Lighten up Francis. I was one of the only ones in here last night being optimistic when the Leafs were bleeding goals to a glorified AHL squad. You are taking my critique of the defense and running with it beyond my intended point.

Leafs need better D and lack a true #1. That has been the case for years, and it still is. Doing the same thing and expecting different results is well,..... nevermind.

I wanna see the Leafs win. They won last night, despite the warts showing in their game. It's a positive sign, but the flip side of that is a cautionary tale.
- GalacticStone

Leafs have been one of the better teams at limiting goals the last few seasons, you are going on about nothing saying they are doing the same thing expecting different results because they did the opposite in the offseason. They put more emphasis on scoring and depth scoring so I have no clue what you are talking about.

It is no secret the Leafs are missing a D, and its no secret Tree will be looking to address it by the TDL.

As for the 1st game of the season it does not matter, should not put too much emphasis whatsoever in what happened. See after 20 games.

- Atomic Wedgie

That hurts my emotions.

Lighten up Francis. I was one of the only ones in here last night being optimistic when the Leafs were bleeding goals to a glorified AHL squad. You are taking my critique of the defense and running with it beyond my intended point.

Leafs need better D and lack a true #1. That has been the case for years, and it still is. Doing the same thing and expecting different results is well,..... nevermind.

I wanna see the Leafs win. They won last night, despite the warts showing in their game. It's a positive sign, but the flip side of that is a cautionary tale.
- GalacticStone

To me this specific narrative feels like something that is just parroted by so many here and outside of here and is pretty questionable considering (as was pointed out earlier) they were 5th best defensively in the league last year.

I don't recall a team who was 1st overall in the league all year both offensively AND defensively in recent years - has their been any? Maybe I'm wrong but in a cap world it seems unlikely and if it was to happen there would have to be a big chunk of luck with players (plural) who are punching well above their expectations all year long up front on D or between the pipes.

While I agree with you that this D corps will not cut it, I was actually impressed by Klingberg last night. There were a few times were he skated the puck up the ice - calmly, head up, made good decisions with the puck.
- Atomic Wedgie

I agree Klingberg looked okay moving the puck on a couple of occasions ... although I thought he looked particularly useless - slow passing on the power play and he was out of position on multiple occasions in his own zone.

I'm willing to give the guy some time to settle in and all that... but man - he reminds me of the Larry Murphy experiment.

Fundamentally I don't think he's what the Leafs defense needs. He's a relatively big guy who plays tiny. Hopefully he gets into the block shots mode that the Leafs system seems to need.

It is really unfortunate that Timmins was injured.


If I was in the GMs shoes - and someone offered me Schenn for Klingberg - I'd take that in a heartbeat.

I agree Klingberg looked okay moving the puck on a couple of occasions ... although I thought he looked particularly useless - slow passing on the power play and he was out of position on multiple occasions in his own zone.

I'm willing to give the guy some time to settle in and all that... but man - he reminds me of the Larry Murphy experiment.

Fundamentally I don't think he's what the Leafs defense needs. He's a relatively big guy who plays tiny. Hopefully he gets into the block shots mode that the Leafs system seems to need.

It is really unfortunate that Timmins was injured.


If I was in the GMs shoes - and someone offered me Schenn for Klingberg - I'd take that in a heartbeat.
- BorjeFan4Ever

Klingberg made it look like there was super glue in his stick when the puck was cleared by that MTL player when they were down 1 goal.

If he doesn't do that the Leafs lose that game.

Doesn't matter if you like the guy or not, give credit where credit was due and Klingberg was very good last night. 4M? Can not complain.

Things will tighten up, the system will be put into place and we can make more evaluations then.

The Leafs also changed their D coverage system this year, it will take time.

Leafs have been one of the better teams at limiting goals the last few seasons, you are going on about nothing saying they are doing the same thing expecting different results because they did the opposite in the offseason. They put more emphasis on scoring and depth scoring so I have no clue what you are talking about.

It is no secret the Leafs are missing a D, and its no secret Tree will be looking to address it by the TDL.

As for the 1st game of the season it does not matter, should not put too much emphasis whatsoever in what happened. See after 20 games.
- Santo_44

The Leafs are basically in the same company as NJ, DAL and COL.

They did a better job of keeping the puck out of their net than teams like FLA, SEA, BUF, TB..

There’s always room for improvement. With Klingberg getting settled in, hopefully the group will bond. Liljegren and Brodie to me are becoming issues. I think Timmins is a better fit than Liljegren. Gio I think is done.

I'm getting super stoked about getting back on skates again soon. I made good progress last year. My goal is to get good enough to play shinny for the first time since I was a kid. I'm cheering for a solidly subzero winter.

The Leafs are basically in the same company as NJ, DAL and COL.

They did a better job of keeping the puck out of their net than teams like FLA, SEA, BUF, TB..

There’s always room for improvement. With Klingberg getting settled in, hopefully the group will bond. Liljegren and Brodie to me are becoming issues. I think Timmins is a better fit than Liljegren. Gio I think is done.
- Arctic_AARDVARK

Lily was great last year, bad gaff but again 1st game I don't care. If that is happening by game 20 then yes, have to fix that.

Brodie will be okay, just need another D to share the load with him...it will come in due time.

I'm getting super stoked about getting back on skates again soon. I made good progress last year. My goal is to get good enough to play shinny for the first time since I was a kid. I'm cheering for a solidly subzero winter.
- Zezel

Our rink was open from Nov-Apr last winter.

No indoor cooling system, just open the doors and let winter take place.

To me this specific narrative feels like something that is just parroted by so many here and outside of here and is pretty questionable considering (as was pointed out earlier) they were 5th best defensively in the league last year.

I don't recall a team who was 1st overall in the league all year both offensively AND defensively in recent years - has their been any? Maybe I'm wrong but in a cap world it seems unlikely and if it was to happen there would have to be a big chunk of luck with players (plural) who are punching well above their expectations all year long up front on D or between the pipes.
- Cush29

That's fair enough. That's been my perception as an outside fan looking in. It's a narrative pushed by some in the local Toronto media, pushed by national writers (often reflexively), and parroted by some posters in this forum. If that perception is wrong, then I am happy to learn more context around it. I don't get bent out of shape by being wrong and getting called on it.

It's no secret that the Leafs strengths are firepower and skill. They have multiple elite players on their roster, but all of them are forwards. It would be nice to have a real #1 back there. The Leafs manage to get by just fine in the regular season with the system and defense they have, but they don't make it very far in the postseason that counts. It's easy to lay some of that blame on the defense (either the system or the players), but is it correct? I'm not so sure. But, I don't believe in curses, so something is rotten in Denmark somewhere.

Leafs don't have the luxury of an elite goalie to make their defense look better like Vasi did in Tampa.

If you think giving up 5 goals a game is a path to success, then I don't know what to tell you.

Matthews snatched 2 points for this team last night.
- GalacticStone

I mean, the Leafs dominated pretty much every aspect of that game. Soft mistakes and early season gaffs is basically the only reason Montreal scored.

Also, most importantly, the Leafs always play down to their opponents level when facing bad teams.

Our rink was open from Nov-Apr last winter.

No indoor cooling system, just open the doors and let winter take place.
- Arctic_AARDVARK

Awesome. I had some days where the outdoor rinks turned to mush. And there's a couple of ponds I want to skate on but I need a solid freeze for that. My gf saw a kid go through the ice in High Park a while back.

Do they gotta pay to use songs as goal songs?
- GreatGigInTheSky

yes

yes
- AdamFrench

There has to be some sort of fee arenas pay into to be able to play any song thats copyrighted.

Doubt they have to pay for each individual song.

yes
- AdamFrench

Then they really need to spend their money better than this trash.

There has to be some sort of fee arenas pay into to be able to play any song thats copyrighted.

Doubt they have to pay for each individual song.
- Santo_44

You have to pay the label and studio for every second of music you play after 10 seconds. Otherwise they will crush you. If Rogers/Bell has a deal for albums/songs, I'm sure they would use those first. Just saying, you do need to pay for every song played. Hall and Oates are pissed they will not get 2k or something for their song not being used.

Then they really need to spend their money better than this trash.
- GreatGigInTheSky

My guess is, it wasn't cheap either.

New goal song finally dropped.



And I hate it.

New goal song finally dropped.



And I hate it.
- RickJames77

The Bruins too?

The Bruins too?

- Scabeh

No I was talking about the Leafs’ goal song. I didn’t think it could get much worse than Hall & Oats, but poop, someone cracked the code.

The Leafs are basically in the same company as NJ, DAL and COL.

They did a better job of keeping the puck out of their net than teams like FLA, SEA, BUF, TB..

There’s always room for improvement. With Klingberg getting settled in, hopefully the group will bond. Liljegren and Brodie to me are becoming issues. I think Timmins is a better fit than Liljegren. Gio I think is done.
- Arctic_AARDVARK

Let's pivot for one second - regarding defensive strength - who, leaving the Leafs out of it, do you equate with being solid defensively in the league? Don't look at stats, per se, but just based on perception which teams do you think are the best defensively in the NHL?

No I was talking about the Leafs’ goal song. I didn’t think it could get much worse than Hall & Oats, but poop, someone cracked the code.
- RickJames77

It was literally a perfect goal song.

Would piss me off having to hear it 7 times.

- GreatGigInTheSky

So like I said; a lot of players have just terrible taste in music.

Let's pivot for one second - regarding defensive strength - who, leaving the Leafs out of it, do you equate with being solid defensively in the league? Don't look at stats, per se, but just based on perception which teams do you think are the best defensively in the NHL?
- Monkeypunk

In no particular order, teams with what I think is a strong defense:

Boston
Vegas
Carolina
Rangers
Colorado
Dallas
Columbus (big improvement over last year, on paper at least)


Consideration must be given to the following but they have some holes:

Blues
Seattle
Preds

No stats to back it up, just how I feel.