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2021-22 Training Camp Thread

Joe S. said:
Could you imagine if we had 98% vaccination among the general public?

Imagine if we did a "get vaccinated or you don't get paid/don't get to play" policy with everything.  We probably would be at 98% vaccinated.
 
Transcripts of Dubas and Keefe's PC's yesterday:
https://twitter.com/LeafsNews/status/1440705192094171139
https://twitter.com/LeafsNews/status/1440772570291183616
 
https://twitter.com/lukefoxjukebox/status/1441040458852012032

Nylander and Tavares in different groups. Same with Rielly/Brodie and Muzzin/Holl. Could absolutely mean nothing but typically we see lines/pairs start together early in camp. I would lean more toward it meaning absolutely nothing in this case though.
 
If this team doesn?t gel and they can?t win a playoff round in the spring? or God for bid cant make the playoffs, you have to think management will be jettisoned into the sun at seasons ends.

I?ve repeated myself on this point, that I believe the primary issue for the lack of success is having too much of the salary cap allocated to our top four forwards. It is my belief that a more balanced lineup is essential for ultimate success.

Other than his stubbornness to stick with this plan through thick and thin (and hope it works out) , I think Dubus has done a decent job as GM. I just hope this ultimately isn?t his undoing when all is said and done .

On that note I truly hope this team can hit the ground running this year, can win enough games to qualify and finally make at least a little noise in the spring. I?m still waiting in anticipation and hope that I?m proven wrong about the Shanaplan.
 
I want to see Man Mountain Douglas in motion.

Sent from my moto g(7) power using Tapatalk

 
I don't think any of the guys we have lost off waivers have been make-or-break guys but it seems frustrating that over the last three years we have been jettisoning players through goodwill trades or guys lost on waivers.  We probably lose at least 1 guy after training camp at this point to waivers. 

Coming out of this offseason and given the cap complaints I don't think that I dislike any of the moves Dubas made in the offseason but I'm also not super excited about the depth either. 

 
RedLeaf said:
If this team doesn?t gel and they can?t win a playoff round in the spring? or God for bid cant make the playoffs, you have to think management will be jettisoned into the sun at seasons ends.

Any of that happens, Dubas will be, and should be, canned.  And that would mean the end of Keefe. 
 
L K said:
I don't think any of the guys we have lost off waivers have been make-or-break guys but it seems frustrating that over the last three years we have been jettisoning players through goodwill trades or guys lost on waivers.  We probably lose at least 1 guy after training camp at this point to waivers. 

Coming out of this offseason and given the cap complaints I don't think that I dislike any of the moves Dubas made in the offseason but I'm also not super excited about the depth either.

I think the growth of this team depends on the growth of the youth that are making their way into the line up. Home grown talent are the difference makers in the NHL and if they hit, you'll be a winning team. If they miss or never progress, you're not going to improve as a team.
 
L K said:
I don't think any of the guys we have lost off waivers have been make-or-break guys but it seems frustrating that over the last three years we have been jettisoning players through goodwill trades or guys lost on waivers.  We probably lose at least 1 guy after training camp at this point to waivers. 

I think, ultimately, the Leafs were getting nothing in return for those guys regardless of how they left the organization. While it may appear better in terms of optics, the guys lost on waivers had such minimal trade value, they likely would have returned a conditional 6th/7th round pick where that would never actually materialize - making it functionally no different from losing them on waivers. The goodwill trades, while not being great in terms of return, were probably pretty close to market value at the time, and there's value in removing players who are unhappy from the dressing room.

What bothers me more is some of the rental deals and some of the deals required to fix previous mistakes. These moves aren't entirely on Dubas - he's made his share of them, but so did Lou - but they have definitely contributed to a lack of meaningful contributors on ELCs in recent years.
 
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
RedLeaf said:
If this team doesn?t gel and they can?t win a playoff round in the spring? or God for bid cant make the playoffs, you have to think management will be jettisoned into the sun at seasons ends.

Any of that happens, Dubas will be, and should be, canned.  And that would mean the end of Keefe.

Do people that believe Dubas should be fired if the Leafs lose in the first round again also believe there is a significant amount of luck to winning in the playoffs?

I feel like the best GM/Coach in the world could still lose consistently due to bad luck, injuries, timely goaltending, etc....

I'm not saying Dubas won't be fired if they lose again, but I question if it would make this team better next year or the year after. It might instead trigger a retooling that would take anywhere from 1-2 to 5+ years to get back to where they are now. And then they roll the dice in the playoffs again.

I mean the Leafs have lost to better teams, the BJs in a COVID weird year, then to the Habs who crushed the Captain's face in the first period of game one.

I can understand wanting to get rid of Dubas because one might not agree with the philosophy he's used, but basing it solely on playoffs success, which has a huge degree of luck involved in my mind, seems more emotional a decision than logical.
 
https://twitter.com/kristen_shilton/status/1441062791314554908

On one hand we shouldn't read too much into day 1 camp lines, but on the other hand it sure beats talking about which NHLers are the dumbest morons on the planet so...

1) Ritchie always seemed like the odds on favourite to get the first chance to play with Matthews and Marner, so it makes sense to see him there.

2) Somewhat interesting that Kerfoot is lining up at centre. He always seemed miscast as the 3C but certainly stepped up in the playoffs in Tavares' absence with Nylander. Maybe that's led Keefe to wanting to keep those two together and having Tavares with Bunting and someone else.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
https://twitter.com/kristen_shilton/status/1441062791314554908

On one hand we shouldn't read too much into day 1 camp lines, but on the other hand it sure beats talking about which NHLers are the dumbest morons on the planet so...

1) Ritchie always seemed like the odds on favourite to get the first chance to play with Matthews and Marner, so it makes sense to see him there.

2) Somewhat interesting that Kerfoot is lining up at centre. He always seemed miscast as the 3C but certainly stepped up in the playoffs in Tavares' absence with Nylander. Maybe that's led Keefe to wanting to keep those two together and having Tavares with Bunting and someone else.

Mikheyev-Kerfoot-Nylander (1st line, I'm sure Herman agrees)
Ritchie-Matthews-Marner (2nd line)
Robertson-Tavares-Spezza (3rd line?  too slow? ... this won't happen)
Bunting-Kampf-Some other penalty killer
 
princedpw said:
Mikheyev-Kerfoot-Nylander (1st line, I'm sure Herman agrees)
Ritchie-Matthews-Marner (2nd line)
Robertson-Tavares-Spezza (3rd line?  too slow? ... this won't happen)
Bunting-Kampf-Some other penalty killer

I see it more as:

Ritchie-Matthews-Marner (1st line, sorry herman)
Bunting-Tavares-Kase/Gusev (JT goes back to his Islanders days of carrying random forwards)
Mikheyev-Kerfoot-Nylander ("3rd line")
Kampf-Spezza-Simmonds (takes and wins every single defensive zone faceoff)
 
CarltonTheBear said:
princedpw said:
Mikheyev-Kerfoot-Nylander (1st line, I'm sure Herman agrees)
Ritchie-Matthews-Marner (2nd line)
Robertson-Tavares-Spezza (3rd line?  too slow? ... this won't happen)
Bunting-Kampf-Some other penalty killer

I see it more as:

Ritchie-Matthews-Marner (1st line, sorry herman)
Bunting-Tavares-Kase/Gusev (JT goes back to his Islanders days of carrying random forwards)
Mikheyev-Kerfoot-Nylander ("3rd line")
Kampf-Spezza-Simmonds (takes and wins every single defensive zone faceoff)

Sure.  My "random forwards" for Tavares were Spezza and Robertson, because I like them.  :-). Wondering if we have enough penalty killers in that line up.  (Don't know if Bunting or Kase kill penalties ...)
 
princedpw said:
Wondering if we have enough penalty killers in that line up.  (Don't know if Bunting or Kase kill penalties ...)

Well right off the bat we've got Marner, Kerfoot, Mikheyev, and Kampf. That'll probably be the primary 4 guys. Spezza could get used as a FOGO guy. Bunting didn't kill penalties with Arizona last season but his style of play leads me to think he could be an effective player there. Kase got some PK minutes in his last season with the Ducks but it wasn't much.

One thing I'll be pretty curious to see if if Chynoweth will finally use one of Matthews or Tavares, more specifically Tavares for me, on the PK. He was pretty spoiled with all 3 of his top centres in Carolina (Aho, Staal, Trocheck) being able to log PK minutes.
 

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