2022-23 Toronto Maple Leafs General Discussion

[Zee]

Just read a piece in the athletic. I think Ville Husso and Varlamov are the two goalies I?m hoping for next year.  Other thoughts?

Both?  How could Leafs afford the cap hit on those 2?

 

[Kin]

I really enjoyed the regular season? And I told myself that I was going to enjoy this no matter what happens in the playoffs. Yet the playoff loss still stings.  a lot.  oh well.  just want to push through the summer and get back to regular season hope.

It's about Baseball, not hockey, but I think if we're going to persist in the irrational attachment to any sports team but especially the Leafs people should, every now and again, read Bart Giamatti's "The Green Fields of the Mind"

That is why it breaks my heart, that game--not because in New York they could win because Boston lost; in that, there is a rough justice, and a reminder to the Yankees of how slight and fragile are the circumstances that exalt one group of human beings over another. It breaks my heart because it was meant to, because it was meant to foster in me again the illusion that there was something abiding, some pattern and some impulse that could come together to make a reality that would resist the corrosion; and because, after it had fostered again that most hungered-for illusion, the game was meant to stop, and betray precisely what it promised.

Of course, there are those who learn after the first few times. They grow out of sports. And there are others who were born with the wisdom to know that nothing lasts. These are the truly tough among us, the ones who can live without illusion, or without even the hope of illusion. I am not that grown-up or up-to-date. I am a simpler creature, tied to more primitive patterns and cycles. I need to think something lasts forever, and it might as well be that state of being that is a game; it might as well be that, in a green field, in the sun.

 

[louisstamos]

Just read a piece in the athletic. I think Ville Husso and Varlamov are the two goalies I?m hoping for next year.  Other thoughts?

There's been some chatter on Twitter about a Muzzin for Varlamov trade.  I don't mind Varlamov as a goalie - his stats have been fairly consistent on the island (except for 2020-21, where he had a monster year with a 2.04/.929), but he's apparently very publicly pro-Putin, which...urgh.  Going from Campbell to that would be very hard to cheer for.

 

[herman]

I sort of really mind Varlamov as a person

 

[Zee]

I sort of really mind Varlamov as a person

Combo of Varlamov + Dusty Imoo as goalie coach perhaps?  8)

 

[bustaheims]

I sort of really mind Varlamov as a person

We know this management group puts a lot of value into personalities, etc., when bringing in players, so, that might disqualify Varlamov.

 

[Kin]

Didn't see it mentioned anywhere but in addition to Auston, obviously, Marner was the First Team All-Star at RW.

 

[Guilt Trip]

Didn't see it mentioned anywhere but in addition to Auston, obviously, Marner was the First Team All-Star at RW.

And Bunting was 1st team rookie...quite a year for that line.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Didn't see it mentioned anywhere but in addition to Auston, obviously, Marner was the First Team All-Star at RW.

I'm actually a little surprised that Marner didn't end up on a single Hart ballot as a 4th or 5th place vote. 10th in scoring, tied for 7th in points per game. But if you take away the first 2 weeks of the season where M&M had to drag around Ritchie he was 9th in points and tied for 4th in points per game, just a smidge behind McDavid.

If you take away all 11 games where Marner was essentially only playing with 1 forward linemate because of how colossally awful Ritchie was as a Leaf his points per game rate goes from 1.35 to 1.54, which would tie McDavid's scoring rate for the full season.

 

[princedpw]

I really enjoyed the regular season? And I told myself that I was going to enjoy this no matter what happens in the playoffs. Yet the playoff loss still stings.  a lot.  oh well.  just want to push through the summer and get back to regular season hope.

It's about Baseball, not hockey, but I think if we're going to persist in the irrational attachment to any sports team but especially the Leafs people should, every now and again, read Bart Giamatti's "The Green Fields of the Mind"

That is why it breaks my heart, that game--not because in New York they could win because Boston lost; in that, there is a rough justice, and a reminder to the Yankees of how slight and fragile are the circumstances that exalt one group of human beings over another. It breaks my heart because it was meant to, because it was meant to foster in me again the illusion that there was something abiding, some pattern and some impulse that could come together to make a reality that would resist the corrosion; and because, after it had fostered again that most hungered-for illusion, the game was meant to stop, and betray precisely what it promised.

Of course, there are those who learn after the first few times. They grow out of sports. And there are others who were born with the wisdom to know that nothing lasts. These are the truly tough among us, the ones who can live without illusion, or without even the hope of illusion. I am not that grown-up or up-to-date. I am a simpler creature, tied to more primitive patterns and cycles. I need to think something lasts forever, and it might as well be that state of being that is a game; it might as well be that, in a green field, in the sun.

Interesting writing. Thanks!

It is remarkable how emotionally invested I am in a collection of one group of humans I don?t know  vs another group I don?t know playing a game with rather arbitrary rules.

 

[princedpw]

Didn't see it mentioned anywhere but in addition to Auston, obviously, Marner was the First Team All-Star at RW.

I'm actually a little surprised that Marner didn't end up on a single Hart ballot as a 4th or 5th place vote. 10th in scoring, tied for 7th in points per game. But if you take away the first 2 weeks of the season where M&M had to drag around Ritchie he was 9th in points and tied for 4th in points per game, just a smidge behind McDavid.

If you take away all 11 games where Marner was essentially only playing with 1 forward linemate because of how colossally awful Ritchie was as a Leaf his points per game rate goes from 1.35 to 1.54, which would tie McDavid's scoring rate for the full season.

Let?s hope he breaks some records next year.

 

[princedpw]

I sort of really mind Varlamov as a person

I don?t know anything about him?what has he done?

 

[princedpw]

ah, someone said he is pro putin. I see. Awful.

 

[herman]

ah, someone said he is pro putin. I see. Awful.

Well that's part of it, but his claim to infamy is all the allegations of domestic violence back when he was with Colorado. The cases might have absolved him on a legal level, but the US legal system for these situations is very abuser/power-friendly.

 

[ZBBM]

It is remarkable how emotionally invested I am in a collection of one group of humans I don?t know  vs another group I don?t know playing a game with rather arbitrary rules.

Well said.

I guess that's why "fan" is short for "fanatic" ? it's pretty irrational.

 

[Bullfrog]

I wouldn't really say it's irrational. Sports fanaticism is related to theories about tribalism. We generally don't need tribes to survive anymore, but I suspect that instinct is still there.

 

[Arn]

There?s absolutely nothing rational about sports fandom. That?s why I love it.

Like there is absolutely no reason a lad from a town a few miles outside Belfast, a city that has the only single ice rink to serve an island of 4.5 million people, and who can still barely skate without holding on to the dasher boards, and a city which didn?t even have a professional hockey team until the same lad was in his 20s, would end up being a fan of the Maple Leafs to the extent of having flown across the Atlantic Ocean multiple times to attend games and do tours of the arena and hockey hall of fame etc.

But here we are.

Like if it was rational I?d have picked someone who might have won a cup by now ;D

Wouldn?t change it for anything though.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

There?s absolutely nothing rational about sports fandom. That?s why I love it.

Like there is absolutely no reason a lad from a town a few miles outside Belfast, a city that has the only single ice rink to serve an island of 4.5 million people, and who can still barely skate without holding on to the dasher boards, and a city which didn?t even have a professional hockey team until the same lad was in his 20s, would end up being a fan of the Maple Leafs to the extent of having flown across the Atlantic Ocean multiple times to attend games and do tours of the arena and hockey hall of fame etc.

But here we are.

Like if it was rational I?d have picked someone who might have won a cup by now ;D

Wouldn?t change it for anything though.

Honestly heartwarming, Arn.

 

[Frank E]

There?s absolutely nothing rational about sports fandom. That?s why I love it.

Like there is absolutely no reason a lad from a town a few miles outside Belfast, a city that has the only single ice rink to serve an island of 4.5 million people, and who can still barely skate without holding on to the dasher boards, and a city which didn?t even have a professional hockey team until the same lad was in his 20s, would end up being a fan of the Maple Leafs to the extent of having flown across the Atlantic Ocean multiple times to attend games and do tours of the arena and hockey hall of fame etc.

But here we are.

Like if it was rational I?d have picked someone who might have won a cup by now ;D

Wouldn?t change it for anything though.

Honestly heartwarming, Arn.

.

We're gluttons for punishment.

 

[Kaberle15]

Liljegren extended for 2 years, 1.4Mi avarage.