Are the Toronto Maple Leafs Stanley Cup contenders?

[Howboutthempanthers]

On paper they have the talent. But I would worry about the lack of regulation wins if I were looking for a red flag.

 

[NVious]

The real problem with the Leafs has always been the core 4 (and Rielly if you want to include him) never taking over a series, they have played decent-good in the playoffs, you don't get paid 8+ million for decent-good.

On the brighter side for the Leafs, Samsonov ranks 83/85 goalies in terms of save percentage, Campbell is better than him at 873 vs 862 and Vanecek at 883, The Leafs being tied for 10th in the league and 5th in the East shows the teams potential despite their awful goaltending.

At the end of the day the playoffs come down to whether the core 4 shows up, in 7 years they have spectacularly failed, Rielly hasn't failed, but he hasn't been a superstar difference maker either. With great goaltending any team can make a run (Montreal/Florida).

Personally I think it's stupid to keep trying with this top heavy roster, but it wouldn't surprise me if they made a deep run or even won the cup one of these year, simultaneously if the Matthews/Marner/Nylander era ends up with just 1ECF or just another few 2nd round losses, that wouldn't surprise me either.

 

[Jmo89]

Perhaps the Leafs’ board main problem was considering FL as one of those “lesser” teams.
“arrogance comes before the fall”, as they say

There's a reason why I put quotations. The media counted your team out because you nearly missed the playoffs. It was always foolishness imo considering Florida won the predients trophy the year before.

Point I'm making is many leaf fans took Florida more seriously than yours and our media did. Although technically there was 31 "lesser" teams compared to Boston prior to the playoffs last year.

Our board is typically most critical of our own team, aside from a handful of posters you likely have on ignore.

 

[Jmo89]

On paper they have the talent. But I would worry about the lack of regulation wins if I were looking for a red flag.

Goaltending, spotty defensive play, and lack of scoring from the defence as well. Then there's Keefe who imo is a horrible playoff coach.

 

[Deno]

The Leafs will make the POs so they always have a chance to win the cup.
TBH I always thought that the biggest problem the Leafs had for not being able to go on a long PO run was the fact that they always easily made the PO and in some case locked up a spot weeks before the season ended. This kept the team unprepared for PO hockey which is light years more intense than the reg season. If the Leafs find themselves fighting for a wildcard position and only secure a PO spot on the last or 2nd last game of the reg season they will already be playing PO hockey and that would serve them well for a PO run.

All this said their D is very suspect as is their total team defence. Unless this changes by the trade deadline to the end of the season their odds of a long PO run is not good.

 

[Auston Marlander]

Yeah, I'm not predicting Jones to be continue to be a Vezina quality goalie here my guy. We've seen his career and what's going to happen.

No one is. In fact he has proven he comes in and has a great half season before dropping off. I expect the same. That's enough for Woll to come back. Will Woll pick up where he left off? Who knows. If we knew we wouldn't watch.

 

[34]

No we are not. We will make the dance, we will lose the dance.

Too many holes on D and the goaltending is up in the air. Toronto’s success will fall on the shoulders of the goaltending.

 

[Ratsreign]

Yeah, we saw something similar with the Panthers last year, where they squeaked into the playoffs, but then brought this "we're the underdogs, %$@# the doubters" energy. And you could tell everyone on that roster bought into the message. Tkachuk was repeating how everybody had written them off, and that fueled them to upset teams like the Bruins.

Could Toronto replicate that, if they have a rockier regular season? Try to embrace the underdog role? Maybe. But as you point out, the media will make that difficult, and you also need to have the personnel with the right mindset to buy into that message.

It could happen, there’s enough talent on that team to beat anyone if they can put it all together. Media and fan pressure is insane up there, I wonder if that’s their biggest hurdle.

 

[The90]

On paper they have the talent. But I would worry about the lack of regulation wins if I were looking for a red flag.

I always see regulation wins as a huge issue, never any mention that the leafs also have one of the lowest regulation losses. Wonder why that is… jk lol we know.

 

[DearDiary]

I think they have a good roster that has bad habits due to the attitude of several players. Those players get payed a lot of money to play a soft, lazy game and the guys on the bench see it every shift.

 

[jackjohnson]

Their team doesn't have that championship attitude, that's why they exit playoffs early every time.

 

[EmeticDonut]

They are a contender in the way the other 15 teams making the playoffs are contenders.

 

[GreytWun]

No Leaf’s aren’t winning a cup with their current roster setup.

 

[njdevils1982]

 

[KCC]

Their team doesn't have that championship attitude, that's why they exit playoffs early every time.

It's because if Marner gets shut down Matthews does as well. He needs Marner or someone to drive the play so he can get open and do his thing. This has always been the case come playoff time with the tight checking. Both players become invisible. Shut them down and you have a very solid chance of winning the series 9 times out of 10. Last year Tampa was by far the better team and Toronto fluked out. Next series their luck ran out and they were pretty much swept.

 

[Jared Dunn]

They can be but the way they are structured they can't afford for more than one of the core 4 to have an off night and in playoffs past they've had too many games where it's just one of them going - normally Nylander tbh

 

[PaulD]

You're confusing contenders with favorites. 30 teams won't make the finals...last year Florida wasn't expected to make the finals...Montreal wasn't expected to make the finals...most years a team makes it who isn't expected.

Hot goalie, a team hitting their stride or just dumb luck gets a team to the finals in many seasons.

True......and yet the Maples have not made it to the finals once in the last 57 consecutive seasons.

Go figure

 

[winnipegger]

They seem stuck in 2019 as a group. Can't seem to get past this "obvious potential but no real results". Goaltending is their biggest problem. The other problem, according to my trusted eye test, is William Nylander and Mitch Marner being the least intimidating players on the planet.

 

[Pablo El Perro]

If the stars align in the playoffs, they have as much of a chance as any team. They're a bit flawed, but so is every team in the cap era.

 

[Elysian]

No

 

[jackjohnson]

It's because if Marner gets shut down Matthews does as well. He needs Marner or someone to drive the play so he can get open and do his thing. This has always been the case come playoff time with the tight checking. Both players become invisible. Shut them down and you have a very solid chance of winning the series 9 times out of 10. Last year Tampa was by far the better team and Toronto fluked out. Next series their luck ran out and they were pretty much swept.

They just dont have that championship swagger. They are like the Dan Cloutier version of NHL teams, good regular season but chokes in playoffs.

 

[SheldonJPlankton]

True......and yet the Maples have not made it to the finals once in the last 57 consecutive seasons.

Go figure

Sewage sinks to the bottom.

 

[Enga Olly]

if not arrogance than it must just simply be ignorance, I guess.
The Panthers won the presidents trophy the previous season. After adjusting to new coach and getting fully healthy last season, they were one of the best teams the second half of the year. The Panthers were/are a very good team.....better than the Leafs, even .

well the second half of the season your team was a bit over .500. Leafs and Panthers are comparable, either can beat the other on any given night - but sure you guys are great almost stanley cup champs. And not arrogant or ignorant in any way

 

[TheImpatientPanther]

well the second half of the season your team was a bit over .500. Leafs and Panthers are comparable, either can beat the other on any given night - but sure you guys are great almost stanley cup champs. And not arrogant or ignorant in any way

From game 42 on, Florida was 24-13-4 [.634 pts%] or 104 pt pace.

But ya call it .500

 

[Ratsreign]

From game 42 on, Florida was 24-13-4 [.634 pts%] or 104 pt pace.

But ya call it .500

.634 is “a bit over .500”