Ahhhh...Justin Holl...the apple of our eyes...without being disrespectful to the player or anyone else, he should have been a reason not to explore opportunities to add a top level RD.

I'm not even going to talk about Muzzin as an RD because while he was adequate when used there, he was clearly better on LD.

I don't once remember Dubas exploring any RD options beyond 3rd pair. If you don't explore the option, you don't know what could be possible.

Dubas did have his eye on Jensen but Babcock stopped the trade. And before he was fired he did have talks for EK just could not get the cap to work

The thing was I understood why Dubas didnt look for a RD considering Holl, Brodie, Liligren coming up among other things. I feel if Brodie was not there they would have been scrambling for a top 4 RD trade.

Man the Holll hate still lives.
Let it go, he's a wing.

Muzzin I never liked on the right side... on the LD early was okay to me but I never liked the extension we gave him.
Be barley made it halfway thru it too.

I'd take Holl over Bosch easy right now but not over Lily.

Cade Webber has just been named defenseman of the week by Hockey East. I like this kid already

Hes a beast, reminds me of Brandon Carlo

apparently he's known to be an absolute shot blocking machine. Hard to score if you can't even get the puck to the net

His size and mobility are shocking. Top end speed is a little lackluster, but his reach makes up for it big time. He's so good defensively, so excited to see him with the Marlies soon

Definitely the highest upside LD we have.

I still love Chadwick the most rn, but I think Webber is going to have a shot a lot sooner. Nice to have some big D with potential in the system for sure

Chadwick is high on my list as well, I just would love to finally have a rough and tough defenseman

Fair enough, I'm a bit biased on Chadwick as I was hopeful Leafs would pick him in my 2023 pre-draft rankings/targets, and I've seen more of him to date

Hes ridiculously good, I personally didn't know a ton about him when we drafted him but I couldn't complain when we drafted a 6'4 defender

Who do you all think from our reserve list will get signed this summer? (Especially which expiring rights will get signed?)

Expiring Rights:

Expires Aug 15. 2024

Mike Koster (LD) - NCAA
Cade Webber (LD) - NCAA
Veeti Miettinen (RW) - NCAA

Expires June. 1 2024

Brandon Lisowsky (LW) - WHL

I really like how he's developed since being drafted, having a much better shot this year and an increased role as their #1D (Plus asst captain), hes gone from 0.3PPG to 0.85PPG this year, while also improving areas of weakness like skating noticably. I think getting a contract just a few months after being drafted in the 6th round shows how much he has grown already which is encouraging to me

Personally I am really hopeful for Webber to be signed, and I would like Lisowsky to be signed too, I think he may be one of the most if not the most underrated reserve list player on the leafs rn.

I think Koster and Miettinen both have a shot, but less so than Webber at the very least

Webber is 100% getting signed, I'd put my life savings on that. Koster should get an ELC, but he won't under our new regime. Miettinen could go either way, he's been solid as of late, probably an AHL deal. Lisowsky probably gets inked

You mean when the team had the flu and Lilly missed one of the surrounding games with the flu?

Keefe on Liligren "A guy we talk about daily in terms of needing & wanting more out of ... We got to help him thru it ... need Lily to skate, move pucks well & get pucks to the net, defend the rush well & I don’t think he’s done that to the level that we expect or have seen"

Brodie-Liligren against BOS was not good in either matchup and even when healthy when u read that quote its concerning to have him be the shutdown pair with Brodie against a team that can make u pay very fast. He wasnt good in either game and dont be overusing the FLU excuse its tiresome. If he was really that sick he would not be playing either game.

Here be an example

https://twitter.com/WatcherBruins/status/1764838450862190722

Leave him on the third pair where its less pressure and he can develop chemistry with Edmundson. Thats where he needs to be rn as Keefes quote especially does not sound like this guy will get top 4 again unless he really shapes up or they have an injury.

I think Webber, Veeti, and Lisowsky due to Minten

Webber I feel will get an ELC after his NCAA season is over and who knows

I feel the same

Little surprised with how much McMann got but meh its not crazy

Was thinking 1.1m like Hoglander but can live with 1.35m

Hes been good this year for the B6 and I have liked his energy

Now for Benoit

I'm not so optimistic on Webber. 23 year old college players rarely make a significant difference.
Kinda strange to me that the Leafs paid a pick to obtain him, when logic says, if a 2019 draftee hasn't signed yet, he's heading to be a UFA in August. But Leafs must know something to make the committment.




.

I really really like Webber, he is an giant who moves well and eats pucks for days. The Leafs are an organization who can offer Webber a real opportunity given our lack of LD depth (juxtaposed to Carolinas extremely deep LD pool), he's a genuinely good defenseman who we paid a late pick for. I'm not losing sleep over acquiring him for a 6th, and I don't think anyone should.

In Trelivings presser, he talked about how Cade was a guy the organization had been looking at for a while. They really like him, rightfully so. There are cases of these kind of prospects panning out well, like John Marino who was 23 when he began in the NHL after being traded by his draft team

He dont really got to be a significant difference maker. Put him on the third pair whenever they feel hes ready and let him do his thing. A lot of undrafted Dman start out that way and work their way up. Heck look at Brodie offense aint his speciality anymore yet before this year was prized for the defense he brought

When u read Barden's article about him and what the scouts were saying along with Brad they seem to believe he is ahead of typical development curves.

Look at McMann undrafted signs ELC plays with Growlers gets promoted to Marlies ties a record there and then goes to Leafs and never looked back and just got his first pay raise

I think we just need to be realistic about the expectations.

Assuming he signs...I think it's a terrific trade for what it was. We used a 6th to get a 4th round caliber d-man who's already had a few years to develop. He may or may not ever make it to the NHL level..just like any 4th round pick... but they have the advantage of more information and they obviously liked what they saw. Compared to what a late 6th round pick would likely yield? It's probably the best use of draft picks the leafs deployed this deadline.

Ding ding ding

I'm not expecting a sure fire top 4 defender, but betting on a guy that the organization clearly likes with those sort of traits is fine by me. To me, the Webber trade makes complete sense for all parties involved