Which Bottom 7 teams surpassed the Leafs this offseason?

[A1LeafNation]

Keep in mind things can still happen, but I think we can all agree the majority of restructuring happens at the draft and July 1 free agency kick off...

I think there are 5 teams that could pass the Leafs in the standings:

Florida: Bolland, Ekblad, Full season of Luongo
New York I: Kulemin, Grabovski, Halak, Reinhart, Dal Colle
Buffalo: Reinhart Gionta, Moulson, Meszaros, Gorges, Neuvirth and full year of Nolan as coach is enough for the loss of Miller.
Vancouver: Sbisa, Vrbata, Bonino, Miller is enough for the loss of Kesler/Luongo.
Calgary: Bennett, Raymond, Hiller

Obviously predicting some of these kids make their team.

Even with Edmonton's moves I think they got better, but not enough to pass the Leafs.

I don't think any teams above the Leafs dropped a whole lot. Even a team like Ottawa who lost Spezza, picked up Legwand and Chiasson to mitigate the damage.

I think we are in the running with Carolna and Edmonton for Eichel and McDavid.

Click to read more...

 

[WendelGartner]

Keep in mind things can still happen, but I think we can all agree the majority of restructuring happens at the draft and July 1 free agency kick off...

I think there are 5 teams that could pass the Leafs in the standings:

Florida: Bolland, Ekblad, Full season of Luongo
New York I: Kulemin, Grabovski, Halak, Reinhart, Reinhart
Buffalo: Gionta, Moulson, Meszaros, Gorges, Neuvirth and full year of Nolan as coach is enough for the loss of Miller.
Vancouver: Sbisa, Vrbata, Bonino, Miller is enough for the loss of Kesler/Luongo.
Calgary: Bennett, Raymond, Hiller

Obviously predicting some of these kids make their team.

Even with Edmonton's moves I think they got better, but not enough to pass the Leafs.

I don't think any teams above the Leafs dropped a whole lot. Even a team like Ottawa who lost Spezza, picked up Legwand and Chiasson to mitigate the damage.

I think we are in the running with Carolna and Edmonton for Eichel and McDavid.

All those kids in Edmonton are a year older now as well. Adding Fayne and his steady mostly mistake free minutes was a very good signing, one we should have made! add in Schultz being a year older and Nurse getting closer, I wouldn't be shocked to see the young Oilers surprise this season. Really, a team of Hall, RNH, Eberle, Perron, Yakupov, Pouliot, and add in the possibility of Draisaitl making the team, and the addition of teddy Purcell... this team is bound to break out soon. I wouldn't predict a bottom 3 spot for them just yet

 

[hotpaws]

Outside of Buffalo in the east i don't see much separating a large group of teams fighting for the last 2-3 playoff spots .

In the west Calgary will still be weak and i can't see Edm improving much until they dump Eakins .

I could see us bottom 5 or if things break our way i could see us sneaking into the playoffs .

 

[number72]

Why did you post this debbie downer posting. I'm so sad now. This so makes me angry at burke for trading two first and a second for a great player who makes us just good enough to keep us outside of the lotto draft spots but not to consistently make the playoffs. This team needs a 1C and even more elite talent and outside of a lotto pick there are very low probabilities that this can happen.

 

[SprDaVE]

That's fine. It rarely ever works out from paper to the ice.

I don't really care for predictions or trying to justify where which team will end up. It's fun to speculate but at the end of the day, we'll see how it turns out.

If anything, the underdog tag and lowered expectations will make this a much more enjoyable season... as bad as that is after so long of losing.

 

[studebaker17]

None of the recent draft picks are going to make any kind of impact even if they make their respective teams so i wouldn't include them.

i can't see florida being much better
islanders will be a little better.
calgary will really suck
ottawa will really suck.
vancouver will probably really suck given they're sliding and playing in a tough conference
chance san jose slides as well for the same reasons
montreal could go either way
tampa could easily slide down again
carolina same
nashville same
columbus same
edmonton will probably improve but not enough to make a playoff spot
the leafs are right were they were last yr , in the mix as a bubble team. not 1 of the teams in the east is a given for even a playoff spot at this point let alone considered a contender. any kind of losing streak or winning streak could eliminate or push any team in or out of the playoff picture.

 

[Holymakinaw]

Keep in mind things can still happen, but I think we can all agree the majority of restructuring happens at the draft and July 1 free agency kick off...

I think there are 5 teams that could pass the Leafs in the standings:

Florida: Bolland, Ekblad, Full season of Luongo
New York I: Kulemin, Grabovski, Halak, Reinhart, Dal Colle
Buffalo: Reinhart Gionta, Moulson, Meszaros, Gorges, Neuvirth and full year of Nolan as coach is enough for the loss of Miller.
Vancouver: Sbisa, Vrbata, Bonino, Miller is enough for the loss of Kesler/Luongo.
Calgary: Bennett, Raymond, Hiller

Obviously predicting some of these kids make their team.

Even with Edmonton's moves I think they got better, but not enough to pass the Leafs.

I don't think any teams above the Leafs dropped a whole lot. Even a team like Ottawa who lost Spezza, picked up Legwand and Chiasson to mitigate the damage.

I think we are in the running with Carolna and Edmonton for Eichel and McDavid.

Hey, how come every OTHER team's new great prospect made their clubs, but Nylander didn't make ours??

I can understand your frustration, as many around here believe we've only moved laterally at best this summer. Maybe that's the truth. We'll just have to wait & see.

But of the teams you've listed, I don't see ANY of them as greatly improved, compared to us.

Florida: Ekblad may or may NOT play in the NHL this year. Are Bolland and Luongo enough? No. They're relying on kids right now.
New York I: Kulemin's 7-9 goals might not help much. Grabs didn't help us, didn't help Washington, probably won't help NYI.
Buffalo: Reinhart won't make the team. And Buffalo is still a candidate for #1 overall next summer.
Vancouver: Pretty much in a free-fall. Sedins continue to downward trend, and they lost a LOT, in Luongo, Schneider, Kesler....
Calgary: Bennett won't make the team, and Raymond, Hiller are not close to being enough to pass us.

Toronto: We've still got a very good looking offence, and MAYBE a more balanced, tenacious D, Bernier looks to be a very solid Goalie. As always, we have a bunch of "ifs" & "maybes" on our team, but IF Santorelli plays like he did last year, and Robidas, Komarov & Polak do what they're capable of, we could see some improvement in our overall "fight" & possession abilities. We'll have to wait & see.

 

[Daisy Jane]

That's fine. It rarely ever works out from paper to the ice.

I don't really care for predictions or trying to justify where which team will end up. It's fun to speculate but at the end of the day, we'll see how it turns out.

If anything, the underdog tag and lowered expectations will make this a much more enjoyable season... as bad as that is after so long of losing.

i agree. there is zero expectations on the team. for me i just don't want them to be out worked. if we lost badly - at least we can go "we made a fight out of it, and we were simply out matched talent wise." vs. this season where we were out matched on nearly aspect of the ice except for sheer firepower.

i don't think people would have predicted that NJD wouldn't be able to win shootouts to save their lives (or that we would have been dominate in them) or the Flyers going from crap to awesome third period killers in 20 or so games.

there are a lot of variables that can determine a lot of things so (shrug) i dunno. i'm just going to see it in 20 game chunks.

 

[LeafsFIO*]

Lol you think the Isles, Canes, Flames, Senators, Oilers and Sabres are gonna do better than the Leafs. Hilarious...

 

[ACC1224]

All that matters is the East and the Leafs appear to be a borderline Playoff team again.

 

[Drew75]

I think the whole looking at whole playoff race vs. last years standings never works. There are always teams who do worse than the sum of their parts, and teams where the sum of their parts is greater than what you see on paper.

In all honesty, I can see us either making the playoffs in the 7/8 spot, or ending up with a 6 - 12th overall pick. Either way works for me, as the playoffs will help the development of our young guys, and it's a strong draft to pick high - so personally, I'll just enjoy the ride where ever it takes me

 

[gabeliscious]

Florida: Bolland, Ekblad, Full season of Luongo

Buffalo: Reinhart Gionta, Moulson, Meszaros, Gorges, Neuvirth and full year of Nolan as coach is enough for the loss of Miller. .
Calgary: Bennett, Raymond, Hiller



i think that the islanders are a better team then toronto. the center depth alone gives them the edge. i think had tavares not missed the rest of the season it would have shown last year. the rest of the roster is starting to fill in as well. they have a pretty impressive bottom 6 as well imo with martin, clutherbuck, and now kulemin.

i also think that vancouver is a better team then toronto. literally EVERY player on that team underperformed under torts which isnt surprising. i think their new coach should be able to get more out of them. if the sedins could stay healthy i think they are pretty good. there defense 1-6 is solid and if miller plays well it could make a big difference as well. either way i cant see how they will be worse then the leafs.

i would be surprised if edmonton was worse as well. they added a lot of defensive pieces that actually play defense as well as fasth and scrivens who should be an upgrade on dybnuk.

i wouldnt necessarily assume that buffalo is worse either. they brought in gorges, meszaros which should help, they also added moulson and gionta. i actually think if they can get reasonable goaltending they could get out of the bottom.

i think we are probably competing with florida and calgary for the bottom. imo calgarys team looks brutal up front. adding bennett wont change that. their defense is underwhelming as well once you get past giordano who i dont think will repeat his performance last season. hiller is also an injury risk so you cant be sure he is going to be good for 65+ games.

florida probably added enough pieces in bolland, mitchell, and jokinen along with better seasons from huberdeau, gudbranson, kulikov, and bjugstad could be better then the leafs. ekblad is also unknown but probably will play.

bottom line, looking at the leafs on paper we are going to need some surprise performances out of people in order to be a playoff team. i just hope we are either a playoff team or bottom 3. being in no mans land at 8-12 isnt going to help us.

jvr-bozak-kessel = strong offense, we need better defensive game out of them
lupul-kadri-? = need a winger to compliment them. need better defense
komorov-kontiola-? defense should be a problem but i worry about offense
?-?-? - no idea what is going to happen with this line

the leafs have santorelli, frattin, holland, ashton, brodie, and clarkson to fill 5 spots. imo santorelli wasnt signed not to play, at $5.25 million clarkson isnt sitting, holland isnt eligible for waivers so he will probably play, bodie seemed like he was trusted by carlyle and is a good energy guy on the 4th line so i suspect ashton and frattin will both be up with the club but will rotate in based on performance.

bottom line, on paper this lineup doesnt instill confidence. especially when you consider bernier has never played over ~50 games, we dont know if we have a backup yet, and our defense is still.....meh

 

[Renegade]

Well, maybe not pass the Leafs in the standings but I find Vancouver, NY Islanders, Calgary, and Buffalo all made 'better' offseason moves than the Leafs did. Doesn't mean they will pass Toronto.

Leafs could end up back in the playoffs, anything can happen.

 

[crump]

As long as we play Clarkson with Kadri we'll be ok.

 

[indigobuffalo]

This league is parity to a tee.

There are only a small handful of teams now that are not capable of competing.

The "juggernauts" in the East remain PIT and BOS. NYR losing Callahan and probably MSL, and B Richards... they're not exactly primed to repeat as Eastern Conference Champs.

Philly looks okay. IMO they'll dip a little further this year, but as always with that team, if they can get semi-decent goaltending they'll be able to fight for a playoff spot.

Washington looks iffy. New coach, but a mostly similar roster, and losing Grabovski will be noticeable. IMO they're a prime candidate to be drafting McDavid if they fumble out of the gate like usual.

Carolina didn't improve nearly as much as other teams, so they should dip further back.

Buffalo improved a lot, Florida did as well. Toronto got a much better bottom 6 and added some capable talent to the blue line, significantly better than any year since Phaneuf has played for this team.

Ottawa will be even worse than last year, barring a Cinderella performance due to the (again) low expectations for the team.

Montreal is still a wild card too. Losing Gorges and Gionta will affect their leadership. Who gets the C and how bad Subban's cap hit will be will determine a lot about how that franchise is doing. But having a Norris calibre defenceman and a Vezina caliber goalie suggest they're pretty close to a lock for a playoff berth.

Tampa IMO will be a top team in the East this year, with a full healthy season from Bishop, Stamkos and the addition of Callahan in the leadership corps.

I think NJ will do better this year with Schneider as the starter. And Columbus is a toss-up... IMO they do a tad worse this year. Finally, Detroit will miss the playoffs this year. Babcock will get canned. Toronto will opt out of Carlyle's extension and sign Coach Canada.

Overall I would expect the season to end as follows:

1 TBL
2 BOS
3 PIT
4 MTL
5 TOR
6 PHI
7 NYI
8 NYR
9 NJD
10 BUF
11 DET
12 FLA
13 WAS
14 CLB
15 OTT
16 CAR

 

[JEI]

I really like what the Islanders did this off-season. Adding Halak will do great things for that team IMO. An actual starting goalie is what that team has been missing. Adding Grabovski and Kulemin should give them a nice boost in secondary offense also. They are looking like a team on the rise.

 

[Hounsy]

This seasons draft class will have little impact in the upcoming season.

 

[Leaf Lander]

The main problem with the leafs is we hot worse



Do u think the free agents that we signed waited to day 3 to sign with us


Nope they were left overs that no other team wanted.


This team is tanking!

Play riemer 35 games a year and watch the players quit

 

[Peace Frog]

If the Leafs were to add, say.... ROR, then things look very different, imo. But like you said, as things are right now, we don't look any better than last season.

 

[A1LeafNation]

Hey, how come every OTHER team's new great prospect made their clubs, but Nylander didn't make ours??

I can understand your frustration, as many around here believe we've only moved laterally at best this summer. Maybe that's the truth. We'll just have to wait & see.

But of the teams you've listed, I don't see ANY of them as greatly improved, compared to us.

Florida: Ekblad may or may NOT play in the NHL this year. Are Bolland and Luongo enough? No. They're relying on kids right now.
New York I: Kulemin's 7-9 goals might not help much. Grabs didn't help us, didn't help Washington, probably won't help NYI.
Buffalo: Reinhart won't make the team. And Buffalo is still a candidate for #1 overall next summer.
Vancouver: Pretty much in a free-fall. Sedins continue to downward trend, and they lost a LOT, in Luongo, Schneider, Kesler....
Calgary: Bennett won't make the team, and Raymond, Hiller are not close to being enough to pass us.

Toronto: We've still got a very good looking offence, and MAYBE a more balanced, tenacious D, Bernier looks to be a very solid Goalie. As always, we have a bunch of "ifs" & "maybes" on our team, but IF Santorelli plays like he did last year, and Robidas, Komarov & Polak do what they're capable of, we could see some improvement in our overall "fight" & possession abilities. We'll have to wait & see.

Just gave the top 5 the benefit of the doubt, thinking Nylander needs to put on size, Schenn and Tlusty made the Leafs their first year and were traded a couple years later, so do we really want Nylander making the team?

 

[Pholus]

I really like what the Islanders did this off-season. Adding Halak will do great things for that team IMO. An actual starting goalie is what that team has been missing. Adding Grabovski and Kulemin should give them a nice boost in secondary offense also. They are looking like a team on the rise.

They are also under added pressure of trading away their 1st rd pick in 2015, so they will be trying very hard to make the playoffs.

I think much of this applies to Florida too, their additions could have them in the hunt for a playoff spot (especially if Luongo is on his game). Also Carolina could pass the Leafs with a full season of quality goaltending (which may or may not happen).

As far as the question in the OP, Buffalo, Calgary, and Vancouver are the only teams I really think aren't going to be climbing up the standings out of the bottom 7. I doubt Edmonton does, but imo they have a better chance than Cal or Van.

 

[Pholus]

Just gave the top 5 the benefit of the doubt, thinking Nylander needs to put on size, Schenn and Tlusty made the Leafs their first year and were traded a couple years later, so do we really want Nylander making the team?

Tlusty made the Leafs as a 19 yr old (2nd yr after being drafted), but I agree that there is no reason to rush any of our prospects.

 

[robdicks]

I think the leafs are due for a string of bad luck. We were mostly healthy last season and despite being badly outplayed for virtually the entire season, we stAyed in a playoff spot until bernier was hurt. I think that will be the reason the leafs don't improve this year.

 

[Clark4Ever]

The East is going to be a clusterf-ck of mediocre to slightly above average teams battling it out for playoff seeding. The disparity between the teams in both conferences is going to be even worse next season.

In my opinion, the likes of Boston, Pittsburgh, New York, and Montreal have become weaker this off season, and the lower end teams have slightly improved.

 

[Cap'n Flavour]

I think the leafs are due for a string of bad luck. We were mostly healthy last season and despite being badly outplayed for virtually the entire season, we stAyed in a playoff spot until bernier was hurt. I think that will be the reason the leafs don't improve this year.

A string, like a few decades?