What impresses you the most about the season so far ?

[RealisticLeaf55]

Not allowing injuries to hamper our season.
Goaltending has been much better so far than I thought.
Keefe is proving to be a coach who can adapt to any situation (Hope it continues deep into the post-season)
Tavares.
Nylander and Matthews not padding stats, just trying to win games.

 

[GoonieFace]

They keep proving the naysayers wrong ..

Every week since the beginning of the season we have seen numerous complaints about x and it gets crushed.
Murray sucks
Marner suck
Coaching sucks
Holl sucks
Sandin suck
Jarnkrok sucks

Not sure if anyone said Murray sucks. He has sucked for years and hasn’t been healthy for years. Imagine not being happy that Dubas put his eggs in that basket.

Everyone has sucked to varying degrees, and until they win in the playoffs, and not just 1 round, they suck
I would say all those guys are the keys to the turnaround

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

What impresses me most is the fact they've done so well despite how sloppy and out of sync they've been. It's a good thing I think because they will only get better. Very weird season so far.

 

[Anthrax442]

Impressed by this D that lost 3 top guys and still chugging along

 

[Maple Leaf]

nothing
the regular season is pointless

 

[keonsbitterness]

nothing
the regular season is pointless

"Regular season means nothing, so here I am posting during the regular season."

Irony!

 

[TheRumble]

The Leafs have always been a good defensive team under Keefe. A lot of you guys are acting like this team is night and day vs last year's team. The only major difference is that the offense isn't as good this year.

Proof: Which team is which?

Stat	Team A	Team B
Shots on Goal Allowed	29.74 (9h best)	27.54 (5th)
Shot Attempts Allowed	52.73 (7th best)	50.43 (10th)
High Danger Shots Allowed	10.46 (9th best	11.64 (13th)
Expected Goals Against	2.31 (5th best)	2.45 (9th)

Team A is the 2021-22 Team, Team B is the 2022-23 team.

Here's the major difference between the two teams:

Team A - Save percentage of .897 over all situations - this was 21st in the league last year.
Team B - Save percentage of .913 over all situations - this is currently 6th in the league.

 

[Racer88]

Rising above the injuries

 

[Notsince67]

What has impressed me the most this season, is the amount of posters on HOF Boards who have totally forgotten the last three seasons of first round failure, the pattern of team play (which we are once again repeating to a T), and what the weaknesses were and continue to be for this team.

That led to those playoff failures.

And just as impressive - the GM and President have the same inability to learn from history! Astounding.

It is impressive to those of us who have dutifully watched the leafs failure for over 50 years, see how fragile the newer fan base have become over just a handful of playoff losses.
You Padwans need years of training to be true Leaf fan Jedi masters.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Said it before this teams defense is being held together by duct tape and magic and so far it's working I don't know how that's possible but it is.

It's a testament to Dubas and the defensive depth that he's built that they can have, 3 of their top 4 D men out, and their #7/8.

and they can still put together a top 4 with 4 NHL D men on it it's not the best top 4 far from it but they can do it and it's working.

Saturday is the BIG test

 

[ULF_55]

 

[slozo]

It is impressive to those of us who have dutifully watched the leafs failure for over 50 years, see how fragile the newer fan base have become over just a handful of playoff losses.
You Padwans need years of training to be true Leaf fan Jedi masters.

I’m a 49 yr old Jedi myself, not sure who you’re talking about

Tell me again great self proclaimed Jedi master, how many years has it been since we have seen the second round?

Winning in the regular season leads to hope.
Playing as the favoured home team in the first round leads to excitement.
Losing consistently in the first round while declaring yourself a Stanley cup contender leads to ….suffering…..

 

[Da Cool Rula]

I get it - hope springs eternal.

But after a few seasons, you start to learn that learn that ...
1) we won't be able to find a good top 4 defensive defenceman before the trade deadline
2) our good goaltending and great defence will progressively get colder and it'll go back to where it probably should be
3) with no truly gritty top 6 wingers and not enough defensive grit on D (and without A+ goaltending) we will once again lose in the first round after yet another 100 pt season.

Is it hope or is it that the young team is finally maturity. Players like Drew Doughty have said it in the past it takes some years to buy in but when everyone does..... saying that I know Leafs have taken a little longer, but being a guy who was there for 67 and saw the very few Highs and many more LOWS IM pretty happy with the direction.

 

[nuck]

Really shocked how good the D looks. I don't know if they can sustain it but what if they can?

 

[Leafidelity]

What impresses me most is the fact they've done so well despite how sloppy and out of sync they've been. It's a good thing I think because they will only get better. Very weird season so far.

Yeah this is it for me. I don't think they're playing nearly as well as they can, and yet they're absolutely racking up wins. Full credit for that.

This is a strange season alright. Matthews isn't even popping off just yet.

 

[rocketman588]

I think our forwards have been exceptional in our own end

One of the biggest differences

 

[Maple Leaf]

Nothing really
I have seen this story before

 

[HolyCrap]

Not allowing injuries to hamper our season.
Goaltending has been much better so far than I thought.
Keefe is proving to be a coach who can adapt to any situation (Hope it continues deep into the post-season)
Tavares.
Nylander and Matthews not padding stats, just trying to win games.

Pretty much this for me.

 

[mix1home]

What impresses me is that no matter how good Leafs are playing there is always team or two in Atlantic division that is totally lights out. This year it’s Boston. How do you even beat them with that goals difference of +40?

 

[danny90]

Dude - we ALL will. We're all fans here, that's why we care . . .

But we're stuck in a bit of a loop right now, and it's all too familiar and repetitive for me to even get the slightest bit excited about anything right now. Not even a little bit. I'm interested, and still enjoy watching hockey . . . but as a fan of the team, I can't get excited about regular season wins any more.

A part of me died with that loss to the Habs in the first round, and it's not going to be even slightly repaired until we win a round.

It sounds like you’d be happier if the team was doing bad enough to fire management and trade players, I’d rather the team improve and build off of last season which it appears to be doing.

 

[Da Mash]

What impressed me the most is what a great job the coaching staff and management have done. Early in the season a lot of fans were wanting a change.

The adversity the team has over come is impressive especially in a market where the media is constantly bashing them

 

[Rants Mulliniks]

"Regular season means nothing, so here I am posting during the regular season."

Irony!

I keep waiting for all those posters to disappear until the playoffs but nope.

 

[Budz]

What I like is that they are trying to play more of a playoff style hockey all year.

I’m confident they could put out a line up and style of play that would be killer in the regular season. Trying to score 5 goals every night kinda deal.

They learned that the hard way last season, if those 7 games vs TB were regular season rules - we win. Reffing and style of play change in the playoffs. I think we are seeing the Leafs management team understanding and embracing this a bit more.

I do think overall - it’s a work in progress, and still needing some tweaking. However, it does seem like a more mature and focused effort towards having playoff success.

I’m cautiously optimistic or still plain delusional - not sure which.

 

[keonsbitterness]

For the Leafs, bouncing back in November.

For the league, hardly any Covid issues outside of one or two coaches I think.

 

[IPS]

It is impressive to those of us who have dutifully watched the leafs failure for over 50 years, see how fragile the newer fan base have become over just a handful of playoff losses.
You Padwans need years of training to be true Leaf fan Jedi masters.

I don't care how long anyone's been watching the Leafs for. That Montreal series has to be up there for the most painful moments ever in Leafs history.