@Lyle_Bubas @Byrr @Barilko14 @leafs101 @saskleaf @Jameshgfgn @rangerwall92 @aadoyle @palhal @primedatsyuk

What'd you guys think of this team? Is it an improvement over their current roster?

Weegar trade isnt worth it

Wasteful, leafs defence is better and deeper right now.

I like Brodie, and dermott I really wouldn't want to trade

if their offersheeting Cernak then they'd be better off keeping Holl and signing Brodie

For certain, this type of d that would have been a better fit.

Maybe cernak and weegar are better than Brodie and holl. I don’t think they are dermott and 2 seconds better tho.

Weeger>Brodie
(Based on last year if weeger repeats that performance)

Cernak > Holl

How is it better and deeper now?

Why are leafs fans so high on Dermott. He hasn’t proven anything yet

Solid 3rd pair defencemen with top 4 upside. He played well on the second pair when we got hit with injuries. He’s also only 23.

he's been stapled to the bottom pair because he's been stuck behind elite guys like Muzzin/Rielly. He's played RD before, but babs would never put him there. Keefe tried it sometimes this year, but it was hard because Rielly/Muzzin/Ceci were all out with injury for the latter half of the season, so there wasn't really a chance to try it (and Barrie/Ceci/Holl were the right side, given they couldn't play the off side, so it didn't make sense to disadvantage them)

he has lots of upside and if you've seen him play he's got all the tools in the toolbox to be a solid top 4 guy, similar to a playdriving nate schmidt type dman

Neither had Nate Schmidt until he got a proper chance in the top 4 and now look at him. At the very least hes one of the best 3rd pair D in the league at 23

Okay I’d pump the breaks saying he’s one of the best third pairing D in the league.

I’ve talked about this before. Guys like nate Schmidt over achieved in their development and exponentially got better where as someone like Dermott seems to have plateaued

Yeah it’s a lot to give us no doubt.

You’re not high on Cernak? He had a pretty good playoffs (xGA ranked in 85th percentile) while playing a top 4 role.

I’ve seen you & other Leaf fans compare Dermott to a young Schmidt before. I didn’t know how similar they were until you shared this graph. Really hope Dermott can break out next season.

He hasn’t had the chance. He’s 23. He’s been great when he’s played in the top 4.

Nah, but I appreciate the effort. Good post.

Thanks!

If he’s played well in the top 4 before then he would’ve stuck there. You guys had Ceci playing 20+ mins a night lol

Well have fun with Ceci. We will now have Dermott to play his minutes.

Like I said if Dermott was so good, they’d play him over Ceci. TWO coaches decided Ceci was a better player. Not just babcock lol.

when you have a guy like dermott who can play right or left, and a guy like ceci who only plays right side, it doesn't make sense to put dermott on the top pair and disadvantage ceci by playing him on his off side

also, it's worth noting that he missed all of training camp and most of the opening month of the season with shoulder surgery

doesn't exactly make sense to throw a rusty 22 year old to the wolves in top pair minutes when he's never done it before

Dermott full games played on the right side under Babs:

Feb 12, 2019
Feb 14, 2019
Feb 16, 2019
April 11, 2019
April 13, 2019
April 15, 2019
April 17, 2019
April 19, 2019

(and possibly April 1, 2, and 4th of 2019)

Dermott games played on the right side under Keefe (either on the Marlies or the Leafs):

None.

Games in which Muzzin was first injured that Keefe opted to bring Marincin into the lineup as a LD top-4 instead of promoting Dermott up from the third pairing: 5
December 28
December 31
January 2
January 4
January 6

That isn't the fault of Dermott - the team is simply the worst team in the entire NHL at properly developing young D. (23 years old and 141 games played on the third pairing at that time, but still too terrified to give the D a chance to develop or challenge himself)

If dermott was so good, leafs would ice the best roster possible and that would include moving dermott up to the top pairing and Ceci out of the lineup.

Teams ice the best lineup possible, and TWO head coaches clearly didn’t think dermott was a top 4D or else they would’ve played him top 4 minutes. They also had Justin Holl in their top 4, a career AHLer. It’s not like Toronto had this insane D core where dermott didn’t get any opportunities.

Could dermott become a top 4 in the future? Maybe. But as of right now he definitely isn’t a guy you should have in your top 4.