OT: Leafs/NHL Thread

[ATLTimekeeper]

Liljegren was Mark Hunter's pick when he was still here as head of scouting I believe. Also if you're talking about development in general then Liljegren, Sandin and Holl were all developed by the Leafs. Also the additions of McCabe and Schenn were good in adding size and toughness to the defense and I have no problems with what Dubas gave up for them. Holl I don't know why Keefe loves him so much, but he should sit and not play for the forseeable future.

Sandin was so good they had him slotted in 7th and traded him, and Liljegren so good he's sitting in the press box. Dubas hired Keefe, so he wears the coaches decisions.

Marner was also Hunter's pick I believe when at the time Babcock wanted to draft Hanafin. Nylander and Rielly were already here before Lou entered the picture. At any rate having a good core isn't enough in hockey unlike having 2-3 star players in the NBA will always likely get you automatically into the playoffs and probably win at least a couple of rounds of playoff wins. Lou might've left Dubas with a good core, but he also left him with the Zaitzev and Marleau issues and not a very good supporting cast and if you looked at his trade deadline deals they were all crap and didn't move the needle at all in improving the team for the playoffs.

As stated, they cleared themselves of Zaitsev painlessly. 4th liner + Ceci, but they signed Ceci despite knowing he was just as bad as Zaitsev. Stupid.

Dubas has not only improved the Leafs, but he also helped rebuild a non-existent prospect pool and put in place a good scouting team to try and find decent players everywhere. These are things that Lou and most every other previous Leafs GM never did or they did it very poorly. I would re-sign Dubas based on his current work regardless of the lack of playoff success, but if he does leave at least he's left the team with a good foundation to continue to build from.

The prospect pool was non-existent because they literally had just drafted Nylander, Marner, Matthews Most GMs would say that's a fine set-up.

[wegotthabeet]

It's nice to see Boston choking for a change. If they blow game 7, this might go down as the biggest choke in NHL history. Best regular season team of all time goes up 3-1 to the bottom seed only to choke the series away. Would be incredible.

**** Boston.

this is basically what happened to Tampa in 2019.


Tampa Bay Lightning : 62W - 16L - 4OL - 128PTS = first round exit

[GQStylin]

Sandin was so good they had him slotted in 7th and traded him, and Liljegren so good he's sitting in the press box. Dubas hired Keefe, so he wears the coaches decisions.

That's a coach's decision, but that doesn't mean he's right and as we've seen being on the ice for 72% of the goals scored against the Leafs in the Tampa series shows Keefe been wrong on his decision. Whether he'll have the humility to admit his mistake and correct that decision I guess we'll see.

Also Sandin is a decent player, but as much as I'd have liked to have kept him he wasn't the kind of player the Leafs needed for a playoff run. McCabe and Schenn brought much needed toughness on defense and Liljegren has shown that he has potential to be a very good Dman while Timmins has along looked pretty decent in his short time here while bringing some size as well. Sandin became the odd Dman out unfortunately.

As stated, they cleared themselves of Zaitsev painlessly. 4th liner + Ceci, but they signed Ceci despite knowing he was just as bad as Zaitsev. Stupid.

Ceci was only signed for one year by Dubas so I don't see a big issue with that signing.

The prospect pool was non-existent because they literally had just drafted Nylander, Marner, Matthews Most GMs would say that's a fine set-up.

A good prospect pool has a continuous flow of good prospects coming up through the system. If you have really good/star players they will get to the NHL immediately or within a year or two, but that doesn't mean you stop drafting well especially when you team starts getting good and your picks start getting lower in the draft and its more important than ever to have a good scouting staff to find decent players beyond the first round.

Show me a Leafs GM in the last couple of decades that has drafted even decently well outside of the 1st round? Heck even with first round picks they were often squandered and those players didn't turn into anything. Remember Gauthier, Biggs, Pogge? We'll find out in a few years how well Dubas has drafted, but at least a number of picks show good progression and the potential to be NHL players unlike many of our previous picks that never panned out.

[DatHomieYouHaTe]

If the leafs lose tonight their bum cheeks will be tight as a drum for game 7

[duppyy]

Hope leafs lose, I bet them to lose when they were up 3-1

[Potential]

Vegas Golden Knights in 6 years have a 267-147-41 all-time record.

2018 Finals
2019 First round exit
2020 Conference Finals
2021 Conference Finals
2022 Miss playoffs with 43-31-8 record
2023 Won 1st rd series so far

And the Kraken in their 2nd year could win a playoff series tomorrow.

Then you got the Leafs hoping for their first series win since 04 that would feel like a championship and have Toronto going crazy.

Read on Twitter

[rocky_da_best]

Vegas Golden Knights in 6 years have a 267-147-41 all-time record.

2018 Finals
2019 First round exit
2020 Conference Finals
2021 Conference Finals
2022 Miss playoffs with 43-31-8 record
2023 Won 1st rd series so far

And the Kraken in their 2nd year could win a playoff series tomorrow.

Then you got the Leafs hoping for their first series win since 04 that would feel like a championship and have Toronto going crazy.

Read on Twitter

Damn, people celebrating like they won the stanley cup lol. Say what you will about the Leafs and hockey in Toronto, if they ever do manage to finally win the whole thing, the party, turmoil, and subsequent parade will be something this country have never seen. If several million showed up for the Raptors parade, I can only imagine what would happen if the Leafs won.

[mdenny]

Vegas Golden Knights in 6 years have a 267-147-41 all-time record.

2018 Finals
2019 First round exit
2020 Conference Finals
2021 Conference Finals
2022 Miss playoffs with 43-31-8 record
2023 Won 1st rd series so far

And the Kraken in their 2nd year could win a playoff series tomorrow.

Then you got the Leafs hoping for their first series win since 04 that would feel like a championship and have Toronto going crazy.

Read on Twitter

Damn, people celebrating like they won the stanley cup lol. Say what you will about the Leafs and hockey in Toronto, if they ever do manage to finally win the whole thing, the party, turmoil, and subsequent parade will be something this country have never seen. If several million showed up for the Raptors parade, I can only imagine what would happen if the Leafs won.

I dodon'think it would be bigger than the raps or jays winning. There are millions of canadians who actively hate the leafs. Even in toronto alot of people hate the leafs.

The entire country loves the raptors save for a handful of realgm posters.

[Steven1562]

Hockey playoffs are completely unpredictable. Bruins are the greatest regular season team in history and they are going to a game 7. The defending cup champions are going to a game 7 against an expansion franchise. Last year's conference finalist the Rangers are on the brink of elimination to the Devils with a 3rd string goalie making their first playoff appearance since 2018.

[Brinbe]

lol they got edge out here.

time to kill some demons, boys.

[WuTang_OG]

She forgot the words. Oldest trick in the book lol

[mdenny]

It took the leafs 11 minutes to win one shift.

I guess we're just banking on luck.

[bballsparkin]

Victor Hedman is the most impactful player on the ice every game I've watched.

When's the last time the leafs had a top 5 defenseman? Gotta be Borje Salming. When's the last time they had a top 10 defenseman? Might be Salming too.

Those stud defenseman are so huge in the playoffs because they play half the game. Not many teams win the cup without one and the leafs haven't had one for close to 40 years lol.

I mean...each team should have a top 5 d-man once every 6 years. The leafs HAVE to be on the only franchise to have gone that long without one.

It's the equivalent of rolling a die 35 to 40 times and never rolling a 6. Extremely unlikely to not even luck into one.

The only team I can think of to win a cup without a top 5 d-man would be the penguins. But Letang may have been flirting with top 10. All the other cup winners had a doughty or a Lidstrom or neidermeyer or a Hedman.

I'm not sure it's that simple acquiring top 5 d-man. Especially the big talented guys like Hedman. I'm a Canucks fan and they have never had one. No cups either so I agree with your premise. All three times the Canucks lost in the playoffs the opposing team had one. Chara on Boston, Leech on NYRs, and Potvin on the NYI's.

Once teams get those players they hang on to them.

[Brinbe]

PAPIIIIIIIIII WHAT A SNIPE LET'S GOOOOOOO

[xAIRNESSx]

Matthews relentless on that shift.

[M3tro]

Gotta get this PK and keep the lead into the 3rd

[6ixset]

Matthews worked his tail off that entire play to get something going. Ended up with the goal. Oooweee.

[mdenny]

Matthews relentless on that shift.

Marner, Matthew's, Tavares.

Nylander needs to be taken off the top line. He can't win puck battles. He should be on the pp and the 3rd or 4th line.

They need to load up either Tavares or O'Reilly on the top line.

[M3tro]

20 mins to go!

[Brinbe]

the nhl is lucky that no one really pays attention to it because its refereeing and game management is continually a complete joke.