Today we discuss

The Leafs and the expansion draft [1:47]

Allocating resources across various positions [7:40]

The Leafs Top 25 Under 25 - specifically, Jeremy Bracco, Timothy Liljegren, and Travis Dermott [41:17]

We do a Twitter Mailbag

Today, we go through the NHL alphabetically and discuss the offseason activities of teams from Minnesota to Winnipeg

Welcome back to another episode of Back to Excited. Today, we go through the NHL alphabetically and discuss the offseason activities of teams from Anaheim to Los Angeles.

NOTE: We have some audio issues in this episode, where there’s some noise picked up by my mic when I speak — hopefully it’s not unlistenable. We’ll make sure it’s corrected for our next episode.

The Maple Leafs made a big trade. Fulemin and I discuss it:

[1:20] The Kadri - Barrie trade

[4:35] Barrie as a player

[18:57] Why we’re excited by Alex Kerfoot

[35:35] The Zaitsev / Ceci trade

[55:43] The Leafs’ resulting cap situation

[58:00] The Leafs’ small signings

[1:04:00] The future of the Leafs cap situation and a possible Barrie extension impacting our view of the trade

[1:13:34] The Colin Miller trade, and whether the Leafs would’ve been better off competing on that trade.

We discuss

1:10 - The Patrick Marleau salary dump

13:05 - The reported Kapanen and Johnsson agreements

21:52 - The Leafs current cap situation, the options they have to address their defense, and their relative lack of options to do so

1:09:39 - the picks the Leafs made.

We discuss:

The Raps winning and their takeover of Toronto [1:15]

Viewership differences between the NBA and NHL, and the systemic differences in the sports that make the former more easily marketed, and how the NHL’s culture may be impeding it [6:54]

The upsides and downsides of the NBAs heavy emphasis on stars/personalities above teams [20:15]

Why NBA teams’ styles are more evident than NHL teams’ and the resonance that provides on a national level [35:00]

The relative contrast in diversity between the NBA and NHL [51:14]

The NHL Draft, and what little insight we have regarding the Leafs ‘type’ of prospect, and the trades we expect them to make (Brown, Zaitsev) [59:45]

Some discussion on the Niskanen/Gudas trade [1:15:12]

Today, we discuss

Mitch Marner and the continued leaks out of his camp [1:40]

The possibilities in trading Nikita Zaitsev [21:15]

The surprising news about Patrick Marleau being willing to move on [38:22]

[2:42] Fulemin rants about how people react to ‘playoff injuries’

[14:53] Our trust in Kyle Dubas

[31:23] The Leafs are very young and very good

[36:43] We defend Mike Babcock against some of the criticism he has received

[51:55] William Nylander ripping up the World Championships (he got another assist as I wrote this)

[57:32] Rasmus Sandin blowing away our expectations

[1:02:50] Mitch Marner is going to get overpaid, but he’s also an amazing player that is a joy to watch.

Episode 62 - Leafs Free Agents (with Rahef) by Arvind, Acting the Fulemin