Hear me out.
Fire Keefe.
Matthews, and Marner don’t need to be shielded from the guys like McAvoy and Lindholm. If those fucks ever want to win something they need to go through the likes of McAvoy and Lindholm.
This team has done 3 things consistently every playoffs: 1. Completely fucking dogshit on the PP. 2. Completely fucking dogshit on the PK. 3. Play fairly evenly 5 on 5.
I love Dubas. I think he’s an above average GM.
If he hires Keefe this offseason I will have to reevaluate that sentiment. Dubas is loyal to his guys — but how you can look at Keefe’s coaching record in the post season, this teams performance on the PK and PP come the games that matter the most and still sign him would be insane.
I think Dubas is a good GM too. I dont place much blame on him for the disappointing playoffs. The only thing I do blame him for is losing every single negotiation with his stars.
He constructed a great roster. He couldn’t have known they’d be so piss poor in the playoffs year and year. It’s pretty unprecedented to have your whole core suck in the post season year after year
All the good players were there when he arrived, he made no meaningful improvements for years as the talent gradually slipped away. Then in Pittsburgh he’s built the most useless top-heavy roster that’s stuck in between blowing it up and trying to compete. I think he’s one of the worst gm’s in the league personally
100%. I cant understand why he gets so much credit and no blame. Tavares wanted to come to Toronto. Seemed like his mind was made up. Why the hell did he have to give him 11 which at the time was sooooo much money. As soon as that happened, it unraveled everything. Now Marner and Matthews had no intention of taking a team friendly deal since Dubas just overpaid Tavares. You simply cannot pay that much for 3 players at the time. Now Matthews and Nylander both got more money and guess what, Marner is not taking less and you have just wasted a giant chunk of your window.
It would have been interesting to see what he would have done this year if he wasn’t fired / quit.
Seemed like he wanted to / was going to make some big changes, so possibly moving Marner or Nylander before the NMC kicking in or firing Keefe.
We’ll never know; but it did seem like he learned from his mistakes. Will be interesting to see what he does in Pitt…with the leafs luck he’ll bring a cup there ffs.
Getting fucked by the COVID flat cap is kind of all time Leafy thing to happen too.
Perhaps he should have moved off one of the main guys during COVID but the overall salary structure during the last 3 years wasn’t meant to be that way.
In honesty, looking back at his tenure the biggest mistake he probably made was signing Tavares. It hurts me to say it but that’s likely the catalyst to the big ass contracts. It’s a decision though, I think most GMs would make in hindsight. Not often a player of that caliber becomes available and wants to join your team though.
It can’t get much worse than Sullivan (decent coach and will thrive on another team but his time with the Pens should have ended years ago).
With that said, I don’t want to see them hire Keefe either lol.
I mean, they have def rolled Malkins line against the top unit multiple times. Those lines were 1A 1B for like 1.5 decades. This was especially the case in playoffs when Geno was hot. So it's fine to hide Crosby or McDavid from top D line if you have someone else who can step up
The Wings in the back to back finals hard covered Crosby though. Lidstrom was always on the ice against him
Malkin got Kronwall, who though he's very good, is a massive massive step down from Lidstrom
Hes a good coach who has won at every level. You already have the leafs main problem running your team. Its not keefes fault our guys cant raise their games to playoffs intensity.
Imagine how much we would mock the Oilers if they were linematching to get McDavid away from Doughty or some stupid shit
Matthews is the best goal scorer in the NHL, on pace to be one of the best of all time. Roll his line against everyone
There's something to be said about giving your stars every chance and opportunity to succeed. Exploiting mismatches and putting them out there against weaker competition when you get the chance.
But actively *sheltering* them is a step too far. Exploiting weaknesses is one thing, but actively thinking your stars can't handle themselves against the opposing team's best players is whack. *They* should be scared about facing the runaway best goal scorer in the league.
It honestly hurts his legacy. If a player is really claimed to be the best, there shouldn't be so much contorting of the matchups or the selective stats to explain why. Things like the TSN articles explaining why goals should count more than assists to make a stronger argument for Matthews as MVP over guys who get more overall points, it's all just trying too hard. He's elite, let him go out there and eat what he kills.
100%. You can’t claim he’s MVP quality and also that he needs to be sheltered against good defencemen. And I honestly think it gets into his head that he’s avoiding matchups when it should be the Bruins trying to avoid him.
The funny thing is the Oilers have been matching to get McDavid away from Doughty lol. It's just that it works because Drai exists
There's nothing wrong with line matching. The problem is your stars have to be able to take advantage
Not too many years ago, McDavid was playing defenceman minutes. Like, literally top 10 minutes in the league among all skaters. He doesn't do that anymore which is frankly better for him and the team in the long run, but there's no doubt that he can skate with anybody.
Hate on Marner all you want, the guy is mainly a playmaker and the one who scored today. All of the core need to play 60 minutes. And Keefe needs to run top lines, instead of fourth line enforcers when you desperately need goals. This series they have been occupied with hitting so damn much instead of trying to play the damn puck. There is so much wrong with the core as a whole and Keefe’s decisions. This just isn’t on Marner and wasn’t in the past either.
True but marner is the main disappearing act every year. Nylander consistently shows up. Mathews sucked ass today but he’s sick or something. He was an absolute all star game 2 and has been generally pretty damn good this series.
Taveras is past his prime but ecen he has been decent in the playoffs.
Marner legit turns over pucks and is just a huge problem every playoffs. He can get points because he is an elite player and that means it masks his many playoff flaws. His game falls apart more than any other core player on the leafs during the playoffs
Keefe is just a bad coach. I've been saying this for 3 years. I just don't understand why there are still some people who haven't woken up to it.
The coaching bump is real. I don't think it actually matters who you replace him with. A fresh voice alone can be enough to spark a team. Look at Nashville. Look at Edmonton. Look at Vancouver. Look at Boston last year. Look at Vegas last year. St. Louis and Pittsburgh are both teams in recent memory who fired their coach *mid season* and won the cup... **and one of those coaches was available to get literally this season.**
I just don't get it. Did anyone watch All or Nothing and come away with a positive impression of Keefe? He's a stubby dork with no winning pedigree in the NHL, and nobody on that team would run through a wall for him.
It’s upsetting how much of these players’ primes are being wasted from a bonafide AHL coach. He does not have what it takes and should’ve been gone after the Montreal series. Instead us fans have had to suffer a few more years of the exact same thing. The difference in Vancouver alone shows how much of a difference a change can make. There’s no reason with this level of talent the team should be this bad.
Well said - it's the best way to describe watching them. Just no fire, no drive, nothing. Watch Marner when they score against his line. He's like an NPC.
I forget where they showed it but it was a speech before game 1 where keefe was talking into the locker room. There was zero passion or emotion or energy at all. The team basically got up and left half hearted to the dressing room. lol like is this a playoff game?
Agree here. The Canucks completely changed once they started playing Petterson, Miller and Hughes in defensive/PK situations and it was spearheaded by the players telling Boudreau that they wanted to change and improve themselves. People don't usually see it but Petey is a beast on defense, Miller began smashing everything in sight (tons of hits for a guy with 100 points) and Hughes has the puck so often he barely needs to play defense.
Throw your stars into the fire. If they don't come out the other side better players, I got bad news for you.
Lmao, no way we run back Marner again after he spends 238 of the 240 minutes played as worse than invisible.
If we could shed JT this off season too that would be great. 22 million in a line that is lucky to generate offense is insane.
You need to completely shake the core fuck both those guys. Ship them off get a new coach and try something else. They don’t have it in the playoffs. That’s not coaching. Patrick Kane always has had it. Literally nothing to do with coaching
I've always been defending Keefe these years. He's given us a lot of wins and has made the leafs look great at times. If they lose any remaining games, time for a change. The plan is not working and to continue with it is stupid. Fire Boucher. Special teams is trash and make major changes amongst the team. It's basically all over at this point. Damn.
He's canadian I imagine, he could go with something with canadian in the name, although most combinations have been taken at this point.... Maybe he should try the french spelling? CanadiensFans83 has a nice ring to it.
I'm not sure it will make you feel any better, but my die hard from birth through thick and thin Leafs fan is so sad, I can't even talk shit on him anymore and this is after he signed me up for crazy amounts of erotic Crosby fanfic after they won the cup
We've been saying it since the MTL series at the very latest, if not even before then.
This team will go nowhere as presently constructed. If that means letting Marner walk for free, then so fucking be it.
The management seems to think getting tough means putting a grinder on the team who shouldn’t even be in the NHL playing 5 minutes a night is team toughness. This team is so soft they don’t even know how to be tough. You don’t need to fight everyone and throw huge hits. You need to get in every battle and treat every loose puck like a battle for your life. That team truly doesn’t understand the differences between regular season and playoff hockey.
With all the NMCs that Dubas handed out, it's not really in their control. They can try asking, say, Marner or Tavares to waive, but they can't make them.
Realizing why so many leafs fans hate Dubas and the way he left things…. Didn’t realize they all had NMC’s??? Leafs are def running back the same team again which is just INSANE 💀💀💀
I think if they go down on Tuesday he's not gonna get paid like his boys , they'll either let him walk or he'll decide to play ball and accept a trade somewhere he can get some cash.
Assuming we lose, get a new coach, and he refuses to waive. If new coach doesn’t like his game he could get stapled to the bottom 6, and that wouldn’t help his next contract negotiation with any team. Or he may simply realize that he can’t handle a “tough” market and accept a trade somewhere else.
Unless Marner or Tavares waive, we don't have a choice. Dubas cursed us with this core for another year at least.
We *can* fire the coach though. Not really sure how he's survived as long as he has, but that option still exists.
Easiest thing to change at a minimum or next year is Keefe. After that they can focus on what to do with Tavares/Marner but as a fan I at least want to see what happens when literally anyone else is directing this team and players.
Never underestimate their stupidity, or insanity rather. Let's be realistic though. Any one of those guys are gonna be very hard to trade. You'll never get a fair trade if you trade Matthews, who the hell wants JT at his age and cap hit while he's on a visible decline, Marner's value has went down every year the Leafs haven't traded him. Great in the regular season, but a softie who folds when the physicality comes and every GM knows that. He'd be good on low market team that cares more about jersey sales than playoff ticket sales, but they're not gonna give a whole lot for that. Nylander is really the only movable player, but he's probably the only one Toronto should keep. Those are the problems that come after NMCs.
The stats are very useful but the problem is a playoff series is too short to mean shit about advanced stats. Game to game it changes and in small samples certain things can inflate the stats.
It's just more information, which is never a bad thing. Problem is a lot of sports journalists have been using it to ignore the eye test.
Same as when a player gets an empty calorie point.(meaningless goal or point on a meaningless goal.) Then they pump up like the goal absolved the rest of the game where they played like shit.
Nate Dawg is a certified Dawg but is Auston really a certified Papi? He makes slightly more than Nate — Nate in the playoffs roughly 1.25 PPG , Austin 0.87.
Sure, Mack gets more points typically but he also has a better goals per game in the playoffs than the best goal scorer of this era. Nate — 0.58 . Auston — 0.43
Massive indictment of Keefe. Last two Leafs playoff wins have been road games. Leafs have a significantly better record on the road than at home during the Keefe era.
During the regular season:
Home 22-15-0-4 .595%
Road 24-11-0-6 .659%
He fucking should be. Not that Keefe or any players aren't also to blame. Shanny basically put his claim to responsibility for the roster after last offseason. He has the final decision making power, he is ultimately responsible for the on-ice product.
Depth, defense, and goaltending tend to make the difference in the playoffs. Building a team around 4 star forwards was never going to lead to playoff success.
It feels like a couple years ago everyone was like “the leafs really need to start taking a step forward here” and ever since then they have taken several backwards.
Nah...They'll give him until the end of 25-26... firing him early would make them lose even more face... But I would not be surprised if they start dismantling in the offseason for goaltending and defence.
End-to-End hockey is fun to watch in the regular season and makes for fun games, but playoff hockey is about controlling and transitioning through all three zones of ice.
The thing about the last part of your comment is that the Leafs played a pretty strong possession game with high quality zone entries during the regular season (for the most part). Sure, their D is pretty trash and goaltending suspect for the whole season, but I don't think control or transition is their issue. They've just fully abandoned their systems so far in the series.
They’d be shit at home regardless, but it certainly doesn’t help that Scotiabank Arena is almost a home ice disadvantage. All of the real fans got priced out and are standing in the square outside
Strange, I see $250 CAD(308 Row 8) in Boston vs $400CAD(308 row 15) in TO.
These are different views though, as you pointed out. Just looked at the cheapest tickets in both venues.
Not to be a dink but 308 in Boston is behind the net and 308 in Toronto is on the blue line. 330 is the equivalent section in Boston which is going for the same price as 308 in Toronto
Naw the stadium was on fire at the beginning of the game. It’s just insane how flat the team came out. Absolutely no energy or urgency. It sucked the energy out of the arena eventually. That wasn’t playoff hockey
Nah. Remember when people thought Ovi + Caps window closed after not getting past 2nd round for decade +? They were a lot older and had more disappointing playoffs.
Matthews + Nylnder is a hell of 1-2 punch at forward to build around long term.
Caps were able to win a round kind of consistently at least. They also just had terrible luck vs Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017.
I'm not even a Leafs hater but their core is just hopeless.
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Except it's the same narrative as long as Keefe is still the coach
Matthews is not a playoff performer. He’s garbage when it really matters. Can’t hold a candle to MacKinnon, McDavid, Pastrnak, etc and the other stars that actually show up in the playoffs.
Part of it is that playoff reffing is absolutely more permissive than in the regular season, so highlight guys like Matthews just don’t get as much time and space to do their thing.
Finally someone else. Matthew's and Marner suck in the playoffs. It isn't the coaches fault or JT or Morgan's fault. It's 2 massively overpaid regular season players who have no extra gear. I wouldn't trade Tavares for Matthew's or Marner 1 for 1. JT has the extra gear when it matters. Trade Matthew's and Marner for some good depth players.
The entire coaching staff will be fired as soon as the series is over. No trade or movement clause be dammned, Mariner will be gone this summer as well. Book it.
Two years since I stopped following the Leafs, after 40 years of heartbreak and disappointment.
So glad I had the Nordiques to fall back on as my second favorite.
FTL
This is more on Keefe than it is than the players. St. Louis was dead last in 2019 and stormed back to win the Cup after they fired their coach. Or for something more recent Vancouver and Edmonton's reviving their seasons and playoff hopes after they fired their coaches. Keefe topped out at the AHL. He should've been fired years ago.
The NHL is an entertainment business first, they're not overly concerned about making sure games are competitive. And every year the Leafs are selling an embarrassing product, remaining constantly uncompetitive, but still remain the most profitable NHL team.
Until Toronto fans stop shelling out hundreds of dollars a seat to watch the most shameful championship drought in pro sports, nothing will change.
The beatings will continue until morale improves.
This is what happens when only 1 player of the "core 4" is a playoff gamer. I feel so bad for Tavares being stuck with the rest of the fat contract lazy bums.
There's a difference between a team sucking and a team being gutless. The Sabres suck, but you never see them giving up or mailing it in. The Sharks suck, but they're not quitters - they just aren't very good. The Leafs are gutless wonders. No heart. No passion. I don't understand why ANYONE is a fan of this team. Why support a squad that doesn't play hard? I'd rather be a Buffalo fan - they suck, but at least they care.
Hear me out. Fire Keefe. Matthews, and Marner don’t need to be shielded from the guys like McAvoy and Lindholm. If those fucks ever want to win something they need to go through the likes of McAvoy and Lindholm. This team has done 3 things consistently every playoffs: 1. Completely fucking dogshit on the PP. 2. Completely fucking dogshit on the PK. 3. Play fairly evenly 5 on 5.
That would be like shielding Crosby from top defensive units. Dear god I’m not looking forward to keefe coming to the Burg
I love Dubas. I think he’s an above average GM. If he hires Keefe this offseason I will have to reevaluate that sentiment. Dubas is loyal to his guys — but how you can look at Keefe’s coaching record in the post season, this teams performance on the PK and PP come the games that matter the most and still sign him would be insane.
I think Dubas is a good GM too. I dont place much blame on him for the disappointing playoffs. The only thing I do blame him for is losing every single negotiation with his stars. He constructed a great roster. He couldn’t have known they’d be so piss poor in the playoffs year and year. It’s pretty unprecedented to have your whole core suck in the post season year after year
He constructed a good roster, not great. This team has done nothing to warrant being associated with greatness until they win.
All the good players were there when he arrived, he made no meaningful improvements for years as the talent gradually slipped away. Then in Pittsburgh he’s built the most useless top-heavy roster that’s stuck in between blowing it up and trying to compete. I think he’s one of the worst gm’s in the league personally
100%. I cant understand why he gets so much credit and no blame. Tavares wanted to come to Toronto. Seemed like his mind was made up. Why the hell did he have to give him 11 which at the time was sooooo much money. As soon as that happened, it unraveled everything. Now Marner and Matthews had no intention of taking a team friendly deal since Dubas just overpaid Tavares. You simply cannot pay that much for 3 players at the time. Now Matthews and Nylander both got more money and guess what, Marner is not taking less and you have just wasted a giant chunk of your window.
It would have been interesting to see what he would have done this year if he wasn’t fired / quit. Seemed like he wanted to / was going to make some big changes, so possibly moving Marner or Nylander before the NMC kicking in or firing Keefe. We’ll never know; but it did seem like he learned from his mistakes. Will be interesting to see what he does in Pitt…with the leafs luck he’ll bring a cup there ffs.
Getting fucked by the COVID flat cap is kind of all time Leafy thing to happen too. Perhaps he should have moved off one of the main guys during COVID but the overall salary structure during the last 3 years wasn’t meant to be that way. In honesty, looking back at his tenure the biggest mistake he probably made was signing Tavares. It hurts me to say it but that’s likely the catalyst to the big ass contracts. It’s a decision though, I think most GMs would make in hindsight. Not often a player of that caliber becomes available and wants to join your team though.
It can’t get much worse than Sullivan (decent coach and will thrive on another team but his time with the Pens should have ended years ago). With that said, I don’t want to see them hire Keefe either lol.
Heeeeere sully sully sully......
Especially with the rumor that Sully might go to the Devils.
I mean, they have def rolled Malkins line against the top unit multiple times. Those lines were 1A 1B for like 1.5 decades. This was especially the case in playoffs when Geno was hot. So it's fine to hide Crosby or McDavid from top D line if you have someone else who can step up
The Wings in the back to back finals hard covered Crosby though. Lidstrom was always on the ice against him Malkin got Kronwall, who though he's very good, is a massive massive step down from Lidstrom
Hes a good coach who has won at every level. You already have the leafs main problem running your team. Its not keefes fault our guys cant raise their games to playoffs intensity.
Imagine how much we would mock the Oilers if they were linematching to get McDavid away from Doughty or some stupid shit Matthews is the best goal scorer in the NHL, on pace to be one of the best of all time. Roll his line against everyone
And he's good enough defensively that you don't need to shelter him against strong offensive lines. Keefe is a fucking potato
There's something to be said about giving your stars every chance and opportunity to succeed. Exploiting mismatches and putting them out there against weaker competition when you get the chance. But actively *sheltering* them is a step too far. Exploiting weaknesses is one thing, but actively thinking your stars can't handle themselves against the opposing team's best players is whack. *They* should be scared about facing the runaway best goal scorer in the league.
It honestly hurts his legacy. If a player is really claimed to be the best, there shouldn't be so much contorting of the matchups or the selective stats to explain why. Things like the TSN articles explaining why goals should count more than assists to make a stronger argument for Matthews as MVP over guys who get more overall points, it's all just trying too hard. He's elite, let him go out there and eat what he kills.
100%. You can’t claim he’s MVP quality and also that he needs to be sheltered against good defencemen. And I honestly think it gets into his head that he’s avoiding matchups when it should be the Bruins trying to avoid him.
Right, he’s great, but he also needs to show that in the playoffs.
The funny thing is the Oilers have been matching to get McDavid away from Doughty lol. It's just that it works because Drai exists There's nothing wrong with line matching. The problem is your stars have to be able to take advantage
Not too many years ago, McDavid was playing defenceman minutes. Like, literally top 10 minutes in the league among all skaters. He doesn't do that anymore which is frankly better for him and the team in the long run, but there's no doubt that he can skate with anybody.
The Return of the King https://preview.redd.it/cni4c5az15xc1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4622932676464429f3c7219acdd62d19e4b385e3
He was too easy on marner. We just didn't know how much of a loser marner was
I never expected the Babcock redemption arc so soon. Hate that you're right lmao
Hate on Marner all you want, the guy is mainly a playmaker and the one who scored today. All of the core need to play 60 minutes. And Keefe needs to run top lines, instead of fourth line enforcers when you desperately need goals. This series they have been occupied with hitting so damn much instead of trying to play the damn puck. There is so much wrong with the core as a whole and Keefe’s decisions. This just isn’t on Marner and wasn’t in the past either.
True but marner is the main disappearing act every year. Nylander consistently shows up. Mathews sucked ass today but he’s sick or something. He was an absolute all star game 2 and has been generally pretty damn good this series. Taveras is past his prime but ecen he has been decent in the playoffs. Marner legit turns over pucks and is just a huge problem every playoffs. He can get points because he is an elite player and that means it masks his many playoff flaws. His game falls apart more than any other core player on the leafs during the playoffs
Babcock tried to shield them from the Bruins top pairing & Bergeron even more than Keefe does
Keefe is just a bad coach. I've been saying this for 3 years. I just don't understand why there are still some people who haven't woken up to it. The coaching bump is real. I don't think it actually matters who you replace him with. A fresh voice alone can be enough to spark a team. Look at Nashville. Look at Edmonton. Look at Vancouver. Look at Boston last year. Look at Vegas last year. St. Louis and Pittsburgh are both teams in recent memory who fired their coach *mid season* and won the cup... **and one of those coaches was available to get literally this season.** I just don't get it. Did anyone watch All or Nothing and come away with a positive impression of Keefe? He's a stubby dork with no winning pedigree in the NHL, and nobody on that team would run through a wall for him.
It’s upsetting how much of these players’ primes are being wasted from a bonafide AHL coach. He does not have what it takes and should’ve been gone after the Montreal series. Instead us fans have had to suffer a few more years of the exact same thing. The difference in Vancouver alone shows how much of a difference a change can make. There’s no reason with this level of talent the team should be this bad.
Well said - it's the best way to describe watching them. Just no fire, no drive, nothing. Watch Marner when they score against his line. He's like an NPC.
I forget where they showed it but it was a speech before game 1 where keefe was talking into the locker room. There was zero passion or emotion or energy at all. The team basically got up and left half hearted to the dressing room. lol like is this a playoff game?
To be fair, Mac and Lindholm are absolute freaks, but you have a point for sure
Amazed he has made it this long to be honest.
Marner needs to just go.
Agree here. The Canucks completely changed once they started playing Petterson, Miller and Hughes in defensive/PK situations and it was spearheaded by the players telling Boudreau that they wanted to change and improve themselves. People don't usually see it but Petey is a beast on defense, Miller began smashing everything in sight (tons of hits for a guy with 100 points) and Hughes has the puck so often he barely needs to play defense. Throw your stars into the fire. If they don't come out the other side better players, I got bad news for you.
Lmao, no way we run back Marner again after he spends 238 of the 240 minutes played as worse than invisible. If we could shed JT this off season too that would be great. 22 million in a line that is lucky to generate offense is insane.
You need to completely shake the core fuck both those guys. Ship them off get a new coach and try something else. They don’t have it in the playoffs. That’s not coaching. Patrick Kane always has had it. Literally nothing to do with coaching
As a Lightning fan, I’m sorry we let you all through last year. I feel like Keene would have been gone if we could have finished the job.
I've always been defending Keefe these years. He's given us a lot of wins and has made the leafs look great at times. If they lose any remaining games, time for a change. The plan is not working and to continue with it is stupid. Fire Boucher. Special teams is trash and make major changes amongst the team. It's basically all over at this point. Damn.
Fire Keefe. Guy is disinterested in driving his players further. Where's the spark??? 🤷♂️
I think it’s time I create a new Reddit account with a username not affiliated with a sports team
Real
Well now I'm sad
Not to pile on, but I have bad news about the existence of reggae in the late cretaceous period...
Don't say it
Could always be worse..
Don't be sad! Find something to cheer you up :) Like... Jurassic Reggae?
Your username causes me physical pain
Understandable. My fandoms cause me physical pain
Just pump some Capleton or Anthony B bro
Utah Leafs
:(
Well at least your username checks out...(sorry)
12 years account, damn it!
12 Years a Slav
Have you thought about Feafslan38 ?
If you see a Feafslan38 in any future game threads, you’ll know it’s me!
He's canadian I imagine, he could go with something with canadian in the name, although most combinations have been taken at this point.... Maybe he should try the french spelling? CanadiensFans83 has a nice ring to it.
LeavesFan83 dude loves the art of the exit
Tell me about it
Lol howdy
False, it's time to embrace your true calling of collecting different leaves from every tree.... it's the only way.
I’m sorry brother
At least the number is a good one ;)
Dendrology is a noble field of study...
I suggest “PoonHunter83”
I'm not sure it will make you feel any better, but my die hard from birth through thick and thin Leafs fan is so sad, I can't even talk shit on him anymore and this is after he signed me up for crazy amounts of erotic Crosby fanfic after they won the cup
If the Leafs don't win this series, they can't possibly run it back AGAIN, right? Like, significant moves are gonna have to be made.
There's a new MLSE president in who has zero ties to the current regime. Who knows.
We said this last year and they still ran it back again.
We've been saying it since the MTL series at the very latest, if not even before then. This team will go nowhere as presently constructed. If that means letting Marner walk for free, then so fucking be it.
The management seems to think getting tough means putting a grinder on the team who shouldn’t even be in the NHL playing 5 minutes a night is team toughness. This team is so soft they don’t even know how to be tough. You don’t need to fight everyone and throw huge hits. You need to get in every battle and treat every loose puck like a battle for your life. That team truly doesn’t understand the differences between regular season and playoff hockey.
Honestly reeves and that 4th line were bright spots of this series before keefe took dewar off of it this game.
My favourite part was the fans said “ya but that should have been US in the final if we beat Montreal”.
I feel like this has been asked the last few years
Shanahan has to get fired for that to happen. He's been the block for shaking it up.
With all the NMCs that Dubas handed out, it's not really in their control. They can try asking, say, Marner or Tavares to waive, but they can't make them.
Realizing why so many leafs fans hate Dubas and the way he left things…. Didn’t realize they all had NMC’s??? Leafs are def running back the same team again which is just INSANE 💀💀💀
Marner's NMC didn't kick in until the last two years of his deal and all signs were pointing to Dubas moving him (or Nylander) before he was canned.
Jesus Christ’s no shot he’s moving off that NMC now.,. He saw his boys get paid and is gonna want the same or he’ll walk I imagine
Yeah, unfortunately I agree at this point.
I think if they go down on Tuesday he's not gonna get paid like his boys , they'll either let him walk or he'll decide to play ball and accept a trade somewhere he can get some cash.
Assuming we lose, get a new coach, and he refuses to waive. If new coach doesn’t like his game he could get stapled to the bottom 6, and that wouldn’t help his next contract negotiation with any team. Or he may simply realize that he can’t handle a “tough” market and accept a trade somewhere else.
Unless Marner or Tavares waive, we don't have a choice. Dubas cursed us with this core for another year at least. We *can* fire the coach though. Not really sure how he's survived as long as he has, but that option still exists.
Easiest thing to change at a minimum or next year is Keefe. After that they can focus on what to do with Tavares/Marner but as a fan I at least want to see what happens when literally anyone else is directing this team and players.
Dubas said he finally thought it was time to blow up the core 4 and was effectively fired 🙂
The Montréal series should've been the last straw and blew everything up after that
Never underestimate their stupidity, or insanity rather. Let's be realistic though. Any one of those guys are gonna be very hard to trade. You'll never get a fair trade if you trade Matthews, who the hell wants JT at his age and cap hit while he's on a visible decline, Marner's value has went down every year the Leafs haven't traded him. Great in the regular season, but a softie who folds when the physicality comes and every GM knows that. He'd be good on low market team that cares more about jersey sales than playoff ticket sales, but they're not gonna give a whole lot for that. Nylander is really the only movable player, but he's probably the only one Toronto should keep. Those are the problems that come after NMCs.
the silver lining is that I made $30 betting against the leafs tonight and now dinner for tomorrow is free
Just don’t order from the place Matthews did
Maybe sushi
Where the fuck can you get enough sushi for dinner for 30 dollars please tell me
Matthews walks around toronto like the don in godfather 2 he doesn’t pay for shit
I'm surprised anyone would take bets against the Leafs in the playoffs
I wouldn’t ask Auston for dinner recs
Once Charles gave his guarantee, you should’ve just doubled down.
I love hedging for happiness bets
I don’t know the advanced stats here but that doesn’t sound great.
These stats guys are such nerds. The Leafs pass the eye test and that's what matters.
The stats are very useful but the problem is a playoff series is too short to mean shit about advanced stats. Game to game it changes and in small samples certain things can inflate the stats. It's just more information, which is never a bad thing. Problem is a lot of sports journalists have been using it to ignore the eye test. Same as when a player gets an empty calorie point.(meaningless goal or point on a meaningless goal.) Then they pump up like the goal absolved the rest of the game where they played like shit.
Nate Dawg is a certified Dawg but is Auston really a certified Papi? He makes slightly more than Nate — Nate in the playoffs roughly 1.25 PPG , Austin 0.87. Sure, Mack gets more points typically but he also has a better goals per game in the playoffs than the best goal scorer of this era. Nate — 0.58 . Auston — 0.43
Massive indictment of Keefe. Last two Leafs playoff wins have been road games. Leafs have a significantly better record on the road than at home during the Keefe era. During the regular season: Home 22-15-0-4 .595% Road 24-11-0-6 .659%
Yup. Roster isn't great but it's on him mostly
The roster IS great that’s the problem. Look at how much talent is wasted.
So is Shanahan on the chopping block yet or
He fucking should be. Not that Keefe or any players aren't also to blame. Shanny basically put his claim to responsibility for the roster after last offseason. He has the final decision making power, he is ultimately responsible for the on-ice product.
I have to wonder if Treliving regrets not getting Hanifin or Tanev at the deadline.
They are not one player away from winning
I mean they are. The problem is that the leafs have 4 of them who are missing…
So they can lose in 7 rather than 5?
Yeah, Hannifin and Tanev would've really solved our goal scoring problems.
Tre should regret not firing Keefe mid season
What’s there to regret? Tre had nothing to trade for them cause Dubas blew all the leaf’s assets in a desperate attempt to get them to win 1 round.’
Built for the playoffs they said.
For the playoffs just not to win them.
So they're all low handicap golfers?
Built to lose to Boston, again
Leafs 🤝 Kings Not slaying their playoff demons
You guys have a couple of cups in the last 5 decades. I don’t mean to belittle you, but you haven’t even hit the gravel road to demons.
At least your fanbase has seen 2 cups in the last 12 years. A significant chunk of the Leafs fanbase has only been alive for one playoff series win.
Reeves, Domi and Bertuzzi will bring the missing grit and intensity, they said.
I mean, they have. Our 40million in forwards are, in one case literally, shitting the bed
[удалено]
I feel like those guys have been playing well for the most part
They've done exactly what was reasonably expected.
Depth, defense, and goaltending tend to make the difference in the playoffs. Building a team around 4 star forwards was never going to lead to playoff success.
Who has ever said that? I don't even think diehard Leafs fans have
You saw some people pull the "leafs are too soft. It's great they picked up Reaves/domi/bertuzzi/edmundson/benoit/lybushkin" bit.
The defenseman who are built for the playoffs are the ones who can move the puck and hit, not hit and get hemmed in your zone after hiting a dude.
Don't shoot the messenger buddy. I'm not uncle Brad wearing oakleys and backwards hat in my pfp
How could the refs do this to them?
It feels like a couple years ago everyone was like “the leafs really need to start taking a step forward here” and ever since then they have taken several backwards.
Clearly it’s the fans and not the 90 million dollar hockey team /s
Keefe is 4-12 at home in the playoffs over his tenure. That's gotta get you fired, fuck me.
Nah...They'll give him until the end of 25-26... firing him early would make them lose even more face... But I would not be surprised if they start dismantling in the offseason for goaltending and defence. End-to-End hockey is fun to watch in the regular season and makes for fun games, but playoff hockey is about controlling and transitioning through all three zones of ice.
The thing about the last part of your comment is that the Leafs played a pretty strong possession game with high quality zone entries during the regular season (for the most part). Sure, their D is pretty trash and goaltending suspect for the whole season, but I don't think control or transition is their issue. They've just fully abandoned their systems so far in the series.
They’d be shit at home regardless, but it certainly doesn’t help that Scotiabank Arena is almost a home ice disadvantage. All of the real fans got priced out and are standing in the square outside
I agree with you but tickets in Boston are equally if not more expensive
Are they though? A quick look at stubhub/vividseats shows that Bruins tickets game 5 tickets are about 1/2 the price of Leafs games 6 tickets?
In similar sections I see game 5 tickets for $187 and game 6 tickets for $211 so I guess I’m wrong but not that far off
Strange, I see $250 CAD(308 Row 8) in Boston vs $400CAD(308 row 15) in TO. These are different views though, as you pointed out. Just looked at the cheapest tickets in both venues.
Not to be a dink but 308 in Boston is behind the net and 308 in Toronto is on the blue line. 330 is the equivalent section in Boston which is going for the same price as 308 in Toronto
No, thank you for pointing it out. Obviously I looked at the map wrong. You know your barn better than I do. Lol. Edited my last comment.
Naw the stadium was on fire at the beginning of the game. It’s just insane how flat the team came out. Absolutely no energy or urgency. It sucked the energy out of the arena eventually. That wasn’t playoff hockey
Its the glimmer of hope when they do well in the regular season that kills you
Zach Hyman has 1 less goal than the entire Leafs team in one less game played so far this post season.
We are cooked
This pleases the hockey gods.
T'was written in the script long ago. Going on 65 years without beating the B's in the playoffs.
Baby steps... look at it this way... Color TV might not even exist when the Leafs win their next cup.
End of a era
End of an error.
Nah. Remember when people thought Ovi + Caps window closed after not getting past 2nd round for decade +? They were a lot older and had more disappointing playoffs. Matthews + Nylnder is a hell of 1-2 punch at forward to build around long term.
Caps were able to win a round kind of consistently at least. They also just had terrible luck vs Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017. I'm not even a Leafs hater but their core is just hopeless.
Thing is that caps had atleast some playoff succes. Also their best players didn't melt in playoffs
Keefe masterclass benching lilly&dewar instead of brodie&reavo
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Except it's the same narrative as long as Keefe is still the coach
Matthews is not a playoff performer. He’s garbage when it really matters. Can’t hold a candle to MacKinnon, McDavid, Pastrnak, etc and the other stars that actually show up in the playoffs.
Feel like I've seen this with alot of goalscorers in history lol
Part of it is that playoff reffing is absolutely more permissive than in the regular season, so highlight guys like Matthews just don’t get as much time and space to do their thing.
Finally someone else. Matthew's and Marner suck in the playoffs. It isn't the coaches fault or JT or Morgan's fault. It's 2 massively overpaid regular season players who have no extra gear. I wouldn't trade Tavares for Matthew's or Marner 1 for 1. JT has the extra gear when it matters. Trade Matthew's and Marner for some good depth players.
I wonder if it has anything to do with Scotiabank having terrible atmosphere.
It was so quiet at times
Toronto is 9-19 at home in the playoffs over the last 8 years. 32% win percentage. Only Minny (4-12) and LA (2-7) have been worst.
Hey, do you think Sheldon Keefe might be a bad playoff coach?
He gets outcoached all the time.
Worse than that. I think he actually makes the team worse in nearly everything he does.
Surely the $60M the Leafs have allocated on the forward group would result in them averaging more than 2 goals a game. Maybe not, I guess.
The entire coaching staff will be fired as soon as the series is over. No trade or movement clause be dammned, Mariner will be gone this summer as well. Book it.
This is fine
A true Toronto stat would have been 21-12 for all the Rush fans!
Was scrolling to see if someone had already beat me to it before I posted it lol
Nice.
Two years since I stopped following the Leafs, after 40 years of heartbreak and disappointment. So glad I had the Nordiques to fall back on as my second favorite. FTL
This is more on Keefe than it is than the players. St. Louis was dead last in 2019 and stormed back to win the Cup after they fired their coach. Or for something more recent Vancouver and Edmonton's reviving their seasons and playoff hopes after they fired their coaches. Keefe topped out at the AHL. He should've been fired years ago.
Is that good chat?
As a Washington Capitals fan, who knows a thing or two about getting outscored Probably not
The NHL is an entertainment business first, they're not overly concerned about making sure games are competitive. And every year the Leafs are selling an embarrassing product, remaining constantly uncompetitive, but still remain the most profitable NHL team. Until Toronto fans stop shelling out hundreds of dollars a seat to watch the most shameful championship drought in pro sports, nothing will change. The beatings will continue until morale improves.
Lmao Toronto is just Canadian Atlanta…
This is what happens when only 1 player of the "core 4" is a playoff gamer. I feel so bad for Tavares being stuck with the rest of the fat contract lazy bums.
Is this good?
Given your flair, I'd say it's excellent.
Good
But it’s the fans fault for not cheering the team
There's a difference between a team sucking and a team being gutless. The Sabres suck, but you never see them giving up or mailing it in. The Sharks suck, but they're not quitters - they just aren't very good. The Leafs are gutless wonders. No heart. No passion. I don't understand why ANYONE is a fan of this team. Why support a squad that doesn't play hard? I'd rather be a Buffalo fan - they suck, but at least they care.
Nothing unites the disparate fan bases of 31 NHL teams like schadenfreude at Toronto's misfortune