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leafs101

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May 18, 2019
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Toronto Maple Leafs
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Forum: Armchair-GMJan. 31 at 9:46 p.m.
Forum: Armchair-GMNov. 6, 2023 at 1:51 p.m.
Thread: nrob kaner boosh tanev greer
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>leafs101</b></div><div>nah Liljegren is severely underrated I find - one of the steadiest D on the Leafs, probably the #3 after Rielly and Brodie and should surpass Brodie soon enough. He was drafted as an offensive D so he does have the skating and passing elements but he's developed more into the good stick, good positioning, good skating style of two way D that doesn't necessarily wow offensively as much as anticipated - but that could come later, I'm really high on him. Also a lot bigger than I think some people realize - not a giant, but 6'1 190lbs. You're right that Niemela will probably morph into that too - 6'0 180lbs right now but should continue to add weight, offensive D learning to play the Liljegren style with the Marlies right now. But that took awhile to develop in Liljegren, I don't see Niemela at today Lily level for a couple years which aligns fine with CGY timeline but Leafs can't afford to lose Liljegren today. Apologies for the rant here lol, just love Liljegren on the Leafs and think we can't afford to lose him</div></div>

Hey, rants with valid information, tangible ideas and thought out opinions are always welcome. That's super fair and maybe in an unfortunate way the injuries are a blessing in disguise at the negotiation table this offseason, if there is one thing Treliving is really good at it's getting his RFA's at really good numbers so that bodes well for Leafs fans. Neimela is likely a better target for the Flames anyways, more realistic and a better timeline.
Forum: Armchair-GMNov. 6, 2023 at 1:37 p.m.
Thread: nrob kaner boosh tanev greer
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>leafs101</b></div><div>ya for me I really like Niemela, think he'll be great, I just think he faces an uphill battle making the Leafs over the next few years given how small our blue line already is and how desperate the team is to compete over the next few years. But I do really like him and a team like Calgary would actually make a ton of sense for him.</div></div>

Timeline wise it feels like it makes a ton of sense, especially if you can get Tanev on a hometown deal for a couple competitive years. I don't know how quick they would want to move off of Neimala with Liljegren never getting a full 82 games in and playing a similar style as Neimala. Wonder if it would be more beneficial to move off of Liljegren now before he looks for a raise and use Neimala to fill his spot at a more cost effective cap hit while the Leafs are still pushing for cups.
Forum: Toronto Maple LeafsNov. 2, 2023 at 2:14 p.m.
Thread: Leafs 2023 2024 Season Discussion - The Treleafs
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>leafs101</b></div><div>To me it's the Klingberg and Kampf overpayments - Reaves is a fine add if you recognize you can bury him in the minors and not play him every night, and Klingberg would've been solid at like 1.5M. Bertuzzi and Domi will figure it out imo.

Bertuzzi - Matthews - Nylander
Knies - Tavares - Marner
Domi - Free Agent 3C - Jarnkrok
Gregor - Holmberg - Lafferty

Rielly - Brodie OR Free Agent Defensive D
Brodie OR Free Agent Defensive D - Liljegren
McCabe - Timmins

Woll - Samsonov

Gio
Reaves

would've made much more sense imo. Can spend the money saved on Klingberg and Kampf to get a 3C and top 4 D instead</div></div>

Yuup. Rumour was they went after Gudas and when he signed elsewhere they pushed those chips over to Klingberg. Which sounds weird because they're two very different style of d-man,

But it's the opportunity cost. What were we not able to keep/sign because we spent over 4m on Klingberg? What are we going to be prevented from doing now? Would Dumba have signed for a little less with Toronto vs taking $3.9 with Zona? Would that have let us keep Lafferty and have a better PK?

There was just so much wrong with $4.1m to Klingberg on day 1 of free agency. Reaves, too, to a lesser extent. I don't hate it ...but his $1.35m cap hit vs some other piece of beef for $800k ended up impacting final roster decisions and hasn't had much of an on-ice impact (hopefully he's a value add in the locker room but who knows). When he gets trapped in our own zone and the leafs can't clear (and that's happened more than once and resulted in goals against more than once)...it's almost like being on the PK because he can't move.

Hopefully this year was just Treliving coming in June 1st....having a month to assess and try and re-sign pending UFAs...watching all of them other than Kampf walk...and then plugging the known holes with known veterans on 1yr deals to try and keep the team a contender while not pigeon holing himself into anything long-term.

As I type this...there wasn't a lot of quality available in free agency so I can see how we ended up here...but Klingberg and Reaves just stand out as guys you didn't need to give that AAV to right away
Forum: Toronto Maple LeafsNov. 1, 2023 at 2:28 p.m.
Thread: Leafs 2023 2024 Season Discussion - The Treleafs
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>aadoyle</b></div><div>You dont put a 10.9m wing on the third line

And Gregor is useless rn. Literally anyone from the Marlies can do what he does. Waive him

Reaves can rotate in and out depending on matchups. As your gonna need him for certain games like we saw in MTL and Minnesota

Rn I see

Robertson-Matthews-Nylander
Bertuzzi-JT-Marner
Knies-Domi-Jarnkrok
McMann-Kampf-Ellis

Extra: Reaves</div></div>

I'm a huge fan of Max Ellis and have praised him at length over the last year, but there is absolutely zero chance I'm playing him over Gregor at this point. He actually costs more money than Gregor, and also hasn't scored 10 goals at the NHL level.

Also, playing Marner with Bertuzzi makes zero sense. Go with:

Bertuzzi - Matthews - Nylander
Robertson - Tavares - Marner
Jarnkrok - Domi - Knies
Holmberg - Kampf - Gregor
Forum: Toronto Maple LeafsNov. 1, 2023 at 12:00 p.m.
Thread: Leafs 2023 2024 Season Discussion - The Treleafs
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>leafs101</b></div><div>right? And I genuinely don't think its the players driving that bus, they have all the personal accomplishments they could need, who cares if their production dips a bit but it's for the greater good? I think it's a Keefe thing, not splitting them has been the #1 bone I have to pick with Sheldon who is a solid coach for the most part but still. Going 3 lines deep was one of the few things Babcock actually did right.</div></div>

I think the players are the ones driving this issue because the alternative is...the coach is driving this issue and that's more scary and short-sighted especially from a coach.

I wasn't a fan of bringing back Keefe at the start of last season so to think that he wants Matthews and Marner together just solidifies that Keefe is not the coach to manage this roster to a Stanley Cup Final.
Forum: Toronto Maple LeafsNov. 1, 2023 at 11:25 a.m.
Thread: Leafs 2023 2024 Season Discussion - The Treleafs
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>leafs101</b></div><div>Really want to see a runway with Knies-Domi-Marner, think it could spread the lines out and get some chemistry going.

Also want to see the Leafs revert to the OG style of Matthews lines - ie. throw some greasy/speedy guys on his wings and let them run. Obviously when it's clicking he's sick with Marner or Willy but just don't think he needs it, and it does more good for the team to run three lines with Marner, Matthews, and Nylander all on different ones. I'd like to see Gregor get a hard look as another Bunting:

Gregor - Matthews - Jarnkrok
Bertuzzi - Tavares - Nylander
Knies - Domi - Marner

or

Bertuzzi - Matthews - Gregor
Jarnkrok - Tavares - Nylander
Knies - Domi - Marner

i'd be very interested to see one of those combos or maybe both get an extended look. I think it's worth exploring whether or not there's more to it with Gregor, and Matthews does have a history of being able to elevate those types of players (see Bunting, Hyman-Brown line, Jarnkrok, Johnsson-Kapanen line, etc). Would allow Marner to run his own line and elevate Domi and Knies.</div></div>

I've always thought Marner being on a different line from Matthews makes the team stronger but for whatever reason this is not a thing.

Why? People need to think about what makes the team the strongest.