I think Nylander on the third line makes sense as a center, but only if Kerfoot is injured for some reason.

I'd like to see more of Kerfoot, as he had kind of a down year with the leafs compared to the previous two seasons of 40+ points. I think with being spoiled with wingers like Mikheyev, Vesey, and Simmonds we can afford to try out different combinations or call up guys who are hot in the minors.

And what if they miss the playoffs again ? Matthews/Dubas era would be three 1st Rd losses and 2 missed playoffs. At least McDavid has a 1st Rd victory to his name (should have been 2, the refs gave the Ducks the series in the 2nd Rd).

Yeah, its not like dubas went oit and got 4 guys this off-season that the media and fans talked up on leadership.
Or the two from last year, and the one from the year before

Amazing how you give the oilers 1000x more slack than you do the leafs.
And if the leafs made the 2nd round once and got killed youd be complaining just as loud

At this point both The oilers and the leafs deserve zero slack. Both need to make it to conference finals to have any sort of season considered a success.

I don’t know about that.

He's never forgotten about leadership. He said that maybe he hasn't put enough value on it, but actions speak louder than words and he's made many acquisitions, whether through trade or free agency, that brought character guys/leaders into the organization over his tenure (Tavares, Muzzin, Spezza, Thornton, Simmonds, Clifford). Truth be told, I think he's just trying to take some heat off the players, which he always seems to do when possible.

43 year old Thornton and Simmonds as leaders? They both are washed up. If you want real leaders, look at Bergeron, Marchand, Maroon, Bogosian, or any player who won a cup. Tavares will never be a leader even if he tried.

You heard it hear folks, Bogosian, who had never made the playoffs in his decade + nhl career is suddenly a leader now because he was the 8th defender on the best team in the nhl.

So many fans, media and even hockey executives still overvalue the weight of a playoff game. Oftentimes the difference between a so called “soft” player and a “tough” player is like 2 well played playoff games. Take Mariner for example. He is considered “overpaid” for some reason despite the fact he is a legit 100 point threat. But if he has 2 huge playoff games that result in success. The narrative will shift rapidly for Marner.