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It's time to have the conversation.

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LEAFANFORLIFE23 said:
I have resisted doing this thread for a while but they are 10-2-1 now, they are 1st overall in the NHL and they are 6 points up on everybody in the North except Montreal and even then they are 3 points up so nobody is within a game of catching them.

So now we need to have a conversation, what does this team need to put themselves over the top?

This feels like the year to go for it it feels like if they can add a piece or 2 they can do it, and there are pieces in this lineup I think can be replaced.

Guys like Kerfoot, I know Kerfoot had a goal and that's great but has 2 and he makes to many mistakes between all his penalities and the mistake he made last night that let Vancouver tie ir he can go.

Vesey, he's got 2 goals and he only makes 900K but you know what? 900K at the deadline gets you Rakell or Palmeri and yes this team needs a top 9 forward.

Engvall there simply isn't a spot for him that 1.2 million can be better spent that 1.2 million buyer you David Savard at the deadline, or Palmeri, Radkell, Tanner Pearson.

I think this team can do it but there are guys can be replaced.

Even Mikyehev he's not doing enough when he's out there I think he's a good player but if they couls replace him I'd be OK with that.

So I ask what does this team need to put itself over the top
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This is precisely my mindset as well.
Although I don’t have the answers as to who could help, I absolutely agree that Vesey and Engvall do nothing to warrant a roster spot.
Soupy and Kerfoot are on the bubble for me, if there is someone out there that can help us, they are also expendable in my opinion.
At the present time, I think the edge goes to Montreal if it comes down to that.
They have better goaltending, better defense and overall more grit for a deep playoff run.

We need a lot more out of our 2nd line.
If any team can totally shut down Mathews and Marner, we are in trouble.
I would look to add a piece to the 2nd and 3rd lines, and a d man with some nastiness.
 
MattySnipes said:
I don't see the issue with Kerfy others are seeing. Maybe its the phantom penalties angering them?

I even liked Kerfoot last year. I thought he did a much better job than Kadri at 3C.
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I think it's because one of his best assets actually backfires on him in the eyes of observers. He transitions the puck so essily from sticky defensive situations into the offensive zone that we see him with the puck more than most players.....but then because his offensive skills and creativity are limited, we also see him WASTE those offensive zone touches more than most other players, too. So while watching what ends up sticking in your mind is wasted offensive zone possessions, when in reality the fact that he transitions the puck into there so easily and frequently is by itself a positive impact that many others aren't able to do nearly as well or often.
 
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5v5 scoring

Matthews 12gms, 8gls, 11pts (82gms, 55gls, 75pts)
Marner 13gms, 4gls, 12pts (82gms, 25gls, 76pts)
Hyman 12gms, 1gls, 4pts (82gms, 7gls, 27pts)

Tavares 13gms, 1gls, 5pts (82gms, 6gls, 32pts)
Nylander 13gms, 3gls, 7pts (82gms, 19gls, 44pts)
Thornton 5gms, 1gls, 1pts (82gms, 16gls, 16pts)

Kerfoot 13gms, 2gls, 3pts (82gms, 13gls, 19pts)
Mikheyev 13gms, 0gls, 3pts (82gms, 0gls, 19pts)
Vesey 13gms, 2gls, 3pts (82gms, 13gls, 19pts)

Boyd 5gms, 1gls, 4pts (82gms, 16gls, 66pts)
Spezza 12gms, 3gls, 5pts (82gms, 21gls, 34pts)
Simmonds 12gms, 2gls, 2pts (82gms, 13gls, 13pts)

Engvall 4gms, 0gls, 1pts (82gms, 0gls, 21pts)
Petan 2gms, 0gls, 1pts (82gms, 0gls, 41pts)
Barabanov 7gms, 0gls, 0pts (82gms, 0gls, 0pts)

Brooks 1gms, 0gls, 0pts (82gms, 0gls, 0pts)
Anderson 1gms, 0gls, 0pts (82gms, 0gls, 0pts)
Robertson 1gms, 0gls, 0pts (82gms, 0gls, 0pts)
 
Bennett at 50 for Engvall and a 3rd
Hall at 50 for Kerfoot, 1st, Liljegren
Savard at 50 for dermott and a 2nd

Hyman - Matthews - Marner
Hall - Tavares - Nylander
Bennett - Thornton - Robertson
Boyd - Spezza - Simmonds

Rielly - Brodie
Muzzin - Holl
Bogosian - Savard

Andersen
Campbell

This year will be their best shot due to the divisions, sacrifice 3 picks and lilly and go for it
 
zeke said:
I think it's because one of his best assets actually backfires on him in the eyes of observers. He transitions the puck so essily from sticky defensive situations into the offensive zone that we see him with the puck more than most players.....but then because his offensive skills and creativity are limited, we also see him WASTE those offensive zone touches more than most other players, too. So while watching what ends up sticking in your mind is wasted offensive zone possessions, when in reality the fact that he transitions the puck into there so easily and frequently is by itself a positive impact that many others aren't able to do nearly as well or often.
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This is why I want to stick Robertson on his line.
Kerfoot needs an offensive outlet on his line that he can feed for shots.
It would simplify his game and make things more efficient. He gets out of his zone and through the neutral zone with relative ease.

I have been hoping to see a Robertson-Kerfoot-Hyman line since the beginning of the season.
This line could forecheck and create chances without having any of the big 4 on it.
 
Mattavarner said:
Bennett at 50 for Engvall and a 3rd
Hall at 50 for Kerfoot, 1st, Liljegren
Savard at 50 for dermott and a 2nd

Hyman - Matthews - Marner
Hall - Tavares - Nylander
Bennett - Thornton - Robertson
Boyd - Spezza - Simmonds

Rielly - Brodie
Muzzin - Holl
Bogosian - Savard

Andersen
Campbell

This year will be their best shot due to the divisions, sacrifice 3 picks and lilly and go for it
Click to expand...

Don't mind moving a 1st or any of the other trades (though I'm not sure we could make it work cap-wise), Liljegren I mind....
 
Notsince67 said:
The team needs nothing right now. They need to find an adequate 2nd line lw that can spark some chemistry. Continue to try different people there like petan until we weather the injury storm. Winning is all that matters so you send the wrong message by upsetting things. Show trust but sit the non performers for awhile.
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If they can find a 3c, then either Soup, Hyman or Kerfoot himself can slot up into the top two lines.

Centres cost a premium but I'd pull the trigger as long as it wasn't an outlandish cost
 
LeafParade said:
This is why I want to stick Robertson on his line.
Kerfoot needs an offensive outlet on his line that he can feed for shots.
It would simplify his game and make things more efficient. He gets out of his zone and through the neutral zone with relative ease.

I have been hoping to see a Robertson-Kerfoot-Hyman line since the beginning of the season.
This line could forecheck and create chances without having any of the big 4 on it.
Click to expand...

I still think a mikheyev-kerfoot-engvall line would give us a robust fast defensive line that should produce at a decent 3rd line clip too.

Putting a Robertson/Thornton/vesey/simmonds on that line kinda weakens it defensively.
 
zeke said:
I still think a mikheyev-kerfoot-engvall line would give us a robust fast defensive line that should produce at a decent 3rd line clip too.

Putting a Robertson/Thornton/vesey/simmonds on that line kinda weakens it defensively.
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I just don't think that line is going to put up any points. Hyman and Kerfoot are good defensively, and I think Robertson is an underrated forechecker.

You can put anyone with Marner/Matthews so long as they do the grunt work. So I would slide Soup in there. Then put Thornton with Nylander/Tavares, which I think is a better fit for Thornton.

The Nylander/Tavares line likes to cycle and takes the game slower than Marner/Matthews. That is more in line with Thornton. Plus, Thornton is a creative passer so he can feed both Nylander and Tavares. There is some duplication with Marner on the top line, when he plays with Marner/Matthews and it is harder for him to keep up with this duo. Soup just has more speed when he gets going and can hang with Marner/Matthews.
 
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I think we have to manage our expectations. I am enjoying this year success but we need to remember we are playing in a weak Canadian division. We don’t really know how we would stack up against stiffer competition.
 
Need another winger like Simmonds, maybe another reliable d-man and a backup. In case of injuries during playoffs. Keep accruing cap space til the deadline and then spend it.
 
HarryLime said:
dude our roster core is the same. we added some complimentary pieces. we were ousted by a Jackets team that lost their top talent. we've set regular season franchise records with 0 playoff success.

right now we're a talented team that will have a chance to turn around its playoff misery, but that hasn't happened yet. im not jumping the gun because we're 10-2 in a regular season.
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Jumping the gun? You one of the people who advocate trading some of our best players including Marner and Nylander. I dont even think you are a leaf fan
 
I think the Leafs need 3 things: a more solid 3C (Kerfoot is meh), a physical winger for 2nd or 3rd line (can help keep Simmonds mins down and not over extend him) and a depth D that can PK. Muzzin-Holl and Brodie-Bogosian has been alright, but if any one gets hurt there is no other D I trust on the PK.
 
If we can find our version of Coleman/Goodrow.
That would be ideal....
Ours should be FW /D

2nd line winger with size/experience
2nd pairing Dman with experience


I think shifting Brodie with Muzzin.
Rielly with the deadline deal
And keep the 3rd pair fresh/dependent on matchups with a steady dose of Lehtonen / Sandin - Holl/Bogosian

I like Dermott , but think he may be the piece we move
 
Racer88 said:
I think we have to manage our expectations. I am enjoying this year success but we need to remember we are playing in a weak Canadian division. We don’t really know how we would stack up against stiffer competition.
Click to expand...

The fact the division is "weak" means nothing
 
zeke said:
We have that already in hyman/mikheyev
Click to expand...
I’ll take another Hyman then

Ideally we can get someone with size and scoring for the 2nd/3rd line

A Manson/Savard type would be nice as well although I’ve been pretty happy with Bogosian but an upgrade wouldn’t hurt.

This could be the year... we need to put in the chips and go for it

I’m confident we’re better then 90 % of the league but Tampa looks fiercely good right now and they don’t even have Kucherov. We must beef up the bottom 6 and tighten up the defence even more to oust a team like that
 
We could use 1-2 more top 9 wingers. Marner and Nylander are stars, Hyman and Mikheyev are legit top 9 guys (Hyman fits well on lines 1-3, Mikheyev lines 2-3), but every other winger on the team is a 4th liner at best.

Thornton and Vesey are not legit top 9 wingers, if we can get upgrades on 1 or 2 of them at the deadline, for a non-crazy cost, we should. Our division is the weakest it’ll be in some time, we’ve got a good chance to go to the conference finals, and then anything can happen. This is a pretty good year to go for it. And we’ll likely have a decent amount of cap space accumulated by the deadline, because injuries inevitably happen.

As for other upgrades ... I don’t really see it. Not sure we’ll find a significant upgrade in goal, Andersen/Campbell is a pretty good tandem. I like our D, and I’m happy with an Engvall/Spezza/Simmonds 4th line. Kerfoot is the only C who could maybe use a slight upgrade, but he’s pretty good, a significant upgrade (like Getzlaf) would be pricey. I’d rather focus on getting 1-2 more legit top 9 wingers.
 
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