A lot of people say that the Blue Jackets heavily outplayed and outworked the Leafs in last season’s best of 5 series. Do you guys agree with that?

Honestly I felt the Leafs were in control of the play for much of the series. They had way more offensive zone time, shot attempts & scoring chances. While they do have a fair share of lazy players (Marner, Nylander & sometimes Kapanen), they still seemed to be on the ice for more chances than against.

The reason why the Leafs lost in my opinion was rather due to their inability to defend off the rush & poor shooting accuracy. I feel with an improved defence & possibly a better season from Marner, they will be in a better circumstance.

A lot of people say that the Blue Jackets heavily outplayed and outworked the Leafs in last season’s best of 5 series. Do you guys agree with that?

Honestly I felt the Leafs were in control of the play for much of the series. They had way more offensive zone time, shot attempts & scoring chances. While they do have a fair share of lazy players (Marner, Nylander & sometimes Kapanen), they still seemed to be on the ice for more chances than against.

The reason why the Leafs lost in my opinion was rather due to their inability to defend off the rush & poor shooting accuracy. I feel with an improved defence & possibly a better season from Marner, they will be in a better circumstance.

A lot of people say that the Blue Jackets heavily outplayed and outworked the Leafs in last season’s best of 5 series. Do you guys agree with that?

Honestly I felt the Leafs were in control of the play for much of the series. They had way more offensive zone time, shot attempts & scoring chances. While they do have a fair share of lazy players (Marner, Nylander & sometimes Kapanen), they still seemed to be on the ice for more chances than against.

The reason why the Leafs lost in my opinion was rather due to their inability to defend off the rush & poor shooting accuracy. I feel with an improved defence & possibly a better season from Marner, they will be in a better circumstance.

I have been saying this for the last three years and I still believe it is relevant today: Leafs need to win NOW.

Not to suggest that the Leafs have an aging core, ticking away at their strengths, they're not old. The four elite players are all at great ages. Though with nearly 40m in four players, plus being in a Toronto market, you can't expect these elite guys to continue to 'trust the process' at this point in their careers. So, in conclusion to that point, the hourglass is filling as seasons go by without playoff success; Marner or someone else will HAVE to be moved. Which would only set TOR back.

In my opinion, Dubas did a very moderate job at improving the D. Yes, on paper and most likely on the ice, this d-core SHOULD be better than last season, but at the competition level the Leafs are at now, the d-core needs more. I bet it wasn't Dubas' first choice, but Brodie isn't the guy who is going to reset the entire narrative of the Leaf's D-core. Leafs need someone strong, trustworthy, and defensively sound. Reilly is what I like to call sub-elite, a top 25 defenseman in the league no doubt. Plus, you got a rising star in Sandin. What is in common between the two? Both severly offensive. Reilly is not Karlsson offensive, where the two-way play in miniscule, but rather offensively minded. You need to supply him with a Weber type guy; a Pulock, Ristolainen, Parayko, etc. A slower, simpler defenseman with no risk.

One thing a lot of Leaf fans are failing to address is the possibility that Simmonds sucks, Thornton is washed up, Bogosian is useless at the NHL level, Spezza's time has finally ran out, and Vesey is equally disappointing as he was in NY. These aspects COULD WEIGH THE SUCCESS OF THE TEAM DOWN. Though, luckily for Leaf fans, there's some decent NHL level depth with the addition of fairly exceptional AHL depth. Barabanov is looking like a solid bottom 6 guy (for this season and next, could be top 9/top 6 guy one day), and he is just one of the fairly unnoticed AHL guys who could really support this Leafs team effectively.

If I was Dubas, depending on the first month and half of hockey, depending on the teams performance I would be actively shopping Marner and Nylander to get a proven RHD, or at least a prospect and many picks. I would commit to the development of Mac Hollowell because he is a small, puck-moving RHD who isn't rough and tough but extremely trustworthy with the puck on his stick along with decent-to-immense offensive upside (VERY dependant on rate of development). I would see what I could do to move Tavares if they can't make it first round, what a terrible signing.

Nah, Columbus crushed them. They looked like 5 monkeys trying to screw a football setting up in the offensive zone. Columbus is a great team, man. Very hard to play against, especially when they have the lead. People think the Leafs were the favourite going into that series but they weren’t. I mean, look what they did to Tampa last year, amirite?

I disagree with the win now sentiment. We have a wave of impactful prospects on ELCs due to come up in the next couple of years and that's when I think it'll be the optimal time. The F core is about to be bolstered by guys like Robertson, Amirov, Hallander, etc. all coming in on elcs, even the D core will have Sandin and Liljegren at sub 1m. If some of our prospects make their expected jump over the next couple years the team will should be in a good position. Even if all of the prospects in 2 years are only bottom 6 players (which I don't think will be the case with a guy like Nrob) we'll have some quality young depth and some freed up cap

Also how on earth is signing an elite #1C for no assets a bad deal?

He played through injuries all last year and was ~p/pg player. Year prior, full healthy, 47 goals. I don't see why that's so bad.

kapanen was lazy quite a bit more than marner or willy imo

also, the reason we lost that series is because our bottom 6 wasn't good enough to really generate anything. We designed all 4 lines to score, and the top 2 lines did 'fine' (not good enough, but colombus was also insane and their goaltending was record breaking), registered some points, dominated play with their skill, but kerf/kappy/johnsson/robertson couldn't do anything. the 4th line was alright but still didn't register a point

by adjusting our bottom 6 to be some vets, grinders and bigger dudes, hopefully they can have more luck in a tight playoff series

it'll also help not having marincin playing 15-20 minutes a night defending a 3-0 lead

Outstanding goaltending, some solid coaching, and shutdown work by Jenner and Foligno were the difference makers for Columbus.
The leafs were burdened by lack of effort from Marner and Nylander *cue the points put up arguments. Several of those points came in CBJ collapse in game 4 FYI.
Oh and Stone Hands Kapanen shooting the puck at Korp and Merz’ chest every opportunity.
IMO the leafs only had complete efforts from:
- Matthews. Who showed me why we pay him so much
- Tavares.
- Rielly. Look how many minutes he had to play with the Muzzin injury
- Kerfoot. Seriously I thought he played excellent.

A lot of people say that the Blue Jackets heavily outplayed and outworked the Leafs in last season’s best of 5 series. Do you guys agree with that?

Honestly I felt the Leafs were in control of the play for much of the series. They had way more offensive zone time, shot attempts & scoring chances. While they do have a fair share of lazy players (Marner, Nylander & sometimes Kapanen), they still seemed to be on the ice for more chances than against.

The reason why the Leafs lost in my opinion was rather due to their inability to defend off the rush & poor shooting accuracy. I feel with an improved defence & possibly a better season from Marner, they will be in a better circumstance.

I’m gonna be echoing a lot of what’s already been said, but I am really happy with this team on paper, but I also said that last year. They’re a really well rounded team, and have lots of vocal vets now to push the best outta the younger players. And I honestly think they have a defense in the top half of the league, on paper. But again, I’ve said that before and they’ve underperformed immensely. So realistically, it all depends on how they perform, they could easily be a cup team, but they also could miss the playoffs, you never know with Toronto. With that said I love this roster, I love how complete they are and I love the jam they added with guys like simmonds and bogo. So there’s no room for excuses now, if they don’t get over the hump, I don’t think it’s on Dubas, I think at that point you have to start changing up the core. It’s a real prove it year

What'd you guys think of my analysis on the Leafs? What points do you agree or disagree with?

Thanks for the feedback. I think it’s too much to ask for guys like Tavares, Marner & Nylander to go to the dirty areas, win puck battles & backcheck. As skilled as they are, they are too lazy & one dimensional to change. That’s why the GM brought in guys like Hyman, Mikheyev, Barabanov, Engvall, Vesey, Anderson, Simmonds & Thornton. All those guys are feisty & hardworking, maybe they’ll set an example for the stars. I would’ve loved to get Maroon. I really wanted the Leafs to sign him, Clifford & Martin.

I agree with your take on Andersen.

Tavares is lazy and one-dimensional. Won't go to dirty areas? Are you sure you've watched the Leafs?

Nylander scoring more goals from in-tight then anyone else in the league last year, also suggests he's not afraid to go to dirty areas.

And Marner isn't Hyman, and we don't need him to be.

Leafs shot 2% at 5v5 vs CLB. No one wants to hear this after a couple prior playoff disappointments (where they outplayed a team that was the better them each season, and they were the underdog each time), but luck played a big part in the Leafs losing to Clb. They were the better team for most of the series.

Now they've added Brodie, and some depth on D (muzzin getting hurt obviously had an effect in playoffs as well).

And they've added some different ingredients up front. They had a lot of the same type of player, added some bigger bodies that should be better at getting those garbage goals when it matters.

They have more depth up front and the backend (as far as legit NHL options) then they've likely ever had, Campbell should be able to spell Andersen (and there's even decent options if he struggles).

So I'm fairly optimistic going into the season. And barring a total collapse at some point, I'd be alright in giving the core and staff a few years to put their vision in motion.

I was mostly talking about Marner since he plays like Kane in terms of physically & defensive contribution but over generalized. Tavares is very strong along the boards & wins puck battles but OP was referring to his defensive play ( he didn’t backcheck in NYI). Nylander does drive to the net but OP meant he doesn’t win puck battles in the corners.

Well, you name all 3 as being lazy, one dimensional, etc.

You don't have to agree with everything everyone posts on here.

Tavares is a much different player from Marner and Nylander.

I decided to make this post because I want to give my expectations and overview on the Leafs team for this upcoming season.

I actually feel pretty optimistic about this roster as in my opinion, it is the strongest and most complete team they’ve had since the rebuild finished. Although I don’t think they are as stacked as the favourites Tampa or Colorado, I do think they have enough quality on paper to be contenders and compete against other teams.

Analyzing the roster, they have an excellent forward group. All four of their big guns (Matthews, Tavares, Marner and Nylander) are elite. This can be proven from their high production and play driving rates throughout their careers. As long as they each play at their best level, generating goals should not be an issue.

Furthermore, I feel the Leafs have built themselves to become a tougher team to play against. They now have several forwards (Thornton, Hyman, Mikheyev, Vesey, Simmonds, Anderson and Barabanov) who are known to be hardworking players. These guys will go to the dirty areas and win puck battles so that the team gets possession back. In the past, the team has always been criticized of being too soft. It seems like they went down the Tampa route to add grit.

Another area of weakness has been the Leafs’ defence. I feel it has also been strengthened this offseason. Looking at their on ice results, the top 4 (Rielly, Muzzin, Brodie and Holl) are all pretty solid. 3 of those guys are top pair level guys as they have done well in that role. The bottom pair is rather cheap but both Dermott and Lehtonen have a lot
of hype around them. Bogosian is a weak spot, but if he performs like how he did during the first 3 rounds of the playoffs for Tampa, I wouldn’t be upset.

I’m not going to talk about goaltending cuz I’m pretty confident in them. Overall looking at their roster on paper, they have all the pieces to a contender. The one glaring weakness is that they only have enough cap space to run a 21 man roster. If they struggle and disappoint like they did last season, it will be because their top guys underperformed. One of their guys (Marner) is known to be pretty lazy and cancerous. If he demonstrates his antics again it will be detrimental to the team.

Overall I think the Leafs did a great job improving their team under the flat cap circumstance but this will probably be their only chance to win a cup with this core. They have to make it count.

Please stop pinging me with massive text blocks.

Most of what you said is a repeat of the last few years. Bogosian is not going to be carried by Hedman anymore, and I’m assuming Lehtonen will be the annual “cheap FA defenseman that might exceed expectations but never does” for Toronto.

Leafs fans can blame Marner or Tavares or Marincin or Dubas or whomever, as always. The defense is still not defensive enough.

Leafs and Columbus was a series of a couple of middling NHL teams. Went to the deciding game....Leafs were hardly crushed as a Leaf hater suggested. If Leafs a goalpost and crossbar shot had been goals, in game seven, then maybe the Leaf win the series. Then like Columbus did, probably win just one game in the next series.

I get that leaf fans want them to be this vastly improved team but I just dont see it. Brodie is a better fit then Barrie, whether or not we find out ho much of a product of Giordano he was or not though will be the question. Simmonds and Clifford are pretty much a wash in the same position, difference is their age and how Simmonds will hold up in a compressed schedule. Adding Thorton is kind of useless, he will make the second wave pp better, where he fits in the line up every night is where I question it, they're gonna have to alternate between him, Spezza and kerfoot in those bottom 6 center positions. Bogosian on defence toughens them up a bit but still just a depth dman that isnt gonna play every game.

The biggest thing is that they are still easy to play against. The big 4 will put up points, that's guaranteed, beyond that though Toronto will be in tough in this new division. Their stars will be targeted every game like always, but playing the same tough competition every game will wear on them. Add in injuries to any of the big names, with no depth skill to replace them and Toronto will struggle. Playing 3-4 games a week, with more back to backs and no breaks against easy teams (except Ottawa) will test this team more then they have been in the past.

Think they finish in the top half of this division, but they wont be able to pull away from any one team and if they suffer injuries to multiple star players then they are likely battling for a playoff spot. This season will be unpredictable though so will be fun to watch.