Line Combos: Leafs' biggest need?

[123offtheglass]

No wrong answers here.

Seems to be a lot of different opinions out there (e.x. Some initially loved the Nick Foligno trade, some hated it; I was a fan but it clearly didn’t work out).

It’ll be interesting to see which are the most/least popular among Leafs fans. Poll is open until start of the season.

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[Sypher04]

I voted penalty killing specialists, primarily defensively, and development of the youth

 

[Jeffrey Pedler]

Scoring depth and the use of the youth.

 

[ACC1224]

Coach, Goalie, Other.

 

[Statsman1]

No “who is the #1 goalie?” debate distraction and a solid step up from our young rookies will go a long way to helping this one be a successful season. Yeah, we have holes, but solving these issues would make solving others a bit easier.

 

[Buds17]

Top six left winger(s) to emerge, use and development of youth for cap reasons, and other (playoff success).

 

[Stephen]

We need cap space more than anything else, which would mean room to maneuver and the opportunity to make premium upgrades as flaws reveal themselves. Right now the team is like an airplane without landing gear.

 

[BertCorbeau]

Leadership… need someone to be able to help push Matthews and Marner over this playoff hump. At this point their failure has gotten in their heads.

 

[Racer88]

I picked coach because a good one can make the biggest impact the quickest.
We need a coach a little more like Babcock but not a nasty and underhanded.
Someone who will hold the entitled players accountable and sit them in the stands for a game if needed.
I know I am dreaming

 

[cannucky]

I picked coach because a good one can make the biggest impact the quickest.
We need a coach a little more like Babcock but not a nasty and underhanded.
Someone who will hold the entitled players accountable and sit them in the stands for a game if needed.
I know I am dreaming

So Babcock , Torts already took a job , for all the crap people talk about these mean tough coaches if you ask the guys who played under them and multiple other coaches who the best and biggest influence on them was they always choose the mean tough coach . Watch the Scott Gomez episode of Spittin Chicklets and see what he says about Pat Burns . Burns was the king of mean and tough .

 

[rimshot]

When you have half your cap invested in four players with elite offensive talent and you send them out on the power play to fail epically week after week and then month after month, something screams failure at the coaching level. I am not sure what other pro sports team would shrug off such constant failure. Obviously they are aware of the dysfunction but do not seem to be able to fix it.

 

[Bomber0104]

Keefe is an obvious problem.

Leadership an obvious problem.

And half the cap tied up in four forwards obviously the biggest problem.

Easy picks.

 

[ToneDog]

We need cap space more than anything else, which would mean room to maneuver and the opportunity to make premium upgrades as flaws reveal themselves. Right now the team is like an airplane without landing gear.

We are circling the airport and are about to run out of fuel. LOL.

 

[Racer88]

So Babcock , Torts already took a job , for all the crap people talk about these mean tough coaches if you ask the guys who played under them and multiple other coaches who the best and biggest influence on them was they always choose the mean tough coach . Watch the Scott Gomez episode of Spittin Chicklets and see what he says about Pat Burns . Burns was the king of mean and tough .

Not Babs, not Torts but someone more experienced, a little tougher and someone who knows how to respond to adverse situations.
Someone who can motivated multi millionaires

 

[CupcakeSprinkles]

We need a 3C over more wingers. I’m not confident in Kampf and Kerfoot should slot on LW

 

[Gabriel426]

You forgot Cap Space.

 

[Maple Leaf]

Muscle
Moving JT
Dybas should just tamper and get McDavid

 

[Racer88]

Keefe is an obvious problem.

Leadership an obvious problem.

And half the cap tied up in four forwards obviously the biggest problem.

Easy picks.

Agreed on all counts but OMG that’s a lot of serious things to fix

 

[The Iceman]

One physical PK D
3rd line centre upgrade
Just a couple around the edges changes will make this team very competitive.

I think trading Kerfoot will be the answer.
Just like Kappy and Johnsson before him the $3 million winger should be the casuality.

 

[123offtheglass]

1. Bonafide #1 D
2. Use/development of the youth
3. Grit/toughness

 

[123offtheglass]

We need cap space more than anything else, which would mean room to maneuver and the opportunity to make premium upgrades as flaws reveal themselves. Right now the team is like an airplane without landing gear.

We are circling the airport and are about to run out of fuel. LOL.

Airport = 2nd round

 

[BTP]

Killer instinct and showing up in the big moments.

You can have literally everything in that poll and still lose if you can't step on an opponents neck when he's down.

KILLER INSTINCT.

 

[ToneDog]

All of the above, and don't forget new GM and new Pres ???

 

[LeafGrief]

If you fix Marner's brain, we win one of those last three series. Probably two of them. For all the little shit that's wrong with us, like mix of skill and grit, defense, goalies, or whatever, if our 2nd best player didn't completely f***ing implode we'd win. Mitch Marner is absolutely incredible as a hockey player, putting up 90 points a year. How the hell does that kind of talent turn into a pumpkin in the playoffs so badly that the team would have been better with him in the pressbox just so Nylander could play 5 of his minutes? It's so bad that as fans of this team we're clamoring to have a 90 point player traded so long as it's a minimal loss. Marner is one of the best wingers this franchise has EVER had and we hate him (justifiably). He's our 2nd best player and it's not even remotely debatable. But he absolutely cannot be counted on when it counts. It's practically out of a movie how much of a disaster he is.

If he played like our 2nd best player, we'd be fine. We'd be more than fine in the playoffs, we'd have been legitimate threats to go deep. One of the best teams in the league, not another first round joke. I don't give a shit how tough we are, if the best player we've ever had (Matthews) and one of the top wingers we've ever had, raise their games when it counts, we're winning one of those game 7's. Matthews has struggled, but he's still been one of our best players, just can't buy a goal. Marner is a goddamn disaster and a liability. It's worse than if he was injured. If both of those guys play like the 95 point superstars they are, we're winning. We've got a supporting cast that's at least adequate, but if our big guns go off this team is a contender, full stop.

Fix Marner in the playoffs and this team is good enough. The rest of the shit wrong with this team is relevant, but still afterthoughts in comparison to our 2nd best player being one of our worst in the playoffs.

 

[PromisedLand]

OTHER

Leafs need competent management group. President, GM and Coach.

The team culture is worst than muskoka5 and that is saying something.

You have a GM who got the GM position that would be the envy of any GM

- Team on the rise
- Plenty of cap space
- prospects

in his few years with this GM we have

• Coach fired (babcock)
• No capspace
• No playoff success
• Team decline
• Losing to a frakin' zamboni driver
• montreal colours on the CN Tower
• massive overpayments and no term
• no hope for the future
• rookie coach
• helluva lot of BS

the GM of this team was defending Marner who has ZERO PP goals the entire regular season last year and no goals in the last 18 playoff games

This team needs a GM who cares about the team and preaches that logo on the front means more than the name on the back