Rielly,Tavares,Marner or Kapanen...

Bronxxx

Registered User
Dec 2, 2018
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after half the season who has surprised you the most and why? Tavares has adapted so well and transformed himself from playmaker and engine driver to goal scorer-finisher and complete team player ok with being 2nd to the new engine on his wing. The other leafs should also park their ego and do what it takes to become the team. JT leads by example. Best Leaf pickup of alltime!

Who do you have as the ‘surprise ‘ player?
 

TheGreatOne11

Registered User
Jun 29, 2009
3,071
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Toronto
Not really a surprise player but a surprise for me personally is that when the season started I was 95% sure Matthew's was going to be the next guy to wear the C, and now I'm fairly confident he won't be, I think its Reillys to lose, and even Tavares i feel is above him now. Just a crazy personal change of heart. Sorry if its off topic.
 
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Liminality

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Oct 22, 2008
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Rielly playing above a point per game. I thought he established himself as a legit number 1 last year, but I didn't expect a Norris level season. I'm also surprised at Kapanen's production with almost no power play time.
Same here, I always stood by Rielly thinking he'd be our own Letang or Keith but I think he might even exceed that after watching him this season so far.
 

Buds17

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Nov 29, 2015
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Rielly and Marner have obviously emerged to an even greater degree this season. Tavares has fit in remarkably well in his first half season with his new team. I'd expect all of them at the top of the lineup though.

Kapanen elevated his game nicely when given the opportunity to play in the top six. His PKing ability rounds out his skillset nicely. He'll be an important part of being able to run (at least) three lines deep again.
 

Vaive50

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Dec 24, 2015
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Reilly playing Norris-level is the biggest surprise to me, what everyone else is doing was expected. Well I'm sure we didn't expect Marner to be in the Art Ross race but then again, his center has gone from Bozak to JT so that's why it's not so surprising. No disrespect to Bozy, I really liked him but comparing him to JT, that speaks for itself.
 
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AreBe

This is the Real Are Be and not a Burner account!
Apr 1, 2013
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Kappenen is European and presumed to have superior spatial awareness, speed, and puck control and is not at all a surprise.
Rielly is good, but he does not surprise me the most because he was a better than average good Canadian kid last year
The surprise by far is the "Are you sure he's not Russian?" Mitch Marner from Markham and when his contract comes up he will rightly capitalize
Tavares the Canadian veteran we knew he would be good, I had no fear.
 

mulefarm

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Oct 9, 2011
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Really surprised by on Gardiner has stabilized the top two pairings. Will be tough to replace next year.
 

Bronxxx

Registered User
Dec 2, 2018
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Rielly playing above a point per game. I thought he established himself as a legit number 1 last year, but I didn't expect a Norris level season. I'm also surprised at Kapanen's production with almost no power play time.
Not a surprise to me compared to the others. Great progression. I saw the Norris possibility last year.
 

wingman75

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Dec 3, 2008
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Rielly is first for me as far as a good surprise. Always thought he could be better, but he has way outpaced my expectations to be honest. Followed by Tavares (bing this good this early, but really having his best season ever) and Kapanen (showing he is a full time NHLer no questions asked. His consistency is a wonderful thing to watch). Marner showed last season he could do this, which does not make it any less impressive.

Kadri is way out front for me as far as a bad surprise. He is struggling even more than I could have ever imagined; like to the point where I wish he wasn't on the team (#overreacting). No other bad surprises for me stand out.
 

Once

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Jul 16, 2010
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Rielly. I did not expect him to be leading the league in points for dmen. We’re lucky.
 

Vaive50

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Dec 24, 2015
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Rielly is first for me as far as a good surprise. Always thought he could be better, but he has way outpaced my expectations to be honest. Followed by Tavares (bing this good this early, but really having his best season ever) and Kapanen (showing he is a full time NHLer no questions asked. His consistency is a wonderful thing to watch). Marner showed last season he could do this, which does not make it any less impressive.

Kadri is way out front for me as far as a bad surprise. He is struggling even more than I could have ever imagined; like to the point where I wish he wasn't on the team (#overreacting). No other bad surprises for me stand out.

Yeah, he isn't his usual self but even during this struggle, he is still on a 50-point pace. Let's just hope he picks it up a notch for the second half of the season.
 

KIWILEAFFAN

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Dec 28, 2011
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New Zealand
I don't think anyone is a surprise to me.
This is a very good team. It can and will get even better.
Hopefully by the time the post season starts.
My gut says not this year but definitely in the next few.
We will see this team really doing some damage in the playoffs and hopefully hoist a cup or 3
 

Notsince67

Papi and the Lamplighters
Apr 27, 2018
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Really surprised by Matthews play before his injury. Was truly top level spectacular.
Tavares is around what I expected.
Marner I expected could challenge for top 5 in points.
Rielly is slightly higher than I expected in points once the higher scoring is taken into account
 

wingman75

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Dec 3, 2008
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The QC
Yeah, he isn't his usual self but even during this struggle, he is still on a 50-point pace. Let's just hope he picks it up a notch for the second half of the season.

That is a good point... I guess my opinion of him is more based on the eye test. I just find he is not moving his feet, seems to be getting knocked off the puck easily and is making (what I would call) poor decisions with the puck. It takes a lot more than accumulating points to be playing well imo. That being said, 3rd line C on 50 points pace... hard to argue it.
 
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Voodoo Child

Registered User
Jun 16, 2009
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Tavares isn't surprising at all, he's been a PPG player and top center for years and people always said 'imagine him on a better team'.

Marner isn't too surprising, after his finish last year, I remember fighting with Finns that he was better than puljujarvi about three years ago, good times.

Kapanen isn't too surprising, he was always a good prospect and we've developed him perfectly, and as people said he'll get a shot when we move out Bozak, Jvr and Komarov.

Rielly is very but not excessively surprising. I figured a jump to maybe 60 points, which he'll get if he hits a wall now, but scoring is up and he has a lot of good players to work with.

He's not the runaway Norris winner as he was maybe about 4-5 weeks ago, but his name is still in there.
 

Ulysses31

Registered User
Oct 7, 2015
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What's a computer?
Really surprised by Matthews play before his injury. Was truly top level spectacular.
Tavares is around what I expected.
Marner I expected could challenge for top 5 in points.
Rielly is slightly higher than I expected in points once the higher scoring is taken into account
Reminds me of P.Forsberg. would be super dominant, get injured, time off, come back but not as good as he was, get healthy again and dominate then rinse and repeat.
 

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