The defense is better today than it was yesterday.

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

I only watched the playoffs this year and McCabe was awful. Muzzin was a key piece to the defense. He falls under the aging vet criteria.

Muzzin doesn't count because Muzzin is basically retired

 

[Maple Leaf]

I only watched the playoffs this year and McCabe was awful. Muzzin was a key piece to the defense. He falls under the aging vet criteria.

No clue what season you were watching

 

[socko]

Muzzin doesn't count because Muzzin is basically retired

I realize that. But Muzzin was part of the D when I felt we had a Cup caliber defense. I'm not convinced we still have that. In fact, I'm leaning hard to we don't. It seems like we're back to the old days when it wasn't good enough.

 

[KPower]

Klingberg is going to get the Larry Murphy treatment. He’s horrendous defensively.

 

[The Iceman]

Woll was actually a Lou acquisition. Kind of amazing that Dubas left this organization with literally NOTHING of note in regards to the most important position in hockey.

Samsonov is more than nothing.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

It doesn't matter, the fact the thread came out a day after free agency just further proves my point. Crying about something that will be different in a week is typical of Leaf fans.

People do realize Nylander is gone right? Brodie is probably gone. Liljegren / Kokkonen should be traded for a defensive d-man prospect(s).

Where was I "crying?" I same it was better today than it was yesterday

 

[nuck]

I know the vast majority will disagree with me but I think we have a better defense today than we did yesterday.

Replacing Justin Holl with John Klingberg to me is a pretty big upgrade.

While neither is great defensively, Klingberg can make up for that with his ability to generated offense Holl can't do that.

Rielly Brodie

McCabe Klingberg

Lilly Giordano

Timmins.

I might be in the minority but I think that's a stronger group than last year.

It would have been nice to keep Screen but there is no way in hell I'd pay him what Nashville did.

The club lost in the playoffs because they got scored on too much. The chances that Kling is as good a fit with Mo as Screen was are pretty much zero. Gio and Brodie are a year older and more likely to be worse than better. I don't believe this group is nearly as good. Now was Screen capable of sustaining his success? I doubt it but it sort of makes sense that they should have been looking for that sort of add rather than Klingberg. Shades of Tyson Barrie to a lineup that doesn't need him.

Based on their playoff usage it doesn't seem like Keefe has a ton of faith in Lilly and Timmins so it might be optimistic to pencil them in for bigger roles to absorb the decline of Brodie and Gio.

They lost Schenn and Holl - 18.04 and 5.59 hits per 60 and brought in Kling and his 1.04 hits which means there will be a different game in their own end as you need to actively avoid contact for a number that low.

Brodie and Gio were better in the regular season though so with proper usage they might not be an issue. Lilly and Timmins could step up but I would have had more faith in that with a different coach. Not saying the sky is falling but I think they will be lucky to be as effective as the 22-23 group.

 

[Buds17]

Klingberg is going to get the Larry Murphy treatment. He’s horrendous defensively.

The team around Klingberg now should at least be better than the team around Murphy was back then.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

The club lost in the playoffs because they got scored on too much. The chances that Kling is as good a fit with Mo as Screen was are pretty much zero. Gio and Brodie are a year older and more likely to be worse than better. I don't believe this group is nearly as good. Now was Screen capable of sustaining his success? I doubt it but it sort of makes sense that they should have been looking for that sort of add rather than Klingberg. Shades of Tyson Barrie to a lineup that doesn't need him.

Based on their playoff usage it doesn't seem like Keefe has a ton of faith in Lilly and Timmins so it might be optimistic to pencil them in for bigger roles to absorb the decline of Brodie and Gio.

They lost Schenn and Holl - 18.04 and 5.59 hits per 60 and brought in Kling and his 1.04 hits which means there will be a different game in their own end as you need to actively avoid contact for a number that low.

Brodie and Gio were better in the regular season though so with proper usage they might not be an issue. Lilly and Timmins could step up but I would have had more faith in that with a different coach. Not saying the sky is falling but I think they will be lucky to be as effective as the 22-23 group.

I suspect Klingberg and McCabe will be a pair

I suspect the top 4 next year is probably.

Rielly Brodie

McCabe Klingberg.

I like that top 4 because

A Holl is no longer in it.

B and more importantly there is a guy on each pair that can generate offense and that's a good thing you can't have Reily be the ONLY guy That can generate offense from the defense.

 

[Budz]

I would like a blockbuster deal with Calgary.

Willy
Brodie
Timmins

For

Anderson
Tanev
Backlund
Vladar

Ship out Murray
Ship out Sammy

Use LTIR on Bertuzzi or Tank

 

[kb]

Samsonov is more than nothing.

Not to mention drafting Hildeby, Akhtiyamov (sp), Peksa and bringing in Petruzelli and Hunt. Maybe none pan out, but he was the furthest thing from leaving them with nothing.

I suspect Klingberg and McCabe will be a pair

I suspect the top 4 next year is probably.

Rielly Brodie

McCabe Klingberg.

I like that top 4 because

A Holl is no longer in it.

B and more importantly there is a guy on each pair that can generate offense and that's a good thing you can't have Reily be the ONLY guy That can generate offense from the defense.

And even Gio - Lily too.

 

[HockeyVirus]

I personally wanted to keep Schenn and move on from Holl and Brodie and grandpa Giordano (the oldest active skater in NHL).

Rielly ------- Schenn (great playoff pairing) let both players excel.
McCabe ---- XXXX
XXXX ------ Lijegren

I personally wouldn't have touched Klingberg with a 10 foot pole because I don't believe his offense and puck moving offset his complete lack of understanding defense. His -28 +/- with both Dallas and Anaheim the past 2 years is cringe worthy.

Leafs current 7 Dmen consume 26.3 Cap% and average age 29.7 (likely oldest in NHL)

View attachment 725379

This is not good and needs a MAJOR overhaul to be consider a Cup contender. IMO

View attachment 725383

Leafs defense needs to become younger, faster as in Big, Mean & Mobile.

Agree with you mostly. I like McCabe and Liljegren as a bottom pair. I like Rielly - Schenn as a pair if they can be as they were. That is two pairings with some bite on them. Gio would be our #7 but our org is too soft to sit him so they will sit better players.

That leaves Brodie and Timmins on the 2nd pair which isn't good enough. I think we needed another physical guy who can be on the 2nd pair and another guy and move on from Brodie for a 2nd at the draft.

Now we have Klingberg so I guess he is our 2nd pair guy. But we lost Schenn. So many holes in the D now and it has gotten too soft.

Leafs are not heading in a good direction folks

 

[authentic]

The club lost in the playoffs because they got scored on too much. The chances that Kling is as good a fit with Mo as Screen was are pretty much zero. Gio and Brodie are a year older and more likely to be worse than better. I don't believe this group is nearly as good. Now was Screen capable of sustaining his success? I doubt it but it sort of makes sense that they should have been looking for that sort of add rather than Klingberg. Shades of Tyson Barrie to a lineup that doesn't need him.

Based on their playoff usage it doesn't seem like Keefe has a ton of faith in Lilly and Timmins so it might be optimistic to pencil them in for bigger roles to absorb the decline of Brodie and Gio.

They lost Schenn and Holl - 18.04 and 5.59 hits per 60 and brought in Kling and his 1.04 hits which means there will be a different game in their own end as you need to actively avoid contact for a number that low.

Brodie and Gio were better in the regular season though so with proper usage they might not be an issue. Lilly and Timmins could step up but I would have had more faith in that with a different coach. Not saying the sky is falling but I think they will be lucky to be as effective as the 22-23 group.

We only scored 2 goals for 7 straight games to end the playoffs, and every game against Florida was a one goal game except game 1 which was 4-2 Florida including an empty netter. Every other elimination game I can remember the past 6 years we were having a hard time scoring in close games.

 

[notbias]

Crazy thought... Samsanov is one of the best in the league at stopping high danger chances, right? Maybe we are leaning into it and starting to try to bring in more offense despite sacrificing some D.

 

[MAB1]

I think the Carolina angle would be a Pesce and Necas for Nylander and other stuff, not a one for one.

Second, Nylander "showed up" relative to others near elimination, but scored 4 goals in the entire run. He certainly looked like a more competitive, credible player than Marner for long stretches, I'll give you that. My preference is to keep Nylander but let's not grow the playoff legend more than it deserves to.

Over the last 3 seasons, Nylander is ppg in the post season.

He's the only one of the core 4 that improves his production from regular season to post-season. That's what I meant by showing up in the playoffs, where did I hype him up to be some playoff legend?

 

[Maple Leaf]

Rasmus Sandin?

 

[shortfuze]

Please get the mods to delete or lock this thread TS.

The defence is not better then it was yesterday.

Holl and Klingberg are a wash at best and we lost Schenn.

The easy part about asking the mods to lock a thread is to show your way out of it. You don’t need to be here.

 

[MilkofthePoppy]

I think Treliving is identifying and addressing some of the imbalances this team has had last season. At the top is offense from the d corps. Klingberg had a bit of a down year last year but I suspect he will blossom here. The guy is only 30 and getting him on a one year deal is smart.

 

[MAB1]

It is but Kampf is still only 28 Schenn will be 33 soon and before you bring up Reaves being 36 and getting a 3 year deal because I'm sure you or somebody else will.

#1 while I am admittedly in favor of the player I'm not in favor of the 3rd year.

#2 he makes half of what Schenn does it's not the same.

1. Reaves will not be a factor come playoff time, Schenn will. Him making 1/2 is irrelevant.

2. Schenn compliments the leafs 1D, Reaves adds physicality.

 

[nuck]

We only scored 2 goals for 7 straight games to end the playoffs, and every game against Florida was a one goal game except game 1 which was 4-2 Florida including an empty netter. Every other elimination game I can remember the past 6 years we were having a hard time scoring in close games.

Yeah the scorers didn't exactly rock it but that's not because of no PM RHD. Thats on the core forwards and Keefe because the Panthers aren't a more talented team. Schenn had a great playoff and his game is the opposite of Klinger's. Sami was only slightly less porous than Vasi and not as good as Bob so adding a rushing D isn't an obvious fix unless its Karlsson and he just overwhelms the opposition.

IMO the obvious steps were getting rid of Keefe, replacing Holl with a more physical RHD and adding more crunch to the bottom 6 because soft danglers don't wear the the other team down in the playoffs. I'm not sold on Sami but with Murray still around you have to be realistic about your options and one mediocre playoff doesn't mean they will all be that way.

If you have 2 all star forwards in your lineup your shouldn't need to add rushing D so they can play their game. Thats a finishing step because for what the boys are paid the other team should be backing up all the time when they are on the ice. This isn't Bozak and Blake or even Sundin and Mogilny. I can't believe Tre feels its the absence of support players that is shutting the forwards down in the playoffs. Thats Shanahan level thinking.

 

[Its not your fault]

Holl sucks, but so does Klingberg. Both are much worse than Schenn, who wanted to sign here, and signed for a much lower AAV than Klingberg. Nobody wants Holl, ppl wanted to keep Schenn.

Much lower how much?

 

[HolyCrap]

A pylon is an upgrade on Holl so there’s that. But we lost Schenn. Hopefully you’re right though.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

I would like a blockbuster deal with Calgary.

Willy
Brodie
Timmins

For

Anderson
Tanev
Backlund
Vladar

Ship out Murray
Ship out Sammy

Use LTIR on Bertuzzi or Tank

Or sign Bertuzzi and Domi

 

[Donnie740]

I know the vast majority will disagree with me but I think we have a better defense today than we did yesterday.

Replacing Justin Holl with John Klingberg to me is a pretty big upgrade.

While neither is great defensively, Klingberg can make up for that with his ability to generated offense Holl can't do that.

Rielly Brodie

McCabe Klingberg

Lilly Giordano

Timmins.

I might be in the minority but I think that's a stronger group than last year.

It would have been nice to keep Screen but there is no way in hell I'd pay him what Nashville did.

Agree 100%.

A pylon would have been an upgrade over Justin Holl. Only the Dubas Fan Boi Club would insist that Holl is equivalent to Klingberg.

The only player slower than Wayne Simmonds is Luke Schenn. At 34yrs of age, it’s laughable for Nashville to give him that contract.

Whatever toughness they lost with Schenn, they’ve more than replaced it with Domi and Reaves.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Agree 100%.

A pylon would have been an upgrade over Justin Holl. Only the Dubas Fan Boi Club would insist that Holl is equivalent to Klingberg.

The only player slower than Wayne Simmonds is Luke Schenn. At 34yrs of age, it’s laughable for Nashville to give him that contract.

Whatever toughness they lost with Schenn, they’ve more than replaced it with Domi and Reaves.

and Bertuzzi