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The Official 2026 Off-Season Thread: Revenge of the Nerds

leafman101 said:
i like that he thinks the number 1 pick is never traded because the teams picking 5 don’t want to move up.

It’s the opposite idiot. No one is trading McKenna for Malhotra to get more picks.
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Apparently Button's been assuring Canucks fans that they shouldn't be disappointed about losing out on the #1 pick, and that they should be happily selecting Malhotra with their #3 pick---even if Stenberg is still available.
 
I can see why SJS would take Reid/Carels over Stenberg. They are at a stage where going positional if it’s close makes sense.

Vancouver taking nepo baby Malholtra cause C would be batshit. I think I have Caleb behind McKenna, Ivar, Carels and Reid easily and maybe Veerhoff as well

I’ve decided I’d be upset if CHI took him over a D
 
Granted this was a year ago but:


TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button was on "SC with Jay Onrait" on Wednesday night and was asked to give an NHL player comparable to McKenna.

"Nikita Kucherov. You know, when you watch Nikita Kucherov play, he's got that same subtle approach to the game, he uses deception, he uses fakes, and he makes plays that surprise opponents," Button said. "And then before you know it, the pucks in the back of the net, and you're going, where did that come from? That's the type of game that Gavin McKenna possesses. And Kucherov's a superstar, and I think that Gavin McKenna will be a superstar in the National Hockey League."
 
the thing about Tanev is he was actually great for us at 35, in arguably the toughest usage in his career.

Even in that insane usage in brooby's crap system, in dom's final updated net ratings at the end of 24-25, these were the dmen ranks:

1. Makar +26
2. Werenski +21
2. Fox +21
2. Dahlin +21
5. Hughes +20
5. Morrissey +20
7. Harley +19
8. Hedman +17
8. Bouchard +17
10. Seider +14
10. Theodore +14
12. Carlson +13
12. Broberg +13
12. Samberg +13
12. Ekholm +13
12. Gavrikov +13
17. Heiskenen +12
17. Forsling +12
17. Toews +12
17. McDonagh +12
17. Hutson +12
17. Weegar +12
17. Gostisbehere +12
17. Sergachev +12
25. Dobson +11
25. Anderson +11
25. Walman +11
25. McNabb +11
29. Slavin +10
29. Sanderson +10
29. Lindell +10
29. Spurgeon +10
29. Parayko +10
34. Tanev +9
34. Chabot +9
34. Lindholm +9
34. Hamilton +9
34. Siegenthaler +9
34. Hanifin +9
34. Pettersson +9
34. Spence +9
34. Pionk +9
34. Fabbro +9
44. Ekblad +8
44. Josi +8
44. Lacombe +8
44. Korczak +8
44. Nurse +8
49. McCabe +7
49. McAvoy +7
49. Zub +7
49. Demelo +7
49. Fowler +7
49. Sandin +7
49. Hronek +7
49. Chychrun +7
57. Raddysh +6
57. Edvinsson +6
57. Mikkola +6
57. Burns +6
57. Sanheim +6
57. Pietrangelo +6
57. Kesselring +6
57. Durzi +6
 
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LeafGm said:
No NHL coach in his position is ever going to do that. If he gets fired, the Leafs have to pay out the rest of his contract. He quits, he gets bupkis. And these coaches that were 80's/90's former NHLers didn't necessarily rack up a fortune in their playing days.

Anyway, we'd better hope it's just one meeting for the sake of courtesy. Because tradition around these parts is giving the previous regime's coach at least one more season so he can be used as a convenient scapegoat if things go poorly again.
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I'm going to assume that a GM who ate a mile of shit at his last job for not being gentle enough when firing a still playing member of the OBC, is going to relieve a veteran Stanley Cup winning coach of his job with a silk gloved hand job this time around.
 
So I didn’t realize this, but as part of their trade deadline show, TSN conducted their own mock draft lottery where they drew their own ping pong balls…and the Leafs somehow won the top pick in this one too.

TSN then had Craig Button go through and conduct his own mock draft based on the lotto results. And, uhhh…his opinion seems to have changed a wee bit between this hypothetical scenario and the actual reality of the Leafs having the top pick.

Video clip is below and Button’s comments are around the 7-minute mark. When asked in this clip if the Leafs are taking Gavin McKenna, the answer is “OH FOR SURE! Absolutely! The gap between him and Stenberg has really widened since mid-season and the Leafs would be getting an elite, ELITE playmaking winger!”



View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QuwAo37xEjE&pp=2AEAkAIB
 
The more i read the more id be cool with any of Stenberg/Carels/Reid.

I really dont want to fall into the Malholtra trap.

Some bloodlines are less interesting.
 
Friedman “people who interviewed said the Leafs did not say Berube has to be back…the data says the leafs were a bad team.”
 
Fwiw Gavin had 23 pts in his first 15 games (1.64 PPG) in his last whl season and 106 in the next 42 (2.52 PPG). Slow starts are kinda his thing.

But on the other hand, his p/60 in college (including pp, which he relied on more than others) was just 4.21. He played almost 23mpg which is far more than his comps and everyone else in the league this year

Eichel: 5.02
Fantili: 5.56
Celebrini: 4.87
Cooley: 4.92

That is unique to college tho, I don't think he had any of these concerns when he played in the whl, he was sort of a different dude. But he got his bag from going to Penn State, and is still gonna go #1 so what he does he care?
 
Chayka is going to spend several hours sitting down talking to Berube about his views of how the team should play and the value of analytics and spots science. He gone. Hell he might quit after that.
 
Preston said:
Fwiw Gavin had 23 pts in his first 15 games (1.64 PPG) in his last whl season and 106 in the next 42 (2.52 PPG). Slow starts are kinda his thing.

But on the other hand, his p/60 in college (including pp, which he relied on more than others) was just 4.21. He played almost 23mpg which is far more than his comps and everyone else in the league this year

Eichel: 5.02
Fantili: 5.56
Celebrini: 4.87
Cooley: 4.92

That is unique to college tho, I don't think he had any of these concerns when he played in the whl, he was sort of a different dude. But he got his bag from going to Penn State, and is still gonna go #1 so what he does he care?
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Took a look at the hfboards thread on him before the Leafs won the lottery and shit, it's intense. Wasn't very well liked all year really, though there was an admission that he showed progress later in the year. The tldr is that the main difference between him and a Bedard or Celebrini is that he's kind of invisible throughout games. He's not puck dominant or always working and creating in the o-zone, he's more passive, waits for teammates to get him puck, and the puck is often on and off his stick, often with an insanely skillful play, mind you. And his offensive hockey IQ and brain is light years ahead of his linemates usually so that should translate well to the NHL.

The nerds who have followed him for years say that work ethic off the ice is not an issue with him. He's a maniac in offseasons and always practicing, but his work ethic off the puck on the ice has been shit forever.


So now that we got the eye test stuff out of the way, here's what the data says:
1778244164159.png
 
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