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2024-25 Toronto Maple Leafs General Discussion

cabber24 said:
cw said:
This is something I didn't expect to see though it reinforced my feelings that the Leafs have improved their goaltending

Ranking by Kevin Woodley ? In-Goal Magazine
https://twitter.com/JasonGregor/status/1841217326865400095

Here's his reasoning (20 min audio)
https://www.jasongregor.com/october-1st-2024-dave-mccarthy-jason-strudwick-derek-van-diest/

I think it is the most unpredictable position in hockey in drafting and development and can be from season to season. So I can't embrace "the Leafs tandem is the best in the Atlantic". I don't feel qualified to make such a claim or defend it. It can be a nuts position to predict.

But I also feel they're better. Woll has worked on fitness to reduce injuries. Stolarz is coming off a Cup win and looked decent. Murray (if he clears waivers) has looked good in his recovery from hip surgery. Hildeby, coming of a good 1st season in the AHL, has looked good in preseason. They only need one of those guys to really shine. That is bolstered by some improvement in the D with the addition of Tanev, OEL and the young guys with another year of experience.
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Good new because the Leafs have more back-to-back games this year than anyone other team.
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This "best goalie tandem in the Atlantic" prediction makes me uneasy.  Being a Leafs fan I expect things to fall apart when everyone is sending the team flowers like this.  We've gone from "both Woll and Stolarz are unproven as starters and injury prone" to "best tandem in the division!"  I see the potential there of course, but until I actually see the results I won't believe in it.
 
Guilt Trip said:
Let's see how Holmberg at 3C goes. Tre was speaking with Mike Johnson and MJ said Tre went on about Holmberg that was unprovoked. I think Holmberg had a very good camp and hopefully he can start coming into his own this season.
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I think he had a pretty good camp. He beefed up. He fought.
He took a bad penalty in his 1st preseason game and got beat in the faceoff dot that first game but recovered to 53.7 faceoff win% for preseason (improvement on last season).

I also thought he could be moved around the lineup last season and did a credible job of it (though there was plenty of room for improvement).

Centering two decent 3rd line wingers, it will be interesting to see how he does away from playing on Kampf's wing.
 
cw said:
Guilt Trip said:
Let's see how Holmberg at 3C goes. Tre was speaking with Mike Johnson and MJ said Tre went on about Holmberg that was unprovoked. I think Holmberg had a very good camp and hopefully he can start coming into his own this season.
Click to expand...

I think he had a pretty good camp. He beefed up. He fought.
He took a bad penalty in his 1st preseason game and got beat in the faceoff dot that first game but recovered to 53.7 faceoff win% for preseason (improvement on last season).

I also thought he could be moved around the lineup last season and did a credible job of it (though there was plenty of room for improvement).

Centering two decent 3rd line wingers, it will be interesting to see how he does away from playing on Kampf's wing.
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His cap hit and versatility help his case.  He's 800K and can play up the middle or on the wing.  He's also 3 years younger than Bobby McMann.  I know McMann had something click in 2022-2023 in the AHL for goal scoring but he also had a crazy week that inflated his totals when every shot he took went in the net.  He looked good and deserved that puck luck but I think we need to be a little careful not to bank on him being a 15-20 goal scoring, aggressive forechecking, penalty killing menace.
 
I dunno I personally think it's crazy to keep giving this Swedish winger extended opportunities to play C despite the fact that he struggles with it every time!
 
Zee said:
This "best goalie tandem in the Atlantic" prediction makes me uneasy.  Being a Leafs fan I expect things to fall apart when everyone is sending the team flowers like this.  We've gone from "both Woll and Stolarz are unproven as starters and injury prone" to "best tandem in the division!"  I see the potential there of course, but until I actually see the results I won't believe in it.
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For whatever it's worth Kevin is a big advanced goalie stat guy (things like rating expected goals against/save percentage) and Stolarz and Woll were both ranked very high in those areas last season. So he's probably leaning heavily into things like that in his analysis.
 
Im really not at all getting worked up over McMann sitting. McMann arguably had the worst camp out of the top 9 and I'm fine with having Patches/Robertson ahead for now. He'll slot in no doubt where possible. I do think Berube is going to be a lot more logical with his carrots and sticks.
 
Bender said:
Im really not at all getting worked up over McMann sitting. McMann arguably had the worst camp out of the top 9 and I'm fine with having Patches/Robertson ahead for now. He'll slot in no doubt where possible. I do think Berube is going to be a lot more logical with his carrots and sticks.
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I would not be surprised if he carved a hefty stick out of a gargantuan carrot.
This is the harshest thing I heard Berube say so far:
https://x.com/lukefoxjukebox/status/1843324794441515282
 
https://x.com/MapleLeafs/status/1843370842266517578

Officially confirms that Hakanpaa, Jarnkrok, and Mermis will all start the season on LTIR. Dewar is technically only on the IR, but not LTIR, because they don't need the additional cap space that would provide at this moment. He can always get placed their retroactively if need be.
 
L K said:
cw said:
Guilt Trip said:
Let's see how Holmberg at 3C goes. Tre was speaking with Mike Johnson and MJ said Tre went on about Holmberg that was unprovoked. I think Holmberg had a very good camp and hopefully he can start coming into his own this season.
Click to expand...

I think he had a pretty good camp. He beefed up. He fought.
He took a bad penalty in his 1st preseason game and got beat in the faceoff dot that first game but recovered to 53.7 faceoff win% for preseason (improvement on last season).

I also thought he could be moved around the lineup last season and did a credible job of it (though there was plenty of room for improvement).

Centering two decent 3rd line wingers, it will be interesting to see how he does away from playing on Kampf's wing.
Click to expand...

His cap hit and versatility help his case.  He's 800K and can play up the middle or on the wing.  He's also 3 years younger than Bobby McMann.  I know McMann had something click in 2022-2023 in the AHL for goal scoring but he also had a crazy week that inflated his totals when every shot he took went in the net.  He looked good and deserved that puck luck but I think we need to be a little careful not to bank on him being a 15-20 goal scoring, aggressive forechecking, penalty killing menace.
Click to expand...

I don't see McMann as a result of a "crazy week" after 1 AHL season. His AHL goals per game from 2021-22 to 2023-24 is .48 GPG (like Robertson's AHL goal scoring) and then he followed that with 15 goals in ~56 NHL games (like Robertson) - but unlike Robertson, with his start on the 4th line with Kampf & Reaves. Matthews scoring would suffer with Kampf & Reaves.

If you look how he scored in the AHL, it isn't a fluke. He's going to the blue paint, the slot, etc - the tougher scoring areas of the ice - he's less of a perimeter scorer than Robertson.

In the preseason, he led the team in hits and shots. He is more versatile in that he can play on any line including the 4th as a banger.

Berube commented on his 'hesitation'. I think that can be traced back to last season. I commented on it then. He is still finding his way in this league - figuring out positioning, his skating lines, his reads, etc. He's still thinking too much. He observed how good Pacioretty is at it - so he's learning like any player new to the NHL has to. As well, I think he pressed in this preseason and it messed with his timing on his shooting - he rushed his shots a little. I'm a little vague on this but from my recollection of the stats, his scoring chances on preseason were at or near the top of the team.

I think that if he gets ice time on lines 1 to 3 with some 2nd PP ice time, he'll score close to 20 goals or more.
 
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
Yup Zee yup.  Those TO goalie rankings seem like wishcasting.
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Yeah, but I've seen other teams have great goalie tandems in the past (hi Boston!) and I think to myself, "Why not us!??"  It might happen one day, let's keep a chin up!
 
Lorentz has the passion.

fXgsbOZ.jpeg
 
Zee said:
Lorentz has the passion.

fXgsbOZ.jpeg
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The real* pajama boy as risen

* They called Tavares pajama boy, but there was no visual evidence he was wearing Leafs pajamas, just a Leafs blanket and pillow case set (and a Naboo N-1 starfighter)
 
https://x.com/domluszczyszyn/status/1843349629611729069

The Athletic crunches their modeling projection for this season
 
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