Was the Leafs season a regression?

[topshelf15]

Meh that core is fine ,its the parts surrounding it that need work...

 

[Pyrophorus]

Coincidentally, they're also an average Andersen year away from being a bubble team.

He'll play out his contract, and then hands the reins over to Woll/Scott.

BTW, so is any other team with their starter being average. You would know.

 

[Volica]

He'll play out his contract, and then hands the reins over to Woll/Scott.

BTW, so is any other team with their starter being average. You would know.

My team was a bubble team with a horrible goaltender actually
Western Conference champs with some average tending

 

[Menzinger]

No.

Their record in 2017/18 was inflated a bit due to a huge number of shootout wins. This past season theirnganes were won more in regulation and the team barely went to the shootout at all

 

[LeafsNation75]

No.

Their record in 2017/18 was inflated a bit due to a huge number of shootout wins. This past season theirnganes were won more in regulation and the team barely went to the shootout at all

This season the Leafs were in a total of 2 shootouts and their first one was not until their 77th game against the Flyers and their other one was in their final regular season game against the Canadiens. They lost both those games, so all of their 46 wins were in the ROW category.

 

[Snowman]

I went with regression. They were propped up in the standings by starting hot and winning games when teams were still figuring out their systems, so they did well there. Then the second half of the season showed them to be very average. They overpaid to strengthen their biggest strength, regular season scoring and once again ignored their biggest deficiency, defense.

It won’t get easier next year having $40 mil tied up in 4 players. So, there will likely be more regression to come.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

No. It was stagnation in a year that should have seen improvement, which is about as bad as a regression though

 

[Kamiccolo]

Call it whatever you want it was a failure.

 

[Duke Silver]

I vote for regression. The biggest problem is that they started paying too much for average players.. this will haunt them in future.

Which average players?

 

[Bounces R Way]

In this league if you're not moving forward you're falling behind. They added a 11 million dollar center and finished with less points. That's regression.

Still lots of things to feel good about for the Leafs, Marner, Kapanen, and Rielly seemed to progress, Tavares looked like a good fit, Andersen was very solid. They have some nice young depth. Just don't think losing JVR, Bozak, Komarov, and Martin was quite the "addition by subtraction" some Leaf fans were assuming it would be.

 

[Trap Jesus]

Regression in the sense that they should realistically have improved given adding Tavares and having a young core, even if what the net result year to year was stagnation.

Funny enough, I think they got what they wanted from core players. Rielly and Marner broke out into elite players, Tavares adjusted as well as realistically possible setting career highs, and Andersen had a very good year. Yeah, you'd hope for more progression from Matthews, but given a new look with Tavares added I think what we saw from him was more than fine. Nylander is the obvious exception but I think Kapanen helped offset that considerably.

Problem was exactly what the naysayers were saying all along. They need to improve their defensive play BIG TIME, and add more depth.

 

[Thenameless]

I don't really see a regression; it's not like the Leafs went deep into the playoffs last season. What I see is disappointment. I, like many people, thought the Leafs would be much better and more dangerous in the playoffs this year. Their young players are beginning to really hit their prime, and the addition of Tavares was expected to help too. If I was the front office, I'd try not to over-react and make too many drastic changes. Maybe shore up the defense if it can be done affordably.

 

[bigbabybuda]

There record in the regular season was a little misleading as they won a bunch of games in the shootout last year and didn't win any this year. Thus there regular season was about the same as last year. They been very unlucky with their playoff draws the last 2 years. Last year they played the cup champions to 7 games and this year they played the team that has to now be considered the cup favorites to 7 games. I feel they outplayed Boston in the in what was a very tight series. I think Rask outplayed Andersen in the series and that was the difference. It's debatable but that's what my opinion of the series was...

The expectations of the team were high and they didnt live up to them but they were unrealistically high. No team has won a cup in the Cap Era while their 2 best players were both on their ELCs. It takes time for players to figure out how to play in the preseason. It doesn't happen over night for anyone.

Long story short I think the season was a learning experience and they will be better for it in the future. Their young stars will only get better. The sky isn't falling and there is every reason to believe the future is still bright for the Leafs. They should be a contender fo4 a long time. Despite their early exits the last 2 years if you take into account who they lost too and how deep they took them they were already contenders imo.

 

[Foppberg]

Not really, they need defense and star players to actually show up. (Not talking about JT or Matthews)

 

[Canadienna]

Their season was definitely not a regression with the breakouts of Marner, Reilly, and to a lesser extent Kap/Johnnson.

But hockey doesn't work like that. You don't try to just improve on your previous season. It was an important year to make a run for them with their ELC contracts. It doesn't make it impossible moving forward, but some years you're more equipped than others.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

The Leafs had one of the highest PDO’s in the NHL, that’s the opposite of regression.

tbf leafs are a definite quality>quantity team on offense with a good goalie and lots of shooting talent, of course the PDO will be high

 

[Tage2Tuch]

But they had a 3-2 series lead.

Which looks even worse for the team.

It means nothing unless you won game six or seven.

It’s like saying you won six of your first ten games in the regular season but lot six of your last ten, and bragging about being good early on. It means nothing.

 

[Karl Eriksson]

Kadri stayed consistent. He scored less than half the amount of goals as last year, but he acted just as turdishly.

 

[bert]

No they lost to a higher seed which was a better team. Their best players are 21 years old, this is a ridiculous thread they just need to get more experience for the young players. Maybe if they had home ice and lost you could say that but thats not the case.

 

[GlitchMarner]

Which looks even worse for the team.

It means nothing unless you won game six or seven.

It’s like saying you won six of your first ten games in the regular season but lot six of your last ten, and bragging about being good early on. It means nothing.

I'm not bragging about it. He was suggesting they did better in the playoffs last year because they led game seven (which they ultimately lost). I was just saying that even though they didn't lead game seven, they had a series lead after five games this year.

 

[Stephen]

More like plateaued. If they have similar stats, finish in the same seed and lose to the same opponent it's more like a stagnant season than regression.

 

[Pyrophorus]

Didn't the Bruins regress too?

 

[Koolboss]

JT did make any difference in playoff or regular season. Kadri did a better job

 

[DFF]

Yes

Both leafs and flames have major holes to fill.

 

[Lauro]

? No. They were better in almost all metrics, just didn't have many meaningful games from January to March. One could argue for stagnation based on the overall results but definitely not regression.