Do you guys think this team is a contender?

crazy how you signed DeMelo when he never even made it to free agency

Nope. It honestly isn't any better than the current Leafs are.

Still expecting a first round exit...

not that i think this is a good AGM or anything, but i swear to god the leafs could add McDavid and Hedman and somehow people would still be "bloo bloo first round exit"

You need to stop living in the past man. Do something that is still possible.

Nope, Doubt the D unit is that much improved. Still better teams then this. Colorado, Vegas, Tampa New York Rangers.

Probably still makes the playoffs but I think Dubas did a good job

lol, the rangers.

Rangers are probably just as close as the Leafs.

that's because all their cap would be in 7 players and the rest of the team would be league minimum garbage that would get roasted all over the ice.

No, but I don't think that this team can be a legit contender with the big-4 taking up as much of the cap as they do. I don't see any way out, as they are unlikely to get a good enough return for one of the big-4 anyway. I see them struggling for the next 4 years. Maybe getting to the 2nd round once. Losing any player who out-performs their contract because they won't be able to re-sign them. And continuing to do a terrible job of developing their young Ds. Then starting over again in 4 years or so and everyone will wonder how this team never got anywhere.

As for your team, I think it is way too soft. Both the Ds and Fs. I have never seen any evidence that Demelo would consider signing in Toronto, and I don't see why Winnipeg would consider trading his rights when they were trying to (successfully) sign him.

I like it better than what they did to be honest.
The defense looks like it could at least avoid being shredded.

'just as close' is very different than 'better'. The Rangers arn't any better on paper and the leafs are.

i love how people keep repeating this big 4/too soft crap without any legit analysis to back it up. It's not just wrong, it's lazy.

yeah, because realism was the point i was going for. Ok, they could replace Tavares with Mcdavid, Marner with Pastrnak, Rielly with Hedman, Holl with Makar, Andersen with Lehner and Brodie with Jones and people would still say the leafs wouldnt make it out of the 1st round.

Why do Leafs fans think Joey Anderson is an NHLer? He's a 23 year old AHLer who couldn't crack the Devils lineup.
Why do so many folks want to trade 20- minute a game and the Leafs best RHD Holl?
I wonder if Brodie is worth his 5m contract when I see other UFA deals signed. Holl and maybe DeMelo at 3.25m would have been better solution and then there would be additional cap space. Thought Toronto boy DeMelo would have listened to Leafs offers but either the DeMelo or the Leafs didn't think DeMelo was a fit.

Remember the Leafs dug themselves out the Babcock non playoff spot pit, and earned a playoff spot with a rookie coach. If the Leafs get off to better start and Keefe is better, and the Leafs don't sustain LTIR injuries to Muzzin and Reilly like they did last year, they should be better.

Ah yes the cult of Dubas who are the only people on the planet to not realize both how terrible and how soft the team was last season.

because Bracco is on the NHL all star team duh?

The Leafs' didn't earn a playoff spot.

ah yes, the cult of Cherry who are stuck in 1986 and dont realise the world has passed them by

Any unbiased hockey fan knows Bracco really isn't an NHL guy. I'm kinda dismayed by so many that think AHL stats have that much meaning for NHL potential. And really Bracco was even by AHL standards was just average in 2019/20. Best wishes to him, but I would be surprised if ever sees an NHL game

Guess who's back, back again.

Andersen is a very different kind of player than Bracco, he's a Hyman type and a pretty good bet to be at least a useful 2 way 3rd liner.
People want to trade Holl because they think a teams 4th best defender needs to be Brett Pesce or something.
Brodie is significantly better than DeMelo. DeMelo has become so hilariously over rated it's not even funny and it doesnt matter what the Leafs thought because he never even made it to free agency so they never had a shot at him

Bracco basically has no drive to do anything but skate around the permiiter and feed passes to the slot. He never attempted to develop his game beyond that and he got indigent when he was asked to put the work in.

Never liked Cherry, but I do understand that the NHL is a league of adults - adults who laughed at a team so soft even 6-year-olds would have pushed them around.

And the proof is in the actual results. Back in 2018 everyone "knew" that the team was going to a contender within a year or two. Instead they couldn't hold a lead, embarrassed themselves all season long, played at a 94.8 point pace (even worse than 2016-17) and missed the playoffs.

I think that Cherry is an idiot, but the advanced stats goofs are far bigger dummies.