yave1964 Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 PRESEASON OUTLOOK: Bleak. Mike Babcock was brought aboard with a long term deal to fix the organization, Babs is known for his patience with kids, he refuses to rush them, instead playing them most of the year with the Marlies and signing every F-Troop reject to fill out a roster for the season and let the solid bunch of prospects learn his style at the AHL level instead of developing bad habits from the players who made up most of the roster for the season. FINAL RECORD: 29-42-11 69 points, worst record in the NHL STRANGE STAT: Mike Reilly established himself after Phaneuf was traded, (more on that later) but his home/road splits were bizzare to the extreme" HOME: 8-16-24 plus 8 ROAD: 1-11-12 minus 25 Among the most extreme in the game this year. HIGH POINT OF THE YEAR: IMHO it was before the season even started, it was bringing in Babs and Lou and putting a plan in place rather than just throw together a mix of talent and hope for the best. The Leafs may be the best last place team I have seen in quite some time, they have tons of young kids and a plan. The other high point is the aforementioned trade of Dion Phaneuf. I like Dion as a player but his contract was an albatross, if they manage to sign Stamkos with the money saved, the Leafs are well on their way. LOW POINT OF THE SEASON: Well they lost 12 of their first 14 games to set the tone early. That seems like it to me. The end if the season they lost 7 of the final 9 to pass Edmonton as the leagues worst team. Take your pick. WHAT WENT RIGHT: Trading Phaneuf , Winnick and Reimer, moving out the dead wood and starting over. On the ice, Leo Komarov found a new gear and was an all star as a hard hitting goal scorer. PA Parenteau really had a good year. Mike Reilly is now a proven top pair defenseman and gained confidence as the year went on. Naz Kadri had a good year. Jake Gardiner was not bad. Lots of kids, including Nylander, Hyman and Soshnikov got their feet wet at the end of the year and did not look bad. WHAT WENT WRONG: JVR missed half the season to injuries and looked disinterested in playing Babcock hockey when he was in. Bozak looked hopeless most of the year. Joffrey Lupul should have his photo on a milk carton, he disappeared. Vets like Boyes and Grabner showed why nobody wanted them. Bernier was awful most of the year, Stalock was rancid after coming from the Sharks. Lots of vets playing for one final paycheck. MVP: I consider it a tossup between Komarov and Reilly, I give a slight edge to Komarov who got as much out of his talent as anyone could ask. FREE AGENTS: Lots, quite a few guys were brought in as one year fillers: they had forgettable years and are soon gone including: Ben smith Alex Stalock Arcobello Boyes Grabner Parenteau Of the bunch the only one whom I would consider bringing back is Parenteau. TOP PROSPECTS: William Nylander 22 games 6-7-13 got a long look and did not embarrass. Soshnikov has a rep as a sniper and will play middle six minutes. Gauthier is a shut down forward and can score a little and should stick. Mitch Marner may make the team next year and is a sure fire top six center. Kasperi Kapanen hopes to crack the lineup on the wing.Connor Brown and Brendan Leipsic are part of the deep and talented group of forwards who will push for a bottom six role. Defense is not as deep but Scott Harrington is hoping the third camp is a charm and he sticks. Stuart Percy can play a little and Rinat Valiev is a definite comer. This is the deepest most talented 'ready now' bunch in all of Hockey. Huge promise here. There are half a dozen names that I left out even. By far the best farm system in Hockey today. The Marlies rolled through the AHL with an insane 54-16-5 and a goal differential of plus 103. It was not a fluke. OFFSEASON QUESTION MARKS: What do you spend the money on? Do you hand Stamkos a blank check and tell him to fill in the numbers or do you stay the course? Who will be in net? How many of the elite kids do you start the year with next season? Like I mentioned, this is the best ran last place team in hockey. They are contenders within two years tops. Really. I actually rate it a very good year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluPuk Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 Who is "Mike Reilly"?? (JK) The leafs' season was a tale of two seasons, really. The first part where they stumbled around and darn near put their own eyes out while compiling a very pitiful record; and the second part where they seemed to start to grasp Babcock's system, win a few games, and change the attitude of most of the teams in the NHL towards playing the Leafs. The second half gave all us old, dusty Leafs fans a shot in the arm, but I really can't see this team doing much next season either. The surprise factor is not there any more. If the Leafs start to make progress toward a play-off spot next season, the rest of the teams in the east will gain a whole new attitude, and the Leafs will then have to learn the lesson that nobody in the NHL will allow you to just beat them. We have some good talent (well, fairly good anyway) coming up but we are miles and miles from being hard to beat yet. To be a winning team in the NHL you need talent, toughness, determination, team spirit and character. It's tough to find very much of any of those on the Leafs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted April 20, 2016 Author Share Posted April 20, 2016 3 hours ago, BluPuk said: Who is "Mike Reilly"?? (JK) The leafs' season was a tale of two seasons, really. The first part where they stumbled around and darn near put their own eyes out while compiling a very pitiful record; and the second part where they seemed to start to grasp Babcock's system, win a few games, and change the attitude of most of the teams in the NHL towards playing the Leafs. The second half gave all us old, dusty Leafs fans a shot in the arm, but I really can't see this team doing much next season either. The surprise factor is not there any more. If the Leafs start to make progress toward a play-off spot next season, the rest of the teams in the east will gain a whole new attitude, and the Leafs will then have to learn the lesson that nobody in the NHL will allow you to just beat them. We have some good talent (well, fairly good anyway) coming up but we are miles and miles from being hard to beat yet. To be a winning team in the NHL you need talent, toughness, determination, team spirit and character. It's tough to find very much of any of those on the Leafs. Damnit, MORGAN Reilly, not Mike. My bad. I hate when I do stuff like that. I just bought a Mike Reilly hockey card today so it was a slip, lol. I like the Leafs going forward, Marner and Nylander are as close to locks for being solid top six forwards. I love Gauthier, he plays a 200 foot game and is a Darren Helm type. Of the rest, Leipsic, Kapanen, Soshnikov and the rest, there are bound to be some bums but some will wok out. Like I said the Leafs have more 'ready now' forwards than any team in the league right now. Plus with the worst record in the league they are in the Auston Matthews sweepstakes. Morgan. Jeez. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WordsOfWisdom Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 On 20/04/2016 at 7:06 PM, yave1964 said: Damnit, MORGAN Reilly, not Mike. My bad. I hate when I do stuff like that. I just bought a Mike Reilly hockey card today so it was a slip, lol. I like the Leafs going forward, Marner and Nylander are as close to locks for being solid top six forwards. I love Gauthier, he plays a 200 foot game and is a Darren Helm type. Of the rest, Leipsic, Kapanen, Soshnikov and the rest, there are bound to be some bums but some will wok out. Like I said the Leafs have more 'ready now' forwards than any team in the league right now. Plus with the worst record in the league they are in the Auston Matthews sweepstakes. Morgan. Jeez. The forward group is starting to take shape (from a prospect perspective), but the D needs major help. To me, Morgan Rielly is a one dimensional guy (so far). He thinks only about offence. If he's going to be a top pair D-man, he needs to be paired with someone that can cover up his mistakes. The Leafs need a punishing open ice hitter that can clear the front of the net, and play solid in their own zone. (Phaneuf had the hitting part down pat, but he wasn't good at defending.) A modern day Scott Stevens would be nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted May 2, 2016 Author Share Posted May 2, 2016 2 hours ago, WordsOfWisdom said: The forward group is starting to take shape (from a prospect perspective), but the D needs major help. To me, Morgan Rielly is a one dimensional guy (so far). He thinks only about offence. If he's going to be a top pair D-man, he needs to be paired with someone that can cover up his mistakes. The Leafs need a punishing open ice hitter that can clear the front of the net, and play solid in their own zone. (Phaneuf had the hitting part down pat, but he wasn't good at defending.) A modern day Scott Stevens would be nice. Well if MORGAN wants to come wear the Winged wheel, he would be welcome any time. I think the defensive end will come together for him that he is way ahead of the curve when you consider that most defenseman do not really develop fully until the 300 game plateau, he is at 230 if I am not mistaken (too lazy to look up the exact) so he is still a year away from his full potential. When Dion was donated to Ottawa Reilly picked up the banner and became a force of sorts on the back end offensively in the second half. I agree, he desperately needs a real partner who will cover his rear and allow him to roam and with apologies to Gardiner, he aint the one. Maybe they should have signed MIKE Reilly when he didnt sign out of college with the Jackets instead of MIKE going to the Wild. Then MORGAN (the offensive one) and MIKE (the responsible in his own zone one) could have formed a life of Reilly line on the back end. No relation. Would have been a good pair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WordsOfWisdom Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 3 hours ago, yave1964 said: Well if MORGAN wants to come wear the Winged wheel, he would be welcome any time. I think the defensive end will come together for him that he is way ahead of the curve when you consider that most defenseman do not really develop fully until the 300 game plateau, he is at 230 if I am not mistaken (too lazy to look up the exact) so he is still a year away from his full potential. When Dion was donated to Ottawa Reilly picked up the banner and became a force of sorts on the back end offensively in the second half. I agree, he desperately needs a real partner who will cover his rear and allow him to roam and with apologies to Gardiner, he aint the one. Maybe they should have signed MIKE Reilly when he didnt sign out of college with the Jackets instead of MIKE going to the Wild. Then MORGAN (the offensive one) and MIKE (the responsible in his own zone one) could have formed a life of Reilly line on the back end. No relation. Would have been a good pair. That's exactly it. If Rielly is going to be the Scott Niedermayer of the Leafs, he needs his Chris Pronger / Scott Stevens to play alongside him. Sticking Matt "Human Pylon" Hunwick in there doesn't cut it. Gardiner is cut from the same cloth as Rielly. That's why I suspect Gardiner is going to be traded away at some point to find a suitable linemate for Rielly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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