Thoroughly unexcited.

[ShaneFalco]

I think the point you're missing is that it's the maturation of talent that is the key. It's why teams like the 1980 Islanders or the 1984 Oilers ended up winning. Those players spent a few years losing and maturing. What do you think guys like Matthews and Marner have been doing? You're angry because you're stuck on the losses without realizing that they are necessary to get to the winning. What you saw this past season was more maturation. I think you are going to see something much more special this season, and I'm not even a Leafs fan.

So you're a troll

First time in nearly a decade that I wont have access to most games. Cancelled my tv package and not buying the streaming. The regular season is “meaningless” so why would I watch? 2h45m on a Tuesday night against the Minnesota Wild just doesn’t interest me any more if the result doesn’t mean anything to our season. Especially when all that time is gambling ads and the same three Amazon commercials, I’ve got better things to do.

Our team is the same, we barely shuffled the deck chairs. Bertuzzi is a primo deck chair for sure, but this core has showed us again and again what they’ve got. All the talent in the world to bring you out of your seat, none of the fire or drive to make them team legends.

I’ll watch the games against old Atlantic division rivals and HNIC when I can, but this is the least excited for a season I have ever been. I love hockey and the Leafs, always will, but this season feels like a chore that needs to be done before they wilt in the playoffs again and we have a real core shuffle next summer. Matt Knies and Tyler Bertuzzi will be interesting storylines, but the first gambling commercial I see is going to sour that interest in a heartbeat.

Go Leafs Go, but it’s probably a season of highlight watching for me.

I'll be the same. As soon as the Jays are done, and they probably are now, I'll be canclling the sports package and I'll tune in on IPTV now and then. If I even get the games

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

I don't understand how you can't be excited.

For the first time in decades there are no holes in the top 6,

in fact not only are there no holes in the top 6 for the first time since the early 2000's if not longer, but we have more top 6 caliber wingers than we need.

Marner
Nylander
Bertuzzi
Domi
Jarnkrok
Knies

They can all play top 6 minutes that's among the deepest group of wingers in the NHL.

I can't wait to see what Bertuzzi Matthews Marner can do together.

Or maybe They try recapture the chemistry Domi and Marner had together in junior and They do Domi Matthews Marner instead, regardless I can't wait to see it.

I can't wait to see what Knies can do in a full season.

I can't wait to see if Woll can take next step.

I can't wait to see if Samsonov can repeat or improve on his regular season, if he can then between Samsonov and Woll the Leafs could have a relatively young, cheap, strong goalie tandem.

Yes there are holes like with any team, but I think there is A LOT to be excited about this season.

 

[Gary Nylund]

First time in nearly a decade that I wont have access to most games. Cancelled my tv package and not buying the streaming. The regular season is “meaningless” so why would I watch? 2h45m on a Tuesday night against the Minnesota Wild just doesn’t interest me any more if the result doesn’t mean anything to our season. Especially when all that time is gambling ads and the same three Amazon commercials, I’ve got better things to do.

Our team is the same, we barely shuffled the deck chairs. Bertuzzi is a primo deck chair for sure, but this core has showed us again and again what they’ve got. All the talent in the world to bring you out of your seat, none of the fire or drive to make them team legends.

I’ll watch the games against old Atlantic division rivals and HNIC when I can, but this is the least excited for a season I have ever been. I love hockey and the Leafs, always will, but this season feels like a chore that needs to be done before they wilt in the playoffs again and we have a real core shuffle next summer. Matt Knies and Tyler Bertuzzi will be interesting storylines, but the first gambling commercial I see is going to sour that interest in a heartbeat.

Go Leafs Go, but it’s probably a season of highlight watching for me.

Sorry to hear this, and I totally agree with you about the gambling commercials, those things are a bloody disgrace. I get how disillusioned you are but I don't think I could ever stop watching myself. It is hard to be optimistic after all the letdowns in recent years but still, I just try to forget about it while the games are on and pretend this team is for real. And not only is Bertuzzi a primo desk chair, Woll is a wild card who might turn out to be a joker and lead us to the promised land. One can dream, isn't that what it's all about?

You very well may be correct. A lot of the other teams in the division don't get followed as much so we really are kinda guessing with how good they will be.

For THIS YEAR, of the up-and-comers I just put Ottawa ahead of Buffalo (for now). Their ceiling may be a lower but they have less questions. Buffalo: Who is in goal? Can Thompson play a full year without injury? Can Dylan Cozens not be so over-aggressive that he is out of position and experienced teams like the Leafs can take advantage of it? When does Jeff Skinner hit the age-wall?

Florida seems like a team people find hard to put their finger on, and it seems like people under-estimate them. 2 years ago they won the presidents Trophy and lost in a tight series to the eventual cup winner. Last season they went 26-18-4 AFTER the first of the year and they went to the cup. In the past 2+ years they had one half season stretch where they were bad, but outside of that they have been an elite, top-5 team. It seems like most people think they are closer to being the team they were from Oct-Dec of last year, and not the team they were the 2nd half of last year, the entire playoff run, and the entire year before.

Division is going to be interesting for sure and yeah, very tough to predict what Florida will be. I honestly don't care too much though, I figure we'll cruise to the playoffs like usual and I expect Florida will be there too but yeah the new up and coming teams will hopefully make things a bit more interesting than they have been.

As of today, they should make the playoffs and it’s reasonable to expect them to win 1 or 2 rounds, which hasnt been the case in 20 yrs.

That would be nice. I was super confident we'd win at least two rounds when we cleaned up the Canadian division a few years back but you just never know so "expect" is probably not the right word to use here.

So you're a troll

I'll be the same. As soon as the Jays are done, and they probably are now, I'll be canclling the sports package and I'll tune in on IPTV now and then. If I even get the games

Wait, if you have IPTV, do you need a sports package? I'm new to IPTV (been a few weeks now) and I suppose the service providers are all different but my buddy who recommended this to me told me that he sees all the Leaf games with no issues whatsoever. That better be the case as that's about 90% of why I got IPTV to begin with.

 

[Evilhomer]

So you're a troll

I don't even know what this means. Someone is positive about the Leafs is a bad thing? You guys are a bizarre fan base. This is easily one of the five best teams in the league, and near as I can tell the majority of you are tripping over yourselves to blow everything up. I get the first round losses, but a first round loss 5 years ago has absolutely no bearing on the team today. It's almost a completely different roster.

 

[ShaneFalco]

Sorry to hear this, and I totally agree with you about the gambling commercials, those things are a bloody disgrace. I get how disillusioned you are but I don't think I could ever stop watching myself. It is hard to be optimistic after all the letdowns in recent years but still, I just try to forget about it while the games are on and pretend this team is for real. And not only is Bertuzzi a primo desk chair, Woll is a wild card who might turn out to be a joker and lead us to the promised land. One can dream, isn't that what it's all about?


Division is going to be interesting for sure and yeah, very tough to predict what Florida will be. I honestly don't care too much though, I figure we'll cruise to the playoffs like usual and I expect Florida will be there too but yeah the new up and coming teams will hopefully make things a bit more interesting than they have been.

That would be nice. I was super confident we'd win at least two rounds when we cleaned up the Canadian division a few years back but you just never know so "expect" is probably not the right word to use here.


Wait, if you have IPTV, do you need a sports package? I'm new to IPTV (been a few weeks now) and I suppose the service providers are all different but my buddy who recommended this to me told me that he sees all the Leaf games with no issues whatsoever. That better be the case as that's about 90% of why I got IPTV to begin with.

Probably not. I haven't had it long enough or tested it enough to ditch sports on cable yet though. I have watched a few NFL games and there was a bit of buffering

 

[ACC1224]

Look forward to all those that won’t be watching telling us daily that they won’t be watching.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Probably not. I haven't had it long enough or tested it enough to ditch sports on cable yet though. I have watched a few NFL games and there was a bit of buffering

Ah interesting, so you're pretty much in the same boat as me. My buddy assures me that there are no buffering issues, I guess we'll see. I watched the Buffalo game and a bit of US Open tennis, no issues so far.

 

[ShaneFalco]

Ah interesting, so you're pretty much in the same boat as me. My buddy assures me that there are no buffering issues, I guess we'll see. I watched the Buffalo game and a bit of US Open tennis, no issues so far.

And my wife would kill me if I dumped cable and couldn't get a jays game! Although after their perfromance lately.....

Look forward to all those that won’t be watching telling us daily that they won’t be watching.

Thank again level-head for monitoring every thread, every post and commenting

 

[bax]

Ah interesting, so you're pretty much in the same boat as me. My buddy assures me that there are no buffering issues, I guess we'll see. I watched the Buffalo game and a bit of US Open tennis, no issues so far.

We have it at work and there aren't any buffering issues however we don't seem to get as many sports channels. I have no idea if that's just because of how it was ordered though. I think we only get Sportsnet.

 

[All Mod Cons]

Really, really excited to have the Leafs back without Dubas. Time to rebuild the damage and look forward to better and brighter days.

 

[Nineteen67]

Sorry to hear this, and I totally agree with you about the gambling commercials, those things are a bloody disgrace. I get how disillusioned you are but I don't think I could ever stop watching myself. It is hard to be optimistic after all the letdowns in recent years but still, I just try to forget about it while the games are on and pretend this team is for real. And not only is Bertuzzi a primo desk chair, Woll is a wild card who might turn out to be a joker and lead us to the promised land. One can dream, isn't that what it's all about?


Division is going to be interesting for sure and yeah, very tough to predict what Florida will be. I honestly don't care too much though, I figure we'll cruise to the playoffs like usual and I expect Florida will be there too but yeah the new up and coming teams will hopefully make things a bit more interesting than they have been.

That would be nice. I was super confident we'd win at least two rounds when we cleaned up the Canadian division a few years back but you just never know so "expect" is probably not the right word to use here.


Wait, if you have IPTV, do you need a sports package? I'm new to IPTV (been a few weeks now) and I suppose the service providers are all different but my buddy who recommended this to me told me that he sees all the Leaf games with no issues whatsoever. That better be the case as that's about 90% of why I got IPTV to begin with.

I had no expectations that they would beat Price in that series.

You're right, Expectation probably is not the best word.

It‘s within reason to think they could win a round or two this year but at the same time its reasonable to think they could lose in round one, or miss the playoffs entirely.
This year could be different, but in the past they didn’t control their success or failure it was completely up to the opposition.

 

[Evilhomer]

I had no expectations that they would beat Price in that series.

You're right, Expectation probably is not the best word.

It‘s within reason to think they could win a round or two this year but at the same time its reasonable to think they could lose in round one, or miss the playoffs entirely.
This year could be different, but in the past they didn’t control their success or failure it was completely up to the opposition.

Miss the playoffs? How on Earth is that a realistic expectation?

 

[Gary Nylund]

And my wife would kill me if I dumped cable and couldn't get a jays game! Although after their perfromance lately.....

Thank again level-head for monitoring every thread, every post and commenting

I'm so glad I don't really follow the Jays anymore. I started paying a little bit of attention about a week ago and yikety yikes! I can only imagine how diehard fans must feel right about now, maybe it's a bit like 1987 when Fernandez and Whitt both got injured late in the season and we fell apart over the last 10 days or so, just awful!

We have it at work and there aren't any buffering issues however we don't seem to get as many sports channels. I have no idea if that's just because of how it was ordered though. I think we only get Sportsnet.

That seems odd considering I thought all the IPTV providers have over 10K channels.

I had no expectations that they would beat Price in that series.

You're right, Expectation probably is not the best word.

It‘s within reason to think they could win a round or two this year but at the same time its reasonable to think they could lose in round one, or miss the playoffs entirely.
This year could be different, but in the past they didn’t control their success or failure it was completely up to the opposition.

Interesting, we were massive favorites to beat Price, almost 3-1 IIRC.

Missing the playoffs seems highly unlikely, losing in round one on the other hand ...

 

[bax]

I'm so glad I don't really follow the Jays anymore. I started paying a little bit of attention about a week ago and yikety yikes! I can only imagine how diehard fans must feel right about now, maybe it's a bit like 1987 when Fernandez and Whitt both got injured late in the season and we fell apart over the last 10 days or so, just awful!


That seems odd considering I thought all the IPTV providers have over 10K channels.

I thought so too. I honestly don't know much about it since I don't have it at home I just know at work it can be hard to find games but there are definitely a lot of channels. Could very well be a user error on my part whenever I get the remote lol but there are definitely no buffering issues.

 

[ShaneFalco]

Really, really excited to have the Leafs back without Dubas. Time to rebuild the damage and look forward to better and brighter days.

Good way to look at it. Who knows how deep his influence was. I mean in the All for Nothing series clip, Mik went over Keef's hed and right to Dube when he wanted more ice time. Thornton playing regular shifts high up in the lineup when he was sucking, MM on the PP after going what, a year without a goal....so much points to Dubas making promises or decisions

 

[Nineteen67]

I don't understand how you can't be excited.

For the first time in decades there are no holes in the top 6,

in fact not only are there no holes in the top 6 for the first time since the early 2000's if not longer, but we have more top 6 caliber wingers than we need.

Marner
Nylander
Bertuzzi
Domi
Jarnkrok
Knies

They can all play top 6 minutes that's among the deepest group of wingers in the NHL.

I can't wait to see what Bertuzzi Matthews Marner can do together.

Or maybe They try recapture the chemistry Domi and Marner had together in junior and They do Domi Matthews Marner instead, regardless I can't wait to see it.

I can't wait to see what Knies can do in a full season.

I can't wait to see if Woll can take next step.

I can't wait to see if Samsonov can repeat or improve on his regular season, if he can then between Samsonov and Woll the Leafs could have a relatively young, cheap, strong goalie tandem.

Yes there are holes like with any team, but I think there is A LOT to be excited about this season.

There are no holes, except the the holes you just outlined?

Miss the playoffs? How on Earth is that a realistic expectation?

I wouldnt be surprised if they missed.

 

[Nineteen67]

I'm so glad I don't really follow the Jays anymore. I started paying a little bit of attention about a week ago and yikety yikes! I can only imagine how diehard fans must feel right about now, maybe it's a bit like 1987 when Fernandez and Whitt both got injured late in the season and we fell apart over the last 10 days or so, just awful!


That seems odd considering I thought all the IPTV providers have over 10K channels.


Interesting, we were massive favorites to beat Price, almost 3-1 IIRC.

Missing the playoffs seems highly unlikely, losing in round one on the other hand ...

All they had to do was negate Matthews and Marner, which wasnt hard and the rest was a lottery team.

 

[ShaneFalco]

All they had to do was negate Matthews and Marner, which wasnt hard and the rest was a lottery team.

Tht's just it, and Keefe had no answers except to play them more

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

There are no holes, except the the holes you just outlined?


I wouldnt be surprised if they missed.

I said there are no holes in the top 6 and there aren't.

But I have never said the team has no holes at all.

How many times have I said since we lost ROR that I saw 3rd line center as a weak point?

I can't give you the number but I've said that several times.

I've also said I feel like they need a piece defense, only one piece but a fairly significant one, like a Tanev, Hanifin, Pesce etc. It all depends who ends up on the market.

But at no point have I ever said that there were holes in the top 6, or on the wing in general.

As for missing the playoffs being realistic you are going to need to elaborate on that.

 

[Evilhomer]

As for missing the playoffs being realistic you are going to need to elaborate on that.

Barring catastrophic injuries at multiple positions, there is no chance the Leafs will miss the playoffs.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Barring catastrophic injuries at multiple positions, there is no chance the Leafs will miss the playoffs.

Correct

 

[Gary Nylund]

Barring catastrophic injuries at multiple positions, there is very little chance the Leafs will miss the playoffs.

FYP

 

[Nineteen67]

I said there are no holes in the top 6 and there aren't.

But I have never said the team has no holes at all.

How many times have I said since we lost ROR that I saw 3rd line center as a weak point?

I can't give you the number but I've said that several times.

I've also said I feel like they need a piece defense, only one piece but a fairly significant one, like a Tanev, Hanifin, Pesce etc. It all depends who ends up on the market.

But at no point have I ever said that there were holes in the top 6, or on the wing in general.

As for missing the playoffs being realistic you are going to need to elaborate on that.

Do they know who plays in the top 6? They‘ve replaced 3 guys, but they have no idea what configuration will work. Considering they have to work around Tavares‘ and Nylander‘s liabilities makes it tough on the coaching the staff.

 

[mjd1001]

Barring catastrophic injuries at multiple positions, there is no chance the Leafs will miss the playoffs.

Let me start by saying I do not think the Leafs will miss the playoffs.
I do think they will win the division.
I do think this year is their BEST chance to get out of the division in the playoffs and then its a coin toss to make it to the cup.

However, I think there is a scenario, rare, but one that doesn't take 'catastrophic injuries at multiple positions' to keep them out of the playoffs:

1.)-Injuries are part of it. But it could be just one injury...Matthews being out for most of the year. Or Marner and one other key player missing most of the season. Key injuries yes, but it doesn't have to be multiple.

2.) the 2nd part is the competition. What if both Ottawa AND Buffalo take that step forward where they are 10 points better than last year. What if Boston doesn't fall off a cliff like most expect. Florida proves that they are the team that won the presidents trophy 2 years ago and the one that had a playoff run last year, and not the one they were from Oct to Dec of last year. Tampa is still good and takes a small step back not a huge one.

All of the above things are possible. I do not think they all will happen, but if #1 does happen (ONE major injury, not multiple ones) AND a few of the options from category #2 happen...then it isn't out of the question there is a big time fight for the playoffs.

Again, I'm not expecting it, but to me its not out of the question.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Do they know who plays in the top 6? They‘ve replaced 3 guys, but they have no idea what configuration will work. Considering they have to work around Tavares‘ and Nylander‘s liabilities makes it tough on the coaching the staff.

Yes they know who plays in the top 6 we all do.

Bertuzzi Matthews Marner

Domi Tavares Nylander

That is the top 6, maybe Bertuzzi and Domi switch but that is the top 6