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[kb]

I don’t really see the Gregor hype. We have some many guys like him. Rather have Minton and just keep Lafferty who has better offensive upside than Gregor

Gregor has 40 points over the past 2 seasons on a bad San Jose team and is 3 years younger.

I don't see any more upside in Lafferty. Having said that, a 4th line of Gregor - Kampf - Lafferty would give other teams fits with their speed.

 

[francis246]

Gregor has 40 points over the past 2 seasons on a bad San Jose team and is 3 years younger.

I don't see any more upside in Lafferty. Having said that, a 4th line of Gregor - Kampf - Lafferty would give other teams fits with their speed.

I get that, but Minten is NHL ready, I rather let our guy that we’ve invested draft capital in play. Signing Gregor has a ripple effect I just don’t think is worth it, but the leafs love the cap gymnastics. It’s pretty clear the reaves signing at his particular cap hit was dumb. Things are really tight because of that signing. Reaves at league min allows us to sign Gregor no problem haha.

 

[supermann_98]

I've been loving the Minten hype but everyone saying he's ready and all that I think need to just chill a bit. He's 19, it's not like he's 20-21 and just played last year in junior or a year in the AHL.

He's got so much growing to do imo before he should be a full timer. Being the #1 option on his junior team and having a big offensive year there, maybe even making the Team Canada junior team, could do wonders for his game and confidence moving up next year. Not to mention Keefe has a nasty habit of sitting out the kids when they make even the smallest mistake.

Saying that, if they make room for him I hope we get something for Lafferty or Jarnkrok or whoever else they gotta move to make space under the cap, or that's just poor asset management losing them for nothing, especially as there are other options available for Minten (WHL), Robertson (Marlies), and Holmberg (Marlies).

 

[shaner8989]

Holmberg needs to be on the team
Lafferty shows nothing. Waste of a spot
Gregor has been solid but good enough for a spot?
Wish we didn’t sign Reaves
Minten has been unreal but let’s let him polish his game one more year.

 

[GoLeafsGo96]

I expect Minten gets sent back because as it stands they're going to be roster-jammed to 20 players on opening night, and Minten won't be able to go up and down so they're forced to play him every game.

Just not a lot of flexibility with the roster to put the kid in a position to succeed in my eyes. He's been fantastic, but there shouldn't be a rush here IMO.

 

[francis246]

I've been loving the Minten hype but everyone saying he's ready and all that I think need to just chill a bit. He's 19, it's not like he's 20-21 and just played last year in junior or a year in the AHL.

He's got so much growing to do imo before he should be a full timer. Being the #1 option on his junior team and having a big offensive year there, maybe even making the Team Canada junior team, could do wonders for his game and confidence moving up next year. Not to mention Keefe has a nasty habit of sitting out the kids when they make even the smallest mistake.

Saying that, if they make room for him I hope we get something for Lafferty or Jarnkrok or whoever else they gotta move to make space under the cap, or that's just poor asset management losing them for nothing, especially as there are other options available for Minten (WHL), Robertson (Marlies), and Holmberg (Marlies).

Why do we need to chill? Maybe it’s those that are always doubting that our players/prospects can actually be capable of handling a roster spot at 19 who need to chill. These kids are more NHL ready now than they’ve ever been, that’s why we are seeing such an influx of youth in the league.

There’s never a good time to jump to the show. You kind of just have to do it. I think the “sending him back to juniors to explode offensively” is overrated. When he gets to the NHL next year he isn’t going to be playing against Major Junior goalies. We need him to learn to score and create offense against NHL players and goaltenders. The best way to do that is by playing in the NHL. We don’t need Minten to be a 40 goal scorer, we need him to chip in offensively and bring strong defensive play and a solid transition game. Leafs need to get younger and faster to have real success.

I just want to bring the opposite perspective, what if he gets sent back and doesn’t explode offensively or make the WJC team. What does that do to his confidence then? There’s a risk either way cause he could struggle in the NHL too. Might as well keep him and build upon the confidence he has IMO, don’t let that fire burn out and I love that he really wants to make it

 

[Niagara Bill]

We are spending a lot of time considering 4th line guys and Minten, when the problem is lack of choice on d. Imagine Brodie is back on #1 pairing...wow.

 

[francis246]

We are spending a lot of time considering 4th line guys and Minten, when the problem is lack of choice on d. Imagine Brodie is back on #1 pairing...wow.

I don’t think anyones ignoring it but there isn’t much they can do to fix the D right now. Timmins would have been great but he’s injured. I suspect a November trade for a defenseman will be made. One of Jarnkrok or Lafferty is gonna have to get moved for a dman or part of it.

 

[SprDaVE]

Holmberg needs to be on the team
Lafferty shows nothing. Waste of a spot
Gregor has been solid but good enough for a spot?
Wish we didn’t sign Reaves
Minten has been unreal but let’s let him polish his game one more year.

I mostly agree with this. Holmberg has been pretty good. He'll probably start on the Marlies because he's waiver exempt but I don't think he should. I also worry that he'll bolt to Sweden if he doesn't make the Leafs.

Lafferty is just another average bottom line player. He's a fast skater that is useful on the PK and he's cheap. You won't find better at his cap hit for what he provides. Gregor is more or less the same.

If Reaves was on a PTO he wouldn't even get a minimum league deal. What an idiotic signing.

 

[LeafSteel]

We are going to pay for it if we expect significant contributions on defence from Giordano and Brodie.

If we don’t address our weakness on defence, it doesn’t make a dams worth of difference who we have on our 4th line.

 

[WTFMAN99]

I mostly agree with this. Holmberg has been pretty good. He'll probably start on the Marlies because he's waiver exempt but I don't think he should. I also worry that he'll bolt to Sweden if he doesn't make the Leafs.

Lafferty is just another average bottom line player. He's a fast skater that is useful on the PK and he's cheap. You won't find better at his cap hit for what he provides. Gregor is more or less the same.

If Reaves was on a PTO he wouldn't even get a minimum league deal. What an idiotic signing.

We are going to pay for it if we expect significant contributions on defence from Giordano and Brodie.

If we don’t address our weakness on defence, it doesn’t make a dams worth of difference who we have on our 4th line.

Reaves shouldn't make what he makes

The Klingberg one seemed like such a bad fit.

I'm honestly thinking biting the bullet and signing Schenn would have made the most sense.

Gio and Brodie seem like the age curve is hitting.

 

[Fogelhund]

Reaves shouldn't make what he makes

The Klingberg one seemed like such a bad fit.

I'm honestly thinking biting the bullet and signing Schenn would have made the most sense.

Gio and Brodie seem like the age curve is hitting.

View attachment 749518

View attachment 749519

I wish we had Schenn back too... but we went with Klingberg, because the only D line who could move the puck in the playoffs was Rielly's. So, bringing on a guy who could move the puck, made some sense. I'm not sure I would have picked Klingberg, but here we are.

 

[SprDaVE]

Reaves shouldn't make what he makes

The Klingberg one seemed like such a bad fit.

I'm honestly thinking biting the bullet and signing Schenn would have made the most sense.

Gio and Brodie seem like the age curve is hitting.

View attachment 749518

View attachment 749519

What the Leafs lacked from the blue line was skating ability and offensive ability. Schenn was good here for sure and I would have loved to have him back to some degree but he wouldn't have fixed the primary issue with the defensive core and his regression will be noticeable with that contract.

Klingberg is a good bet to be a lot better than he's been. I think we're sleeping on his impact upside and how good he can be on paper, but definitely feels like they should have explored some trade over the summer to find a better alternative and to fix their cap issues.

The Reaves signing barely had any upside and is already causing a frustrating situation with the roster.

 

[Niagara Bill]

I don’t think anyones ignoring it but there isn’t much they can do to fix the D right now. Timmins would have been great but he’s injured. I suspect a November trade for a defenseman will be made. One of Jarnkrok or Lafferty is gonna have to get moved for a dman or part of it.

I hope, maybe both of them, but if we do not move Brodie we cannot afford good enough guy

 

[WTFMAN99]

I wish we had Schenn back too... but we went with Klingberg, because the only D line who could move the puck in the playoffs was Rielly's. So, bringing on a guy who could move the puck, made some sense. I'm not sure I would have picked Klingberg, but here we are.

What the Leafs lacked from the blue line was skating ability and offensive ability. Schenn was good here for sure and I would have loved to have him back to some degree but he wouldn't have fixed the primary issue with the defensive core and his regression will be noticeable with that contract.

Klingberg is a good bet to be a lot better than he's been. I think we're sleeping on his impact upside and how good he can be on paper, but definitely feels like they should have explored some trade over the summer to find a better alternative and to fix their cap issues.

The Reaves signing barely had any upside and is already causing a frustrating situation with the roster.

For sure I understand we're here now but Gus signed for 800k in NYR, easily waivable if Timmins showed he had something great going at the NHL level. We closed out against Tampa and won our only game against Florida with Gus.

 

[SprDaVE]

For sure I understand we're here now but Gus signed for 800k in NYR, easily waivable if Timmins showed he had something great going at the NHL level. We closed out against Tampa and won our only game against Florida with Gus.

I don't think he has the size or the ability to play mid-pairing minutes like Klingberg does. The other big thing is that Klingberg is right handed and Gus is lefty.

All in all, I think they saw how solid he was with Minny after getting away from the awful Ducks team. And they have no risk long-term if he really doesn't work out as hoped.

 

[Fogelhund]

""

 

[WTFMAN99]

I don't think he has the size or the ability to play mid-pairing minutes like Klingberg does. The other big thing is that Klingberg is right handed and Gus is lefty.

All in all, I think they saw how solid he was with Minny after getting away from the awful Ducks team. And they have no risk long-term if he really doesn't work out as hoped.

I know what you're saying, Gus does play both sides but I think he'd need sheltering...but Klingberg kind of does too.

Rielly-Schenn
McCabe-Liljegren
Gio-Gus/Timmins

Perhaps or maybe it sets off a series of events where Tree goes for Zadorov or something.

Ah well, we're here now and I think Friedman said it best the other night, the defense we start the year with will not be the one we end with.

 

[SprDaVE]

I know what you're saying, Gus does play both sides but I think he'd need sheltering...but Klingberg kind of does too.

Rielly-Schenn
McCabe-Liljegren
Gio-Gus/Timmins

Perhaps or maybe it sets off a series of events where Tree goes for Zadorov or something.

Ah well, we're here now and I think Friedman said it best the other night, the defense we start the year with will not be the one we end with.

The thing with Klingberg right now is I feel people already made up their minds that he's terrible. Micro-analysing every touch of the puck and then shit on him for everything. Justin Holl could play a fantastic game and people would shit on him for that one mistake. We're basically getting Justin Holl but flipped his abilities from defense to offense, which is kind of funny.

But yeah the team will likely change as the season goes along.

 

[SprDaVE]

These are my opening lines as well. Sit Gregor or Reaves, send down Robertson and waive Benoit or send down Kokkonen.

 

[Oscar Peterson]

The thing with Klingberg right now is I feel people already made up their minds that he's terrible. Micro-analysing every touch of the puck and then shit on him for everything. Justin Holl could play a fantastic game and people would shit on him for that one mistake. We're basically getting Justin Holl but flipped his abilities from defense to offense, which is kind of funny.

But yeah the team will likely change as the season goes along.

I will say this, I didn’t get to watch the one pre-season game that Klingberg played for us, I did watch a lot of Anaheim games last year as they are my brother’s favourite team and Klingberg consistently looked HORRIBLE in the D Zone. Like much worse than Shatrenkirk. I get that Anaheim was an atrocious team all the way through but he was always contributing to their problems not just being dragged down by them. I’m still rooting for him here and his offensive touch could be really useful for us, but I don’t think it’s just simply a case of people having their minds made up. I think I read an article too, maybe it was on the Athletic, where Klingberg’s defensive impact ranked literally at the bottom of league regulars for D men… his number was magnitudes lower than the same stat for Morgan Rielly and Tyson Barrie. Anyways I’m sure he knows that he is playing for the future of his career this season and I really hope he pulls it together for us but I’m sceptical

 

[57special]

I don't think he has the size or the ability to play mid-pairing minutes like Klingberg does. The other big thing is that Klingberg is right handed and Gus is lefty.

All in all, I think they saw how solid he was with Minny after getting away from the awful Ducks team. And they have no risk long-term if he really doesn't work out as hoped.

Wild fan here. He did some good things offensively with us, no doubt, but his defensive play fell apart pretty quickly when he came over. He is careless with the puck, makes inadvisable pinches, and is not a good defender in general.
He does have good length, which allows him to cover more area, and drape himself over opponents, should it ever occur to him to do so.

He needs to be paired with a rock solid, defender in 5 v5, and be glued onto the PP.

 

[SprDaVE]

Wild fan here. He did some good things offensively with us, no doubt, but his defensive play fell apart pretty quickly when he came over. He is careless with the puck, makes inadvisable pinches, and is not a good defender in general.
He does have good length, which allows him to cover more area, and drape himself over opponents, should it ever occur to him to do so.

He needs to be paired with a rock solid, defender in 5 v5, and be glued onto the PP.

He's paired with McCabe at this time, so that will help him. And he is slated to be on the top PP.

 

[57special]

He's paired with McCabe at this time, so that will help him. And he is slated to be on the top PP.

Good luck to you with him. There is no doubt that he is talented, and has decent size. He just seems to get misfires in his on ice decision making tree at times. Also not what I'd call an enthusiastic defender.

 

[SprDaVE]

Samsonov really needs to stay healthy. Thankfully he's fine but ... not really growing confidence.