Quote:
Originally Posted by Itse
"I like the position that we're in better than a lot of teams in the national hockey league. A lot."
The Leafs better be good sooner rather than later if Babcock keeps throwing pearls like these around. Saying that while finishing dead last in the league requires a rather special view on things.
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I agree with him about the Leafs, even though I dislike the Leafs. From what I can tell they have
- A ton of cap space
- No anchor contracts other than whatever they retained on Kessel
- Two solid D in Gardiner and Rielly, one of whom is progressing towards a #1
- Some other good complimentary pieces (Marincin, Kadri, JVR, Bozak)
- A deep prospect group, (Nylander, Marner, Dermott, Hyman, Kapanen, Bracco, Brown(
- A good hard-working culture and buy-in from top to bottom.
- a 100% chance at Matthews, a Finn, or Dubois
- Top tier management between Lamiorello from the old-school side and Dubas from the modern analytic side.
- Ownership that will spend on anything and everything when the time is right
- Draft picks up the wazoo
Compare that to teams that finished ahead of them but seem to have gotten stuck on a treadmill - Colorado, Vancouver, Detroit, Columbus, Montreal, New York, maybe even Tampa if Stamkos and Drouin bail. I'd be optimistic if I were a leaf fan and not just due to Kool-Aid drinking. I'm similarily optimistic about the Flames too, once we can drop the Smids and the Widemans.