Brad Treliving is doing a great job.

[VanW27]

Actually Toronto is spending a league-wide high in forwards and proportionally the least in defence and goaltending.

So yes missing on a Klingberg hurts but what also hurts is when two another regulars go down injured ( McCabe / Lilly ) and another’s play takes a sharp dive (Brodie).

Obviously the injuries hurt the D and everyone knows about the cap allocation to the big 4.

It's not really relevant to the conversation though. Our defense was set up this year to be cheap but that doesn’t mean it had to be bad. Our #3 (McCabe), #4 (Lily), and #5/6 (Gio) are all on very cheap deals and quality players in their roles.

We had an opportunity to really shore up the depth but instead wasted 4.15 on a guy who can't be trusted to play ES minutes even when your into your 8th and 9th dmen on the depth chart being forced into action.

Lagesson got 5 minutes more ice than Klingberg last game - in a game we were trailing, and he's the definition a pro depth guy.

 

[notbias]

That’s quite the lineup. Solid AHL calibre defence. He had cap space and added what he thought would be secondary scoring, which is one of the teams biggest deficiencies.

Cap space is only good when you have actual good players to sign. The free agency market was thin this offseason and I’m glad he didn’t blow it with handing out too many long term deals (minus Kampf and to a lesser degree Reaves). He can properly evaluate this roster now, and still have that $13 mil from Bert, Domi and Krapberg for next season.

I’m guessing he realizes with the holes to fill, he might have to trade one of his big pieces, it’s hard to fill those through free agency.

"AHL caliber defence" I took out our worst D and replaced him with a better one... our team has worse than an AHL defense right now?

These people want a future Hall of Fame player to be on their third and fourth lines. Go read what they want out of bottom sixers:

- A guy that can score
- A guy that can hit
- A guy that fights
- A guy that kills penalties
- A guy that is big and can skate well
- A guy that is a threat on the powerplay, preferably with a "booming" slapshot from the point.

I ask the question to these CTE addled smoothbrains, if such a player existed why would he be on any team's bottom six?

They want all that on a cheap cap hit as well. They essentially want prime Eric Lindros - a complete myth of a player.

I just want players who are close to neutral when it comes to goal differential... the 3rd line can hopefully be a slight positive.

The top lines should be able to outproduce the other teams...

you're now missing a guy who couldn't get a NHL spot this year ?

Not missing him... ZAR is a 0 event player, which is much better to have on a 4th line than a player who negatively impacts the play...

ZAR was brought up and he is clearly 10x the player someone like Reaves is

Lafferty I am missing just based on how the 4th line has been... but we got a 5th, that's good, and he is only producing at a 40pt pace while being defensively responsible, but we have tons of those players, so who cares.

 

[Martin Skoula]

Actually Toronto is spending a league-wide high in forwards and proportionally the least in defence and goaltending.

So yes missing on a Klingberg hurts but what also hurts is when two another regulars go down injured ( McCabe / Lilly ) and another’s play takes a sharp dive (Brodie).

The difference between our league high and league average is shifting most of Domi/Bertuzzi’s money to D/G, it’s not a huge gap we’re locked into. In fact it could have been completely resolved this off season without much, if any, drop off in forward production.

The problem isn’t the spend, it’s who the spend is being used on. Kling + Brodie instead of Lindholm + Carlo is roughly even dollars but a world of difference in quality.

 

[hotpaws]

Not missing him... ZAR is a 0 event player, which is much better to have on a 4th line than a player who negatively impacts the play...

ZAR was brought up and he is clearly 10x the player someone like Reaves is

Lafferty I am missing just based on how the 4th line has been... but we got a 5th, that's good, and he is only producing at a 40pt pace while being defensively responsible, but we have tons of those players, so who cares.

32 gm's passed on ZAR and that's why he isn't an NHL player , Laf did nothing here and is another dime a dozen meh 4th liner regardless of his mini hot streak on a hot Van team

Reaves will be lucky to last the season as a semi regular but that has nothing to do with wanting back 2 meh 4th liners from the past

 

[notbias]

32 gm's passed on ZAR and that's why he isn't an NHL player , Laf did nothing here and is another dime a dozen meh 4th liner regardless of his mini hot streak on a hot Van team

Reaves will be lucky to last the season as a semi regular but that has nothing to do with wanting back 2 meh 4th liners from the past

"Laff didn't look good in his limited time here"... "Ignore the small sample size in Vancouver"

Laff would be doing more than Gregor who is his replacement, that's for sure.

Reaves can't be a semi-regular unless we are playing with 19 skaters or have bad injury luck... if we have a full roster and he isn't sent down, we have to play a man short if he is in the press box...

32 GMs should have passed on Reaves by the way... Keefe is trying to shelter/sit 5.5 million of Treliving's signings because they have been so bad... it is weird to try to defend it.

 

[baton elevated]

Actually Toronto is spending a league-wide high in forwards and proportionally the least in defence and goaltending.

So yes missing on a Klingberg hurts but what also hurts is when two another regulars go down injured ( McCabe / Lilly ) and another’s play takes a sharp dive (Brodie).

I get your point about the injuries to the defense and that isn't going to change in the near future. The forwards don't hold any opposing players up. The other teams come crashing in on our defense and smash them unabated. Our cherry picking forwards are and always have been the problem. Not even the 2 Pat's (Burns, Quinn) can fix this group.

 

[Nineteen67]

That’s quite the lineup. Solid AHL calibre defence. He had cap space and added what he thought would be secondary scoring, which is one of the teams biggest deficiencies.

Cap space is only good when you have actual good players to sign. The free agency market was thin this offseason and I’m glad he didn’t blow it with handing out too many long term deals (minus Kampf and to a lesser degree Reaves). He can properly evaluate this roster now, and still have that $13 mil from Bert, Domi and Krapberg for next season.

I’m guessing he realizes with the holes to fill, he might have to trade one of his big pieces, it’s hard to fill those through free agency.

Last year the D was a good AHL D , this year I’d tend to consider them a bad AHL D.

 

[hotpaws]

"Laff didn't look good in his limited time here"... "Ignore the small sample size in Vancouver"

Laff would be doing more than Gregor who is his replacement, that's for sure.

Reaves can't be a semi-regular unless we are playing with 19 skaters or have bad injury luck... if we have a full roster and he isn't sent down, we have to play a man short if he is in the press box...

32 GMs should have passed on Reaves by the way... Keefe is trying to shelter/sit 5.5 million of Treliving's signings because they have been so bad... it is weird to try to defend it.

2019-20	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL	50	6	7	13	23	5	1	0	0	0	0
2020-21	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL	34	0	6	6	25	-6
2021-22	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL	10	0	2	2	12	0
2021-22	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	46	5	6	11	21	-16
2022-23	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	51	10	11	21	28	-10	--	--	--	--	--
2022-23	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL	19	2	4	6	9	-1	9	1	2	3	2
2023-24	Vancouver Canucks	NHL	13	3	3	6	20	8

Laff hasn't looked good anywhere during his career except for his recent mini hot streak , is that better ?

 

[notbias]

2019-20	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL	50	6	7	13	23	5	1	0	0	0	0
2020-21	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL	34	0	6	6	25	-6
2021-22	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL	10	0	2	2	12	0
2021-22	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	46	5	6	11	21	-16
2022-23	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	51	10	11	21	28	-10	--	--	--	--	--
2022-23	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL	19	2	4	6	9	-1	9	1	2	3	2
2023-24	Vancouver Canucks	NHL	13	3	3	6	20	8

Laff hasn't looked good anywhere during his career except for his recent mini hot streak , is that better ?

Yep, 21 in 51 for someone who will be playing 4th line, PKing a little and is defensively responsible is absolutely garbage.

 

[hotpaws]

Yep, 21 in 51 for someone who will be playing 4th line, PKing a little and is defensively responsible is absolutely garbage.

yup . a massive year playing on the worst team in the league and getting more ice time than he would otherwise , lol , a sparkling -16 as well

but hey keep pimping him as some high quality player

 

[Nineteen67]

"Laff didn't look good in his limited time here"... "Ignore the small sample size in Vancouver"

Laff would be doing more than Gregor who is his replacement, that's for sure.

Reaves can't be a semi-regular unless we are playing with 19 skaters or have bad injury luck... if we have a full roster and he isn't sent down, we have to play a man short if he is in the press box...

32 GMs should have passed on Reaves by the way... Keefe is trying to shelter/sit 5.5 million of Treliving's signings because they have been so bad... it is weird to try to defend it.

Everyone knows they are bad signings.
All the bad signings over the past 5 yrs stem from a poorly managed roster. Theoretically their window to contend for the Cup should have opened last year, but because of Dubas’ mistakes it never opened and now they have to reset during the core‘s peak years.
It would make more sense to find out he was intentionally sabotaging the team than it would be to believe he is that stupid.

 

[Drytoast]

Lafferty was the worst rated defenseman last year. I held out hope. But our d corps is so f***ing thin that he has nowhere to hide.

He's just not good defensively

 

[hotpaws]

Lafferty was the worst rated defenseman last year. I held out hope. But our d corps is so f***ing thin that he has nowhere to hide.

He's just not good defensively

I was joking with my buddy at work after the Sens game that outside of Rielly we didn't a D that could make the Sens top 6 when healthy , then he cried , lol .

 

[myleafs]

These people want a future Hall of Fame player to be on their third and fourth lines. Go read what they want out of bottom sixers:

- A guy that can score
- A guy that can hit
- A guy that fights
- A guy that kills penalties
- A guy that is big and can skate well
- A guy that is a threat on the powerplay, preferably with a "booming" slapshot from the point.

I ask the question to these CTE addled smoothbrains, if such a player existed why would he be on any team's bottom six?

They want all that on a cheap cap hit as well. They essentially want prime Eric Lindros - a complete myth of a player.

Bit of an exaggeration Id say.. I dont see anyone asking for a prime Eric Lindros on the 3rd and 4th lines.....didnt you also state in a previous post that fans wanted knuckle draggers etc? Not sure what or where your reading these weird takes. People want 3rd and 4th liners who have a pulse/drive and know how to handle a puck like its not a grenade (reaves). Its not rocket surgery.

 

[myleafs]

Lafferty was the worst rated defenseman last year. I held out hope. But our d corps is so f***ing thin that he has nowhere to hide.

He's just not good defensively

Considering he is a winger I guess that isnt too bad then?

 

[ULF_55]

$8.5mm on Domi and Bertuzzi.

How do the Panthers get OEL for 2.25 a year?

 

[GoonieFace]

$8.5mm on Domi and Bertuzzi.

How do the Panthers get OEL for 2.25 a year?

Come on, OEL has been completely awful for years, let’s not pretend every team is the league was lining up to sign this guy. Plus if they did sign him, he has nowhere to hide on this d core and he would be Klingon-esque

 

[ULF_55]

Come on, OEL has been completely awful for years, let’s not pretend every team is the league was lining up to sign this guy. Plus if they did sign him, he has nowhere to hide on this d core and he would be Klingon-esque

And he signed at half the amount Klingberg did and Klingberg has been good for years?

 

[hotpaws]

And he signed at half the amount Klingberg did and Klingberg has been good for years?

don't forget Monahan , he's almost a ppg and we could have had him for 2m , we could do this endlessly but unless you think anyone could hit on everyone of these reclamation types it's pointless

everyone thought OEL was done , there was hope Berg would improve going to a better team just like how the Nucks thought OEL would be better with them than the yotes

 

[ULF_55]

don't forget Monahan , he's almost a ppg and we could have had him for 2m we could do this endlessly

everyone thought OEL was done , there was hope Berg would improve going to a better team just like how the Nucks thought OEL would be better with them than the yotes

True enough.

But one gambled $2.25mm and another gambled $4.15mm on wishes.

Can bury almost half of EOL in the minors, not so much Klingberg.

 

[hotpaws]

True enough.

But one gambled $2.25mm and another gambled $4.15mm on wishes.

Can bury almost half of EOL in the minors, not so much Klingberg.

i'm just thankful it's a one yr deal and he wouldn't look nearly as bad if we had a couple of D that were actually good at playing D

 

[ULF_55]

i'm just thankful it's a one yr deal and he wouldn't look nearly as bad if we had a couple of D that were actually good at playing D

Yeah, McCabe and Liljegren missing is huge.

Need 1 top pairing defender and they'd be set. Not good set, but at least mostly NHL calibre.

Rielly-?
McCabe-Liljegren
Giordano-Brodie

 

[Buds17]

And he signed at half the amount Klingberg did and Klingberg has been good for years?

Klingberg has typically been better offensively ($). Of even greater importance might be that Klingberg hasn't had his contract bought out recently. It's anyone's guess as to why one is thriving and the other struggling thus far in a new environment for each player.

 

[ULF_55]

Klingberg has typically been better offensively ($). Of even greater importance might be that Klingberg hasn't had his contract bought out recently. It's anyone's guess as to why one is thriving and the other struggling thus far in new environments for each player.

Maybe it's pressure?

 

[Buds17]

Maybe it's pressure?

That's a possibility. Both Toronto and Florida are expected to contend though.