Do you think this team is better or worse going into next season?

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Just by adding Tanev and Berube they are easily better.
Give me Stolarz over Samsonov as well.

I agree but what about OEL?

 

[Antropovsky]

Same shi*, different year. Woll is the only thing that could make this year different. If he is a dominant #1... anything can happen. Otherwise I expect nothing different.

 

[ACC1224]

I agree but what about OEL?

Not sure, haven't seen much of him in the past few years.
He looked decent enough in the playoffs and should help the offense. They needed puck movers and he's pretty decent in that regard.
Just removing Brodie and Giordano is a plus. Great careers but there time here needed to end.

 

[Aashir Mallik]

What? You can't be serious... You just compared Tanev and Brodie as similar you clearly have no idea what you're talking about.

Brodies fall off happened THIS season, I’m looking at it from last offseason..you know the one where he and McCabe neutered kucherov and point

 

[IPS]

You shared your opinion and I shared my opinion on your opinion... so what's your point? This is a message board for sharing opinions no? If you don't want people to counter your opinions don't post then cry when someone does...

You're complaining about something that's the fault of someone else that's not possible to change at the moment... so thanks for letting everyone know something we all knew for how many years now?

Yes and you were the one who initially responded to me, with something that didn't even address my opinion at all.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

I can't vote as there is no option called "Much of the same ol'shit."

IMHO, as of this post, our Leafs have just shuffled the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Until we see how the new D-men and goalie impact the on ice performance, I can't say one way or the other if our Leafs are better or worse.

As I see it, our Leafs still have issues to address on the PK and PP. OEL might somewhat help the PP. Tanev might improve the PK. And who knows if Hakanpaa will even play? Hopefully, the new coaching staff can straighten both special teams out.

Will Tanev stay healthy? Will OEL be able to effectively QB the PP? Will an over-payment on his new contract help Liljegren to improve?

Also, until the forward group are restructured, it's much of the same there too. Where is the Bertuzzi replacement? Are they really going to run-it-back with Marner?

No there isn't because I wanted to force people to make a decision, not cop-out

 

[Nineteen67]

It's again easily a 100+ point team in the regular season. That's about the only sure thing. Like last season, and frankly every prior season, the key for this team will be winning the division (or, even better, the conference) in order to get a more favourable first round opponent.

Somehow drawing NJD would be a best case scenario. Canes would be good too, if they make the playoffs.

 

[NJG]

Yes and you were the one who initially responded to me, with something that didn't even address my opinion at all.

I did address your opinion... very clearly in fact. You're crying about something that can't be changed, and saying something that everyone has know for years now. That 4 players on the team make too much money... thanks for telling everyone what they already knew.

 

[Evilhomer]

Somehow drawing NJD would be a best case scenario. Canes would be good too, if they make the playoffs.

I don't think the East will be any better next season than it was this past season, so the wild card teams should be pretty mediocre.

 

[NJG]

Brodies fall off happened THIS season, I’m looking at it from last offseason..you know the one where he and McCabe neutered kucherov and point

And what's your point? You're comparing Brodie to Tanev which is not comparable in any way, shape or form. Tanev is better and has always been better, Tanev is one of if not the best defensive d-man in the league and has been for a long time now, Brodie is not. Tanev is the same age and hasn't fallen off, plus you don't even know if Brodie fell off he could be a completely different player in Chicago.

 

[Nineteen67]

I don't think the East will be any better next season than it was this past season, so the wild card teams should be pretty mediocre.

Or better yet, be a WC team.

 

[NVious]

Same, but honestly it's all irrelevant until the playoffs, this team could go 82-0 winning every game 10-0 while Matthews breaks Gretzky's goal record and Marner Gretzky's point record, if they can't produce in the playoffs, who cares?

 

[Nineteen67]

Brodies fall off happened THIS season, I’m looking at it from last offseason..you know the one where he and McCabe neutered kucherov and point

Brodie was gawd awful in the playoffs the year before last. He was a big concern going into the season and when they didn’t trade him last off season we had hopes that he’d do well enough to be a trade deadline move.

 

[SprDaVE]

I'd imagine a safe bet would be top 3 in the Atlantic again. A lot of X factors though so who knows.

 

[Budz]

If we continue to play one style in the regular season and another in the playoffs - nothing will change.

I believe we are not serious contenders this year, but could be next year - post JT cap.

 

[IPS]

I did address your opinion... very clearly in fact. You're crying about something that can't be changed, and saying something that everyone has know for years now. That 4 players on the team make too much money... thanks for telling everyone what they already knew.

This was the initial response to my post

They'll do some stuff in the regular season that'll be exciting and interesting for the blue and white goggle cheerleaders and then we'll see another inevitable early exit as the Core 4 + pawn shop squad team structure always does.

And what would you like Tre to do about that? You want him to trade two guys that he can't trade? even if he wanted to do that? Like what are you crying about exactly? Tavares contract is done next year, Marners contract is done next year, until then you can't really do much and you can thank Dubas for that.

I literally mentioned nothing about Tre or anything he could do about it, just said that it's likely going to be the same result as the last 8 years.

You're literally getting triggered at things I never even said, that doesn't look healthy.

 

[Racer88]

My choice, so far would be the same…….as the last 6 years and we all know why

 

[Tak7]

Obviously a long way to go this offseason (it's only second week of July), but given their current cap commitments, it's wild that it feels like they are punting on the season, which is 1 of just 4 more guaranteed shots you have with Matthews.

 

[BrannigansLaw]

Better than a first round exit? No.

Better on paper? Maybe

 

[Racer88]

I will change my initial response to better only because I think our goaltending should be better…….hopefully.
Sammy single handed lost the Leafs a ton of games last year during his long visit to funky town

 

[Evilhomer]

I'd imagine a safe bet would be top 3 in the Atlantic again. A lot of X factors though so who knows.

I would be surprised if the top 3 in the Atlantic aren't the same 3 as last season. I think Tampa will actually be worse next season, and none of the bottom feeders are any closer to breaking into the top three.

 

[Sypher04]

I would be surprised if the top 3 in the Atlantic aren't the same 3 as last season. I think Tampa will actually be worse next season, and none of the bottom feeders are any closer to breaking into the top three.

I love how some people are like oh wow, look at Tampa getting Guentzel, that’s crazy. But I mean, he’s probably not going to give them more than Stamkos did last year, and they also had sacrifice Sergachev to make it happen. They added McDonagh back which is good but he regressed quite a bit last year.

They didn’t improve really. At best they stayed the same.

 

[Evilhomer]

I love how some people are like oh wow, look at Tampa getting Guentzel, that’s crazy. But I mean, he’s probably not going to give them more than Stamkos did last year, and they also had sacrifice Sergachev to make it happen. They added McDonagh back which is good but he regressed quite a bit last year.

They didn’t improve really. At best they stayed the same.

I give Tampa a lot of credit for trying to be creative given their cap constraints. At the same time, however, they were mediocre last year despite a near historic performance by Kucherov and a great (and healthy) season from Hedman. I doubt both of them will repeat those performances, and I thikn Vasi will continue to regress. That said, Tampa is still going to be better than Detroit, Ottawa, Buffalo and Montreal.

 

[Eternal Leaf]

Same old stuff. New names and new hopes that people fall for every season.

Brodie was a very good defenseman for a long time. Just because he fell off doesn't change that fact. With that in mind, it's basically the same old supplementary changes. Tanev is great but so were Brodie or even Muzzin.

The goalie tandem is built on hope that Woll doesn't get injured.

1-2 things go wrong and this team will fall apart again. Even if things go right, I think they will likely still lose in the first round. The one positive is that Keefe is gone because he truly was a terrible playoff coach, which Berube should help with.

 

[AvroArrow]

Much better, regardless of what the backend of the Tanev contract looks like, TODAY our defence is significantly better than last year. We retained Domi which is huge, losing Bert sucks but he wasn't a massive difference maker.