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I like Keefe but he's being weird about his defensive deployment/pairings. Don't quite get why he adores Justin Holl so much, but whatever.

Also, he really needs to figure out that Morgan Rielly should not be deployed as a top defenseman. He's just not good enough for that. The depth is available to shelter him a bit, they should try that.

Rielly is a frustrating player to watch. Damn near elite puckmover but his defensive techniques are just plain horrid.

Oh well, one bad game against the lowly Hawks is not going to derail the season, but hopefully Dubas looks into maybe one or two more moves.

Another big move for Dubas, getting the slightly underrated Jake McCabe and the slightly overrated Sam Lafferty.

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Love that move for the Leafs. Lafferty is big and fast and can put up some goals, particularly shorthanded.

McCabe impressed the shit outta me his final season in Buffalo before he got hurt. Anyone who can get Ristolainen to post good underlying stats HAS to be good.

Where is Hounsy or another Leaf lover? Butch is beside himself with all these moves.....and is calling back Owen Nolan trade glory days.....

I personally don't understand all the D-Men hoarding....but maybe they needed an overhaul. Like to hear from a Leafs fan here. Hard to believe we only have 1 that hangs around occasionally now.

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I am stunned by all the moves. They basically replaced a third of the team.

I'm guessing the protracted negotiation between Sandin and the Leafs did not sit well with Dubas and Shanahan. Pulling a Pierre Lacroix--every player who dragged things out at the negotiation table (Ozolinsh, Deadmarsh, Drury, Tanguay) found himself dealt not long after.

I really like the moves for McCabe and Lafferty, understandable they may not be opting for a goalie, though if they were to somehow find an elite netminder that would be the very last piece. The move to reacquire Schenn leaves me a tad puzzled, but whatever, hockey players and coaches love the veteran guy who guts it out every shift. Avs got their guy in Cogliano last year, and it was a rousing speech from him that many credit for the Avs coming out in Game 6 and winning it all. So there ya have it.

Personally I think Keefe is the biggest problem now. I don't like his defensive deployment at all, and I think his continued use of O'Reilly as a 2nd line center instead of just lining up the guys 1-2-3 up the middle is a mistake. O'Reilly and Tavares make for a really sllllllllllllllllloooooowwww line. I'm tellin' ya, put Kerfoot, a known speedster with great puckmoving skills and playmaking ability from the wing, with O'Reilly, who has great hockey sense and a heavy shot, and reap the benefits.

As for defense, if he insists on a top pairing of Rielly/Holl, mark these guys down for another first-round exit. All these shufflings of the blueline should result in Rielly getting more sheltered minutes, because he's not and has never been a #1 defenseman. In fact, at this point in his career, I don't think he's a #2.

Bravo leafs! This is not applicable this year!

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Geez.....Leafs can't get a pass at all.

OReilly shows up and produces for a few games and then BLAMO....LTIR!

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/357 ... ken-finger

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Sheldon...what the fuck are you doin', man!?

Scratching Liljegren for two games while Rielly continues to fuck everything up in the defensive zone?

Not a fan of his coaching these last few games. Got handed all these shiny new toys and it feels like he's misusing all of them, at the expense of some very good young players who have been carrying the load for most of the season.

Tavares fined $5k for slag on Desharnais, says “I’m better than that”. The spear to Zidlicky’s balls a while back probably weighed into the fine. But what’s $5k to a guy making $11 million? The PA did well on that CBA clause.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

For cap reasons the Leafs have signed goalie Jett Alexander to back up Ilya Samsonov, Alexander previously played the backup role for the Avalanche in 2021. What I'm reading is that the Leafs would have had to go with an 11-7 lineup and this also may have interfered with Toronto's ability to sign Matthew Knies.

Fun fact: Alexander is the 2nd goalie with the name Jet(t) to suit up for an NHL team this year, behind Jet Greaves of the Blue Jackets.

Some free advice for Leafs brass: if you've got one goalie, and that goalie is labouring with a physical injury, put in the emergency goalie, even if it means blowing a five goal against the Habs. If Samsonov tears his groin in game one of the playoffs, I'll say I told you so.

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I dunno if Chris Wideman agrees with this assessment.

This might be the year! First playoff series win since 2004.

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This might not be the year! Down 3-0 to Florida.

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Got 'em right where they want 'em!

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Didn't see game three but holy shit that Brodie-McCabe pairing has been horrid.

A top 6 of Rielly, Brodie, McCabe, Holl, Gus and Gio with nothing left in the tank is a brutal defence. Didn't they draft a bunch of Swedish defencemen?

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What surprised me is that Rielly has actually played really well, at least from a production standpoint.

I found it kinda odd they dealt away Sandin and Engvall, both those guys are good. Methinks Dubas figured they'd load up at the deadline and trade away two guys they likely weren't going to be able to keep under the cap.

I'd honestly consider giving Marner the boot. Dude demanded gamebreaker money and every year that's precisely what he DOESN'T do in the postseason.

I think you gotta make a major shakeup at this point, you can't let this window slip away. Nylander for Dubois? Does that change anything? I feel every team will want their own Matthew Tkachuk this offseason.

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The problem is, there's no real gamebreaker coming in from the system (though Woll might finally be the goaltender they've been waiting for) and if you're trading away, say, a Mitchell Marner, then it's almost guaranteed you're trading away the best player in any given deal. I just don't see how you augment the current roster by trading one of the core four away, free agency won't really be an option even with any cap space opened potentially opened up.