Leafs Geeks Podcast: Toronto Maple Leafs

ActingTheFulemin from PensionPlanPuppets joins us this week to break down some of the early season storylines for the Maple Leafs. The topics we discuss include: 1:39 - Matthews' early season dominance. 11:43 - Don't forget about Nylander! 22:52 - What's up with Marner? 38:02 - Brown's great play & interesting role.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nick Mercadante from Hockey Graphs joins us this week to break down the voodooness that is NHL goaltending. Here's a list of the topics we discuss: 2:01 - Goalie Metrics in 2017. 12:13 - Frederik Andersen. 25:49 - Calvin Pickard. 34:30 - Garret Sparks. 41:45 - Scott Darling. 46:07 - Antti Raanta. 49:20 - Nick's other son, Steve Mason.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Matisz joins us this week to preview the upcoming season. We dive deep into the Leafs and also break down the rest of the Eastern Conference. Here's a list of the topics we discuss: 5:39 - Toronto's Goaltending. 12:59 - Toronto's Defence. 19:30 - Toronto's Forwards. 31:38 - Tampa Bay Lightning. 39:12 - Ottawa Senatoras. 40:49 - Montreal Canadiens. 47:35 - Florida Panthers. 50:50 - Boston Bruins. 55:18 - Buffalo Sabres. 57:53 - The Metro is REALLY good. 58:38 - Columbus Blue Jackets. 1:00:53 - Carolina Hurricanes 1:05:31 - New York Islanders. 1:11:10 - Philadelphia Flyers. 1:14:04 - Final conclusions on the East.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sean Tierney from The Athletic joins us this week to break down the importance of transitional play (zone exits, zone entries, zone denials, all that fun stuff!) Here's a list of the topics we discuss: 1:51 - Why Zone Exits & Entries matter. 6:00 - Jake Gardiner's excellent transitional play. 13:44 - Morgan Rielly's interesting results. 15:56 - Ron Hainsey. 20:51 - "Positionless" hockey. 26:12 - Nikita Zaitsev's weird numbers. 35:22 - Why Roman Polak doesn't drive results. 40:52 - Zone Entries & Toronto's style of play. 54:37 - Optimizing the Leafs lineup.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Mirtle from The Athletic joins us today to preview some of the biggest questions heading into the preseason. The topics we discuss include: 2:25 - Is there room for Kapanen? 10:08 - Where Marleau fits in the lineup. 13:45 - The fight for the #6 and #7 D spots. 24:00 - Dubas' role in the organization. 29:46 - Answering questions from Twitter. 32:38 - How things have been going at The Athletic.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Dylan Fremlin from The Leafs Nation joins Ian to break down the Leafs' top 10 prospects. Here's a list of the players that we discuss: 2:10 - Dmytro Timashov (Honourable Mention) 9:57 - Eemeli Räsänen. 19:03 - Yegor Korshkov. 24:35 - Andrew Nielsen. 32:32 - Adam Brooks. 36:49 - Andreas Johnsson. 40:32 - Jeremy Bracco. 46:52 - Carl Grundström. 51:06 - Travis Dermott. 1:02:49 - Kasperi Kapanen. 1:13:09 - Timothy Liljegren.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a two month hiatus, we're back to review the Leafs' offseason with Jeff Veillette. Here's a few of the things that Ian and Jeff discuss: 2:01 - Patrick Marleau. 27:11 - Ron Hainsey. 40:26 - Connor Brown. 45:36 - Zach Hyman. 58:20 - Dominic Moore. 1:09:09 - Forecasting the Leafs' 2017-2018 season.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our final episode before Ian leaves for camp, Matt Cane from Hockey Graphs joins the show to talk break down the Leafs' key RFAs to be signed, as well as some potential UFA targets.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Ian answers listeners' questions about the draft, potential trades, and other offseason goodies. Here's a list of the questions that were asked: 1:16 – Who will the Leafs select with the 17th overall pick? 8:18 – Would you trade the 17th overall pick for a RHD like Tanev/Manson? 12:23 – Should TOR be interested in acquiring a F this offseason (ie. Neideretter, Radulov) 16:08 – Ranking the top available D that the Leafs might target. 28:09 – Potentially unloading Lupul to clear up cap space. 32:36 – Thoughts on moving Nylander to centre. 39:13 – Worst possible (but realistic) offseason move? 43:39 – Late round picks to target in the 2017 draft. 49:34 – Does PIT’s success indicate TOR should stack up on F instead of addressing D? 1:00:00 – How do analytics departments’ proprietary info compare to public data? 1:07:45 – Who will be the Leafs’ next GM? 1:10:30 – Thoughts on taking Kari Lehtonen as a cap dump. 1:13:55 – Should we be worried if TOR continues to prioritize size>skill in the draft? 1:16:03

This week Earl Schwartz joins us to break down rules of the salary cap you may not know about. Topics include: 2:14 - LTIR. 9:40 - Bonuses & Overages. 19:16 - ELC slide. 27:07 - The $ value of cap space. 40:08 - 2017-2018 Cap Forecast. 1:03:45 - 2018-2019 Cap Forecast. 1:20:32 ì 2019-2020 Cap Forecast.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Scott Wheeler from Pension Plan Puppets joins the show to break down the 2017 NHL Draft. We discuss the following topics: 1:16 – How weak is this draft class? 4:06 – BPA or Best D Available? 14:29 – Defencemen that could be available at pick #17. 16:22 – Callan Foote (6’3 RD, OHL) 20:51 – Nicolas Hague (6’6 LD, OHL) 23:52 – Erik Brannstrom (5’10 LD, SHL/SuperElit) 30:06 – Conor Timmins (6’1 RD, OHL) 33:07 – Robin Salo (6’0 LD, Liiga) 37:07 – Kailer Yamamato (5’8 F, WHL) 39:48 – Jason Robertson (6’2 F, OHL) 45:44 – Draft Sleepers 48:50 – Juho Korhonen (5’9 LD, SM Liiga)Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Prashanth Iyer from Hockey Graphs & Winging It Motown joins the show to break down the Babcock effect. Here are some of the topics we touch on: 2:45 – Adapting the system to his players. 14:15 – Getting everyone to buy in. 23:46 – Admitting that he has flaws. 37:16 – Giving his top pairing extremely tough competition. 47:15 – Always having one "sandpaper" player on a line (the Zach Hyman role).Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Mirtle from The Athletic joins us this week to discuss the following topics: 3:30 - RHD Trade Targets. 14:23 - The Expansion Draft. 20:17 - Hunwick vs Alternatives in UFA. 25:03 - The Zaitsev Contract. 30:51 - The Blogosphere vs Beat Reporters. 40:18 - James Mirtle's Beer League #analytics.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Sean Tierney from The Athletic & Hockey Graphs joins us to discuss the following offseason topics: 2:09 - The Leafs' unique "cup window". 6:53 - What to do with Bozak. 24:29 - What to do with JVR. 38:46 - Re-signing Zaitsev. 50:46 - Re-signing Brown & Hyman. 1:01:08 - Re-signing Boyle. 1:09:36 - Re-signing Hunwick? 1:17:51 - UFA target Cody Franson. 1:25:38 - UFA target Brendan Smith.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Matt Cane joins the show to break down the Washington Capitals. We discuss line matching, defence pairings, Alzner vs Schmidt, the enigma that is Tom Wilson, and how the Leafs can try to slow down Washington's elite powerplay.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Theo joins Ian to discuss the Maple Leafs' playoff run (which only Don Chery knew was going to happen), Zaitsev's rumoured contract extension, Kapanen, and more!Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week the Coordinator of Hockey Analytics for the Mississauga Steelheads, Zac Urback, joins us to discuss the following topics: 2:58 - 'The Eye Test' & Context. 20:06 - Draft lists & game theory. 30:30 - Best player available > drafting for need. 36:13 - Nick Suzuki. 45:50 - Conor TImmins. 59:08 - What to look for when scouting. 1:05:08 - Nerding out on pass quality. You can find Zac on Twitter @Zac_Urback. Also I highly recommend checking out his website prospect-stats.com, which has awesome data for prospects like 5v5 Points per 60, individual Sh%, and High Danger Sv%.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Garret Hohl from Hockey Graphs joins Ian to discuss the following topics: 0:53 - Size bias. 22:29 - Breaking down the components of coaching. 40:44 - Morgan Rielly & evaluating young defencemen. 56:33 - The curious case of Ondrej Pavelec.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Ian Fleming (@imfleming16) from NHL Numbers & Hockey Graphs joins us to help break down the following goaltending topics: 3:54 - Explaining advanced goalie metrics. 14:21 - 4v5 Goaltending. 24:25 - Evaluating the Leafs' goalies. 40:22 - Shot Quality (the Ondrej Pavelec Story). 51:18 - The volatile nature of backup goalies. 1:09:21 - The value of goalie coaches. 1:14:58 - UFA backup goalies to target this offseason.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Ian & Theo re-evaluate the Maple Leafs after the deadline, addressing the following topics: 2:58 - Reminder of how good the Leafs are. 11:59 - Nylander is still very underrated. 19:21 - Evaluating the Boyle trade. 26:07 - Overpaying 4th liners (ie. Martin) 34:30 - Re-evaluating the Polak signing. 54:15 - How good could this team be? 1:07:13 - Re-evaluating Leafs management. 1:25:51 - Recapping the NHL Trade Deadline (for the other 29 NHL teams)Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices