I did mention that to with Engvall as we need a 3c upgrade. Another forward is coming but hes months away so I say stick with 3c for now and wait for Knies to come. As I got a feeling hes one of the missing pieces we need in the bottom 6

In general if they can bring someone in to force Holl to the press box that would be nice

Either a LD to play with Brodie on the second pairing or a RD to give Sandin one more shot would not be a terrible idea

Situate a trade around picks and prospects and Engvall for cap reasons and go bring a middle 6 Forward and top 4 Dman

Oh boy.....

Either put Kallgren whose been okay but the Team hasnt helped him succeed this year and its the second half of a back to back

Or

Put a guy who has played 0 NHL games on the second half of a back to back against a rested Canucks team what could go wrong

I wonder if the Leafs look at bringing a couple of Marlies up into the fray to try and get some scoring. Alex Steeves is a very enticing option, and Nick Abruzzese could bring a lot in terms of playmaking. Maybe give them a big opportunity for a game or two:

Robertson - Matthews - Marner
Abruzzese / Steeves - Tavares - Nylander
Bunting - Kerfoot - Jarnkrok
Aston Reese - Kampf - Malgin

In regards to defense, Ive been very impressed by Rifai since dev camp. He looks very solid. Would have to clear a SPC slot to get him signed, but he could be worth it

None of the Marlies have impressed me enough to where im like yeah you will 100% make an impact when up and Keefe is the guy who you need to impress otherwise u play 5mins a night. Robertson should for now be the only graduate as he has carved out his role and is starting to get his footing.

I think priority rn should be 3c. Engvall does not work there and honestly has not been good. Put him in a package to just get someone who can properly play C and who can mesh well with Bunting and Jarnkrok.

As Knies can be the other upgrade to come for the forward core come the TDL or whenever the NCAA season ends

I think priority should be at D as Holl just looks terrible and I think hes run his course so either get an upgrade RD (Murphy) or go find a LD to pair with Brodie (Edmunson, Dillon, etc)

I'm not here to defend or bash Dubas but just point out that if a team continually loses in the first round of the playoffs, eventually changes get made. Is it directly Dubas's fault because this team can't figure out how to get past the first round? No.
But at some point someone is going to say "hey this just isn't working" and make changes, might start at the GM level or perhaps a step higher?

I want to know at what point are you willing to make changes if the team keeps exiting in the first round?

Define changes?
If you mean firing Dubas - then when its clear the exits are his fault.
Shanahan when its clear the vision is bad (aka we need to rebuild and he wont) or when blue and white disease comes back organisationally

I think we have been a combo of unlucky (phantom calls last year and generally playing really good teams for example) and having players not step up when it matters (habs series and parts of others).
On the latter we have already tried a new coach - so my first reaction to changes would be personnel.

I've said before every GM gets 3 bullets when they are hired. One for the coach, one for a core player, and the last for themselves. We are at step 2

Canucks suck lets see Petro

I chose #2. I actually would have used Petruzzelli yesterday and Källgren today, but same difference.

Some interesting Leafs stats.
Record
vs. playoff teams,
5 wins, 2 losses (0.714).
vs. non-playoff teams,
2 wins, 6 losses (0.438).

Players with +/- >0 (& >7 games),
4, with avg. salary of $960k.
Players with +/- <-1,
6, with avg. salary of $8.2M.

Kallgren is playing and it does kind of make sense as that game screams the next Kaskisuo game for Petro and I dont want that for his first NHL game

Murray is back Tuesday to face Pittsburgh.

#Holltopressbox

I'm done with him

Leafs vs non playoff teams is basically almost a guaranteed loss which is sad but expected at this point

And what makes it worse they make said team look way better than they actually are

I would lower the boom on them if I was management and if I was Keefe start benching but because someone's contract needs extending they aint gonna do it

Nvm Giraffe scored

There we go

Rielly-Liligren
Sandin-Brodie
Gio-Benn

Sandin looks much better on the left. Benn did impress me but I still feel we may need to explore a trade down the road

Engvall went from why the **** is this guy on my team to play like that every single night

Arguably his best game of the season

Yes this was VAN but it’s been a lot of games when I saw this:
5 on 5 play (shots for and against)
Bunting Matthews Nylander 12-8
Kerfoot Tavares Marner 11-7
ZAR Kampf Malgin 7-4
Robertson Engvall Jarnkrok 5-5

Rielly Benn (24-5 👍)

Game was good defensive coverage in own zone oh god why not just send me to the ER

Robertson-Engvall-Jarnkrok shocked me tonight as they played like they were on a mission. That second goal especially was one of those goals we have been begging for

Sandin should 100% plat LD so that to me signals they should explore a RD trade for someone to play with Rielly (Murphy, Larsson, Peeke, etc)

Yes Rielly-Benn worked but for how long (cant keep putting Band-Aids over holes)

As to me

Sandin-Brodie
Gio-Liligren

Should be the pairings which leaves Rielly to get a proper partner. Man if only we didnt have so many D last offseason Lybushkin would have been a perfect keep

Give me more of this from our bottom 6 and I am very happy

Connor Garland to Leafs make happen

Guy was nuts last night for Vancouver and I just imagine him meshing in well with Tavares and Marner like Hyman was back in 2019

Will say will agree but 2023 FA go sign JVR to a 1 year 1mill deal or something pls

Muzzin is done

I like the optimistic feburary eval they give. No shot in hell hes coming back. Too bad he was great until the injuries got him. Literally the ideal dman for us.

Need to see some big steps from the kids now - particularly since there arent many (if any) available D im interested in

I doubt BOS wants to trade him in Division but I’d be all over Mike Rielly (BOS) or Dmitry Kulikov (ANA)

Either play Robertson, send him to the AHL to play or trade him. There is no chance for him to develop any type of chemistry or consistency in his game if Keefe keeps on putting him in and out of the lineup