Toronto Maple Leafs: 5 Ruminations From Around the NHL
The Toronto Maple Leafs still haven’t signed William Nylander.
And while we wait for the Toronto Maple Leafs to do that, here are some notes and thoughts from around the NHL.
Speaking of those Leafs, they lost their lead in the Atlantic and the NHL overall standings to the Lightning. The Lightning have a very good team, but with the Bruins also right there, it’s worth pointing out that with three of the best teams in the NHL in a single division, two of them stupidly will have to play each other in the first round.
I think it’s safe to say that none of the three teams stands out as significantly better than the other, and that they are easily the three best teams in the Eastern Conference. What this means is that the first round of the Playoffs is the equivalent difficulty of the best EC Final you could come up with, and likely even the equivalent of the Stanley Cup Final.
Long story short: A Toronto vs Boston or TB first round matchup could easily be the hardest series either team plays if they went on to win the Cup. It’d be a 50/50 proposition to win that series and thus winning the division is extremely important. Which is why they should just get Nylander back into the lineup already.
Anyways, on to the NHL Ruminations. (Not Thoughts!)
No Trades
There have been no trades so far this year in the NHL. This isn’t surprising, as teams usually like to wait a month or so to figure out what’s going on.
But with expected-to-do well teams like the Jets and Flyers struggling, I think you’ll start to see some action on this front. As teams fall behind, their UFA players become available, and the Leafs should be like vultures in this regard.
Besides Wayne Simmonds, who I talked about last week, Kevin Hayes is a good pick up from the Rangers if we’re talking forwards. Everyone wants a defenseman though, and the main team to keep an eye on here is the Panthers, because they have a player the Toronto Maple Leafs (one assumes) are/should be very keen on: Mark Pysyk.
If the Panthers continue to be terrible, maybe he would be available.
Pysyk is a 26 year old right-handed dman with two years remaining on a very cheap contract. He’s extremely good and he could fill the role of Ron Hainsey without the downside of being terrible at hockey. If the Panthers fall out of the race, which looks extremely likely right now, he would be a player you could reasonably expect to be available.
Another player, the Leafs could target is Mark Stone. Clearly he is awesome, and clearly he is not going to waste his prime on the rebuilding Senators. He’s a UFA and would be the JEWEL of the available UFA Crop (unless Columbus decides trading Panarin is an option). His cap hit wouldn’t matter too much in March and he’d be an insane upgrade on the likes of everyone on the Leafs except Marner and Nylander. And maybe Marner and Nylander. I mean, he’s THAT good.
Randy Carlyle is the Worst
I know that I shouldn’t actively cheer for people to fail, but from his coaching style to his personality, there are few people in the NHL I cheer for less than Randy Carlyle. Now, I’m sure he’s a nice guy in real life, but his time as the Leafs coach has made me something less than a fan.
It’s nothing personal, but hockey is for fun and it’s just as fun to have the guys you hate as it is the guys you love.
Carlyle’s Ducks are terrible – they have lost six in a row and have some of the worst stats in the NHL – and he will likely soon be fired. Despite the injuries, the Ducks should be much better considering they’ve got Josh Manson, Hampus Lindholm, Brandon Montour and Cam Fowler on the blue line.
It’s a good blueline, but it can’t overcome the injuries up front and a terrible coach. People have been talking about how Carlyle’s coaching style has been ineffective and outdated since the day the Leafs hired him. Probably before that, actually, but I wasn’t paying attention back then.
possibly the worst coach in the NHL, you can expect a bad GM to hire him again once he’s fired. The NHL is hilarious sometimes.
Sebastian and the Canes
For some reason, no one ever believes me when I say the Hurricanes are good. Maybe it’s cause I’ve been saying it for so long. But they’re good. Sebastian Aho – the forward – is amazing. A late round steal in my draft he’s on a 12 game point streak. He’s better than your favorite player. Unless your favorite player is William Nylander. No one is better than him. No one, ya hear?
Aho has a 56% possession rating, at 5v5 his team has outscored the opposition 11-3 and he personally gets a point pretty much every game. Plus, I don’t know if you’ve got the NHL Centre Ice, but if you do, watching Hurricanes games is one of the most fun things you can do.
Their defence – Slavin, Pesce, Hamilton, Faulk and De Haan – is the best in the NHL and they have a ton of great guys to watch – including former Barrie Colt Andrei Svechnikov.
So far this year other than the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Hurricanes are my favorite team to watch. Though watching Dougie Hamilton – arguably the best defenseman in the NHL – is frustrating knowing that he could have been should have been a Leafs.
Oh Brian Burke! You still make me angry even today. (Also, bonus note: What the Hell is Brian Burke doing on my TV? He looks bad, he sounds bad and his takes are the worst. He’s like a worse Don Cherry, without the lovabality (I am a huge Don Cheery fan, by the way).
The Canadiens are Good
I predicted this in the summer to the laughter of my friends, family , readers, and cat. But guess who is having the last laugh? What’s that? You can’t have a last laugh in November?
Maybe this is sacrilege, but GO HABS!
Jan Halak is also GOOD!
The Janstser is taking Rask’s job – and who can blame him? Perpetually underrated, Jan Halak is the REM of NHL goalies – he’s one of the best, but no one ever talks about him when they mention the Clash or the Cure. (Or I guess, Price or Bobrovsky).
I bet you didn’t know this: career-wise, Halak isn’t much worse than Carey Price, the guy who is thought of as a superstarhalloffamer with the crazy contract and who was kept over Halak, years ago.
Halak: 456 Games 236 Wins 44 Shut Outs .916% 2.49 GAA
Price: 566 Games 290 Wins 41 Shut Outs .918% 2.46 GAA
By complete coincidence, consider they are both still active, I have looked this up on a day when they both have won 52% of their games. Price has .002 better save percentage and .03 better GAA, while Halak has more shutouts in over a 100 less games.
How do you say overrated in French?
stats from hockeydb.com