I have a legitimate question. What makes you think this team, with an identical D core to last season's team, is going to go any farther because they added more offense? The same D core that gave up 5+ goals vs Boston in round 1 THREE times. In the playoffs. That's pretty alarming.

'Cause they're gunna try real hard this time!

More experience? The only reason i'm not worried as much is Dermott. The kid caught my eye the moment he went into the lineup and played like a future number 1 D. He is very good and is a early second round pick. The Left side of the D corps is set, however, the same can't be said about the Right side if Zaitsev isn't healthy or goes on a bad season

I don't know why it's that alarming. they won three games against boston. so they did outscore boston in three games, so where was the bruins defence. the jets and there high priced defence allowed 16 less goals, Columbus allowed 4 less goal, Holty and the Caps , two goals difference. in the regular season. might be time to get off this scenario.

Just sucks he will constantly lose in the playoffs

Tavares.
Pittsburg 2017
Enough?

The thing is that Tavares is a good center in his own zone which will help, Zaitsev had a bad year last year, but don't blame him coming back from mono and losing weight doesn't make it easy, i expect him to bounce back. Gardiner has potential, take away game 7 and he wasn't terrible if he plays with zaitsev and zaitsevs back to full potential could be a good pairing, reilly is real solid on the blue line and dermott should only improve if he stays up with the big club. hainsey is pk d man who will get like 8-10 mins a night and oz and carrick might be able to help take some pk time away from zaitsev to keep him a little more fresh. We will see what happens i know i am excited to see them play they have a long season to figure it out and find something that works.

While I think the OP is a bit overexcited, I don’t buy your premise. D will be very similar, but not identical. Polak is gone. He wasn’t even AHL worthy last year. Dermott will be better. And most importantly, Zaitzev isn’t hurt this year so hopefully isn’t as bad as he was.

Also, with 3 forward lines that could be top lines on probably 10 teams, they are going to own the possession game. Just look forward to the Tavares/Marner or Matthews/Nylander lines going against 3rd and 4th lines regularly, and exhausting top D guys.

Finally, besides Gardiner’s bad game 7 (I’m a huge Gardiner fan, but he definitely played terrible in game 7), their biggest issue against Boston was 880 goaltending. I’m hoping Sparks steals the starting gig this season. Andersen is just too inconsistent.

This reads like a love song asking Tavares for an autograph by a 9 year old

What makes you think he’ll improve any more? At his age, while he’s not destined to fall off a cliff any time soon, production typically slows rather than increase. Though the Leafs are better than the Islanders, Tavares played with Lee, a 40 goal scorer (granted, playing with Tavares had a lot to do with that, but no matter who else is on the ice, you have to be pretty good to get that many), and I’m not necessarily sure that his new line mates will be that much better. In fact, the Islanders’ offense was among the best in the League. Other than the fact that you like his jersey better now, I don’t understand the basis for this at all.

No keep going.

Andersen is not about to be back up. This made me laugh out loud in hilarity. Be a little realistic.

It's alarming because this has been an ongoing discussion for years. They still haven't addressed this need, dating way back to 2013 against Boston, they've always had a bad right side of defense. I think it's time to solidify it before they waste prime Tavares years.

Troll. All those points and the one I small bit I add you mock? And I didn’t say it would, I said I hope. Anything is possible. Sparks plays 920 hockey and wins a lot and Andersen goes 880 for longer than the month at a time he did last year, and it could happen. Only trolls deal in absolutes.

Andersen is making 5 million a year, they aren't going to rely on a rookie in the playoffs with hardly any NHL experience. The only one trolling here is yourself. And don't deflect the D problems on the goaltending. The leafs have a good goaltender at a good price. Improve the RD and then there's a legitimate chance of winning a cup.

I didn’t deflect anything. RD is an issue. But undeniably will be better just by subtraction of Polak. Which is all I said about the D. Learn to read. Also, you don’t think Andersen was inconsistent? Spent a month before Xmas, and basically entire year after March playing 880 hockey. Idk if you know anything about goaltending, but that is bad. 900 is considered mediocre. But he played 940 hockey early and in winter, which is why his final numbers were fine. But he was terrible for nearly half the season. So yes, I hope Sparks plays amazing and steals the job. I don’t trust Andersen. And idk if you actually ever watch hockey, but rookies play every year in the playoffs. So you mindlessly saying it won’t happen is ignorant. Hence...troll. Would I prefer Andersen play 940 hockey all year? Of course. I just don’t trust him to do it bc he never has.

You can't justify his 880 save percentage without looking at where the goals were scored from. Rookies play every year in the playoffs but rookie goalies? That's rare. In 2015 Bishop tore a groin and they kept playing him because they trusted him more than Vase. Rookie goalies don't steal jobs from starters like that. It's historically improbable.