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The Lineup Going Forward

zeke

zeke

Well-known member
I'll start....


2019-2020

Leivo 26 - Matthews 22 - Marner 22
Grundstrom 22 - Nylander 23 - Kapanen 23
Korshkov 23 - Kadri 29 - Brown 25
Soshnikov 25 - Gauthier 24 - Hyman 27
(Johnsson 25 - Brooks 23 - Bracco 22)

Rielly 25 - Liljegren 20
Gardiner 29 - Zaitsev 28
Dermott 23 - Rosen 25
(Borgman 24 - Rasanen 20)

Andersen 30
Sparks 26
(Woll 21)
 
Pipeline is pretty damn good for the next few years. Should be able to competently fill out the roster.

With that in mind, I wonder if the best approach with JVR/Bozak isn't to acquire draft picks.
 
BeLeafer said:
Pipeline is pretty damn good for the next few years. Should be able to competently fill out the roster.

With that in mind, I wonder if the best approach with JVR/Bozak isn't to acquire draft picks.
Click to expand...
That's the direction that I've been leaning towards for a while.

We obviously don't need any more bodies up front back for either of them. And I'm not convinced that any team's going to give us a worthwhile defenseman with any control for a pending UFA. But we could get draft picks, which you could either use to strengthen the pipeline, or use them as ammunition at the deadline if this team's really looking poised to make a serious run this year.

Another thought that popped into my mind would be to try and pry Kiril Kaprizov's rights out of Minnesota. He just re-upped in the KHL for another three years, which might mean that he's not much use to a team built around an older core (Koivu, Suter, Parise) that probably needs to win now. But Kaprizov's situation would almost be ideal for the Leafs---by the time he comes over to North America, our big guns will all be on their big deals, and the Leafs will be looking for bargain high-end talent wherever they can add it.
 
I'd really like to see them build up the pipeline depth at centre. The only viable guys after the NHL roster are Brooks and Gauthier. They look good for the next two to three years. It's after that point that they need to develop some viable centremen, if only for roster depth/flexibility. They have time to draft and develop and an additional first round pick or two would really help.

I'm not too worried about the blueline depth; there's a lot of defensemen with good potential. I may be overly optimistic but I think we've got at least two or three really good blueliners coming up over the next two to three years.
 
I'm not worried about anything. This is a dynasty in the making.

I'm worried about what happens when the kids retire.
 
We have a #1 and #2 centre already and Nylander who will eventually play centre. I'm not worried about our depth as we can always sign a vet 3rd/4th line centre who wants a shit at the cup.
 
Another thing to look at is that our roster is overstuffed at the moment. I'm still near certain they'll make moves before the season, because right now we look like this:


Marleau - Matthews - Nylander
VanRiemsdyk - Bozak - Marner
Komarov - Kadri - Brown
Martin - Moore - Hyman
(Soshnikov - Leivo)

Gardiner - Zaitsev
Rielly - Hainsey
Marincin - Carrick
(Marchenko)

Andersen
(McElhinney)

meaning that there's no room at all for the likes of Kapanen/Dermott/Liljegren and guys like Sosh and Leivo are still getting scratched while Fehr, Smith and Rychel are getting waived.


The Marlies lineup would be looking something like this at the moment:


Fehr - B.Smith - Kapanen
Rychel - Aaltonen - Johnsson
Grundstrom - Gauthier - Korshkov
Timashov - Moore - Lindberg
(Brooks - Bracco)

Dermott - Rosen
Borgman - Liljegren
Nielsen - Valiev
(Holl)

Sparks
(Kaskisuo)


which looks a bit overstuffed in terms of legit prospects to me.
 
Why are you putting Korshkov into your Marlies lineup?

He's still under contract in Russia for this coming season, he hasn't yet been signed to an ELC, and he and hasn't come to any of the Leaf off-season prospect events.

As for the roster being "overstuffed", it definitely is, but I'm not convinced they'll do anything about it before the start of the season.
 
It all really depends on their mindset.

Does management genuinely believe we can with the Cup as early as this year? If so, the roster will remain as stuffed as possible, and JVR and Bozak will play out the year with us.

If they're still thinking we're a year or two away, they'll probably trade one or both, but maybe they'd wait until the deadline to do it.
 
That's why I was questioning why we're bothering with this exercise in the first place.

There will be trades and turnover.
 
hmm, maybe 1 or 2 guys, but the system is too flush with cheap depth to need to go outside the org much, especially since that roster would be banging up against the cap already.
 
Think they wait until at least two months before they make moves. Probably want to see how everyone looks, before just slotting youngsters into the lineup.

Tbh, don't really think Sosh deserves a spot atm anyways. And injuries are gonna happen so leivo will find a way into the lineup.
 
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