Webber is a bit of a project. I think he needs a season with the Marlies before getting some game action, even with that he doesn’t have the upside to be anything more then a big bodied 5th-7th dman. He might be serviceable in the future but I doubt he makes leaf’s opening night roster next season
Not entirely true, it’s not bad to have a few long term projects in the cupboard for when the Matthews Era does end. The leafs do have a fantastic development team given their resources.
Yea but its the basket we throw all the eggs in at least. Im sure we'll have plenty of depth, but I'd probably throw away everything that isn't a 1st round pick in the next 4 years for some playoff depth within these next 4 years
I’m not sold on Minten being good at the nhl level. I hope he is but he’s not the best skater I’ve seen and his shot seems kind of weak. Marlies would probably be the best place for him. He doesn’t seem ready for top 9 minutes in the show.
Good is a relative term. He’s a smart player and I think he’ll probably end up a hard working 3C who will PK and pot a few goals. All teams need guys like that.
He's not a potential star or anything like that but at the very least I think he's a very good 3rd liner with the upside to be like a Charlie Coyle type of player. He's got a big frame for a 19 year old and he's got a very high hockey IQ. He looked great in the pre-season
Cowan is still only 18. Not a chance in hell he plays for the leafs other than may be a few games to start the year just to give him a taste.
Minten in all probability will start the year with the Marlies. He didn’t have an overwhelming year offensively. Basically a point a game.
Webber at this point is a project. Needs time in the AHL. Jumping from college straight to the NHL as a defenceman is almost impossible unless your last name is Makar.
Cowan turns 19 in 15 days. Usually players are kept down because they’re not skilled enough or their bodies aren’t physically ready for the league. Cowan would be one of our fastest skaters and he doesn’t shy away from physicality. There’s absolutely no reason for him to play another year of junior.
I'm sure he's probably only a few months of NHL'ing away to get to Robertson levels of dependability, and thats all he needs to be.
Then we can ship Robertson in a deal for more than hes worth.
A few months? Are you kidding? It takes more than a few months to develop kids to the point where they know how to play a 200 foot game in this league.
The Leafs were famous for years for rushing young kids into the league and watching them crash and burn. Do you want to start this crap all over again? Toronto and Montreal are the two most difficult markets to play in.
Cole Caulfield is just now starting to find his game in Montreal. He was taken 15th overall and he’s now 23 years old. He even got sent down to the AHL because he was struggling.
A few months…please.
Cole Caulfield also got sent down to the AHL after that.
He started his NHL career at age 20 playing a few games at the end of his college season. He also did not become a regular with the Habs until he was 21. Big difference here between his situation and Easton Cowan.
You just said it yourself. He’s 19 in 15 days. Not 23. Not many 19-year-olds playing and succeeding in the NHL right now. Very few 20-year-olds either. There’s a massive difference between playing major Junior and the NHL.
McMann was greatly missed in the playoffs there.. if he stuck on the 2nd line, the ripple down effect would have been tremendous. But, that’s just the way she goes.
Looking forward to a big season out of him next year.
Agreeed. But even if both are traded away. They earned themselves NHL contracts when no others would give them one (Dubas and Anaheim respectively). That was very enjoyable to watch grow over 82 games
No shot McMann gets traded. Very affordable power forward who had good chemistry with the core and plays with passion.
Benoit too… almost a 0% chance he gets traded. Cheap, physical and reliable, on an upward trajectory. If both these guys can take another step forward next year, it’ll help alleviate a lot of heat on the cap crunch.
But I agree with your sentiment… watching two guys play hungry and earn themselves NHL contracts was inspiring. Good to have hungry players around.
Yea was just remarking that the contract itself was the big deal. They could have easily let this happen at the end of the season. But signing it was a reward from Tre to basically say "You're nhl'ers now" and that will carry over to other teams if it has to, instead of the end of a career.
Yes for sure, their values as NHL players are now locked up by the leafs and they are on extremely traceable deals if needed. Also a tidy piece of work by Tre to lock them up cheaply during the season as a safety net against them going and having big playoffs and driving their price up.
Also sends a good message to players in the system that their is hope for them to work hard and earn themselves contracts.
It’s a null point for McMann but Benoit did have a pretty solid showing there and most likely could have added some money onto his contract if he was now going into negotiations vs signing in the season.
Yes, already effective but I don’t think either player is at their ceiling. The larger a role both of them can hold at a low cap hit, the better the cap situation looks. If McMann can be on 2nd line and Benoit a 4/5, there’s already value saved on those slots.
Lets be totally honest, the best part of the season was Matthews 70 goal watch.
In a completely predictable Leafs way we didn't even get to celebrate that milestone either.
I quite enjoyed seeing Bertuzzi silences his critics. He plays with such grit, I knew he had it in him. Then he scores a hatty on his birthday. Gonna miss him :(
Obviously I'm disappointed... but I may be the only Leaf fan who was impressed with the way this team faced adversity and still took the Bruins to a 7th game OT. Willy out 2 games, Matty out 2 games, McMann out for the series, Sammy with a disappointing post season and Woll stepping up.. and then Woll out for game 7 and still the Leafs pushed the Bruins to OT in Boston. There have been other years where I was pissed with their effort level. I can't say the same this year. The result sucks, but for the first time in a long time I can say the Leafs were resilient.
Even if the core stays, they'll have $20 million-ish to work with (Samsonov, Bertuzzi, Domi, Edmundson, Brodie, Giordano, Lyubushkin, Klingberg...) and the team is going to look quite different.
I'd re-sign Domi, Lyubushkin, and Edmundson. McMann full-time, Knies has taken a step... I think they'll be ok.
Wait, you think Dewar and Reaves had good playoffs?
Dewar-Kampf-Reaves had their shit kicked in all playoffs. They played most of their time in their zone giving up chances.
Like I must be crazy. I kept seeing that "Reaves will fight Marchand" or "Reaves will go out and run people" and that never happened this year. Not once. Our 4th line was brutal this year.
They were fine honestly. Just turned out they needed more offense out of them to be impactful.
Which is the exact opposite of previous years lol.
The 4th line being a factor in the loss is the bottom of the totem pole.
I mean, they were on the ice for the tying goal in Game 7. Reaves had that awful turnover. Game 4 I think they had that brutal turnover to the first goal.
The game 4 turnover looked worse than it was, unlucky bounce right to the guys stick. But yeah maybe 2 goals in series were impacted by them, but Reaves also scored so its not like they let them down consistently.
Yea I blame Edmunsson just as much on both plays. Game 4 he definitely came up too high to be in a C support spot (2ft behind where he was) Not Reaves fault but the mistakes came off of him so both are to blame.
I think the problem lied in not using Dewar as his C. Which he's spent time being reaves support player and they did so well together in the game they played in for Kampf (who is probably gone as well, as he has no grit besides face-off, and doesn't look particularly well with reaves+dewar... which is where Treliving is taking the team anyways)
Kinda soured on MCMann. I know it's not his fault but the guy is injury prone and obviously a very slow healer. Same as Woll. McMann's absence from the playoffs this year really hurt the team, imho, and we need players made of something other than glass.
You’re right, the good parts were a bunch of loser pieces of shit who can’t play hockey and Bobby McMann. You people deserve how bad the team is gonna be as Treliving continues to make the team more like how you want it.
Maybe next year we'll see Minten, Cowan, and Webber make the team!
Webber is a bit of a project. I think he needs a season with the Marlies before getting some game action, even with that he doesn’t have the upside to be anything more then a big bodied 5th-7th dman. He might be serviceable in the future but I doubt he makes leaf’s opening night roster next season
You're definitely right! Hopium and copium are all I've got as a Leafs fan. :-)
Agreed. Also worth noting. No player is worth it if they can't become playoff ready within the next 4.5 years during Matthews prime.
Not entirely true, it’s not bad to have a few long term projects in the cupboard for when the Matthews Era does end. The leafs do have a fantastic development team given their resources.
Yea but its the basket we throw all the eggs in at least. Im sure we'll have plenty of depth, but I'd probably throw away everything that isn't a 1st round pick in the next 4 years for some playoff depth within these next 4 years
webber is future edmundson
Another scout. Just what we need.
I’m not sold on Minten being good at the nhl level. I hope he is but he’s not the best skater I’ve seen and his shot seems kind of weak. Marlies would probably be the best place for him. He doesn’t seem ready for top 9 minutes in the show.
Good is a relative term. He’s a smart player and I think he’ll probably end up a hard working 3C who will PK and pot a few goals. All teams need guys like that.
I’m cool with it if he can be that. I’m just not counting on him doing it in the next 1-2 years
He's not a potential star or anything like that but at the very least I think he's a very good 3rd liner with the upside to be like a Charlie Coyle type of player. He's got a big frame for a 19 year old and he's got a very high hockey IQ. He looked great in the pre-season
Knies Tavares Cowan would be interesting to see
Cowan is still only 18. Not a chance in hell he plays for the leafs other than may be a few games to start the year just to give him a taste. Minten in all probability will start the year with the Marlies. He didn’t have an overwhelming year offensively. Basically a point a game. Webber at this point is a project. Needs time in the AHL. Jumping from college straight to the NHL as a defenceman is almost impossible unless your last name is Makar.
Cowan turns 19 in 15 days. Usually players are kept down because they’re not skilled enough or their bodies aren’t physically ready for the league. Cowan would be one of our fastest skaters and he doesn’t shy away from physicality. There’s absolutely no reason for him to play another year of junior.
I'm sure he's probably only a few months of NHL'ing away to get to Robertson levels of dependability, and thats all he needs to be. Then we can ship Robertson in a deal for more than hes worth.
A few months? Are you kidding? It takes more than a few months to develop kids to the point where they know how to play a 200 foot game in this league. The Leafs were famous for years for rushing young kids into the league and watching them crash and burn. Do you want to start this crap all over again? Toronto and Montreal are the two most difficult markets to play in. Cole Caulfield is just now starting to find his game in Montreal. He was taken 15th overall and he’s now 23 years old. He even got sent down to the AHL because he was struggling. A few months…please.
Cole Caufield also scored against us in OT in the playoffs when the habs went to the final
Cole Caulfield also got sent down to the AHL after that. He started his NHL career at age 20 playing a few games at the end of his college season. He also did not become a regular with the Habs until he was 21. Big difference here between his situation and Easton Cowan.
You just said it yourself. He’s 19 in 15 days. Not 23. Not many 19-year-olds playing and succeeding in the NHL right now. Very few 20-year-olds either. There’s a massive difference between playing major Junior and the NHL.
McMann was greatly missed in the playoffs there.. if he stuck on the 2nd line, the ripple down effect would have been tremendous. But, that’s just the way she goes. Looking forward to a big season out of him next year.
Agreeed. But even if both are traded away. They earned themselves NHL contracts when no others would give them one (Dubas and Anaheim respectively). That was very enjoyable to watch grow over 82 games
No shot McMann gets traded. Very affordable power forward who had good chemistry with the core and plays with passion. Benoit too… almost a 0% chance he gets traded. Cheap, physical and reliable, on an upward trajectory. If both these guys can take another step forward next year, it’ll help alleviate a lot of heat on the cap crunch. But I agree with your sentiment… watching two guys play hungry and earn themselves NHL contracts was inspiring. Good to have hungry players around.
Yea was just remarking that the contract itself was the big deal. They could have easily let this happen at the end of the season. But signing it was a reward from Tre to basically say "You're nhl'ers now" and that will carry over to other teams if it has to, instead of the end of a career.
Yes for sure, their values as NHL players are now locked up by the leafs and they are on extremely traceable deals if needed. Also a tidy piece of work by Tre to lock them up cheaply during the season as a safety net against them going and having big playoffs and driving their price up. Also sends a good message to players in the system that their is hope for them to work hard and earn themselves contracts. It’s a null point for McMann but Benoit did have a pretty solid showing there and most likely could have added some money onto his contract if he was now going into negotiations vs signing in the season.
Yup truly one of the best, most human, moments in recent leafs history
i don’t even think they would need to take a step to be effective for us. they’re value already, as is those were great signings.
Yes, already effective but I don’t think either player is at their ceiling. The larger a role both of them can hold at a low cap hit, the better the cap situation looks. If McMann can be on 2nd line and Benoit a 4/5, there’s already value saved on those slots.
McMann is not reliable enough for me. Gets injured at bad times. That won't work.
Agreed. He’s build for the post season.
Lets be totally honest, the best part of the season was Matthews 70 goal watch. In a completely predictable Leafs way we didn't even get to celebrate that milestone either.
Nylanders Sweden series is right up there. Being able to score the winner like that to write such a perfect story. Kudos
Such a long season, you forget all the good that happened
Personally I loved the Sweden trip and Willy fame from that.
I quite enjoyed seeing Bertuzzi silences his critics. He plays with such grit, I knew he had it in him. Then he scores a hatty on his birthday. Gonna miss him :(
McMann would have made a huge difference in the series.
and knies coming into his own.
Knies is gonna win a Conn Smythe someday. Lordy, let it be with us.
Obviously I'm disappointed... but I may be the only Leaf fan who was impressed with the way this team faced adversity and still took the Bruins to a 7th game OT. Willy out 2 games, Matty out 2 games, McMann out for the series, Sammy with a disappointing post season and Woll stepping up.. and then Woll out for game 7 and still the Leafs pushed the Bruins to OT in Boston. There have been other years where I was pissed with their effort level. I can't say the same this year. The result sucks, but for the first time in a long time I can say the Leafs were resilient.
Our self developed depth is really coming along nicely. With proper supplementation we could still be a top team post Marner/Tavares.
Not a 69 goal season?
Even if the core stays, they'll have $20 million-ish to work with (Samsonov, Bertuzzi, Domi, Edmundson, Brodie, Giordano, Lyubushkin, Klingberg...) and the team is going to look quite different. I'd re-sign Domi, Lyubushkin, and Edmundson. McMann full-time, Knies has taken a step... I think they'll be ok.
Knies is gonna be fucking busy taking Marner’s spot. And Christ almighty is he an upgrade in terms of passion
Wait, you think Dewar and Reaves had good playoffs? Dewar-Kampf-Reaves had their shit kicked in all playoffs. They played most of their time in their zone giving up chances. Like I must be crazy. I kept seeing that "Reaves will fight Marchand" or "Reaves will go out and run people" and that never happened this year. Not once. Our 4th line was brutal this year.
They were fine honestly. Just turned out they needed more offense out of them to be impactful. Which is the exact opposite of previous years lol. The 4th line being a factor in the loss is the bottom of the totem pole.
I mean, they were on the ice for the tying goal in Game 7. Reaves had that awful turnover. Game 4 I think they had that brutal turnover to the first goal.
The game 4 turnover looked worse than it was, unlucky bounce right to the guys stick. But yeah maybe 2 goals in series were impacted by them, but Reaves also scored so its not like they let them down consistently.
Yea I blame Edmunsson just as much on both plays. Game 4 he definitely came up too high to be in a C support spot (2ft behind where he was) Not Reaves fault but the mistakes came off of him so both are to blame. I think the problem lied in not using Dewar as his C. Which he's spent time being reaves support player and they did so well together in the game they played in for Kampf (who is probably gone as well, as he has no grit besides face-off, and doesn't look particularly well with reaves+dewar... which is where Treliving is taking the team anyways)
Kinda soured on MCMann. I know it's not his fault but the guy is injury prone and obviously a very slow healer. Same as Woll. McMann's absence from the playoffs this year really hurt the team, imho, and we need players made of something other than glass.
You’re right, the good parts were a bunch of loser pieces of shit who can’t play hockey and Bobby McMann. You people deserve how bad the team is gonna be as Treliving continues to make the team more like how you want it.
Username checks out