The Leafs are 4-1-1 against the western conference and 2-0-1 against the pacific division. So ya take that for what it’s worth.
20 years from now we’ll hear guys like Nick Paul and Darren Raddysh who stuck around Toronto the way Dougie and Wendel have and they’ll keep telling everyone who will listen that this was the most fun season of hockey they ever played.
Auston Matthews on the vibes in the Maple Leafs locker room right now:
“The environment is just so much fun. It’s competitive, guys are joking around and chirping each other. That carries over to the game.
It doesn’t matter who scores, everybody is excited. Everything is about the team, and that’s what’s most important and what’s driving us right now.”
🎥: @MapleLeafs
#Leafs
The celebration on the bench tells me all I need to know about this team. These are guys who will fight for one another and believe they are a part of something special. That’s been missing for years.
San Jose was so reminiscent of those post Kadri Leafs where they would bring in proverbial tougher players to be the muscle for the team but it just doesn't work. The leafs chose to be the bigger team last night like they tried to do against buffalo(which buffalo matched).
Ten years ago I was so invested in the early days of Matthews vs Laine. Couldn’t care less about McKenna vs Stenberg. We have Gavin McKenna bro. Like this is actually our life.
Reilly was supposed to be out and Ferraro in. OEL-Ferraro 3rd pairing is entirely serviceable for the season. From there a top 4 dmen would have perfectly suitable to make this defense core not laughable. Rielly still needs to go we still need a Ferraro addition and someone else.
Purely hypothetical.
Nobody wants to trade Easton Cowan. Myself included.
That said, think about the way you feel about Easton Cowan. If you could replace him with a defenceman that gives you that same feeling of value to the team, his true 1:1 equivalent on the blue line, it's a trade the Leafs would have to make. They desperately need a defenceman far more than they need a forward - which says nothing about their need for forwards, because they're not deep on scoring talent either.
The hypothetical question is... who would that player be? He's somewhere on a sliding scale between Cale Makar and Troy Stecher, and everybody's scared to adjust the slider because it's really, really hard to assess the value of players at this stage in their development.
It's the risk everyone's afraid of. Rightfully so. Look at Gauthier for Drydale - how's that working out?
Defencemen are even harder to project because they typically take longer to develop, unless they're top end talent.
My challenge to anyone brave enough: name a defenceman you'd trade 1 for 1 for Easton Cowan that you think the other team would accept.
With Marchenko gone from the blue jackets there is a clear scoring hole in the top 6. The leafs should give them Nylander and simply take Werenski back in return.
It’s actually so funny because if you ranked the teams based on their number 1 dmen and starting goalie the Leafs would be last by a long shot. Leafs lacking quality dmen while holding onto their garbage ones is really starting to show.
I think the Flames could be excellent dance partners for the leafs. I wonder if Kevin Bahl could be available for the right price.
To add to this leafs have a b2b Monday and Tuesday and play every other day until October 28th. Crucial stretch of games for the leafs who are going the wrong way in the standings.
Whole leafs team looks exhausted. Islanders have 10 forwards and skating circles around the Leafs. Throw this game away for the forwards. Defense isn’t good and wasn’t that great even with Tanev in the lineup. First round exit team at best with the way we’re constructed.
I disagree with this. They just acquired Raty and have Joshua working back from injury. They need 2 defensemen and Rielly gone. You’ll notice a huge difference when that happens.
You’re not a very serious coach when Colton Sissons gets an OT before Gavin McKenna does this season.
Leafs didn’t play for the win in the 3rd period, the coach prioritized benching McKenna over coaching them up. Bob needed to make a save and didn’t. This defense isn’t good enough and this is just going to be more of the same going forward without a significant upgrade.