I have serious concerns for next year (2023-24)

[uncleben]

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.

I find it pretty wild that he signed both Klingberg and Reaves with their known issues.

I guess giving Klingerg a chance on a one year, hoping he can overcome his hip issue is one thing.
Three years to Reaves when he can't even get out of bed without knee braces... that's another

 

[Mess]

I find it pretty wild that he signed both Klingberg and Reaves with their known issues.

I guess giving Klingerg a chance on a one year, hoping he can overcome his hip issue is one thing.
Three years to Reaves when he can't even get out of bed without knee braces... that's another

I see the Reaves signing as a testament to how butter soft our new GM believed the team he inherited was on first impression, and ill-equipped to play any sort of physical game with push back ability.

I personally wouldn't be surprised if the majority of the leagues GMs saw the Leafs the same way. IMO

 

[ACC1224]

What would Reaves cost to buy out?
Can't imagine they could trade him.

 

[JKG33]

I see the Reaves signing as a testament to how butter soft our new GM believed the team he inherited was on first impression, and ill-equipped to play any sort of physical game with push back ability.

I personally wouldn't be surprised if the majority of the leagues GMs saw the Leafs he same way. IMO

This is the elephant in the room that Dubas and half this fan base seemed to ignore, yet everyone else can see clear as day.

I don't like Reaves or his contract, but to say this team needs a culture fix and to toughen up is an understatement

 

[AllHeartNoSkill]

This is the elephant in the room that Dubas and half this fan base seemed to ignore, yet everyone else can see clear as day.

I don't like Reaves or his contract, but to say this team needs a culture fix and to toughen up is an understatement

I agree. I think there’s a complacency hanging over the team. But it was foolish to think a 12th-14th forward could fix that. Trying to change the culture from the bottom of the depth chart upwards is hilariously ill-conceived.

 

[Mess]

This is the elephant in the room that Dubas and half this fan base seemed to ignore, yet everyone else can see clear as day.

I don't like Reaves or his contract, but to say this team needs a culture fix and to toughen up is an understatement

If you're about to hand-out a $13+ mil contract you would want some security to protect that asset.

Similarly if you were to buy a $13 mil home, you would want top notch security, and insurance coverage etc against damage and loss.

When you hear the team has to have close door meetings to discuss standing up for each other physically when a teammate is abused by the opposition, then you know it doesn't come naturally and is forced and that is why a GM would go out and purposely attempt to address it. I like you can't stand knuckle dragging goons either but I certainly can recognize and accept what Treliving was attempting to address by this signing,

So if your GM runs out to recruit the meanest junk yard dog available in the market in Reaves you know its not for his offense but rather asset protection, a glaring weakness.

 

[I am Canadian]

Signing Benoit is a clear indicator that Treliving has a better understanding on what depth players do. Dubas would go for guys like Mete who are tweeners, and don't fill a roll on the bottom pair.

I appreciate that change, but Treliving is still making some mistakes in terms of Klingberg & Reaves.

 

[ULF_55]

What would Reaves cost to buy out?
Can't imagine they could trade him.

.45mm * 4 years

 

[ULF_55]

Signing Benoit is a clear indicator that Treliving has a better understanding on what depth players do. Dubas would go for guys like Mete who are tweeners, and don't fill a roll on the bottom pair.

I appreciate that change, but Treliving is still making some mistakes in terms of Klingberg & Reaves.

IMO, Benoit has earned a full-time role with the team. He's 25 and has 1 full season in the NHL, other part seasons. Treliving lucked out on this one, and it's taken half the season for him to get into the position he is.

Definitely a win.

McCabe brings the same sort of "snot", just has some brainfarts at 30, so that's who he is. Dubas acquired him.

We've seen video of Grebenkin, Minten and Cowan mixing it up(fighting) so perhaps there is more "snot" on the way, curtesy of Leafs scouting.

 

[Nineteen67]

I see the Reaves signing as a testament to how butter soft our new GM believed the team he inherited was on first impression, and ill-equipped to play any sort of physical game with push back ability.

I personally wouldn't be surprised if the majority of the leagues GMs saw the Leafs he same way. IMO

Even worse, it shows a complete lack of vision by the GM on how to correct the situation.

 

[Gallagbi]

What would Reaves cost to buy out?
Can't imagine they could trade him.

450k x 4 yrs as far as cap hits go on a buyout. Makes more sense to bury him with the Marlies, it'll cost less and for fewer years.

Signing Benoit is a clear indicator that Treliving has a better understanding on what depth players do. Dubas would go for guys like Mete who are tweeners, and don't fill a roll on the bottom pair.

I appreciate that change, but Treliving is still making some mistakes in terms of Klingberg & Reaves.

Mete and Benn his last summer. Different options for different situations.

 

[TheTotalPackage]

I see the Reaves signing as a testament to how butter soft our new GM believed the team he inherited was on first impression, and ill-equipped to play any sort of physical game with push back ability.

I personally wouldn't be surprised if the majority of the leagues GMs saw the Leafs he same way. IMO

Completely agree.

The Leafs were deemed as complete pushovers, and all the bellyaching (mostly by fans) about Gudas yelling in Woll's face after the series clinching goal and nothing having been done about it was just one indication that the team needed to get tougher as they were complete pushovers (and had been for a few years).

I understand why Treliving signed Reaves (not so much to three years though), but he was misguided on the type of player needed. Reaves wasn't the guy as he is a talentless hack. They would have been better served signing a guy like Perry, who would have come at both less years and money.

 

[uncleben]

This is the elephant in the room that Dubas and half this fan base seemed to ignore, yet everyone else can see clear as day.

I don't like Reaves or his contract, but to say this team needs a culture fix and to toughen up is an understatement

The team is comparatively soft and the rest of the league knows it, but...
1) I don't think the answer is to swing the other way. I prefer guys like Benoit & McCabe or Muzzin & Bush who can hit/be tough and do other things compared to when we were a roster with Orr and McLaren and Brown (as fun as they were). We need more of that
2) Clifford and Simmonds already tested the theory and didn't move the needle, so not too surprised a 37 year old Reaves (who got bumped from his team last year for not moving the needle) may not be the answer either

Bertuzzi should've been more of answer. Just for whatever reason he's not fully clicked (though I don't mind him)

 

[JKG33]

The team is comparatively soft and the rest of the league knows it, but...
1) I don't think the answer is to swing the other way. I prefer guys like Benoit & McCabe or Muzzin and Bush who can hit/be tough and do other things compared to when we were a roster with Orr and McLaren and Brown (as fun as they were). We need more of that
2) Clifford and Simmonds already tested the theory and didn't move the needle, so not too surprised a 37 year old Reaves (who got bumped from his team last year for not moving the needle) may not be the answer either

Bertuzzi should've been more of answer. Just for whatever reason he's not fully clicked (though I don't mind him)

Oh 100%. I would've loved to have kept Luke Schenn and even traded for Brayden as well before St Louis named him captain. Or traded for Wilson before his extension. But those guys are hard to come by, they're worth a premium both in trade value and cap. They also have to want to come here. Which when you look at the core group, why would those types of players want Matthews & co. as their teammates?

I like them alot, but McCabe and Benoit are ideally a #4 and #5 respectively. Theyre still a helluva lot more useful than the Clifford/Simmonds/Reaves group.

The defensive unit as a whole needs to be addressed. It'll likely always lack a true #1, but there's no reason a legit #2 and #3 can't be added. I'd look to fixing that before I'd worry about the forwards. The big 4 are paid enough, they can each carry a bigger load.

Rielly-X
McCabe-Liljgren/X
Benoit-Liljgren/X

Is what I'd love to see the defence look like

 

[Fogelhund]

What would Reaves cost to buy out?
Can't imagine they could trade him.

Reaves has knee issues...

‘I definitely hate it’: Maple Leafs' Reaves discusses string of healthy scratches

Ryan Reaves is calm, polite and professional when discussing his run of scratches as the Toronto Maple Leafs fourth-liner insists he's healthy and raring to go.

www.sportsnet.ca

And then there's Reaves, peeling off his gear and dripping with sweat after a longer practice session than the Leafs. First the hockey pads, then the high-tech, hinged knee braces strapped to each leg.

The braces have been a staple long before Reaves' recent injury, though.

"I have very loose knees. I've torn both knees, like, a ton of times, and I just don't feel comfortable on the ice without them anymore," Reaves tells Sportsnet.

"I've tried taking them off, and my knees are so loose that when I cut, like, to get out of bed the next morning, sometimes they pop out. So, keep 'em on.

"I wouldn't even practice without them."

You know it's coming...

 

[ACC1224]

Reaves has knee issues...

‘I definitely hate it’: Maple Leafs' Reaves discusses string of healthy scratches

Ryan Reaves is calm, polite and professional when discussing his run of scratches as the Toronto Maple Leafs fourth-liner insists he's healthy and raring to go.

www.sportsnet.ca

And then there's Reaves, peeling off his gear and dripping with sweat after a longer practice session than the Leafs. First the hockey pads, then the high-tech, hinged knee braces strapped to each leg.

The braces have been a staple long before Reaves' recent injury, though.

"I have very loose knees. I've torn both knees, like, a ton of times, and I just don't feel comfortable on the ice without them anymore," Reaves tells Sportsnet.

"I've tried taking them off, and my knees are so loose that when I cut, like, to get out of bed the next morning, sometimes they pop out. So, keep 'em on.

"I wouldn't even practice without them."

You know it's coming...

View attachment 808062

The article says he's 'healthy and ready to go" ? That doesn't sound like an LTIR option

 

[Fogelhund]

The article says he's 'healthy and ready to go" ? That doesn't sound like an LTIR option

I appreciate he's "healthy and ready to go" for now... but then they don't really need his cap space for now... Before this contract is over, he'll be on LTIR, mark my word. It will be for knees.

 

[ACC1224]

I appreciate he's "healthy and ready to go" for now... but then they don't really need his cap space for now... Before this contract is over, he'll be on LTIR, mark my word. It will be for knees.

Sure, could be, 3 years is a long time.
I think he'll be a Marlie before long.

 

[Dekes For Days]

So if your GM runs out to recruit the meanest junk yard dog available in the market in Reaves you know its not for his offense but rather asset protection

There is no "asset protection" with Reaves. There is just an on-ice liability and wasted cap space for years, from chasing a bad solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

 

[Mess]

I agree. I think there’s a complacency hanging over the team. But it was foolish to think a 12th-14th forward could fix that. Trying to change the culture from the bottom of the depth chart upwards is hilariously ill-conceived.

If you have a core of Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares and Rielly who would be the first one to drop their groves or throw a punch or come to a teammates aid in case they were being physically abused?

If one claimed that core 5 which needs protection and uses up 60% of your salary cap then where else are you going to get that push-back ability from other then depth signings?

Leafs are a very flawed team because all their expensive talent is all very similar and very very soft that don't intimidate anyone physically.

Treliving was spoiled in Calgary when he had a Matthew Tkachuk in his top 6,

Leafs top Atlantic rivals all have players that play with grit and bite.

 

[mclaren55]

If you have a core of Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares and Rielly who would be the first one to drop their groves or throw a punch or come to a teammates aid in case they were being physically abused?

If one claimed that core 5 which needs protection and uses up 60% of your salary cap then where else are you going to get that push-back ability from other then depth signings?

Leafs are a very flawed team because all their expensive talent is all very similar and very very soft that don't intimidate anyone physically.

Treliving was spoiled in Calgary when he had a Matthew Tkachuk in his top 6,

Leafs top Atlantic rivals all have players that play with grit and bite.

Morgan ain’t soft chief.

 

[keonsbitterness]

If they decide Reaves has no further use as a player, terminate his contract this summer and give him some kind of community relations position as a way to give him the rest of his money.

 

[ACC1224]

If they decide Reaves has no further use as a player, terminate his contract this summer and give him some kind of community relations position as a way to give him the rest of his money.

That's not a thing.

 

[keonsbitterness]

That's not a thing.

It is if it's mutual. Just happened with Corey Perry,

 

[ACC1224]

It is if it's mutual. Just happened with Corey Perry,

Why would it be mutual? I don't think Perry's was mutual.