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2025-26 Toronto Maple Leafs General Discussion

mr grieves said:
Although if they were to make it, they'd have to be playing at like a 110-point pace or whatever. They'd be pulling a Florida c. 2023 or whatever.
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To catch Boston for the 2nd wild card, they would have to play (roughly).683 hockey the rest of the way.
They're in trouble.
 
cw said:
To catch Boston for the 2nd wild card, they would have to play (roughly).683 hockey the rest of the way.
They're in trouble.
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I don't know how reliable any of the pace of play stuff is right now. Teams are just going on runs right now and I'm not sure that this stuff is sustainable. 4 of the 6 hottest teams in the league are in the Atlantic right now. 5 of the 6 are in the Eastern Conference.

Utah 8-1-1 (17/18)
Detroit 8-1-1 (17/18)
Tampa 8-1-1 (16/18)
Boston 8-2-0 (16/18)
Carolina 7-1-2 (16/18)
Buffalo 7-2-1 (15/18)

So while Boston is currently playing at a .596 PT% pace...a week ago the Leafs were playing at a .583% pace.

The Leafs are absolutely in trouble. I'm just not sure that the standings matter all that much this year until it becomes mathematical.
 
Powerplay:

Morgan Rielly - 1 primary assist in 121 minutes of PP time.

Easton Cowan 1.03 points/60 minutes
Nick Roy - 1.50 points/60 minutes
Morgan Rielly - 1.97 points/60 minutes
OEL - 2.13 points/60 minutes
Matthew Knies - 2.75 points/60 minutes
John Tavares - 3.03 points/60 minutes
Mattias Macceli - 3.17 points/60 minutes
Auston Matthews 4.28 points/60 minutes
Max Domi - 4.39 points/60 minutes
William Nylander - 4.59 points/60 minutes
Nick Robertson - 4.61 points/60 minutes
Bobby McMann - 6.2 points/60 minutes

The lack of offense on the blueline is telling, but I just don't get it. Easton Cowan has been handed minutes that are completely unnecessary and he's not doing much with them. I get this is likely a lost season at this point but I think the team has really done him a disservice putting him in positions to fail. His decision making is still stuck in OHL mode when he gets pressured and it shows when he can't produce outside of good transition play.

Knies-Tavares-Macceli-Matthews is our 4th-7th most productive players. Knies and Tavares are so rudundant with each other. It's blatantly clear that Knies is not healthy because he isn't the net front monster that he is capable of being when healthy. His explosiveness isn't there. Resting him....injuries aside is something that should have happened weeks ago.

Oh and who has the second and third least amount of PP time on the team....good old Nick Robertson and Bobby McMann.

PP2 has been the more dangerous unit most of the year except for the brief run post Christmas break where we split guys up. Nylander gets hurt and we went right back to ham fisting the slow puck movement brigade.
 
This might be the worst gm/coach combo since Floyd Smith/Tom Watt.

I still think JFJ is the worst because he doesn't have the Ballard excuse. But I think his 2 coaches were great - Quinn and Maurice.

Anyway, whatever. This team is depressing and the GM is terrible.
 
Bill_Berg said:
But they give up another instead of that happens. I meant trade to get it back from Boston. Or get other teams' firsts.
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The article that Herman posted lays out a way to get some firsts. OEL has value. Carlo still has value. McMann, could potentially be flipped for a decent package. Domi probably won't get you much, but it might be a case of addition through subtraction there. There are ways for the Leafs to get some picks. They just have to take that path. If they make the right moves, they could do a quick turnaround and retool on the fly here. Then in the offseason you talk about what to do with Rielly.
 
A high first round pick this summer would be nice. But probably those teams aren’t going to trade it.

Maybe we need to do some “hockey” trades where the likes of McMann and McCabe gets you a legit young top end prospect or something. Except do that 4 or 5 times.

I think you could get a decent package for Rielly at some point also.

I dunno.


Oh and after reading the article I still don’t want Treliving doing it. I think we’d end up more St Louis than Boston if he does.
 
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I have to remind myself how bad the Leafs were prior to the core 4 showing up. It's been a decent run, and I don't want it to end now without a cup.

Post Kessel trade, finishing 2nd last with no first round pick for the next two drafts was a pretty horrendous position to be in. If we do enter a rebuild, we have to recoup before it's too late. You cannot bottom out with no draft picks or prospects.
 
Look at what Boston did last year. And this year they are in a playoff position (so far), they've done that all the time in recent history.

I would rate to lose OEL, McCabe, McMann, but in the end, if the price is good, why the hell not ? I would also try to move Rielly and keep McCabe and OEL.

And if the Leafs don't qualify for Playoffs this year and end up being luck enough to get a lottery win, along with decent picks and prospect this can be done and team should be back in content territory next year.

I have absolute no faith in our GM to do so. He will probably stand pat.
 
Kaberle15 said:
Look at what Boston did last year. And this year they are in a playoff position (so far), they've done that all the time in recent history.

I would rate to lose OEL, McCabe, McMann, but in the end, if the price is good, why the hell not ? I would also try to move Rielly and keep McCabe and OEL.

And if the Leafs don't qualify for Playoffs this year and end up being luck enough to get a lottery win, along with decent picks and prospect this can be done and team should be back in content territory next year.

I have absolute no faith in our GM to do so. He will probably stand pat.
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At this point, what the Leafs have isn't working. So fire sale what you can, and come back stronger next year. And for the love of god have a plan for both the today and the future with the today plan not being "Here take my first for your impending UFA that isn't going to sign here" and the future plan not being ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯.
 
I don't get the Trev hate.

Trev tried to trade Marner. Who knows, maybe we would have been cheering (or booing) Marner on Sunday vs. Colorado with the Stanley Cup banner hanging from the rafters had that trade happened. Did you see Rantanen's game 7 VS Colorado VS Marner's game 7 snot-fueled hissy fit?
 
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