Dear Wedginator,
Please add the below from your boy Unholy_Goalie
The Leafs will finish:
2nd in the North.
The main reason for this is:
Edmonton literally has 2 MVPs, Calgary is top to bottom solid now that they added Markstrom and Montreal has Price plus play a strong possession game. At least one of those teams will finish ahead of the Leafs. All the pundits and fans are picking the Leafs to win the division and that's exactly why they won't. It's a tight division and literally anybody can win it. Except Ottawa. (frank) Ottawa.
The Leafs defense is still shoddy both on the blueline and as a team. Team is still mostly soft and immature that would rather play pond hockey than play the right way and a coach that allows it. The off-season additions were more superficial than substantive.
The biggest surprise will be:
How can any Leafs player be a surprise when most Leafs fans think everyone is about to have a career year and dominate the league?
Soupman Mikheyev. He brings his lunch pail after a horrible injury and quietly does his job.
The biggest disappointment will be:
Brodie and it won't be his fault. They signed a good player and are giving him a task he can't fulfill as it was for guys who came before him who were forced to play above their head. He's not a legit top pair RHD. He's a LHD playing on the right which will lead to a lot of backhand attempts to clear the zone and that's going to be a nightmare in the playoffs. He's a solid 2nd pair D but he's still in the mold of a Gardiner / Barrie who plays soft and gives the puck away a lot.
The unsung hero will be:
Hyman. They've demoted him to start the season but he's consistently the hardest worker on the team and the only gritty player still in his prime.
The goat will be:
Andersen. He won't be bad but that won't stop people from blaming him the first chance they get. Half of Leafs fans (the stupid ones) have already gone into full blown Larry Murphy mode on Andersen. Given the defense is still weak, they'll jump on him ASAP if he doesn't stand on his head every night.
People think this guy is good, but he sucks (and the reason is):
Kerfoot. Kadri trade was an unmitigated disaster. He's too small, he's not a good C and he doesn't score enough to be eating up a roster spot as a "small skill" player. Not worth 3.5 AAV either. The fact that he didn't get dumped but Kapanen and Johnsson did is disgusting.
Spezza. Waste of cap space, literally never won anything of importance in the NHL. Stupid to have him eat up a roster spot with Thornton on the team.
People think this guy sucks, but he's not so bad (and the reason is):
Holl. But he's not a top 4D. He's a bottom pair D.
The best move Dubas did in the off-season was:
Signed Pietrangelo and finally got a top pair RHD after trading Nylander to make the team more balanced.
Oh wait, that's what an actual good GM would have done. [
]
Signing Thornton because it's a nice reminder to all the young guys that you can play 20+ years and still never win a Cup. Maybe they'll start being serious.
If I was GM, I would have:
Fired Keefe and signed Laviolette. Just look at what Trotz has done for the Islanders. The Leafs coaching is substandard.
Never would have traded Kapanen. Definitely don't draft a LW Russian with Schneider (a RHD) on the board.
Trade Kerfoot. He sucks and his 3.5 AAV is a waste of cap space.
Tell Spezza to go back to Ottawa.
Never signed David Clarkson 2.0 aka Simmons for that price. He's past his prime, too many injuries, too slow and way overpaid. At 700K, yes but not a penny more.
Signed Perry or claimed him off waivers 100%. A once great player that proved he still has gas in the tank for the playoffs like he did with Dallas.
Don't sign Vesey. Sign Duclair instead to play with Matthews or Tavares.
Traded Nylander and signed Pietrangelo (a real top pair RHD).
Sign Thornton but don't expect him to play on the 1st line at his age.
Sign a real 3C who can win FOs and play playoff hockey.
Acquire Sam Bennett.
If you remember nothing else I said, remember I said this about the 2020-21 Leafs:
They will perform better than usual because of the division but they still aren't legit contenders.
Their odds of success are higher than they have been the past 3 years strictly because they don't have to worry about Boston or Tampa Bay. They have a real chance to make the playoffs and win at least a round. But they still don't have a top pair RHD and their defense is still weak, both on the blueline and as a team. Bringing in Thornton and Simmons is a nice attempt but still not good enough. They need a fundamental change to their core and that means Nylander has to go and improvements still need to be made on the top pair. Rielly can't do everything by himself. Go get Doughty with salary retained.
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PLAYER PREDICTIONS
The Forwards:
Pierre Engvall: 4G 9A 13P
Barabanov Alexander: 3G 7A 10P
Zach Hyman: 17G 19A 36P
Alexander Kerfoot: 8G 15A 23P
Mitchell Marner: 18G 45A 63P
Auston Matthews: 39G 30A 69P
Ilya Mikheyev: 10G 19A 29P
William Nylander: 21G 21A 44P
Nicholas Robertson: 4G 6A 10P
Wayne Simmonds: 6G 12A 18P
Jason Spezza: 3G 12A 15P
John Tavares: 30G 33A 63P
Joe Thornton: 4G 18A 22P
Jimmy Vesey: 4G 8A 12P
The Defence:
Zach Bogosian: 1G 5A 6P
TJ Brodie: 3G 17A 20P
Travis Dermott: 2G 8A 10P
Justin Holl: 2G 10A 12P
Mikko Lehtonen: 2G 10A 12P
Jake Muzzin: 3G 15A 20P
Morgan Rielly: 10G 30A 40P
Rasmus Sandin: 1G 8A 9P
The Goalies:
Frederik Andersen: 20W 12L 3OTL
Jack Campbell: 8W 6L 4OTL
Aaron Dell: 1W 1L 1OTL
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The League:
Top 4 teams, North Division (in order):
Edmonton
Toronto
Montreal
Calgary
Winnipeg
Vancouver
Ottawa
Top 4 teams, West Division (in order):
Las Vegas
St. Louis
Colorado
Arizona
Minnesota
San Jose
Los Angeles
Anaheim
Top 4 teams, Central Division (in order):
Tampa Bay
Carolina
Dallas
Columbus
Nashville
Florida
Chicago
Detroit
Top 4 teams, East Division (in order):
Washington
Philadelphia
Islanders
Pittsburgh
Boston
Buffalo
Rangers
New Jersey
Most surprising team:
Arizona
Most disappointing team:
Boston
Art Ross winner:
McDavid
Hart winner:
McDavid
Norris winner:
Hedman
Calder winner:
Lafreniere
Vezina winner:
Vasilevskiy
Richard winner:
Ovechkin / McDavid tie
Playoffs:
North Division winner: Montreal
West Division winner: Las Vegas
Central Division winner: Tampa Bay
East Division winner: Washington
Stanley Cup winner: Tampa Bay
Conn Smythe Trophy winner: Vasilevskiy
