Which Bottom 7 teams surpassed the Leafs this offseason?

[Mess]

If i was a betting man, i wouldn't wager on the Leafs making the playoffs next season.

Too many variables. A lot of it hinges on our prospects and younger players making an improvement in their game.

Besides our first line, there are no sure things on this roster.

Good thing is, if we do falter, then Carlyle and Nonis will be canned. A true "culture" change. Not this nonsense we are seeing this offseason.

If I were to wager my own money I would say the odds of being a top 5 pick are greater then a guaranteed playoff spot.

Leafs are one of the weakest defensive team in the NHL and they did very little to address that. In fact they likely replaced many of their better defensive players and top PKers.

 

[666]

If I were to wager my own money I would say the odds of being a top 5 pick are greater then a guaranteed playoff spot.

Leafs are one of the weakest defensive team in the NHL and they did very little to address that. In fact they likely replaced many of their better defensive players and top PKers.

The Leafs got worse. Bubble might be out of reach now.

 

[hotpaws]

If i was a betting man, i wouldn't wager on the Leafs making the playoffs next season.

Too many variables. A lot of it hinges on our prospects and younger players making an improvement in their game.

Besides our first line, there are no sure things on this roster.

Good thing is, if we do falter, then Carlyle and Nonis will be canned. A true "culture" change. Not this nonsense we are seeing this off season.

I agree except i have no idea what mang means when they keep talking about changing the culture . They've been talking about changing the culture since Burke was hired and they're still talking about it .

What mang needs to do is admit our present core isn't going to lead us anywhere . This non sense that we can compete and build on this flawed core is only wasting more time .

If this season turns to crap a major house cleaning of the core needs to happen and hopefully they can stock pile a few extra picks and try to properly build a core for the future . I'll take the losing if it means a better future but this crap of trying to just squeeze into the playoffs has to stop .

 

[masarume]

I agree except i have no idea what mang means when they keep talking about changing the culture . They've been talking about changing the culture since Burke was hired and they're still talking about it .

What mang needs to do is admit our present core isn't going to lead us anywhere . This non sense that we can compete and build on this flawed core is only wasting more time .

If this season turns to crap a major house cleaning of the core needs to happen and hopefully they can stock pile a few extra picks and try to properly build a core for the future . I'll take the losing if it means a better future but this crap of trying to just squeeze into the playoffs has to stop .

I'm hoping management is picking their time.
Coming in and cleaning house is a statement, but I'm not sure if it's efficient.
If we have great performances from players, I would definitely like to see management sell.

I'm behind you 100% on the last comment. We've lost pretty bad without the picks to show for it, might as well loose and get something out of it.

 

[Leafin]

We need a couple more pieces to be a really good team. We aren't that far off, but those pieces need to be pretty damn good. To go along with that, we need our young pieces to take a step forward as well.

I wouldn't be too drastic.

 

[mikeo1]

I don't know how you can make a list like the OP and still make this thread. Not a single one of those teams look better.

 

[Feenom]

Not sure about CAR, OTT and even BUF but I do think the Islanders got better. Leafs have as much of a shot as any of the bottom teams do to reach the playoffs.

 

[dominicmoore19]

And went from a playoff team to 8th overall...in the draft rankings.

We gave up Rask, sheet, we don't need him too.

I laughed when you didn't consider Reinhart, Dal Colle, and Halak into your calculations.

So the Leafs downgrade in skill last year to get grit/leadership and went from 9th to 23rd overall.

So the Leafs downgrade in skill this year AGAIN to get grit/leadership and will go from 23rd overall....and will be better?

That doesn't sound right.

Rask has nothing to do with what I said, that's just a stupid argument...

Oh wow, they have a goalie, have you seen their D? Rookies won't factor in much this year, you seem to expect them to be amazing.

Grabovski had nothing to do with us getting worse. We replaced him with Bolland, who got HURT all year.

The main reason we collapsed at the end was not cause we lost Grabovski, but because we lost our starting goalie(who was top 5 in many categories), and we were still without Bolland, therefore our lack of depth showed.

THIS YEAR we actually have this depth thing that teams need to prevent that whole disaster last season. Have you seen the Islanders depth chart? It's horendous.

PLEASE tell me more about how great the Islanders are, LOL!

 

[JackJ]

We're definitely different team but not an improved one. Far too many unknowns with Randy leading the charge. Again, this won't end well UNLESS Nonis has a few more moves up his sleeve before the season starts.

 

[Feenom]

We're definitely different team but not an improved one. Far too many unknowns with Randy leading the charge. Again, this won't end well UNLESS Nonis has a few more moves up his sleeve before the season starts.

Good point, even if Nonis adds the "right" pieces, how is Carlyle going to handle/use them? To me thats a huge intangible.

 

[ChickenMcNugget]

We may not have gotten wayy better, (personally im not happy with Gunnarson, polak exchange) but most eastern teams except are not emerging as the next powerhouses of the East so i think we'll do fine

 

[dominicmoore19]

We're definitely different team but not an improved one. Far too many unknowns with Randy leading the charge. Again, this won't end well UNLESS Nonis has a few more moves up his sleeve before the season starts.

So who are these unknown's you speak of? The only "unknown" is Kontiola, but he's pretty known.

 

[Tyler Biggs*]

For most of the year last year the Leafs were higher in the standings than the Rangers, and the best team in the Eastern conference -The Bruins -they lost a significant player -"Iggy" and probably will be not as good and some of their best players like Chara will be older.

My point is winning the eastern conference I think is not out of the question.

The Leafs have a legitimate 1st line, a very promising goalie, the defense couldn't be worse than last year as Gardiner, & Rielly will be better and have expanded roles and the new pickups are veteran Dmen that will add some bite we never had last year.

Clarkson can't possibly have as bad a season as last year. Kadri is still developing as has a good chance of being more effective. The fourth line has to be more effective than last year and the Leafs realize that not using their 4th line over taxed the Leafs other lines so that will be more effective with better personnel.

And say what you will about their new 3-4 line pickups - players on a one year deal and Marlies trying to make the team will be a "hungry group" and their compete for the puck will definitely be better than last year.

As well most people don't have great expectations of this group -so the pressure from the media won't be as great as last year.

These reasons to me allow me to be optimistic about their chances to return to the playoffs and once there the Eastern conference championship is not out of the question if the group forms together well. Perhaps I'm being over optimistic but that's what being a Leaf fan during pre season is all about -I drank the kool aid a long time ago lol.

"Collapse Schmaft"

PS Bodie is a good signing.

 

[masarume]

For most of the year last year the Leafs were higher in the standings than the Rangers, and the best team in the Eastern conference -The Bruins -they lost a significant player -"Iggy" and probably will be not as good and some of their best players like Chara will be older.

My point is winning the eastern conference I think is not out of the question.

I stopped reading there.

 

[Lauro]

I think we have a chance to be better if they play a different style, compete more and all those things management tried to address. Or it won't work and we get a top 5 pick. And it's the same for the other teams listed and a few more.

 

[BlueBaron]

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.

I think you missed last season where Clarkson started with a suspension, then had repeated injuries, Bolland repeatedly injured and then our playoff drive killed by Bernier's injury.

 

[Chainshot]

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

They lost their best possession defenseman by getting out of the Ehrhoff contract and did not adequately replace him (nor even Sekera who they moved for futures the year before that). The goaltending is still not to Miller's level and the blueline is going to have more issues moving the puck up this year... no amount of UFA signings is going to make that different. It's likely they will "work hard" every night but it's also likely that they will continue to be outshot, outchanced, and outscored almost all the time. It would be lightening in a bottle to outpace the Leafs or anyone in the East.

 

[CabanaBoy5]

Why so negative people? This is still a team that has one of the best No. 1 lines in the league, potentially great PMD in Gardiner and Reilly, and an above average goalie in net. We've improved the compete level and skill level of the 3/4 lines and have overhauled our assistant coaches (Oates will have a great effect on our power play if we can get him but anyone hired will be an improvement). The vast majority of teams in the East have as many question marks as we do. I think we'll finish 5-10 in the East if I had to wager on it.

 

[Gutchecktime]

Leafs are one of the weakest defensive team in the NHL and they did very little to address that. In fact they likely replaced many of their better defensive players and top PKers.

If anyone's a proponent of Corsi...

Bottom 10 Corsi players last year - from worst to best.
D'Amigo, McClement, Orr, Gleason, Gunnarsson, McLaren, Phaneuf, Smith, Kulemin, Ranger

Top 10 Corsi players last year - from best to worst.
Gardiner, Kadri, Franson, Rielly, van Riemsdyk, Raymond, Bolland, Kessel, Ashton, Bodie.

I dunno, it looks like we got rid of most of our worst possession players and moved players out to ensure our best Corsi players will see bigger roles - Gardiner, Kadri, Rielly. I don't think this is an accident, since they tried to resign Bolland too.

 

[Durrr]

I stopped reading there.

Well seeing as that was the last sentence he wrote, so did I?

 

[Mess]

I think we have a chance to be better if they play a different style, compete more and all those things management tried to address. Or it won't work and we get a top 5 pick. And it's the same for the other teams listed and a few more.

Leafs removed proven experienced players and tossed up a bunch of "hail marry" into the air as replacements.

Its extremely hard to predict the effect that will have on the standings and the teams performance this year.

Could go either way including taking a team further down if those long-shots don't pay off and come in.

 

[Byron Bitz]

Its really hard to say how the team will fair this season, so many question marks. Last season's 22nd place finish does not reflect our team, we plunged in the standings after we were mathematically eliminated playing meaningless games and our starting goaltender was injured. Our team has enough good players to be a very good team we just need to find the right line combinations, chemistry and playing style. I cannot understand why Carlyle was brought back, he's bad with player relations, it was the same way in anaheim.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Vancouver (although to be honest I think this year was a bit of a fluke for them. They aren't cup contenders anymore, but I don't see them as bottom 10 either).

Islanders (Maybe. Maybe not. Tough call. Healthy Tavares with some actual NHL-calibre goaltending would change a lot for them).


Nothing else really changed that much.

 

[The Magic Man]

TO the OP, you show rookies as reasons for teams to get better. Ekblad, the Reinharts, Bennett. Very few players in NHL history make an improvement to their team in the rookie year. Most need to be sheltered, especially defenseman.

There's two simple ways to improve your team, continued development and free agents. We should see both of those things as a plus for us. I think guys like Kadri, Gardiner and Reilly will easily see improvement in their games, especially Kadri who has shown to be much better already.

It also wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities to seee improvements in the game of guys in their mid to late 20's. That's almost the entire team. Kessel, JVR, Bernier and Bozak may all see slight improvements, especially in the intangibles, which is a very common thing for players as they mature.

Adding Komarov, Polak and Robidas in place of Gunnarson, Gleason and reducing the ice time of Orr and Franson is an improvement.

Santorelli and Kontiola is likely a wash for ~30 games of Bolland and whatever positives Mason Raymond brings, if any.

Florida improved with Luongo. That's about it. And he hasn't been all that great of late. Guys like Barkov, Kulikov, Bjugstad, Huberdeau could all see anywhere from slight to vast improvements. IMO most of the improvements will be with Huberdeau.

Luongo could net them 5-10 more wins, and Bolland in (at best) 60 games could get another 5 or so. But that's still not a huge improvement from the worst team in the league. 20 more points would still leave them in the bottom 10.

I believe the Flames are worse then us. Goaltending got a slight improvement, but overall they didn't really change anything. Monahan will improve a bit, but is still way to young to really carry any semblance of the team. Bollig is a 3rd liner at best and Raymond is a depth player better served on a deep team.

To expect BUF to surpass us is laughable. They were 32 pts behind us and lost a G everyone expects to make a difference for another bottom team. What does that say, prognosticators? Who is better with Miller? Because someone had a crap G last year. If he's good enough to be OK for VAN, which I think he is, he is a huge loss to a terrible team. Gionta, Moulson and Gorges are solid depth moves that bring in much needed leadership, but they aren't players you win with. Myers could be see an improvement, as could Hodgson, but the best way this team improves is when Reinhart, Zadarov and Ristolainen are a few years into their careers.

The Jets are likely to get worse, unless they get back a great package for Kane. Trouba could be a bit better (and way more hyped) but most of their internal growth is minimal at best.

Our only real way to bomb is if Carlyle is ignored and the team allows it for a blatant tank. This team has to be better then last years. How much is unknown.

We've definitely improved our bottom 6. Our top 6 should see some improvement through growth and development, and our D got tougher and could see some improvement through growth and development. If Bernier has a full year, we have very little chance at being bad, IMO.

 

[Liferleafer]

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

I think the bolded will.....