News Article: State of the Franchise: Maple Leafs step undeniably into contenders row in Year 5 of the Shanaplan

[Kamiccolo]

State of the Franchise: Maple Leafs step undeniably into...

It’s been a bit odd trying to chronicle it all with an unbiased, critical eye. The Leafs went from making a host of ill-advised decisions over and over between 2008 and 2014 to making mostly smart, sane ones again and again, abruptly reversing course.

They haven’t been perfect. But they’ve been savvy enough — and fortunate enough — to emerge out of the JFJ/Burke/Nonis ashes as one of the best teams in the NHL, one full of the high-end, young talent necessary to win in today’s league. And they’ve done so without hardly any of the eyesore contracts that are holding back a lot of their competition.

For all their warts on the ice, the Leafs were the seventh best team in the league last year — tied in points with the eventual Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals — and they added John Tavares on July 1.
It’s not a stretch to say that this very well could be their year. (Or years, should they succeed in keeping the core together long term.)

Pay wall but I figured you guys might enjoy the article as I know a lot of you are subscribed. I think it does a generally decent idea of breaking down the roster and doing analyze that is not the lazy "do something with that defense" we've come to expect from most sources. For example when breaking down the defense

I’ve argued this in the (recent) past, but sometimes the analysis of Toronto’s defence core that’s out there paints too dire a picture. This isn’t a bottom five or a bottom 10 blueline. And there’s a reasonable argument to be made they’ll be better than last season thanks to (a) Roman Polak no longer playing 18 minutes a night and (b) some internal development from players like Travis Dermott. There’s reason for optimism.
I’m very intrigued to see how the fact that Kyle Dubas is now general manager impacts things, too. We know he believes in brains over brawn philosophically and has pushed to have skilled puck-movers on the back end everywhere he’s been.

We also know he loved several of his unheralded Marlies defencemen — and that worked out pretty well for the AHL club last season.

The Leafs have kicked tires on some outside options on D in trades and free agency. But they may well end up going with what they have, believing a cast of relatively unknown commodities at the NHL level — Justin Holl? Calle Rosen? — can push for jobs and improve their depth.
Whether that can work isn’t Toronto’s only question heading into camp. But it’s definitely the biggest one.

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[Spirit of 67]

I would say that I agree that a lot has broken their way since the Shaniplan was introduced.

But they also set themselves up for things to go right. Whereas before, they put themselves into positions where it was likely to go wrong.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

I would say that I agree that a lot has broken their way since the Shaniplan was introduced.

But they also set themselves up for things to go right. Whereas before, they put themselves into positions where it was likely to go wrong.

I'd summarize by saying that our new management finally latched on to the idea of "building" versus "buying". Buying was the erroneous plan that previous management regimes held.

 

[BlueForever75]

I would have to agree that the Matthews lottery win was huge for the Leafs. But there were a lot of other moves that have paid off for the Leafs:

1) Drafting of Nylander
2) Drafting of Marner
3) Locking up players like Andersen, Reilly and Kadri to long term team friendly deals
4) Trading of Kessel and Phaneuf
5) Not resigning players like JVR and Bozak
6) Solid drafting and maturing of prospects

We snagged Nylander and Marner not in top 3 picks in the draft!!! We didn't do it like Chicago and Pitt where we got number 1 picks multiple years in a row. The management team did their homework and made the team better with what they had not gifted with #1 picks overall like other teams.

Yes this was a totally different approach than past management groups. But lets keep in mind, past management groups also had 1st round picks that they wasted. Drafting Ware, Biggs, Antropov, Cereda etc.... The list goes on. We have drafted well with this regime, which means past management groups had no clue. That's the biggest difference.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Year 5? Wow, it seems a little surprising that 5 years have passed already. My, how time flies by.

 

[Clark4Ever]

We've had some good fortune for sure. Hiring Babs, winning the Matthews lottery, and luring JT in free agency are probably the 3 most crucial developments in the last few years.

 

[FlareKnight]

It's been a ride to this point. No doubt a lot went right for things to get here. Of course it wasn't all the most lucky of breaks. In that scenario we get McDavid from the draft lotto . But a lot did go right. We were bad at the right times and got lucky with the Matthews lottery. But it also just came down to management being smart about their choices.

I would have never imagined we'd be in this position and having put together this kind of roster 5 years ago. Have come an incredibly long way from the days of hopeless mediocrity. There are higher expectations and failure hurts more, but it's far better than that. Now just to see where the team goes this year and trusting on the whole team from players to management to reach the goal..