for all you leafs fans?

Question

are we happy with this years team?

Answer 1

I'm happy.

G - With or without Raycroft, Toskala is a huge improvement

D - The D is solid. The front 4 of McCabe, Kaberle, Kubina and Gill is very solid. White, Colaiacovo, Harrison, Kronwall, and Wozniewski are all on the cusp of being regular NHLers

F - This is where the problems lie. If you get Peca....great. If not....things may be not so good.

Sundin between Antropov and Ponikarovsky is a good start
Wellwood between Tucker and Blake is a good second line
Battaglia, Bell, and Peca would be a great checking line (again if you can sign Peca)
Stajan, Steen, Kilger, Ondrus, etc can fight for 4th line ice team. Maurice has also stated that Tlusty and Jeremy Williams will be given every chance to make the team too.

Peca's injury killed the Leaf's penalty killing. Nine times they gave up a game-tying shorthanded goal in the third period. They lost 7 of those games. Those 7 points were the difference between the 9th seed and 6th seed.

Answer 2

Not a leafs fan, but I'm convinced that they still
don't have what it takes to even make the playoffs this year.
Do you really think that Toskala and Bell will make much of a
difference ? Shoddy defence will make any goaler look
ordinary and Bell has a prison sentence waiting for him at the end of the season ... that has to be weighing heavy on his mind.
They should trade Sundin to a contender so at least they could get some good players in return.... and Sundin at least deserves a chance to put his name on Lord Stanley's Cup.

Answer 3

I am happier with the leafs this year but I don't think that they will get a better spot in the playoffs than 7th or 8th. John Ferguson doesn't take big enough risks to make the team better and until he starts making bigger trades, we will be stuck in this cycle of fighting for a last place playoff spot

Answer 4

Happy, no. Happier, yes. Really, I won't be happy till we got a decent chance at the cup. I'm still okay with it though because we got every reason to think the playoffs will be easy enough to get to. Toskala will be a huge improvement over Raycroft, Bell will help our depth and Blake will be a good linemate for Sundin. Our team will definately be improved. Who knows what can happen if we make the playoffs though.

Answer 5

Look, get the name right, it's Make Beliefs or Laffs until they get to a Final (hey, I'd say win a Cup but Final is good enough). The Laffs suck badly. The best FA they get is a 34 y/o coming off a career year. They better hope Toskala turns into a Kiprusoff otherwise the 1967 chant will continue.

Answer 6

I haven't been happy with one of our teams since the lockout. I think this year we'll be right there fighting for 7th and 8th spot again, but really, are we THAT different from last year? We've got a new untried goalie in Toskala and a new scorer in Jason Blake who's had a few ok years and one great year... Remember the hype around Jeff O'Neill when we got him?

Mind you, that won't stop me from cheering them on every step of the way. GO LEAFS GO!

Answer 7

I like it somewhat better than last year. Blake for O'Neil is a good swap - Toskala will improve net - if Gamache pans out things are better on the O - Bell helps if he can keep his head into hockey - hopefully a few less injuries to key guys and a better year from McCabe will make this a playoff team

Answer 8

Leafs fans are never happy!

Answer 9

Not really. Again, there's really no direction with where the team is going. It looks like they're half rebuilding, half going for the Cup. It has to be one or the other, not both.

Answer 10

well i hate the leafs so the suckier the better....and this year looks like a good sucky team....then again i could really care less !!!