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2025-26 Toronto Maple Leafs General Discussion

OldTimeHockey said:
I think one player from the team that doesn't seem to receive enough flack is McCabe. To me, his skating has regressed to a point that he's becoming a liability. He consistently gets caught with players behind him. I'm not sure if it's because he's being asked to do more with Tanev out or he's been forced to play with weaker partners since Tanev has been out...but to me, he seems old and slow.
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I don't think it is his skating. He was in the top 1% in skating speed last season. He's top 7% this season.
Maybe he's overthinking after the trouble they have had, or making poor reads or hesitant due to system changes, etc.
EDIT: maybe he's a little injured
 
cw said:
I don't think it is his skating. He was in the top 1% in skating speed last season. He's top 7% this season.
Maybe he's overthinking after the trouble they have had, or making poor reads or hesitant due to system changes, etc.
EDIT: maybe he's a little injured
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You may be right. I find there's been a few instances of him being caught either flat footed, or jumping the play at the wrong times.
 
OldTimeHockey said:
It's crazy that he was so beloved in Boston. Even my brother, a long time Bruins fan, immediately messaged me to say how good of a player we had gotten. It just hasn't meshed. Everywhere you read up on him, they say that he should be playing with an offensive partner. Playing with Rielly certainly hasn't worked. I think it's actually made both of them worse as Rielly isn't confident having Carlo backing him up.
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Has anyone beyond Ron Hainsey worked with Rielly? It truly boggles the mind.
 
Some good news, I only spun the lottery simulator 3 times and got this!

NzG7cTu.jpeg
 
OldTimeHockey said:
You may be right. I find there's been a few instances of him being caught either flat footed, or jumping the play at the wrong times.
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When the rails come off and confidence gets damaged, the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same things and expect a different result. So they get off their game - they abandon their routine, trying something else or overthinking from coaching tips causing a reaction delay rather than routine read and quickly react. Stuff like that is my guess. I think it got Stolarz off his game. Often, as they try to clean up defensively, they over compensate and stop scoring as much ... Hopefully, they find some balance against the struggling Blues.
 
Zee said:
Some good news, I only spun the lottery simulator 3 times and got this!

NzG7cTu.jpeg
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Is the Leafs first lottery protected? And can it be lottery protected with the first gone for the next draft ? When would the team with the Leafs 2026 1st round pick get their first round pick?
 
cw said:
Is the Leafs first lottery protected? And can it be lottery protected with the first gone for the next draft ? When would the team with the Leafs 2026 1st round pick get their first round pick?
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It's top 5 protected. Beyond that, not sure how the juggling of picks would work out.
 
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bustaheims said:
It's top 5 protected. Beyond that, not sure how the juggling of picks would work out.
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From here:

Top 5 protected, slides to 2027. The 2027 pick goes to Philadelphia (as part of Laughton trade) if it is outside the top 10, which converts this pick to Boston to a 2028 unprotected 1st Round Pick. If this Pick slides to 2027 and is in the top 10, TOR can either transfer it to BOS to satisfy this trade and then give PHI the 2028 unprotected, or transfer it to PHI and give BOS the 2028 unprotected 1st Round Pick.
 
Now Roy is out...after playing his best game for the Leafs. Of course.

Well, I've thought Quillan has looked good when I've seen him in preseason, and he's got decent stats on the Marlies. Something to look forward to in the next game at least.
 
Bender said:
Has anyone beyond Ron Hainsey worked with Rielly? It truly boggles the mind.
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I like Rielly in many ways, and he's often stepped up in the playoffs. But this observation, which many have made, hits at something fundamental. It shouldn't be this hard to find him a partner. I don't know what to make it, admittedly. But at this stage it's become an insoluble problem.

If the Leafs really want to shake things up and do a hockey trade, they might think about approaching Rielly and pitch him on a career refresh.
 
cw said:
When the rails come off and confidence gets damaged, the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same things and expect a different result. So they get off their game - they abandon their routine, trying something else or overthinking from coaching tips causing a reaction delay rather than routine read and quickly react. Stuff like that is my guess. I think it got Stolarz off his game. Often, as they try to clean up defensively, they over compensate and stop scoring as much ... Hopefully, they find some balance against the struggling Blues.
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More than likely though that the struggling Blues find their game against the Leafs.
 
rdowdall said:
More than likely though that the struggling Blues find their game against the Leafs.
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I hope not. The Leafs are a better team than they're showing - they're not bottom 5 in the league. But so are the Blues probably.
 
herman said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1990452979464560903
Roy and Matthews absent from practice
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If that holds and they keep Quillan, something else needs to happen with the roster. They're slightly over the cap by my calculation (unless I've missed a transaction/status) and have 24. Seems like Tanev might as well go on LTIR as he is unlikely to return next week. But someone else would have to go on the IR or Cowan goes to the AHL or there is a trade. Something like that - there is an issue.
 
cw said:
If that holds and they keep Quillan, something else needs to happen with the roster. They're slightly over the cap by my calculation (unless I've missed a transaction/status) and have 24. Seems like Tanev might as well go on LTIR as he is unlikely to return next week. But someone else would have to go on the IR or Cowan goes to the AHL or there is a trade. Something like that - there is an issue.
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They've put Carlo on IR so that part is solved. Tanev to LTIR would solve the cap
 
No firing of Berube without Tre going first/at the same time. He's the architect of this mess.
 
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