I smell a lot of stuff with this team. Cup contenders

Nylanders not signing that cheap

That's not far off his value. Ehlers at 6 Larkin at 6.1. Pastrnak is a better player at 6.67. All from the same draft. He's not far off

1. Nylander demands at least 6.5 million if not 7 million on his next deal.
2. Matt Stajan adds about as much to the Leafs forward corps as I do.
3. Your nickname is emblematic of an NHL that has no clue how to evaluate defencemen, or defence, or how to separate player and team success.
Let's go lineup spot by lineup spot, TBL and TOR, straight up.
1LW: Miller can score 20 with Stamkos and Kucherov. Marleau (who all indications are is going to play with Matthews and Nylander after Babcock confirmed Hyman will be 2LW) can score 25 with Kadri and Komarov, with a bit of Marner at the end. Edge: TOR
1C: Stamkos and Matthews can both score, but Matthews hasn't had an NHL season with less than 40G pace or 30xG pace. Stamkos's playmaking is better, but I suspect that is largely due to the presence of actual scorers on his wings. Edge: TOR
1RW: Kucherov is a better scorer and playmaker than Nylander. Edge: TBL
2LW: Hyman and Palat are both pass-first checkers, but Palat can actually score. Edge: TBL
2C: Brayden Point is an excellent young player with solid D who's coming off an excellent, if a touch unsustainable, season. John Tavares is a high-end 1C. Edge: TOR
2RW: Tyler Johnson is a respectable middle-six scorer and playmaker. Mitch Marner is an elite playmaker wo had 22 goals in a sustainable year. Edge: TOR
3LW: Alex Killorn is a solid play driver/checker with minimal offence. In a small showing last year, Johnsson was that but with offence, and he has much more upside. Edge: even. Killorn is more established, but Johnsson could easily surpass him.
3C: Anthony Cirelli drove play pretty well in a limited showing last year and showed some good offence, though nothing to be excited about after accounting for sh% and oish%. Nazem Kadri is top-10 in goals by a C over the past two years, being used as a checker (a role he has filled quite admirably).Edge: TOR
3RW: Yanni Gourde is an excellent young player who showed solid D and some excellent scoring, but his high sh% and oish% indicate that his point totals are primed for regression. Kasperi Kapanen had less luck and fewer opportunities last year, and after accounting for that, looks to be a very close player. Edge: TBL, but not by a ton
4LW: Alex Killorn is a respectable checker with some scoring, though like most TBL players his high oish% indicates that his assist totals are likely to regress. Leivo has had neither opportunities nor luck in his NHL career, but he's graded out as a respectable scorer and playmaker in limited usage for TOR. Edge: Even
4C: Par Lindholm or Miro Aaltonen might suck. Cedric Pauette definitely sucks. Edge: TOR
4RW: Neither Connor Brown nor Ryan Callahan is much of a needle mover, but at least Brown is unlikely to be noticeably hurt by age. Edge: TOR
1LD: Victor Hedman should not have won that Norris and is by no means a top-5 defenceman. He is still very good though, and better than Rielly. Edge: TBL
2LD: Ryan McDonagh is a solid player, but he's coming off an uninspiring year and his prime is ending. Jake Gardiner led the Leafs in assists last year, drives play as well as Mcdonagh even in the worst possession year of his career, and has consistently made the Leafs better every year. Edge: TOR (man that's a tough one to lose for TBL)
3LD: Brayden Coburn was replacement level last year. Dermott's (admittedly small) sample last year was comparable to where Norris-caliber dmen were at his age. Edge: TOR
1RD: Amusingly, this is projected to be Mikhail Sergachev by the source I clicked on, but even he doesn't beat out Dermott (I'd say it's about even between the two young, high-upside dmen). Adjusting to play your off side is tough for defenders, especially if it comes with harder minutes. However, his competition is Zaitsev, and I don't see Serge falling further than that. Jake Dotchin however has shown nothing encouraging, while Zaitsev's at least shown some offensive ability. Edge: TBL because we'e putting Sergachev here for the overall
2RD: Anton Stralman and Ron Hainsey are both no-upside pure DFDs in decline. Edge: Even
3RD: Dan Girardi is old and worthless on too many levels to list. Connor Carrick has a ton of upside, was great with Dermott last year, and should honestly probably be TOR's 1RD. Edge: TOR
G: Andrei Vasilevskiy substantially outperforming the rest of his career was slightly better than Freddie Andersen doing the same thing for the third year in a row. Edge: TOR, why was Vasy in the Vezina convrsation he had 15 GSAA wtf.
Backup G: Cutis McElhinney was legitimately excellent last year for unknown reasons, and Garret Sparks was the AHL's best goalie. Louis Domingue is awful. Edge: TOR
Scores: Forwards: 7-3 TOR
D: 3-2 TOR
G: 2-0 TOR
TBL needs to watch their backs, TOR improved a lot this offseason and has a scary team with tons of upside. Heds > Rielly is their biggest edge, but I doubt it'll be enough.

What a great post! Congratulations!

Leaf fans OMG. NYI take you out in the 1st round.

You sir, are a homer.

Lol that Stamos isn't a scorer. He is one of two active players to score 60 in a season

Nylander signed at right value, congrats

Stamkos has had 3 S/gp once in the past 3 seasons, and he played 17 games in that season. The modern Stamkos is not a Matthews-level scorer, and his success is driven more by his playmaking.
He had 27 goals and 56 assists last year.


I'm going to assume this is a joke, given that NYI has no ability to keep the puck out of their own net and lost a huge chunk of their ability to put it in the other team's net to Toronto

The worst part of this is that I'm not even really a Leafs fan as much as I am someone who thinks TBL is overrated. They had a really lucky season in which they were good, but not as good as they looked, and then added nothing in FA. The Leafs are a good, young team that was also good last year, though not quite as lucky, and added a huge piece in FA.
If you have an issue with my analysis, please bring up specifically what it is.

When you don't have a clue what he said so you simply reply with him being a homer

Ehlers and Pasta are the best comparisons for the leafs.. his agent will counter with the worst. Larkin got 6.1 on a 5 yr deal.. nylanders not going to give up 3 more UFA years for less money.

I agree. Best case they sign him for 7 years to get out of Tavares's money but really thats thinking way to far ahead. Sign him 5-6 years and deal with it later. The cheaper number should help now and that's the window the leafs have

Here is a list of his draft year
https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/837803