2026-27 Toronto Maple Leafs General Discussion | Official: Sundin & Chayka to lead front office

[herman]

I'm converting this thread to the general discussion as too much official stuff is coming down the pipe already

 

[L K]

The Atlantic is still going to be a bloodbath next year.

Buffalo isn't a fluke. Montreal is only getting better. Ottawa is still good. Tampa keeps getting older but are still a good regular season team that can be PP merchants. Florida will be better. Toronto should be better. Boston will be fine.

Carolina is going anywhere. Pittsburgh probably could fall back...they had a lot of things go right last year. Philly should be better with a season of Martone. The Islanders will hang around although I'm not convinced on their roster. Columbus will hang around. I'm not sold on Washington but again, not really a bad team either

good teams are going to miss the playoffs in the East again.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Buffalo isn't a fluke.

Not to say that it's a fluke necessarily but they had the 3rd highest overall save percentage in the league this season. Can UPL and Lyon repeat that, I dunno. Goalies are obviously fickle.

Your overall point is of course right though, the East will continue to be tough. I'd say basically every team except maybe the Rangers will think they have a credible chance at making the playoffs.

 

[Peter D.]

The Atlantic is still going to be a bloodbath next year.

Buffalo isn't a fluke. Montreal is only getting better. Ottawa is still good. Tampa keeps getting older but are still a good regular season team that can be PP merchants. Florida will be better. Toronto should be better. Boston will be fine.

Carolina is going anywhere. Pittsburgh probably could fall back...they had a lot of things go right last year. Philly should be better with a season of Martone. The Islanders will hang around although I'm not convinced on their roster. Columbus will hang around. I'm not sold on Washington but again, not really a bad team either

good teams are going to miss the playoffs in the East again.

I'd be shocked if Pittsburgh made the playoffs again. Talk about catching lightning in a bottle this year. Thought they were a complete fluke.

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2055632972724801681

Really interesting observation about this year’s playoff group being young, fast, and fun, but potentially an anomaly precipitated by the condensed Olympic schedule that crushed older teams with lots of Olympic entrants.

At the same time, the front office has the schedule in front of them and all the medical/fitness data and cap room this past season to have mitigated the issue easily by playing more kids early on. They did not do that and stuck with aimless, purposeless, stubborn status quo, and sewered the season accordingly.

 

[mr grieves]

At the same time, the front office has the schedule in front of them and all the medical/fitness data and cap room this past season to have mitigated the issue easily by playing more kids early on. They did not do that and stuck with aimless, purposeless, stubborn status quo, and sewered the season accordingly.

Well, they lost an elite talent for nothing. Seems to me like a good time to bumble into a tank.

 

[herman]

Well, they lost an elite talent for nothing. Seems to me like a good time to bumble into a tank.

If that was the actual plan, they wouldn’t have merely landed 5th last by the hair of their chinny chin chins. Knies would’ve been shut down earlier. Nylander would’ve had a more ‘severe’ groin injury.

Literally bad at winning and bad at tanking, but great at not having the puck.

 

[L K]

Not to say that it's a fluke necessarily but they had the 3rd highest overall save percentage in the league this season. Can UPL and Lyon repeat that, I dunno. Goalies are obviously fickle.

Your overall point is of course right though, the East will continue to be tough. I'd say basically every team except maybe the Rangers will think they have a credible chance at making the playoffs.

Ummm yeah, maybe their goaltending is a problem