I think it was, but I also think it's too much adjustment. The coach has a fluid possession style of play which literally uses guys like Engvall's and Sandin's puck skills - and then moves those pieces out for more muscle and toughness (which I agree with), but less possession. Now they have to adapt to that change in philosophy and adjust positioning accordingly and so on. It's a lot to do in a quarter of a season.

Teams that make that many changes in the offseason often have a slow start to the season while they adjust.

I sort of felt that while I liked McCabe more than most (and I do think he's a second pairing guy who needs the right partner), he struggled to find his comfortable place in Keefe's system. I think Schenn adjusted the best because he's mature enough and has simplified his game enough to know how to play off of an offensive roamer like Rielly. Acciari was fine, Lafferty was usually fine, but again role-wise it's a different type of thing than Keefe's normal structure and deployment.
- Monkeypunk

Rielly-Brodie
McCabe- New Good Guy
Gio-Lilly-Schenn

That'd be a nice improvement I think. A 20+ minute righty who can move the puck and play physical D.

Not easy to find ...and it may cost about 88 bucks to acquire.

I would guess broken sternum is worse than most 😳
- jribout

As far as I know Maurice is the only one that has blabbed about injuries this year so we don’t know.

Think Dubas pulls any players or prospects from the Leafs?
- Santo_44

Abruzzese seems like a decent guess.

Maybe sign Kerfoot and Holl. No loss here, that's for sure.

Other than old man MAF, which superstar did they ship out? They traded all their top prospects. Fans here would freak out the leafs had nothing in the cupboard when they missed the playoffs last year.
- Aaron_85

Yep, they actually missed the playoffs entirely and then won. Teams that win usually also go through a lot of grinding and getting eliminated before they win.

Yep, they actually missed the playoffs entirely and then won. Teams that win usually also go through a lot of grinding and getting eliminated before they win.
- Zezel

There is no shot in hell the Leaf fanbase would accept missing the playoffs right now - like zero. I'm not saying the shouldn't make changes that result in that happening if the next year it meant a cup.

That being said it's certainly not an ideal 'plan for success' and this rabid fanbase would scream to trade everyone including the team travel booker if they missed the playoffs next year. lol

https://twitter.com/JeffV...tatus/1668836798976409600
- GreatGigInTheSky

That was an interesting read thanks.

It was better I'll give you that.

- Scabeh

According to Fanduel the best odds to win in 24'

Team


Odds

Colorado Avalanche

+800

Toronto Maple Leafs

+1100

Edmonton Oilers

+1100

New Jersey Devils

+1300

Boston Bruins

+1300

Vegas Golden Knight

+1300

Carolina Hurricanes

+1300

Tampa Bay Lightning

+1300

new blog everyone

That was an interesting read thanks.
- Cush29

Always funny when what really happened goes against what peoples idea of what they think happened was.

WOLL

Darcy Kuemper won a cup last year, mind you, his team won it for him.

That's the first time in a while though, that a goalie wasn't a significant reason for victory in the playoffs.
- The Shrike

I know it was over a decade ago (2010)....But, Niemi was barely average for the Hawks first Cup. And although I thought Crawford was underrated for the 2nd two Cups, most on this site had him also pegged as average or worse. You don't need a super goalie. Just a good one, and solid TEAM defence.