They just got hit hard to their Dcore last night and have McCarron going into the NHL substance abuse program.

Of all the guys I could see just needed a fresh start on a new team is Tolvanen. Just last year he had 11 goals and 23 points in 75 games last season but his 176 hits (27th-most among forwards), 45 blocked shots and 15 takeaways.

There is a lot of upside here

anyone know like, suppose we went and put in a trade offer for him right now, can he then still be claimed on waivers?

Players on waivers can't be traded.

ah i see, makes sense.

For a 24 hour period following publication of the list, players on waivers cannot be loaned or traded.

Keefe has done wonders for him tough parenting has worked

We might have a good Dman problem once Rielly comes back as per Keefe he loves what he sees from Timmins. So unless there is a drastic change I dont think he wants to take him out. So ironically we may see a Dman play at the forward position at some point or see Timmins/Holl rotate but then if Benn comes back things gonna get strange.

Rielly - Liljegren
Sandin - Brodie
Giordano - Timmins
Holl
Benn

But the thing is Holl surprisingly since all the injuries has been good especially on the PK. Yes there was that one incident but hey it happens. So taking him out makes no sense either. Its gonna be interesting when everyone's healthy who is taken out. But honestly a D at forward could be interesting and I have seen teams do it in the past (Colorado especially)

Holl could honestly be a cap casuality if we go out and add a top 6 forward

idk man he's playing some of the best hockey I've seen him play, if he's found his groove with Gio he's invaluable to the d-core right now, especially the PK. And I'm usually a pretty anti-Holl guy.

I think Timmins comes out. Maybe they give Gio some rest games and let Timmins in and try to get him involved. Everyone else is established on this D-core and Timmins is the 7th D. I'm sure there will be more injuries and he'll get his opportunity

Having too many good, cheap D-men is the furthest thing from a problem. What would we have done in this stretch without Holl? And without our depth D?

Every fukcin day 👍

market value 9.5M gawddamn

Im honestly not sure Gio will ever slow down. He is an absolute horse, so glad he is a Leaf

only slowing offensively but who gives af still good enough and an absolute stud defensively

I am looking forward to when we are back to full health so they can pull back on Giordano’s mins. I want him fresh for the playoffs.

There are going to be some really tough decisions for the Dcore once everyone is healthy:

Does Sandin and Liljegren stay together?
Does Sandin keep his position on PP1?
How many games does Timmins get in, who sits for him?
Where does Benn fit in?

Nice problems to have but not easy ones to answer.

Ideally for me:

Rielly Brodie
Sandin Liljegren
Giordano Holl

I like Holl for what he is, but if I'm Dubas I would sell high on Holl, replace him with Timmins, use the cap space to add a top 6 forward, and then carry Benn as a number 7

Yes, they stay together until/unless they prove they can't, which I don't foresee happening.
Yes, its Sandin's to lose. Keep the momentum and it only makes PP2 more dangerous. Make it competitive though, create some internal competition between the two of them on who gets PP1.
Think Timmins gets in by letting Gio rest some games. 39 years old and played a lot of hockey lately. Could probably even go 11 and 7 for a bunch of games as well. And im sure we'll have an injury.
Benn is pure depth, won't get in games unless there's injury. As good as he was when he filled in Timmins is more promising and more important to get in games.

Holl at his best is invaluable as a defender and PK specialist. He's found his groove with Gio and unless that changes he's so important when at his best. Awful at his worst, but so damn good at his best. You can never have too many quality defenders as we've seen through this stretch.

My 1 major concern with Holl, who has stepped up huge for this team with all the injuries, is he makes some brain dead mistakes that really cost this team.

And when the margin for error in the playoffs is soooo small, IF they can upgrade over him (Jensen) that would be ideal. If not, IMO the best approach just might be to reduce his mins, keep him for PK and play him on the 3rd pairing.

It sickens me we are most likely playing TBL again in the 1st round.

For me, I’d look at moving Kerfoot (and his cap hit) to upgrade the forward core.

not even sure we have to move Kerfoot to do it. I'd move Engvall before him, but there's a chance we could keep both and still get a meaningful forward upgrade.

This is how I see the D shaking out

Rielly-Brodie roughly 23 mins a night
Sandin-Liljegren roughly 18.5 mins a night
Gio-Holl roughly 18.5 mins a night

Engvall > Kerfoot

And it’s not even close. They Leafs are a better team with Engvall on the ice than Kerfoot.

And with Kerfoot’s higher cap hit, allows you to add more

strongly disagree, Kerfoots value to this team the past few years is so underlooked. He's the first guy called upon when a top 6 C gets injured, can play anywhere lines 1 through 4, PK, PP if needed, strong defensively, 50 EV points last year. Slow production start this year but you can say the same for Engvall, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. Still extremely valuable for his versatility. 6 points in 7 games when called upon to be the 2C in the MTL series, outscored Matthews and Marner actually.

Can't say a lot of those things about Engvall. Good defensively, but you're not playing him outside of the bottom 6 and Kerfoot is going over the boards for a PK before him. Engvall's not playing C hardly ever, never mind in the top 6. For an extra 1.25M, I'm taking Kerfoot every day of the week

Yeah his decisions making sometimes is very questionable. The Tampa series with him was fine. The one move they called him on was costly but lets be honest Refs ignored how many similar plays before that. Like Tampa did it in 2 other series resulting in a goal but refs let it happen. Anyways lets see.

As if they are looking for upgrades there are options. But I would rather move one or both of Engvall and Kerfoot for a true 2-way 3c (Eller, Dvorak,etc) and a bottom 6 scoring RW

Honestly if u really think about it both could be gone

As we need a 3c and Kerfoot can PK in that role but 5 on 5 has never looked great. Meanwhile, Engvall's kind of getting thrown out by guys like Holmberg, Knies (once he joins), and heck Anderson impressed Keefe enough to get a longer look. Follow that with a potential Steeves call up yeah both are numbered