The defense still blows.

Not really, Liljegren is awesome though Sandin might be even better but plays the wrong side, Rosen is decent enough to play bottom pair, Dermott is Great, Muzzin is a Beauty, Rielly is one of the best in the league and Zaitsev is the only wild card that will either kill it again now that he is back with rielly and away from the dead weight of Gardiner or he will continue to be bad and even then this Defense isn’t that Bad

the only thing you might be close on is the Kapanen contract. It's a little high but it's in the right ball park. Everything else about this post is way off

So basically trade Johnsson for nothing? I think you should stop smoking all dat street smack and go visit your mother more!

Lol I traded a third liner and a fourth liner and this is the reaction? Geez TOR really deserves its bad rap

your Marner contract is too low in AAV and is the worst possible length of term to give him. The trade is terrible. Leafs aren't gonna give up 2 key roster wingers for a prospect and a few mid round picks. Brown get get Bear alone. Save Johnsson. Kadri is not playing the wing permanently anytime soon. They developed him as a centre, worked with him as a centre even when he struggled. So they'll keep him at centre. Marleau IS NOT playing centre. He's too slow. & he's said himself that he doesn't want to be a centre.

So yes. When you make multiple stupid moves.. you will get backlash for it.

I think this a pretty fair assessment. And your point in the description about the non stop talk of the leafs being in cap hell is well taken.

It could as simple as Marleau retiring (which unless he has a monster playoffs and miraculously turns his game around, I think he could easily retire) and trading Brown.. cap problem solved and the leafs hardly skip a beat.

Or as complex as trading Brown, Z and maybe one of Kap or Johnsson if Marleau doesn't retire and the rfas are unreasonable.. cap problem solved and the leafs take a step back next year while they wait for d prospects to be ready..

And even if its the second scenario the leafs could still improve their d game just by changing their systems. I mean, look at how the Islanders went from one of the worst d teams in the league to one of the best within one year, while losing JT and without making any noteable changes to the back end. How did that happen?

Regardless of what you post, and how logically you present it, you'll usually have someone telling you how wrong you are, and how right they are because, well, who knows?? Some people just need to be like that to get themselves through the day, I guess..

Brown is worth a third, so Johnsson for Bear and a 2nd and 3rd is not horrible, Kadri has had no production this year because he needs to play top 6 so I put him top 6, Marleau is making $6.25 mil he will play where ever they tell him to play and yeah Marner contract is the worst possible length that’s why they could get him at the lowest possible dollar and finally if you want me to pay Marner more and Keep johnsson do you know how a salary cap works

Thank you, I appreciate the comment, and yeah They could definitely change their defensive systems to improve because they certainly have some talented guys on the back end but they just haven’t gotten it all together yet, I think we see DJ smith out and Sheldon Keefe in to manage the Defense next season

You're quite welcome, my man. I thought it was a well thought out post and agm. Unless Dubas or Babcock is posting to this site I very much doubt anyone really knows what's coming in the off season.. it's all speculation, and usually friendly debate among hockey fans. Some of us, myself included, with too much time on our hands..

It's my take that the leafs defensive issues are maybe 70% system related and 30% personnel. I think alot of gains could be made on our d game just by changing things up and adapting to how teams take away our rush chances and breakouts. The secret is out on how to contain the leafs offense and exploit our d, methinks. Even so, I agree, we have some talented d, and more on the way..

I think it's an interesting situation with Keefe. There's a few NHL coaching jobs opening up and depending how we fair in the playoffs I think the Leafs will need to ask themselves some tough questions about the game we play, and why we play it that way. In my mind, I have no doubt that Keefe has a place with the leafs in some capacity going forward, hard to say what that is right now.. but I bet they don't want to lose him.

Yeah when you have such a talented roster but you just can’t get it done in all three zones or for 60 minutes you certainly gotta look at coaching and Keefe could potentially be a big help but I honestly can’t see a scenario in which it is babs who gets the boot regardless of how these playoffs play out

Lol. Do you know how hockey works? .. 5 years is the worse because it puts Matthews, Nylander and Marner all as UFA in the same year.. that's pretty stupid. & part of the reason of Marleau signing here was that he wouldn't be relied upon as a centre. You don't "play them where they tell them to play" and completely piss the player off, that makes it even harder to sign free agents later on.

& yes. I know how the salary cap works:

https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/1090501

Do you even know hockey? Doesn't seem like it.

Did you not read the part where I said this is without moving Zaitsev? Obviously you could do more if you do drop that contract but this is without that, that’s the point that this is showing worst case scenario they are still fine, and yes I agreed that that is the worst possible term, that’s why it’s cheap, and Marleau contract is bad, players with bad contracts have to at least do what the team wants, look at David backes agreeing to be an enforcer because he knows he isn’t useful as a skill player anymore just like Marleau isn’t useful as a winger anymore so now they need him to be a center

Very true, I don't see babcock getting canned either, but if they take a one-sided thumping against Boston this year, then I hope he's held accountable for some of his decisions, and that his leash is shortened, that's all. And yep, I think we're saying the same thing about Keefe.. at some point he's with the leafs in some capacity, imo. Maybe as an assistant next year, maybe as a coach further down the line.