Maple Leafs are better, but are they a playoff team?
- Thread starter cw
- Start date
maplesyrup
New member
Man, this is shaping up to be a slugfest in the East. 3 points separating 1st and 8th this morning. We just can't afford even another minor set-back.
maplesyrup
New member
Bender said:
Yes... 8th... Man, my head just isn't right right now. - I fixed the original post.
GhostofPotvin29
New member
Other than the last 3 teams, no one else has a losing record in their last 10 games.
Potvin29 said:
Yeah, its insane how everyone's winning. At the same time I think this might bode well for us. If we can put together a string of wins and just maintain status in the dogfight we should be doing a lot better once Army, Reims and Connolly get back. Hopefully Dion or Phil don't get hurt, that's all I ask.
bustaheims
Active member
Potvin29 said:
It feels like there's been a lot of inter-conference games of late. Eventually, these teams will go through long stretches against each other, and things will settle down a little.
ZBBM
Active member
This has been a strange season. At this point you can say two things about this team. They are partly contradictory, yet they are both true.
1. The Leafs are a far worse team than their W-L record indicates.
2. They have managed to not collapse playing without their most important player for most of the season.
I still think that it's a mistake to worry about "squandering this good start." The team has improved enough that it will be in the playoff hunt no matter what. It is nowhere near improved enough to make any kind of run in the playoffs should we get in. If by some miracle we projected out the current 10-6-1 to a whole year, we'd finish somewhere in the range of 3-5 seed. Yet our almost total lack of playoff experience would very likely spell a 1st round exit -- just as I would expect if we snuck into 8th.
So for me, the most important thing is for the team to get its defensive act together -- esp. the PK. If we do that, I think we'll find a way into the playoffs. But I would fully expect that to be nothing more than a learning experience for the young guys this time around.
1. The Leafs are a far worse team than their W-L record indicates.
2. They have managed to not collapse playing without their most important player for most of the season.
I still think that it's a mistake to worry about "squandering this good start." The team has improved enough that it will be in the playoff hunt no matter what. It is nowhere near improved enough to make any kind of run in the playoffs should we get in. If by some miracle we projected out the current 10-6-1 to a whole year, we'd finish somewhere in the range of 3-5 seed. Yet our almost total lack of playoff experience would very likely spell a 1st round exit -- just as I would expect if we snuck into 8th.
So for me, the most important thing is for the team to get its defensive act together -- esp. the PK. If we do that, I think we'll find a way into the playoffs. But I would fully expect that to be nothing more than a learning experience for the young guys this time around.
moon111 said:
They now give the Leafs a 41% chance of making the playoffs - major drop off from a couple of weeks ago (cut in about half).
These guys give them a 63% chance
http://www.playoffstatus.com/nhl/easternstandings.html
Regardless, confidence in their chances has substantially dropped.
GhostofPotvin29
New member
The goaltending needs solidified. It might not be as simple as that, but any team needs a goaltender to bail them out in a funk, and if we're going to alternate nights of good goaltending with nights of awful goaltending it won't get us there. It's a trickle-up/down whatever effect I think.
S
Stebro
Guest
I don't think that we are as bad as we look from time to time, but I can tell you this much, with one scoring line, pretty bad special teams in general we wont make it. If the coaching staff don't find a way to improve special teams we're done.
Here's the standings by points win%
1 NY RANGERS 0.719
2 PITTSBURGH 0.694
3 PHILADELPHIA 0.676
4 WASHINGTON 0.656
5 BUFFALO 0.647
6 FLORIDA 0.618
7 TORONTO 0.611
8 BOSTON 0.563
9 NEW JERSEY 0.531
10 TAMPA BAY 0.529
11 OTTAWA 0.500
12 MONTREAL 0.500
13 CAROLINA 0.417
14 WINNIPEG 0.417
15 NY ISLANDERS 0.367
I see no reason why I shouldn't declare the top four as close to locks for the playoffs this season (ignoring catastrophic injuries).
If Miller is able to return and find his form, Buffalo seems safe to me and Enroth is playing as I expected he would: well. So there's no obvious sign the Sabres will tank.
Boston has woken up and I expect they're very likely to be secure for a post season berth.
These teams seem to be in decent position to fight for the last two spots:
FLORIDA 0.618
TORONTO 0.611
NEW JERSEY 0.531
TAMPA BAY 0.529
OTTAWA 0.500
MONTREAL 0.500
From that, we might be back to where we started when discussing the Leafs prospects for the playoffs this season: if they get decent goaltending, they've still got a decent shot.
If one of these three things happen:
a) if Reimer can return relatively soon and play well
b) if Scrivens or Gustavsson can play better
c) if Burke can find a goalie who can step in and help
it improves the defence and PK - the two worst aspects/biggest weaknesses of this club. So I've come full circle.
1 NY RANGERS 0.719
2 PITTSBURGH 0.694
3 PHILADELPHIA 0.676
4 WASHINGTON 0.656
5 BUFFALO 0.647
6 FLORIDA 0.618
7 TORONTO 0.611
8 BOSTON 0.563
9 NEW JERSEY 0.531
10 TAMPA BAY 0.529
11 OTTAWA 0.500
12 MONTREAL 0.500
13 CAROLINA 0.417
14 WINNIPEG 0.417
15 NY ISLANDERS 0.367
I see no reason why I shouldn't declare the top four as close to locks for the playoffs this season (ignoring catastrophic injuries).
If Miller is able to return and find his form, Buffalo seems safe to me and Enroth is playing as I expected he would: well. So there's no obvious sign the Sabres will tank.
Boston has woken up and I expect they're very likely to be secure for a post season berth.
These teams seem to be in decent position to fight for the last two spots:
FLORIDA 0.618
TORONTO 0.611
NEW JERSEY 0.531
TAMPA BAY 0.529
OTTAWA 0.500
MONTREAL 0.500
From that, we might be back to where we started when discussing the Leafs prospects for the playoffs this season: if they get decent goaltending, they've still got a decent shot.
If one of these three things happen:
a) if Reimer can return relatively soon and play well
b) if Scrivens or Gustavsson can play better
c) if Burke can find a goalie who can step in and help
it improves the defence and PK - the two worst aspects/biggest weaknesses of this club. So I've come full circle.