Wasn't their PK and D kind of bad last year? Maybe there's other guys that can have a go at it, it's not like the Leafs lost Guy Carbonneau and Scott Stevens in the offseason.
- Zezel
this is very true... and the issue really is "do the guys that they have on the edge of making the team another bunch of offensive guys who aren't as good as Nylander, Kapanen, Marner, Johnsson, etc....
my impression is that guys like Petan, Bracco, Aberg, Brooks, Kossila, Luchuk, Der-ARGUCHINTSEV, Timashov, Trevor Moore (to a degree) are all very similar.... young smallish offensive oriented guys... very similar.
fortunately a few of the other guys who were brought in have at least a bit of size and grit... but no one seems to get excited about D'agastino, Shore, Gaudet etc... even though they represent at least an opportunity to be address the issues outside of the top 6.
the Leafs clearly have no intention at this point of adding grit or even a small amount of it to the top 6, yet it would seem that is exactly what they need to do in the bottom 6 as a result.
if they fill those bottom 6 roles exclusively or even largely with more little quick guys (e.g Petan) who can't make the top 6 on this team, what was the point of the roster turnover? It can't just be cheap guys regardless of their capabilities. But as we clearly saw last year at the end of the season and in the playoffs, you need more than just Top6 talent to win.
I wish they would stop wasting time with guys which are poorer versions of the what they already have (e.g Petan, Aberg, Brooks, Timashov) and legitimately give guys like Engvall, Gaudet, Marchment at least a chance to fill those lower 6 minutes.
Reminds me of the 92-93, 93-94 Leafs, each player when interviewed after those seasons with Pat Burns clearly knew their roles, and some of those non-Top6 guys were really big contributors particularly defensively.
