WordsOfWisdom

Sweet OT winner by Matthews last night.

Agreed. The whole reason for having offsides was to force players to make passes and be forced to advance the puck up the ice. Without offsides, players would just lob the puck down the ice from one end to the other. Nobody would ever skate with the puck. It would be the ultimate in "dump and chase" hockey.

Do we need to make the game any faster? Quite frankly, if the NHL speeds up the game any more I'm going to have to start watching it at 3/4 speed just to see what's happening.

Amazing start. This team might be the most potent Leafs team since the Sundin/Mogilny/Roberts/Nieuwendyk/etc... era back in the early 2000's. This team is loaded offensively.

One thing I've noticed lately is that: Pittsburgh: 1st in GPG last season (I think). Result: Stanley Cup. Edmonton: A team built around offence. Result: How far did they get last season? (I forget.) Toronto: A team built around offence. Result: Battled Washington hard before losing in round one. It could be that you build a Stanley Cup winner now based on pure scoring punch rather than stingy defence. Has the tide turned?

7 goals vs Winnipeg 8 goals vs New York Maybe the Leafs don't need defence after all.

Maybe he'll get injured during the evaluation lol.

I think the next move to be made is going to be JVR, Bozak, and/or Kadri being shipped out of town. The Leafs have an abundance of forwards and at some point they will be forced to package a few of them in a trade for a #1 defenceman like the Oilers did last year. They'll either do it willingly or they'll watch as forwards like JVR walk when their contract expires due to cap issues and get nothing for them in return. If the Leafs aren't in a playoff spot by the trade deadline, say goodbye to Hainsey, Moore, and Marleau. They'll be dealt (hopefully for more draft picks) and the rebuild will continue properly as you've described.

Agreed. Matthews would get there someday, but for right now Kadri is definitely one of the leaders of this team.

Cool thread title! Lupul is one of those guys that is always injured. He produced as much last season by not playing as he did in any of his previous years with the Leafs. I never noticed that he was gone. Quite frankly, I forgot he was ever a Leafs player. But was he ever really a Leafs player? Teams need to be able to ditch these stupid contracts. If a player gets a career ending injury, their contract should be null and void. Let players buy injury insurance to cover these types of situations but leave the team out of it. My two cents. Teams should be able to cut any player that can't dress for at least 41 games in a season due to injury problems. ie: Tear up their contract. Teams aren't getting fair value for their money when they're paying players not to play. It's easy to say: "Oh but players should have that guarantee..." but no, it doesn't work that way in reality. If you aren't performing, you aren't getting paid. If a band cancels a live event, they don't get paid. Teams need to have a guarantee that they don't have to cover dead-weight players that aren't able to play.

I agree 100%. The Leafs were in a good cap position previously. Now they've created problems for themselves again, after working so hard to unload those God-awful contracts from a few years ago. The Leafs attitude needs to be: defenceman or nothing. If they can't get a decent defenceman, don't blow cap space on more forwards. The correct action this off-season was to do nothing. Pass on Marleau. Pass on Hainsey. Pass on Moore. I'd bring back the exact same lineup from last season.

I still think the Leafs "master plan" is a carefully orchestrated plan to avoid success. They make moves that don't help the team, and year after year they wilfully ignore the team's most pressing needs. The Leafs needed a #1 defencemen to take a step forward. Naturally, Leafs management went out and got another forward (Marleau) and then lost two "steady as she goes" minute-eating D-men in Polak and Hunwick, to be replaced by Hainsey. That's just a "push" at best.

The Marleau deal should have been a 1-yr deal, if anything, and quite frankly I couldn't care less about Marleau. I don't think the Leafs needed him at all. I'm sick and tired of the Leafs being a retirement destination for aging veterans. They pulled this **** a few years ago and they're doing it again. As for Hainsey, he won't offset the loss of Polak and Hunwick I can promise you that. Leafs might be #1 in GPG this coming season... and 30th in GAA.

Agreed.

Here's the thing: If it's Marleau, Hainsey, and Moore added to a group that includes JVR, Polak, and Hunwick, then that's a stronger Leafs team. If it's Hainsey replacing Polak and Marleau replacing JVR, then it's more of the same. Different names, but no increase in talent. My two cents.