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2023-24 Toronto Maple Leafs General Discussion

CarltonTheBear said:
Fingers crossed that Gio's injury isn't that bad,
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I suspect Giordano will not be able to cross some fingers for awhile. The saving grace is he can still skate and keep up conditioning while resting and recovering.
 
https://twitter.com/FirstUp1050/status/1729556614514966738
Not really news that the Leafs tried to get a Willy signing done in Sweden. Unless they show up with an apparent overpay/worthy offer (depending on your perspective), this probably goes into the offseason where the leverage ramps up.
 
herman said:
https://twitter.com/FirstUp1050/status/1729556614514966738
Not really news that the Leafs tried to get a Willy signing done in Sweden. Unless they show up with an apparent overpay/worthy offer (depending on your perspective), this probably goes into the offseason where the leverage ramps up.
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I don't think it gets to the off season. Tre has been down this road before and I don't see him letting Willy walk away for nothing. I think there's a deadline and if he doesn't sign by it, he's gone.
 
Guilt Trip said:
I think there's a deadline and if he doesn't sign by it, he's gone.
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This is only possible if the Leafs don't have a chance at the playoffs by that time (They are 1 Woll injury away from this type of situation with Liljgreen and Gio out)
 
herman said:
https://twitter.com/jtbourne/status/1724104285233816021
Just need someone (Willy?) to teach him one move to practice over and over on the cut-across, instead of pulling the trigger right away.
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https://x.com/RinkRatReport/status/1729923428667552138
This was the move I wanted to suggest: against the grain, high blocker

Gregor got some press time post-game (for good reason) and talked about how Antropov and Denver and the other dev coaches have been working with him to help maximize this particular opportunity. Hard to think when you're gunning it, so better to just have one or two plays down pat mechanically in the toolbox. He can start mixing in a backhander (five-hole or between the glove/pad) later.
 
Rielly had a monster game last night, and we're talking the defensive side of the puck.  MLHS says he's giving 88 a run as team MVP thus far.  I think that's a bit exaggerated, but he's still playing on the same level he did in the playoffs last season.
 
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
Rielly had a monster game last night, and we're talking the defensive side of the puck.  MLHS says he's giving 88 a run as team MVP thus far.  I think that's a bit exaggerated, but he's still playing on the same level he did in the playoffs last season.
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I don't it's too absurd of a claim, especially considering how much he's absolutely carrying the defence right now. 16 points in 20 games, top-15 in the league among defencemen. That matches the total of all the other defencemen combined on the Leafs. 3 goals is more than the total for all the other defencemen combined on the Leafs (1). He's averaging 25:02 a game, which is good for 6th in the entire league and about a minute more than his career season average high. That's also about 2.5 more minutes a game than the next Leafs defenceman (Brodie).

If you're into that sorta thing his GAR (goals above replacement) numbers are apparently near the top of the league for defencemen, and his defensive GAR is in the positives for the first time in his career as well (those exact stats are paywall'd and I don't have access).

Like yeah Willy is the MVP but Rielly's having one of the best seasons of his career so far (if not best season) and is right behind him in that race I'd say.
 
Just a thought at the 20 game mark...where these guys trend on a full season at this pace.

Player P/GP 82 games =
William Nylander1.35 111
Auston Matthews 1.05 86
John Tavares 1 82
Mitchell Marner 1 82
Morgan Rielly 0.8 66
Calle Jarnkrok 0.55 45
Max Domi 0.55 45
Matthew Knies 0.5 41
Tyler Bertuzzi 0.45 37
Nicholas Robertson 0.56 46
Mark Giordano 0.25 21
John Klingberg 0.36 30
Noah Gregor 0.2 16
David Kampf 0.2 16
TJ Brodie 0.15 12
Bobby McMann 0.67 55
Ryan Reaves 0.06 5
Jake McCabe 0.07 6
William Lagesson 0.08 7
Timothy Liljegren 0.1 8
 
Frank E said:
Just a thought at the 20 game mark...where these guys trend on a full season at this pace.
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Leafs only had 1 non big-4 forward hit the 40 point mark last season with Bunting scoring 49 points (Jarnkrok to his credit had 39 points in 73 games). We could potentially have 5 now in Jarnkrok, Domi, Knies, Bertuzzi, and Robertson. The 40 point mark would be a fairly low number to hit for someone like Bertuzzi especially but there's certainly more scoring depth on this team. Leafs just need to figure out how to offset how much that hurts them defensively.
 
Kaberle15 said:
Guilt Trip said:
I think there's a deadline and if he doesn't sign by it, he's gone.
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This is only possible if the Leafs don't have a chance at the playoffs by that time (They are 1 Woll injury away from this type of situation with Liljgreen and Gio out)
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Not buying that anymore. Yes this is about now but it's also about the future. They haven't won with Nylander and Im not blaming him but they can't risk him walking for nothing. Seeing Tre has lived this dream with Tkachuk and Gaudreau I don't see him letting it happen again.
 
https://twitter.com/lukefoxjukebox/status/1730261292840088046
https://twitter.com/lukefoxjukebox/status/1730264695720796379

Giordano out week to week. Liljegren skated for the first time but based off the comments from Keefe is still probably 1-2 weeks away from returning.
 
I just found the best podcast episode I?ve ever heard
https://www.sportsnet.ca/960/hockey-pdocast/breaking-down-willy-nylanders-career-year-and-how-hes-doing-it/

[youtube]qYdUGieTE7M[/youtube]
 
CarltonTheBear said:
https://twitter.com/lukefoxjukebox/status/1730261292840088046
https://twitter.com/lukefoxjukebox/status/1730264695720796379

Giordano out week to week. Liljegren skated for the first time but based off the comments from Keefe is still probably 1-2 weeks away from returning.
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I hope it wasn't his frikk you finger.
 
Chris said:
The details are hazy and I'm not sure what set me off on the cursed path of being a Leaf fan. I was 5 when they last won the Cup so that _could_ have been it. I do remember watching Keon, Ullman, Ellis, Henderson...but have much stronger memories of the Sittler era.

Family dynamics were interesting. My brother became a Bruin fan at an early age (I hate to admit that). My dad, mom and sister were Ranger fans until the Islanders came into being, at which point mom and sis switched allegiance leaving my dad alone to suffer all the "1940!!" razzing. Fortunately he did get to see one more Cup though I think he always felt it was a bit "tainted" by all the Oiler mercenaries they brought in.
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That's a bit before my time! But pretty amazing to have drawn you in from slightly out of region (especially with little post-season success), and enough to keep you engaging here!
 
Highlander said:
When is Keefe going to speak to the Tree about Reeves and tell him, enough is enough
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He does it by scratching him and playing him 6 mins when he's in the lineup. At some point I think they'll need his cap hit. There's no way he can be in any playoff lineup.
 
You have to take the time to build the body of evidence. It?s in Keefe?s best interest to try to make his boss look good, right?

Now he?s got like 15 games of stats and the wheels falling off the stars from the extra workload to demonstrate a change is in everybody?s best interest and it?ll turn into Reaves for Tyson Barrie (for the lolz)
 
https://x.com/VancityReynolds/status/1731675252529467674
yo special guest star means I get to share this here
 
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
Rielly had a monster game last night, and we're talking the defensive side of the puck.  MLHS says he's giving 88 a run as team MVP thus far.  I think that's a bit exaggerated, but he's still playing on the same level he did in the playoffs last season.
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There was an interview last season where Schenn was saying he was able to teach Rielly a bunch of stuff about how to play defence better regardless of your skating speed ? and that Rielly was a fast learner. We all know Schenn has had to rehabilitate his career by working with specialist skills coaches (not for scoring, which would be the usual "skills coach" thing to do, but for his ability to defend).

My money is on the fact that Rielly asked Schenn to introduce him to whatever skills coach he used to learn all this defending ability and worked all summer with them. It's the only way this story adds up.
 
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