Official Tank Nation Topic

[CarltonTheBear]

@DarrenDreger: Leafs brass in Sarnia scouting Yakupov tonight.

If only.

Galchenyuk is playing too, and just scored his first of the year.

 

[maplesyrup]

I'm not thinking of only the big clubs needs. In terms of longer term progressions, the biggest area of need that can be addressed by this year's first round pick is still an above average top 6 forward.

And, let's be honest here, players drafted in the range the Leafs look to be drafting tend to be in the league within a season or so of being drafted.

Fair enough but I don't think that would change anything for me. - BPA... Regardless of position.

 

[ontariojames]

Bah... If we hang on to the pick, I still take a defenseman if he's the best talent on the board.

If that were the case, and there were no forwards that were arguably of similar talent to the defencemen available, given the state of the team, I'd be inclined to trade down a few spots to add a couple more assets and still add a higher ceiling forward. The Leafs need another above average top 6 forward much more than they need a defenceman.

We are 3rd last in goals against, and 8th in goals for, how do we need a top six forward much more than a defenceman?

 

[Britishbulldog]

Draft Position	Team	Games Played	Points
9​	Carolina	74​	75​	CBJ DET TOR WPG NJD OTT MON FLA
8​	Anaheim	75​	75​	BOS SJS PHX EDM VAN EDM CAL
7​	Tampa Bay	73​	73​	NYI PHI BOS NJD WPG WAS MON TOR WPG
6​	Minnesota	73​	72​	BUF WAS NYR FLA LAK CHI NAS CHI PHX
5​	Toronto	74​	72​	NJD NYR CAR PHI BUF BUF TBY MON
4​	NY Islanders	73​	71​	TBY FLA PIT PIT BOS OTT NJD WPG CBJ
3​	Montreal	74​	69​	OTT PHI FLA NYR WAS TBY CAR TOR
2​	e - Edmonton	74​	67​	FLA CBJ DAL LAK ANA LAK ANA VAN
1​	e - Columbus	73​	53​	Does Not Matter Who They Play

Sorry that I do not know how to post this nice and neatly. It looks good in Excel on my desktop.

There you go.  I left it a little messy code-wise but basically how you do it is:

1. Paste the data in that you want to use.
2. Put [*table] and [/*table] at the beginning and end respectively (removing the * ofcourse)
3. Put [*tr] and [/*tr] at the beginning and end of each row.
4. Put [*td] and [/*td] around whatever is in each column.

Inside the [*td] and [/*td] you can do the typical things as well like alignment (left, center, right), colour, etc.

It is a little tedious but it looks good when posted.   

You can update this table for now on if you like or you can continue to paste it in from your spread sheet. Whichever you prefer.

*EDIT:  I cleaned the code up.

 

[maplesyrup]

We are 3rd last in goals against, and 8th in goals for, how do we need a top six forward much more than a defenceman?

Fair point too... I mean, when did our defense suddenly become the strength of this team?

 

[CarltonTheBear]

We are 3rd last in goals against, and 8th in goals for, how do we need a top six forward much more than a defenceman?

Fair point too... I mean, when did our defense suddenly become the strength of this team?

Well, playing a run-and-gun style with below-average goaltending doesn't exactly help that situation.

 

[maplesyrup]

Well, playing a run-and-gun style with below-average goaltending doesn't exactly help that situation.

True. Though to be honest, I don't know what part of this team you would identify as a "strength." I mean, can we agree that the key weakness are (in no particular order) toughness, defensive play, and goaltending?   

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Well, playing a run-and-gun style with below-average goaltending doesn't exactly help that situation.

True. Though to be honest, I don't know what part of this team you would identify as a "strength." I mean, can we agree that the key weakness are (in no particular order) toughness, defensive play, and goaltending?   

Sure, I'll give you that. With that said, saying that this team is bad defensively doesn't mean that it's 100% on the defencemen's shoulders. As I've already said, there's a lot of blame to spread around for our bad goals against.

Also, all three of those elements to the game that you mentioned are things that are easier to acquire in later rounds of the draft or through free agency/trade. Acquiring a top-line centre through those means is looking pretty unlikely. And I'd argue that we need that type of player more than we need improvements in those other areas.

 

[maplesyrup]

Sure, I'll give you that. With that said, saying that this team is bad defensively doesn't mean that it's 100% on the defencemen's shoulders. As I've already said, there's a lot of blame to spread around for our bad goals against.

Also, all three of those elements to the game that you mentioned are things that are easier to acquire in later rounds of the draft or through free agency/trade. Acquiring a top-line centre through those means is looking pretty unlikely. And I'd argue that we need that type of player more than we need improvements in those other areas.

Well, let's see how it plays out. We might not even keep the pick so...

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Sure, I'll give you that. With that said, saying that this team is bad defensively doesn't mean that it's 100% on the defencemen's shoulders. As I've already said, there's a lot of blame to spread around for our bad goals against.

Also, all three of those elements to the game that you mentioned are things that are easier to acquire in later rounds of the draft or through free agency/trade. Acquiring a top-line centre through those means is looking pretty unlikely. And I'd argue that we need that type of player more than we need improvements in those other areas.

Well, let's see how it plays out. We might not even keep the pick so...

I think I'll honestly be sick if Burke trades out of the top-5.

 

[maplesyrup]

I think I'll honestly be sick if Burke trades out of the top-5.

As I've been saying, if it's as part of a deal for a true franchise player, I'd be a happy camper.

 

[ontariojames]

Well, playing a run-and-gun style with below-average goaltending doesn't exactly help that situation.

True. Though to be honest, I don't know what part of this team you would identify as a "strength." I mean, can we agree that the key weakness are (in no particular order) toughness, defensive play, and goaltending?   

Sure, I'll give you that. With that said, saying that this team is bad defensively doesn't mean that it's 100% on the defencemen's shoulders. As I've already said, there's a lot of blame to spread around for our bad goals against.

Also, all three of those elements to the game that you mentioned are things that are easier to acquire in later rounds of the draft or through free agency/trade. Acquiring a top-line centre through those means is looking pretty unlikely. And I'd argue that we need that type of player more than we need improvements in those other areas.

Well Toronto sure has had a hard time trying to improve defence/goaltending through draft/free agency/trade in the last few years. I think drafting a player who turns out to be a stud #1 dman would go a long way in helping our D.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Well Toronto sure has had a hard time trying to improve defence/goaltending through draft/free agency/trade in the last few years. I think drafting a player who turns out to be a stud #1 dman would go a long way in helping our D.

Well, ideally any player that we draft that high will go a long way in helping some part of our team. You can say the same thing about Grigorenko going a long way in filling that vacant top-line centre spot we've had for years.

I think we can all agree that this team needs help in a lot of positions, and a potential top-5 or even higher pick in a draft like this should help in shoring up one of those problems. I certainly wouldn't be opposed to drafting a Murphy/Trouba/Dumba, but at some point we need a legitimate top-line centre or we won't do any damage in the playoffs.

 

[ontariojames]

Well Toronto sure has had a hard time trying to improve defence/goaltending through draft/free agency/trade in the last few years. I think drafting a player who turns out to be a stud #1 dman would go a long way in helping our D.

Well, ideally any player that we draft that high will go a long way in helping some part of our team. You can say the same thing about Grigorenko going a long way in filling that vacant top-line centre spot we've had for years.

I think we can all agree that this team needs help in a lot of positions, and a potential top-5 or even higher pick in a draft like this should help in shoring up one of those problems. I certainly wouldn't be opposed to drafting a Murphy/Trouba/Dumba, but at some point we need a legitimate top-line centre or we won't do any damage in the playoffs.

To clarify, my point wasn't that we definitely need to draft a Dman, it was that most people seemed to be only talking about drafting a forward which didn't make sense to me since our D is as bad as it is. So we seem to be on the same page then.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Well Toronto sure has had a hard time trying to improve defence/goaltending through draft/free agency/trade in the last few years. I think drafting a player who turns out to be a stud #1 dman would go a long way in helping our D.

Well, ideally any player that we draft that high will go a long way in helping some part of our team. You can say the same thing about Grigorenko going a long way in filling that vacant top-line centre spot we've had for years.

I think we can all agree that this team needs help in a lot of positions, and a potential top-5 or even higher pick in a draft like this should help in shoring up one of those problems. I certainly wouldn't be opposed to drafting a Murphy/Trouba/Dumba, but at some point we need a legitimate top-line centre or we won't do any damage in the playoffs.

To clarify, my point wasn't that we definitely need to draft a Dman, it was that most people seemed to be only talking about drafting a forward which didn't make sense to me since our D is as bad as it is. So we seem to be on the same page then.

To clarify, this is my personal draft list:

1) Yakupov - Generally considered the best player available. You can't pass up on that for any positional priorities
2) Grigorenko/Galchenyuk - Both potential elite centres, which is what I think our biggest weakness is. It doesn't hurt that both are considered the best players available in the 2-5 slots by some
3) Dumba/Murphy/Trouba - I don't know enough about them individually to make a selection, but they are all supposed to be pretty darn good defencemen.
4) Forsberg - Not as high on him as others. I've made it clear I'd prefer a forward in this draft, but I think the upside of the defencemen are higher than Forsberg's.

 

[maplesyrup]

To clarify, my point wasn't that we definitely need to draft a Dman, it was that most people seemed to be only talking about drafting a forward which didn't make sense to me since our D is as bad as it is. So we seem to be on the same page then.

I know we are.

 

[Britishbulldog]

Great shootout for the win but terrible for the draft pick!

 

[Deebo]

That was one of those games where we played bad enough to lose, but the goalie stole it, if we keep playing like that, we're sure to start losing games again.

 

[bustaheims]

Well Toronto sure has had a hard time trying to improve defence/goaltending through draft/free agency/trade in the last few years. I think drafting a player who turns out to be a stud #1 dman would go a long way in helping our D.

The thing about defence is that, in general, throwing different players out there in the same system that isn't working doesn't tend to fix things, whereas changing the system to something that does work while maintaining the same personal does. The issue with the Leafs is not the personnel on the ice - I've said it before and I maintain that, in terms of the blueline, the talent is there - the problem has been the the system the team has been using required elite goaltending, which obviously the team didn't have. We've seen some improvement under Carlyle, but, this late in the season, it's difficult for players to really change the way they've played since October, and even more difficult when they know the season is lost. The defensive play can (and should) be massively improved next season based solely on the coaching change - especially if the new coaching staff really gets on the forwards to maintain their defensive responsibilities - and the expected improvement the Leafs will make in net between now and next season should go a long way to sort out the rest.

 

[Tigger]

Well Toronto sure has had a hard time trying to improve defence/goaltending through draft/free agency/trade in the last few years. I think drafting a player who turns out to be a stud #1 dman would go a long way in helping our D.

Well, ideally any player that we draft that high will go a long way in helping some part of our team. You can say the same thing about Grigorenko going a long way in filling that vacant top-line centre spot we've had for years.

I think we can all agree that this team needs help in a lot of positions, and a potential top-5 or even higher pick in a draft like this should help in shoring up one of those problems. I certainly wouldn't be opposed to drafting a Murphy/Trouba/Dumba, but at some point we need a legitimate top-line centre or we won't do any damage in the playoffs.

To clarify, my point wasn't that we definitely need to draft a Dman, it was that most people seemed to be only talking about drafting a forward which didn't make sense to me since our D is as bad as it is. So we seem to be on the same page then.

To clarify, this is my personal draft list:

1) Yakupov - Generally considered the best player available. You can't pass up on that for any positional priorities
2) Grigorenko/Galchenyuk - Both potential elite centres, which is what I think our biggest weakness is. It doesn't hurt that both are considered the best players available in the 2-5 slots by some
3) Dumba/Murphy/Trouba - I don't know enough about them individually to make a selection, but they are all supposed to be pretty darn good defencemen.
4) Forsberg - Not as high on him as others. I've made it clear I'd prefer a forward in this draft, but I think the upside of the defencemen are higher than Forsberg's.

I'm pretty much down with that but I know little about Forsberg past the hype, though I think you mean Murray?

Could the Leafs trade to get two of those?