal. That said they need to improve their defense so no they're not the 3rd most talented team in the East.

Their defense is better than the Capitals defense, which is apparently top 5

 

[Voight]

Even more Impressive they have a ton of picks this draft and next from their trades of last year. Plus a really good scouting staff, including two great junior hockey evaluators (Hunter, Dubas)

 

[Mitts Marner*]

Even more Impressive they have a ton of picks this draft and next from their trades of last year. Plus a really good scouting staff, including two great junior hockey evaluators (Hunter, Dubas)

Can't be said enough.

The Leafs prospect pool immediately improved when Mark Hunter finished his first draft.

 

[bionic]

Edmonton 2.0? Our rebuild has taken like 3 years to get where it is thanks to really sharp drafting, strong management and some luck winning the lottery last year (any other year finishing dead last would have given us a far better crack at 1OA so let's call that a wash). Now we've gotten our young team playing a tight system beyond their years with the help of one of the best coaches in the game who we courted for this exact purpose. Our GM (Lou was another great pick up by Shanny) also made a very savvy trade to get us a bonafide #1 goalie which makes all the difference.

Edmonton on the other hand toiled in "rebuild mode" for the better part of a decade, had terrible management, abysmal coaching, squandered multiple first round talents, until they FINALLY drafted a generational talent in a year they'd didn't even finish 30th (RIP Buffalo). Oilers rebuild was pretty burtal, but the hockey God's could only punish them for so long so McDavid was sent to save them from their sins. The Leafs rebuild has been an unprecedented success. The problem is that for years the owners were too shortsighted to get behind a full rebuild, until Shannahan came in and put his foot down.

Since when is a competent rebuild something to be ashamed of? Every team is going to have to do it at some point. I don't see anyone dumping on Chicago and Pittsburgh for having great rebuilds that lead to years of success.

Exactly. The amount of first overall picks Edmonton had year after year was laughable. there is Very little in common between the two rebuilds.