Quoting: PleaseBanMeForMyOwnGood
That is connecting dots that have nothing to do with each other. When a team wins the cup, many point to some depth addition as the reason they won and that is entirely nonsense. Savard was of little importance. The Lightning won thanks to their stars. It's always the stars who do the heavy lifting and very few stars go around hitting everyone.
I also think "grit" and "hitting" are looked at as being the same and have little to do with each other. Good players fight through anything, Crosby gets targetted in the playoffs and just fights through it to win. Same with the Tampa stars. If TO is going to succeed in the playoffs. Matthews will need to enforce his will on every series, be the best player and want it more than anyone else. When that happens, all you really want is for everyone else to do your job. The team has proven they are a top team and their system calls for certain things.
They need to stay within that and then keep doing it consistently. If you really watch what leads to their breakdowns it's always transition where they took a bigger chance than they needed to. Limit that and they'll be a force. They are better defensively than Florida and Tampa from a GA/G point of view, how do they really improve that without damaging what makes them such a strong team? Changing 66% of their right side for tough guys who have little puck skills doesn't really help and could harm the teams possession in a big way.
hockey is a team sport this isn't the NBA, a team doesn't win solely off of the back of its stars. The stars are the driving factor and make or break it, but without appropriate support, they won't win. If the stars always make you win then we'd be seeing the Leafs, Oilers, or Avs in the finals every year
Look, I agree that the stars have to be able to play playoff hockey and excel, but the support has to be there as well. Tampa wouldn't have won without adding guys like Coleman, Goodrow, etc.
And yea the Leafs have been great defensively, doesn't mean they can't get better. Leafs were among the best defensive teams by those metrics last year too and that worked great. Holl has really been the one weaker link this season. Only necessary move is getting a better top 4 D. You could scrap all the other moves and have Holl on the 3rd pair, sure, I just personally think we need to move on from Holl being in our top 6