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Are we watching history?

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Is this the greatest Leaf regular season team of all time?

  • Total voters
    61
TheGreatOne11 said:
This is what happens when you find a true #1 goalie. Cannot give enough credit to Campbell.
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Its going to be tough to see him go, I cant see the Leafs with their cap problems paying Mrzaek 4 mil-ish per and then Campbell 5 to 6 mil per. I guess if I want to watch him next year I will have to stay up and watch Oiler games. Its been a long time since I had a favorite Leaf (Wendel).... Campbell is starting to get near that Wendel category for me.
 
To compare to the distant past I'd convert the ot losses and so losses into ties as well as the ot wins. That makes the current team's record 19-9-7 in the old system. That puts the team tied (point %) with the 1960-61 team below the 1950-51, 1934-35 and 1940-41 teams.
 
Bluelines said:
Its going to be tough to see him go, I cant see the Leafs with their cap problems paying Mrzaek 4 mil-ish per and then Campbell 5 to 6 mil per. I guess if I want to watch him next year I will have to stay up and watch Oiler games. Its been a long time since I had a favorite Leaf (Wendel).... Campbell is starting to get near that Wendel category for me.
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He's not going anywhere. Bank on it. I am annoyed that after last season Dubas didn't see enough already to offer him a contract, and now we are going to pay for it. Was never a fan of the Mrazek contract.

But if he can get some steady numbers we can offload him in the offseason and there's Campbell's raise pretty much plus Kessel comes off the books, but he's going nowhere.

I do love him like you do and I'm glad people are appreciating him now, I've always been a fan I knew he'd lead us to the promise land.
 
I'm very much enjoying watching the Leafs this year, that's all.

The comparisons to past teams don't do much for me because hockey has changed so much over the years. The 1945 or 1975 Leafs played an entirely different game.

I do think Austin Matthews is probably the best player ever to play for the Leafs.

If they win a Stanley Cup or two, then I would probably be interested in drawing comparisons. Otherwise, this year's team will soon be forgotten.
 
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I don't put much stock into these points records considering there are no ties anymore. Overall I like what I've seen though, more of an all business approach to the game and compete level. Best Leafs team I've seen in my lifetime? No, not yet anyway.
 
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The most important stat is a Stanley Cup win and the next most important is regular season finish, IMO. The Leaf teams of 1947-48 and 1961-62 were the only ones in franchise history to finish first in the regular season and also win the Cup. They were also the mid and highest point of the two dynasties in Leaf history. For now, those two teams are number one for me. The present team is promising but as a Leaf fan old enough to remember clearly that 1961-62 team I’m adopting a wait and see (but hopeful) attitude for now.

Historical note: the Leafs won five of the ten Stanley Cups in the ‘40’s. Best decade in Leafs history. The classic children’s book, The Sweater, which is set in the 40’s has the little boy object to getting a Leafs sweater because they always lose to the Canadiens. Not in the forties!
 
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If you're interested in account for different standings formulas, hockey-reference.com includes these two in addition to plain pts%:

RgPts% = pts% in regulation, with any game that goes into OT counted as a tie

Rpts% - no shootout win points, no OT loss points. I.e. the old scoring system.

The second one isn't perfect because we could quibble about 4on4 and 3on3 OT wins...but it's pretty good I think.

The Leafs currently have a .657 Rpts%.

Leafs history (asterisk = won cup too):

1. 1950-51: .679*
2. 1934-35: .667
3. 2021-22: .657
4. 1940-41: .646
5. 1960-61: .643
6. 1947-48: .642*
7. 1933-34: .635
8. 1924-25: .633
9. 1920-21: .625
10. 2020-21: .616
 
History will be made in the playoffs, or it won't.

They should set a new high in points if this season actually ends up at 82 games though. Only need to go .607 the rest of the way. Our record in the Matthews era is .623, so they can play below average and still manage it.
 
The regular season has been great for the most part but imo its not helping us. The best position we can be in is to win the divison or to fall into the 1st wild card. If not, facing Tampa or Florida, who are already deeper teams and will probably be adding, then its probably gonna be a short playoff run.

The team is practically as good as I remember, although I think the 1st season with Tavares was the best team we had in my lifetime, granted Kadri getting suspended ruined that run.
 
TheScandal89 said:
The team is practically as good as I remember, although I think the 1st season with Tavares was the best team we had in my lifetime, granted Kadri getting suspended ruined that run.
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Whether it was coaching or personnel or both, that 18-19 team ranked 25th in expected goals against. A flat out bad defensive team.
 
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zeke said:
Whether it was coaching or personnel or both, that 18-19 team ranked 25th in expected goals against. A flat out bad defensive team.
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Probably a little of both but I still feel on paper that team was so deep, Connor Brown on the 4th line was pretty crazy. Defensively they weren't as good but they had a decent top 6 with Rielly, Muzzin, Gardiner, Zaitsev, Hainsey and Dermott.
 
Bluelines said:
Its going to be tough to see him go, I cant see the Leafs with their cap problems paying Mrzaek 4 mil-ish per and then Campbell 5 to 6 mil per. I guess if I want to watch him next year I will have to stay up and watch Oiler games. Its been a long time since I had a favorite Leaf (Wendel).... Campbell is starting to get near that Wendel category for me.
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How many people last year would have given Campbell 3.8 million for multiple years?

Leafs have to give Mrazek more starts ... he has to stay healthy though.

Maybe he ends up on a retirement LTIR?
 
TheScandal89 said:
Probably a little of both but I still feel on paper that team was so deep, Connor Brown on the 4th line was pretty crazy. Defensively they weren't as good but they had a decent top 6 with Rielly, Muzzin, Gardiner, Zaitsev, Hainsey and Dermott.
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For me Zaitsev and Hainsey in the top-4 was pretty terrible, and a big downgrade from what we have now.

Offensively I'm pretty sure we're getting better depth scoring now than we did then. But I'd have to check. A big issue is that Willy just wasn't an impact player that year at all. And while Connor Brown on the 4th line seems deep, Simmonds is outscoring what Brown did on the 4th line.
 
zeke said:
For me Zaitsev and Hainsey in the top-4 was pretty terrible, and a big downgrade from what we have now.

Offensively I'm pretty sure we're getting better depth scoring now than we did then. But I'd have to check. A big issue is that Willy just wasn't an impact player that year at all. And while Connor Brown on the 4th line seems deep, Simmonds is outscoring what Brown did on the 4th line.
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Yeah I'm pretty sure that was the season Nylander went threw the extension stuff and never really found his place when he got up. But I still believe the team on paper was better with Tavares-Matthews-Kadri down the middle. They just never fully got it together. I could be wrong, wouldn't be the first time, won't be the last time
 
TheScandal89 said:
Yeah I'm pretty sure that was the season Nylander went threw the extension stuff and never really found his place when he got up. But I still believe the team on paper was better with Tavares-Matthews-Kadri down the middle. They just never fully got it together. I could be wrong, wouldn't be the first time, won't be the last time
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Kadri just wasn't good as the 3rd line C unfortunately.
 
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