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LucasVollmer09

Go Hawks
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Nov. 5, 2020
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Forum: Armchair-GMFeb. 3, 2021 at 12:27 p.m.
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Forum: Armchair-GMDec. 14, 2020 at 4:02 p.m.
Forum: Toronto Maple LeafsDec. 11, 2020 at 1:28 p.m.
I decided to make this post because I want to give my expectations and overview on the Leafs team for this upcoming season.

I actually feel pretty optimistic about this roster as in my opinion, it is the strongest and most complete team they’ve had since the rebuild finished. Although I don’t think they are as stacked as the favourites Tampa or Colorado, I do think they have enough quality on paper to be contenders and compete against other teams.

Analyzing the roster, they have an excellent forward group. All four of their big guns (Matthews, Tavares, Marner and Nylander) are elite. This can be proven from their high production and play driving rates throughout their careers. As long as they each play at their best level, generating goals should not be an issue.

Furthermore, I feel the Leafs have built themselves to become a tougher team to play against. They now have several forwards (Thornton, Hyman, Mikheyev, Vesey, Simmonds, Anderson and Barabanov) who are known to be hardworking players. These guys will go to the dirty areas and win puck battles so that the team gets possession back. In the past, the team has always been criticized of being too soft. It seems like they went down the Tampa route to add grit.

Another area of weakness has been the Leafs’ defence. I feel it has also been strengthened this offseason. Looking at their on ice results, the top 4 (Rielly, Muzzin, Brodie and Holl) are all pretty solid. 3 of those guys are top pair level guys as they have done well in that role. The bottom pair is rather cheap but both Dermott and Lehtonen have a lot
of hype around them. Bogosian is a weak spot, but if he performs like how he did during the first 3 rounds of the playoffs for Tampa, I wouldn’t be upset.

I’m not going to talk about goaltending cuz I’m pretty confident in them. Overall looking at their roster on paper, they have all the pieces to a contender. The one glaring weakness is that they only have enough cap space to run a 21 man roster. If they struggle and disappoint like they did last season, it will be because their top guys underperformed. One of their guys (Marner) is known to be pretty lazy and cancerous. If he demonstrates his antics again it will be detrimental to the team.

Overall I think the Leafs did a great job improving their team under the flat cap circumstance but this will probably be their only chance to win a cup with this core. They have to make it count.