I have serious concerns for next year (2023-24)
- Thread starter Orfieus
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My big prediction was Toronto would not make the playoffs
Toronto is 1pt ahead of Detroit and Tampa. They are 2pts ahead of Pittsburg and Washington
Toronto does have 1 game in hand with Detroit and 2 games in hand with Tampa but Toronto needs to win those for that to matter...and well, they are not winning games at the moment
Toronto is 1pt ahead of Detroit and Tampa. They are 2pts ahead of Pittsburg and Washington
Toronto does have 1 game in hand with Detroit and 2 games in hand with Tampa but Toronto needs to win those for that to matter...and well, they are not winning games at the moment
BallardEra
Leafs&Caps Since 1982™
Hope you never made that bet.
In hindsight, it was never possible with Keefe behind the bench.
ToneDog
56 years and counting. #FireTheShanaClan!
Just read the title. Is next year this year or next year because we should be concerned for both. We need Tre to pull a rabbit out of his ass like Rutherford and Chevy have done.
Trapper
Registered User
- Nov 21, 2013
- 24,660
- 12,830
Next year’s serious concerns are too late.
I had those 5 years ago when things should have been addressed and here we are.
Now for the most part I’m just do whatever.
This train isn’t stopping until it gets to its destination or goes off the track.
Gary Nylund
Registered User
- Oct 10, 2013
- 31,688
- 25,523
This was the first post of thread, seems like it's aged quite well so far.
Whereas this post, has not aged quite so well.
Not to pick on this poster, there were many, many posters who were talking about winning the Presidents trophy and Marner getting 120 points. And while I thought we'd be weaker this season, I figured we'd still cruise to the playoffs.
We'll see what happens and there's still time to turn it around but it sure feels like the team is falling apart. My biggest concern is that the supposed leaders of the team are a bunch of cupcakes and don't seem to care whether they win or not as evidenced by Marner's latest idiotic comment that they're "doing everything right". And no, it's not all on him, the only player on the team that looks like he has what it takes to win is Rielly.
This thread works for this season and next as well. Need good decisions leading up to the 25/26 season. Thats our final window (core - 11m Tavares) Just accept medocrity for this year and next til these contracts clean up (some expire this year). But need good personel decisions from now til then.
saffronleaf
Registered User
Feels bad man, was so optimistic going into the season. What a shit show it has been.
Gary Nylund
Registered User
- Oct 10, 2013
- 31,688
- 25,523
I assume everyone feels bad right about now. I figured we'd be a bit worse maybe due to aging D, but still easily a top 10 team. I still wasn't super optimistic about the playoffs, and of course I have no optimism left whatsoever in that regard but still, I thought we'd cruise during the regular season.
The worst part if that I feel like we're doomed with this core at these prices and once we lock in Marner this summer, that's that and we're just doomed to spin our wheels until their contracts run out, and only then will we finally start the inevitable rebuild and I shudder to think how empty our cupboards are likely to be at that point.
It's weird how there are so many people still high on the koolaid talking about how great these players are, the greatest Leafs of all time and so on. It's like they don't care about having a winning team as long as we have a few stars they can fawn over. Weird.
The positive news for me. The Leafs don't play up or down to their competition so much, but they seem to have trouble against very young pr very skilled skating/fast teams (Buffalo, Ottawa, Montreal even C-bus, Edmonton) that they SHOULD beat, but its almost like they don't want to put the effort in to outskate those guys). They have played and gotten a lot of those games out of the way.
They seem to play better, 'get up' for the games against the better teams, but the ones that are 'more veteran' and don't have the pure speed/skill/skating ability. Its like if the Leafs can outskate a team without trying too hard, they do well. The schedule is tough on paper, but may actually give them better matchups.
As far as next year goes, I can't see us getting anything different than this year, last year, the year before, etc. This team is what it is, highly skilled, high scoring, but with some big time holes. They CAN make a run to the cup but they need one of those years where everything falls into place just right. As long as we have this core, and they are paid what they are paid, that is it.
Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Anaheim, even Carolina and Florida all are likely to have a pretty good amount of cap space in the offseason. Some of those teams are getting better, so Toronto is not going to win a bidding war, or even engage in one, for any available players that are major upgrades. This isn't the hockey version of New England with Tom Brady where players will take less money just to play here because they think they have a 50-50 shot of making the Superbowl after all...
They seem to play better, 'get up' for the games against the better teams, but the ones that are 'more veteran' and don't have the pure speed/skill/skating ability. Its like if the Leafs can outskate a team without trying too hard, they do well. The schedule is tough on paper, but may actually give them better matchups.
As far as next year goes, I can't see us getting anything different than this year, last year, the year before, etc. This team is what it is, highly skilled, high scoring, but with some big time holes. They CAN make a run to the cup but they need one of those years where everything falls into place just right. As long as we have this core, and they are paid what they are paid, that is it.
Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Anaheim, even Carolina and Florida all are likely to have a pretty good amount of cap space in the offseason. Some of those teams are getting better, so Toronto is not going to win a bidding war, or even engage in one, for any available players that are major upgrades. This isn't the hockey version of New England with Tom Brady where players will take less money just to play here because they think they have a 50-50 shot of making the Superbowl after all...
Besides the big 4 getting paid $46M, and when you add Reily $53.5M, that leaves you with very little to go after quality goalies/defenceman....doesn't mean you can't get lucky, but this team hasn't developed the young players to fill in the cap with cheap contracts. If you look at the recent Stanley Cup winners they have a balanced salary cap roster, and got lucky with key players who were developed in the system with cheaper contracts. And to add insult, nearly every player has a NMC or NTC, that includes the likes of Jarnkrok, Domi, McCabe,Brodie, Kampf, Bertuzzi....there is no one left to easily trade.
woke up this morning to find Toronto is now in a wildcard spot. Frankly they are only a few losses away to being out of the playoff picture
The only saving grace is they are losing to West Coast teams right now
The only saving grace is they are losing to West Coast teams right now
Well we gave up players like Engvall, Mikheyev, in order to get tougher for the playoffs. Why would we expect to do better in the regular season? Problem is we may not even make the playoffs now because we were looking to toughen up.
Al14
Registered User
- Jul 13, 2007
- 24,472
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BallardEra
Leafs&Caps Since 1982™
It seems to me that faster teams really give the Leafs problems this season. Another thing is that I see no defensive structure whatsoever. It's almost like Keefe just wants them to go out and try to outscore the opposition.
Very puzzling.
Very puzzling.
Why are you puzzled? We drafted a skilled roster which has always lacked speed except for Willy and Rielly.
And we only have 1 top 4 NHL dman .. so our D zone play with always sucks which it has all season long
Da difference now is like I tell you guys every year .. after XMAS pro hockey changes to a faster game with less time and space on puck and it only gets worse in playoffs .. skill gets over whelmed by speed and grit .. nothing new here
BallardEra
Leafs&Caps Since 1982™
Ya but the Leafs at one point had one of the fastest teams in the league.
At this point it's like they don't even know what identity they have or what team they are trying to put together.
uncleben
Global Moderator
The "we'll still walk into the playoffs" is looking very generous, but I'm still not shocked this year is looking disappointing. Not much was done to increase hope
ULF_55
Moderator
The off-season was off.
However, to be fair.
Klingberg - he was their shot at a top 4 defender.
That was their biggest need.
I thought he looked fine, calm with the puck and not limited in the processing department.(between ears)
No he wasn't going to be a Pronger, but he could make a good decision and move the puck.
Add a top 4 defender to their existing core and you can push Brodie down to 3rd. pairing rotational status.
Now the supposed "snot" ...
They have turned into depth players.
They are not difference makers.
They are not better than what was already on the team making dramatically less.
Being what they might need in the playoffs is redundant if they can't help you get into the playoffs.
They may also be limiting potential tryouts from their "Futures" pool.
Goaltending.
Who expected the disaster in net.
It is a disaster, all they needed was okay goaltending.
Samsonov having a breakdown perhaps wasn't surprising to some, but did anyone foresee such a dramatic breakdown?
As for the contracts, don't really care at this point. Future contracts have no impact on how the team is playing now. Matthews and Nylander are playing on their old contracts, as are marner and Tavares.
As for the future, it isn't as dire as some want it to be.
However, management has to blend their knocking on the door players into the line-up, in a intelligent manner.
We know the candidates, Grebenkin, Cowan, Minten, Steeves, ..., some surprising where'd he come from.
However, to be fair.
Klingberg - he was their shot at a top 4 defender.
That was their biggest need.
I thought he looked fine, calm with the puck and not limited in the processing department.(between ears)
No he wasn't going to be a Pronger, but he could make a good decision and move the puck.
Add a top 4 defender to their existing core and you can push Brodie down to 3rd. pairing rotational status.
Now the supposed "snot" ...
They have turned into depth players.
They are not difference makers.
They are not better than what was already on the team making dramatically less.
Being what they might need in the playoffs is redundant if they can't help you get into the playoffs.
They may also be limiting potential tryouts from their "Futures" pool.
Goaltending.
Who expected the disaster in net.
It is a disaster, all they needed was okay goaltending.
Samsonov having a breakdown perhaps wasn't surprising to some, but did anyone foresee such a dramatic breakdown?
As for the contracts, don't really care at this point. Future contracts have no impact on how the team is playing now. Matthews and Nylander are playing on their old contracts, as are marner and Tavares.
As for the future, it isn't as dire as some want it to be.
However, management has to blend their knocking on the door players into the line-up, in a intelligent manner.
We know the candidates, Grebenkin, Cowan, Minten, Steeves, ..., some surprising where'd he come from.
I am not sure if I ever saw this super fast team .. Matty is a little above league average .. JT has always been slow .. Mitch is at best league average (straight line not 5ft edge burst) .. and Willy can fly sure he can skate at speed with anyone and so can Rielly
We were very quick in the final Lou days and even into that first year with JT. Team speed was high overall and Babs system had us skating a lot, which pushed pace, even at the expense of possession and creativity.
so just hang on for 2 more years and trust that management will get a brain and figure it out?
