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2025-26 Toronto Maple Leafs General Discussion

Joe S. said:
I have to strongly disagree with this. Marchand engineered that trade specifically to Florida. They traded a 2nd round pick. That’s it. I’m sure there are other examples that prove your point better, but Marchand is not it.
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Leafs gave up more for both Laughton and Carlo.
 
GhostofPotvin29 said:
Look how many picks Tampa has dealt over the past decade and they’re still doing well. Probably the last impact player they’ve drafted is Ross Colton almost a decade ago. It’s not about trading or not trading picks or prospects. And almost every top team does that to try to improve. Lots of the Leafs plays didn’t work out, but had they won any of these incredibly close series and done something maybe we look back on them differently. The margins have been so slim a lot of the time.
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Okay I get what you are saying. They have been close. They have been to the final four four times since 1967, and in each of those they came up short. The closest was probably the year against the Kings and the defining moment in that series was the missed call on Gretzky.

Again, I know that there have been different regimes, but the stars never seem to align for this team. There is always something that we as fans can point to and say "Oh if only that had gone differently". Why have there been so many "Oh if only that had gone differently" for this team? The Red Sox, Cubs, Lions, Bills, English soccer have all or are going through something similar. The thing the Leafs have to figure out is why can't they get the stars to align. Easier said than done I realize, but still. At some point in 60 years, something should have clicked. Maybe they try drafting a dman other than Morgan Rielly sometime.
 
rdowdall said:
Okay I get what you are saying. They have been close. They have been to the final four four times since 1967, and in each of those they came up short. The closest was probably the year against the Kings and the defining moment in that series was the missed call on Gretzky.

Again, I know that there have been different regimes, but the stars never seem to align for this team. There is always something that we as fans can point to and say "Oh if only that had gone differently". Why have there been so many "Oh if only that had gone differently" for this team? The Red Sox, Cubs, Lions, Bills, English soccer have all or are going through something similar. The thing the Leafs have to figure out is why can't they get the stars to align. Easier said than done I realize, but still. At some point in 60 years, something should have clicked. Maybe they try drafting a dman other than Morgan Rielly sometime.
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Well they did try that with Stuart Percy :)
 
Joe S. said:
I have to strongly disagree with this. Marchand engineered that trade specifically to Florida. They traded a 2nd round pick. That’s it. I’m sure there are other examples that prove your point better, but Marchand is not it.
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Yeah, you're probably right, but doesn't remove the point that poor asset management looks like it has caught up to them. If not last season, definitely this season. (Whether that's their inability to trade for players, or their inability have prospects step in). Add in the inability to sign any sort of significant player because of the lack of room in the salary cap and you have a perfect storm of sh*t decisions.
 
dappleganger said:
Treliving used $6.7m this offseason to bring in two 4th liners. 😐
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Treliving used $6.7m this offseason, and paid for the privilege, to bring in two healthy scratches.


I did like the Joshua acquisition when it happened but I never had Maccelli in my offseason lineup mock ups. I never saw the fit above other players on the team (or other players that were available on the market). I never had Maccelli, Kampf, Jarnkrok in my theoretical lineups.

With the Carlo and Laughton moves also not working out great, I think the Leafs Pro Scouting really needs to be called into question.
 
Frank E said:
Tavares has been the heart and soul of this bunch thus far this season...he really really wants to make that Olympic roster me thinks.
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I'm going to call it right now, Tavares won't be on the Olympic roster. Hockey Canada is too interested in taking 'role players' instead of the best player available.
 
dappleganger said:
I'm going to call it right now, Tavares won't be on the Olympic roster. Hockey Canada is too interested in taking 'role players' instead of the best player available.
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Except, if they had their head screwed on straight, Tavares is exactly the kind of role player you put on a team like this. Even if he doesn't dress every game. His attitude he brings to the rink every day is exactly what is needed.
 
OldTimeHockey said:
Except, if they had their head screwed on straight, Tavares is exactly the kind of role player you put on a team like this. Even if he doesn't dress every game. His attitude he brings to the rink every day is exactly what is needed.
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Oh, I agree and it's exactly that. Hockey Canada doesn't have their head screwed on straight. JT doesn't PK and that seems to be a pre-requisite for their role players.
 
I know a lot is made of this in the media this time of year, playoff odds for teams at American Thanksgiving. I just want to point out Montreal and Ottawa were last and second last in the East at this time last year and both made the playoffs.

In a conference where 50% of the teams qualify for the playoffs, having 75% of the teams retain their playoff status at American Thanksgiving, it's really closer to 50/50 if teams get bumped out.
 
OldTimeHockey said:
Except, if they had their head screwed on straight, Tavares is exactly the kind of role player you put on a team like this. Even if he doesn't dress every game. His attitude he brings to the rink every day is exactly what is needed.
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Like Crosby, he's one of those superstars that is a highly skilled variant of a 4th line grinder.
 
dappleganger said:
Treliving used $6.7m this offseason, and paid for the privilege, to bring in two healthy scratches.


I did like the Joshua acquisition when it happened but I never had Maccelli in my offseason lineup mock ups. I never saw the fit above other players on the team (or other players that were available on the market). I never had Maccelli, Kampf, Jarnkrok in my theoretical lineups.

With the Carlo and Laughton moves also not working out great, I think the Leafs Pro Scouting really needs to be called into question.
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I’d just like to point out that this is why it’s not as easy as ‘get rid of the 11-13mil player and get 2-3 players instead’.

I’m not saying anyone here pushed for that (I don’t remember if anyone did) but I know that was all over talk radio for years.
 
herman said:
Like Crosby, he's one of those superstars that is a highly skilled variant of a 4th line grinder.
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Correct.

Unlike Crosby, you're not going to put him out in those crucial moments in the last minute of the game.....but you're also going to be rewarded from time to time when he wills his way to a goal.
 
Joe S. said:
I’d just like to point out that this is why it’s not as easy as ‘get rid of the 11-13mil player and get 2-3 players instead’.

I’m not saying anyone here pushed for that (I don’t remember if anyone did) but I know that was all over talk radio for years.
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I think this is where GM's shoot themselves in the foot. When they have this plan in their head but the plan has things that are outside of their control.

For example, the rumour for years was that when Burke was building the Leafs, after he had made the Kessel trade, he was sure that he was going to be able to sign the Sedins out of Vancouver. If you look at that plan it's not bad. You'd have the Sedins and Kessel on the first line, and then Kadri anchoring the second line, and Bozak on the third line. It would have been a pretty good team. However, Burke overvalued his relationship with the Sedins and they stayed in Vancouver, and he was never able to construct a good team.

This is what makes the draft such an important tool in team building. You have control over who you are drafting. Sure you may not be able to draft where you want, but you get to choose the type of player and position that you think best suits your needs as an organization. Once you have bottomed out and you have that top end talent, and your draft picks start becoming closer to the back end, that is where you will earn your money as a GM, because you have to make the correct picks there.

If you build up enough talent in your system, so that you have redundancy, you then have leeway to explore trades, because your not going to know what is available out there. At some point maybe a Leaf GM will understand this.
 
Still not seeing anyone in the bottom 6 that's looking to take advantage of the obvious opportunity to make a bigger impact...I'll give Laughton a pass given all the injuries, but McMann, Jarnkrok, and Maccelli, are all in need of a new contract. They should be motivated, and I'm not buying this is a coaching problem. I think this falls squarely on the individual player. I liked Berube scratching Joshua because he's lookied disinterested in playing a hard checking game.

I'm not a big fan of scratching Domi because I don't think they put him in a position to succeed in asking him to be a centreman. He's a good playmaker on the wing. I'd scratch Robertson with his 1 point in the last 2 weeks and he's not grinding like he was earlier in the season.
 
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