The Leafs Have Improved!!!

[ZINFINITY16]

So, personally, two days into Free Agency and probably most of our signings done I believe the leafs have gotten a lot better. Sure, we lost Kulemin, Bolland, D'Amigo, McClement, Bodie, Gleason, Gunnarson and Raymond... Basically we have lost our entire bottom six. But we have acquired a lot better depth in my opinion who can hopefully score more, we have saved some cap room, and we have a lot more character and seem like a tougher team to play against.

Who would you rather play against Raymond-Bolland-Kulemin or Komarov-Kontiola(or Santorelli)-Clarkson... I think the second option definitely has more scoring ability and is better on the back end. And that's what this team needs.

We went from:
JVR-Bozak-Kessel
Lupul-Kadri-Clarkson
Raymond-Bolland-Kulemin
McLaren/Marlie-Holland-Orr

To a possible lineup of:
JVR-Bozak-Kessel
Lupul-Kadri-Frattin
Komarov-Kontiola-Santorelli
Leivo-Holland-Clarkson

Some of this guys can switch and sure it's not an enormous culture change but again I believe we have waaaay more depth and scoring and also our defense it tougher and seems better on the backend. PLUS we give playing time to the fourth line and develop some of our own marlies.

I don't know of it's just me but I consider this offseason a big success contrary to what a lot of other people are saying... The leas have improved!!!! (In my opinion)

Click to read more...

 

[Commander Clueless]

Ehhhh.....maybe.

 

[maketrades]

We have a better chance to compete for a playoff spot than we do to compete for Connor McDavid. Only a good thing if we actually make the playoffs

 

[Bomber0104]

The Leafs have re-tooled their bottom-six forwards who play low minutes...and two defensive defencemen who will fill roles left by two other defensive defencemen.

That's it.

They haven't added any more than they lost in my eyes.

 

[The Hockey Life]

I can't see improvement. But at the same time I see the direction it's going, and I'd rather not overpay for a UFA. So good on Nonis but I would like to see Leivo, Granberg, Holland all get some good minutes. Also, if Kontiola get's more minutes than Holland I will snap.

 

[yubbers]

We will be awful

 

[Teeder9]

So, personally, two days into Free Agency and probably most of our signings done I believe the leafs have gotten a lot better. Sure, we lost Kulemin, Bolland, D'Amigo, McClement, Bodie, Gleason, Gunnarson and Raymond... Basically we have lost our entire bottom six. But we have acquired a lot better depth in my opinion who can hopefully score more, we have saved some cap room, and we have a lot more character and seem like a tougher team to play against.

Who would you rather play against Raymond-Bolland-Kulemin or Komarov-Kontiola(or Santorelli)-Clarkson... I think the second option definitely has more scoring ability and is better on the back end. And that's what this team needs.

We went from:
JVR-Bozak-Kessel
Lupul-Kadri-Clarkson
Raymond-Bolland-Kulemin
McLaren/Marlie-Holland-Orr

To a possible lineup of:
JVR-Bozak-Kessel
Lupul-Kadri-Frattin
Komarov-Kontiola-Santorelli
Leivo-Holland-Clarkson

Some of this guys can switch and sure it's not an enormous culture change but again I believe we have waaaay more depth and scoring and also our defense it tougher and seems better on the backend. PLUS we give playing time to the fourth line and develop some of our own marlies.

I don't know of it's just me but I consider this offseason a big success contrary to what a lot of other people are saying... The leas have improved!!!! (In my opinion)

You really think that? The only thing we're getting over the guys that aren't here this year might be more offense, and not a whole lot more, and maybe a little bristle, but even then, not a whole lot. Take away the fact Clarkson will fight here and there and he really isn't more physical than Kulemin. They are definitely not better defensively

 

[Commander Clueless]

I can't see improvement. But at the same time I see the direction it's going, and I'd rather not overpay for a UFA. So good on Nonis but I would like to see Leivo, Granberg, Holland all get some good minutes. Also, if Kontiola get's more minutes than Holland I will snap.

Kontiola gets more minutes than Holland if he earns it.

 

[Peasy]

Not really, were just not signing players to awful contracts.

 

[The Hockey Life]

Kontiola gets more minutes than Holland if he earns it.

I agree on that. But I would want Holland to be given the initial chance over Kontiola.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Not really, were just not signing players to awful contracts.

Which, technically, is an improvement.

 

[JMcLeaf]

Not sure about that. Glad we mixed things up and didn't give out terrible contracts though.

 

[socko]

Who would you rather play against Raymond-Bolland-Kulemin or Komarov-Kontiola(or Santorelli)-Clarkson...

Bolland is the best player in that group. Raymond the next best. I don't really like Kulemin but he's still much better than Clarkson. So who would I rather play against? Easy, the 2nd group.

 

[Lauro]

The Leafs have re-tooled their bottom-six forwards who play low minutes...and two defensive defencemen who will fill roles left by two other defensive defencemen.

That's it.

They haven't added any more than they lost in my eyes.

The bottom-six forwards will play many minutes more than last year.
They adressed character, determination, compete level.
The D is much improved.

 

[PuckMagi]

I think we've improved a lot over last year's team.

Espeically since we didn't have Bolland for most of the year, and there was a time when we didn't have Holland either... so we had McClement playing 3rd line C. Now we've got a lot of guys that can fill in around the line-up if there are injuries.

We don't really know how some of these guys will do in the NHL this year... but there is a lot of potential IMO.

We might even start the year with a 4th line of something like: Leivo - Holland - Frattin and it could turn out that our 4th line is actually our second best line.

I think this year we can put together 4 lines that will all be good and can all score and that's a big difference from last year.

Last year we had a good top line. Our second line never really got going (Clarkson didn't work with Kadri and Lupul). Our 3rd line got some random goals from Raymond, but that's about the only good thing you could say about our 3rd line last year. And our 4th line was basically just McClement sometimes with one or two goons. So we really relied on only our top line last year. This year, any of our 4 lines have the potential to really change the game.

I think our D got better too.

 

[The Hockey Life]

I think we've improved a lot over last year's team.

Espeically since we didn't have Bolland for most of the year, and there was a time when we didn't have Holland either... so we have McClement playing 3rd line C. Now we've got a lot of guys that can fill in around the line-up if there are injuries.

We don't really know how some of these guys will do in the NHL this year... but there is a lot of potential IMO.

We might even start the year with a 4th line of something like: Leivo - Holland - Frattin and it could turn out that our 4th line is actually our second best line.

I think this year we can put together 4 lines that will all be good and can all score and that's a big difference from last year.

Last year we had a good top line. Our second line never really got going (Clarkson didn't work with Kadri and Lupul). Our 3rd line got some random goals from Raymond, but that's about the only good thing you could say about our 3rd line last year. And our 4th line was basically just McClement sometimes with one or two goons. So we really relied on only our top line last year. This year, any of our 4 lines have the potential to really change the game.

I agree big time with that. This year I can actually cope with the fact of playing 4 lines instead of almost crapping myself when Orr-Smithson-McLaren were on the ice.

 

[Trapper]

The bottom-six forwards will play many minutes more than last year.
They adressed character, determination, compete level.
The D is much improved.

I will believe it when I see it on the ice.
Remember before last year when everyone said we have the best top 6 wingers in the league. Yeah how'd that turn out.
I think trades are coming next so we will see how the group responds on the ice. I don't care how we look to start anymore, I'll let you know how we finish.

 

[Kyle93]

I'd say we have improved, got a lot of hard-working, hard to play against players that we lacked. We now actually have some players who care.

Also rolling 4 lines instead of 3 and McClement+Goons

 

[Holymakinaw]

I agree. We HAVE improved.

But after that performance by last year's squad down the stretch......it'd be kinda hard not to. Addition by subtraction, in a few areas.

 

[William Nylander*]

An energetic 3rd line with lots of scoring potential, and a much, MUCH better 4th line (**** off Orr and McLaren). Add that with a much more balanced defense to spread out the tough minutes, I definitely see us squeezing in to a playoff spot.

If Lupul and Kadri regain their play from 12/13, I can see us near the top of our division.

Just remember, people said we had a **** roster in 12/13, and we impressed. People said we actually had a pretty good roster in 13/14, and the opposite happened. Sometimes it's not best to judge a team just on paper

 

[Bomber0104]

The bottom-six forwards will play many minutes more than last year.

How do you know this will lead to a better outcome?

They adressed character, determination, compete level.

I never found the outbound players to be lacking in any of these traits.

Gunnarsson, Kulemin, Gleason, McClement, and Bodie were hard working players especially on the defensive side of the game.

I don't know where these character assassinations are coming from all of a sudden.

One week ago, you never heard such things.

Now that they are gone and no longer members of the Leafs, there's a total 180 degree shift in attitudes towards them.

The D is much improved.

Again, I don't know how you can prove this beyond a reasonable doubt.

We added and subtracted two players.

Let's not pretend that either of these are world beater acquisitions either.

One was a third pairing d-man traded for our first pairing defender, the other is (or perhaps was) a solid minute-eating d-man but he's had two broken legs in an 8 month span and is 37 years old.

Again, the PR campaign claims Gunnarsson is no good to us anymore because he has a bad hip, but then we acquire a guy with a bum leg.

Where is the consistency in the message to fans?

 

[Havoc]

We don't even know what to expect from this new international guy we signed lol. He can be worse than Sjostrom and Wallin for all we know.

Bolland(fully healed) and Kulemin would smoke that second option.

Bolland was our best forward impact wise after Kessel until the freak injury.

 

[7even]

Not really, were just not signing players to awful contracts.

Heh, essentially this.

We've subtracted a substantial 20 goals with the departure of May Ray. It'll be interesting to see if that production is replaced.

 

[Menzinger]

We need a 4th line that can go out and play 10 minutes a game. Carlyle often played ours less than 5 minutes. Having a reliable bottom six will likely see an improvement in overall team performance - we won't have to play our first line so much (remember how worn out Kessel/JVR were by the end of last season?).

No, it's not the same thing as adding a new 1st line centre to the team - but it's silly to be write these changes off completely. We can only hope that Carlyle is forced to change is coaching systems.

 

[Gary Nylund]

But are we really better then last year? I mean around this time last year the "wisdom" in these parts was that we had "the best top 9 forwards" in the league.

Are we really that good?