<p>Friends, hello! We&#8217;re roughly one month into the season and our good hockey buds are sitting with an 8-6-0 record. There have been some good times, but there have also been some bad times. Today we ask our expert roundtable how they would describe their panic about this team on a scale of 1-to-10.</p>
<p></p>
<h1>Jon &#8220;I listen to music&#8221; Steitzer</h1>
<p>I&#8217;m probably at a 2 or 3. There is absolutely no reason to be in a full blown panic mode, especially on November 3rd when the Leafs are sitting in a playoff spot. The Leafs are going to lose games, the Leafs are going to lose games that you think they should have won, and the Leafs are sometimes going to lose more games than they win for stretches of the season. Ultimately, they&#8217;ll still wind up being one of the top three teams in their division, because the Leafs and the Lightning really are the only two teams worth a damn in the Atlantic.</p>
<p>That reasoning is why I probably would have put myself as a one on the scale, but I&#8217;d say I&#8217;m 2 or 3 because I do worry that the Leafs can&#8217;t see that Nikita Zaitsev isn&#8217;t very good. I still can&#8217;t wrap my head around Roman Polak being an acceptable course of action in any situation. And I think this team is one key injury away from me reassessing my panic level. Since injuries don&#8217;t seem to happen, I&#8217;ll let that panicking be future Jon&#8217;s problem.</p>
<h1>Scott &#8220;I write for TLN&#8221; Maxwell</h1>
<p>My panic level is probably at a 2 or 3. In the big picture, this is a team with insane forward depth, an okay defense, and a usually consistent goalie. They just happen to be in a skid right, which happens. However, this team&#8217;s micromanaging skills have been not good for the last year or so, and once that changes, my panic level will probably drop down to a 1.</p>
<h1>Megan &#8220;Texas Rangers&#8221; Kim</h1>
<p>I haven’t experienced even a slight rise in blood pressure since the playoffs last spring. Also, I was pulling for the Capitals and the Leafs scared the bejeesus out of me.</p>
<p>Yeah, it’s important to win in the regular season, and you sure don’t love to lose four of your last five, but there’s literally no real reason to hit the panic button. Maybe the whole Polak over Carrick thing is mildly alarming, but it moves the needle from a 1 to a 2 in my books. There’s enough talent on this team, and there’s plenty of depth. Unless something weird happens, this team is making the playoffs with some room to spare, and if we’re still doing things like sending Polak out instead of Carrick or another more able defenseman, then we’ll maybe push the panic level higher. Until then, just enjoy the ride. We get to watch Auston and Willy every night. Like, wow.</p>
<figure id="attachment_36922" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-36922" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-36922" src="https://i0.wp.com/theleafsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/05/usatsi_100291051.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&#038;ssl=1" alt="" width="1024" height="768" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-36922" class="wp-caption-text">Apr 19, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Nikita Zaitsev (22) in game four of the first round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs aganst the Washington Capitals at Air Canada Centre. Washington defeated Toronto 5-4. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption></figure>
<h1>Avery &#8220;New Guy&#8221;</h1>
<p>My panic level is probably at a 2, which is tough when all of Leafs Twitter seems to be at an 11. Here’s my two cents — how many years is this now that the Leafs have gone out west, underperformed, and Twitter has burned to the ground? No one is denying that the Sharks game was ugly, but the Leafs bounced back on Wednesday against the Ducks, and Freddie looks to be back to his old self. Plus, they nearly erased a five-goal deficit in the second half of a back-to-back against one of the top teams in the league last night. Yes, there are a few changes I’d like to see immediately — Roman Polak and Curtis McElhinney being fired into the sun, for example — but overall I think this team is sorting out some growing pains right now, and there’s no way it’ll persist.</p>
<h1>Ryan &#8220;r/Leafs&#8221; Hobart</h1>
<p>My panic level is sitting at a 3. The Leafs are doing some stupid things, but it&#8217;s the same stupid things they&#8217;ve been doing for a long time, and they&#8217;re still a good team despite those things. I want to believe that eventually they will figure out Polak is not an NHL defenseman, and if we get there I&#8217;m down to a 1. This is an excellent team, with a ton of depth. We&#8217;re missing a functional top pairing still, and our fringe roster choices could definitely be better, but there&#8217;s no need to panic right now. The quality of the team is such that it&#8217;ll almost definitely make the playoffs, and what the team looks like at that time could be dramatically different than what it does now. Until the playoffs start, I&#8217;m not in a hurry to pull my hair out over this team.</p>
<h1>Dylan &#8220;William Nylander&#8221; Fremlin</h1>
<p class="p1">my panic level is non-existent. this is a good team that&#8217;s in a bit of a rut right now after a scorching hot start during which everything was going in the net<span class="Apple-converted-space">  </span>(at both ends of the ice). fourteen games in they&#8217;re own over 52% of the shot share at 5v5 when adjusted for score (seventh in the league) and over 55% in expected goals according to corsica (third in the league). They also have two lethal powerplay units and their penalty kill, which was my one big concern coming into the season, has performed much better in terms of suppressing shots and chances than they did last season. don&#8217;t let recency bias fool you, this team is still really, really Actually Good</p>

Friends, hello! We're roughly one month into the season and our good hockey buds are sitting with an 8-6-0 record. There have been some good times, but there have also been some bad times. Today we ask our expert roundtable how they would describe their panic about this team on a scale of 1-to-10.


<h1>Jon "I listen to music" Steitzer</h1>
I'm probably at a 2 or 3. There is absolutely no reason to be in a full blown panic mode, especially on November 3rd when the Leafs are sitting in a playoff spot. The Leafs are going to lose games, the Leafs are going to lose games that you think they should have won, and the Leafs are sometimes going to lose more games than they win for stretches of the season. Ultimately, they'll still wind up being one of the top three teams in their division, because the Leafs and the Lightning really are the only two teams worth a damn in the Atlantic.

That reasoning is why I probably would have put myself as a one on the scale, but I'd say I'm 2 or 3 because I do worry that the Leafs can't see that Nikita Zaitsev isn't very good. I still can't wrap my head around Roman Polak being an acceptable course of action in any situation. And I think this team is one key injury away from me reassessing my panic level. Since injuries don't seem to happen, I'll let that panicking be future Jon's problem.
<h1>Scott "I write for TLN" Maxwell</h1>
My panic level is probably at a 2 or 3. In the big picture, this is a team with insane forward depth, an okay defense, and a usually consistent goalie. They just happen to be in a skid right, which happens. However, this team's micromanaging skills have been not good for the last year or so, and once that changes, my panic level will probably drop down to a 1.
<h1>Megan "Texas Rangers" Kim</h1>
I haven’t experienced even a slight rise in blood pressure since the playoffs last spring. Also, I was pulling for the Capitals and the Leafs scared the bejeesus out of me.

Yeah, it’s important to win in the regular season, and you sure don’t love to lose four of your last five, but there’s literally no real reason to hit the panic button. Maybe the whole Polak over Carrick thing is mildly alarming, but it moves the needle from a 1 to a 2 in my books. There’s enough talent on this team, and there’s plenty of depth. Unless something weird happens, this team is making the playoffs with some room to spare, and if we’re still doing things like sending Polak out instead of Carrick or another more able defenseman, then we’ll maybe push the panic level higher. Until then, just enjoy the ride. We get to watch Auston and Willy every night. Like, wow.

[caption id="attachment_36922" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]<img class="size-large wp-image-36922" src="https://theleafsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/05/usatsi_100291051.jpg?w=1024" alt="" width="1024" height="768" /> Apr 19, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Nikita Zaitsev (22) in game four of the first round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs aganst the Washington Capitals at Air Canada Centre. Washington defeated Toronto 5-4. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports[/caption]
<h1>Avery "New Guy"</h1>
My panic level is probably at a 2, which is tough when all of Leafs Twitter seems to be at an 11. Here’s my two cents — how many years is this now that the Leafs have gone out west, underperformed, and Twitter has burned to the ground? No one is denying that the Sharks game was ugly, but the Leafs bounced back on Wednesday against the Ducks, and Freddie looks to be back to his old self. Plus, they nearly erased a five-goal deficit in the second half of a back-to-back against one of the top teams in the league last night. Yes, there are a few changes I’d like to see immediately — Roman Polak and Curtis McElhinney being fired into the sun, for example — but overall I think this team is sorting out some growing pains right now, and there’s no way it’ll persist.
<h1>Ryan "r/Leafs" Hobart</h1>
My panic level is sitting at a 3. The Leafs are doing some stupid things, but it's the same stupid things they've been doing for a long time, and they're still a good team despite those things. I want to believe that eventually they will figure out Polak is not an NHL defenseman, and if we get there I'm down to a 1. This is an excellent team, with a ton of depth. We're missing a functional top pairing still, and our fringe roster choices could definitely be better, but there's no need to panic right now. The quality of the team is such that it'll almost definitely make the playoffs, and what the team looks like at that time could be dramatically different than what it does now. Until the playoffs start, I'm not in a hurry to pull my hair out over this team.
<h1>Dylan "William Nylander" Fremlin</h1>
<p class="p1">my panic level is non-existent. this is a good team that's in a bit of a rut right now after a scorching hot start during which everything was going in the net<span class="Apple-converted-space">  </span>(at both ends of the ice). fourteen games in they're own over 52% of the shot share at 5v5 when adjusted for score (seventh in the league) and over 55% in expected goals according to corsica (third in the league). They also have two lethal powerplay units and their penalty kill, which was my one big concern coming into the season, has performed much better in terms of suppressing shots and chances than they did last season. don't let recency bias fool you, this team is still really, really Actually Good</p>

TLN Roundtable: x/10 if x = Panic Level

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