2021-22 Toronto Maple Leafs General Discussion

[herman]

https://twitter.com/dalter/status/1507410492263841795

 

[Frank E]

Honestly it doesn?t matter who they face. No team in the east is going to be an easy opponent. Any one of 1-8 are all legit cup contenders. The only one I think is a bit of a meh are the rangers.

So Tampa, Boston, Florida, it doesn?t matter. They have to be able to beat any one of them. It?s just crazy that one of those 4 will be out in the first round.

Completely agree on the Rangers.

And even then would you definitely bet against them if Shesterkin is playing well?

Yeah, I don't think there's an easy preferred opponent the whole way through barring any significant injuries on the teams.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Oh yes. Liljegren slapper time

https://twitter.com/sunhornby/status/1507412093489893379

That actually makes a fair bit of sense. Not like PP2 has done anything for a couple months anyway.

 

[Kin]

The Andersen move is a tricky one to look back at in retrospect because even if we want to say Lou absolutely nailed the scouting/identifiying of Andersen I think it's still fair to wonder if paying the pretty hefty price (a 1st rounder and a 2nd rounder) was worth it for a team that maybe wasn't quite ready to jump out of the rebuilding stage as early as that move forced us to.

Yup, there was no rush to get a goalie and he gave up 2 top 50 picks to get it done.

That probably led to dealing more picks for 4th line rentals and keeping our "own rentals" add in the 1st that had be dealt to get out of Marleau and thats a 6-8 high picks that went out the door in the early stage of a rebuild.

If this version of the Leafs doesn't achieve anything significantly I think two main things should be on the tombstone. The decision to go from dead last to immediately pushing for contention and getting basically nothing from the 2015-2017 drafts outside of the first round.

 

[Deebo]

If this version of the Leafs doesn't achieve anything significantly I think two main things should be on the tombstone. The decision to go from dead last to immediately pushing for contention and getting basically nothing from the 2015-2017 drafts outside of the first round.

I thought it was all because Marner makes 2M too much.

 

[Kin]

If this version of the Leafs doesn't achieve anything significantly I think two main things should be on the tombstone. The decision to go from dead last to immediately pushing for contention and getting basically nothing from the 2015-2017 drafts outside of the first round.

I thought it was all because Marner makes 2M too much.

Oh yeah. And they don't hit guys enough.

 

[caver]

Honestly it doesn?t matter who they face. No team in the east is going to be an easy opponent. Any one of 1-8 are all legit cup contenders. The only one I think is a bit of a meh are the rangers.

So Tampa, Boston, Florida, it doesn?t matter. They have to be able to beat any one of them. It?s just crazy that one of those 4 will be out in the first round.

Completely agree on the Rangers.

And even then would you definitely bet against them if Shesterkin is playing well?

Shesterkin would be scary if he was in top form... but if Jack can get back to his early season form......

 

[Britishbulldog]

If this version of the Leafs doesn't achieve anything significantly I think two main things should be on the tombstone. The decision to go from dead last to immediately pushing for contention and getting basically nothing from the 2015-2017 drafts outside of the first round.

I thought it was all because Marner makes 2M too much.

Oh yeah. And they don't hit guys enough.

Talk about hitting... there is a LW player in Arizona that in the last 12 games has 6 goals, 38 hits and is plus 2. 

No not Crouse silly...N Ritchie.  Why not in Toronto?  Coaching?  Line-mates (which I guess is related to coaching as well)? So disappointing to me that the Leafs couldn't make it work...at all.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Talk about hitting... there is a LW player in Arizona that in the last 12 games has 6 goals, 38 hits and is plus 2. 

No not Crouse silly...N Ritchie.  Why not in Toronto?  Coaching?  Line-mates (which I guess is related to coaching as well)? So disappointing to me that the Leafs couldn't make it work...at all.

Was playing on the top line of the Toronto Maple Leafs for almost a month really not a good enough opportunity for him? We're really going to blame his struggles here on linemates?

 

[Champ Kind]

Talk about hitting... there is a LW player in Arizona that in the last 12 games has 6 goals, 38 hits and is plus 2. 

No not Crouse silly...N Ritchie.  Why not in Toronto?  Coaching?  Line-mates (which I guess is related to coaching as well)? So disappointing to me that the Leafs couldn't make it work...at all.

Definitely the linemates.  Ritchie started the year with a bunch of plugs and it went downhill from there.

 

[herman]

I shoot right and I'm like half his size and don't know how to stop on skates, and I'm pretty sure I could've scored some goals with the opportunity Ritchie got here using his stick.

 

[Joe S.]

If this version of the Leafs doesn't achieve anything significantly I think two main things should be on the tombstone. The decision to go from dead last to immediately pushing for contention and getting basically nothing from the 2015-2017 drafts outside of the first round.

I thought it was all because Marner makes 2M too much.

Oh yeah. And they don't hit guys enough.

Talk about hitting... there is a LW player in Arizona that in the last 12 games has 6 goals, 38 hits and is plus 2. 

No not Crouse silly...N Ritchie.  Why not in Toronto?  Coaching?  Line-mates (which I guess is related to coaching as well)? So disappointing to me that the Leafs couldn't make it work...at all.

Ritchie had every opportunity to succeed in Toronto, it just didn?t work out. Maybe the pressure was just too much for him? Hometown, huge market? These are real people and not robots, maybe he just couldn?t adapt. Who knows. But he tried, the team tried and it didn?t work.

I?m happy he?s finding success elsewhere. Not everything has to be an indictment of the current teams, coaches, management etc.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Nick Ritchie was so colossally bad here he pretty much single-handedly cost Mitch Marner a shot at a Hart trophy nomination this season:

Marner's stats when Ritchie was on his line this season: 11 games, 3 points... 1 of those points was on a PP goal without Ritchie on the ice, and 1 of those points was an EN goal without Ritchie on the ice, the other one was from a play Ritchie had absolutely zero involvement in (Marner passed it to Nylander, got off the ice, Nylander went on a rush and scored). The Leafs didn't score a single 5-on-5 goal in almost 120 minutes with the two of them on the ice together.

Marner's stats in games where Ritchie wasn't on his line: 43 games, 26 goals, and 66 points. 0.60 goals per game would be good for 7th in the league, while a 1.53 points per game rate would be the highest in the entire league.

 

[Redleaf]

Honestly it doesn?t matter who they face. No team in the east is going to be an easy opponent. Any one of 1-8 are all legit cup contenders. The only one I think is a bit of a meh are the rangers.

So Tampa, Boston, Florida, it doesn?t matter. They have to be able to beat any one of them. It?s just crazy that one of those 4 will be out in the first round.

Did this get published before or after our exact same convo? ?

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/would-the-maple-leafs-have-a-better-chance-against-boston-or-tampa/

 

[Joe S.]

Honestly it doesn?t matter who they face. No team in the east is going to be an easy opponent. Any one of 1-8 are all legit cup contenders. The only one I think is a bit of a meh are the rangers.

So Tampa, Boston, Florida, it doesn?t matter. They have to be able to beat any one of them. It?s just crazy that one of those 4 will be out in the first round.

Did this get published before or after our exact same convo? ?

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/would-the-maple-leafs-have-a-better-chance-against-boston-or-tampa/

Well the time stamp is on my side

The comments under that article are tremendous. It?s amazing how many non leafs fans seem to know so much about the leafs and obsess over them so much.

 

[Britishbulldog]

Talk about hitting... there is a LW player in Arizona that in the last 12 games has 6 goals, 38 hits and is plus 2. 

No not Crouse silly...N Ritchie.  Why not in Toronto?  Coaching?  Line-mates (which I guess is related to coaching as well)? So disappointing to me that the Leafs couldn't make it work...at all.

Was playing on the top line of the Toronto Maple Leafs for almost a month really not a good enough opportunity for him? We're really going to blame his struggles here on linemates?

Definitely the linemates.  Ritchie started the year with a bunch of plugs and it went downhill from there.

Couldn't slip that linemates comment past you huh?   I just find it unreal that he is playing like Dubas and Leaf fans were hoping now that he is on one of the worst teams in the NHL.

 

[bustaheims]

Couldn't slip that linemates comment past you huh?   I just find it unreal that he is playing like Dubas and Leaf fans were hoping now that he is on one of the worst teams in the NHL.

Just another player on the long list of guys that perform much better on bad teams.

 

[dappleganger]

Bunting-Matthews-Marner
Kerfoot-Nylander-Kase
Blackwell-Tavares-Spezza
Mikheyev-Kampf-Engvall

This is the forward lineup I'd like going into the playoffs. I would have Kerfoot and Blackwell take the center defensive duties in the d-zone. Nylander-Tavares doesn't work.

 

[princedpw]

Bunting-Matthews-Marner
Kerfoot-Nylander-Kase
Blackwell-Tavares-Spezza
Mikheyev-Kampf-Engvall

This is the forward lineup I'd like going into the playoffs. I would have Kerfoot and Blackwell take the center defensive duties in the d-zone. Nylander-Tavares doesn't work.

I would worry that Spezza-Tavares is too slow just like Spezza-Simmons is too slow. Also not sure if Spezza can manage as much ice time as we?d like to give Tavares or Nylander ? but I?d try some limes like that, maybe flipping Kase and Spezza in the regular season. 

 

[Bullfrog]

Couldn't slip that linemates comment past you huh?   I just find it unreal that he is playing like Dubas and Leaf fans were hoping now that he is on one of the worst teams in the NHL.

Just another player on the long list of guys that perform much better on bad teams.

Meh. It's 12 games. He could easily go on to score zero goals in the next 12.