Leafs Talk

01 Oct 2026 04:17:21
Two games in now, Raddysh looks horrible on that top pairing. Stolarz stole that game for them.

I have never liked the Raddysh signing and acceptance that he is a 1D, now I'm watching exactly what I thought I would. He is Tyson Barrie all over again and for anyone that has been here that long, I hated that trade and was lambasted for that trade because people thought Barrie was a stud.

This is exactly the same. Raddysh had one good year, skates like a drunk, turns the puck over constantly, and gets hemmed into his own zone.

What does a point shot matter if you still can't score on the PP? Even for that matter, do you pay 8.5 until a guy is 38 when he is just a PP specialist? Of course not.

On a positive note, I'm sorry Clarky, but Marchenko is a stud. This guy looks so good through two games, he could have 100 pts and 50g. I cannot hate on him.

01 Oct 2026 07:52:17
@LL To be fair, they have put two guys who are not the fastest skaters and both offensively minded together. It will never work.

I haven’t minded what I’ve seen from Raddysh. He’s had some bad turnovers, but I think they need a more steady eddy with him because from what I’ve seen the last two games is
how important it is that the Leafs are able to have an effective breakout… All in all I would like to see Blankenburg.

Idk why they would give him 1.4 just to sit in the press box.

01 Oct 2026 12:20:14
Raddysh was better last night. Not great, but better. That pair was better last night overall. Stolarz was very good. Willy letting up on the backcheck was the only reason they got one by him. Willy knows it. The bottom 6 were better. The D as a whole was still pretty solid. Yes, NYI came on the last 10 mins, but mostly because Leafs were protecting the lead mode.


McKenna, Raddysh and others looked more comfortable. You can see McKenna's confidence start to grow. Let's try to remember about half the team is new. It is going to take some time before we see things start to gel and that includes the D pairs that are new. Also includes breakouts, structure etc. Once the D start to learn all the new forwards, breakouts should be better.

30 Sep 2026 15:50:23
Read the game comments below. To me, the game was pretty sloppy.
The good. I thought our D looked pretty solid last night. Didn't give up alot of shots. Were there some breakdowns? Sure, but not a ton of rebound chances allowed. I thought that was one of Morgan's better games I have seen in a while. He won a lot of puck battles, skated out of trouble and made some nice first passes. I think the Leafs had more grade A chances then the Habs did. Bob was moving well. Nylander, Roslovic and Marchenko had really good games. Cowan looked more comfortable. I liked how JT got into at the end of the game. Don't see that often.

They didn't get pushed around in scrums. They engaged in scrums. Some good scoring chances created.
The bad. Although Matthews was solid, he was the 3rd best player on his line imo. Raddysh and McKenna had really tough nights. Personally, I thought Raddysh was horrible for the most part. McKenna got overwhelmed by having no time with the puck. Hopefully just jitters for those two. The new bottom 6 didn't really look any more dangerous offensively than last years. Paul looked good. Blueger and Duhaime I hardly noticed and not in a good way. Leaf centres got smoked on the dot most of the night.
Something to hopefully build off of.

30 Sep 2026 15:32:44
What are we expecting from Raddysh is my real question.

All summer half this site was talking about buying out Mo because he's so bad, but everyone thought Raddysh would be the savior. He is a turnover machine, very slow and makes bad decisions dedensively. Other than having a shot Raddysh has nothing going for him. He wasn't good in TB for years then had a career year at 30 and they didn't want him back.

30 Sep 2026 16:04:20
LL. I think that is a little harsh. The guy has produced at every level, although it has taken him a while to adjust to get there, and then he breaks out. Overage year in junior he had 81 pts in 62 games and a +62. Previous best year was 48 points. In the AHL, he had 51pts in 50, his last year, which was his 5th season. Previous best was 28 pts. NHL was a similar progression, 3rd full season was a breakout with that 70 pt season, with two previous over 30 playing a lesser role.


Is his speed an issue? Yes, but he typically makes good passes and angles well. Is he a true #1? No. And no one should have thought he was. He is a likely a good 2 though. Let's give him some time to see what we have as I am sure he is really nervous whether he will admit it or not.

30 Sep 2026 16:34:06
@RLF Maybe it's a bit harsh, but not by much.

He is not good defensively and never has been. He will struggle to keep pucks out of his net all year.

I didn't understand the point in the signing at all tbh.

Rielly is offensive who has almost 0 D. Why bring in another guy that's the same?

I understand the analytic community says offensively D-men affect the game much more, but I'm not sure I'll ever agree there.

30 Sep 2026 18:59:16
LL. And playing him and Rielly together is something only the coaches seem to think will be good. I'd put him with McCabe and OEL with Tanev. Rielly on the 3rd pair with Stecher in sheltered minutes. Top 2 pairs deployed about evenly minutes wise.

30 Sep 2026 19:19:58
We look exactly as expected. We are a perimeter team again. We make goalies look good because all the shots come from the outside. But who cares we don’t need guys that go to the net. I’m sure we will win in playoffs playing this way. Hey you guys got what you asked for, can’t wait to see playoffs and how little they accomplish.

30 Sep 2026 20:01:08
@Clarky You think adding Knies into the equation makes them better? I don't get it. You talk about him like he's going to put up 120pts.

They're a perimeter team because guys like Willy don't want to do anything else.

30 Sep 2026 20:12:55
LL. I talk about playoffs and how we are going backwards from being a playoff team with a legitimate chance. Who cares if they do well in regular season if it doesn’t amount to anything…..again. Seen this story too many teams but you guys seem to be happy.

30 Sep 2026 20:25:43
I get your angry Clarky that Knies was moved, but it wasn't like people were wanting him gone (for the most part). As for last night, the Leafs shut the Habs down most of the night. Take away the giveaway gifts the Habs got and they had trouble creating any high danger chances.

The Leafs were actually better last night then the Habs at getting inside and to the net. Leaf giveaways, especially by Raddysh and McKenna created many of Montreal's best chances. Now, I am not saying the Leafs are a constant crash the net team, but they did drive the net last night.

30 Sep 2026 10:52:56
So game 1 in the books. Some good, some bad, but I think two areas stick out immediately to me. They need another depth player that can play the third line and push a player like Sissons down to the fourth line… and then they need to add a stay at home dman.

No shock to anyone the Reilly Raddysh pair can’t be a long term thing.

Reilly has and will always drag down his partner, and I hope that if he’s not moved that they at least let him sit every so often

29 Sep 2026 14:34:31
So.
Roslovic Mathews Marchenko
McKenna Tavares Nylander
Cowan Paul Scissions
MacEwen Blueger Duhaine

Reilly Raddysh
McCabe Tanev
OEL Stetcher

Bobrovski
Stolarz.

23 Sep 2026 01:07:55
I know it's not even reg. Season yet, but I really don't get the hype around Knies sometimes. He's a step behind on that top line most of the time when I watch and doesn't seem to read plays as quickly as some believe he does.

I still think he's a very good middle 6 winger on a good contract, but that MTL return should have been taken imo.

23 Sep 2026 13:04:55
Yeah, it is pre-season but he was as invisible in the first game as Reilly and in Reilly’s defense, he didn’t dress lol. Rifai dropped the gloves in defense Matthews and Nylander after Xhekaj was targeting them.

Knies could have laid out a few Canadians with some hits. The way he played, though, it begs the question: is he 100 percent healthy? Rifai was also excellent all night with and without the puck.

23 Sep 2026 17:24:27
@Suffering I also liked seeing Rifai step in, especially knowing he isn't winning the fight lol.

Knies is being painted as this big, tough, power forward. He's definitely got the effort, but I just don't see him as a top line player.

He's not a great skater and his IQ really isn't there sometimes.

Obviously hoping I'm wrong and he improves as time goes on, but this is a lot of what we saw all last season as well.

24 Sep 2026 12:00:03
Knies has never been quick. He has heavy feet. His first few steps are slow and it takes him a bit to get going, but his top end speed is quite good, so he can keep up when he gets going. He's not quite 24, so hopefully he can continue to work on his quickness. I would like to see more "in your face" from him.

A little nastier side come out. He's very good value, but his lack of quickness does limit him in cycling pucks etc. He's a very big body and quickness tends to be an average issue with big men. For the right package though, anyone can be traded.

24 Sep 2026 13:42:35
I think McKenna is going to get moved to the top line. He looks very good. Best player on the ice at times. He will be able to dish the puck to Matthews. Roslovic look good last night too.

24 Sep 2026 14:12:29
Like any player, Knies has his deficiencies, but I'm not that worried. That player brings a lot of different skill sets to the Leafs. Just because he's not a superstar doesn't mean he's not a good player. He's also only, what, 23?

25 Sep 2026 00:34:32
@Goat I guess we'll see as the year goes on.

Hope I'm wrong and Knies does rebound into a 1st line power forward.

25 Sep 2026 20:31:36
Blah blah blah. Knies will be fine. Yes, he didn’t look as per usual during the pre season games but he wasn’t throwing his body around like normal. But we need his skill set. We have a perimeter team and he is one of the few guys that will drive the net.

Gavin looks awesome, looks confident already. Gives me faith that we can trade Willy next year. Also, Cowan looks great too! He is like a buzz saw out there and looked great on the PK too.

26 Sep 2026 21:16:44
I'm still in the trade Knies boat, but it would have to be for a top pairing Dman.
I just think his lack of speed off the hop and his hockey IQ will limit him. He is still highly sought after, so IMO best to look for a trade now.