Not many teams in the league have a meaner Dcore than us

[TMLAM34]

Knies, Matthews, Domi, McMann, Tavares, and Reaves are no pushovers.

Obviously not the most aggressive but they can hold their own.

 

[Madap]

I think we are going to find that by late in the season the Leafs will be one of the Cup favourites. It will likely take 30 or 40 games for Berube's system to take root, but once it does then, assuming no season-ending injuries, I think this will be one of the best teams in the league.

I’m curious, what is this based on exactly? This roster is very similar quality wise to prior years. Little bit of a different makeup defensively but it’s really not that much better than we’ve seen in prior years.

Really the only hope we have is Berube working some magic, but thinking he will is based on nothing since he hasn’t coached us yet and we’ve seen this team fail numerous times under various coaches.

Unless you mean just in the regular season, which is fine. Pretty sure I could coach this team and they’d still make the playoffs with all the talent we have, but doesn’t really mean much at the end of the day.

 

[Arzak]

Nikita Zadorov -- Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm -- Brandon Carlo
Mason Lohrei -- Andrew Peeke

 

[Evilhomer]

I’m curious, what is this based on exactly? This roster is very similar quality wise to prior years. Little bit of a different makeup defensively but it’s really not that much better than we’ve seen in prior years.

Really the only hope we have is Berube working some magic, but thinking he will is based on nothing since he hasn’t coached us yet and we’ve seen this team fail numerous times under various coaches.

Unless you mean just in the regular season, which is fine. Pretty sure I could coach this team and they’d still make the playoffs with all the talent we have, but doesn’t really mean much at the end of the day.

I think it will be the combination of Berube, the goaltending and the defense. I expect that it will be a very different team from years past.

 

[Evilhomer]

Nikita Zadorov -- Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm -- Brandon Carlo
Mason Lohrei -- Andrew Peeke

Boston needs Lindholm to pull an OEL and re-invigorate his career. His play fell off by quite a bit last year.

 

[Arzak]

Boston needs Lindholm to pull an OEL and re-invigorate his career. His play fell off by quite a bit last year.

True story, but he was still solid last, just not as good as McAvoy and it was obvious. Still, solid D corp with Swayman behind

 

[Evilhomer]

True story, but he was still solid last, just not as good as McAvoy and it was obvious. Still, solid D corp with Swayman behind

To be fair, not that many in the league are as good as McAvoy. I think he is actually pretty underrated. He is a horse.

 

[OVO16]

Knies, Matthews, Domi, McMann, Tavares, and Reaves are no pushovers.

Obviously not the most aggressive but they can hold their own.

Add dewar in there too. He's a feisty dude and with his shoulder surgery out of the way this off-season, he's gonna come back to playing super gritty.

If Paccioretty makes the team, he's also no pushover.

 

[thusk]

I'm not convinced this defense is either all that tough or all that good.

Tanev's reputation is hyped. Even healthy he's gonna disappoint a lot of people is my guess. Hakanpaa and Benoit won't play enough to deter the opposition from fighting anyone other than Hakanpaa and Benoit.

Treliving signed all these guys because he wanted toughness to play a heavy game.

Except the forwards are still soft as butter. And the guys he signed for defense are over the hill and injury prone. You see other organizations mismanage things like this and you laugh.

Well now that laughing stock is the Leafs.

With the familiarity from Calgary I can at least see the thought behind signing Tanev. But time is catching up to him and the length of contract is pathetic. Added to the cost of OEL and Hakanpaa it's concerning.

Now they have no cap space or roster flexibility and are stuck for years with declining vets on retirement deals.

game missed last 3

tanev 24
mccabe missed 21
rielly 27
brodie 26
oel 31

it's an everage between 7 to 10 gm/season... So we dont have the same definition of i jurybprone for sure...

They're are not sexy sign but will be effective sign because theyr bring exactly what leafs needing.

Tanev is clearly in top 30 of best D defensive side of the puck and leafs needed that kind of D for years and easily the best defenside D leafs ever had in Matthews era, not even close.

Oel was bringing offensive from d who had been a pretty huge issues last 2 years + he bring a physical game. 2 thing leafs needed

Hakanpaa bring physicaly and defensive attribute who can help the PK who had issues and help to clear the front vs physical line.

No tre didn't go for HR, but could be smarter just to get fair ball than always trying for the big HR.

 

[Dekes For Days]

The concern should be whether they are good, not mean.
It's looking like it will at least be better than last year, but seems unlikely that it will be better than the 3 years before that.

 

[notbias]

What is grcelzyk to do when someone like matthee tkachuk is in front of the net for tips or waiting for rebounds?

Defend... the best defensive D man in the league is 200lbs and 6'3, not exactly big by D standards, and we had a similar sized D last year in Klingberg who is the worst.

I don't understand the obsession with size when the players are useless.

Fox is considered one of the best defenders in the league and is small.

 

[Madap]

I think it will be the combination of Berube, the goaltending and the defense. I expect that it will be a very different team from years past.

Goalies are a big question mark for me, but you may be right that it could be a big difference maker. Woll just has too many injuries to be reliable and stolarz has never played many games in a season. Samsonov was horrible for a large part of last year though so tough to be worse.

I really just think Berube is our only hope so let’s see what he can do.

 

[Mikey Leaf]

Defend... the best defensive D man in the league is 200lbs and 6'3, not exactly big by D standards, and we had a similar sized D last year in Klingberg who is the worst.

I don't understand the obsession with size when the players are useless.

Fox is considered one of the best defenders in the league and is small.

6'3 200 lbs is big enough to move Matthew Tkachuk from the front of the net. At 5'10 and 180 lbs (Matt Grzelcyk) will allow Tkachuk to have a career night...

 

[Arzak]

To be fair, not that many in the league are as good as McAvoy. I think he is actually pretty underrated. He is a horse.

I'm high on McAvoy too. He is great at playing 4th forward at the right times and keeping it in O zone. Plus super solid in D zone

It's unfortunate Norris is about D scoring the most.

 

[Clark4Ever]

Definitely a significant improvement, and the best defensive core we've had in recent memory.

If they can stay relatively healthy as a collective unit, our defensive metrics should be considerably stronger this season.