Confirmed with Link: Sheldon Keefe extended 2 years

[ToneDog]

There's no evidence that the Canadian division was notably weak. And it was clearly better than, say, the pacific has been in years.

Also had a good argument to be considered the best offensive division of all of them last year.

Can we at least agree that the Atlantic will be much stronger than the SB North divisions ??

 

[zeke]

Can we at least agree that the Atlantic will be much stronger than the SB North divisions ??

It will be nice to get to beat up on BUF and DET again.

 

[4thline]

Can we at least agree that the Atlantic will be much stronger than the SB North divisions ??

Yes and no. Stronger at the top, but way weaker at the bottom in all likelihood.

 

[ToneDog]

It will be nice to get to beat up on BUF and DET again.

So will TB, Boston, Florida. How they do against these teams is going to determine where they finish. Oh yeah, losing games to the Sens and Habs won't cut it this year.

 

[The CyNick]

Hey we lost to the SC finalist, not a team that finished 18 points behind us and probably does not make the playoffs this year. Get your blue and white glasses on straight.

Lol, what a season then! I now recommend statues for Shanny, Dubas and Keefe. Of course it will depict them getting run over by a zambonie, but hey, it's still a statue!

 

[Leaf Fans]

Playing exclusively garbage teams.

They played some great teams with the reigning Hart winner, and the current Hart winner. It had the reigning Richard winner and produced the current one. It had great teams. No push overs. It was definitely a competitive division. You can attempt to belittle it, but it doesn't change anything.

 

[zeke]

So will TB, Boston, Florida. How they do against these teams is going to determine where they finish. Oh yeah, losing games to the Sens and Habs won't cut it this year.

You're right - they didn't actually take advantage of the weaker teams in the Canadian division very much.

 

[ToneDog]

Yes and no. Stronger at the top, but way weaker at the bottom in all likelihood.

Sabres will be the worst team in the league and we have owned the Wings. Canucks were terrible last year yet we lost back to back to them on their return from COVID going down the stretch. We can't afford such stinkers this year.

 

[ToneDog]

You're right - they didn't actually take advantage of the weaker teams in the Canadian division very much.

I recall them laying an egg or two versus the mighty Senators the last couple of years. You might want to revisit the stats for some of those games cause rewatching them might make you want to vomit.

 

[zeke]

I recall them laying an egg or two versus the mighty Senators the last couple of years. You might want to revisit the stats for some of those games cause rewatching them might make you want to vomit.

That's what I said.

 

[ToneDog]

That's what I said.

Sorry, I thought you were being sarcastic given that they actually did well vs MTL during the season last year.

 

[BrannigansLaw]

I most definitely would not.

You're seriously going to sit there and say you wouldn't trade one of Nylander or Marner for Vasilevskiy....seriously? I mean really, are you serious?

 

[The CyNick]

There's no evidence that the Canadian division was notably weak. And it was clearly better than, say, the pacific has been in years.

Also had a good argument to be considered the best offensive division of all of them last year.

Only if you ignore that they played each other. A bunch of bad teams playing shinny will get a lot of goals. It doesn't take much to be the best defensive team of that bunch. If they have strong defensive numbers in a normal regular season, I would say okay that's good. But even in that case, the regular season is only there to qualify for the playoffs. A team should be judged on how they play when the chips are down, not how well they play when half the league is playing at half speed.

 

[The CyNick]

They played some great teams with the reigning Hart winner, and the current Hart winner. It had the reigning Richard winner and produced the current one. It had great teams. No push overs. It was definitely a competitive division. You can attempt to belittle it, but it doesn't change anything.

If you surveyed the other teams in the league, which division do you think would have been voted as least competitive?

 

[Zybalto]

Toronto's record and stats vs. Montreal in the regular season:

Record: 7-2-1

Overall Shots: 284-283 Montreal

High Danger Chances: 111-91 Toronto

Expected Goals: 54.07% to 46.93% Toronto

Total Goals scored: 34-25 Toronto

Team save%: 91.20 - 87.99 Toronto

Special Teams differential: 6-4 Toronto



Toronto's record and stats vs. Montreal in the playoffs:

Record: 3-4

Overall Shots: 236-198 Toronto

High Danger Chances: 82-55 Toronto

Expected Goals: 58.73% to 41.27% Toronto

Total Goals scored: 18-14 Toronto

Goaltending: Campbell: .934, Price: .932

Special Teams differential: 4-3 Montreal


It's very interesting breaking down the regular season vs. post-season against the Habs as the differences are pretty interesting.

First the obvious one in that goaltending improved so greatly for the Habs and (and continued for almost the entire post season) by such a massive level that it almost seem like a new team. Toronto was far more dominant in their playoff series against the Habs than in the regular season mainly driven by their top lines (Matthews line) total erasure of what had been one of the best two lines in hockey (Danault line) but suffered from an ability to take advantage of the scoring chances they had generated. The slight offset in special teams was also another factor in a tight series and was driven by both the improvement in goaltending and carry over from Toronto's late season struggles on the PP.

Toronto dominated 5v5 play and was a defensive rock and it wasnt "puck battles" or "working harder" that was the problem, it was the small individual plays that lost the series while Montreal got the big individual moments one needs to win in the playoffs. Galchenyuk throwing game 5 away, Dermott and Campbell somehow handing game 6 to the Habs when the Leafs had their hands on the Habs throats in OT and then Campbell completely crapping the bed in game 7 (continuing the Leaf game 7 goalie tradition). One more thing to look at is that a team like the Islanders would switch out to their tandem goalie after a game 5 loss like that and I'm sure Keefe looked down the bunch and saw Andersen and shook his head (like we all were after his play this year) while Trotz would have no issues putting in a Sorokin (which he did to great success) before going back to Varly. The acquisition of Mrazek will hopefully give the Leafs this huge tandem advantage for the playoffs (and Mrazek looks really solid so far).

When it comes to coaching, the system looks to have put the players in a perfect place to grab the series if they wanted it. The PP would be the main issue and certainly seems to be the focus right now with the removal of Malhotra and realignments going on but I would certainly continue forward with Keefe as coach as the Leafs have never looked this good defensively in my lifetime I don't think.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Tampa, Florida and Boston will be class of Atlantic and each will be in top 5 in NHL this year .. Leafs and Habs will scrap it out for a playoff spot .. Metro will be SO SO close together it is hard to know what will happen but for sure there is more depth in that division but much less overall talent then top 3 in Atlantic .. because of depth in Metro it may make it more likely 2 wildcards from Atlantic ... but bottom line the west is joke side of NHL and west is really really weak

 

[Zybalto]

If you surveyed the other teams in the league, which division do you think would have been voted as least competitive?

You should have asked Vegas after they got wrecked by the 4th place team from the North in the semis........and yea, the West division was the weakest IMO.

 

[zeke]

You're seriously going to sit there and say you wouldn't trade one of Nylander or Marner for Vasilevskiy....seriously? I mean really, are you serious?

Yep. I don't trust any goalie to be consistently elite - and definitely not one that's played behind a stacked team his whole career.

 

[Zybalto]

Tampa, Florida and Boston will be class of Atlantic and each will be in top 5 in NHL this year .. Leafs and Habs will scrap it out for a playoff spot .. Metro will be SO SO close together it is hard to know what will happen but for sure there is more depth in that division but much less overall talent then top 3 in Atlantic .. because of depth in Metro it may make it more likely 2 wildcards from Atlantic ... but bottom line the west is joke side of NHL and west is really really weak

Why so confident in Florida?

 

[Zybalto]

Yep. I don't trust any goalie to be consistently elite - and definitely not one that's played behind a stacked team his whole career.

The think about Vasy is that he has been miles better than any other goalie getting starts for that stacked team too. Makes me think he might be part of what makes them so stacked.

 

[BrannigansLaw]

Yep. I don't trust any goalie to be consistently elite - and definitely not one that's played behind a stacked team his whole career.

You’ve hit a new level of absurd. You’re entitled to that opinion but you obviously don’t watch any Tampa games and seems like you missed their playoff run altogether. He’s their franchise player; more important than Kucherov, Point or Hedman and they don’t sniff a Cup without him let alone 2.

He’s literally already a HoF goalie and the best goalie I’ve seen since Hasek. I’d trade anyone on this roster for him with the exception of maybe Matthews. He is that dominant.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Why so confident in Florida?

Top team in division last year and I think they are deepest team in league upfront with all required skill sets to win

 

[zeke]

Only if you ignore that they played each other. A bunch of bad teams playing shinny will get a lot of goals. It doesn't take much to be the best defensive team of that bunch. If they have strong defensive numbers in a normal regular season, I would say okay that's good. But even in that case, the regular season is only there to qualify for the playoffs. A team should be judged on how they play when the chips are down, not how well they play when half the league is playing at half speed.

Those teams overall records the prior year were near identical to every division other than the East - and arguably the majority of the Canadian teams improved their rosters last year from the year prior.

 

[zeke]

The think about Vasy is that he has been miles better than any other goalie getting starts for that stacked team too. Makes me think he might be part of what makes them so stacked.

No doubt.

Still, I wouldn't gamble on any goalie.

 

[zeke]

You’ve hit a new level of absurd. You’re entitled to that opinion but you obviously don’t watch any Tampa games and seems like you missed their playoff run altogether. He’s their franchise player; more important than Kucherov, Point or Hedman and they don’t sniff a Cup without him let alone 2.

He’s literally already a HoF goalie and the best goalie I’ve seen since Hasek. I’d trade anyone on this roster for him with the exception of maybe Matthews. He is that dominant.

Ok. I understand your position.

Myself, I don't trust any goalie to be consistently elite, especially not one who hasn't had to play behind a bad team.