A couple of CHL free agents for the Leafs to consider

It’s that fun time of the year when we got a number of NCAA free agent signings, a few European free agent signings, and a handful of Canadian junior signings mixed in as well. For the most part, the Leafs have focused their efforts on the European signings and those often come later in the spring, there have been a handful of NCAA free agent signings like Alex Steeves, Max Ellis, and well… I guess that’s it save for a lot of AHL signings. That tends to be Leafs preferred strategy of late anyway, but we’ll look at a couple of potential options that might be worth the Leafs busting out the NHL standard player contracts, after all, if they can take a gamble on Max Ellis, they can gamble on these guys too.
The Leafs also have only 31 committed to contracts for next season out of 50, so they can start having some fun on swing for the fences overagers. They only have three picks in the June draft, so restocking the prospect pool wouldn’t be a bad thing,
So let’s get to the prospects. Both were highlighted on 32 Thoughts this Saturday by Jeff Marek, and while there were a couple of defensemen mentioned as well, I’ve opted to zero in on the two centers that were discussed.
Ivan Ivan
Ivan Ivan …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

The Leafs can clinch a playoff spot this weekend, here’s how

The Leafs can clinch a playoff spot this weekend, here’s how

That tiny little “x” next to the Toronto Maple Leafs on the standings tables can be a real mood elevator. We should all feel pretty confident the Leafs are going to get there but there is a benefit to getting things squared away early too. Here’s what the Leafs need to do in their back-to-back this weekend or what other teams need to do over the next couple of days to give the Leafs their x, and what is still required to clinch home ice advantage in the remaining games of the season.

As it sits right now the Panthers winning all ten of their remaining games would give them 99 points and if they win their way out in regulation or overtime they’d have 44 regulation or overtime wins. With the season tiebreakers like goal differential and season series results still not fully determined, Toronto wouldn’t clinch this week if the Leafs won both of their games, they’d still require a Panthers loss. The Panthers have a game Saturday against the Rangers, if they win that it wouldn’t be until Monday that the Panthers can help the Leafs clinch.
Pittsburgh has the potential to reach 100 points if they won their way out of the season, but they can still help the Leafs clinch this weekend if they lose to Washington on Saturday. If the Leafs win both of their games and the Penguins lose, the Leafs are in. It would be nice if Brian Burke could successfully get the Leafs into the playoffs.
(Save for Islanders section)
Clinching Home in the first round
It goes without saying that this is going to take a bit more time to pull off, but as strange as it is to say, I don’t think the Leafs can really screw this up. The Leafs have a 5 point lead over the …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

Raptors news: Scottie Barnes suffers wrist injury, OG Anunoby trying to break record

Raptors news: Scottie Barnes suffers wrist injury, OG Anunoby trying to break record

Scottie Barnes figures to be one of the main reasons that the Toronto Raptors have any shot at making some noise in the postseason. Even though his box score numbers may not be more impressive than what he put up last year, those who have been observing him with a very keen eye can see […]
Raptors news: Scottie Barnes suffers wrist injury, OG Anunoby trying to break record – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Mike Luciano / Raptors HQ

Knies check-in, Niemelä & Hirvonen watch, Minten on fire: Leafs Prospect Roundup

The home stretch of the NHL regular season is upon us, and that means that prospects in other leagues around the world are also wrapping up their seasons. The most notable of those prospects for Leafs fans is undoubtedly Matthew Knies, who is winding down his sophomore season at the University of Minnesota.
Knies and his Gophers teammates earned a first-round bye in the BIG10 tournament after finishing first in the conference, but they were back in action this past weekend in a semifinal matchup against Michigan State. Things started slowly for Minnesota as they worked to get their legs under them after so much time off, but they walked away with a tidy win in Saturday’s single-elimination game against the Spartans, advancing to the BIG10 Championship game against the Michigan Wolverines for the second consecutive year.
Down 1-0 in the opening frame, the Gophers’ powerplay got to work with Knies setting up Jaxon Nelson on the doorstep to tie the game. Minnesota never looked back from there, and Michigan State had no answer as the Gophers piled up five unanswered goals to come away with the victory. Fellow Leafs prospect Mike Koster also notched a pair of assists in Saturday’s semifinal.

Matthew Knies sets up Jaxon Nelson ou …

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Author: Nick Richard / The Leafs Nation

Expansion drafts are fun, 34 team leagues decidedly less so

There are a lot of fun things that go along with expansion. You get to wait for the team name, the logo, the jersey, there’s all the speculation that goes into the expansion draft and some fun roster fallout (or decidedly less fun if you briefly have Jared McCann on your roster and then lose him in favour of keeping Justin Holl.) Yeah, expansion has a lot of fun elements to it and expanding to 32 teams wasn’t the worst thing for the NHL. It gave the league a nice even divisional/conference balance and now half the league makes the playoffs and the other half doesn’t. Expanding to 32 teams was the next best thing to shrinking the league back down to 21 teams, 24 if you want a bit more of that conference/division symmetry.
Of course, the NHL apparently can’t leave well enough alone and looks be considering expansion again.

👀 🤐.@espn @NHL @NHLNetwork @TSNHockey @DKSportsbook #HockeyTwitter https://t.co/g8aLnSVQgJ
— Kevin Weekes (@KevinWeekes) March 5, 2023

At least we’ll assume that’s what the eyeballs from Kevin Weekes means. It’s great that he was able to take enough time to tag his favourite sportsbook but was too busy to add any context to the retweet.
Fortunately, plenty of others have been trying to add context to it and the NHL’s taken the first step towards expansion by denying that it is happening and that’s why it’s time to weigh in on this nonsense because in addition to the alluded to Houston and Atlanta locations above, people are taking the opportunity to talk about Quebec City and the most relevant of locations to a Leafs site, a second team being placed in Toronto.
We’ll save the Toronto thing for last and start with the painful suggestion of the NHL trying Atlanta for the third time. Much like how the NHL has a hard time letting go of the Phoenix market given its size and the success of sports leagues there, …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

Looking at Timothy Liljegren and if he mets the higher standard for staying in

Looking at Timothy Liljegren and if he mets the higher standard for staying in

One of the things that could be seen from miles away is the inevitable controversy over who would be scratched on the Leafs blueline as the Leafs carry nine NHL defenseman and come to the realization that an 11F/7D model doesn’t work when your coach loves rolling four lines and three pairings at even strength. We all knew that Conor Timmins would be screwed with the nine defenseman approach, but I guess there is still a bit of a surprise when it comes to Timothy Liljegren, and seeing him get scratched for two consecutive games wasn’t something Leafs fans were prepared to see at the same time when pitchforks are out for Morgan Rielly and Justin Holl.
Sheldon Keefe probably didn’t help things with this comment:

Sheldon Keefe on Timothy Liljegren:
“He’s an important guy for us, but, as I’ve talked to him about … our team is deeper on defence now. The standard is higher in terms of staying in. He was in a similar situation last season.”
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) March 7, 2023

Now, I’ll start with the fact that this isn’t some form of attack on the defenseman, I do think to some extent it is a coach taking the easy way out. As he begins to sit defensemen from time to time, it probably made sense for him to start with the youngest one in the current lineup. Also, the one that took a tough hit that almost made it seem like Liljegren would be questionable for the first game he was scratched for an …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

Here’s why the Raptors should keep Will Barton for 2023-24

Here’s why the Raptors should keep Will Barton for 2023-24

The Athletic’s Shams Charania was the first to report that the Toronto Raptors will sign veteran forward Will Barton, who was waived by the Washington Wizards last Tuesday. In order to free up a roster spot, the Raptors released forward Juancho Hernangomez, who is now a free agent. Hernangomez, who was signed by the Raptors […]
Here’s why the Raptors should keep Will Barton for 2023-24 – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: KC Jordan / Raptors HQ

It’s report card day after the Leafs gave us a lot of trades to grade

It’s report card day after the Leafs gave us a lot of trades to grade

Here we are with another round of grade that trade. Everyone loves these posts, that’s why every site seems to do them. You can’t get enough. We can’t get enough. Well… I guess we could kinda get enough because, with the volume of trades the Leafs had yesterday, most of the TLN contributors were huddled in balls on the floor, rocking back and forth going “no more, no more.” It’s in that spirit that I’m largely taking over the grading myself today. I got some help with the Sandin deal, but I’m flying solo on the smaller ones. I promise to be nice to Luke Schenn, but we’ll save him for last.
Sandin to Washington for Gustafsson and Boston’s 2023 1st round pick: A
The second you say “first round pick” to me, I instantly like the trade. My brain still operates in a pre-2016 world where the idea of the Leafs accumulating 1st round picks is the goal of the season. Couple that with all the love letters written about this draft class and it’s nice to see Toronto back in the game.

Erik Gustafsson is no slouch either. Those aren’t sheltered 3rd pairing minutes that he’s been playing either, that’s a 20 minute a night defenseman that is doing well and is about to be slid into a role that is far more manageable for him. I’d argue the Leafs got the best asset with the pick, and the best defenseman in the deal with Gustafsson, and the Capitals are largely just banking on Sandin being more usable for them immediately and on par with what they’d get with a late first round pick.
In theory, everyone got what they wanted out of this deal, but from my perspective this is a big win for Toronto as it gives them a lot of flexibility for future moves and they’ve cashed out at the right time on a defenseman …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

The 2023 Blue Jays, Position by Position: Toronto’s catching tandem could be the best in baseball

It’s not a stretch to say that the Blue Jays have one of the best, if not the best, catching tandems in the league.

When we last looked at the backstop in the last Position by Position article, it seemed a remote possibility that the Jays could roll with three catchers.
However, on December 23rd, 2022, the Jays traded their top prospect Gabriel Moreno (and Lourdes Gurriel Jr.) for Daulton Varsho. In yesterday’s article, we looked at Daulton Varsho the outfielder, but he is also a catcher. That seems like a good place to start.
Daulton Varsho:
I went into larger detail about what Varsho could do with the bat, so let’s just focus on his defence behind the plate.
While Varsho is a fantastic defender in the outfield, behind the plate is a different story.
Catcher Defensive Adjustment is a statistic created by Baseball Prospectus, focusing on framing, blocking, and throwing. 0 is average, while a gold glove calibre defender has a CDA of around 10. In the case of Varsho, he had a -1.5 CDA with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2022.

Center fielder who plays catcher? Catcher who plays center field?@DaultonVarsho25 is one of one. pic.twitter.com/8K7V7O3e67
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) April 17, 2022

In terms of Defensive Runs Saved, he isn’t any better. This past season, Varsho had a -3 DRS, which was actually an improvement from his -6 in 2021. He also saw limited time behind the plate, only catching 175 innings (down from 319 in 2021).
While Varsho can catch, it’s likely a case of if the Jays desperately need an emergency catcher. Even then, Varsho has plenty of value defensively in …

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Author: Brennan Delaney / Blue Jays Nation

The 2023 Blue Jays, Position by Position: A deep dive into how the team’s outfield has improved defensively

The off-season is all but done, which means that it’s time to look at the Blue Jays, position by position, once again.

Four months ago, I took a look at the bullpen, the starting rotation, the catching situation, the infield, and the outfield situation (which we’ll look at today). What has changed? Who occupies each role? That’s what the redux of the series will look to answer.
The outfield changes:
The Blue Jays outfield is the position that has seen the most significant change. The original series came out at the end of October, so at the time, here’s what it looked like for the Jays.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. – Left field
George Springer – Centre field
Teoscar Hernández – Right field
Raimel Tapia – Fourth outfielder
Jackie Bradley Jr./Bradley Zimmer – Defensive replacement outfielder
Only one player remains from this group, George Springer. Here’s the outfield heading into the 2023 season.
Daulton Varsho – Left field
Kevin Kiermaier – Centre field
George Springer – Right field
Otto López/Whit Merrifield/Cavan Biggio/Nathan Lukes – Fourth outfield
Let’s compare players in the old outfield to their replacements. It’s worth noting that it won’t be a direct replacement. Varsho was not brought in to replace Gurriel, despite playing the same position.
Teoscar Hernández out, Daulton Varsho in:
In 2022, Hernández slashed .267/.316/.491 with 25 homers in 535 plate appearances. Moreover, he had a 6.4 BB% and a 28.4 K%, leading to a 129 wRC+ and a 2.4 Fangraphs WAR (fWAR). Defensively he struggled, as he posted a -3 Defensive Runs Saved and a -5 Outs Above Average in 966.2 innings in right field.
The 2023 s …

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Author: Brennan Delaney / Blue Jays Nation