The Athletic: Maple Leafs and Panthers rosters weakened the most during the off season

[Mr Kot]

Dom said it?

Sorry Leafs, sounds like you are bad now.

 

[Dread Clawz]

I’ll bump this thread when they do. You really think Matt Murray is going to carry a team of notorious chokers to glory?

And Florida - just look at their D. Enough said.

Go ahead.

Which crap team do you root for?

 

[Leafshater67]

Go ahead.

Which crap team do you root for?

The Leafs. I am an expert on playoff failure and it’s written all over Florida and Toronto. It’s going to take a lot more than a has been and a never was goalie to get that team past the first round.

 

[Turin]

I think Florida took a pretty significant step back. Leafs? Goaltending could be atrocious and they’ll still probably finish in a similar spot.

 

[pb1300]

The trade made the Panthers weaker on the blueline this season, but looking at it beyond this season, the Panthers are going to be better. Their core is more age condensed (20-26), and will have cap flexibility starting next summer. Id rather have the Panthers current situation, than keep Huberdeau and Weegar at a combined $18-21 million per after this season. Short term, we are a bit weaker, long term though, we are set up for a bigger window, as long as Zito hits in free agency.

 

[Pavels Dog]

Looks like not too many people know how to read this. Leafs/Panthers getting 4-5 wins fewer still make them ~50+ win teams. He's not saying they took massive steps back and will be bad teams.

Also, with Detroit and Ottawa ranking near the top of most improved, who do you think they will take those wins from? The top teams will "get worse" simply by virtue of the rest of the division getting more competitive.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

I'm just responding to "Leafs and Panthers rosters weakened the most". So a 122 pt team and a 115 pt team got weaker....ok. Yawn. Is anybody still gonna catch us in the regular season?

And enjoy it now, because next offseason Florida has over 15M in cap space, and you know Zito is gonna spend it.

Who cares? Is that really enough for you?

 

[Jumptheshark]

I think it is a troll article to piss off the fan bases

 

[NoTeeth]

What's funny is yesterday multiple people claimed in the contract values thread about Dom's ranking that Leafs were only so high because he's biased and a Leaf fan.

Who cares? Is that really enough for you?

Regular season is very important. People need to stop acting like it means nothing. Look how many points even the WC teams had in the East last year

 

[Peasy]

And if you subtract the suggested amount of wins they lost, both teams still make the playoffs.

 

[A1LeafNation]

The Leafs. I am an expert on playoff failure and it’s written all over Florida and Toronto. It’s going to take a lot more than a has been and a never was goalie to get that team past the first round.

Agree, that's why we booted Campbell and Mrazek.

 

[NoTeeth]

I think it is a troll article to piss off the fan bases

But according to HF Dom is biased and loves the Leafs. At least that's what we hear if Leafs are viewed favourably in one of his articles.
WE won't hear this argument about this one.

 

[KevinRedkey]

I don't really understand this list. How does a team like the Sens only add 3.7 wins with their recent additions, where as the Leafs lose 4.1 wins? To me.. it seems the Sens got a LOT better where as the Leafs only got a tiny bit worse. I would have expected the Sens to add like 12 wins, and the Leafs maybe -2 or something.

If someone had to bet on a single over/under:
A. Sens 80.5 points
B. Leafs 106.5 points
You're picking the Sens over 80.5 every time. Yet that's what the model is suggesting is their improvement.

Note: Leafs had 115pts and Sens had 73 last year

 

[Jumptheshark]

But according to HF Dom is biased and loves the Leafs. At least that's what we hear if Leafs are viewed favourably in one of his articles.
WE won't hear this argument about this one.

it is the off season and they need clicks

 

[NoTeeth]

it is the off season and they need clicks

So that's the excuse and they are still biased towards the Leafs?

 

[Legion34]

I think the Atlantic will be better hence less points for Toronto and Florida. Detroit, Buffalo, and Ottawa will be better this year taking some of the points away.

Toronto had a terrible record against buffalo. They have never played ottawa well outside of the playoffs.

Toronto had the best record in the division against the tougher teams in the league.

Tampa and Florida feast on the Atlantic

 

[Pavels Dog]

I think it is a troll article to piss off the fan bases

It's just based on a model. I'm not defending the value of the model itself, but it's just what the model spits out. The Leafs have the 28th best goaltending in the league according to the model. On paper, that is going to hurt them.

 

[Jumptheshark]

So that's the excuse and they are still biased towards the Leafs?

once the seasons starts pay close attention

Everytime on nearly any network, even on off days, the leafs will get more cover than other Canadian teams get on game days

an example of that is what one reporter said after a culling out east had happened. McDavid was having a good game and in the first intermission they talked about it. Leafs were on a couple of off days.. second intermission was a mostly about the leafs--bias is a two way street sometimes. Eastern media just NEEDS to talk about the leafs on the national level. For good or bad.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

What's funny is yesterday multiple people claimed in the contract values thread about Dom's ranking that Leafs were only so high because he's biased and a Leaf fan.


Regular season is very important. People need to stop acting like it means nothing. Look how many points even the WC teams had in the East last year

If you finish first in the regular season and then extend your playoff winless streak to 20 years nobody should care about your regular season achievement

 

[NoTeeth]

once the seasons starts pay close attention

Everytime on nearly any network, even on off days, the leafs will get more cover than other Canadian teams get on game days

an example of that is what one reporter said after a culling out east had happened. McDavid was having a good game and in the first intermission they talked about it. Leafs were on a couple of off days.. second intermission was a mostly about the leafs--bias is a two way street sometimes. Eastern media just NEEDS to talk about the leafs on the national level. For good or bad.

Agreed 100%. But you are mistaking networks using the Leafs to make $ with them "favouring" them and being 'Biased". Is TSN and SN only reporting on all Leaf players getting offersheets and leaving to appease Leaf fans? Leafs get more criticism than any team in Canada easily. That said, Leafs are the biggest ratings and money draw in canada by far.
My point was that on August 4th Leafs were cited in a Dom/Athletic article favourably, so he's biased. August 5th Leafs are named unfavourably, but this is choked-up as being the offseason, so they need clicks. He is still biased. Ok...

If you finish first in the regular season and then extend your playoff winless streak to 20 years nobody should care about your regular season achievement

Disagree completely. Win the division. That's a major goal this year.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Looks like not too many people know how to read this. Leafs/Panthers getting 4-5 wins fewer still make them ~50+ win teams. He's not saying they took massive steps back and will be bad teams.

Also, with Detroit and Ottawa ranking near the top of most improved, who do you think they will take those wins from? The top teams will "get worse" simply by virtue of the rest of the division getting more competitive.

Yes I don’t think we’ll see like last year , where the Atlantic division is decided in January, the top 8 and bottom 8 with a huge disparity.
Division will be tighter this upcoming year.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Agreed 100%. But you are mistaking networks using the Leafs to make $ with them "favouring" them and being 'Biased". Is TSN and SN only reporting on all Leaf players getting offersheets and leaving to appease Leaf fans? Leafs get more criticism than any team in Canada easily. That said, Leafs are the biggest ratings and money draw in canada by far.
My point was that on August 4th Leafs were cited in a Dom/Athletic article favourably, so he's biased. August 5th Leafs are named unfavourably, but this is choked-up as being the offseason, so they need clicks. He is still biased. Ok...


Disagree completely. Win the division. That's a major goal this year.

It’s obvious why they get so much coverage, TSN and Sportsnet own 75% of the team.
If you think the leafs have better left wingers, than a bunch of teams, who clearly are better, than join the Dom fan club. This isn’t a new thing with Dom, if you’ve had the Athletic for a few years.

 

[NoTeeth]

It’s obvious why they get so much coverage, TSN and Sportsnet own 75% of the team.
If you think the leafs have better left wingers, than a bunch of teams, who clearly are better, than join the Dom fan club. This isn’t a new thing with Dom, if you’ve had the Athletic for a few years.

Just to point out, people had the same complaints for years with previous ownership, It was the exact same story. Fans were mad at Leafs coverage when Steve Stavros owned the team 20+ years ago. NOTHING has changed since TSN/SN took ownership. I grew up with "My Tax Dollars" CNC complaints in late 90's/2000's
You give me that left winger example, I can send you hundreds of examples of TSN/SN crapping on the Leafs.

 

[FrozenJagrt]

It's not just the goaltending with the Leafs. I feel like losing Lyubushkin could hurt quite a bit. I really liked him.

 

[Golden_Jet]

But according to HF Dom is biased and loves the Leafs. At least that's what we hear if Leafs are viewed favourably in one of his articles.
WE won't hear this argument about this one.

So you agree, Leafs had one of the worse off season then.