very generous for the jets

Rangers over Leafs?

in all honesty, if someone wrote Panthers over leafs in 5 for this past year, they would be ripped to shreds

minnys a tricky one for me, they have almost 15m in dead cap and they have some guys to resign as well. the weak central division will help them though

You also realize how bad the Leafs played against the Panthers... They actually play like the team they were in R1, Panthers lose in 5/6 and Leafs would have won the cup. Top that with injuries to Knies and Sammy and 0 power plays in G3 and the Leafs were doomed from the start

Of course. i was there game 2 and thought after ROR made it 2-0 that it was over. I guess my point is predictions at the end of the day dont mean anything. People always point at the teams that go far and say this is what it takes to win when in reality you cant pinpoint a formula because the NHL playoffs are very unpredictable. the same people that were saying look to florida or vegas as a way to emulate a team probbaly didnt have them going to the cup final. Florida for sure nobody had winning against boston in round 1 and if they did its because they ere trying to be different. and for vegas most people had the oilers beating them

I had the Kings beating the Oilers and Knights but I get what you mean

"you cant win without an elite goalie" is always one thrown around. proven wrong this year and even last year tbh, according to many the leafs always lost because they didnt have enough grit, they added grit and still lost. and yet people are looking at vegas and florida and saying you cant win without grit

I think the new message is "you need a HOT goalie, not an elite one"

for vegas for example people like to point out the supporting cast which was great. but you can not win in any sport if youre best players are not your best players and vegas best players were amazing. the leafs were not in their series with florida. tkachuks injury is gonna distract people from the fact that he truly wasnt great in the games he was healthier he was their best skater all playoffs regardless. barkov while he does other things great didnt produce enough, would florida have won if he produced more? i dont think so but it sure would have helped. draisaitl was crazy in the playoffs but nobody wants to bring up he did nothing after game 2 in the 2nd round. and that hurt the oilers

This is where we differ. Tkachuk was AWFUL in the series against the Leafs and Woeful in the series against to Hurricanes (just like Matthews, 0 goals against Toronto and was mostly exclusively playing in his own end). The difference with the Leafs is that Barkov takes Matthews (we all know that, Barkov = one of the best defensive players in the world). So, who's going to step up and take care of the secondary defensive coverage and not get locked down? It's going to take commitment to Keefe's gameplan. Tavares and Knies were, so now who's going to expose 3rd coverage? Marner and Nylander were nowhere to be found and that's why the Leafs lost.

On the note for Draisaitl though, McDavid was a burden against the Kings and against the GK... so can't blame him. He also had Pieterangelo practice his sword fighting skills against Draisaitl's wrist