Toronto Maple Leafs

[Axeman33]

It's a good thing they didn't. Maybe the best move of their offseason.

But they did. Not long term, but they did extend him for this year.

Hey, it's the Leafs. We all know what's coming next. Mysterious injury, LTIR, then vacation at Robidas Island and the Leafs open up cap space to shop for a goalie.

[Daydream Nation]

But they did. Not long term, but they did extend him for this year.

Hey, it's the Leafs. We all know what's coming next. Mysterious injury, LTIR, then vacation at Robidas Island and the Leafs open up cap space to shop for a goalie.

You don't think they should have retained him at all? I wasn't sold on him and offering him anything more than arbitration would have been a risk that would look terrible now (maybe as bad as the Campbell signing). Going into the season with Samsonov, Woll, and Jones was completely reasonable. At the end of the day, I think Treeliving had a poor offseason for Toronto but his moves in net were fine.

[Axeman33]

You don't think they should have retained him at all? I wasn't sold on him and offering him anything more than arbitration would have been a risk that would look terrible now (maybe as bad as the Campbell signing). Going into the season with Samsonov, Woll, and Jones was completely reasonable. At the end of the day, I think Treeliving had a poor offseason for Toronto but his moves in net were fine.

He earned another contract and lucky for them they only signed him to the one year deal. I didnt think he was worth what they gave him but looks like they may have dodged a bullet.

[lucafen4]

31 games... 12 ROW
Embarrassing games vs. Blue Jackets and Sabres in the last week.

welcome to the hot seat Keefe

[2014olympicgold]

Took the holiday break to not really analyze the Leafs and it turns out they played awful through it lol. I went to the Dec 27th game vs Ottawa and didn't realize live how poor defensively they played but whatever.

So Samsonov waived, Hildebeast recalled, M.Jones played well last night and said he's good to go tonight. Keefe said he'd talk with Sanford (goalie coach) and Treliving about who to start tonight. Should be interesting who starts tonight.

I would love to see Hildeby play tonight just because I wanna see what they have. But Samsonov played B2B games last yr when they recalled Petruzzelli. Could be the same situation tonight, but the age of the goalies starting is differernt.

Also Kyper said yesterday that the Leafs would like to sign Nylander before the ASG and the number he keeps hearing is $11m x 8yr, and it's near $11.25m AAV. Since his awful season, he has 318pts in 317gp, and this yr he's on pace for 44G, 72A, and 116pts.

[lucafen4]

Even if he's right... I'm not believing Kipper.
Doesn't help even his positive comments on the Leafs are with tongue in cheek.

[2014olympicgold]

EF said that Treliving sent out an offer of a 6th round pick to acquire a goalie. Apparently it was offered for Comrie, Jake Allen, Anton Forsberg and to Calgary. This was likely leaked by the league and not the Leafs as a way to scoff at the Leafs for such a bad offer.

The fact the Leafs didn't get Comrie off waivers means I think the Leafs had Samsonov involved in the trade. Both are UFAs as of July. Comrie makes $1.8m, so I guess the 6th round pick would be a cap dump penalty.

[Axeman33]

EF said that Treliving sent out an offer of a 6th round pick to acquire a goalie. Apparently it was offered for Comrie, Jake Allen, Anton Forsberg and to Calgary. This was likely leaked by the league and not the Leafs as a way to scoff at the Leafs for such a bad offer.

The fact the Leafs didn't get Comrie off waivers means I think the Leafs had Samsonov involved in the trade. Both are UFAs as of July. Comrie makes $1.8m, so I guess the 6th round pick would be a cap dump penalty.

To me, if they are looking at a 6th round pick as a trade chip, they arent looking for much as far as quality goes because I cant imagine many teams are going to trade away anything worth having for something that low in value.

[Daydream Nation]

To me, if they are looking at a 6th round pick as a trade chip, they arent looking for much as far as quality goes because I cant imagine many teams are going to trade away anything worth having for something that low in value.

It screams to me that Toronto feels Woll is their guy and that they want another 2/3 to add to Jones.

[Axeman33]

It screams to me that Toronto feels Woll is their guy and that they want another 2/3 to add to Jones.

That's quite possible too, although that's a gutsy move rolling into the playoffs with a guy with next to no experience as "your guy" and mediocrity backing him up.

[lucafen4]

That's quite possible too, although that's a gutsy move rolling into the playoffs with a guy with next to no experience as "your guy" and mediocrity backing him up.

It's not like Toronto is the only team to do this in the last couple years.
New Jersey - Vanacek & Schmid
Carolina- Raanta & Kotchetkov
Colorado - Georgiev
Vegas - Hill, Quick
Dallas - Oettinger

^only Raanta and Quick have any history of success behind them and neither went into the playoffs last year playing at very high levels.

Martin Jones, while not great has been to a Cup Final.

Small sample, but at 6-3, he has a .930 svpct.
Last two games Leafs really tightened up defensively.

baby steps.

We can look at glass half-full or half empty.

Half empty:
Multiple holes in their game
Defense is porous
Woll is unproven, back up is a massive concern

Half full:
Sit 3rd in division with multiple games in hand on every team sans Boston (one)
They're 3rd in spite of the half empty issues
Jones is filling the Samsonov void admirably
Cap space to make a deadline acquisition fill some holes
There's time to fix what ails them
Most effective 3rd/4th line this team has had in Keefe's tenure

[Axeman33]

It's not like Toronto is the only team to do this in the last couple years.
New Jersey - Vanacek & Schmid
Carolina- Raanta & Kotchetkov
Colorado - Georgiev
Vegas - Hill, Quick
Dallas - Oettinger

^only Raanta and Quick have any history of success behind them and neither went into the playoffs last year playing at very high levels.

Martin Jones, while not great has been to a Cup Final.

Small sample, but at 6-3, he has a .930 svpct.
Last two games Leafs really tightened up defensively.

baby steps.

We can look at glass half-full or half empty.

Half empty:
Multiple holes in their game
Defense is porous
Woll is unproven, back up is a massive concern

Half full:
Sit 3rd in division with multiple games in hand on every team sans Boston (one)
They're 3rd in spite of the half empty issues
Jones is filling the Samsonov void admirably
Cap space to make a deadline acquisition fill some holes
There's time to fix what ails them
Most effective 3rd/4th line this team has had in Keefe's tenure

Your half empty-half full scenarios seem like a typical Leafs situation for many years now and we know how that usually ends up.

[lucafen4]

Your half empty-half full scenarios seem like a typical Leafs situation for many years now and we know how that usually ends up.

It's the typical situation for 31 teams, every year. But sure... Leafs fans should cling to history.

[2014olympicgold]

Do we see a Nylander extension today or is it just another EF clickbait tweet? Whenever I see EF say "As early as..." I no longer care about EF "takes" like this. He is used by the League, SN, and agents way too much for me to take seriously.

--EDIT---
Darren Dreger said it could be done today or tmo, but it's imminent. Last details seem to be Bonus and salary structure, but with the travel day from California yesterday it seems not much work was done. So that's why it seems like it could be done today or tmo.

With the projected cap of $92.5m in 2025-26 this could be the breakdown of the top 4:
Matthews = $13.25m
Marner = $12m (hypothetical)
Nylander = $11.5m
Tavares = $6m (hypothetical)
Total = $42.75m, or 46.2% of the projected cap

This season, those 4 make up 48.5% of the cap. So they are essentially staying the course if they can get Marner at $12, and Tavares at $6

[2014olympicgold]

Leafs goalie situation update:

- Woll started skating. Still a ways away.
- Samsonov is rumoured to be a potential starter for one of the B2B games this weekend.
- Jones has a 934s%, and a 1.98GAA in 12games. He's 8-3-0 in 10 starts (12gp)

With 44 games left, 6 B2Bs, that means there's (likely) 38 games up for grabs. If Jones gets 60% of them that's 23games for Jones and 21 games for whoever else (15+6b2b). So we might see Jones get closer to 70% starts which is 27games for Jones, 17 for whoever else.

And that's like a minimum, going through the schedule I could even see Jones getting 33 games to finish the year with March being a hard month possibly. All depends on Jones health obviously, but I was not expecting this.