Quoting: Byrr
'Hey, we've only scored 1 5on5 goal across 2 games. This could be a massive issue.'
Fans fix: 'Lets replace our 3rd pairing RHD and 4th line C.'
Yeah, that's also without Matthews though.
Not saying that I disagree at all, but for the sake of conversation, I'm genuinely curious as to how you could go about improving this roster. To me, the whole "Trade Engvall, Dermott, and Mikheyev" thing is kind of a tired effort on here. They're depth players who I would be extremely surprised to see any sort of return on, let alone someone who would bite. Yes, they're all useful depth guys, but every team in the league has an Engvall, a Dermott, and a Mikheyev. This isn't meant to be a slight towards any of those guys, because they're all fine, it's just (Again, IMO) not realistic to think that there are teams out there that have interest in helping the Leafs out of their cap issues.
So, let's say the challenge is "How do we improve the team's even strength scoring without the classic "Engvall, Dermott and Mikheyev to wherever for whatever" trade, followed by a 1st and 3rd for a rental". How do you do it? Is it purely a lineup adjustment? Like, I don't know exactly where he is in his development, but I personally would have skipped the Nick Ritchie signing, and had Robertson up to fill that spot, followed by some depth signings to fill out the AHL roster. That gives you a bit more space to evaluate the team in over the first couple of months. Aside from that, I'm not exactly sure what the right way to improve it would be.
Thoughts?