Quoting: Boomer125
I'll politely disagree on your assessment of your setup, Goaltending way way better? It's the same at most Freddie has been the backbone of the Leafs for 4 seasons Markstrom has 1 season of true #1 tending to his name, Severson over Brodie that's a tough sell sure Severson is younger but better not really, you've added Zacha to the third line and moved soup up in the top 6 and Kap back to the third line not much difference there either I am a fan of aquiring Zacha as he's a younger and less expensive C than Kerfoot but nothing about that third line screams watch out or shutdown top lines in the league it's an average 3rd line that's it. What you have certainly done is given the Leafs one of the league's worst 4th lines and weakened the PK significantly
I just made a post before this one about why Markstrom is better then freddy. Severson isnt as good in the offensive zone but hes far and away the better defender and a way better puck mover. Hes very good at moving the puck out with control and being right handed helps a ton. Even if brodie can play the RS I still think severson is better overall with his defensive ability and hes also younger and cheaper. Zacha isnt as good offensively or a passer as kerfoot but hes so good defensively. Hes also one of the best penalty killers in the league. Hes exceptional at blocking passing lanes and preventing high danger chances. One think he does on the pk is he skates the puck into the oz and pins the puck to the boards killing a bunch of time.
I wouldn't trust them full time against the Bergeron or Point line but I wouldnt be afraid if they had to go out and play a couple of low event shifts against lines like them each game. All 3 guys are good offensively and very good off the rush.
The 4th line is the best in the league. I put Korshkov in there at 4lw but it could be anyone really. Dressing 11 forwards means that they will have to give those 6-7 minutes gauthier would be getting to AM, JT, MM, WN who all deserve more time. Taking out gauthier dowsnt make their pk any worse. Hes not that great and they have a ton of guys who can. On defense they have muzzin, Holl, severson and marincin who are all very good penalty killers. On forward they also have a ton of guys. The only thing gauthier does is go out there to try and win the faceoff. Spezza, Tavares, matthews and zacha are all better at faceoffs. Like I said before, zacha is one of the best killers in the league, the devils have a power kill system where they pressure the other team and end up creating a bunch of chances, he would fit right in with the leafs. On this roster they also have mikheyev, hyman, Tavares, marner, engvall, kapanen and korshkov to an extent but he isnt that great. They have at least 7 forwards who can kill, eight if they dress gauthier. I think the players I think they should being in improve their pk a bit. Their pk right now is bad but I think its Hakstol who's making it much worse