Keefe should just play Domi at centre and save us the headache that's where he belongs look what he did in Chicago and Dallas there. Good at faceoffs works well with Knies seems perfect no. Just find a RW like Jarnkrok or Nylander whose good at finishing and were set

Knies-Domi-Jarnkrok is perfect

As for D 2nd pair RD and 3rd pair net front bruiser

Zadorov and Tanev
Dillon and Demelo
Murphy
Larsson
Etc

Part of why Domi looked so good on those teams was that he also got a ton of ice time. All due respect here..but who wants to give Domi more ice time than the 3 core forwards?

That was the conundrum of signing Domi IMO. Now that he's not getting the ton of ice time that he was in other places, he's still expected to show the same production...just in less ice time. Domi was also playing with other top players on said teams. Make what you want of this.

Easy... Gio and Timmins... Then rotate them in to prevent injury... I like the Rielly-Brodie pair but Lilly also works really well w Rielly... Have McCabe-Tanev as the 2nd pay and Z and Lilly as the 3rd...

Having too many good defensemen is a good thing to have when your defence constantly get banged up

Part of why Domi looked so good on those teams was that he also got a ton of ice time. All due respect here..but who wants to give Domi more ice time than the 3 core forwards?

That was the conundrum of signing Domi IMO. Now that he's not getting the ton of ice time that he was in other places, he's still expected to show the same production...just in less ice time. Domi was also playing with other top players on said teams. Make what you want of this.

Exactly. McCabe when hes not having to do everything is a good Dman we saw it in Buffalo and Chicago

2 teams who were worse defensively

Give him a partner he dont got to babysit and he will do very well

We saw promise with Liligren but to go far in the playoffs rather than gamble go get Tanev and Zadorov

2 teams who were worse defensively and he was apparently their best defensive defenceman. How does that compute? He's supposed to be the anchor and the ship is sinking. If he's as good as you say he is, why has every team he's been on, including the one he is on now, suck defensively? How does he always get a pass in your eyes?

Just figured I'd comments on a bunch of things from the past few pages in one post:

1. If a defensive player isn't good enough to "babysit" an offensive player...is he still good enough to be part of a shutdown pairing? I'm in the camp that thinks McCabe really isn't that great. He's not awful...for the cap hit was have him at, I think he's fine as a 4th-6th on the depth chart....but the more I see him play the more I question his hockey IQ. His analytics are best when he's paired with someone who can stabilize HIM. I just don't think he reads situations well and gets caught out of position more than a "shutdown guy" should.

2. Klingberg...it's a bit of a mixed bag. I never liked the signing...not at that number. He's not awful. He does a lot of subtle things offensively that many are overlooking. One thing, for me anyway...on the PP...he doesn't telegraph his passes the way that Rielly kinda does. So I don't mind him being PP1 QB over Rielly. That being said we never should have signed him to begin with. And while there's a million posts on here about trading him....we need to accept the fact that he's $4.1m...has a limited NTC clause..and Anaheim couldn't give him away at last year's deadline. No competing team is going to take him and that cap hit...and a willing trade partner might be on his no-trade-list....like...I can see a trade possibility like Calgary who agree to take him simply as cap ballast along with what they actually want in picks/prospects...but does Klingberg want to go to a non-playoff team when he's still trying to get another contract next year? I dunno...but it's not going to be as simple as saying Klingberg ++ can get us Zadorov and Tanev

3. What's with this Gregor bulls***? I'm not saying don't ever waive him...but I don't think there's better options right now for what this team needs. My understanding is not that the leafs traded Lafferty so that they could sign Gregor...it was that they needed to shave a couple thousand dollars to be cap compliant and Gregor at $775k fit and Lafferty at $1.15 didn't. Of course...take away the Klingberg signing and you could have easily had both. What's done is done, tho....and right now the leafs needs more defensive forwards than offensive ones, IMO. We already have precious few bodies for the PK....Gregor isn't a main PK guy but he does log about a minute per game....we waive him and bring up someone like Robertson...we're taking a piss-poor PK unit and making them even weaker in order to, at best, marginally get better on offense.

4. The leafs have played 9 games. 2 have been real stinkers (Chicago and LAK), 2 have been comfortable wins (Caps and Stars) and the rest have been a bit of a grind. Crying for line changes seems a bit premature. IMO...Matthews and Marner look better when you split them up for a month or two and then put them back together...as in they appreciate what they were missing in each other or something. Marner has been a bit off this year, tho. His passes aren't as crisp and he seems to be creating less than he usually does. Not sure if he's pressing so he gets his payday this offseason...not sure if getting married this summer put his internal schedule off or something...I'm sure he'll find it...and I'm all for mixing the lines a bit...but I think the outcry is a bit over the top at this point...moreso something to watch and see if it improves,

There does seem like there's been a bit of a philosophical change and personnel certainly has something to do with it...but it seemed like last season..there was an emphasis on team defense..lot of backchecking by forwards which was different from years past. This year it seems we've gone back to the old ways again and there's a lot of odd man rushes and pinches from the D that aren't backed up by a forward. We all crapped on Holl and Kerfoot but swapping those two guys for more offensive minded replacements is having an impact. For a team that was supposed to have more 'snot'...we don't seem harder to play against

I'd say the one narrative I don't like about the slow start from Marner (and to some extent Matthews if you take away the opening two hat tricks) is the amount of defensive zone stars both are taking.

This is Mitch at 5v5, he is getting more defensive zone starts than offensive zone starts. That is nuts.


The lack of a checking line or any real defensive players Keefe can trust has put the whole lineup out of whack. I've never been able to look at this roster and find defined roles for the players Treliving went out and got except for Bertuzzi. Fans could hate Engvall, Kerfoot, ZAR, other cardio players but they filled a need this roster has to have as currently constructed.

Domi has no place to be on a checking line, Knies is being wasted if not in the top 6, Kämpf and Reaves are god awful together yet Reaves has to be on the 4th line, Kämpf is lost without true defensive forwards on his wings that can carry the puck out, and Gregor just mindlessly shoots the puck (speed be damned).

I will honestly be shocked and pleasantly surprised if Keefe is able to find any consistent lineups he likes and work well together. There is no utility with this roster and that is a big concern.

Yuup. Rumour was they went after Gudas and when he signed elsewhere they pushed those chips over to Klingberg. Which sounds weird because they're two very different style of d-man,

But it's the opportunity cost. What were we not able to keep/sign because we spent over 4m on Klingberg? What are we going to be prevented from doing now? Would Dumba have signed for a little less with Toronto vs taking $3.9 with Zona? Would that have let us keep Lafferty and have a better PK?

There was just so much wrong with $4.1m to Klingberg on day 1 of free agency. Reaves, too, to a lesser extent. I don't hate it ...but his $1.35m cap hit vs some other piece of beef for $800k ended up impacting final roster decisions and hasn't had much of an on-ice impact (hopefully he's a value add in the locker room but who knows). When he gets trapped in our own zone and the leafs can't clear (and that's happened more than once and resulted in goals against more than once)...it's almost like being on the PK because he can't move.

Hopefully this year was just Treliving coming in June 1st....having a month to assess and try and re-sign pending UFAs...watching all of them other than Kampf walk...and then plugging the known holes with known veterans on 1yr deals to try and keep the team a contender while not pigeon holing himself into anything long-term.

As I type this...there wasn't a lot of quality available in free agency so I can see how we ended up here...but Klingberg and Reaves just stand out as guys you didn't need to give that AAV to right away

He left Buffalo in FA went to Chicago cause Buffalo was a mess and Chicago offered him a nice deal. Than Chicago traded him to Toronto a year and a half later cause we offered a good deal and they wanted Bedard.

Being on 3 teams in 11 years is not that bad for a player

Want issues look at Duclair or Brassard who have been on 7+ teams through their careers so far.

Sure hes helping you defensively but as said before money and packages talk. Offer the right deal player will join or be moved to your team even if hes been good for that team. As if that team wants to rebuild/tool why keep the player when you can get something. nice for the player to help with the rebuild.

Its simple hockey logic really

As in the end why keep a player that hurts the tank when you can get something for him and tank harder.

What the hell does any of that have to do with his ability? His results are underwhelming in TO. And it's the same thing that's been said about him for his career. He's physical but he chases big hits and puts himself out of position. That's not a shutdown defender. That's a better version of Bogosian. As others have said, if you need someone to stabilize you, or aren't good enough to stabilize others, you aren't a shutdown defenceman. McCabe is not what you say he is.

Need your fist NHL point play the Leafs

1st Louisiana born player to play in the NHL gets 1st point in 1st game

https://twitter.com/ARHockeyStats/status/1620233356448497664?lang=en
https://twitter.com/JFreshHockey/status/1551704487043239936
https://twitter.com/NickDeSouza_/status/1705312258555879835
https://twitter.com/EvolvingHockey/status/1420444800545927174

One of the most underrated Dman since 2018 nuff said. Where they saying hes underachieving lul. Most if not all charts show he is underrated and based on this silliness I can see why. Nick DeSouza along with Andy and Rono be right on the ball with this one. As we saw this year in 9 games with Klingberg ew yuck. With Lilgiren things were going the right way and he was looking good.

As said before hopefully he comes back soon as Liligren and the Dcore could use him rn cause this Dcore to fragile

Quickly reminded why I hate Marchand. Thats going to be an injury that lingers awhile for Lili. F***ing ridiculous

AND NO PENALTY WAS CALLED?!?!?!?!? Classic Wes McCauley game

The Leafs need to start using Kampf like how they did in his first season here. That line of him, Mikheyev, and Kase was filthy. Surround him with guys like that

Wes McCauley really does not seem to like us and at the worst times to

Liligren's injury comes at the worst of times as our Dcore is already fragile enough and now he and McCabe are out

Now its gonna be Klingberg out way to much being useless left right and center

And feel bad for Gio as hes gonna be worked to death

Hopefully a trade is made as its enough no more Klingberg. Take his money and flip him for someone else