What would be a good extension for Acciari

2mill x 3 years or 1.85mill x 2 years

1.85x2.

Who’s going to be a good young bottom sixer coming up.

Holmberg? Steveves? Maybe 2yeras would be enough for them to get a full time role

Well rn for 2023-2024 probs will see

Knies-ROR or new 3C-Jarnkrok
Lafferty-Holmberg-Acciari

As Robertson will probs be back and I feel will play with JT and Nylander

Steeves and McMann will probs be extras

Like this?

Kind of except I think ROR gets more and Woll's the backup

Nice comeback win last night, always cool when the core guys lead us to a victory but I still gotta ask,




Very impressive to go multiple games with Matthews and Marner and still not even pick up a secondary assist.

I would honestly rather have McMann play in that spot... Kerfoot has been so bad

I’d take Malgin

Will be interesting to see how McCabe-Holl does

Feels Keefe is gonna give Holl chances till Schenn comes back

Cause we know Rielly-Brodie works and Gio-Liligren works

Now we just need to see who else works well with McCabe

One darkhorse I would like to see in that role is Nick Abruzzese. Kerfoot is often deployed in a role where he is driving play, which is something Abruzzese does very well. We have got a very good prospect in him, I really want to see what we have got there

After watching Knies last night just put him there for a game when hes done. As this guy almost did a Marner special, scored a beauty tip goal, and was a menace to the other team.

Whenever it comes to Knies, I try my best to temper my expectations and be realistic. Then he goes out and does the most magical thing I have ever seen a Leafs prospect do and I cannot contain my excitement. He's such a stud, but its going to be infuriating to have another Arizona born player that we have to constantly hear about "not resigning with the Leafs"

Hes gonna surprise people. As I feel like Bunting hes gonna start on the 4th line score a goal against Tampa, have multiple nice shifts then Keefe will start promoting him. And hey if not we will know what needs to be worked on and let him develop with the Marlies. All good no need to rush to much

But still Knies-ROR-Lafferty could be fun or Knies-Matthews-Marner could be scary good

Running out of defensive options that can make our 7.5 million #1D look good. At least we have Sandin coming, oh wait.

By the looks of this. Schenn and Gus would make a good pairing

Cutting back his minutes seems to be EXACTLY what Mo needed. Ive personally never liked the idea of running an offensive defenseman for over 20 minutes a night, and we now have McCabe and Brodie to eat up some of those minutes. Also, I may be in the minority, but I think Rielly's deal is just fine and I am very glad we extended him. He is a cornerstone of this franchise's identity, is one of our most important leaders, and comes up big when needed. I get that Rielly is not the best defensive defenseman (far from it), but I typically don't think to myself "oh boy, Rielly is on the ice" when I'm watching a game. For the most part, he is usually very solid. He's also a huge jerk which is a part of his game not many people talk about. If we look at other defenseman who have similar contracts / playstyles to Rielly, his contract is actually the standard on the market. As the cap continues to rise, that contract will get better and better. Tangent aside, I really like that we have a ton of defensive depth and are now in a situation where we can deploy Rielly is more favorable situations. Ideally, we role:

McCabe - Brodie
Rielly - Liljegren
Giordano - Schenn / Holl

Obviously Rielly is better when paired with certain guys, but he doesn't need to be carried. He does a lot to make the pairings he is on better.

As for the future, I'm actually pretty hopeful for the future of the Leafs blue line. In 2 years, I wouldn't be shocked to see:

McCabe - Liljegren
Rielly - Niemela
Brodie - Timmins

Liljegren and Niemela personally give me a ton of hope for the future. Need to start drafting some LDs though. I really like Koster, Rifai, and Hoefenmayer as options for that 3LD spot assuming Brodie isn't an option, but we will definitely need some higher impact LDs

But we can cut back his mins right now because we are deploying 7 Dmen, do you believe that is a strategy Keefe will use long term.


As someone who is worried about Keefe getting outcoached I don't love the idea of putting more onto his plate to make in-game decisions. Something he has struggled with in the past playoff defeats. Maybe I am wrong and you are right (can't see into the future) but resigning Rielly will be Dubas's worst decision. You can take out some bad trades that didn't go the Leafs way, but IMO this will be a anchor contract that will limit the Leafs window. I don't believe this team can take a big run with Morgan Rielly on the backend.

In general Dubas built a pretty sweet Dcore. Yes Rielly is struggling but when u suffer an injury like he had it takes time. Cutting his minutes worked perfectly. And hopefully he gets healthier by the game. As if in the playoffs we get last seasons Rielly were set

As 3 goals and assists in 7 playoff games and a won fight vs Rutta was perfect. And he was away from Brodie to when this all happened (Was with Lybushkin) To bad the depth didnt help lul

Im honestly rn all for Keefe experimenting with McCabe as what if he works just as well if not better with the other guys. As Brodie in general makes anyone hes with look good. Lets see if maybe McCabe can make a nice pairing with Schenn, Holl (mmmmm), Gus, or heck maybe Liligren

I really hope 11F-7D is not a long term deployment strategy. I dont want it to be a short one either. I absolutely hate it. I understand why Rielly is so divisive in the Leafs fanbase, but I think it's going to be fine. Hopefully Bettman can make himself useful and grow the game in a way that results in the salary cap rocketing

Exactly, in the playoffs last season Rielly was not an issue

Nah. It has been done by Cooper back in 2015 but vs. Tampa I dont see it working as they just gonna do the same thing and give us headaches

I personally dont mind the strat but it has to be in the right situation

I don't get this argument cause neither was Kerfoot against MTL, or Kampf last year against TBL, but both are not guys I would want on this roster today. I can't be behind the, well he did it once before.

I mean lets be honest with MTL kerfoot if JT didnt get hurt would Kerfoot have those points nope

He was with Nylander who carried that line

As for Kampf who knows might do the same thing he did last year. Hes not that far off from what he did last season

82 gp 11 goals 15 assists 26 points

65 gp 7 goals 17 assists 24 points on pace for 10 goals 22 assists (32 points)

Hes scored some sneaky goals and set up some sneaky plays (Bunting tying goal in NJ game)

As for Rielly last 5 series

Boston 0 goals 5 assists
Boston 1 goal 4 assists
Columbus 1 goal
MTL 1 goal 2 assists
Tampa 3 goals and assists

He performs up to what he should per Dman standards for a first round playoff matchup. Not saying he will get 3 and 3 again but would not surprise me at the end he will have a goal and 5 assists going into hopefully r2

I'm totally with you here. I hate that whenever Kerfoot receives criticism, people point to his playoff series against MTL. I actually touched on this a few days ago, because I don't care about what Kerfoot can be, I care about what he is. He was also a product of Nylander against MTL, but thats neither here nor there. Rielly is by no means perfect, but he does positively contribute to this teams success. In most playoff scenarios, I think Rielly has been solid. TBL, MTL, CBJ, BOS, WSH. Obviously some of those series are a little further back so I may be forgetting some stuff, but I generally remember Rielly as being a positive influence. Love him or hate him, it is undeniable that Rielly's offense is a positive impact. What we need is other defensemen that can step up to the plate and offset that lack of defense, and we have been receiving that this season. Rielly's track record in Toronto is extremely large, and based on what we've seen, I can pretty confidently say that he is not an issue. He isn't a one off guy by any means.

Also yeah Kampf was great against TBL last year, but he was also just great in general. He's having a bit of a down year this year (compared to last year), but he has been really good as of late

Its not really down as hes on pace for 32 points and 10 goals. So yea I feel people overlooking things with Kampf rn

Hes lowered the penalty taking and 30 points for a 1.5mill defensive 3c aint bad.

Now do I bring him back next year no as hopefully we extend ROR and Acciari who play that role well but who knows.