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TML? More like FML, amirite? Yet Another Off Season Thread

People have always had to fight to exist. We have it way better than most of history so yeah, while it sucks its part of life. Prepare for it.
 
Artnes said:
Ive had some non Leafs fan bring this up. Having your number 1 dman not be able to take the toughs not being ideal is a common theme for them
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I'm a huge Rielly stan, but yeah if we could turn Rielly into a "Rielly" who can take tougher matchups and doesn't need a defensive babysitter, I'd be interested. Problem is that there are maybe 5-6 guys in the league who legitimately fit that bill. I'm not sure Josi is the guy who can do that either though. His defensive numbers on Nashville in Riellyish usage aren't great either.
 
Preston said:
Problem is Mo needs to be paired with a Brodie but that pair still can't be the shutdown pair. So then you need another two Brodie's shutdown types to round out your top 4. Liljegren might be the guy you can trust to play with Mo moving forward though. And Muzzin-Brodie did an awesome job as the shutdown pair. So it could work, it's just a bit difficult.

Tough pill to swallow for me to get rid of Muzz. He has been an incredible top pair d for the Leafs and helped lead a very successful shutdown pair against the best team in the league. Maybe he's broken but there's a lot of value in a very good #2/3 with reasonable term if he can stay healthy. If you can get a late 1st and a B prospect (a grundstrom/Durzi type) you move him, otherwise I don't know... It's tough to replace that.
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Muzz is risk reward really. Because we didn't have "Muzz" for most of the season. We got a short peek at him in the playoffs, so we know he still exists and all but doing if for 82 (fuck, even 65-70) is what's required. Not being old and busted for 50 and then finding his game in the playoffs. Would much rather pull the pin and go find the the next 29 yr old Muzz/Brodie instead.
 
Yeah…most of this talk is for a team that has (almost) everything. Hard to find a Hedman. Easier to find a coach that can provide some improvement on the margins…. Maybe someone who can get more out of the 4th line
 
CH1 said:
Yeah…most of this talk is for a team that has (almost) everything. Hard to find a Hedman. Easier to find a coach that can provide some improvement on the margins…. Maybe someone who can get more out of the 4th line
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Yeah, realistically speaking (as in, I know JT is going nowhere) the easiest work is done around the margins in places we didn't receive great value for money or overall impact in the lineup this season

- Muzz is a great soldier but is 33 and was busted/bad by his standard most of the season, that's a pretty significant gamble to make on a guy who was never mobile and is on the wrong side of the aging curve even ignoring the mounting injuries over the last few seasons. If there's good offers on the table, take that and put your pro scouts & nerds to work on going balls out for his replacement. Gio might buy you a year, or even just until the trade deadline on that one.

- We can do so much better than Kerfoot in a top 6 role, especially with the possibility of JT moving over to the wing (probably a good idea). Another case of the player being fine, he's hardly shit or anything, but just not what we need going forward (wasn't this season either...a soft shot suppressing midget whose one offensive skill is carrying the puck through the neutral zone is kind of redundant on a William Nylander line).

- Can't come back with Jack/Mrazek. I'm fine with the return of Jack if he takes a sniff at the market and doesn't find his number and circles back at ours, but Mrazek has to get jettisoned and a guy who has a realistic shot at being 1A has to be brought in. We took a run with 1A Jack and the answer was an insanely mercurial .914 in the regular season and a "well, he battled" .897 in the playoffs. Solid enough pro goalie with some injury issues though, I've got no qualms at a return as a solid 1B type.

- 3rd line was pretty great whenever it was together, but adding a solid Mikky replacement that is a bit more of a cunt would probably do that line good.

- 4th line is shambolic, light it on fire and start over. Decide what you want it to be first and then go back it happen. I'm happy with fast and chippy or more physical/shitty to play against as long as they can actually take a shift without getting caved in.
 
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MindzEye said:
Yeah, realistically speaking (as in, I know JT is going nowhere) the easiest work is done around the margins in places we didn't receive great value for money or overall impact in the lineup this season

- Muzz is a great soldier but is 33 and was busted/bad by his standard most of the season, that's a pretty significant gamble to make on a guy who was never mobile and is on the wrong side of the aging curve even ignoring the mounting injuries over the last few seasons. If there's good offers on the table, take that and put your pro scouts & nerds to work on going balls out for his replacement. Gio might buy you a year, or even just until the trade deadline on that one.

- We can do so much better than Kerfoot in a top 6 role, especially with the possibility of JT moving over to the wing (probably a good idea). Another case of the player being fine, he's hardly shit or anything, but just not what we need going forward (wasn't this season either...a soft shot suppressing midget whose one offensive skill is carrying the puck through the neutral zone is kind of redundant on a William Nylander line).

- Can't come back with Jack/Mrazek. I'm fine with the return of Jack if he takes a sniff at the market and doesn't find his number and circles back at ours, but Mrazek has to get jettisoned and a guy who has a realistic shot at being 1A has to be brought in. We took a run with 1A Jack and the answer was an insanely mercurial .914 in the regular season and a "well, he battled" .897 in the playoffs. Solid enough pro goalie with some injury issues though, I've got no qualms at a return as a solid 1B type.

- 3rd line was pretty great whenever it was together, but adding a solid Mikky replacement that is a bit more of a cunt would probably do that line good.

- 4th line is shambolic, light it on fire and start over. Decide what you want it to be first and then go back it happen. I'm happy with fast and chippy or more physical/shitty to play against as long as they can actually take a shift without getting caved in.
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Think all of this is fair/well-reasoned.

Don't have any issues with any of it, though if we're moving Tavares to the wing, 2C is a huge question mark with not a ton of cap space.
 
hockeylover said:
Think all of this is fair/well-reasoned.

Don't have any issues with any of it, though if we're moving Tavares to the wing, 2C is a huge question mark with not a ton of cap space.
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I'm honestly not that worried about it. Partially because Tavares-Nylander is a pretty good set of wingers for a 2nd line, and partially because JT's impact at 5v5 was somewhere in the range of "good" 2C and Kerfoot's impact as a 2LW was meh, super meh. I think you can come ahead on balance with JT giving you an okay 1st line LW type impact if you find an okay 2C (think a Brock Nelson/Philip Danault type 2C). Kerfoot's money and a couple of millie gets you there.
 
CH1 said:
No excuse for the continued dithering on the purpose of the 4th line. fireable offence IMO
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After effects from Dubas losing the plot on the team he wanted to build originally imo. The original vision was 4 lines that could skate and play (the Pittsburgh model, really) but then he got rattled and went the gud pro/veteran route and it's never worked out. I'd personally like if we went the fast/chippy/can play hockey route. I'm a believer in pace/tempo being every bit as physically exhausting and brutal over the course of a 7 game series as board work/heavy hockey. They have to be able to work along the walls, win 50/50's and all that good stuff (thus, the chippy bit) but there's something about a team that attacks with speed on all 4 lines that is terrifying. There's no substitute for speed.
 
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Kase - Blackwell - Spezza 4th line is a strength imo. They just only got to play about 50min together.

And they have plenty of speed.
 
Is Blackwell an actual centre though? He's and Kase are the fast/tenacious types that I personally like on 4th lines, yeah.
 
MindzEye said:
After effects from Dubas losing the plot on the team he wanted to build originally imo. The original vision was 4 lines that could skate and play (the Pittsburgh model, really) but then he got rattled and went the gud pro/veteran route and it's never worked out. I'd personally like if we went the fast/chippy/can play hockey route personally. I'm a believer in pace/tempo being every bit as physically exhausting and brutal over the course of a 7 game series than board work. They have to be able to work along the walls, win 50/50's and all that good stuff (thus, the chippy bit) but there's something about a team that attacks with speed on all 4 lines that is terrifying. There's no substitute for speed.
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Yup. And speed counters the physicality somewhat too, because you can’t hit what you can’t catch. Blackie did a fairly good job of darting in and out, and only got close enough for contact when he himself was doing the hitting. He was pretty good with that. Marner is another example of being too elusive to really line up for a big hit. Get fast guys with skill, basically cheaper Kerfoots (Kerfeet?) and tire out the opposition. There is literally nothing good that the Simmonds and Cliffys of the world provide, even though they’re not necessarily snails.
 
Kase totally sucked when it mattered. Total uselessness. I’m okay with him on the 4th line but probably overpaying by $500k for his part time services. I’d try to do better.
 
This is nonsense ....
Keep going smaller, go faster .
While the Tampa Bay's of the league go with the big ole slow white guys!!!!! And win.
We all watched how Blackwell bounced off everyone and was literally like a fly out there, no purpose and no relief, he is not the answer ...he shouldn't even be on the team. He can't score and he doesn't make anyone else better.....
Ask Matthews or Marner or the other forwards if they love what they (Simmonds etc) bring to the team. That will be a big old resounding YES!
This team isnt as talented as Colorado or Florida but it should be able to compete against the other teams in the league and win.
The Rangers sat Ryan Reeves on the bench for the year and guess what .... They are in the next round.
Also, Morgan Reilly is a horrible defender. Enough of the partners he gets hinged to excuses ... He is a great skater and can capitalize on turnovers like a cat. I am a huge Reilly fan but he isn't a defensive stalwart to be without blame. He strikes me as a low IQ type player ...
Get the size and the attitude because it seems to run over the fluff on the playoffs.
We might have had the perfect winger for the leafs but somehow because he was inferred to have done some nasty things, he can't play for this team. Fuck you Dubas ... Winners win and this team has won nothing. They are the 82 game Winnipeg Jets all surrounding themselves with their celebration for their regular season success.
Small and fast..... Get at er, cause it isn't a formula.fpr success. Size does matter Ask presto.
 
I think Spezza's career is over. Leafs won't sign him and he retires. He'll join management.

Dubas is lucky he won't get fired, but this is 100% his last year as GM if they don't win when it matters. And I don't see an extension due to a great regular season next year. We've lost 6 years now where we made the playoffs (Yes I count 2020). He can;t just do the same old shit again.

The 4th line won't matter if your stars aren't scoring when it matters. It's the same thing over and over.

And yes, we are built similar to Winnipeg.
 
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