People are Overstating the "Holes" in the Leafs Roster

[Mickey Marner]

Right but who do you have as the cup winner? Because unless it's Tampa I don't think there's a team in the league that is 3-4 upgrades better.

Tampa is my number one currently, but there's still going to be plenty of trades for everyone to shore up their roster. Carolina and Colorado need a goalie, Vegas needs a #1C, St. Louis needs a goalie and shutdown defenseman. Not sure what to make of Pittsburgh, Washington and Boston this year, but they're always in the mix. Philadelphia is a wild card. I'd say we're in the middle to bottom end of that group of nine teams currently.

 

[darrylsittler27]

Right now we have a perfect record!

 

[OB34KNH]

The moment we traded Kadri I knew it was going to be bad.

Suspensions happen, look at Brad Marchand and other star players who've been suspended.
Would Boston or LA have won the cup if they traded Marchand or Carter just because they were suspended?

With Kadri we wouldn't have been shutout 2 games against CBJ. He would've put our offense over the top.

 

[Ryan Michaels]

Right now we have a perfect record!

Haha it just occurred to me that I going to get absolutely roasted in this thread if Leafs lose tonight....

So in advance, please don't.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

We are always good on paper. But you have to win in the playoffs which we have obviously not managed to do for a long time.

It won't be any easier than it is this year for us to at least get to the conference finals (semi finals). We will see what our team can do with this opportunity. Maybe this year is the year.

 

[Suntouchable13]

OP makes compelling points but why is our coach playing Thornton and Vesey in the top 6? That's ugly, IMO. I do believe that our top 4 guys (Matthews, JT, Marner, Willy) are overrated as a whole. As a collective, I don't think they are all that. Flawed players, besides Matthews. But again, maybe I am being too harsh. I am overall pretty excited for this season and seeing what this team can do.

 

[zeke]

Avs team top to bottom is slightly better than the leafs imo

They're the 2nd best team with us 3rd and bolts 1st.

Mack, Rantanen, Landeskog, Kadri, Saad, Burakovsky is an incredible top 6

It's very good, but the leafs top 6 is a cut above.

The avs do have the edge on defense.

Girard, Makar, Byram, Timmins, EJ, Toews is a great set of 6 D with Graves and Cole both atleast decent bottom pairing fits.

Big question there is how good actually are Makar and Toews? Neither have much track record and both so far have been used in relatively sheltered roles (unlike their counterparts Rielly and Muzzin who have proven themselves against legit comp for years now).

Girard is a nice young version of Brodie.

EJ has really struggled lately in his tough role....though admittedly both Graves and Cole have been strong in relatively easier roles.

Their weakness is in goal perhaps with Graubauer being injury prone and inconsistent

Hard to get a read there tbh.

 

[TMLegend]

Ahh yes, we're arguably the 2nd best team in the League yet can't win a playoff round. Hell they missed the playoffs entirely last season.

Maybe they'll break through this season, but I'm not holding my breath on that given the downward trend and their tendency to buckle under pressure. They're very much a team that's less than the sum of its parts

Until this team actually proves something they'll never get the benefit of the doubt or respect outside of Toronto.

 

[zeke]

Ahh yes, we're arguably the 2nd best team in the League yet can't win a playoff round. Hell they missed the playoffs entirely last season.

Maybe they'll break through this season, but I'm not holding my breath on that given the downward trend and their tendency to buckle under pressure. They're very much a team that's less than the sum of its parts

Until this team actually proves something they'll never get the benefit of the doubt or respect outside of Toronto.

Yet the Avalanche get respect for.....beating the coyotes in a series?

 

[unitedstars87]

You're majorly underrating the Avs defense.

Cole and Graves are closer to Muzzin than they are to Holl/Dermott/Bogosian

Not yet

 

[Iapyi]

Yet the Avalanche get respect for.....beating the coyotes in a series?

We need to accept that a lot of people literally hate us. It's true.

 

[Menzinger]

Its by far the strongest D core the Leafa have had in the entire cap era. For the first time the team had 3 guys who are undeniably top pairing/top 3 quality. And this has been by far the widest critique of the team over thr last few seasons.

The only major question will be how well thrle depth scoring does. And im fine being hawkish on thag at the moment as a not being a season long problem

 

[Menzinger]

OP makes compelling points but why is our coach playing Thornton and Vesey in the top 6? That's ugly, IMO. I do believe that our top 4 guys (Matthews, JT, Marner, Willy) are overrated as a whole. As a collective, I don't think they are all that. Flawed players, besides Matthews. But again, maybe I am being too harsh. I am overall pretty excited for this season and seeing what this team can do.

I thinknbecause Marner/Matthews and JT/Nylander will be able to carry the load offensively regardless of their 3rd linemate. And doing this allows the team to actually have a well above average 3rd line.

Imo part of thr advantage of having these 4 high skilled forwards is being able to do things just like this

 

[PromisedLand]

I think on paper Avs are more solid than the leafs; and on the ice they play big and don't shy away from a physical game. Avs can play skill, they can play tough only thing they can't play well is defense as a 5 man unit; to be seen how they fair.

It was bad luck for the Avs last playoffs that both their goalies were out and they were basically playing a third goalie with a lot of injuries; I think if the Avs were healthy they would have made it to the finals

 

[BlueBaron]

I love my team as much as the next guy but all this 3rd best team stuff is a bit hard to swallow. We were a bubble team. Even with context (babcock/barrie/keefe) we were a quick exit. One major add (at the cost of Barrie) and a bunch of depth guys doesn't suddenly vault us into #3. Let's win our division before we start bragging how great we are.

 

[Dreakmur]

You're majorly underrating the Avs defense.

Cole and Graves are closer to Muzzin than they are to Holl/Dermott/Bogosian

Healthy Erik Johnson was Colorado's #1 defenseman last year. Makar probably takes that #1 job this year, but Johnson is still the go-to shut down option. His injury was a huge part of Colorado's play-off disappointment.

 

[Dreakmur]

I love my team as much as the next guy but all this 3rd best team stuff is a bit hard to swallow. We were a bubble team. Even with context (babcock/barrie/keefe) we were a quick exit. One major add (at the cost of Barrie) and a bunch of depth guys doesn't suddenly vault us into #3. Let's win our division before we start bragging how great we are.

The Brodie addition helps balance out the defense, but the real improvement the Leafs need is buy-in from the core four. Those guys all decide play the right way and we're a contender.

 

[Menzinger]

If anything Muzzins impact, Especially defensively is getting really undervalued here

 

[zeke]

I think on paper Avs are more solid than the leafs; and on the ice they play big and don't shy away from a physical game. Avs can play skill, they can play tough only thing they can't play well is defense as a 5 man unit; to be seen how they fair.

It was bad luck for the Avs last playoffs that both their goalies were out and they were basically playing a third goalie with a lot of injuries; I think if the Avs were healthy they would have made it to the finals

Bad luck the leafs lost Muzzin, too.

Playoffs v Arizona

Grubauer 4-0, .953sv%
Francousz 0-1, .905sv%

V Dallas

Grubauer 0-1, .700sv%
Francousz 1-2, .862sv%
Hutchinson 2-1, .910sv%

3rd stringer was their best goalie in round 2. By a lot.

 

[BlueBaron]

The Brodie addition helps balance out the defense, but the real improvement the Leafs need is buy-in from the core four. Those guys all decide play the right way and we're a contender.

You don't have to convince me. If we are ever the sum of our parts we're a scary team, but we never are.

 

[Sypher04]

Reality is the Leafs can afford to give up a small amount of offense if that's what it takes. After Keefe took over last season they were the top offensive team in the league.