will we win round 1 do you guys think

[ANDI P IS CUTE]

and why or how. vs boston, vs tbl, vs other. pls explain your reasons why we win or lose...

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[Mr Hockey]

win until we meet Tampa, I think Tampa wins the Cup this season.

 

[Polaris1010]

The Leafs probably get bounced in the first round again.

It will be either Matthews, Marner or Nylander who screws it up defensively, sinking the entire team.

The rest of the team, talking about the forwards here, just play too loose. All they think about is scoring, and not back checking.

They can't score on the power play. Time to get two guys to stand in front of the goalie and get the point shot through.

This team is not built for the playoffs.

No forecheck either. It is like Tavares or Kadri does everything on the forecheck, along with Hyman.

 

[ANDI P IS CUTE]

The Leafs probably get bounced in the first round again.

It will be either Matthews, Marner or Nylander who screws it up defensively, sinking the entire team.

The rest of the team, talking about the forwards here, just play too loose. All they think about is scoring, and not back checking.

They can't score on the power play. Time to get two guys to stand in front of the goalie and get the point shot through.

This team is not built for the playoffs.

No forecheck either. It is like Tavares or Kadri does everything on the forecheck, along with Hyman.

agree 100 percent. no drive no push no forecheck, no desire. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ the kids got paid. too much. Matthews is hurt im sure of that. BAD contract. Thank God it wasnt 7 or 8 years!

 

[ANDI P IS CUTE]

Z and Marleau terrible contracts. WTH.

 

[IPS]

We might beat Boston. If we get hot at the right time, we might beat Tampa.

 

[GardinerTheForward]

I think we beat Boston or MTL but lose to TB.

If the PP isn’t fixed then we can lose in Rd1

 

[TML1967]

The team doesnt finish checks. The dont bump guys it make them pay for skating it in, or d for going back to retrieve pucks.

Ya dont need to take yourself out of the play, but follow through. Look at the Montreal game, they competed harder and finished ever hit they could.

If the Leafs take steps to be closer to that, they will win a round. If not, they will lose.

 

[FlareKnight]

I’ll go with a strong...I’m not sure! The playoffs will be a big test for the team. I think if they get a matchup like Montreal then they can win that. All the more so if the Leafs have everything running well by that point. Boston? Less sure about that. Can they shut down their top line? That’s the question. Maybe if Tavares can hold the line and the other stars step up.

Tampa is tough. That team is a monster. Although if we’ve got through round 1 and are running effectively then maybe we can win that match. They are strong and deep. But we just need to be better for just enough games.

I think the playoffs will depend on the matchups and if we can clean things like the powerplay up. We need that figured out and our stars to step up.

 

[7even]

Re: Boston. Last year, the Leafs could not have had a worse first 2 games if HFBruins wrote the script. They lost Kadri, Andersen completely lost the plot early in the series, lost the only game when Bergeron was injured, they got zero production from Matthews or Nylander, and it still took a 3rd period game 7 collapse to lose. This year we've added Tavares who has arguably been our best player, we have a step from Marner, we have a step from Rielly, Muzzin's addition completely resets our D corps, Kap and AJ are better players. I genuinely think we can take them.

 

[ponder]

I think we’ll likely play one of Boston or Montreal. I think we probably beat Montreal, but probably lose to Boston. Overall, 50/50, mostly depends on who we play.

 

[A1LeafNation]

I don't know why everyone is so scared of Boston. They were the favourites last year and we took them to 7.

We are the favourites this year and we have Muzzin and Tavares now.

 

[Alamo Leafer]

I would've liked to see this thread posted after the trade deadline tbh

 

[DanM]

I think a lot depends on if Matthews can be healthy, because I am sure he is hurt right now, has not been the same since injury 1 this season, and for sure not after the Kronwall hit.

 

[DanM]

I don't know why everyone is so scared of Boston. They were the favourites last year and we took them to 7.

We are the favourites this year and we have Muzzin and Tavares now.

True, but we also need a 100% healthy Matthews, and he is not. All teams need their top player to be dominant.

 

[TorontoTrades]

Were winning the first round this year. This team is ready to take the next step.

We gotta believe.

 

[A1LeafNation]

True, but we also need a 100% healthy Matthews, and he is not. All teams need their top player to be dominant.

He wasn't 100% last year and we took them to 7.

 

[jaric1862]

I think we beat Boston or MTL but lose to TB.

If the PP isn’t fixed then we can lose in Rd1

Meh the PP is less important in the playoffs, 5v5 play is really what makes teams successful

 

[7even]

I think a lot depends on if Matthews can be healthy, because I am sure he is hurt right now, has not been the same since injury 1 this season, and for sure not after the Kronwall hit.

If he's not healthy just go the f*** home bud. He's got his contract, so he has no incentive left for his regular season performance. The team is more than capable of losing him for an extended stretch and still winning games. They need him playing in the playoffs like he was for the first 20 games way more than they need another 27 regular season games from him.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

I have said it before and I believe it, Tampa is the ONLY obstacle, I believe Toronto is better than everybody else and that includes EVERYBODY in the west .

I have 20 years on this bandwagon my belief in this team has NEVER been higher than it is right now if Tampa goes down Toronto goes to the final.

 

[GodEmperor]

I was 80/20 that we would beat Boston this year, now I'm back to 50/50, I really don't know with this team and it's coaching.

Montreal is no problem, I think we do fine v Washington and Pitts tbh and can see us winning, not sure about Tampa.

I don't know this is an extremely hard year to predict due to:
Matthews ongoing struggles and if they'll carry over into the playoffs
Marleau and the same problem
Nylander and him starting to pick it up v his last year's playoffs despite playing fine the entire year
Our horrendous PP and if it rights itself

The reality is that this team on paper should be able to trounce Boston and Montreal without problem, I feel that way about Montreal but not Boston any longer, on paper I think we could even be better than Washington and Pitt due to us adding Muzzin and Tavares and I think we stack up fine v Tampa (not saying we win by any stretch).

It's impossible to predict.

 

[Danish]

F that! i am a Leafs fan and we go All the way baby yaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

 

[al secord]

We can and we will.

 

[Nooodles]

Will Matthews show up?
That's my question. A big one.

 

[Not My Tempo]

Realistically, if Andersen doesn’t completely shit the bed in the third last year, are we even still talking about this team being too soft? After we played Washington there wasn’t any talk of us losing that series because we were soft lol. I just find the fixating on the toughness part so weird. Boston didn’t even play us tough last year, Washington the year before was way more physical.