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Until Woll came in and helped lower it, they were allowing around a goal per game more than last season. That is broad enough to probably affect the whole team's individual defensive numbers. Now they're about half a goal per game worse than last season. Problem is: as they lowered their GAA...

This is encouraging

I was taking posters at their word. I know his +/- is near the top of the team. Haven't looked beyond that. But I'm not the only one to observe he seems to be making more of a defensive effort. His coach is on to Nylander and Domi ...

I don't think it is that simple. From great defensive forwards Bob Gainey to Bergeron or Barkov, regardless of injury history, if they have wingers like Domi and Nylander instead of Marner, their defensive stats are likely to suffer. Matthews is finding that out first hand this season. It is a...

When a player goes from having a smart, perennial Selke candidate on his wing to two of the most defensively challenged wingers on the team: Domi & Nylander, I don't think it is unreasonable to expect some negative effect. Some of it probably relates to his injury but there's no way I can see...

NHL scoring was abut 20% higher in 1992-93. So Matthews 107 point season is probably close to Gilmour' 127 point season on a pure adjusted points basis. But what was special about Gilmour that year is he was about 50 points higher than the second guy on that team. Matthews had Marner's near 100...

I thought he had concussion problems too ... If he's good to go, he could help the Marlies. But he's probably one concussion away from retirement ...

The change in giveaways/takeaways also suggests avoidance of physical engagement. Matthews did go see Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt in Germany in 2025 who has helped a number of high profile people with back problems. My money has been on a back problem for some time. We may never know...

His skating speed dropped him from 65th percentile to below 50th. He now loses more races to the puck than he wins. Comparing this season to 2021-22 to 2023-24 (the 3 seasons before his more recent injury that includes prior injury) Hits/60 is down 38% Giveaways/60 is up 59% Takeaways/60 is...

Trying to get it down to Marner's departure cost them x number of games makes my head hurt. I think they miss him particularly on the PP and defensively but beyond that, I wouldn't want to try to quantify it. There are too many other variables like Matthews not being the same player, injuries...

Given how Matthews performed last season after he returned, Matthews "return to form" this season was questionable. Leafs fans and his team hoped he would. But it wasn't something we could be sure of. Aside from that, the collective talent on this roster has under achieved. The top 7 D and 2...

Lorentz McCabe

Somewhat surprisingly as a left hander, given that they concluded he was better on the left side after last season, he was doing well with Rielly ... He's a top 4 on this team - no question.

This is his 16th season of strong organized hockey or better - his 11th with the Leafs. If he hasn't caught on and got that experience by now ... A player has to be interested in doing that sort of thing. Nylander has shown little sign of consistent interest. Maybe if he can demonstrate with...

Yesterday, a key purpose of the medical evaluation - according to Berube - was to determine if surgery was the best and safest path. Contradicting himself isn't helping the criticism of how the team is handling injury reports with the media (and fans) EDIT: I'm in error. The Hockey News was...

Today, we should hear more about Tanev ... Scratch that ...

I have a lot of time for Jon. He's one of the best. Jon just signed an extension with Tampa this fall. But Jon wants to win. Sun is going down on the back nine with this group. If/when Jon moves on, it will probably be like Scotty Bowman - looking over the franchise of talent for where he's...

Two seasons ago, Hildeby was looking pretty good. 6th in GAA and 13th in save% in the AHL among 'qualified' goalies. Last year, Leafs goaltending coaches had him working on changes to his game. He statistically regressed some. Although the mechanics are very different, it reminds me a little of...