Sam Hitchcock: Who Is Better: Lightning or Maple Leafs?

Lightning

That D core and goalie can go up against the best the league has to offer. Looks even better when stacked against a Leafs team that has no bonafide #1 and is somewhat a patch work of inexperience (Dermot), unknowns (Zaitsev had one good year then a bad one) and over the hill vets (Hainsey).

Centre depth goes to Toronto but that isn't enough to counter the overall strength of the Lightning roster as things currently stand, IMO.

Definitely head to head games to mark on your calendar.

Probably Tampa Bay for the moment. It's not a drastic margin though.

Lightning

Fishing for hits are we?

I'll say Tampa because their defense is considerably better while offense might be similar.

Oh and Vasilevsky is a monster in net... if he keeps improving as he should.... he'll be insane.

Forwards...slight edge to Leafs. Although, I like the depth of the Lightning group. Still, the Top 6 of the Leafs is scary good so slight edge to them.

Defense. Definitely Lightning. And I don't think very close. Only Reilly on the Leafs is as good as the Top 4 in Tampa. Hedman is a beast. Tampa is better and deeper. leafs would need a decent #2 AND a better 3-4 guy to match the Lighning here.

Goaltending. Anderson was lights out last year. Leafs slight edge. But, I am still unsure if Anderson can keep up that level for another year or not. Lightning goaltending is OK. But Anderson right now is better. Leaf back-up not great either, so Anderson staying healthy AND super effective is paramount.

Overall. Although I rate Leafs better in 2 of the 3 areas, The Leafs margins over the Lightning in Forward and in Net is only slight. The Lightning Defense is FAR superior to the Leafs in my opinion.

Both teams will be dominant. Guessing Top 2 in their Division. More additions to come for Toronto, and likely Tampa too. But, as they sit now. Tampa by a smidge!!!
Man, That defense with McDonaugh added.....probably best in the league, or at least Top 3!!!

Fishing for hits are we?

I'll say Tampa because their defense is considerably better while offense might be similar.

Oh and Vasilevsky is a monster in net... if he keeps improving as he should.... he'll be insane.
- Scabeh

Tavares is a real difference maker, he makes it very close.

It will be interesting if tampa decides to go all in on Karlsson.

Which they totally should.

Tavares is a real difference maker, he makes it very close.

It will be interesting if tampa decides to go all in on Karlsson.

Which they totally should.
- david22

Agreed.

Forwards...slight edge to Leafs. Although, I like the depth of the Lightning group. Still, the Top 6 of the Leafs is scary good so slight edge to them.

Defense. Definitely Lightning. And I don't think very close. Only Reilly on the Leafs is as good as the Top 4 in Tampa. Hedman is a beast. Tampa is better and deeper. leafs would need a decent #2 AND a better 3-4 guy to match the Lighning here.

Goaltending. Anderson was lights out last year. Leafs slight edge. But, I am still unsure if Anderson can keep up that level for another year or not. Lightning goaltending is OK. But Anderson right now is better. Leaf back-up not great either, so Anderson staying healthy AND super effective is paramount.

Overall. Although I rate Leafs better in 2 of the 3 areas, The Leafs margins over the Lightning in Forward and in Net is only slight. The Lightning Defense is FAR superior to the Leafs in my opinion.

Both teams will be dominant. Guessing Top 2 in their Division. More additions to come for Toronto, and likely Tampa too. But, as they sit now. Tampa by a smidge!!!
Man, That defense with McDonaugh added.....probably best in the league, or at least Top 3!!!


- hawk35

HUH?! Anderson was 31st in the NHL in GAA compared to 21 for Vasey. Save % they were nearly identical but Vasey slightly higher and Vasey had 8 shutouts compared to 5 for Anderson. You can say the Lightning defense was better but they were 1 and 2 in shots against, Anderson getting the most shots but Vasey second in shots against. All that being said I think Tampa has the goaltending edge.

Good/fun blog.

BlueBallz nailed it already though. So there's no point in me adding much else.

Lightning def edge the Leafs. But man will they ever be entertaining games to watch this season!

No disrespect to the Leafs or their fans... but they haven't won a playoff series in this era yet.

They probably will this year. The potential is more than there. But, that D-corps is a bit of a concern and has remained the same.

I wish Toronto nothing but the best (until they meet us in the post season), but they need to take a round before I consider them a threat.

Before even reading the blog I'll have to say Tampa because they have elite D and although I have faith in Rielly and Gardiner neither of them is even close to a Hedman.

1st?

Toronto will clearly boast a deeper, more talented forward group, but it's not as if they had trouble scoring before. Toronto has done nothing to shore up their defense.

Tampa was/is very top-heavy in terms of scoring, but that doesn't mean they don't have a quality bottom-six group that's hard to play against.

Tampa has a superior d-core to most teams in the NHL, let alone just the Leafs.

IMO goaltending is a slight edge to Tampa, but I don't think this series comes down to a goalie battle.

At the end of the day, a series with these two teams would likely go the distance, but as of right now I'm giving a slight edge to Tampa due to their defense. That being said, while Toronto's defense gets a lot of flak they're not THAT bad. One or two key moves on the back-end and the edge goes right to Toronto.

All this being said, my money is on one of these two teams representing the East in the Cup this year.

There is a power shift occurring in the East and if the Pens are gonna beat one of these guys this year is probably the last year to take advantage.

Tampa.

Elite Dman

100 point forward

Goaltending pretty even between the two teams

Until the Leaf's prove they can win in the playoffs its Tampa. I'm not a fan of crowning teams in the offseason. This young core that the Leaf's have could turn into something great or turn into the Sharks of the East by killing the regular season and falling short in the playoffs year after year. Fun blog for sure but they got to win something before they can be in the convo in my book.

Caps better than both today ...
Better goalie than both...better D than leafs
Equal top 6 to both.

Until the Leaf's prove they can win in the playoffs its Tampa. I'm not a fan of crowning teams in the offseason. This young core that the Leaf's have could turn into something great or turn into the Sharks of the East by killing the regular season and falling short in the playoffs year after year. Fun blog for sure but they got to win something before they can be in the convo in my book.
- Mino42

Is Tampa not the Sharks of the east right now? What have they won? Not saying Leafs are better than Tampa but if we're looking at both teams on paper its very very close. Forwards goes to the leafs, Defense goes to Tampa and goalie is a wash. Vas was only good till Februrary, like Freddie was only good from November.

Good/fun blog.

BlueBallz nailed it already though. So there's no point in me adding much else.

Lightning def edge the Leafs. But man will they ever be entertaining games to watch this season!
- LeafGuy89

HUH?! Anderson was 31st in the NHL in GAA compared to 21 for Vasey. Save % they were nearly identical but Vasey slightly higher and Vasey had 8 shutouts compared to 5 for Anderson. You can say the Lightning defense was better but they were 1 and 2 in shots against, Anderson getting the most shots but Vasey second in shots against. All that being said I think Tampa has the goaltending edge.
- Kucherovski

I didn't GO CHECKING STATS.I jUST WATCHED A poop LOAD OF GAMES. aND THE AMOUNT AND QUALITY OF SCORING CHANCES THAT THE LEAFS GAVE UP....AND YET Anderson BAILED THEM OUT TIME AND TIME AGAIN. mAYBE tAMPA does HAVE BETTER GOALTENDING. bUT, gaa OR NOT....Anderson WAS THE lEAF mvp LAST YEAR. hE KEPT THEM IS MORE GAMES THEN YOU COULD EVER REALIZE. hE WAS AWESOME. (aND I AM NOT A lEAF or Anderson FAN, JUST AN OBSERVER).

(And....so sorry about the stupid Caps-lock thing. Just too lazy on this hot summer day to go back and do it right....)

Anyone who doesn't say Toronto is biased, likely because they're Leaf haters. Malkin and Crosby won a cup without Letang and with patchwork defense. Toronto has cut some two way liabilities in Komarov (good defensively and abysmal in the offensive zone) and JVR (who hasn't back checked in his entire career) from their team, added a near 90 point player (from a dumpster fire team) for only cap dollars and who happens to be one of the best two way pivots in the league. These Leafs will win their way through the season 6-5 if they have to, but they'll get it done. That pick-your-poison trio of Tavares, Matthews and Kadri are going to give the opposition fits every night. Not to mention that the addition of Johnsson full time adds a very skilled and speedy winger to the third or fourth line instantly making them deeper than if they kept Komarov. Kapanen should continue to develop nicely with more ice time and if Ozhiganov makes the team out of camp, you won't see as many poor clearing attempts like you did with Polak. Gardiner is who worries me the most with his careless play. But every team has at least one liability. If ours is a 50+ point defenseman, it reaaaally could be worse. Also, don't kid yourself. Vasy is not as good as Andersen. Tampa's D makes him look like a superstar. He's good, but not as good as Andersen. I'm excited to see this new Leafs team in action. Mostly so the Leafs haters can eat a big piece of humble pie.

Consider this if you will.. The Leafs COULD have anywhere between 2-4 100 point players on their roster this year. Any one of Matthews, Marner, Tavares or Nylander can hit that mark with the opposing teams flipping a coin on who to use their shutdown line against.

Tampa

Better D
Better G

Until Tor proves otherwise Tampa is better offensively.

Fact is Stammer and Kucherov have hit 90/100 point mark. No one on Tor has. Not even Tavares. Matthews hasnt hit 70 points yet. Point is gonna have another good year. Nylander and Marner give leafs two 60point players but i dont feel it closes the gap on the top two. I actually felt like Stamkos under preformed last season but i guess he didnt really play the season before

Tampa is also the more experienced team.. and not in the nice way you tell someone there old.

The Leafs are a closer comparison to pre cups Pittsburgh right now. Tons of potential, built in a similar way, but need to take a step forward in the post season.

Anyone who doesn't say Toronto is biased, likely because they're Leaf haters. Malkin and Crosby won a cup without Letang and with patchwork defense. Toronto has cut some two way liabilities in Komarov (good defensively and abysmal in the offensive zone) and JVR (who hasn't back checked in his entire career) from their team, added a near 90 point player (from a dumpster fire team) for only cap dollars and who happens to be one of the best two way pivots in the league. These Leafs will win their way through the season 6-5 if they have to, but they'll get it done. That pick-your-poison trio of Tavares, Matthews and Kadri are going to give the opposition fits every night. Not to mention that the addition of Johnsson full time adds a very skilled and speedy winger to the third or fourth line instantly making them deeper than if they kept Komarov. Kapanen should continue to develop nicely with more ice time and if Ozhiganov makes the team out of camp, you won't see as many poor clearing attempts like you did with Polak. Gardiner is who worries me the most with his careless play. But every team has at least one liability. If ours is a 50+ point defenseman, it reaaaally could be worse. Also, don't kid yourself. Vasy is not as good as Andersen. Tampa's D makes him look like a superstar. He's good, but not as good as Andersen. I'm excited to see this new Leafs team in action. Mostly so the Leafs haters can eat a big piece of humble pie.

Consider this if you will.. The Leafs COULD have anywhere between 2-4 100 point players on their roster this year. Any one of Matthews, Marner, Tavares or Nylander can hit that mark with the opposing teams flipping a coin on who to use their shutdown line against.
- Snowman X

What the actual (frank) is this?

What the actual (frank) is this?
- walshyleafsfan

A wayyyyyyy over-zealous Leaf fan.

Wow!