ah yes because u can play 13 forwards and 7 defensemen on opening night.

I put the scratches in the wrong spot whats it to ya?

Good luck with the opening night win thing. the 1st line will be like playing on the PK all night. Thornton is too slow to play on the top line, If he has to constantly play against Drouin-Suzuki-Anderson or Tatar-Danault-Gallagher he will most likely be in for a long night. Hell even if he has to play against Toffoli-Kotkaniemi-Armia he may have a hard time keeping up.

Both the Leafs and Habs have a 4th liner on their first line. difference is one signed for 700kx1yr, the other signed 5.5Mx7yr.

Also... lol. Suzuki is about to get man-handled by Matthews, Drouin is a middle 6 winger at best these days, and Marner will dominate that line as well.
Tatar - Danault - Gallagher will also be in tough against Tavares and Nylander. Good luck.

Not sure how you see as a 4th liner on Montreal's top line but ok! Remind me which team won all three games last season? Right, the Habs did and they out scored Toronto 14-5 in doing so! Yup the Leafs top line sure did manhandle ours last year LMAO! Matthews may have a size advantage but lets face it he couldn't handle Danault last season but somehow you expect him to handle Suzuki who has 1000x more skill LMAO!

I consider Josh Anderson a fourth liner because he literally fits that build - a bruiser that scored 4 points in 26 games. New season, new acquisitions. Matthews scored a point per game vs habs, he did fine. Suzuki more skill than Matthews? What a joke like you can't be serious.

With an injured shoulder! the season before he had 27 goals that is NOT a 4th liner. If it does that must mean that Nylander is a 4th liner too cause he had 7 goals and 20 assists in 54 games in 18-19! Umm, where did I say more skill than Matthews? I said Suzuki had 1000x more skill than Danault!

Why are you talking about Nylander during his contract holdout year? Nylander finished last season with 31 goals and 28 assists where he was also 12th in even strength goals. Nice try though.

my bad, misread that. I mean literally Danault is more valuable than an average 2nd liner solely because of his defence so if "containing" Matthews to a point per game is a feat Suzuki will have more trouble with it than Danault.

In Nylander's worst year he scored on a pace of 41 points in 82 games. Anderson's best season he scored 47 in 82 (following it up with a sub-par 3 points in 10 playoff games). Anderson's worst (and most recent year), he scored at a 13 point in 82 game clip. Nylander scored at a 72 point in 82 game pace. See my trend here? Nylander's worst season is still a decent one for Anderson. Even in his best year he produced middle 6 F numbers. Anderson deserved a one year, 2.5ish million dollar deal to prove that he can earn like 4ish mil, not a 7 year 5.5 mil. People criticize the Leafs contracts but this is by far worse than any of ours. Marner is typically the contract scapegoat - I'd still prefer to overpay a 94 point 22 year old by like 1.5 mil than lock myself into 5.5x7 with a bottom 6 F who has not proven himself to be anything better yet.

Finally someone that speaks my language

Because any of those players are going to be able to handle Matthews, Marner, Nylander or JT. Thorton isn't slow, he just doesn't have any quickness which doesn't matter because Matthews and Marner make up for that.

You are going to be awfully quiet very soon. And I am going to love it, unfortunately the Habs won't get to play against Hutchinson twice this year.

Remember that time Cheechoo scored 50 goals? Maybe you should have signed him too. Anderson is not going to be the big 30 goal scorer he's billed as. At best I think he'll have 2 or 3 20+ goal 40 point seasons and the rest will be 15 goals and 30 points and you'll regret the signing because better players will force him down the lineup and the contract will be terrible. You are such a homer.

Also the anti Holl group are just ridiculous. The guy is a good number 4 who makes 2 million a season. That is great value! Trading him for nothing because he didn't look good for 5 games while playing with Marincin and asked to shut down the oppositions best is literally the dumbest mentality anyone can have.

I have never liked Holl, I find Dermott to be much better. Just my opinion tho.

I like Dermott as well, both are good.

Not really Suzuki contained both Crosby and Malkin just fine in the playoffs, Matthews is equal to them maybe a step below Crosby.

I don't disagree about the contract Anderson got but 2 things come into play there, 1. I imagine when the deal was made the Blue Jackets had to agree that it was contingent on Anderson passing a physical by the Montreal doctors. 2. He passed his physical and was given an assurance that there would be no lingering side effects. As for points you skipped a year. Nylander's worst season was his rookie season where he put up 6 goals 7 assists for 13 points in 22 games almost the exact same as Anderson put up in the same number of games with an injured shoulder. Hmm, it seems like you like to compare apples to oranges as long as it suits your narrative. Instead of taking last season as an outlier for Anderson you want everyone to believe it is the norm. Sure he has not had the same kind of career as Nylander but to say he is a 4th liner based on one season where he only played 26 games and was never 100% is rediculous.

You traded away Domi and a 3rd round draft pick for Anderson. What you gave up for him and the contract you gave him makes him look like he is a consistent 30+ goal scorer which he isn't. You lost that trade by far.

Umm, they did just fine last season handling them! Thornton is slow both in top speed and quickness, he does not belong in the top 6 at this point in his career. You kind of just said exactly what I said in the beginning which was " the 1st line will be like playing on the PK all night". Matthews and Marner have to cover their own guys they cannot be expected to cover an additional guy all night cause Thornton can't keep up. That would be too taxing on them, which means either the Leafs don't play them as much or they are worn down by the third period. IMO it is just not a great strategy to play Thornton on the top line, Hyman did an excellent job there last year why change that now?

"To be considered a rookie, a player must not have played in more than 25 NHL games in any preceding seasons". Nylander played 22 games. Not his rookie season. I hardly count that. But sure, that season actually puts him at a 48 point in 82 game pace, one point more than Anderson's top year. So sure, call that his worst season. Its not "almost the exact same as Anderson put up in the same number of games with an injured shoulder", 4 points in 26 is a big difference from that.

Anderson was a consistent third line producer before the last two years. He had one year where he was a bit better, one where he was a lot worse. He's probably a third liner. So my "4th liner" might be harsh (though he was in his most recent season), but he is a bottom 6 F. And now he's making 5.5mil x 7.

Hey I never said the trade was good or that the contract made sense. There is no denying that MB undersells his players then gives out bad contracts to others. Quite honestly IMO he is one of the worst GM's in the league but that is another discussion lol. The comment above was Anderson was a 4th liner simply because he had 1 really bad season due to an injury, that is ridiculous to suggest.

Keefe clearly knows something we don't. They have also publicly stated that Thornton is much faster than one would think. If he can't keep up he will quickly be dropped down the lineup.

My point is many power forwards don't put up the same kinds of numbers as a pure sniper or a setup player. That doesn't mean that a power forward is not a top 6 player. Would I have given Anderson that contract? Absolutely not, like you said he should have been given a 1 year deal worth around 2.5-3 Mil but MB gives out ridiculous contracts based on god knows what logic he has.

The top line is going to have the puck all night. Matthews and Thorton will be so hard to handle on cycle and with Marner dancing around as well it'll look like a powerplay. The Leafs new 3rd line of Hyman, Kerfoot and Mikheyev will slow down your top line and that will mean that one of JT or Matthews will play your 3rd line and that is going to he just a wrecking ball all night. Face it, you just don't have the top end talent to compete.

Right? Capfriendly logic - Marner is paid way too much but Anderson is a good contract as is a guy like Skinner.