5 key factors to watch in the Maple Leafs’ series against the Tampa Bay Lightning

It’s almost playoff time, I’m nervous enough that I could poop out a diamond but excited enough that my nipples are hard enough to cut a diamond as well. Rather than start the world’s most disgusting jewelry business, I’ve opted to look at some of the important things to watch for against the Tampa Bay Lightning. A lot of this stuff you already know from last year, but a refresher course is good for some and there are a couple of new things to consider as well, so let’s dive into it.
Vasilevskiy and Hedman
By the numbers Samsonov and Vasilevskiy is a pretty close comparison and not the matchup doesn’t look like a lopsided one for the Lightning. You can certainly debate whether it is better to have a hot goaltender or a consistently good one in net during the playoffs and of course, the ideal answer is both. Fortunately for the Leafs, Vasilevskiy hasn’t been too much to worry about of late. Samsonov has the better numbers albeit in fewer games, and in Vasilevskiy’s last two games he had save percentages below .850, including one in a game against Toronto. That is cherry picking the data to ignore that Vasilevskiy also has two shutouts in …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

Jose Berrios tosses five innings in return from WBC, Daulton Varsho hits his first homer of spring, and more as the Blue Jays beat the O’s 2-1

I’m not going to lie, it’s incredibly difficult to go from last night’s World Baseball Classic finale back to following along with Grapefruit League games. Just one more week to go!

The Blue Jays sent what might be their Opening Day lineup to the field in Dunedin on Wednesday and beat the Orioles by a score of 2-1. Let’s go through the noteworthy things from the game…
Things worth mentioning…

Jose Berrios returned to the mound for his first start since the disastrous inning he tossed for Peurto Rico in the World Baseball Classic. Berrios getting lit up by Venezuela generated some panic among those who follow the Blue Jays but Pete Walker wasn’t overly concerned about it, saying on Blair and Barker “I didn’t get to watch it live, so at first I was a bit concerned, but after I replayed the entire game I wasn’t concerned. The pitch selection and sequencing was nothing like what we’ve been working on all winter.”
Berrios went five innings against the Orioles and allowed one earned run on six hits and one walk while striking out five. It’s also worth pointing out that this was much like how a lot of his “good” starts went last season, as Berrios would look dominant at times but also had a lot of loud contact resulting in outs because of the play of the defence behind him.

José Berríos got up to 77 pi …

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Author: Cam Lewis / Blue Jays Nation

Sheldon Keefe’s lineup experiments should be encouraged

I think I’ve stated it here before and I’m sure most of you don’t care, but I’m not a huge Sheldon Keefe guy. That’s not to say that I think he’s a bad coach, in fact, I think he’s an above-average one. I just think the Leafs with their resources have better options available but have been able to seek a lot of comfort in the fact that Sheldon Keefe’s knowledge of how Kyle Dubas wants the players he brings in to be used is something that you won’t find easily with other coaches. That’s the perceived advantage and I accept that.
A couple of my criticisms of Keefe prior to this year is that he very much seems locked into his lineup and is reluctant to make changes and the other is that he doesn’t seem to prepare for when the Leafs plan of attack is blocked. The recent lineup blender and experimentation with the 11 forward and 7 defenseman approach has been very welcomed in my household and can fully appreciate there will be a lot of nights when it doesn’t go so hot, but this appears to be Keefe checking some of the boxes where I felt he was lacking.
Wh …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

Turning over Leafs: The March (post deadline) Leafs Player Power Rankings

I’m back for the second last trip through the roster of the season. Next up will be the playoff preview player power rankings. Can you feel the excitement? No. I get it. You’re sitting around reading a blog. Let’s keep things in perspective.
Anyways, here are last month’s rankings for a bit of perspective and with that out of the way, let’s dive into some power rankings that feature some new Leafs but a very familiar top three.
1. William Nylander (steady at #1)
Welcome back to the number one spot, Bill from ‘berta. It really says a lot that not only has Nylander been the best Leaf for much of this season, he’s consistently been one of the best. He’s also done it while doing a lot of the heavylifting, either centering lines, playing on lines centered by Pontus Holmberg or Sam Lafferty, and generally doing a bit of everything. Over the past month Nylander again has been the Leafs top scorer, but if we are going to find some criticism of him it’s that he’s so much more dominant at home than on the road. I wonder if we’ll see Nylander playing with Matthews at home in the playoffs and see Marner replace him on the road.
2. Mitch Marner (steady at #2)
This really …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

How the Leafs can make the most of a buyers market

How the Leafs can make the most of a buyers market

I’m going to hit you with the analogy that no one asked for and it’s the tale of two Christmas lists. My eight year old’s Christmas list consisted of specific Lego sets either new or discontinued, obscure items that needed to be ordered from small online vendors that would take two months to ship, and the hottest video games of the moment. My three year old’s Christmas list consisted of three words, “dinosaurs and cars.” Thanks to some great advice from my boss who informed me that most stores start their Boxing Day Sale pricing on Christmas Eve, I felt comfortable taking my chances that most retailers would still have Dinosaurs and/or Cars available.
The purpose of that painfully dull anecdote is to contrast the behaviours of a seller’s market (my eight year old’s Christmas), and a buyer’s market (my three year old’s Christmas). Trends that can certainly emulate NHL teams at the trade deadline. And according to Elliotte Friedman on the Leafs Morning Take the NHL is very much leaning towards a buyers market, and that can have a huge benefit for the Leafs.

“Sellers are worried that they might be the person who goes home alone at the bar at 2 AM.”
– @FriedgeHNIC on potential buyers market. #NHL
Leafs Morning Take – Jan. 26
Full …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

News and Notes: The Minnesota Twins are interested in A.J. Pollock, Blue Jays sign an intriguing hard-throwing relief pitcher, and more!

I’m running out of good intros for the News and Notes articles. So here’s a News and Notes article to start off your day.

There isn’t a lot of Blue Jays-related news or rumours, but there are some rumblings of teams looking to trade players the Jays could be interested in. Let’s start with the Jays’ news first.
Julián Fernández:
Here’s the skinny: The Jays signed a 27-year-old righty who touches 103 mph with a great out pitch in his changeup. Despite his 6.63 ERA and 7 FIP in 57 innings pitched in Triple-A, which also saw home run issues and command issues, this signing has a possibility to be really good for the Jays.

#BlueJays are signing hard-throwing RHP Julian Fernández to a minor-lg deal per source. 27-yr-old reliever spent ‘22 at AAA Albuquerque & battled HR issues. Pitched in majors for ’21 Rockies, averaging 99 mph on FB. Topped out at 103. Recently pitched in Dominican Winter League
— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) December 29, 2022

Fernández is an intriguing reliever, and our very own Cam Lewis went more in-depth in this article here. You can also read my deep dive on why he has the tools to become an elite reliever here.
Yosver Zulueta gets an MLB.com nod:
Speaking of Blue Jays pitchers that throw hard, Cuban-born Yosver Zulueta was featured in MLB.com’s article featuring which prospects they’re excited to see debut in 2023.
If you’ve read any of my prospect articles, you know I’m pretty high on Zulueta as he sits in the high-90s (and touches over 100 mph) as a starter, while flashing plus or average secondary pitches.

Zulueta just fanned his first runner throwing…
100 mph!!!!!!#BlueJays #NextLevel pic.twitter.com/RjpNT5v6Jl
— Brennan Delaney (@Brennan_L_D) July 7, 2022

While his strikeout rate was high, so too was his walk rate. However, this is to be expected as he hadn’t really pitched competitively since 2019 due to the plague …

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Author: Brennan Delaney / Blue Jays Nation

Conor Timmins is “ready” whenever the Maple Leafs call his name, and tonight might be the night

Conor Timmins is “ready” whenever the Maple Leafs call his name, and tonight might be the night

“Whenever they put me in, I’m ready.”
Conor Timmins joined the Maple Leafs on Thursday in Minnesota, practicing with the team before they took on the Wild Friday afternoon. Although he didn’t play on the day after American Thanksgiving, it wasn’t because lack of readiness.
The 24-year-old just finished up a conditioning stint with the Tucson Roadrunners, Arizona’s AHL affiliate. He’s played six games since November 11th with the AHL club, and when he joined the Maple Leafs on Thursday, he noted he was “ready.”
However, Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe had other plans.
“Our approach with him is to get him in, get him comfortable.” Keefe said in Minnesota on Thursday. “Obviously we have a great need and there’s great opportunity on our defence right now with the injuries that we’re going through. Yet, we want to make sure we put him in a good spot to succeed.
“Both in coming into a new team and the fact that he hasn’t skated, we give him today (in Minnesota) and get another skate (Friday)… But we’ll take it a day at a time from there.”
Saturday night will likely be Timmins’ first game in a Maple Leafs uniform. The team is coming off playing a game the day before and could use a body without many kilometr …

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Author: Nick Barden / The Leafs Nation

Dear Leafs Nation, I’m Back!

As if I’m back on the Leafs beat just in time for a potential Mitch Marner Norris Trophy campaign.

“Dear Leafs Nation, – I’m Back.”
I’m excited to share that I’m joining @TLNdc to cover the @MapleLeafs. In addition to that, I’ll be providing some fantasy hockey content for @DailyFaceoff. @DFOFantasy
— Nick Alberga (@thegoldenmuzzy) September 28, 2022

With puck drop just around the corner on the 2022/2023 NHL regular season, I just wanted to say hello to those of you who know me and introduce myself to those who are unfamiliar with the name.
Since 2011, I’ve been fortunate enough to cover the National Hockey League in a variety of different capacities for the likes of SiriusXM NHL Network Radio, Rogers Sportsnet, and the NHL. Furthermore, two of my four seasons with Sportsnet (2019-2021) were spent as Toronto Maple Leafs Radio Host on Sportsnet 590 The Fan alongside the legendary Gord Stellick anchoring pre-game, intermissions, and post-game coverage.
That’s right, lucky me, most of my time in that role was spent smack dab in the heart of the Covid era. My apologies for opening old wounds, but it was an era that saw the Leafs barely show up against Columbus in the 2020 bubble playoffs and collapse against the rival Montreal Canadiens the following season. Yeah, good times.
At the very least, I now know I was not the issue.
Nevertheless, I’m excited to be back in the mix covering the team on this wonderful platform as they embark on one of the biggest seasons in recent memory. On many accounts, it’s put up or shut up time for many of the cast and characters we’ve been familiar with over the past few seasons. Suffice it is to say, it should be interesting to see how it all plays out. Who am I kidding? Probably with another cliff hanger Game 7, right?
Pertaining to the type of content I aim to put out, I’ve always been able to showcase my love for the game in a unique and innovative way. Translation: Expect an outside the box approach filled with bitter honesty, passion, the occasional hot take, and a whole lot of sarcasm. Furthermore, I’m also looking forward to showcasing my expertise and knowledge in the fantasy/betting space as well.
It’s going to be a fun ride, hop aboard!
  …

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Author: Nick Alberga / The Leafs Nation