The Official 2019-2020 Toronto Maple Leafs Season Discussion Thread

[Warden of the North]

The lineup looks much better without Hyman in it.

#Leafs lines at practice:

Kapanen-Tavares-Marner
Johnsson-Matthews-Nylander
Mikheyev-Kerfoot-Moore
Timashov-Spezza-Gauthier

Rielly-Ceci
Muzzin-Barrie
Sandin-Marincin

Andersen
Hutchinson

Uh no?

Kapanen hasnt proven he can play LW, and Hyman is clearly better then Mikheyev and Timashov

 

[Loosie]

Former Leaf 'great' Lee Stempniak has retired:

 

[ACC1224]

Former Leaf 'great' Lee Stempniak has retired:

Was this posted in the wrong spot or is there some connection between Stempniak retiring and the Leafs 2019 - 2020 season?

 

[Loosie]

Was this posted in the wrong spot or is there some connection between Stempniak retiring and the Leafs 2019 - 2020 season?

Wrong spot, meant to be in the Around the League thread.

 

[ACC1224]

Wrong spot, meant to be in the Around the League thread.

lol, thought this was going to be one of those 6 degrees of separation type things!

 

[SprDaVE]

Sounds like he might stick around for little longer than anticipated.

 

[Cor]

Sooooo, Liljegren is on the team and it’s not just a cap thing?

 

[BertCorbeau]

Wel that’s shocking

 

[kb]

Sooooo, Liljegren is on the team and it’s not just a cap thing?

He had an ok camp, but nothing standout. Odd.

 

[lipstickjunkie]

Either way he's better than Marincin

 

[stickty111]

Sooooo, Liljegren is on the team and it’s not just a cap thing?

Someone mentioned that Babcock did say he wanted 8 defenceman. Lilly is probably the best option but he can't sit for too long.
When asked yesterday of how he would use him, Babcock said "I don't know that yet. What i'm going to do is practice everyday and see where it goes. There are a number of steps to start the season and this is one of them."

 

[stickty111]

He had an ok camp, but nothing standout. Odd.

To be fair, he was likely the best of the worst.

 

[crump]

So when Dermott comes back the option to keep Lilypad up is to waive Marincin and Holl, keep Sandman as #5 Lilypad as the 7th? Dermott as the 6th

Otherwise he’s going down. They won’t sit him in the press box.

 

[Buds17]

Would be great to have Liljegren on the team. I don't really see him making his regular season roster debut as a scratch though; nor should he, as a prospect that is both - in my opinion - good enough and also not eligible for waivers.

 

[stickty111]

Babcock was asked about the status of the young defenceman. He said "we are very excited about it. Lilly Pad is here too and he has done a real nice job. I thought last year he and Sandman really turned themselves into good players. What I like about both of them is that they are both real determined guys. They are in the gym. They live right. They want to be hockey players."

 

[ShaneFalco]

1st player to get bumped to the 4th line? and when?

 

[ShaneFalco]

Babcock was asked about the status of the young defenceman. He said "we are very excited about it. Lilly Pad is here too and he has done a real nice job. I thought last year he and Sandman really turned themselves into good players. What I like about both of them is that they are both real determined guys. They are in the gym. They live right. They want to be hockey players."

"They live right" lol

 

[stickty111]

"They live right" lol

What a surprise he says that

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Yay Lillypad!

 

[Gary Nylund]

LOL live right, such a Babs thing to say. As much as I wanted Babcock fired, I have to admit that he's not all bad.

I have such a good feeling about this season. I've been following this saga for about 50 years now and I've never felt this optimistic at the beginning of the season. As much as I understand all this "gotta win a round" stuff, I'm setting my sights a fair bit higher, like as high as they can go. I see zero reason this team isn't right up there as a top contender and if I see any threads along the lines of "are the Leafs are a contender" I will be most disappointed.

Think big my friends, this could be the year.

 

[Gary Nylund]

was checking the schedule; first two games against the habs are both back to back for the Leafs like WTF is that? divisional rival - 4point game - who the F made this stupid ass schedule?

There's always scheduling quirks, hardly anything to get worked up about. I mean this is Montreal we're talking about, I'm not the least bit worried.

I’ve been saying it for a couple weeks, their opening month is tough. 4 back to backs and two games against wash, CBJ, Bos Mtl with Stl and SJ thrown in for good measure.

See my post above. I will only add that CBJ is nothing special either (unless there's something I've missed).

We should be really good this year and should be dispatching opponents on a regular basis no matter who they are, like chopping trees in the woods. Yes I know, that's a bit cocky but I don't GAF.

Did Timashov actually make the roster is he likely sent down for the LTIR help?

Good for him if he made it.

Including Liljegren that's 11 players the Leafs have drafted or developed as prospects for multiple seasons in the minors. Nice to see.

 

[Muston Atthews]

Liljegren looks like an absolute monster physically. Probably a gym rat and Babs loves that. He loves strong side d men and he's a righty so that also works in his favour. Put in his dues at the AHL level too. Recipe to be good in Babcock's books

 

[Buds17]

1st player to get bumped to the 4th line? and when?

Too early to tell at this point. To hazard a guess though, Hyman's a winger that's going to return from injury, and Moore and Mikheyev are the current third line wingers.

Now, maybe the forward depth, player performance, cap, and the difference in ice time between the third and fourth lines means there will eventually be a trade. Though perhaps the intention is also to use that strong depth to make that big playoff push. However it shakes out, I'm just looking forward to a hopefully great season.

 

[Duffman955]

I really am starting to believe we have a couple great future Dmen in Sandin and Liljegren.

I'm keeping expectations low for this year, but in 3-4 years, they could be special

 

[Magic Man]

Play Sandin and Liljegren together until Dermott gets back after Marincin doesn't play well.