Leafs Positive Safe Space

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

D-core and both goalies coming back is a positive sign. Hopefully AM34 gets the help he needs and comes back healthy next year as well.

+1 year of development to Knies will be good.

+ Potentially 15 to 20 million to work with depending on how things go with Mitch and JT.

Almost 30 million in cap space and that's without any trades

 

[Roo]

The running back comment is in regards to keep any of the fraud 4. Matthews most importantly needs to be gone.

You have to get your own house in order before you get to worry about who youre in competition with. And this house hasn't been in order for 20 years.

I agree that something needs to happen there, but to be fair to Matthews he is clearly not 100% and hasn't been all season. Not sure what it's like inside the locker room, but from the outside, it was Tavares and Rielly that to me, seemed to be the biggest letdowns. Not necessarily game 7, as everyone was to blame. But yeah, change any of the core players you need to if it makes the team better. That's a duty of management. I just think the rebuild comments are vast overreactions.

 

[JKG33]

I agree that something needs to happen there, but to be fair to Matthews he is clearly not 100% and hasn't been all season. Not sure what it's like inside the locker room, but from the outside, it was Tavares and Rielly that to me, seemed to be the biggest letdowns. Not necessarily game 7, as everyone was to blame. But yeah, change any of the core players you need to if it makes the team better. That's a duty of management. I just think the rebuild comments are vast overreactions.

Cool, Matthews is hurt. Whats his excuse the other 8 playoffs?

 

[Cecithepylon]

We honestly got a lot more respect in the hand shake line than years previous. Marchand said we were right there!

 

[Jojalu]

I have nothing sorry. No firsts until 2028, hardly any draft picks left, 2 prospects of any note and neither are blue chip in Cowan and Danford, losing a home grown superstar for nothing after being bent over on the contract and then refusing to recoup any value when that became obvious.

Where does the team go from here? The UFA crop does not have enough players worth commiting 25M to. They are more likely to panic and sign albatross contracts than be better next season

I agree with the UFA class.

I don't want to overpay just to get the the max cap so you can say you did it.

Tre has to be very creative. Not a lot left to make a big trade for an impact player.

Even if you could convince Rielly to waive, it's going to be to Van or Sea and what are you really going to get back?

Maybe you pull Matthews in and say you have one year to ahow us you can do this without Marner (if he leaves) and then you can hand in a list of who you would agree to go to. Although having no firsts, no prospects and no 1st and 2nd line C's would be worse than losing in the second round

 

[RayzorIsDull]

Safe space?!

lol. Maple Leaf fans have turned into daisies. No wonder we are doomed, bunch of woke dreamers.

Or it's more about how difficult it is to win a cup. 7 teams have won a cup since the Matthews era started. That means 24 other teams have failed as well over 9 years. It's not being woke or being a daisy. It's more about watching the game enjoying what you can from it but not being emotionally distraught if/when they lose. They played 95 games this year and there were 95 referendums. There needs to be a better way. Cheering harder isn't going to get them to win more.

 

[Roo]

Cool, Matthews is hurt. Whats his excuse the other 8 playoffs?

You win and lose as a team. This mentality that it all falls on him is flawed. This isn't the NBA.

In the end, they were still one of the last 5 teams standing, going up against the champs no less. This is nowhere near the failures of years past, but you wouldn’t realize that looking at the reaction. And I get it, games 5 and 7 were brutal. But this team did make a marked improvement over prior versions.

 

[Eternal Leaf]

I liked Knies this season.

Looks like a proper gamer that will turn things up a few notches in the playoffs. This is the type of player the Leafs need more of in their core.

I hope they lock him up quickly.

 

[yubbers]

The fact Shanny kept his job after Dubas shows how unserious MLSE is

At least the final prints of Dubas will be gone after this season.

He managed to waste this core and holy f*** is that a feat.

 

[Smif]

Thank you for offering an outside opinion.

But no, it's done. In fact, the rot is deeper than most want to admit.

This doesn't seem like the right thread for you.

 

[JKG33]

You win and lose as a team. This mentality that it all falls on him is flawed. This isn't the NBA.

In the end, they were still one of the last 5 teams standing, going up against the champs no less. This is nowhere near the failures of years past, but you wouldn’t realize that looking at the reaction. And I get it, games 5 and 7 were brutal. But this team did make a marked improvement over prior versions.

He's the $13m player that plays like he's worth $7m. He's the captain. Obviously its not the shitbag NBA, but he's sure acted like an NBA player. Especially throwing teammates under the bus with his post game comments.

 

[ThrowDemTongs]

Can we rename this thread pls I'm not used to being the one getting bullied

 

[Rare Jewel]

This doesn't seem like the right thread for you.

I'd love to sincerely contribute to the idea of the thread, but I'm just not sure what to post.

And threads like this are where people get too soft and sentimental. I think this group of players doesn't deserve that.

Knies is awesome.
Tanev is the best Leaf Dman in while.
Benoit is a good story and tries really hard.

That's all I've got.

 

[GoonieFace]

Are you the same guy that started a Benoit thread, and said he hasn’t had one good game all year?

 

[TheGreatOne11]

Cool, Matthews is hurt. Whats his excuse the other 8 playoffs?

Plot twist:

He's injured every playoffs and that's his excuse, ironically, the same reason he needs to go.

Every year the same crap from this team. Marners a coward and Matthews is made of glass. They both need to go.

You lose one for nothing and that stings, Matthews needs to be spoken to and you need to get a legit KINGS randsom for him.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

Plot twist:

He's injured every playoffs and that's his excuse, ironically, the same reason he needs to go.

Every year the same crap from this team. Marners a coward and Matthews is made of glass. They both need to go.

You lose one for nothing and that stings, Matthews needs to be spoken to and you need to get a legit KINGS randsom for him.

wrong thread

 

[TheGreatOne11]

wrong thread

My positive is how much value Matthews has?

 

[ULF_55]

Matthew Knies is only 22 years old.
This player is going to be a force for along time.
He's also shown some nice leadership qualities, which is much needed on this roster.

I think Matthews-marner are the equivalent of the glass ceiling.

Knies may have been able to smash that ceiling, but it may have splintered on its own.

My speculation, there is leadership on the team that was never given the opportunity.

Even Berube took the easy route and let them call the shots.

Odds Knies is the next captain?


To support the intent of the thread ... safe place.

The players under contract going forward should be happy they've been on a very good team, and are getting another opportunity next year.

Expiring players can move on at their own discretion and no longer will be subject to this type of scrutiny.

 

[thewave]

Matthews and Nylander are going to be awesome next season

 

[kevsh]

Grab Bennett in the Off-season

No, no, no.

He is going to be in such demand the offer he signs is going to be 7-years $8M+ or some insanity and it's going to age very, very badly very quickly.

But since this is a positive thread, I'll end off by pointint out that with the freed cap space from Marner walking the Leafs will be able to match any offer sheet for Knies, as unlikely as it is he'll either get one or sign it,

Sorry, that's all I got.

 

[All Mod Cons]

I have nothing sorry. No firsts until 2028, hardly any draft picks left, 2 prospects of any note and neither are blue chip in Cowan and Danford, losing a home grown superstar for nothing after being bent over on the contract and then refusing to recoup any value when that became obvious.

Where does the team go from here? The UFA crop does not have enough players worth commiting 25M to. They are more likely to panic and sign albatross contracts than be better next season

You really live the highs and lows with this team don't ya? Most others pick one or the other.

 

[weems]

Here's another positive.

Stolarz was one of the better goalies in the league this season.

This was after a terrific year for Florida last season.

31yo but played less then 150 games in his career so not as much wear for typical 31yo goalie.

Losing him at the start of the series was a definite loss and he was the better goalie this season.

Durability is a concern but when healthy this guy is a legit goalie.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

I'm not a Leaf fan. I take yearly pleasure from their meltdowns.

But, in all honesty...

Blowing up a team that finished top-4 in the league and had shown marked improvement because they lost in seven games to the defending Stanley Cup champs seems incredibly stupid. I understand (and enjoy) the history of failure and heartache but that shouldn't objectively taint fans and management's evaluation of a team that had an extremely good season.

There's only cup winner per year and it's always going require a large dose of luck and a good roll of the dice, but as they are they are starting with more dice than most teams in the league.

You don't get it.

I don't have the time right now to explain to you why, but you don't get it.

Does it?

What about all the time that was wasted?

I'd rather watch a rebuild than watch them run it back.

At least you have hope with the former even if the present is painful. There is no longer any hope for this group and if you (general you, not you specifically) think otherwise you are wrong.

 

[HockeyVirus]

You really live the highs and lows with this team don't ya? Most others pick one or the other.

I've been consistent. I wrote the "future is bleak" about how they HAD to win this season and was all in until game 5 when it became evident this team was not any different.

Now we have to hope management shows competence they never have and can retool quickly. We are about to gift the Bruins another top 10 draft pick

 

[colchar]

I didn't like the loss to FLA, but I don't see all the doom and gloom. They will be back next year. Their defence is too deep to not be at the top of the Atlantic again. Their goaltending will be fine. The coaching is good. The PP was good. This team will not come apart because Marner moves on.

Taking FLA to 7 games is ok and not a indictment.

Some positivity would be appreciated here.

The issue isn't that they lost, it is how they lost. And nothing positive can be drawn from that.