2024-25 Toronto Maple Leafs General Discussion

[cw]

I also don't know how they can keep Cowan for 9 games.
Someone will lose a spot. They don't have waivers exempt forwards they can stash with the Marlies for 9 games.
Either they keep Cowan or send him down.

As Siegel also mentioned in his radio hit posted today, things always tend to come up during camp that work things like this out. So I don't know if I would really think too hard about how everything will fit until we're actually in October.

I agree. I said something to that effect recently.

There are too many moving parts and possibilities.

I can't recall seeing Lorentz play.
Don't recall seeing Pacioretty recently.
Liked Hakanpaa but hadn't seen him much. How's that bone on bone knee going to work out
New coaches
What is Cowan going to be like? Minten?
Maybe Grebyonkin turns some heads (I've just seen highlight video)
Where are they going to slot Benoit?
Or Liljegren?
Who is going to partner with McCabe?
someone nearly always overachieves in camp ..
Will some of the AHLers turn heads?
Is Reaves going to show up ready and fit this year?
What's Murray going to be like? Could he make things interesting? Will he clear waivers?

There are a gazillion ways this could go.

Even below the NHL roster, they seem to have a lot of players for the Marlies & ECHL
Lots going on. It's interesting. Impossible to confidently predict.
Good news is they have options.

 

[herman]

https://x.com/MapleLeafs/status/1834635254931263749
oh no

 

[cabber24]

I also don't know how they can keep Cowan for 9 games.
Someone will lose a spot. They don't have waivers exempt forwards they can stash with the Marlies for 9 games.
Either they keep Cowan or send him down.

As Siegel also mentioned in his radio hit posted today, things always tend to come up during camp that work things like this out. So I don't know if I would really think too hard about how everything will fit until we're actually in October.

I agree. I said something to that effect recently.

There are too many moving parts and possibilities.

I can't recall seeing Lorentz play.
Don't recall seeing Pacioretty recently.
Liked Hakanpaa but hadn't seen him much. How's that bone on bone knee going to work out
New coaches
What is Cowan going to be like? Minten?
Maybe Grebyonkin turns some heads (I've just seen highlight video)
Where are they going to slot Benoit?
Or Liljegren?
Who is going to partner with McCabe?
someone nearly always overachieves in camp ..
Will some of the AHLers turn heads?
Is Reaves going to show up ready and fit this year?
What's Murray going to be like? Could he make things interesting? Will he clear waivers?

There are a gazillion ways this could go.

Even below the NHL roster, they seem to have a lot of players for the Marlies & ECHL
Lots going on. It's interesting. Impossible to confidently predict.
Good news is they have options.

This, although it's fun to speculate, nothing will likely go as scripted. I am excited about this mix of players this year. The sheer physical size of this team is something I'm excited about.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/TheTorontoSun/status/1834382814210322846

I think this might be the first time we've really gotten to hear Berube talk about potential line-up topics. He doesn't quite go into too much in detail on anything but brought up two things that I thought were interesting:

1) He talks about how he wants to build a 3rd line that's an "identity" line like he had in St. Louis when they won the Cup and Tampa when they won their Cups. So, it'll be interesting to see how that happens because I'm not quite sure our line-up makes doing that super easy. The closest would be something like a McMann-Tavares-x trio, which I certainly wouldn't be opposed to, but we still have to wait and see first what Berube decides to do down the middle. Unsurprisingly that will have a lot of trickle effects.

Worth noting that St. Louis started their Finals match-up against Boston in 2019 with a Maroon-Bozak-Thomas 3rd line. This isn't exactly what you'd think of when you hear someone like Craig Berube talking about a "heavy hockey" identity line. Maroon obviously does what he does but Bozak and a 19-year old Thomas seemed out of place. By game 7 Sammy Blais, a 22-year old rookie with size, replaced Thomas on that line. St. Louis' entire forward line-up in general actually feels relatively small looking back at it now when you consider that they were the hard working, "heavy hockey" Berube team.

2) Berube unsurprisingly seems excited about having Chris Tanev on the team. I guess when asked who he might play with Berube specifically said "we'll have to see how the partner thing works out". The common assumption has certainly been he'll end up right on the top pairing with Rielly, giving Mo the best defensive partner he's had in his entire career as a Leaf. But I could also just as easily see him forming a duo with McCabe on more of a primary shutdown unit. With Tanev's talents you want him going up against the other teams star players/line game in, game out. Do you also want Rielly sharing those responsibilities, or would it be better for him to take advantage of very slightly easier minutes alongside a Hakanpaa, Liljegren, or maybe even OEL on his right side where he's played a lot throughout his career.

 

[herman]

St. Louis' entire forward line-up in general actually feels relatively small looking back at it now when you consider that they were the hard working, "heavy hockey" Berube team

Heavy, I think, is a misnomer for momentum: speed x mass. Small players can play heavy hockey if their speed is used to constantly be in the face of the opponents, and constantly on top of and taking the puck.

?We want to be a team first. When I look at teams that win, it?s always about the team and what?s best for the team. It?s not about individuals. We want to play aggressive, physical hockey. I like to have a heavy team. And we want to play fast. And when I say heavy, I don?t mean running around and fighting people. Our team in St. Louis probably had the least number of fights in the NHL. We just played hard hockey, good in front of both nets.?

Go, Team Fasstholes!

 

[herman]

https://x.com/Kyle_Cush/status/1835753233718882382

 

[herman]

https://x.com/mapleleafs/status/1836080206257279194
Oh we going milk n? cookies for the ads?

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Don't know if I posted it here, but I totally called Oreos (only because I figured this was some corporate/sponsorship thing and it was the first brand that started with an O that popped in my head)

 

[Kaberle15]

Did Alex Nylander got a PTO for the Leafs camp ?

He was signed only in AHL

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

Did Alex Nylander got a PTO for the Leafs camp ?

He was signed only in AHL

Everyone on an AHL contract usually starts the first week with the Leafs and then a select few get a longer look so that the guaranteed Leafs don't have to play too many preseason games.

 

[herman]

Don't know if I posted it here, but I totally called Oreos (only because I figured this was some corporate/sponsorship thing and it was the first brand that started with an O that popped in my head)

cheating on us?!

 

[bustaheims]

Did Alex Nylander got a PTO for the Leafs camp ?

He was signed only in AHL

Everyone on an AHL contract usually starts the first week with the Leafs and then a select few get a longer look so that the guaranteed Leafs don't have to play too many preseason games.

Yup. AHL deals often include training camp invites. Also, not unusual for teams to have their AHL and NHL squads together, as they should be learning and working on the same/similar systems.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Don't know if I posted it here, but I totally called Oreos (only because I figured this was some corporate/sponsorship thing and it was the first brand that started with an O that popped in my head)

cheating on us?!

No, no, no, I think I said it like in person to another human or something.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

Jon Gilles on a PTO

30 y/o 6'6" goalie with 35 NHL games and a career .891 save percentage.

He's played 45 games since 2020-21 split between the AHL and ECHL with some NHL sprinkled in.

I wonder if one of the goalies tweaked something at the prospect showdown and this guy is just a warm body for camp.

 

[cw]

Maybe they figure Murray won't clear waivers ...

I already thought they had good goaltending depth.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

Maybe they figure Murray won't clear waivers ...

I already thought they had good goaltending depth.

I thought they'd figured this out by including a signing bonus in veteran goalie's contracts the day after waivers?

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Maybe they figure Murray won't clear waivers ...

I already thought they had good goaltending depth.

I thought they'd figured this out by including a signing bonus in veteran goalie's contracts the day after waivers?

I think it's a smart tactic but it doesn't really completely shut the door on a potential waiver claim. Especially if hypothetically Murray looks great at camp.

 

[cw]

Murr

Maybe they figure Murray won't clear waivers ...

I already thought they had good goaltending depth.

I thought they'd figured this out by including a signing bonus in veteran goalie's contracts the day after waivers?

Murray was signed the day after Stolarz - got $100,000 signing bonus

 

[Zee]

Maybe they figure Murray won't clear waivers ...

I already thought they had good goaltending depth.

I'd highly doubt someone would claim Murray.  I think that's the reason they went Murray instead of Jones, Martin Jones probably wouldn't clear given what he did for some of last season.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

Maybe they figure Murray won't clear waivers ...

I already thought they had good goaltending depth.

I'd highly doubt someone would claim Murray.  I think that's the reason they went Murray instead of Jones, Martin Jones probably wouldn't clear given what he did for some of last season.

FWIW some of the goalie guys around the league who have trained with Murray this summer, say he is playing the best/healthiest he has since he won in Pittsburgh.

If that's remotely true, he might turn a few heads at camp/pre-season.