The devils had more points in the regular season, won 2 more games, and had a 56% xgoals% compared to the leafs 54%. "nothing to prove theyre better"

The devils and leafs had the same strength of schedule.

Bert domi and klingberg are on the way down not up.

The team that won more games and had more points, as well as a better goal differential? yeah I'd say that's the better team

Man, obviously with those tough defensive teams like Columbus, Philly, Pits, Washington... Really making it it tough for those goals for and points...

It's obivious with the head to head who's the better team

The Devils and Leafs didn't have the same strength in schedule... one team had to play Buffalo, Boston, Tampa, Florida, Detroit, Ottawa more... the other had to ply Columbus w injuries, Pit, Was, Philly, NYR, NYI more... Big difference in team quality

All three are in their primes so IDK what you're talking about

NJD 112 points
TO 111 points

Both lost in the 2nd round.

Edge NJD. Pretty simple to figure out who was better last year.

Now let's compare BUF's top-9 to these two teams

NYR and NYI as bad teams lol.
Both teams are in the east so they have to play the other eastern division 3 times.

So you're arguing the difference between 7 games

Carolina vs boston (edge Boston)
NYR vs Tampa (edge NYR)
NYI vs Florida =
Pitt vs Buffalo =
Wash vs Ott (edge ott)
Det vs Philly (edge det)
CBj vs MTL (edge MTL)

but keep stressing over the difference between a MTL Det Ott Tampa Boston slate vs a CBJ Philly NYR Carolina Wash slate.

Player development all but stops at about 25 and the decline generally starts around 28.

You simply lost all credibility arguing things such as Tavares over Hischier, Domi and Bertuzzi over Toffoli and Mercer, and Kampf and Jarnkrok over guys like Palat and Haula. You can debate about Holtz vs Knies if you want but generally accross the board holtz has been ranked better. And that's giving you the benefit of the doubt and saying you aren't considering this scenario having Buchnevich, anpther PPG 30 goal scorer tiers above anyone but your core 4.

The Devils were 2 points ahead of the Leafs lol, and that's with the Leafs DCore decimated, 14 points... It's 100% enough to put the Leafs comfortably ahead of the Devils lol

No, the Prime of a player is 27-30, That's why guys like Ovi and Stammer scored 60 in their age 27-30 year... Why McDavid's still getting better, sane with Thompson and Marner and Nylander... But keep spreading misinformation... BTW, Flo>>>NYI and Buffalo's better than Pit

Tavares scores so differently than everyone else and offers leadership and Bert and Domi are just better than Toffoli and Mercer, plain and simple... And Kampf/Jarnkrok are such a better 3rd liner than Haula and Palat

Knies is also much better than Holtz...

IDK why you are blinded but you lost me at Matthews isn't as good as Hughes when the opposite is true

Just cuz i got time on my hands and just using the easy G comp:

B1 -Tage 47
N1 - Hughes 43
T1 -Matthews 40
T2-Nylander 40
N2 - Meier 40
T3 -Tavares 36
B2- Tuch 36
B3 - Skinner 35
N3 - Toffoli 34
N4 - Bratt 32
N5 - Hirschier 31
B4 - Cozens 31
T4 - Marner 30
B5 - Olofsson 28
N6 - Mercer 27
T5 - Jarnkrok 20
T6- Domi 20
B6 - Mitts 15
B7 - Quinn 14
N7 - Haula 14
B8 - Peterka 12
T7 - Lafferty 12
B9 - Okposo 11
T8 - Bertuzzi 8
N8 - Palat 8
T9 - Kampf 7
N9- McLeod 4

I'm sure I probably messed this up somehow...but if I am remotely correct:

top-3:
B -118
N -117
T - 116

top-6:
N - 90
B -74
T - 70

top-9:
B - 37
T - 27
N -26

Total:
N - 233
B - 229
T - 213

Yeah domi is so good, that's why he couldn't get any offer besides a 1 year 3 million dollar deal, and bertuzzi also took a 1 year deal when the money he wanted wasn't out there. The market doesn't lie. NHL gms agree that these guys aren't what leafs fans think they are.

And again if you want to talk about actual LINES instead of player talents.

the NUMBER 1 line in hockey last year for xgoal%. Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Erik Haula.
Top 5 was also Hischier Tatar Mercer.

Matthews is better than Hughes right now, I never said otherwise (although that may not be true by the end of the year).

Knies being better than Holtz is also once again leafs fan bias. Prospect rankings almost all across the board have Holtz ranked higher.

Bert and Domi wanted 1 year deals to cash in next season to try and rack up points... Which other teams would they go to other than Toronto (Domi took a paycut to play in Toronto too)...

Aren't we dicussing top 9? Offense and Defence? And again, xG doesn't matter but if you want to use an irrelevant stat, sure... In almost every xG stat, not only is Matthews ahead of Hughes and Hischier, so is JT and Marner is just behind HIschier and Hughes... 3 out of 5 are Leafs

It was the 1rst thing you said

If Holtz is better than Knies, surely Holtz would have produced in the playoffs, right?

FYI: head to head:

Tor: 2-0-1 vs NJD
TOR 2-1-0 vs BUF
BUF 1-2-0 vs NJD

Such a small sample size...

What was the BUF v TO record in the season prior...

And for that matter the past 20 years?

You are using 3 games to make a point?

Weren't we disscussing who was better last year? Wouldn't head to head be a generally good indicator on who's better?

Cripple fight!

The Edmonton Oilers have the best offense in the league. Nobody else is particularly close.

That’s simply not true about xgoala%

At even strength:

Hischier: 59.6%
Hughes: 57.9
Bratt: 57.7
Palat: 58.7
Haula: 56.9
Timo: 56.8 (and yes that includes his sharks tenure playing on a garbage team)
Mercer: 55.8
Toffoli: 58%

Leafs:
Matthews: 57
Nylander: 56.4
Marner: 56
Tavares: 54.7
Jarnkroo: 52.2
Kampf: 49.7
Domi: 43.7 (YIKES)
Bertuzzi: 52.2%

Only your 3 top players match up to the devils entire top 9 (holtz and Knies excluded due to lack of sample size)

all of this data can be easily found on moneypuck but the leafs delusion remains

Yes it is, expected goals is useless bc if it not only has no classification, it doesn't rely on results like other stats do

And I love how you excluded the PP, bc part of the top 9 is PP and the Leafs had the 2nd best PP in the league... And PK, bc the Leafs have one of the better PKs in the league too which features their top 9.

If xG really did matter, the Leafs would have beaten the panthers and the Canes... But they didn't because xG is useless

Outside of 2 guys, that's not true but Ok

I can use all situations if you want:
Hughes:64.5
Hischier 61.1
Mercer: 58
Toffoli: 63.3
Meier:59.5
Palat:61.3
Bratt:64.9
Haula: 54.4

Domi: 51
Bertuzzi: 58.2
Matthews: 63.8
Marner: 58.2
Nylander: 64.1
Tavares: 63.3
Kampf: 42.2 (yikes)
Jarnkrok: 49%

Once again outside of haula the devils top 9 destroys everything but your core 4

The Oilers scored more goals than any other team last year. And you can't arbitrarily remove those two guys from the team, they're part of it.

Top scoring teams last year:

1. EDM: 325 goals
2. BOS: 301
3. BUF: 293
4. SEA: 289
5. NJD: 289
6. FLA: 288
7. DAL: 281
8. TBL: 280
9. TOR: 278
10. LAK 274
11. COL 274

Pretty funny to see the #5 and #9 teams fanbases arguing over who is better. The Leafs would somehow need to find ~50 goals to be in the conversation for best offense.

#2 is wide open though, feel free to argue for that.

But again, xG doesn't matter... Bc it doesn't do anything and doesn't show results

xG matters because it is a skill to be producing xG (and to effectively suppress xG, as a defender). Goals are a lot about luck and opposing goalies. Over the course of the last 15 years public xG% has proven to be better at predicting the outcomes for any given team over the course of a season compared to box scores, head-to-head etc.

Here’s a fairly informative thread on the matter. As long as you have a rudimentary understanding of probabilities and regression it’s an easily digestible read. https://twitter.com/bruins_analyst/status/1695980805313401224?s=46&t=MCqecojlL7qtwEDbOWTSzg

Not only is EDM behind Toronto, they are also behind NJD in the top 9 discussion... Their biggest assets are Draisaitl and McDavid and their PP. Without either of those 2, EDM is one of the worst top 9s in the league... playing agaisnt the no defence Pacific... At least the Metro is near the Atlantic... Playing against team like ANA, SJ, VAN, CAL will boost your stats (as seen by 4 teams getting 100 points)

But please, feel free to argue for 3rd with the other teams

Too bad I posted facts that killed your opinion before you even spewed it.



I'll have fun watching the #1 offense in the league this year while you busy yourself with delusions of grandeur.