2019-2020 Toronto Maple Leafs General Discussion

[ZBBM]

Dubas in his press conference looking like a Valedictorian who has to explain his first semester 2.4 GPA to his parents.

Haha.  So very, very on point.

 

[herman]

Edit:
Transcript from the good guys at MLHS
https://twitter.com/leafsnews/status/1232061407283351555

https://twitter.com/leafsalldayy/status/1232048881141153792
https://twitter.com/leafsalldayy/status/1232050421654589441
https://twitter.com/leafsalldayy/status/1232050046302068742
https://twitter.com/leafsalldayy/status/1232049703572910086
https://twitter.com/leafsalldayy/status/1232049369458892801

 

[Pick]

Malgin, Veronneau, Salomaki, Rosen.......did Dubas forget he's managing the Leafs and not the Marlies anymore?

Joking aside, maybe failing to make a big deal was the best thing in the long run.

 

[herman]

Most importantly, Morgan Rielly?s Instagram.

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/tsnbobmckenzie/status/1232058757288484868

Got?em

 

[Zee]

Malgin, Veronneau, Salomaki, Rosen.......did Dubas forget he's managing the Leafs and not the Marlies anymore?

Joking aside, maybe failing to make a big deal was the best thing in the long run.

All depends on what happens. If the Leafs get hot and go on a nice little run all will be forgotten. If Barrie is a big part of that the revisionist takes will come out with "great move keeping Barrie, him and Rielly really are a force together!!" Of course if it goes the other way....

 

[Bender]

I understand not chasing deadline deals just for the sake of making a deal. I would've wanted something to assist but you don't give in to sink cost fallacy and throw good money after bad. If Barrie could've yielded a 1st and a prospect I would've done that but it sounds like Vancouver was offering a player with limited upside who was also heading into the offseason as an RFA. Here's hoping they can keep pace this year with Florida but yeah, very few of the deals made sense to me for the Leafs.

 

[Highlander]

Malgin, Veronneau, Salomaki, Rosen.......did Dubas forget he's managing the Leafs and not the Marlies anymore?

Joking aside, maybe failing to make a big deal was the best thing in the long run.

All depends on what happens. If the Leafs get hot and go on a nice little run all will be forgotten. If Barrie is a big part of that the revisionist takes will come out with "great move keeping Barrie, him and Rielly really are a force together!!" Of course if it goes the other way....

I like your optimism Zee, we think alike.

 

[herman]

https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2020/02/25/kyle-dubas-on-neither-buying-or-selling-on-deadline-day-the-belief-in-the-group-that-is-assembled-is-still-very-high/

It would seem that Game 7 last year was supposed to do that for your team, or Game 7 the year before, or Game 6 against Washington. At what point do you stop as an organization thinking you still have to learn and the expectation is your team should have learned it by now and you should be improved and playing much better than you have been?

Dubas: I think like everyone in management and athletics or in any business, you wish after one time that something doesn?t go your way, the group would perfectly understand those lessons and respond accordingly. I would say that the playoff disappointments are, in their own right, different. What I would say we have gone through is a much more prolonged stretch. It is not like it is one bad night. It is not like we went to Boston last April after having a chance to win at home and didn?t play to our potential. This has been an in-season, weeks-long sort of ? one game really good, another game average or poor. I think our group, in developing that consistency in the season, going through this is something that will help us to build for every moment, not just playoff-related or going through slumps in a season.

I 100% agree with you. I wish that we went through one thing that sucked and we learned our lesson, whether it was against Washington or against Boston. The reality is, if you look at even some of those teams ? whether it is Washington, St. Louis, whomever ? and they?ve all had years of going through those things as well, where they lose in the playoffs, it is disappointing, and it sometimes takes longer than you really want. I?d love to go through one tough disappointment one Apri or May or June and then the next year, the lessons carry on, but it doesn?t often work that way, especially in sports. I am sure hoping this is another hard lesson for us and it is used to propel us where we need to go. It is a great opportunity for us to do so.

 

[herman]

As expected:
https://twitter.com/kyle_cush/status/1232128096817602560

The Marlies will have Sandin, Liljegren, Ros?n, Lindgren, Duszak, Hollowell, Gravel, Kivihalme, Rubins, Kapla, Gendron at their disposal for defensemen.

The Leafs have used 3 of their 4 non-emergency recalls now on Engvall, Sandin, and Liljegren.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

The Marlies will have Sandin, Liljegren, Ros?n, Lindgren, Duszak, Hollowell, Gravel, Kivihalme, Rubins, Kapla, Gendron at their disposal for defensemen.

Well, you know, unless they're busy with something else.

 

[Arn]

The Marlies will have Sandin, Liljegren, Ros?n, Lindgren, Duszak, Hollowell, Gravel, Kivihalme, Rubins, Kapla, Gendron at their disposal for defensemen.

Well, you know, unless they're busy with something else.

World championships?

 

[Highlander]

The Marlies will have Sandin, Liljegren, Ros?n, Lindgren, Duszak, Hollowell, Gravel, Kivihalme, Rubins, Kapla, Gendron at their disposal for defensemen.

Well, you know, unless they're busy with something else.

World championships?

Some have played for their home countries in Tournaments.  I think that is the reference.

 

[herman]

https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2020/02/27/toronto-maple-leafs-rumours-february-27-morgan-rielly-joe-thornton-tyson-barrie/

Okay there?s a lot here but this is most pertinent:
Auston Matthews on Spittin? Chiclets on William Nylander missing training camp last season:

You should?ve seen him when he came in last year after six months of just practicing and working out. Just working out. He was an absolute mountain. He was so big. He was shredded. It was too big, yeah. You?re working out for six or seven months and you?re not playing games. You kind of lose weight playing, right? You?re skating every night. You lose a couple of pounds sweating a bunch. He came in so big and I was like, ?My goodness, this guy is an animal.?

But the most most pertinent part of that podcast is Auston outing Morgan Rielly?s fresh relationship.

 

[Frank E]

I was just thinking about those articles on how Capologist Pridham was making all these killer dance moves all season long in order to maximize the available cap space at the deadline...that guy must be a little disappointed.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I was just thinking about those articles on how Capologist Pridham was making all these killer dance moves all season long in order to maximize the available cap space at the deadline...that guy must be a little disappointed.

Not to take anything away from Pridham's work but the only reason we had cap space to burn was because of how many players we have on LTIR.

 

[Pick]

Any word on Bracco?

 

[Hobbes]

Any word on Bracco?

Bust?

From what I've read -- including things teammates and coaches have said -- he's incredibly gifted as a playmaker in the offensive zone but generally disinterested in applying himself to learning how to be a two-way 200' player. He seems to think of himself as a PP specialist which would be super if we didn't already have at least two guys ahead of him. His problem is that the only way he's going to break into the NHL is in a bottom-6 role and he has thus far steadfastly refused to put in the work and effort to make himself into someone you could trust doing that at the NHL level.

I don't know that there's a lot of room for one-dimensional players in the NHL other than a few extremely elite ones (and Bracco's not in that league) so unless he wakes up and smells the coffee, he's probably destined to be a major AHL point-producer or will go overseas to ply his trade in the KHL or one of the other Euro leagues.

It's too bad...he has some real gifts but he simply can't coast on them at the highest level and that's what he seems inclined to do. Rich Clune -- one of his best friends on the Marlies -- said not long ago that it was too bad Bracco doesn't apply himself as much as he ought to...he's only hurting his own development. He's 22 years old now, though, so if he doesn't get it soon he's never going to get it.

If you subscribe to The Athletic: https://theathletic.com/1516384/2020/01/07/with-his-maple-leafs-future-up-in-the-air-jeremy-bracco-remains-an-enigma-with-a-long-ways-to-go/

?He?s got a long ways to go as far as his work ethic goes,? said Clune. ?And that?s something him and I talk about often. But he?s made marginal improvements over the years. I don?t think he was challenged at all in junior.?

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I think he's more asking about the fact that he's been away from the Marlies for "personal reasons" for a month now. There's no update on that situation it seems.

edit: and for the record there's probably no point in speculating why

 

[Hobbes]

I think he's more asking about the fact that he's been away from the Marlies for "personal reasons" for a month now. There's no update on that situation it seems.

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten that. Hopefully whatever it is isn't too serious and has the side-effect of lighting a fire under him to make himself into a more complete player.