It's telling that McCabe gets a pass from you. He's without a doubt terrible. He should be on the bottom pair.

Ohh trust me, McCabe isn't good. It's hard to find a replacement for what he brings at $2M. I would be more inclined to run Rielly, Z, and Gio (who needs a replacement as well)

Lol leaf’s don’t do any of this

Yup, they will

I expect Tre to get in on Zadorov at the min considering he called on him during free agency. He doesn't like soft defenses

If the leafs can make a Bruins Lindholm type trade, they'll be solid. I'd strongly consider trading Nylander for a legit top 2 man to anchor the second pair, someone like Provorov/Chychrun (that skill level, not those guys) etc. They're good enough to the point where they don't quite need a Norris caliber guy.

Yeah maybe zadorov but they don’t trade klingberg or Brodie or jarnkrok for less then a 3rd

For me, obviously I want a strong return for Nylander if we can't re-sign him. At the same time, his contract is way too valuable to give up for his production and if we can go on a run, its just better to keep him and hope for the best

I wouldn't hate the idea of acquiring McDonagh (but not as part of a Nylander move)

Zadorov is big and hits but he's also not very good defensively. Brodie is better. You get lost wanting all the hits, lose sight of how the game is actually played

You need dogs on the backend, big Z is just that. He intimidates opponents, all you need from a team in the playoffs

Dubas brought in Brodie and showed why he is a liability on the ice. He is the first defensemen I would get rid of

RELAX, the Leafs are 2-0-0, enjoy hockey, enjoy Matthews and relax until they get their 1rst loss, then we can start to panic

What rock did the Canes turn over to find extra cap space to add yet another defender?

Zadorov is a much worse defender than brodie and doesnt intimidate a fruit fly.
But weve been over this so many times. Some people just gotta have their big tall security blanket

Trevling may not like soft defences, but I wish you he liked good teams. His record as an NHL GM is poor. Then with the cap available this summer he signed 4.1m Klingberg. Not saying it was a bad signing but certainly doesn't confirm that likes "tougher" Dmen.

You are also just lost to violence. You'd have a team of goons that wouldn't make it to the playoffs if you were in charge. No one is scared of teams that run around hitting people but allow 5 goals a game.

Panthers had a team of goons which resulted in intimidating and manhandling the Leafs. Leafs lost because guys like Bennett and Gudas made the core four shrivel up

No they didn't, and they didn't carry the play in any series. Their goalie won them 3 rounds. When he lost his luck, Vegas scored a lot on him. Matthews hit the post vs Florida 5 times. That's pure bad luck.

I don't blame the series loss on luck though. The fact that TO had 1 total powerplay in the series was a contributor, the refs just didn't do their jobs in that series at all. No one was intimidated no one was muscled off the puck or anything like that. It's just media talking points that fans like to hear but there is no truth to it.

Keefe was terrible in that series as well. Didn't make any adjustments until it was too late. After game 1 the team should have tightened up and moved to a trap defence first system. Dump it to center and make Florida find a way to get inside and score. The only offence they found was transition quick strike offence. Take that away and they would have had a very hard time scoring goals. Keefe doesn't ever adjust though.

Yeah CBJ would do that. Although you could have already had Robinson for free, and he certainly shouldn't be on the 2nd line, so why not just Peeke for a 3rd and 4th?