LeBrun: "The Leafs are phoning around looking at defensemen on PTOs"

[Former Referee 68]

The Leafs' defense is one of the best in hockey and currently has one injury.

you forgot to say Bazinga

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Why are you even in this thread? Shouldn't you be worried about how to spin your goaltending duo as a positive? That is atrocious, 32nd in the league probably, can't think of a worse duo.

Murray and Samsonov statistically are a worse duo.

 

[nbwingsfan]

There's probably been a bunch of Norris winners who were still very good 2nd pair dmen at age 39 tbh.



Seems healthier than Landy.

Such as? Especially one time, outlier Norris winners

Some are, but admittedly not very many. I think Giordano is the only one right now, but there might be another one. It is rare.

It is VERY rare. The chances Giordano is one of them is very, very slim

 

[PainForShane]

Murray and Samsonov statistically are a worse duo.

@notbias

Arizona has entered the chat. LET'S GO BEDAAAAAAAAARD

 

[nbwingsfan]

I'd assume their fans care. They have the worst goaltending in the league, I like to live in the present and get excited about the season, definitely tough to be optimistic.

Tough to be optimistic about a team who just win the Cup despite poor goaltending anyways?

This is also GOLD coming from a team who lost in the 1st round again and is now going into the season with a Murray/Samsonov pair.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Muzzin 33
Brodie 32
Gio 39
That’s three of the top 4 who are on the wrong side of 30. Dubas has done a decent job of rebuilding the D but realistically they need a couple of younger top four guys to play with Rielly. It’s currently an above average group but not by a lot and given the ages of those three it would not be surprising to see some regression plus injuries this year.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

The Leafs' defense is one of the best in hockey and currently has one injury.

I know counting is hard for you, but 2 got hurt last game and Muzzin isn't 100%, Lilly is out so It's closer to 4

 

[NewEraGM]

The Blues and Hurricanes

Well the hurrricanes finished 9th in goals for so i wouldn’t say their offense is elite. 9th is kind of where I think the leafs defense lands in terms of overall ranking so that example doesn’t help make your point

As for the blues, they finished 3rd so this is the better example and you’re right they don’t have a hart trophy candidate necessarily so you have a better point here.

That being said, they had insane depth with 4 scorers in the top 50. So yes while they not have a hart candidate, in my mind, they have far better depth at forward than the leafs do on defense so I think that explains it.

I would have no issue with someone saying the leafs defense is somewhere between 8-12. But to say they are elite and top 3 is absurd. That defense scares no one offensively, defensively or physically

 

[AHLdepth]

AHL depth is the hope I assume, the top 6 is set currently.

If you throw a bunch of guys on waivers at the same time, they won't all get claimed... right?

I guess I could give it a go....

 

[Leaf Fans]

Such as? Especially one time, outlier Norris winners


It is VERY rare. The chances Giordano is one of them is very, very slim

He is a good player and he is 39 there is that.

 

[nbwingsfan]

He is a good player and he is 39 there is that.

This season hasn’t started so no idea if he’s good/bad. The chance he’s any higher than a bottom pair D is very, very slim

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Anton Stralman has been specifically mentioned as an option

 

[Leaf Fans]

This season hasn’t started so no idea if he’s good/bad. The chance he’s any higher than a bottom pair D is very, very slim

I guess if you were a gambling man, you wouldn't bet on it.

 

[leafsfan5]

Well the hurrricanes finished 9th in goals for so i wouldn’t say their offense is elite. 9th is kind of where I think the leafs defense lands in terms of overall ranking so that example doesn’t help make your point

As for the blues, they finished 3rd so this is the better example and you’re right they don’t have a hart trophy candidate necessarily so you have a better point here.

That being said, they had insane depth with 4 scorers in the top 50. So yes while they not have a hart candidate, in my mind, they have far better depth at forward than the leafs do on defense so I think that explains it.

I would have no issue with someone saying the leafs defense is somewhere between 8-12. But to say they are elite and top 3 is absurd. That defense scares no one offensively, defensively or physically

You said good offense, I'd consider the Canes offense good

Blues aren't just a better point, they're a clear counter to your premise. And for the Leafs depth it's pretty solid, lacking a high end 1D but nonetheless it's good. Hard to argue the Blues don't have more depth up front, though

Rielly: Low end number 1
Brodie: #2/3
Muzzin: #3, when healthy in the playoffs last year looked like a #2
Giordano: #4 (It's hilarious how many people are saying he's done because he's 39. He's still fine as the #4 on your team and showed it last year)
Liljergen: #5 (I'm admittedly very high on him, I say #5 conservatively but I think he'll be a clear top-4 defenseman by the end of the year and the second best d-man on the team)
Sandin: #5 (I am not as high on Sandin, think he'll stay a bottom pair/PP2 type of player)

I'd agree with the last thing you said. I don't have it elite since it doesn't have the high end #1. But it's a very solid defensive core that lines up to be slightly above average (8-12 like you said). If we could add more physicality it'd help a lot, don't like how soft it is outside of Muzz/Gio and the occasional big hit by Sandin

 

[zeke]

I know counting is hard for you, but 2 got hurt last game and Muzzin isn't 100%, Lilly is out so It's closer to 4

That is one injured leafs dman. Do you need me to help you count them?

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

That is one injured leafs dman. Do you need me to help you count them?

Muzzin and Lilly are injured, even if you don't count Dalstrom and benn that still makes 2.

Muzzin Will likely be back soon but as of today he's injured

 

[zeke]

Muzzin and Lilly are injured, even if you don't count Dalstrom and benn that still makes 2.

Muzzin Will likely be back soon but as of today he's injured

Muzzin isn't injured. He is participating in full practices.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

Why are you even in this thread? Shouldn't you be worried about how to spin your goaltending duo as a positive? That is atrocious, 32nd in the league probably, can't think of a worse duo.

You don't really even believe in that.

You said good offense, I'd consider the Canes offense good

Blues aren't just a better point, they're a clear counter to your premise. And for the Leafs depth it's pretty solid, lacking a high end 1D but nonetheless it's good. Hard to argue the Blues don't have more depth up front, though

Rielly: Low end number 1
Brodie: #2/3
Muzzin: #3, when healthy in the playoffs last year looked like a #2
Giordano: #4 (It's hilarious how many people are saying he's done because he's 39. He's still fine as the #4 on your team and showed it last year)
Liljergen: #5 (I'm admittedly very high on him, I say #5 conservatively but I think he'll be a clear top-4 defenseman by the end of the year and the second best d-man on the team)
Sandin: #5 (I am not as high on Sandin, think he'll stay a bottom pair/PP2 type of player)

I'd agree with the last thing you said. I don't have it elite since it doesn't have the high end #1. But it's a very solid defensive core that lines up to be slightly above average (8-12 like you said). If we could add more physicality it'd help a lot, don't like how soft it is outside of Muzz/Gio and the occasional big hit by Sandin

All of those are average dman in their role, which makes the leafs an average d core.

 

[Canuck Luck]

You can have dermott back. Not that he’s been bad, we just don’t need him. We’ll take a 3rd back since we can’t have back the one we traded yall

 

[HabsQC]

HF in a nutshell :

Any Leafs news : **exists
All other fanbases : lmao get out of the first round

 

[zeke]

You can have dermott back. Not that he’s been bad, we just don’t need him. We’ll take a 3rd back since we can’t have back the one we traded yall

Oh you need him.

 

[crowi]

Phone Vatanen, he could be a good addition. I don't think he'll take a PTO tho.

 

[bossram]

Not talking about their playoff record. But they are not a good reg season team due to that defence. That defence is average at best. Offense is top tier. Goaltending last year was inconsistent but bailed out that defence for half the season.

This just doesn't check out at all. They were a top-half team defensively (EH actually had them 4th best in xGA in the regular season). If you want to go by scoring chances, NST had them 9th best,

Goaltending was absolute dogs*** for 4 months. Campbell/Kallgren/Mrazek were sub-.900 from December to March. Yeah, Campbell had a hot November. The goaltending was a huge liability.

Again, you're usually a very well-informed poster when I see your posts around. But you're just flat wrong here. Too much anti-Leaf bias.

They're gonna be running the same blueline back. They're not desperate at all.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

This just doesn't check out at all. They were a top-half team defensively (EH actually had them 4th best in xGA in the regular season). If you want to go by scoring chances, NST had them 9th best,

Goaltending was absolute dogs*** for 4 months. Campbell/Kallgren/Mrazek were sub-.900 from December to March. Yeah, Campbell had a hot November. The goaltending was a huge liability.

Again, you're usually a very well-informed poster when I see your posts around. But you're just flat wrong here. Too much anti-Leaf bias.

Again I said they were an average D. I didn't say they were the worst. But a possession heavy team helps lower scoring chances and their goaltending was average. It's good offense, avg d, avg goaltending. Resulting in one of the highest GAA for playoff teams.

 

[zeke]

Again I said they were an average D. I didn't say they were the worst. But a possession heavy team helps lower scoring chances and their goaltending was average. It's good offense, avg d, avg goaltending. Resulting in one of the highest GAA for playoff teams.

You know you're completely wrong, no?