How can you claim this was the best year of Lupul, Clarkson, Bolland, McClement, Gleason and Franson's career?
Many of those guys had down years, well off their career bests.
Are any of them likely to repeat their career bests? They didn't literally all have career seasons but the point is moving forward they are way more likely to decline/plateau than improve.
Lupul (30) - Very unlikely to match his career best or improve his defensive game. Outside of two short PPG seasons as Kessel's winger with #1PP time, he's been a consistent 50 point player. 22 goals is his 4th highest career total. Not quite a down year.
Clarkson (30) - 30 goals was a fluke. Extremely poor year this year, but even at his best is an outside chance for a 20/20 season. By the end of his contract I think these seasons will become more regular.
Bolland (27) - Played very well in his time with us, but if resigned has never played a full 82. Why should we expect that moving forward. Huge concern with back, and now foot injury.
McClemment (31) - Forced to play way over his head and showed he's incapable of producing offensively given a larger role. Fine 4th liner, but isn't going to be anything more than that if resigned.
Gleason (31) - Gave his body over and over, played fine with Rielly, but once again his play is way more likely to decline than improve.
Franson (26) - 3 different head coaches have used him as a bottom pairing PP specialist. The one that relies on him as a top 4 gets shown why. Exposed all year. I'm on the fence about Franson improving, but his hockey IQ/foot speed is terrible.
Please qualify that for all of us. Why is it "insanely low"?
Turning a bottom 10 team to a top 10 one is no easy task.
It gets harder when you only have 3 impact players on your roster under 24 left to improve. Rielly (19), Kadri (23), Gardiner (23).
It gets even harder when the majority of your team is either plateauing/declining and you have several of those players tied up long term with NTC/NMC.
Two players with top 15 cap hits starting next year and a 3/4 liner paid 5.25 x 6.
Given that the majority of the team is in their primes, we don't have significantly more young talent on our roster than any other team, our cap situation is very tight, and our prospect pool is generally considered below average.... I'd say they have an uphill battle.
It sucked losing Bernier at a crucial point of the year, but that doesn't excuse the Leafs from folding up like a cheap tent and calling it a year. Riemer didn't provide us with the Vezina calibre goaltending required for the Leafs to win, but too many players looked like they were content with the season slipping away so they could do their year end fishing/Europe trip.
