mjd1001

No, the Leafs single biggest problem is that Matthews (and their other stars) just don't play as well in the playoffs as other stars around the league do. Its a large enough sample size to come to that conclusion. Over their careers, guys like McKinnon, Draisaitl, Kucherov, McDavid.....equal their regular season production or in many cases EXCEED it once the playoffs arrive. Matthews, Marner, and Tavares not only have their production drop in the playoffs, but it drops by a noticable amount, and this is now for their entire playoff careers. WHY that happens may be a differnet question, but, for the most part, their stars don't always show up once the playoffs start and that is pretty common with this team, year after year.

I posted this about to weeks ago. I grew up kinda liking the leafs, but the single biggest reason why I do not like them anymore is the CONSTANT complaining about the refs by their fans.

So, as others have said...... Eichel vs Reinhart (and Montour) for the Cup is looking more and more probable every day.

In an ideal world (one that the NHL/Junior leagues won't allow to happen), all players would be eligible to play in the minor leagues, in Buffalos case for either Rochester or Cincy. Depending on where a guy is in his development you could slot him where he best fits.

Every year after 3rd round (maybe the 2nd round) you should be picking a goalie: -In the past 5 seasons, look at the most successful goalies (in wins, who happen to be also close to the top in GAA and SV percentage). Only 2 were first rounders. 7 of the 10 were picked in the 3rd round or later. -On the other side of that, impact players taken later than the 3rd round in other players are few and far between. The sabres, since 2008, in the 3rd round and later, these are their most impactful non-goalie picks: Brayden McNabb, Marcus Foligno, Nick Baptiste, Olofsson, Will Borgen, Brandon Hagel, Jacob Bryson. That is it out of 79 total players picked over that time. In those same rounds they did Draft Portillo, UPL, Jonas Johansson, Cal Peterson, Linus Ulmark (among 2-3 other goalies) and this is not with them drafting one every year. Lets not forget Levi was a late round pick. Across the league goalies have a much better chance of being impact players, as with the Sabres own drafting, with later round picks than other positions. If you have a goalie ANYWHERE on your draft board close to where you are picking, you should be picking one every year in the middle to late rounds.

I dont' want him even for the Vet minimum, want no part of him. He is not going to do well on a 4th line in that role. Put him on a top line and I don't want that either because I'd rather have some of the younger guys get those minutes. I don't see a way I want him on this team at all, with the exception of 3-4 of the top 6 wingers on this team going down with injuries in camp. Even then, I'd probably rather write off the year than have Kane there.

Doesn't really bother me where he is. Yes, I get it, he is likely to be great. Generational. A step behind McDavid but close. But we have had generational talent in the past few decades and it hasn't ruined competition in the league. Crosby as "the next great one" has 3 cups while he is going into is 19th year. Ovechkin may be the best scorer the league has ever seen and he has 1 cup while going to his 19th season. McDavid is in his 8th year and no cups (yet). Joe Thornton wasn't quite generational, but he was probably as close to it coming out (there were some who called him generational when drafted) and in 24 years, no cups. Eric Lindros was generational FOR SURE, may have had as much hype as McDavid and more than Bedard coming out, and in 13 years no cups (the first part of his career he was fairly healthy). I'd be less 'worried' he would ruin my teams chances....and would rather have him play in my own division so I could see him play more often. I'm glad we have great players to watch, but I think the NHL is a league where a guy isn't going to turn competition on its head. If McDavid and Crosby have 3 cups between them in 26+ seasons combined I'm not worried about that. Plus Chicago has a long way to go. They have a lot of 1st round picks coming up to help them, but many of those high picks are going to be later in the draft, and they are starting with almost nothing right now. They are 'set up' well for the future, but there is a LOT of heavy lifting. I'd be afraid if we had a guy like Mario Lemieux coming into today's NHL. I think Lemieux playing in the NHL of 2023 would be unstoppable. He could carry a bad team to the cup, but I haven't seen a talent like Lemieux since, well, since Mario Lemieux.

I really don't know much at all about just how good any of these players are, or how good of a fit they will be with the Sabres. So specifically, I really can't comment on any names in particular with any level of confidence. All I know is I want 2 NHL quality D-men to be aquired, and once we hear who they are, I want to be pretty easily convinced they will help a lot. I don't need much more from this offseason other than that. A Dahlin extension at a good number would be great.

Sometimes picking high works really well (usually does) but sometimes it doesn't. I was surprised looking back at the draft history of Ottawa in their first few years. Starting in 1992 and for the next 5 years, they picked: 2nd overall, 1st overall, 3rd overall, 1st overall , and 1st overall. 3 first overall picks, and 5 years picking in the top 3. What did it get them? Yashin, Daigle (Pronger went next), Bonk, Bryan Berard and Chris Phillps. Chicago is lucky to pick in a year where there is a 'generational' talent. Ottawa was just unlucky that they picked that high in a few years where not much came out of those drafts for years.

I was wondering so I looked up who were the last 15 players taken in the draft at #13, to get an idea of how good that pick is/can be: Frank Nazar, Matthew Coronato, Seth Jarvis, Spencer Knight, Ty Dellandrea, Nick Suzuki, Jake Bean, Jakub Zboril, Jakub Vrana, Josh Morrissey, Radek Faska, Sven Baertschi, Branden Gormley, Zack Kassian (last time the Sabes picked 13th), and Colton Teubert. Other guys available in those years taken within a couple picks of 13th that were still on the board then (picks 14-17): Cole Caufield, Charly McAvoy, Jacob Chychrun, Matthew Barzal, Dylan Larkin, Sonny Milano, Alex Tuch, Tom Wilson, Tomas Hertl, J. T. Miller, Vladmir Tarasenko,

That's gotta stick. Would be in the top 10 nicknames ever.

I picked 6 of the 8 first round series wrong. Playoffs are a different animal for sure in terms of expectations.

I am not as sure as others that Power will be a dominant D-man. I hope he will, and there are signs, but I think he still has a year or two at least to go until he is very good/great. But, I'm saying long term anyway. The best way to be a top team in the NHL is to take chances and sign your 'core' to long term deals. Overpay them in the early part of their contract so that in later years they aren't getting overpaid. With the commitments made to Cozens and Thompson, I say go all in...EVERYONE who identify an important piece going forward, lock up long term now. Overpay them now when you have the cap room.

I listened a bit to 590 today. Probably 20 minutes. Just one host and one guest talking, so not a lot of opinions, but in general: -You have to decide on the core. They seem 'entitled' and 'coddled'. If you trade just one of them, the 3 remaining guy will override any 'culture' that the new guy would bring in. If you are going to change the core, you need to move 2 of them. Tavares won't be moved because of his age/contract, so if you make some moves, 2 of the 3 of Matthews, Nylander, and Marner need to go. -As far as managment/coaching: Moves may be made here, but if you fire Keefe, its going to be a 'move to make a move' because he really has tried different things. Players clearly think they have control though, as when Keefe called them out as being 'soft' a while back, he had to 'walk back' those comments. Dubas actually did a good job the last few trade deadlines, not his fault. Shanahan? No one really knows what he does, if a member of management needs to go they think it should be Shanahan. -The guys on the station truly think the leafs are the most 'talented' team in the league. They did make one comment about running the current team out there 'one more year' and seeing how it goes, but then one guy said you have to make a decision on Matthews contract likely this offseason, so if there is even a chance you are going to make any changes, do so now. At least from the host/guest, there was not a lot of Angst, just almost a level of acceptance of the loss if the leafs end up not coming back from down 3 games.

A good point was made on the radio this morning when listening to a show out of Toronto. Carolina is missing some important pieces...Svechnikov, Pacioretti, and Teravainen. However, they are playing like a team that will absolutly refuse to be outworked, no matter if the 1st or 4th lines are on the ice.

The thing I'm surprised the most with is the Florida/Toronto series, or should I say the Toronto reaction to being down 0-2. On social media, there is a lot less Toronto Angst than I thought, a lot of people thinking being down 0-2 is just a minor inconvenience that will simply mean they will win in 6 or 7 games instead of 4 or 5 games now. AND, listening a bit on the Radio to 590 out of Toronto, most of the hosts have the same opinion. Instead of Toronto fans/media being super worried, they are still very very sure Toronto will win the next 4.

Ads on phones/web sites. Sure they have always been there but in the past few months it has gotten a lot worse. So much so that often time I'll 'relax' with my phone or tablet to catch up on some news or sites I follow, and after about 5 minutes I just give up. -Sites that give you the topic...and EVENTUALLY get to the story (not total clickbait) but they go on and on and on for paragraphs before they get to the point of the story. In the mean time, you have to scroll through 5 regular static ads, 3 pop ups, and its hard to read because as you are reading, the pop ups don't show up all at once but are staggered in so the story moves off the screen. -Legit web sites. I don't mean the gossip style ones but sites that are from legit news sources (some that you have to pay to subscribe to but you stil get ads) that let you start to read the article and 5 seconds later an ad shows up that takes up "HALF" the screen. Then you can 'close' it after the countdown timer goes from 10 sec to zero..but then the 'x' to close it is so small that when you try to press it most of the time your touching the screen actually triggers the ad itself and it takes you to the company site. WHEN you finally get to close that, you read for 5 more seconds, and another ad pops up blocking the center of the screen. Remove that and then the store 'moves again' where you have to scroll to find where it went to. As you swipe up on the screen to get back to where you were reading, another ad pops in at the EXACT spot that you are swiping, of course taking you to the web site of the company/product that ad is for. Again, in the past there were some fringe pages that used thesed tactics, but more and more sites are staring to do it when reading articles on a mobile device. AND, when a company forces an ad to you and it takes you to their pages, does that actually cause THAT Many people to buy their products? Any company that pays for those ads, If I remember them at all I am more likely to go out of my way to NOT support them.

No. I'm not a fan of him. I think hes on the downside of his career and the slide is getting quicker. Don't really see a good fit with this team. Would much rather watch one of the young guys take any spot he would take. So many reasons to not have him here. Please no.

I don't know what the analytics say, but eye test I wouldn't put Karlson in the top 3. I know, this point total gets him in there but his Defensive play is pretty awful at times. It seems like he put some effort into his own end 3-5 years ago and he got better, but he's back to being bad. I have seen more than one highlight of him this year where he is on the ice and a goal is scored against them where he kinda just stands there and does...nothing. 101 points is a lot, that means he was on the ice for a lot of goals for...but when your plus-minus is a negative 26 WITH 100 points for...that means you are on the ice for a LOT of goals against. The eye test of his play shows it. He has 25-30 more points than the rest of the top-10 D-men...but I am pretty sure his play and effort in his own end cost his team more goals against than that. Without a late Dahlin injury, he should be there instead of Karlsson. Because Dahlin got injured, Morrisey should be there instead of Karlsson.

Again, I'm not going to judge him on this one series when he was playing very hurt when he did play. Plus even if you do, it doesnt invalidate his entire career of being a shut-down center and being great at that with 'selective' hitting.

Boston was 'outhit' but Florida, but only slightly. 38-34 in hits per 60 during their series. Very close Bergeron also only played in 3 of the 7 games (he missed more than he played) and when he did play he wan't 100%, so this series is really not a good metric of how much he hits/how effective his team is because of it.

It wasn't brought up directly but I listed to an interesting discussion early in the season about hitting: -Patrice Bergeron was brought up. Not a huge hitter, but it was said what makes him effective as a defensive forward is partly because he doesn't hit. The few hits he does make are ones where there is virtually zero chance of it causing him to be out of the play. In today's NHL, you want to make no more contact than you need to make to not put yourself out of position, or to even make it 1 second slower to get back 'into the play'. Basically, the way the NHL is played today, most (not ALL, but most) hits do more to put a player out of position than the benefits they bring for 'finishing a check'.

Yet you keep spending time trying to get the last word in. Noticable that you won't respond directly to any of the points I explained in my last few points, but yet you feel the need to just say its ridiculous. Nothing to add to the actual discussion. Just want to criticize my post and then walk away. Way to step up for what a message board is here for.

Don't know much about him, but from what i just read, he's a lottery ticket. Has some potential, in a few years see what you have with him. Glad hes signed now.

Not sure how it would work, but I'm guessing if there are tickets available, some broker or at least a few people who live in the USA might buy them up and sell them in the 2nd hand market to leaf fans?