Well i wouldnt be too high on bunting and kase until they show they can be effective. Nick Ritchie as a replacement for hyman on the first line is misguided too. Dude cant skate, hes gonna drag that line down put robertson there.

I agree on all points, i would love to put robertson there. buttt

for the most part the inclusion on the first line was made because frankly hes the only leaf other than kerfoot who has played a top 6 role, and i didnt want kerfoot to not play with JT and Willy because that line has proven quite effective. And well i had to put someone there, and i just didnt feel right putting robertson top line game 1 of the season.

And the bar is actually so low that even if bunting and Kase are not what other people think they could be(i dont by the way i think they will be good not great) the level of play seen by the former 3rd line was just ineffective at all roles, bad shutdown line, and couldnt produce. If either player can show that they can produce even 25 point seasons reliably they are better than Engvall and Soupy.


and the 4th line as is, well frankly its kinda scary to think about the skill you could see there. Spezza had an awesome year, brooks and him connected real well, and robertson could bring some real speed and a hell of a shot on that line.


What was thought to be a quite deep leaf team last year was shown to be frankly just not that deep, it was a bunch of players either too hurt too old or too ineffective to really be considered deep. With the exception of the defense which was really good.

Can 26 yr old Bunting show that he is good, after just 20 some games, is that enough to say hes a late bloomer or is he just a borderline AHL/NHLer who was in the right time/right place to produce in a very small sample size? (21 yr old wade allison scored 7pts in 14 games, but I dont think that qualifies him as a 40+ pt guy for example). Is Bunting just a Mikheyev/Engvall, average bottom 6 guy?
After hardly playing and having major concussion issues, is Kase a good bet over an 80 game season? (his best season was just 38 pts back in 2017)
Can Spezza and Simmonds find the fountain of youth and play a full season (Simmonds couldn;t last yr, and the team desperatyely needs simmonds physicality)?
Is Ritchie the 137 pts in 350 pts a solid all around 3rd line guy, or could he play more minutes and deliver offensively more than 35+ pts?
Can Dermott play RD with Sandin? Is Sandin ready and able on both sides of the puck? Muzzin is a year older, can the younger guys take some minutes off him?
Can Kampf provide enough offense to be a third liner? He never has. Hes never scored 20 pts in a season, or even played 80 games.
Can robertson play top 2 lines? Does Kampf alone provide defense in the bottom 6?
Is Robertson ready?

Overall, collectively I like the moves they're made, and believe the forward corps is better than last year, but theres alot of ifs.

A lot of the team on the last year of their team favourable contracts, with most looking for pay increases (Reilly, Campbell, liljegren, sandin, kase) with no wiggle room. Still very thin after the top 4 forwards and top 3 dmen (but better) and big questions in the 5-7th dman corps. Tougher division and one last ride before Dubas has to alleviate cap issues and deal one of the big 4?

I would say the biggest problem of last year was team depth, with little offense outside of top 5 forwards, on paper they're better, but theres alot of questions and I really believe the division will be much tougher.

Matthews and Marner were one of the best lines in the league when Thornton played with them at the start of last season. Losing Hyman doesn't really hurt them. The only downtime that line had was when Matthews couldn't shoot the puck for a month. They will be a top 5 line once again, no matter who ends up there.

Willy and JT are lights out as well. I think people are dumping Engvall and Mikheyev too quickly. Both had moments last year and are at the very least good defensively and effective depth guys.

Injuries will happen and when they do, having good replacement players will be key. I bet at least 1 of the new guys doesn't pan out. Bunting's 21 games where he shot 25% could be a good sign or a flash in the pan. Trading away two guys we know can play before we find out what we actually have is awfully short sighted

The depth wasn't the issue last year. They pitched in with timely goals. Engvall would have had double digits in goals over a full season. You'd think Mikheyev would have potted a few of his several breakaways he gets a game over a full season. Spezza was the best value contract in the game. Simmonds was doing well before he took a puck to the wrist and broke it which limited him the rest of the season. Thornton even scored 10+ points. The depth this year is going to be fine. Good enough to score the odd point. While the top 2 lines score 2-3 points a night. The defence is solid and I bet Liljegren steps up. Goaltending is better than last year as well.

Kase has been good when healthy, but will he be able to stay healthy. He's the most intriguing guy we signed. Everyone is writing him off but I think he could have a resurgence....or he'll be gone fast. Bunting will either be good and show promise, or he'll be in the AHL and cost us nothing. Ritchie I think will spend time all over the lineup. If Barb Underhill can fix his skating and he can manage his PIM's he could be an interesting piece. He's a big guy and would crash the net like no one else in TO. That mayhem should help Matthews get goalies off kilter more than ever.

All very good questions/points! I really do think for most of them the answer is yes!

to go in order for the most part

I think so i really do, ya dont just get 10 goals in 20 games at the nhl level especially considering half his goals came against vegas colorado and st louis! I think he might pot somewhere between 10-15 goals and have somewhere between 5-10 assists in which case, hes better than both Soup and Engvall. And If kase is healthy( and the leafs have one of the best medical staffs in the nhl to help with that) i think he could do something similar but in reverse, somewhere between 5-10 goals with somewhere between 15-20 assists. Which would also make him better than Engvall and Soup. Of course its all just hopeful thinking but in this case even if they dont produce or are ineffective, there are more replacments that can step in and provide depth than last year with another year of development.

Simmonds is probably only playing half the games and i think spezza gets all back to backs off. But they brought in someone to replace simmonds and fill a similar role with Kurtis gabriel, who is basically just simmonds-lite. And then Ritchie is also there for some more toughness in a more permanent role. Spezza is only partly a questionmark on his health he has shown some real incredible youth both of the last 2 seasons, it wouldnt be a stretch for it to continue 1 more.


I feel like if ritchie is put with matthews and marner he will mostly get points by proxy frankly, hes mostly a placeholder for 1 of kase bunting robertson and in a pinch Kerfoot. If he gets 30-35 points in the season on the top line he will only be 5-10 points lower than hymans average season.

The kampf bottom 6 question is the only one i have no answer for, as it entirely relies on the abilities of players i have never seen play, i think brooks and spezza are good defensively, but that they also dont get alot of defensive zone starts.

The final point is the easiest, Robertson has been ready for 2 years to be a leaf, and he will be great i would bet my life on it. When hes on the ice he looks good, played good in the games against colombus and just went down with an injury, but he will be good.

I dont think Lillygren or Sandin really make a ton of money, leafs gain 2.2 in extra cap next year with kessels retention being gone and a confirmed report of a 1 million dollar cap increase, and well Cambell should go and make as much money as he can he deserves it, Rielly said he would take a discount, which means he probably costs 7-8 million which is not impossible with some changes, and well kase if he plays well will just be another galch, here to fix his career and then gone again. No biggy.


Overall its alot of faith and hope, but i really do think it wont even be hard to better than last years bottom 6, and matthews and marner and willy have gotten better every year so by proxy the top 6 will be better The defense is either the same or better. The goalies are my biggest question mark frankly, i dont know mrazek.

I think the more fair assessment is the leafs are basically the same. However, Matthews is just coming into his prime as is Marner and Nylander. They can and likely will still get better. They will also be the difference makers for this club.

On a side note, Robertson has accomplished jack at the NHL level when given chances. People need to stop making him a top line winger who is going to score 40 goals.

Agree with you and "larter", the forward corps is better PERIOD. And while there is no Hyman level replacement, collectively they are much better.

I think alot of fans need to temper some of their expectations, not you two, but many: Kampf is a solid Faceoff/defensive forward, but has never shown he can contribute offensively enough to be a 3rd liner and most Leafs fans have him there (he could be, if offensive guys kase and and say, kerfoot are his wings).
Kase is a real big worry, not just because of his injury concern, but because his career high was 4 yrs ago in 2nd line time and it was only 38 pts, I think some fans have unrealistic expectations.
Gabriel is a 25 game a season goon, I wouldn;t dare call him Simmonds-lite.
Simmonds has been on the downhill for almost 4 seasons, and expecting more than 12 minutes a night or 60 games is risky at best, but some fans have him as a third liner.
Ritchie is intriguing. I like him, but in 4-5 nhl seasons he hasn;t been able to show more than 3rd line abilities.
To be fair with Robertson, anybody should produce on the top 2 lines on this team, and thats where I put him. Can he do it, or is he jaremy bracco? Put ritchie or kerfoot on 3rd line with kase and kampf, and bunting with spezza/brooks and simmonds.

Again, much better squad than last year, but alot of question marks and fingers crossed. Deadline last season was all about grit, physicality and leadership, and I think they have more than last year.

oh i dont think he is a top line winger who will score 40 goals, but i wouldnt put it past him to be better than galch or kerfoot. Given a full 82 game season and training camp. which he hasnt had. Hes had 10 games in the nhl total. and has 1 goal and 2 assists, hell even if ya take that across an 82 game season hes 8 and 16 for 24 points. and hes definitly better than that. He was too young this time last year, too small, too inexperienced. But the only way to gain that experience is to play. and to play all competition.

Put him with matthews and marner and see what he can do for a 20 game stretch, then put him with JT and willy for 20 games. See if he can make it at the to level. But before that have him play 20 games on the 4th line with spezza and brooks.

If he scores 20 he will be as good at goal scoring as hyman was, if he gets 15 hes as good as kerfoot, if he gets 10 hes as good as Tatar, or perry or spezza or Palieri or Bonino.

He doesnt need to be a superstar, but his numbers when hes been healthy at all leagues before this indicate he "could" be one.

The Leafs will be worse next year and its because of the penalty kill. With Bogosian and Hyman leaving our PK is a lot weaker, the only real replacement for them being Kampf who while he did PK in Chicago he wasnt very successful at it, and with RItchie on the team we'll be taking a lot more penalties. The PK is so weak you have Spezza taking up a full time role and Ritchie who didn't PK in either Anaheim or Boston last season(and Reilly whos not exactly known for his defensive zone presence). This will be a running theme throughout the season.

oh for sure its gonna need to be really looked at, i really didnt know who to put on the pk because i havnt seen like 5 of the new players play yet, i know spezza played on the pk a little so i put him there. the pk could make this sink or swim, i feel like the kampf take is a little short sighted, most fans who have watched him and a good chunk of analytics point to him being a really good pker, he just didnt fit chicagos system which ran a very offensive pk like the habs. while the leafs play more possession on the pk and entry denial which he looks pretty good at.


Like Danault looks bad as a pker at base analytics but everyone knows hes really good at playing defensive hockey.

It's most likely starting like this:

Bunting - Matthews - Marner
Ritchie - Tavares - Nylander
Kerfoot - Kampf - Kase/Mikheyev
Simmonds - Spezza - Kase/Mikheyev

Defence as per usual.

Keefe liked Kerfoot on the shutdown line last season because of his speed and forechecking, he just wasn't a good centre. So Kampf was brought in as a better centre option but having 2 guys that can play centre on that line will be a great help. Mikheyev and Kase can fight it out for that spot on that line, I'd assume Kase starts but with his injury history it won't be long before Mikheyev is needed in that spot. Also worth mentioning that Kerfoot may not be around long, they're reportedly shopping him so a trade may be in the works.

As for the top 6, Bunting said in an interview that he was brought in to help the top 6 so I don't see him not starting there. He's similar to Brad Marchand so he fits well on the top line and brings the grit that Hyman had. Ritchie will be better beside Tavares because they're both not the fastest skaters in the world - I'd personally put Marner on the other wing but Keefe likely sticks to the Matthews/Marner duo that worked last season. Robertson is likely playing the entire season in the AHL. The team said it awhile ago, and barring any changes there isn't a spot for him on this roster. You're wasting his development if you play him on the 4th line and there's no room for him in the top 9. They'll let him get the minutes and opportunities he needs in the AHL before bringing him up before he's ready (he's not even NHL ready yet so give it time)

I also wouldn't be shocked to see at least 1 more defenceman brought in that's similar to Bogosian. That'll be a big loss and it's putting a lot of pressure on Sandin to expect him to play 82 games right away, so having that 6th/7th defenceman will be key - unless they think one of Biega or Dahlstrom can be that guy and they can move them between the minors and the big leagues without worrying about losing them to waivers for the time being.

I think the issue with this team is the D. The forward group is fine, and The Matthews/Marner Line and JT/Nylander line will win you games in the Regular season. Enough to make the Playoffs.
But the D is way to small and soft when they get to those Playoffs.
Tampa, NYI. MTL, Vegas D core are all Good, Big and Mean.
Not sure where they go to fix this but until that happens I don't see them making a run at a Cup.