Re: [EXTENSION] Nylander gets 8yrs
Originally Posted by
Axeman33
The reason their stars are all forwards is due to their drafting and developing. In the past 20 years, the Leafs have drafted three Dmen with their first pick in the draft. Three. Sandin, Reilly and Luke Schenn. They're their own worst enemy. They've created this monster and can't fix their own issue. Management clearly isn't too worried about the backend or they'd invest in it through the draft.
Liljegren (17th overall in 2017) as well. And ya, they are clearly drafting players with the goal that they can piece together the backend and use their forwards to help D. Prolly has something to do with certainty of hitting on the draft pick. But they did pick defensemen with half of their 1st round picks the last 6yrs (2, and both are NHLers). But not investing in the D is likely to do with even when the player is NHL ready, the Leafs window is likely closed now. Where someone like Knies, or Cowan is being a productive NHLer quicker.
NHL cap era is picking your poison on what you're weak at. Rightly or wrongly, the Leafs have clearly picked theirs and it's resulted in 6th in point percentage the last 8yrs, and 2nd in goals during that time (which is something I didn't actually know)
12 Team, H2H, Keep 6 (in Bold)
G, A, Pts, PPP, FW, SOG, Hits, Blocks
W, Saves, S%, GAA, Game Started
2C, 2LW, 2RW, 4D, 1Util, 2G, 5BN, 2IR, 1IR+, 1NA
C: Horvat, Trocheck
LW: J. Robertson, Byfield (C), Guenther
RW: Pavelski (C), Giroux (C), Svechnikov (LW)
D: Fox, Makar, Bouchard, Morrissey, Gudas
Util: Meier (LW, RW)
G: Oettinger, Georgiev, Samsonov, Woll