The Leafs are betting big on playoff experience with their new additions
After another first round exit, this time at the hands of the then defending Cup Champs and eventual Cup Finalist Tampa Bay Lightning, Leafs GM Kyle Dubas has chosen to bring in a slew of playoff experience in the form of all of his summer additions. So far this off-season, Dubas has brought in seven new players, totaling 204 games of playoff experience, including 17 games of Cup Finals experience, per SI's David Alter.
Most of that Cup Finals experience comes from the Leafs' biggest off-season gamble in 2-time Cup winner Matt Murray. Murray has 12 games of Cup Final experience to go along with 51 total playoff games and the Leafs hope that he can not only regain his form from when he was in Pittsburgh, but also the form he showed with the Sens in the 14 games he played after being waived last season.
Should he falter though, the Leafs have another young goalie that is just 25 and was once pegged as the next Andrei Vasilevskiy in Ilya Samsonov. Samsonov has eight games of playoff experience in his young NHL career, which is actually pretty good considering the fact that he has never been an NHL starter.
On top of bringing in 2 goalies with a combined 59 playoff games, the Leafs also brought in Calle Jarnkrok, Nicholas Aube-Kubel, Victor Mete and Adam Gaudette. Jarnkrok, has 75 games of playoff experience including five games of Cup Final experience. Meanwhile, Aube-Kubel has 27 games of playoff experience and two games of Cup Final experience. Both Gaudette and Mete have 10 games of playoff experience as well.
As Leafs Captain John Tavares said earlier this summer, "Just speaking for myself, how hard it is every single year to earn an opportunity to play in the playoffs and wanting to go as far as you can and win the ultimate prize and how difficult that is... Those are experiences and successes you can lean on."
It would seem the Leafs are going to be leaning on the playoff experience of their newcomers quite a bit this season and the playoffs that follow in hopes that they can finally get over the hump and prove to soon-to-be pending UFAs Auston Matthews and William Nylander that they can win in Toronto.
| POLL | ||
AOUT 7 | 417 ANSWERS The Leafs are betting big on playoff experience with their new additions Who is your favourite offseason addition for the Leafs so far? | ||
| Nicholas Aube-Kubel | 39 | 9.4 % |
| Calle Jarnkrok | 123 | 29.5 % |
| Murray/Samsonov tandem | 184 | 44.1 % |
| Other | 71 | 17 % |
| List of polls | ||
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