Analyst makes surprising comments about the Leafs following their 4 big UFA signings
After the Leafs came out of the gates on July 1st and signed Ryan Reaves and John Klingberg on the 1st day of free agency, there were plenty of concerns about the direction the team was going. However, there weren't many fans in Leafs Nation who didn't celebrate the signings of Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi on the 2nd day of free agency.
While the Leafs are currently over the cap by $8.8M ($3.2M with Muzzin on LTIR), there is a strong belief that they're not done. That belief comes from comments that GM Brad Treliving made when he spoke with the media this week and revealed that he'd like to address some needs and check some boxes on the blueline this summer.
TSN's Dave Poulin appeared on TSN 1050's First Up on Wednesday to discuss the moves that the Leafs have made thus far, but quite surprisingly, Poulin doesn't think the Leafs have gotten better. Granted, there are still moves on the way and his opinion could change, but for now, at least, he doesn't see enough tangible improvement to celebrate.
"I don't know that they're a better hockey team than they were last year. I'm assuming they're not done. They CAN'T be done, I don't think... Are you hopeful that Nick Robertson is going to be in that lineup? I don't know. Is Holmberg going to be your 4th line center? Is Kampf going to be your 3rd line center? There's conversations about Domi playing in the top 6 and Bertuzzi playing in the top 6, that's fine... I think Knies plays in your top 6. I think Domi is your 3rd line center and that bumps Kampf down to [the 4th line], but that's to be determined. If they prefer Domi up top, then your bottom six isn't better than it was... And then you're right back to relying on [your top 6] to get it done and you're not going to get a lot of support for your bottom 6, so I don't see how that works better.
On D, I'm not a huge Klingberg guy. I'm just not. He was very good on the power play early in his career. He walks the line very well with the puck in the offensive zone. But as we've watched, particularly in the playoffs, the physical part of the game that is a necessity in the playoffs - they haven't increased that at all [on the blueline]. I'm looking at a defense corps that I'm not sure is better. I think there's still work to do." - Poulin on not being convinced that the Leafs have improved in free agency
On D, I'm not a huge Klingberg guy. I'm just not. He was very good on the power play early in his career. He walks the line very well with the puck in the offensive zone. But as we've watched, particularly in the playoffs, the physical part of the game that is a necessity in the playoffs - they haven't increased that at all [on the blueline]. I'm looking at a defense corps that I'm not sure is better. I think there's still work to do." - Poulin on not being convinced that the Leafs have improved in free agency
Thankfully, the Leafs still have plenty of time with which to work and it is believed that they are still looking for at least one big, nasty blueliner to add to the D corps. Poulin may not be sold on the work that Brad Treliving has done so far, but we really shouldn't be in any sort of a rush to judge until we see his complete body of work. We already know that they're going to add to this current group before training camp. It's just how big of a swing they take at this point.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 6 | 631 ANSWERS Analyst makes surprising comments about the Leafs following their 4 big UFA signings Do you think this current version of the Leafs is better than last year's team? | ||
| Yes | 409 | 64.8 % |
| No | 222 | 35.2 % |
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