Maple Leafs

[chakhae1]

Mikheyev is UFA this year so we want him to be good, but not that good. I have always liked his speed and fore checking abilities and I think he would flourish in a more offensive role. Put him with Taveras and Nylander and bump Kerfoot down to the third line and. that transition should be seamless.

[jameslacarte]

I agree. I think he should be a 1st or 2nd line guy. He plays penalty kill with Marner so i think the 1st line would be better, he's more familiar playing with Marner & leave Kerfoot on that 2nd line, he's having a career year playing there. Woke up this morning still choked about that game last night!!
I think Dubas has to do something soon with our D. The longer he waits the higher the price we are going to pay & giving all these points away isnt helping either. Just ask edmonton, it doesnt matter how many goals you score if you cant keep the puck out of your net!! I like Liljegren but he gave the puck away so many times yesterday & that Biega guy too. No wonder he couldnt make the Canucks roster, he sucks. He left Reaves all alone in front of the Net on that 1st goal & then couldnt stop the pass once he realized he was there. Reaves, Mr hands of stone gets 2 goals, he had none so far this year.

[chakhae1]

Dont get me started on letting Reaves score two goals. That was almost shameful. The D is what it is, but I think Dubas will do something to make the group better. The positives are that Rielly and Brodie have been good and Rielly should have a career year in points and plus minus. His contract is also very good and thank the heavens that he didn't ask for a big ticket.

I think more than anything else this recent run of blowing leads has shown that our bottom paired d men are not that great, so that area needs to be improved. We have Sandin and Lilijgren that should improve, but Dermott is what he is and not that great even at the best of times. I am not sure who we have in the minors, but Muzzin and Holl have also digressed and that's my biggest complaint of the d core. If they played anything close to what they did the past two seasons, a lot of these issues would not be happening. But all things behind said we are still an upper echelon team so there's always that!

[30ranfordfan]

Dont get me started on letting Reaves score two goals. That was almost shameful. The D is what it is, but I think Dubas will do something to make the group better. The positives are that Rielly and Brodie have been good and Rielly should have a career year in points and plus minus. His contract is also very good and thank the heavens that he didn't ask for a big ticket.

I think more than anything else this recent run of blowing leads has shown that our bottom paired d men are not that great, so that area needs to be improved. We have Sandin and Lilijgren that should improve, but Dermott is what he is and not that great even at the best of times. I am not sure who we have in the minors, but Muzzin and Holl have also digressed and that's my biggest complaint of the d core. If they played anything close to what they did the past two seasons, a lot of these issues would not be happening. But all things behind said we are still an upper echelon team so there's always that!

My unsolicited opinion: The top pair is fine (Reilly, Brodie). Muzzin is good if he's paired with someone good.... but Holl is junk.

Sandin is a keeper. Of their young guys, he's the one I think will pan out to be a really solid piece in the future. Liligren I think is okay... but not as good now (or in the future) as Sandin.

Dermott as a #7 guy is fine.

If I were the Leafs, that 2nd pairing guy to play with Muzzin is the one thing I would be trying hard to add before the deadline. One of Holl, Liligren, and Dermott would all be expendible (Liligren being the one I wouldn't want to move - but if the return was great enough... sure).

[chakhae1]

Holl was good the past two years when Muzzin was at the top of his game. Muzzin is at his best when he plays in a secondary type of role like he did on the Kings. With Rielly and Brodie playing well this year, the perfect scenario would be to have Muzzin and someone else slot into the second pairing. Muzzin is getting up there in years and I do not think he can anchor a top pair anymore. Not on a regular basis at least. So we need someone that can ease the load and obviously Holl is not it. He is a good as a passenger when at his best, but not someone that can be relied on to step up when his d partner is struggling. He does a good interview on Sportsnet though lol.

[jameslacarte]

From what i have seen from Sandin so far i have to disagree. Is he flashy? & does he make some nice passes? Sure, but he is a defenseman who is a defensive liability. We seen last year in the playoffs what happens to Sandin when you hit him every shift & now every other team knows it too. Liljegren is worse!! I'm not ready to give up on Holl yet though. He's having a bad year so far this year but he has shown us in the previous 2 years that he can get the job done if he has a good D-Partner that he can count on. I think the Leafs should package Sandin & Muzzin together to get 1 or 2 solid guys who can play D. They have to include Muzzin in any deal to make Cap Space for anyone else & Sandin is the carrot on the stick,(they could add Liljegren or Dermott to the trade too).

Giving the Core 4 all the money has hurt this team. It also blows my mind that with all the good D-Men drafted over the last few years that we didnt get any of them. We keep drafting small players in the 1st round,(last year was Rodion Amirov) instead of a good D-Man that we have known we needed for at least 3 years now. I just dont get it!!

[30ranfordfan]

From what i have seen from Sandin so far i have to disagree. Is he flashy? & does he make some nice passes? Sure, but he is a defenseman who is a defensive liability. We seen last year in the playoffs what happens to Sandin when you hit him every shift & now every other team knows it too. Liljegren is worse!! I'm not ready to give up on Holl yet though. He's having a bad year so far this year but he has shown us in the previous 2 years that he can get the job done if he has a good D-Partner that he can count on. I think the Leafs should package Sandin & Muzzin together to get 1 or 2 solid guys who can play D. They have to include Muzzin in any deal to make Cap Space for anyone else & Sandin is the carrot on the stick,(they could add Liljegren or Dermott to the trade too).

Giving the Core 4 all the money has hurt this team. It also blows my mind that with all the good D-Men drafted over the last few years that we didnt get any of them. We keep drafting small players in the 1st round,(last year was Rodion Amirov) instead of a good D-Man that we have known we needed for at least 3 years now. I just dont get it!!

To each their own, I guess. This non-Leaf fan thinks Sandin will pan out to be pretty good, but he needs more seasoning. If you're going to trade two of your top six defenceman (Muzzin, Sandin) - the return had better be pretty good. What you say makes sense (Muzzin is dealt so clear salary for the player coming in) - but unless you're getting a monster upgrade on Muzzin, I don't know that swapping those two out for a different guy is going to make the backend a lot stronger.

Upgrading the Holl spot is still what I think they'll do.


As for the drafting of defense..... Leafs used their top two picks in both 2017 and 2018 on Blueliners. In 2019 they didn't have a 1st rounder, took Nick Robertson (yes, a small forward) in the 2nd round. I don't think there's a single player taken after him (Defense, Forward, or otherwise) that would be contributing to this team right now.

2020, yeah. They took Amirov with their first rounder. I don't know enough about him to say "good pick" or "back pick". There were a few defenseman taken after him in the first round.... maybe they will pan out to be better players, but I don't think there's anyone they could have taken 15th overall, that would actually be playing for them today.

Go back to 2013.... Shea Theodore over Freddy Gauthier definitely would make the team better right now. lol.

[chakhae1]

Blue liners are the most difficult players in the league to draft and develop and I don't think anyone will question that. The last draft that had a plethora of would be elite d men was 2008 when the likes of Karlsson, Pietrangelo were all drafted in the first round. The Leafs took Luke Schenn with the fifth pick and now he's a cup winner and still contributing in the league. Too bad he's on the Canucks though. I always liked his game. Played good defensively and did his job day in and day out.

[30ranfordfan]

Blue liners are the most difficult players in the league to draft and develop and I don't think anyone will question that. The last draft that had a plethora of would be elite d men was 2008 when the likes of Karlsson, Pietrangelo were all drafted in the first round. The Leafs took Luke Schenn with the fifth pick and now he's a cup winner and still contributing in the league. Too bad he's on the Canucks though. I always liked his game. Played good defensively and did his job day in and day out.

Schenn is a good player. I don't think he was ever suited to be higher than #4 in a depth chart, but he's the kind of physical dman you want on the 2nd or 3rd pairings. He was taken 5th, and was never really a star, so I think he got run out of town a little early. That 2008 draft was loaded for defense for sure.

[jameslacarte]

It will be interesting to see what Leafs team we see tonight. Leafs Vs Islanders tonight!! Go Leafs Go!!! The Leafs are currently the only Canadian team holding down a Playoff spot. What happened? Calgary, Edmonton & the Jets were all playing well but none of them are currently in a Playoff spot. Still half a season to go though, all 3 teams are not that far outside the race.