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The ****ing Season Thread 2018-19

BeLeafer

BeLeafer

Well-known member
The offseason is officially over! What an offseason it was, eh.

Quest for the Stanely Cup starts today, with or without William ****ing Nylander.
 
This season should be fun to watch. Curious to see if the d looks different by the end of the year, or if the current squad gets it done well enough we don't make any external moves
 
Yeah, I suspect Dubas isn't going to sit on his hands like Lou did. If that defense doesn't step up, I'll expect a move. Big thing is how long it will take for Dubas/others to convince Babcock that Rielly-Hainsey is not a top pairing (at least not one that will lead to the SC).
 
Let's open the season with a meeting of the Atlantic division GM's (stolen from Reddit):



[video=youtube_share;tB4I7UtJ1zs]https://youtu.be/tB4I7UtJ1zs[/video]
 
BeLeafer said:
The offseason is officially over! What an offseason it was, eh.

Quest for the Stanely Cup starts today, with or without William ****ing Nylander.
Click to expand...

I confess to being a bit surprised Nylander is willing to sit out, or if Gross is advising him to do so, why their thought is this will improve the team's offer. I thought this was going to get done by camp.

In the near to mid term it's advantage Leafs. Of course they'd be better with him, but they have plenty of offence and can afford to wait.

I'd be very surprised to see Dubas cave on this.
 
Basically, Nylander's only hope at this point is that the Leafs hit the skids to start the season and that the team and/or the Matthews line has serious trouble scoring.

Otherwise, I'm not sure what exactly he figures is going to change to make the Leafs do an about-face and cave to his demands.

And even so, it seems like an exceedingly dumb strategy to me. I think it's highly likely that the Leafs will go on and win a lot of games while scoring bucket-loads of goals even without Nylander, and all that's going to do is reduce his already minimal leverage even more, while Nylander loses out on between $30-45K for each day he doesn't sign.
 
I mean, Nylander doesn't really have any leverage here does he? Especially when Matthews looks fine with Ennis on his wing. I just don't get the play. Obviously we don't know what either side is offering/asking for, but yeah...
 
It's been reported in the media that Michael Nylander may be the person driving Willy's insane contract demands.

Hurry up and sign kid, you're not THAT good.
 
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Ugh.... This latest call of mine, of Nylander being a big problem... Does that get me moderator status? All predicted.. All coming to pass.

I told you, the best Leaf of the 60's or the the closest Leaf to Willy. Was incensed by Bad Cock's treatment of Willy. Well, I only told you a little bit. And unlike my Schenn call, which was perfect, this one hurts me. Cause I love Willy.

Hockey boards love sheeplike posts. When I get info, I post it.. But not here. You get slam dunked. Anyways sorry to be right about this one. I am about to meet my insider this afternoon.

I don't have time for hockey much any more. Lost my biggest client to circumstances and I gotta hustle and make up.

Remember my Schenn call?

My newest call?

Leafs in real trouble this year, will struggle to make playoffs. Dubas and Bad Cock hate each other... It will spread.

As always I love the crappy franchise... The blue and white, but I refuse to get a tattoo of blue and white till they win not one but two Stanley Cups.

Till then? They suck.... Who else waives Curtis McBackup?

Who else does that? What message does that send to every agent in the league, that Doofus(Dubas) waives warriors that put up record save percentages...

Ahhh... I predict a bad season so far. If Willy signs I will change my stance, but with Bad Cock in charge.. We will have a tough season.

Oh we will make the playoffs I suppose, but we won't go anywhere in them... Not with this idiot behind the bench and I mean Idiot.
 
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LeafGm said:
Let's open the season with a meeting of the Atlantic division GM's (stolen from Reddit):



[video=youtube_share;tB4I7UtJ1zs]https://youtu.be/tB4I7UtJ1zs[/video]
Click to expand...

Just for shits and giggles, here's my rank for noteworthy centres in the Atlantic. I'm not ranking by P1/60, but I'll include it in brackets because I think it correlates as well as any single number does to 5 on 5 offensive performance. There is some strength of linemates baked into that though, and I'm only using a one year sample. I'll also separate into what I see the tiers being.

The "Matthews Tier".

Matthews (2.6)

He's legitimately all by himself here. There's only 3 centres in the league to compare him to, maybe 4 if Mackinnon repeats his 17/18 season. None of them are in this division thank ****.

----------------

Very Good #1 centres

Barkov (1.4)
Stamkos (1.9)
Bergeron (1.7)
Tavares (1.6)
Point (1.9)

The Atlantic is very deep up the middle. This whole group probably slots into the top 12-15 in the NHL. To have almost half of the top 12 out of one division is impressive, and aggravating.

----------------

Okay #1 centres

Eichel (1.7)

Call me a hater, I don't give a ****. He's over rated by the media, period. With that said, there's nothing wrong with being a top 20ish centre at his age.
----------------

Fringe #1 centres

Kadri (1.4)
Duchene (1.7)

Both should probably make any top 30 list
----------------

Good 2nd Line C

Krejci (1.6)
Larkin (1.5)
Trochek (1.1)

I don't think that needs a lot of elaboration
-----------------


Some thoughts:

- Yeah, I have Barkov ranked really high despite pedestrian (by the standard of this tier of players) primary offensive numbers. He plays a ton, and in heavy matchups and the puck goes the right way when he's on the ice. Probably the hardest centre on that list to play against, and yeah that includes Bergeron. Basically, he's the new Bergeron, except he's the 6'3 220 version.

- Matthews is though, the best centre in the division and it's not really that close

- I don't even know if Stamkos is actually a centre anymore, if JT Miller is actually the full time guy there, he barely makes this list

- Eichel is over rated by the media. He's kind of mentioned in the same breath as Matthews and he's not even remotely close. With that said, he's an interesting study in interpreting these statistics. I see a good argument for him being a bit under rated here offensively as he has played with very meh talent. On the other hand, his Relative stats flatter him because he plays on such a horseshit team.

- Bergeron isn't getting "carried" offensively by Pastrchand, but there's little doubt they're inflating his offensive numbers. Still a really good centre though.

- I think Point is going to be in the argument for 2nd on this list by the end of the year. There's a good argument for having him higher now, but I get that him doing it again is a key piece of information here.
 
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nice list.

the tampa centers are interesting to watch. both stamkos' and point's PP numbers influence their overall picture so extremely, in opposite ways.
 
LeafOfFaith said:
I always said that Eichel wasn't thaaat good. I've never been super impressed by anything he does.
Click to expand...

He's the ultimate eye test player imo. Fast as hell (dodgy acceleration, but his top gear is elite), great hands, heavy shot. The sum of the parts don't add up though.
 
If he was the ultimate eye test player, then I’d be the one to love him. But I just don’t. He’s not a true impact guy.
 
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