Building a Champion

Team: 2018-19 Toronto Maple Leafs

Initial Creation Date: Sep. 5, 2018

Published: Sep. 5, 2018

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

The leafs number one priority right now is to sign Nylander. I would expect Nylander to get some sort of deal in the Larkin/Pasternak/Ehlers range. He has said he wants term, and the leafs have no reason not to give it to him. The big knock on the leafs is their d, but i don't think it gets the credit it deserves. Morgan Reilly proved to be a borderline number one defenseman who put up 50 points while dragging along a beaten up Ron Hainsey. Gardiner gets a lot of crap for his poor defensive play, but he is one of the best offensive defenseman in the league, who matched Reilly with 52 points last year, with most of his points actually coming at 5 on 5. Travis Dermott looked great in his "tryout" with the big club, and I would look for him to make major strides this season. Zaitzev is coming off a bad year, but a number of circumstances led to his bad season, as he was actually plying like his 2016-17 self before his injury. The injury, along with the stress of a newborn kid and overuse on the Pk could have led to his bad season. I would look for him to bounce back this year. Hainsey is another guy who was way overused, especially for his age. Put him on the bottom pair, and shelter his minutes so he can be more effective on the PK and he becomes much more useful. The last D spot is still not decided yet, but if I had to make a prediction I'm guessing Babcock will like the big new russian Igor Ozhiganov. Ozzie is big and physical and skates relatively well for his size. That, along with his booming shot make him the prototypical right shot d man that Babcock desires. I really expect him to play well, and basically act as a faster more offensively gifted upgrade to Roman Polak. The offensive lines have basically been confirmed for the start of the season, as Matthews and Nylander will be paired up and JT and Marner will be on the second line.Hyman is supposed to start on JT's other wing, but I would expect him to move back up with Matthews as that line with Matthews Nylander and Hyman has been the leafs best line for the past 2 years and I don't see it getting broken up because Babs is to stubborn and i wouldn't fix what isn't broken, which would put Marleau on the left wing of Tavares and Marner. The third and 4th lines are where the unknowns are. Kari will be centering the third line, but his wingers are a question. I bet Johnsson is the best bet to start on his left wing, and as fun as it would be to see kapanen on the other wing, Babcock loves connor Brown to much to use him on the 4th line. So on the 4th line, its gonna be Par Lindholm, who babcock has often praised with Kappy on the right wing, and as much as I would love to see Leivo finally get a shot, it will probably be Tyler Ennis starting on the left wing.