General Leafs Talk v2.0
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Sudafederov
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Jalili
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Bender said:
Yeah, frankly I don't think Aulie was all that he was cracked up to be.
bustaheims
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caveman said:
Way way way too early to come to that conclusion. Ashton just finished his 2nd professional season. There's still plenty time for him to make his mark on the team or in the league. Aulie, on the other hand, has pretty much reached what what his projected ceiling when he was drafted - a bottom pairing defenceman.
WhatIfGodWasALeaf
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Here is a decent run down of some of our prospects, the series is called the top 25 under 25 in our system and even a few honourable mentions, they just recapped number #19 on the list Carter Ashton.
http://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/toronto-maple-leafs-top-25-prospects-under-25
Take it all with a grain of salt, but it does provide some decent info on the lesser lights that are still in our system.
http://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/toronto-maple-leafs-top-25-prospects-under-25
Take it all with a grain of salt, but it does provide some decent info on the lesser lights that are still in our system.
A nice video I found on youtube: Toronto Maple Leafs 2014 Hype Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofekI7sogE8#t=352
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofekI7sogE8#t=352
WhatIfGodWasALeaf
Active member
http://mapleleafshotstove.com/2013/08/26/production-by-top-6-wingers-how-do-the-leafs-stack-up/
Great article on our top six and how the emergence of a strong Bolland led shutdown line should see us where we need to be.
Nice to see some positivity.
Petrelli is extremely readable.
Great article on our top six and how the emergence of a strong Bolland led shutdown line should see us where we need to be.
Nice to see some positivity.
Petrelli is extremely readable.
hockeyfan1
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Green Leaf said:
Nice hype!
hockeyfan1
New member
WhatIfGodWasALeaf said:
Much-needed. There's lots to cheer about looking ahead to the new season.
Hoping Lups stays healthy, he can be a real dynamite. Kessel is simply unbelievable, still surprised he is not receiving enough recognition. JvR should only get better. Ditto for Kadri. Clarkson definatelly brings a lots of grit in front of the net. I do not mind garbage goals. As far as Bozie, just keep Phil happy ;D. Scoring goals should not be problem. Bolland, Kuli, JayMac are pretty capable in that department too. The Leafs D has always been quite potent as well. Dion, Jake Gardiner and hopefully Cody Franson too should score 10 goals each over 82 games long season quite easily.
This could be very exciting group to watch, very good attack, impressive checking unit, solid D and talented goalies. September is just around the corner. Bring it on boys.
To make the playoffs would be more difficult, I guess. Just 3 teams out of 8 have a guarantee. With so many 3 points games winning in regulation would be a key. I am sort of an old school and I believe scoring goals wins you games (or best defense is the offense). In that regard I like their TOP6.
This could be very exciting group to watch, very good attack, impressive checking unit, solid D and talented goalies. September is just around the corner. Bring it on boys.
To make the playoffs would be more difficult, I guess. Just 3 teams out of 8 have a guarantee. With so many 3 points games winning in regulation would be a key. I am sort of an old school and I believe scoring goals wins you games (or best defense is the offense). In that regard I like their TOP6.
Redleaf
Active member
drummond said:
I agree for the most part. I know the season is still six or so weeks away, but I don't get all the bashing that's still going on here. This promises to be one of the youngest, most exciting, up and coming teams to watch in the league this season. Perhaps the most exciting and promising Leaf squad (at least to start a season) in over 10 years.
Of course, anything can happen once the season gets underway. (Look no further then the terrible Jays year, after all the promise and excitement to start.)
But, I think us Leafs fans may finally be worthy of a much deserved 'great' Leaf season. **Fingers crossed**
Can't believe that it was that long ago.
Newfoundlandleaf
New member
Change of topics here....why seemingly no word on signing Cody Franson? Or has there been movement? Capgeek shows him still not signed...
Britishbulldog
Active member
Newfoundlandleaf said:
I think that Franson wants more money than he is worth. Franson had a very decent offensive season but was typically playing 3rd pairing against weaker opponents. He played a bit more physical with Fraser watching his back but still was not as physical as Phaneuf, Fraser, O'Byrne, Holzer, Kostka and I feel even Liles played the body more than Franson.
I also feel that Liles is a better player than Franson and if Liles gets close to the 'next Colorado captain' level than Franson isn't needed as badly.
Nik and CTB really bounced the points around that I was thinking about Franson:
Nik the Trik said:
Champ Kind
New member
Bulldog, I thnk you're overstating things here. Liles is what he is and, in fact, is likely beginning to decline. I think what you saw in Franson last year was a significant step forward is his development into the player he can be. Yes, as others have noted, there are warts in his game. But what I saw were moments and specific plays that indicate a higher level athlete. Plus, no matter what, you can't teach or coach 6'5 and 230lbs.
He might be asking for more than he's currently worth, or maybe more than what he can realistically deliver. But suggesting Liles is even an adequate replacement for Franson straight up is a stretch.
Now, if you're suggesting trade Franson for X and Y and then play Liles instead, I'm willing to listen.
He might be asking for more than he's currently worth, or maybe more than what he can realistically deliver. But suggesting Liles is even an adequate replacement for Franson straight up is a stretch.
Now, if you're suggesting trade Franson for X and Y and then play Liles instead, I'm willing to listen.
Britishbulldog said:
I know that you're not stating this as a fact so you're entitled to that opinion, but I really don't think that's the case here. First, and somebody can correct me if I'm wrong here, but we haven't heard a word about what Franson or Toronto's asking price is in their negotiations. But with only $4.8mil in cap space it really doesn't even matter what Franson and Kadri are asking for, Nonis can't sign them both to contracts without making another move. Even if the two players were each willing to sign a 1-year deal for $2.5mil (which I think we can agree would both be steals), it wouldn't fit under the cap. If Nonis hadn't blown all of our cap space in June/July then both of them would be signed by now. It's that simple. Nobody here should be putting the blame on either player.
Britishbulldog said:
"Very decent" is a bit of an understatement. He was 4th on the team in scoring, 1st among defencemen. He was 8th in the entire league in points among defencemen. And the gap between 3rd and 8th was only 3 points. Over an 82-game season that's 53 points. And unlike Kadri's season where we saw his play tail off towards the end of the season and into the playoffs, Franson was very consistent. He scored 10 points in his final 12 regular season games and 6 points in 7 game playoff games. Yes, his primarily played on the teams 3rd pairing, but his role and responsibility increased as the season went on and his point totals weren't negatively effected by it. If you look at his monthly splits his ice-time increased by a couple of minutes every single month, starting at about 13 minutes a game in February and going up to 21/22 minutes in April and May. And those final two months were his most successful offensively.
Britishbulldog said:
Hits certainly aren't the most accurate stat out there, but I do think that they are rather effective when looking at them just in a team context. Last season he finished 4th on the team in hits with 124. Phaneuf and Fraser were ahead of him with 131 and 153 hits respectively. The difference there is less than a hit per game. Franson won't drop the gloves like those two might (Fraser especially), but he did start to throw his body around a lot more this season. Last season he had only 102 hits in 52 games and in Nashville the season before it was 81 in 80 games. So his physical play is definitely developing, as his the rest of his game. Overall he's definitely not as physical as Phaneuf or Fraser but he definitely has the upper-hand over Liles and Kostka. I don't even see how you could argue otherwise. And physical play is pretty much the only reason Fraser, Holzer, and O'Byrne were in the NHL last season so yeah, they better be superior to Franson in that regard.
Britishbulldog said:
I don't really think that there's a point to compare Liles and Franson here, other than the fact that we'll be forced to use Liles more if Franson doesn't return. But Liles doesn't have a future with this team. Regardless of what happens with Franson, Nonis will jump at the opportunity to trade him at the first chance. Gardiner (and next season Rielly) make Lile redundant. He doesn't fit a role on this team that isn't already occupied by a better player. Franson is a very unique defenceman and we don't really have anybody in the system like him. Like AWAB said, you can't coach 6'5'' and 230lbs. To be able to skate and play the way he does with that size is a pretty amazing thing. We always hear about how defencemen take the longest to develop, especially big ones. So I think that we would regret tossing him aside after he's finally showing his full potential.
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