So what now?

[ACC1224]

think its going to start? just read that college football is not going either? or 1 of the conferences voted no to sports this fall?

I’m always hopeful. It would be a real shame if it doesn’t

 

[ACC1224]

With 4 years worth of playoffs for some of these players i think everyone knows what they need to know about the guys. Lots of games to look at. It would be far from a rash move to trade some of them. Unless people need to see 10 years before they can make an assessment.

It would have been nice to see them in the playoffs this year to see if there was any progression but it seems they’re heading the wrong way.

 

[MagicalRazor]

Our core is not good enough and our cap
Situation dosent allow us to sign the right players to fix our biggest needs . That need is defensive we need to make some moves I'd be willing to move any player for the right return . Trades need to and will be made

 

[mikeyz]

Our "problems" are greatly exaggerated. The best thing we can do is be patient and not overreact to a good, young team running into hot goaltending and some bad luck in a 5 game series.

We’ve been saying this the last 4 years. Lol.

 

[A1LeafNation]

We build a tougher defence as a start.

Robertson Matthews Hyman
Mikheyev Tavares Nylander
Korshkov Kerfoot Kapanen
Clifford Engvall Simmons
Spezza

Rielly Pietrangelo
Muzzin Manson
Dermott Holl
Sandin Liljegren

Andersen
Campbell

 

[Gallagbi]

NFL hopefully starts in a month.

What's their return plan? I haven't been paying attention

 

[Amadeus]

Save for Clifford, who is tough on that bottom six?

 

[Willchel Marlynder]

We're in such a lul spot. If we're keeping Nylander and Marner they desperately need to learn how to play playoff hockey and I just don't know if they have it in them. JT can look like he's cooked one game and a star the next. Anderson is a good goalie, but man he can let a bad one in at the worst of times. Plus,our D is barely NHL caliber if one of Muzzin or Rielly goes down. If you told me the day we drafted Matthews we would have been bounced out of the playoffs in the first round 3 times and didn't make it in our fourth year I'd be very disappointed.

 

[Amadeus]

I'm so torn on parting with Freddie. He's been the second best goaltender on three deciding series now. Three strikes now as a pattern had formed. Not sure how you fix what's between your head.

I'm not even sure who can adequately replace him as the grass isn't always greener on the other side. Lehner? Holtby?

 

[freewilly]

Yeah, it most definitely is. Marner just turned 23 and Nylander just turned 24, and they are important parts of this team.
You think you improve without trading important parts? You have to give to get
Making Dubas' seat warmer implies we do well. Why is that bad?
No, the opposite. Dubas on a hot seat means team isn’t playing well
Most media and fans have absolutely no idea what they're talking about, so that really means nothing to me.
This seems to apply to you
We don't have to do any of those things. Some of them may be explored, and may be good ideas depending on what's available, but it's in no way a disaster if we don't do all or even any of those things.

 

[Nineteen67]

Our "problems" are greatly exaggerated. The best thing we can do is be patient and not overreact to a good, young team running into hot goaltending and some bad luck in a 5 game series.

Well they missed the playoffs and 38 wins and 37 losses in 75 games this year. Let’s not forget, one loss was to a Zamboni driver. Seems like it’s more than just bad luck and a hot goalie.
The problems are not easily fixed -for starters they need 2 RD that can play solid minutes

 

[Tairy Greene]

I'm so torn on parting with Freddie. He's been the second best goaltender on three deciding series now. Three strikes now as a pattern had formed. Not sure how you fix what's between your head.

I'm not even sure who can adequately replace him as the grass isn't always greener on the other side. Lehner? Holtby?

Granted I've seen a small sample of them, but how in the hell did Clb draft 2 good goalies? Cant we do that? Seems like we'll have to look for a veteran free agent in a year.

 

[keonsbitterness]

What's their return plan? I haven't been paying attention

Prayer.

 

[stuart5035]

Save for Clifford, who is tough on that bottom six?

Some good comments here;

reality check:
1-Outcoached by the wily veteran Tortellini. What a great move pulling his starter down 3-0 in game 3, turned his team around. They wanted it more in game 5, you could feel it, he had them primed. He fore checked the fragile leaf defence ferociously, he knew the weak spots.
2-Poor Keefe, outmatched. He stacked a super line for a whole game, leaving nothing behind them. He put Nylander at centre, we’ve seen that disaster before. He played Andreas ahead of a superior Robertson, etc
3-that defence was fragile and inept, clearly overwhelmed with the Columbus forecheck. When will we realize that it’s not the goalies fault but the fact that enemy forwards crash and play havoc in our zone With impunity? Look only to all the physical “towers” on St. Louis defence last year as the template to success.
4-Our small smurf like forwards have no chance against a defence like Columbus. We need a few nasty bangers going to the net, Ryan Reeves? Josh Anderson?
5-Dubas has created a monster with Marner, not only is he really worth 8M? but the pressure on the home town boy might crush him, ironic but notice his golden boy image is fast going. He might forever have a noose around his neck now with that contract, no longer the playful talented homeboy.
6-Dubas gave Matthews the farm. Look at how young he’ll be at unrestricted time. He sold out.

I’ll stop here, I leave the changes up to the experts. Most of us can see these weaknesses, but the challenge is how to fix them. But if I had only one vote, it would be for a Josh Manson, a Ryan Reeves, a Josh Anderson and a Brett Pesce. Take either Marner or Nylander (not both) and a Kapanen, Kerfoot, Johnsson trio to do it.,We have enough other pieces

 

[Nineteen67]

Granted I've seen a small sample of them, but how in the hell did Clb draft 2 good goalies? Cant we do that? Seems like we'll have to look for a veteran free agent in a year.

And Boston seems to always have really good d man they can call up.

 

[J1mLahey]

I dont think re-signing Clifford and losing another pick is really what we should be doing

 

[Strangle]

I feel like right now we buckle in and brace ourselves for doing it all over again for another year.

until we know if there are any changes being made, it looks like we are kinda stuck do to the cap situation.

 

[rumman]

Well they missed the playoffs and 38 wins and 37 losses in 75 games this year. Let’s not forget, one loss was to a Zamboni driver. Seems like it’s more than just bad luck and a hot goalie.

if you made this s**t up no one would believe it, that's how unbelievably bad this team was at times this year............

 

[Havoc]

Leafs need a Kaberle.

Our need for structure is greater than the need for another Muzzin. You're not winning anything if you can't setup from your own zone or receive clean passes.

Leafs are a lottery team when it comes to structure from the back end. It's sort of pathetic watching Holl, Dermott, Ceci and (surprisingly) Barrie try.

We badly need both Sandin and Liljegren to pan out.

 

[rumman]

Leafs need a Kaberle.

Our need for structure is greater than the need for another Muzzin. You're not winning anything if you can't setup from your own zone or receive clean passes.

Leafs are a lottery team when it comes to structure from the back end. It's sort of pathetic watching Holl, Dermott, Ceci and (surprisingly) Barrie try.

We badly need both Sandin and Liljegren to pan out.

how about a Bob Rouse or Stephan Lefebvre or Dmitri Yushkevich or Danil Markov?

 

[Havoc]

how about a Bob Rouse or Stephan Lefebvre or Dmitri Yushkevich or Danil Markov?

I'd take one of them too yes. One problem at a time.

 

[Dave92]

In my opinion, Dubas has two paths forward at this juncture.

First option: Least amount of action is soft-reboot the rebuild with Robertson, Sandin, Liljegren, and move forward with the core that's already in place and accept that they'll likely be extremely mediocre and likely still poor defensively while an extremely young defence would have to learn on the fly. This would be if Dubas and company look at this Columbus series through the numbers which show that the Leafs got beat by insane goaltending and by all rights should've scored more than 3 even strength goals in 5 games (I disagree with this assessment, at some Leafs need to shit or get off the pot and beat the hot goaltender). Leafs core is locked in for a few more years yet and is still young. Team also need cheap talent to fill out the roster and unfortunately drafts 2015-2017 look like they won't yield much in terms of cheap young talent so we're kind of screwed there. This is the path of least resistance and would take the longest amount of time. Who knows if Tavares and Muzzin will be able to play at a high enough level for as long as it takes for these players to develop.

Second Option: Leafs move on from one of their core members, one of Marner or Nylander, to free up cap space and acquire a legitimate top four right-handed defenseman. Who's available for trade I've no clue. And it doesn't have to be a trade for an expensive world-beater. Just a solid top four guy who can be relied upon. Trade would also open up room to improve the overall depth of the team as everyone not on that super Matthews line in game 5 contributed nothing in the loss. Thought our offensive depth was supposed to be a strength but I suppose not. Another option, Pietrangelo is a free agent after this season but who knows if he'd want to come here, though the freed cap space from a Nylander or Marner trade (a Marner one especially) would free up the space for him. Pietrangelo is 30 and that sounds old but it's right in line with the ages of Tavares, Muzzin, and Andersen so he'd fit the makeup of this team. This goes in line with a win-now approach which is where this team is supposed to be anyway given how they've conducted themselves off the ice over the past couple of years, but the on ice results tell a different story.

Letting Kyle Dubas waste a significant chunk Matthews' prime will go down as one of the biggest mistakes this mistake prone franchise has ever made.

 

[thewave]

Let's go get us some D and grit.

Fire Dubas if he continues with his vision.

Do you honestly trust if he isn't even following his vision? I mean, if he isn't that means he is a wildcard. We may end up with another Clarkson or 3.

 

[Strangle]

how about a Bob Rouse or Stephan Lefebvre or Dmitri Yushkevich or Danil Markov?

God I loved Yushkevich

They don’t make them like that anymore

 

[DueDiligence]

Yeah it is. Very top of the league? No, but we're still growing. There's no need for rash moves.

The Leafs are a good team but still below at least 8-10 other teams. They are not built for the playoffs and unless they make some bold moves they will never get close to a conference final let alone play for the Cup.