Toronto Maple Leafs are surprisingly underperforming

[Andrewcoursol]

this is how they do it

they find the right fanbases and goad them with a line

those odds are for suckers to place bets, and lose money after the first round

 

[Michel Beauchamp]

Yeah, it's fine.

The 50 man contract limit has never been an issue. The Leafs can trade players too you know.

Montreal burning a spot for 5+ years for Price?
Edmonton burning 2 spots for Smith + Klefbom

Are you playing d...?

Montréal still has 5 open spots.

Edmonton still has 7 open spots.

That's called flexibility.

Yes, the Leafs can trade players, as long as they find trading partners.

But they might (I stress "might") have to pay a premium to do so.

 

[Foppberg]

They'll turn it around, too talented not to.

 

[Divine]

Are you playing d...?

Montréal still has 5 open spots.

Edmonton still has 7 open spots.

That's called flexibility.

Yes, the Leafs can trade players, as long as they find trading partners.

But they might (I stress "might") to pay a premium to do so.

Yeah, they might.

Or.. maybe they won't. Who knows or cares unless they do something. Stop losing sleep over the Leafs 50 man contract limit, it's not healthy.

 

[Michel Beauchamp]

Yeah, they might.

Or.. maybe they won't. Who knows or cares unless they do something. Stop losing sleep over the Leafs 50 man contract limit, it's not healthy.

Are you trying to be funny ?

Try harder, as you are not successful so far.

 

[sr edler]

How can anyone be surprised by this, their top guys will get going soon enough, but their depth is trash. I think they're overplaying Marner too, he's up there playing 25–26 minutes per night.

 

[Devils090]

Matthews isn’t scoring, once he starts to they’ll be fine

 

[ccman68]

the avs have the same record where is their thread

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

the avs have the same record where is their thread

I think they've had a little bit more success to allow leniency

 

[HabsQC]

Yes !

 

[WF19]

The leafs will go nowhere this year and honestly wouldn't be surprised if they were a wildcard team. Like mentioned their depth is horrible. Matthews and Marner both have to have monster seasons to carry the team. If Matthews, Marner or if Reilly got injured for an extended period of time it's over for them. They are amongst the best top 6 in the league but their Defense is amongst they worst and their tandem is suspect.

I'm not a Leafs fan incase you didn't notice and i'm not just ripping on them either. They are for sure getting closer to ending the drought but it's not happening this year. Get rid of Keefe and Dubas and i think they have the best shot. Bring in a new GM that will shake it up. Ie. Blockbuster trade involving 1 of the big 4 for a big name defenseman.

 

[Devils090]

I think they've had a little bit more success to allow leniency

They’re also missing some guys, what’s the Leafs excuse

 

[johnnybbadd]

The depth as predicted has slowly been bled out due to the overpayment of the core players. Keefe isn’t even trying to ice a 3rd and 4th line which is a mistake.

 

[JuJu Mobb]

Same record as last year.

They're not playing high octane, entertaining hockey like they used too, tho.

 

[leafsfan5]

They'll turn it around, too talented not to.

They'll turn it around and make the playoffs. But the underlying issues will remain and they won't win a thing

This team is coddled and soft. A terrible combination

 

[stealth1]

Same record as last year.

They're not playing high octane, entertaining hockey like they used too, tho.

Cause their defense has gotten slow compared to last year

 

[MarkovsKnee]

Outside of Mathews, Marner, Nylander & Tavares, there isn't a lot behind that group anymore. It's shocking how much depth they've lost at forward over the last few years: Hyman, Mikheyev, Kapanen & Kadri, for instance. Even Spezza was able to add some depth offense. With Matthews & Marner out of sync they don't have the forward depth to cover for that.

The D is crap with Holl playing without Muzzin to cover his ass. No real physicality back there, and way too many turnovers.

D is a big problem right now.

 

[Stephen]

They’re also missing some guys, what’s the Leafs excuse

I'd say the Leafs have no excuse but are missing guys. Both from real injuries but also just poor roster construction.

 

[Toene]

Outside of Mathews, Marner, Nylander & Tavares, there isn't a lot behind that group anymore. It's shocking how much depth they've lost at forward over the last few years: Hyman, Mikheyev, Kapanen & Kadri, for instance. Even Spezza was able to add some depth offense. With Matthews & Marner out of sync they don't have the forward depth to cover for that.

The D is crap with Holl playing without Muzzin to cover his ass. No real physicality back there, and way too many turnovers.

D is a big problem right now.

Who knew that attributing close to 40M of your cap to four forwards would result in a lack of depth. Shocking.

They have to bite the bullet and trade one of these four. It's written in the sky since a few years now, but it seems like Dubas doesn't want to admit he was wrong.

 

[Macheteops]

the avs have the same record where is their thread

Avs just won a cup. Meaning they went deeper than the first round. Likely experiencing a little lag so not surprised

 

[Jumptheshark]

I know it is early--but I can see the pressure getting turned up quickly if they do not win the next game

 

[unicornpig]

They looked awful offensively tonight, and the kings have been trash defensively

 

[Hunter368]

They got out worked again tonight, hard work beats skill when skill doesn’t work hard.

 

[syz]

One thing I noticed tonight was the Leafs were going for a whole lotta transitional plays on the penalty kill... when the score was 1-1. Prior to the 2-1 goal there were like 3 separate plays where they looked like they were looking for a breakout on the PK when they could've just iced the puck instead. Turned it over every time with the last one resulting in a goal against.

 

[egelband]

The season is not even a month old.

Came here to say this. All the hot takes this early are premature.