Leafs Regular Season Discussion

LLJ · Post #41 » by **LLJ** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 10:22 pm

Kessel started off last year pretty hot, too. In fact, the Leafs this year have basically started off like last year. :wink:

I still think they'll be seriously contending for a playoff spot, though, despite some of the negative nancy predictions around here.

Homer Jay · Post #42 » by **Homer Jay** » Mon Oct 17, 2011 4:07 am

LLJ wrote:Kessel started off last year pretty hot, too. In fact, the Leafs this year have basically started off like last year.

I still think they'll be seriously contending for a playoff spot, though, despite some of the negative nancy predictions around here.

The hard cap (and the subsequent high floor) is really starting to achieve some parity in the NHL. In the East, I honestly think only the Sens and Jets don't have a chance at the playoffs.

Post #43 » by **Crowned** » Mon Oct 17, 2011 11:04 pm

Interesting tidbit about our Leafs, that I've never really looked into until they just mentioned it on the pre-game show. For those that are upset about our lack of 'youth' in the lineup, we're ranked as the 3rd youngest team in the NHL.

s e n s i · Post #44 » by **s e n s i** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 4:24 am

7 out of a possible 8 pts to start the season...can't complain.

Post #45 » by **YogiStewart** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 11:13 am

Crowned wrote:Interesting tidbit about our Leafs, that I've never really looked into until they just mentioned it on the pre-game show. For those that are upset about our lack of 'youth' in the lineup, we're ranked as the 3rd youngest team in the NHL.

i'd argue that its not quality youth.
while the trend is different than the pre-lockout Leafs (i.e. rich geezers and trading away draft picks), the only youth to get excited about are:

Kadri (maybe)
Gardiner (maybe)
Franzen

otherwise, you can't get excited about the Frattens and Dupuises of the world. they just skew your statistics.
i'd much rather have some of the Islanders, Lightening or Oilers' youth than have Toronto's youth.

s e n s i · Post #46 » by **s e n s i** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:12 pm

lol obviously. the islanders and oilers have had high draft picks for several years now. who wouldn't rather have their core of young talent over what the leafs have? edmonton especially has a sh*tload of star potential. having said this, we still have young talent on the roster. kessel, phaneuf, and kulemin are still progressing to their respective primes, and then you still have schenn, reimer, aulie, kadri, colborne and gardiner. not top-flight talent, but solid.

in games that reimer has started for this team, they have gone 23-10-6. that is very encouraging regardless of how you look at it.

Post #47 » by **Crowned** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 11:06 pm

YogiStewart wrote:
Crowned wrote:Interesting tidbit about our Leafs, that I've never really looked into until they just mentioned it on the pre-game show. For those that are upset about our lack of 'youth' in the lineup, we're ranked as the 3rd youngest team in the NHL.

i'd argue that its not quality youth.
while the trend is different than the pre-lockout Leafs (i.e. rich geezers and trading away draft picks), the only youth to get excited about are:

Kadri (maybe)
Gardiner (maybe)
Franzen

otherwise, you can't get excited about the Frattens and Dupuises of the world. they just skew your statistics.
i'd much rather have some of the Islanders, Lightening or Oilers' youth than have Toronto's youth.

There's quite a bit of quality youth on the team. Just because they're not young, fresh prospects...doesn't mean they're not young up and coming players.

Tyler Bozak is 25
Matt Frattin is 23
Clark MacArthur is still only 26
Nikolai Kulemin is 25
Phil Kessel is 24
Nazem Kadri is 21
Cody Franson is 24
Jake Gardiner is 21
Carl Gunnarsson is 24
Luke Schenn is 21
Dion Phanuef is 26 (not younger, but not old either)
James Reimer is 23

...and that's off our NHL roster. We could insert our recent draft picks into our lineup like Stuart Percy, Biggs, Blacker or Ross like some of the teams you mentioned did, but we have enough 'quality' youth as it is. We don't need a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds running around on the ice against men.

Post #48 » by **5DOM** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 2:16 am

4-0-1

Kessel with 12 points in 5 games

s e n s i · Post #49 » by **s e n s i** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 2:16 am

yesssssss frat boy.

steckel is a face-off wizard

kaulkhara15 · Post #50 » by **kaulkhara15** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 2:21 am

Nice comeback. Team looked dead after 2 periods. Reimer made some big stops late in regulation and in overtime/shootout.

Oh, and Phil Kessel is pretty good too.

ATLTimekeeper · Post #51 » by **ATLTimekeeper** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 2:24 am

It's hard to keep Kessel off the ice right now. He's dominating. Gardiner needs to stay. Considering we were far off our game tonight it was fortunate we were playing a team that bad.

Atlanta looks like they're loaded with the kind of power forwards we need more of. Do you think they would do a Kadri for Kane trade? Kadri and Aulie for Kane?

Post #52 » by **Crowned** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 2:40 am

ATLTimekeeper wrote:It's hard to keep Kessel off the ice right now. He's dominating. Gardiner needs to stay. Considering we were far off our game tonight it was fortunate we were playing a team that bad.

Atlanta looks like they're loaded with the kind of power forwards we need more of. Do you think they would do a Kadri for Kane trade? Kadri and Aulie for Kane?

No chance at that. I wish, but we'd have to add a lot more than Aulie with Kadri for Kane.

_venom_ · Post #53 » by **_venom_** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 3:12 am

Why oh why does Wilson bench Franson in favor of Komisarek. Sure Franson has been pretty bad but he's no worse than Komisarek and he's younger. Gardiner shouldn't be benched, he was our best dman tonight. When he fills out and get's stronger he'll be a very good player.

So far this season we are getting unbelievably lucky. We've started slow in every game only to have Kessel and Lupul save us. They have scored 11 of our 17 goals...Other guys need to step up. The Grabo line looks pathetic right now especially MacArthur. Will Armstrong's injury (and possibly MacArthur's too) get Kadri up to the big club sooner than expected? or will Connolly finally be back?

ATLTimekeeper · Post #54 » by **ATLTimekeeper** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 1:05 pm

Yeah that Grabbo line went in the toilet as soon as MacArthur came back. He doesn't play nearly as hard as Frattin. The Leafs are definitely wonky right now. Schenn has been their most reliable D-man for the past two years and he's been awful. Kane just walked right around him twice last night. We haven't even seen Connolly yet, so I'm optimistic that we can still contend for an 8th seed.

I think it will be telling to see how Kessel handles Boston tonight.

Anatomize · Post #55 » by **Anatomize** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 7:01 pm

ATLTimekeeper wrote:Yeah that Grabbo line went in the toilet as soon as MacArthur came back. He doesn't play nearly as hard as Frattin. The Leafs are definitely wonky right now. Schenn has been their most reliable D-man for the past two years and he's been awful. Kane just walked right around him twice last night. We haven't even seen Connolly yet, so I'm optimistic that we can still contend for an 8th seed.

I think it will be telling to see how Kessel handles Boston tonight.

I don't watch much hockey, but when I do, the new-era Leafs are awful (aside from our late run last season). I'm trying to give them a chance with the Raps season in jeopardy and all, and I'm not going to pretend I have too much knowledge of hockey (outside of dominating a few fantasy leagues).

What was up with those first two periods yesterday? The second period in particular, I could hear the commentator trying to keep his voice excited but it had a 'what the **** is going on' tone to it. All I witnessed was our players bumping into one another/colliding, turning it over, making horrible passes, trying to deek around 3-4 guys alone. It looked like a bunch of kids playing street hockey.. You guys know more than me, tell me if what I saw out there is false.

Then after Winnipeg scored the third goal.. something happened..the Leafs snapped and they went into a different mode.. we were dominating on forechecks, the puck was consistently being moved around their zone, we were getting quality scoring chances, and their team looked really clueless. Honestly, I don't know whether to tell you if the real Winnipeg showed up from late in the 2nd period on, or if the Leafs actually started doing something right..

Bankai · Post #56 » by **Bankai** » Fri Oct 21, 2011 1:38 am

I would rather have a tired Reimer in net than a rested Gustavsson always. Jonas in net has lead to too many blowouts for my taste.

ATLTimekeeper · Post #57 » by **ATLTimekeeper** » Fri Oct 21, 2011 1:42 am

I thought the difference was Boston scored every time Franson was on the ice. It sure felt like that. The Monster let in a couple of weak goals, but he was bombarded tonight. Not really his fault. Boston didn't even play that well and they destroyed us.

TR50 · Post #58 » by **TR50** » Fri Oct 21, 2011 2:25 am

Seems like every time I'm not watching we're down or lose....

I have to plan much better.

_venom_ · Post #59 » by **_venom_** » Fri Oct 21, 2011 2:35 am

This was bound to happen tonight. Team is off to a good start, 2nd night of a back to back against a struggling but very talented team who has had some rest and you get blown out. Not surprising. What actually is surprising is that the Leafs actually had a chance to get back in the game in the 2nd period.
They had some PP opportunities where if they capitalized the entire game dynamic would have changed. But the special teams let them down again. I know it's early but our special teams looks just as bad as ever. At some point you have to blame the coach cuz this team has to get better on the PP and PK if it wants to sniff the playoffs.

Post #60 » by **Crowned** » Fri Oct 21, 2011 4:41 pm

That was horrendous. I watched about a period and a half, and that was enough. The powerplay was beyond words, the offense couldn't get anything going, they were running around unorganized in the defensive zone, Gustavsson was all over the place positionally, couldn't make that first pass out of their zone...I could go on. Let's hope we can chalk that up to a bad game, and not any indication of what we're in for throughout the rest of the year.