As a Flames fan, Leon Draisaitl is so much better than Auston Matthews that it is legitimately embarrassing that you can call yourself a hockey fan after saying that. The Oilers have Yamamoto and Kahun and that's something. Brodie will be a travesty in Toronto, we've seen this movie twice before. Oilers fans really think Kyle Turris will put them over the top lmao. You're right on that one. Also correct on the last part
Pls explain to me how Drai is “tremendously” better than Matthews ?? U have to be a casual fan, only looking at one side of the puck. Leon is by far one of the worst defensive players in the league. But still, I look forward to hearing you arguments
No he isn't lol, Matthews accomplished more at a younger age and has done it without McDavid boosting his stats and in less playing time. Also Draisaitl is a bad player defensively while Matthews is a terrific 2 way player. It's not close.
Exactly lol, some ppl look at how many points a player gets and disregard any other stats lmao
Pls explain to me how Drai is “tremendously” better than Matthews ?? U have to be a casual fan, only looking at one side of the puck. Leon is by far one of the worst defensive players in the league. But still, I look forward to hearing you arguments
Draisatl isn't better that Matthews, but its close. He was awful defensively when he played with mcdavid, but the 2nd half of last season he was average defensively when he centered his own line
Pls explain to me how Drai is “tremendously” better than Matthews ?? U have to be a casual fan, only looking at one side of the puck. Leon is by far one of the worst defensive players in the league. But still, I look forward to hearing you arguments
I wouldnt say tremendously better but as another Flames fan I do agree with @TheFlamingC that Draisaitl is the better player. However its a pointless argument since we are talking about top 10 centers in the league
Draisatl isn't better that Matthews, but its close. He was awful defensively when he played with mcdavid, but the 2nd half of last season he was average defensively when he centered his own line
I don't think they'll miss the playoffs but they're not close to as safe as everyone thinks. More cause for concern here than in the Atlantic.
Not at all, zero of the Canadian teams were good defensively, so what does the 3rd best offence have to worry about when they very much improved their defence and have a much better coach as well. It's highly unlikely they have as many injuries and judging by Andersen's past he'll be a solid goalie again. There is mountains of evidence to suggest TO is going to have a really big year and saying they will only be average is essentially wanting them to fail and hoping all the outlier stuff happens again.
Not at all, zero of the Canadian teams were good defensively, so what does the 3rd best offence have to worry about when they very much improved their defence and have a much better coach as well. It's highly unlikely they have as many injuries and judging by Andersen's past he'll be a solid goalie again. There is mountains of evidence to suggest TO is going to have a really big year and saying they will only be average is essentially wanting them to fail and hoping all the outlier stuff happens again.
Umm... Vancouver and Calgary have good defense but yea man
Pls explain to me how Drai is “tremendously” better than Matthews ?? U have to be a casual fan, only looking at one side of the puck. Leon is by far one of the worst defensive players in the league. But still, I look forward to hearing you arguments
I've never met anyone that disagrees with me on this actually. I think Barkov is better than Matthews. Matthews isn't winning any Selke's even if Draisaitl's d is bad. McDavid doesn't play with him anymore 5-on-5 so don't use that argument and the leafs have an equally dangerous PP when healthy. I can't defend his defence but the bottom line is that if you have a 130 point, 50 goal pace, you are better. Upon more thought, it isn't tremendous and I was too harsh but I will never budge on my opinion that's he's better
Umm... Vancouver and Calgary have good defense but yea man
Vancouver was not good defensively last season. They got by with fantastic goaltending. Calgary is a good team though, I just never really feel 100% confident in them. Not enough strength down the middle and I think losing Brodie coupled with Gio's age could make for some problems. I do like Tanev though.
He is very much well beyond his prime. He was in Calgary, and him signing in Toronto doesn't change that, as much as you want it to.
Quoting: LeafsFanForSomeReason
Being past your prime and being washed up are not the same thing.
I like Brodie but after his collapsing on the ice in 2019 there is no way I would have signed him to play on my top pairing. Toronto is taking a ton of risk with his signing, IMO they should have targeted someone like Hamonic.
I like Brodie but after his collapsing on the ice in 2019 there is no way I would have signed him to play on my top pairing. Toronto is taking a ton of risk with his signing, IMO they should have targeted someone like Hamonic.
Don't think they're taking that big a risk, tbh. He appears to have made a full recovery after a one time incident and went on to play the remainder of the season quite fantastically, plus playoffs. Also, considering he's a 20 million dollar investment in the middle of a global pandemic where everyone is losing money, I'm sure the organization, which has access to a ton more information than us, did their due diligence regarding that whole situation. And, if by chance they're wrong and this ends up being a recurring thing, I'm pretty sure Brodie would put his health and safety first and step away to be with his family, which, yeah would mean the Leafs would have to explore other avenues like the trade market, but they spent no assets on Brodie and were able to recuperate full value for the pieces they moved out to accommodate him, so they wouldn't really be at a loss.
Don't think they're taking that big a risk, tbh. He appears to have made a full recovery after a one time incident and went on to play the remainder of the season quite fantastically, plus playoffs. Also, considering he's a 20 million dollar investment in the middle of a global pandemic where everyone is losing money, I'm sure the organization, which has access to a ton more information than us, did their due diligence regarding that whole situation. And, if by chance they're wrong and this ends up being a recurring thing, I'm pretty sure Brodie would put his health and safety first and step away to be with his family, which, yeah would mean the Leafs would have to explore other avenues like the trade market, but they spent no assets on Brodie and were able to recuperate full value for the pieces they moved out to accommodate him, so they wouldn't really be at a loss.
Like I said I like Brodie always thought he was a good player, maybe my own family history with cardiac incidents plays a role here as well but I probably wouldn't have taken that risk. Your risk of a cardiac incident increases significantly with each one. It may not have cost the Leafs any assets other than money but if he does decide not to play and opts out of the season or worse has another episode on ice then the Leafs defense is significantly worse. I wonder though, if a player chooses to opt out does his cap hit still count against the team or is it like LTIR. Cause if Brodie sits out and his cap hit counts that puts the Leafs in even worse position.
Like I said I like Brodie always thought he was a good player, maybe my own family history with cardiac incidents plays a role here as well but I probably wouldn't have taken that risk. Your risk of a cardiac incident increases significantly with each one. It may not have cost the Leafs any assets other than money but if he does decide not to play and opts out of the season or worse has another episode on ice then the Leafs defense is significantly worse. I wonder though, if a player chooses to opt out does his cap hit still count against the team or is it like LTIR. Cause if Brodie sits out and his cap hit counts that puts the Leafs in even worse position.
Not as far as I know. If a player opts out, they don't even get paid their salary and they wouldn't be on your roster, so I can't imagine it would count against the cap.