The Sun: The Maple Leafs of season's first half are legit Stanley Cup contenders

[Evilhomer]

They lack consistent secondary scoring.
They lack overall speed.
They are mid pack in allowing high danger chances against.
They are getting elite level goaltending.

If they had this goaltending last year, I think you would see similar results. Not discounting everything so far this year, but I think they are benefiting from a general weakness in the Eastern Conference.

Hopefully they can take advantage this year and make a run.

Elite level goaltending is now a flaw? I would think it would be something...positive?

Consistent secondary scoring is absolutely a valid point. I've said before that I need to see a guy like McMann score against quality teams. Scoring against Detroit, Anaheim, etc. means nothing. Team speed is mostly irrelevant. No one would accuse Florida of being a fast team.

The Leafs are 4th overall in the league. If they aren't a Cup favourite, who is? Yes, everyone can point to Florida. And then? Jersey? Not a chance. Washington? Too early. The rest of the Eastern conference is as mediocre as it gets. In the West, there is Winnipeg and Vegas. Winnipeg has the same demons that the Leafs have when it comes to the playoffs. Vegas is a bit of a wild card. They may be for real.

The long and short is that the Leafs probably have two or three seasons here where they should be able to win the Cup at least once. Once Matthews' contract expires, the window likely closes.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Elite level goaltending is now a flaw? I would think it would be something...positive?

It's a big positive, agree 100%.

Consistent secondary scoring is absolutely a valid point. I've said before that I need to see a guy like McMann score against quality teams. Scoring against Detroit, Anaheim, etc. means nothing. Team speed is mostly irrelevant. No one would accuse Florida of being a fast team.

Team speed isn't irrelevant. It's not crucial, but it's not irrelevant.

The Leafs are 4th overall in the league. If they aren't a Cup favourite, who is? Yes, everyone can point to Florida. And then? Jersey? Not a chance. Washington? Too early. The rest of the Eastern conference is as mediocre as it gets. In the West, there is Winnipeg and Vegas. Winnipeg has the same demons that the Leafs have when it comes to the playoffs. Vegas is a bit of a wild card. They may be for real.

The Leafs are currently 6th overall, not 4th. The teams are tightly packed, we've been as high as 3rd and as low as 10th in the last couple of weeks so 4th, 6th, it doesn't matter. We usually finish around 6th overall with this core and we'll probably do so again but when the playoffs start we're 0-0 just like all the other teams. I checked out one site which shows us as having the 6th best chance at winning the cup ATM, that's usually where we've been with this core for a number of years. We're always "one of the favorites" and we always go out early so whatever the odds are doesn't really matter at this point. Sure you could say we're a contender, but so are many other teams.

The long and short is that the Leafs probably have two or three seasons here where they should be able to win the Cup at least once. Once Matthews' contract expires, the window likely closes.

The issue isn't Matthews' contract, it's that our star players will be starting their slow but inevitable decline before long and more importantly, our D is old as f***. I agree that two or three seasons is our last shot, saying "they should be able to win the Cup at least once" is nonsense though. Winning the cup is hard, they've pissed away so many chances already, they'll probably have a couple more chances but "should" isn't the word to use here.

 

[Evilhomer]

The issue isn't Matthews' contract, it's that our star players will be starting their slow but inevitable decline before long and more importantly, our D is old as f***. I agree that two or three seasons is our last shot, saying "they should be able to win the Cup at least once" is nonsense though. Winning the cup is hard, they've pissed away so many chances already, they'll probably have a couple more chances but "should" isn't the word to use here.

The defense is unquestionably ancient by NHL standards. It will be the most difficult part of the team to fix when the time comes.

 

[GoonieFace]

Elite level goaltending is now a flaw? I would think it would be something...positive?

Consistent secondary scoring is absolutely a valid point. I've said before that I need to see a guy like McMann score against quality teams. Scoring against Detroit, Anaheim, etc. means nothing. Team speed is mostly irrelevant. No one would accuse Florida of being a fast team.

The Leafs are 4th overall in the league. If they aren't a Cup favourite, who is? Yes, everyone can point to Florida. And then? Jersey? Not a chance. Washington? Too early. The rest of the Eastern conference is as mediocre as it gets. In the West, there is Winnipeg and Vegas. Winnipeg has the same demons that the Leafs have when it comes to the playoffs. Vegas is a bit of a wild card. They may be for real.

The long and short is that the Leafs probably have two or three seasons here where they should be able to win the Cup at least once. Once Matthews' contract expires, the window likely closes.

Sorry, didn’t mean to make it sound like a negative. Just saying they are getting elite goaltending right now, so if there is a regression, than that will affect them.

I agree that this year there is no team that is heads and above anyone, so they need to take advantage of this

 

[kevsh]

It remains to be seen how this group performs in the playoffs of course - and I'll believe the optimism only when I see it, but what does make me somewhat optimistic is that the Eastern Conference seems to be wide open.

So far the Panthers, Bruins & Lightning all seem to be less impressive than they have been in recent seasons. No team in the Metro is that terrifying either.

The path is there, the question is are the Leafs going to be able to take advantage? They've had a relatively easier path before and squandered it so, like I say, somewhat optimistic.

 

[BrannigansLaw]

I’m optimistic and liking what I’m seeing this year especially from the goaltending but I’ll believe it when I see it. Here’s hoping.

 

[Rocker13]

Id like to see Domi settle down. He is still too erratic

I'd love to see him just gone.

 

[The Apologist]

They are getting some wins that are ugly, but take the points and run.

Bruins game is one where you can say they outscored their issues.
Horrible defence overcome by timely scoring.

The things championship teams did in the past that we failed to do.

This team is finding ways to win.

 

[Mr_Fun]

It all starts with a hot goalie. If we can at least get that, then I don’t mind our chances. Some clutch scoring would be nice, too.

 

[Jmo89]

Hopefully they get the top divisional seed, after that there's no excuses. Should be able to beat a WC team. Then the Panthers are not as good as they have been before. Tampa scares me, though.

Leafs win the division and conference only for NYR to get their shit together for the playoffs and take WC2. Leafs get goalied by Shesterskin in round 1.

 

[Damisoph]

They're playing a completely different system this year than under Keefe. Obviously that is Berube and his influence. Tre, in 18 months, has built a competent blueline, something Dubas couldn't do in 6 years. The superb goaltending obviously helps and may have masked some of the scoring issues we had (and have), but we were all clamoring for a different style, something that would translate to the playoffs. This is that style.

And I'm picking Dallas as the team that wasn't impressed but now is impressed.

Go Leafs Go

 

[Sypher04]

For what it’s worth, our scoring issues have mostly been injury related. At the 41 game mark, we have 129 goals, which is 15 back of last season. Matthews alone would have scored those usually in a healthy year.

That’s not to say I don’t want to upgrade the bottom 6 forwards at this deadline however.

 

[Menzinger]

I disagree. I think everyone can agree that more offense is likely needed from the defense, but this team otherwise has very few flaws, and it finally has elite-level coaching and goaltending. As I said at the start of the season, by the end of the season the Leafs will be the Cup favourite.

Weak with centre depth, and secondary scoring.

I like this years team more than last year's though, quite easily.

 

[Maple Leaf]

Time to go all in

they should call masai ujiri to show how it is done

 

[Evilhomer]

Weak with centre depth, and secondary scoring.

I like this years team more than last year's though, quite easily.

The centre depth will be corrected in-season. Whether it's Laughton, Nelson or someone similar, the third line centre when the puck drops for game 1 of the first round will not be Max Domi.

 

[Cap'n Flavour]

They're 5th in the East in goal differential (10th in the league), and also (IMO) play a more boring style. Will it work better in the playoffs, where for years the problem has been an inability to score rather than poor defending? We'll see in a few months.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Seeing is believing.

 

[DarkKnight]

Perennial gloom Simmons is upbeat. Wow.

 

[NinjaKick]

how I feel about this team in music form:



we're different this season. we got this.

I'd love to see him just gone.

aw man I love Domi, not the most skilled but he works hard every game, big time key depth player in the playoffs

 

[TopCheeseShotta]

Biggest troll job of all time from Simmons here.

 

[PROUD PAPA]

Well that’s great news because Simmons is famous for his brilliant hockey mind.

 

[Community]

I like this version of the team and I will always remain optimistic that they could make a playoff run for as long as we have such a talented core.

However, I find it extremely weird that everybody praises Treliving for apparently building a quality d-core and saying Dubas never could. Most years, our playoff issues have been scoring >> goaltending > defense and this may be the most offensively challenged team (looking at the bottom 6 in particular) we've had during the Matthews era.

I hope their new style translates to more offense in the playoffs as the Leafs have been bottom 1/2 of the league in playoff scoring for 6 out of the 8 seasons they've made the playoffs in the Matthews era. One of those 2 years was year #1... on the other hand, they've been top 1/2 in Goals against in a more respectable 4 of 8 years.

Our regular season defense has been better than in the past, but it's being propped up a bit more than usual by stellar goaltending and it's never been the main problem during the playoffs. Therefore, the real question is if the style change from Keefe to Berube makes a difference in our offensive play during the playoffs, if we can finally have an above average special teams, and/or if the core players can finally step up and carry this team.

 

[TopCheeseShotta]

I like this version of the team and I will always remain optimistic that they could make a playoff run for as long as we have such a talented core.

However, I find it extremely weird that everybody praises Treliving for apparently building a quality d-core and saying Dubas never could. Most years, our playoff issues have been scoring >> goaltending > defense and this may be the most offensively challenged team (looking at the bottom 6 in particular) we've had during the Matthews era.

I hope their new style translates to more offense in the playoffs as the Leafs have been bottom 1/2 of the league in playoff scoring for 6 out of the 8 seasons they've made the playoffs in the Matthews era. One of those 2 years was year #1... on the other hand, they've been top 1/2 in Goals against in a more respectable 4 of 8 years.

Our regular season defense has been better than in the past, but it's being propped up a bit more than usual by stellar goaltending and it's never been the main problem during the playoffs. Therefore, the real question is if the style change from Keefe to Berube makes a difference in our offensive play during the playoffs, if we can finally have an above average special teams, and/or if the core players can finally step up and carry this team.

With you all the way... and then I think about that power play.. good laawwwwdddd is that awful to watch. I couldn't even count all the ways they get in their own way.