Stats show Raptors win more when Fred VanVleet shoots less

The struggles of star point guard Fred VanVleet have made the Toronto Raptors’ fanbase an incredibly polarized one this season. Half of the fans will drive him to the airport to get him away from the team, while the other segment (and some in the media) hopes he’ll get back on track before the deadline […]
Stats show Raptors win more when Fred VanVleet shoots less – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Mike Luciano / Raptors HQ

How Connor Bedard is forcing a trade deadline buyer’s market

The day after Auston Matthews hit the 500 point mark, I can’t help but reflect on one of the key events that led to the Leafs drafting him. That event was the Phil Kessel trade.
The Kessel trade was largely panned considering the return was Kasperi Kapanen, 1st and 3rd round picks, Scott Harrington, and Nick Spaling. They also had to give up a 2nd, Tim Erixon and Tyler Biggs in the process. This trade was never as bad as it was criticized for being as Spaling, Harrington, Biggs, and Erixon largely cancel each other out, and the 2nd for 3rd is pretty insignificant as well, but Kapanen and a 1st for Kessel was not the ideal return for the franchise player of the moment.
What made up the gap for the Leafs was the benefit of not having Phil Kessel in their lineup. No matter what your opinion is of Phil Kessel, you have to concede that the 2015-16 Leafs had a better chance of picking up a few more wins with him in the Leafs lineup than they did without him. Moving the Leafs up in the standings at all would have taken away Toronto’s shot at Matthews. No Matthews means that Toronto wou …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

@Auston after can’t Mark Matthews point

Tough Night on Broadway + Leafs/Caps Preview: Leafs Morning Take

Well, the point streaks had to end eventually, right?

Former Leaf Jimmy Vesey scored twice as the Rangers upended the Leafs 3-1 to snap Toronto’s 15-game point streak. On top of that, Mitch Marner failed to register a point as well, which marked the end of his impeccable 23 game run. Speaking of which, we have another point streak to watch closely now as Michael Bunting scored to extend his to 10 games. Dun, dun, dun.
It’s one loss, whatever. The Friday Edition of Leafs Morning Take recapped a tough night at Madison Square Garden. Again, it’s tough to rip a team that just suffered its first regulation loss in over a month (Nov. 11).

Presented by @PointsBetCanada ..
The sky is falling once again in Toronto..🤣🤣🤣
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Leafs Morning Take | @Jay_D_Rosehill | @TLNdc
Full Show: https://t.co/xrQfhGhkv3
Recapping last night’s loss to the #NYR: pic.twitter.com/pONFdR9dad
— Nick Alberga (@thegoldenmuzzy) December 16, 2022

Meantime, we also discussed the injury to Timothy Likjegren. After the game, Sheldon Keefe called it an upper-body issue. Next man up, that’s all they can do, right? Also, it sounds like Morgan Rielly is getting closer, too.
Lastly, we previewed the Leafs/Capitals game tomorrow night from Washington. With a goal, Alex Ovechkin can tie Gordie Howe for second all-time. Ilya Samsonov, who’s making his return to D.C., will get the call. I love revenge games.
As per usual, we wrapped with the PointsBet Canada bet of the day:

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Full Show: https://t.co/pKRYvS4YF7 pic.twitter.com/VPKnkK1rYj
— TheLeafsNation (@TLNdc) December 16, 2022

I’ll be flying solo to recap the weekend on Monday at 11 AM ET. Also, Rosie will be by for another instalment of 3 Hits With Rosie.
Don’t forget to subscribe, like, and leave us a review wherever you’re checking us out! …

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Author: Nick Alberga / The Leafs Nation

eventually Leaf point right Former streaks Well

Marner and Matthews heading to splitsville?

It is a frequent topic in Leafsland at any point Toronto is down a goal, but a debate that seems to disappear as soon as the Leafs retake the lead. We’ve seen it briefly toyed with in game and Sheldon Keefe has removed Michael Bunting from the trio already, so we figured it’s time to ask the TLN crew: Is it time to split up Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner?
James Reeve
It certainly can’t hurt to try out a few different looks. Sometimes players can become too comfortable and shifting things around can certainly be one way of kick-starting a good run. Putting Marner with Tavares and pairing Nylander and Matthews together would be the way I’d go with it, helping to reinvigorate the top six without doing anything too drastic.
Michael Westlake
If it wasn’t for the recent improvement of play I would say to throw everything in the blender but at this point I think it’s best to be patient. That being said, I think it would be a smart play to swap up the lines throughout the season to see what you could pull off in the playoffs. With how hot Tavares and Marner have been it wouldn’t be the worst decision to try and get them to dominate on the ice together.
Nick Alberga …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

Down frequent Leafsland point topic Toronto

Minten starts hot, Knies comes up clutch, Voit on fire: Leafs Prospect Roundup

Nick Robertson has been a focal point of the Leafs Prospect Roundup over the last few weeks, and with his performance this past week, we may not be discussing him as a “prospect” for much longer.
With the Leafs off to a sputtering start through four games and the clouds of controversy starting to roll in, Robertson took the place of Denis Malgin on the second line alongside John Tavares and William Nylander and wasted little time announcing his arrival. Though it was only the fifth game of the campaign, it felt like the Leafs needed to get back in the win column, and it was Robertson who led the charge against his big brother and the rest of the Dallas Stars.
The game was tied early in the third period when Robertson took a hit along the wall to get the puck down low before darting toward the net and taking a slick return feed from Michael Bunting. He made no mistake, burying the puck far side against Scott Wedgewood for his first tally of the season. Robertson’s shot and finishing ability have never been in question, but it was his strong play along the boards and ability to play through traffic that created t …

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Author: Nick Richard / The Leafs Nation

been focal Leafs’ Nick point Robertson

Shut it down. Patrick Kane to the Leafs would be a disaster

It’s definitely at the point in the summer where people are looking for something to talk about, and it seems that Patrick Kane rumours are how the hockey world is going to pass the time. Unfortunately when it comes to ways to make sure there is enough gasoline on the fire to make a topic stick you need to include Toronto as part of the rumour. As a fanbase Leafs are a dog on a bone that won’t let go and that’s why we probably need to bow out of the Kane talk early.
The narrative around the idea of Kane coming to Toronto seems to be largely Auston Matthews driven. Bringing in Kane shows a commitment to winning, bringing in Kane would allow the torch to be passed from one of the top producing American forwards to the next one. And my personal favourite is about how Kane would take a discount to continue to play in Toronto because he’d want to continue to play with Auston and that would help Auston get re-signed as well. It’s a fun little story for someone but doesn’t seem to …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

definitely It's people point summer where

As free agency dwindles, try-outs come to the forefront: some good PTO fits for the Leafs

There’s a certain point each August where the well of news and excitement in the NHL offseason almost completely dries up. We are at that point. The well begins to refill as prospect camps and full team training camps approach, but we’re not quite there yet. We’re in this weird, quiet dead of the summer for hockey. Some resort to watching baseball or spending time outside with loved ones, but me, I choose to look at what remaining free agents could be good choices to bring to Leafs training camp on a Professional Try-Out (PTO) agreement.
It’s quite common for the Leafs to bring in PTO players. Last year, they brought notable forward Joshua Ho-Sang in on an AHL contract and a PTO for the NHL training camp, however he ended up remaining just with the Marlies without an NHL deal. They also brought in another small playmaking forward in Nikita Gusev, both of whom did sign with the Leafs or anywhere else. With their skill levels, if some chemistry or a really good fit developed in training camp, then a contract could easily have materialized for either of them. Over the last 3 years, over 40% of players who signed PTOs went on to …

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Author: Ryan Hobart / The Leafs Nation

August certain each point there’s where

Latest Kevin Durant update could favor Raptors in trade talks

At this point, it’s fairly obvious the Toronto Raptors aren’t going to be upping their reported trade offer to the Brooklyn Nets for superstar Kevin Durant. BK is losing leverage by the day as long as KD controls the narrative with the media. In recent weeks, the discourse hasn’t been encouraging for the Raptors in […]
Latest Kevin Durant update could favor Raptors in trade talks – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Thomas Carannante / Raptors HQ

fairly It's obvious point This Toronto

With the 98th overall pick, the Blue Jays could select…

At this point in the draft, there is barely any consensus on who goes where.

Nearly 100 picks in, and the draft is a complete crapshoot. However, there are still some good players who could really help out the team.
You could essentially call this article: “Which players could the Jays select with the 98th overall if they decide to underslot a higher pick” as many of these players are high school players.
Hell, even dating back to last season, the Jays had the 91st overall pick. They drafted Ricky Tiedemann, who is now the 35th best prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline.
Without spending too much time on the intro, let’s get into who the Jays could pick with the 98th overall pick.
Jake Bennett:
Jake Bennett is our first large adult son of the article. Standing at 6’6, 234 lb, the large left hander pitched for Oklahoma University.
The 21-year-old’s stock rose massively this season, as he posted a 3.69 ERA in 117 innings pitched for the Sooners. Furthermore, he limited the walks with a BB/9 of 1.7, while owning a pretty impressive K/9 of 10.2, leading to a strikeout to walk ratio of 6.05.

Sooner starting pitcher Jake Bennett Ks the side as both teams go down in order in the first inning pic.twitter.com/oRwuV5xFJm
— Jason (@chedsonly) April 8, 2022

In his college career, he posted a 4.30 ERA in 184.1 innings pitched with a BB/9 of 1.9 and K/9 of 10.4. Despite the ERA being a little high (due to his sophomore season), there’s a lot of promise with his collegiate SO/W of 5.58.
MLB Pipeline notes that he’s better against rig …

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Author: Brennan Delaney / Blue Jays Nation

barely consensus draft point There This