The rumor was and still is that Bobrovsky will get a big deal from the Florida Panthers. But if Carolina opens up the wallet and sign Bobrovsky, they could become a very scary team with above average goaltending.

Aw man I can't believe Gord Downie is on PIR too. (frank)
- Zezel

I was trying to not say that but you ruined it.

But I did think it.

Nylander C for days off lol
- Zezel

Nylander is C in the offseason.

Boston could have up to 11 days off by time the next series starts.

I bet they lose Game 1 of the SCF.

Long breaks during the playoffs almost always result in a loss for the 1st game back.

The rumor was and still is that Bobrovsky will get a big deal from the Florida Panthers. But if Carolina opens up the wallet and sign Bobrovsky, they could become a very scary team with above average goaltending.
- JohnFergusonJr

Gross. Either of those teams being really good is a sickening thought.

Nylander is C in the offseason.
- JohnFergusonJr

Lmao

Gross. Either of those teams being really good is a sickening thought.
- Zezel

Both should be relocated ASAP.

People keep saying the Hurricanes owner is crazy about the Canes. He has the cap space (not sure if he has the cash) to sign Bob, Panarin and Karlsson. Imagine this team with those three guys.

Boston could have up to 11 days off by time the next series starts.

I bet they lose Game 1 of the SCF.

Long breaks during the playoffs almost always result in a loss for the 1st game back.
- JohnFergusonJr

I'm gonna say the San Blowsé Sharts take it. Only a team getting miracle blown calls like they've been getting can beat the Boston Pooins. Thornton skating the Cup around Boston's rink will be good suffering for Boston fans.

Both should be relocated ASAP.

People keep saying the Hurricanes owner is crazy about the Canes. He has the cap space (not sure if he has the cash) to sign Bob, Panarin and Karlsson. Imagine this team with those three guys.
- JohnFergusonJr

No I refuse to imagine that

I'm gonna say the San Blowsé Sharts take it. Only a team getting miracle blown calls like they've been getting can beat the Boston Pooins. Thornton skating the Cup around Boston's rink will be good suffering for Boston fans.
- Zezel

I think the Blues could beat the Bruins, not sure the Sharks could, especially if they bite into Jones and the Sharks proclivity to give pucks away.

Boston beating Thornton in the Finals would have to put him on suicide watch.

Tavares is C for home games.

Matthews is C for road games.

Matthews speaks American better. Tavares speaks Tarana better.
- JohnFergusonJr

(frank) yeah!!!

That’s happened before, hasn’t it?

Both should be relocated ASAP.

People keep saying the Hurricanes owner is crazy about the Canes. He has the cap space (not sure if he has the cash) to sign Bob, Panarin and Karlsson. Imagine this team with those three guys.
- JohnFergusonJr

Buddy bought a football league for 50mil and folded it after 1 week as a tax write off. Money isn’t an issue. Bob could work, but I think they don’t want to mess with the culture.

I'm gonna say the San Blowsé Sharts take it. Only a team getting miracle blown calls like they've been getting can beat the Boston Pooins. Thornton skating the Cup around Boston's rink will be good suffering for Boston fans.
- Zezel

Nice.

Vegas was stacked with a broken expansion draft.

And Tampa Bay lost in a manner that has never happened before.

I wouldn't call those frequent occurrences.

If the Leafs want to make a deep playoff run, it's still the usual suspects they have to beat; Boston and Tampa Bay. Both opponents are very strong and the Leafs defense isn't getting stronger next year.

But definitely good for the Leafs to have many kicks at the can in the future, they just have to make the proper adjustments year to year to improve on their performances.
- JohnFergusonJr

The Leafs defense for 60% of this year didn't have Muzzin, but did have Gardiner. Next year, they'll have Muzzin and no Gardiner. That's a relative plus. They likely won't have Hainsey. I don't think that much of Hainsey, but will admit that he's relatively steady. The Jake Gardiner who played with us this year won't be missed. I've been an advocate of his despite my better judgement, but this year he was clearly ailing all year.

I don't know if the inclusion of Sandin/Liljegren/Rosen over Gardiner & Hainsey will be that significant.

I do believe the front-end will get better because those players are still progressing.

Overall, I know you're not wrong - Tampa isn't getting worse. Boston, even as they age, have a lot of good young players as well. But I don't think the Leafs back-end is an apocalyptic problem. It's just . . .not going to get that Elite RHD we'd like.

Buddy bought a football league for 50mil and folded it after 1 week as a tax write off. Money isn’t an issue. Bob could work, but I think they don’t want to mess with the culture.
- Arctic_AARDVARK

Culture? Adding a Vezina goalie doesn't mess with the culture. Especially when both their goalies are UFAs.

100%, if they can sign Bob, they should. It's the only real weakness they had. Their offensive zone pressure is insane, their D-core is strong and their coach is a beast.

The Leafs defense for 60% of this year didn't have Muzzin, but did have Gardiner. Next year, they'll have Muzzin and no Gardiner. That's a relative plus. They likely won't have Hainsey. I don't think that much of Hainsey, but will admit that he's relatively steady. The Jake Gardiner who played with us this year won't be missed. I've been an advocate of his despite my better judgement, but this year he was clearly ailing all year.

I don't know if the inclusion of Sandin/Liljegren/Rosen over Gardiner & Hainsey will be that significant.

I do believe the front-end will get better because those players are still progressing.

Overall, I know you're not wrong - Tampa isn't getting worse. Boston, even as they age, have a lot of good young players as well. But I don't think the Leafs back-end is an apocalyptic problem. It's just . . .not going to get that Elite RHD we'd like.
- Monkeypunk

Muzzin is over-rated. He gives the puck away as much or more than Gardiner but without the offensive positives . Hainsey sucked but he ate up a lot of minutes, especially tough minutes. It's unlikely any rookie will fill his shoes.

Their D was bad and it's about to get worse. Andersen covers up a lot of the mistakes but there might be so many mistakes he can't bridge the gap.

Culture? Adding a Vezina goalie doesn't mess with the culture. Especially when both their goalies are UFAs.

100%, if they can sign Bob, they should. It's the only real weakness they had. Their offensive zone pressure is insane, their D-core is strong and their coach is a beast.
- JohnFergusonJr

That’s why I think Bob could work, cause he’s a goalie and would add stability, might even helps svech a bit. Panarin and Karlsson might make the pH out of balance..

That’s why I think Bob could work, cause he’s a goalie and would add stability, might even helps svech a bit. Panarin and Karlsson might make the pH out of balance..
- Arctic_AARDVARK

I was just pointing out, that's how much cap space they got.

Their D is pretty much set. Maybe just Panarin and Bob and they're laughing.

Muzzin is over-rated. He gives the puck away as much or more than Gardiner but without the offensive positives. Hainsey sucked but he ate up a lot of minutes, especially tough minutes. It's unlikely any rookie will fill his shoes.

Their D was bad and it's about to get worse. Andersen covers up a lot of the mistakes but there might be so many mistakes he can't bridge the gap.
- JohnFergusonJr

I'll argue about Muzzin over Gardiner till I'm blue in the face, so we can disagree there. Especially in 2018/19 where Gardiner really didn't provide any discernible offense.

A different conversation there is that I think the Leafs defensive problems are partially personnel, but they're primarily system-driven. Obviously the players are being asked to perform roles that they may not be comfortable with or accustomed to (long bomb passes as a primary example). But ultimately the system itself creates these high-risk / high-reward scenarios. I don't know if I blame that entirely on the defense. Like . . . I know they're not _good_, but . . . I think they're made worse by the system they play.

I sincerely don't know which type of player fixes that system. The D get very little support from the wingers. It's a giant cluster(frank) in the D-zone half the time trying to get possession back. If the wingers were more actively engaged rather than position in a no-man's land along the side-wall, I think our D would greatly benefit.

I'll argue about Muzzin over Gardiner till I'm blue in the face, so we can disagree there. Especially in 2018/19 where Gardiner really didn't provide any discernible offense.

A different conversation there is that I think the Leafs defensive problems are partially personnel, but they're primarily system-driven. Obviously the players are being asked to perform roles that they may not be comfortable with or accustomed to (long bomb passes as a primary example). But ultimately the system itself creates these high-risk / high-reward scenarios. I don't know if I blame that entirely on the defense. Like . . . I know they're not _good_, but . . . I think they're made worse by the system they play.

I sincerely don't know which type of player fixes that system. The D get very little support from the wingers. It's a giant cluster(frank) in the D-zone half the time trying to get possession back. If the wingers were more actively engaged rather than position in a no-man's land along the side-wall, I think our D would greatly benefit.
- Monkeypunk

Leafs offense relies heavily on stretch passes and Gardiner is among the leaders in completed stretch passes. Muzzin had almost twice as many giveaways and not nearly as good a skater or passer. He provided 50+ points last year and probably would have done the same if he played 82 games this year.

Gardiner will be one of those players you don't realize you miss until he's gone and replaced by somebody else. The Leafs played terrible without him in the lineup down the stretch. That's not a coincidence.

If the D is a system problem, it's not going to change until Babcock is fired and that's not happening this year unless they start 0-20. So it's the same people, doing the same stuff. Or worse.

Leafs offense relies heavily on stretch passes and Gardiner is among the leaders in completed stretch passes. Muzzin had almost twice as many giveaways and not nearly as good a skater or passer. He provided 50+ points last year and probably would have done the same if he played 82 games this year.

Gardiner will be one of those players you don't realize you miss until he's gone and replaced by somebody else. The Leafs played terrible without him in the lineup down the stretch. That's not a coincidence.

If the D is a system problem, it's not going to change until Babcock is fired and that's not happening this year unless they start 0-20. So it's the same people, doing the same stuff. Or worse.
- JohnFergusonJr

I was gonna say, I think Dubas and Shanny hd a sit down with Babs and would have pointed out the stretch-pass thing. I think it’s good they use it, but they should have more looks. They need to be less predictable. Other teams figured them out and they were poopty teams.

The leafs blew it again. Had Boston down then fell apart again.
But there's always next year, who knows what it holds
- Fakepartofme

Bruins

I was gonna say, I think Dubas and Shanny hd a sit down with Babs and would have pointed out the stretch-pass thing. I think it’s good they use it, but they should have more looks. They need to be less predictable. Other teams figured them out and they were poopty teams.
- Arctic_AARDVARK

And Babcock, being Babcock, told them both to go (frank) themselves and to fire him if they wanted something different.

Morgan Rielly / ???
Jake Muzzin / ???
??? / Nikita Zaitsev

IR
Travis Dermott - LD

GONE
Jake Gardiner
Martin Marincin
Igor Ozhiganov

Maybe
Ron Hainsey

We need to add defencemen.

Leafs offense relies heavily on stretch passes and Gardiner is among the leaders in completed stretch passes. Muzzin had almost twice as many giveaways and not nearly as good a skater or passer. He provided 50+ points last year and probably would have done the same if he played 82 games this year.

Gardiner will be one of those players you don't realize you miss until he's gone and replaced by somebody else. The Leafs played terrible without him in the lineup down the stretch. That's not a coincidence.

If the D is a system problem, it's not going to change until Babcock is fired and that's not happening this year unless they start 0-20. So it's the same people, doing the same stuff. Or worse.
- JohnFergusonJr

To be clear - I have defended Gardiner quite a bit. I think he has been far better than most give him credit for, and I think that while he has insanely bad giveaways, he is still overall a beneficial player to have. And we will likely miss him.

I just felt that this year in particular, his skating seemed diminished - he would get down to about the hash marks and give up on a play and just retreat. Sometimes it was so questionable that I wondered if it hadn't been a firm instruction from the coaching staff.

He wasn't anywhere near as effective as he had been in the previous 2 years. But he also wasn't as reckless, so I guess . . .there's that?

Ultimately, I agree that Gardiner was decent, and that asking a rookie to fill his shoes would be a disaster, but asking Muzzin to take up those minutes will be different. I do have faith in Muzzin, so we'll see where that faith ends up.

They were 9-11 without Gardiner in the line-up, but they were already playing suspect hockey when he went down. I'm not sure if there's a direct causation there or not. I also think we'll miss him, but I don't think we'll miss him as much as I thought we would earlier in the season, if that vague sentence makes sense.