Post-Game Talk: Leafs Lose 3-1 To VGK

[francis246]

And those 4 cornerstones are now on their way to 30 years old.

Seems like Dubas is more concerned with the team he's trying to build for 2026 than care about what he has now, which is funny because he also trades his 1st rounders for garbage which means his 2026 team will suck from view of well balanced.

All these posts I am seeing prove we are too far away from fixing holes and need to go all in with the This Is Sparta small elite group and trade the 2026 lottery team (i dont actually mean its a lottery team, just an insult that hes botching this core like they dont even exist) to win now with this core.

To 30? They are 25/26 years old lol. They are just hitting their prime years now. Do you realistically expect Nylander, Marner and Matthews to fall off a cliff at 30? Did Crosby, Ovie or any other superstars drop off at 30? Not really. The only one who may drop off after 30 is Tavares, the rest will still be really effective.

 

[HogTown06]

I watched the first 2 periods and then had to go to bed, thought the team was getting back in the game, by the end of the 2nd... Was pretty disappointed to see the L in the morning.

On to the next one. Hopefully it's the game where Matthews gets going.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Regarding #2, this is simply what happens when you have to play Rielly against top competition. He can't handle it. It's definitely not a TJ Brodie problem, he's actually been fine. It appears teams target Rielly's side because of how bad he is on straight man-to-man defense.

Muzzin is the best defensive player on the team who also happened to be a physical beast. There is nobody on the organization who can replicate what he brings. The whole team is going to suffer with his absence just like it did last year.

Acquire a D who can comfortably play against top competition alongside Brodie, find another cheap Lyubushkin type to pair with Rielly and play them against lesser competition, and wait until Liljegren returns to reunite the Gio-Lilly pairing.

We have virtually no cap flexiblity and this is about the best thing we can do to improve the D.

Trade Sandin, Robertson, Holl and next years 1st for Jakob C .. play Brodie with Jakob and we have a shutdown pair .. Gio plays with Lily and Rielly with a Marlie til Muzzy gets back and then put Rielly on right side

 

[mapleleaf979]

Reilly cant run a powerplay. Matthews in the 3rd period with the goalie pulled , skakes into Reilly's spot at the blueline area, basically saying get the bleep out of here and starts ripping shots like Reilly should have been doing. Reilly takes the half wall...he is useless on the half wall, useless at the point. Reilly scared to death to shoot. Reilly hockey sense is completely exposed on the powerplay.

 

[theTTC]

Keefe is a TERRIBLE coach. Period !

Seriously, who would you hire, what could a new coach do?
Babcock was the philosophical opposite of Keefe. Didn't matter. They quit on him, making Babcock look "terrible". Now it's Sheldon's turn, you can tell.
Their elite players are coach killers - again - and keeping them together to enable this s**t is on Dubas.

 

[therealkoho]

flat lackadaisical sloppy dominate flat lackadaisical sloppy dominate rinse repeat

inexcusable

 

[fahad203]

Seriously, who would you hire, would could a new coach do?
Babcock was the philosophical opposite of Keefe. Didn't matter. They quit on him too, making Babcock look "terrible". Now it's Sheldon's turn, you can tell.
Their elite players are coach killers - again - and keeping them together to enable this s**t is on Dubas.

Babs teams lost to Boston and Washington both experienced and contending teams while the Leafs core at the time was fairly young

Babs team didn't lose to average teams like Columbus and then giving up 3-1 series leads

One is not like the other

 

[ToneDog]

Seriously, who would you hire, what could a new coach do?
Babcock was the philosophical opposite of Keefe. Didn't matter. They quit on him, making Babcock look "terrible". Now it's Sheldon's turn, you can tell.
Their elite players are coach killers - again - and keeping them together to enable this s**t is on Dubas.

Trotz ??

 

[HockeyVirus]

Give it up already, sick of these GTHL dinosaurs loving on Marner cause they watched him since he was 10 years old. The guys making twice as much as he should because of media narrative and he blows chunks when the going is tough.

Ottawa and Montreal didn't need 10 games to get their legs to blow out bad teams like Arizona with 6 goals. They don't have 40 mil tied up in 4 forwards who can't get it done in any situation. A second line that hasn't even been able to dominate other teams second pair matchup. A worrying trend for more than just this season.

The players blow or the system blows. Nothing to do with the bottom 6 either.

Probably because those are two of the youngest teams in the league and the Leafs are one of the oldest.. Are you new to sports? Vet teams take time to find their legs and their rhythm but typically will have more success.

 

[ShaneFalco]

Probably because those are two of the youngest teams in the league and the Leafs are one of the oldest.

And you see no problem with that!?

 

[Nineteen67]

We have a GM who goes to the grocery store with his budget and buys 4 fillet minion steaks and 16 cans of spaghetti for suppers. He doesn't have enough experience to cook the fillets properly so 2 of the 4 nights he eats fillet they are awful. All the canned spaghetti he bought isn't enough to save a meal.

He needs a BGE and a good thermometer

 

[HockeyVirus]

And you see no problem with that!?

No because they are teams in rebuilds and we are a team that is trying to compete for a cup. The other 4 teams with us in the top 5 are not awful teams they are all teams universally considered to be contenders.

 

[The Podium]

Kyle Clifford has played 2 games posting 0-1-1 points with +1 +/- & 2 Pims & ATOI/G = 7:54 minutes and has registered 2 shot on goal.

Exactly .. 2 games and been better than NAK in 5 games in almost every category.

Nicolas Aube-Kubel has played 5 games posting 0-0-0 points with -2 +/- & 4 Pims & ATOI/G = 9:00 minutes and has registered 1 shot on goal.
Zach Aston-Reese . has played 6 games posting 0-0-0 points with -3 +/- & 2 Pims & ATOI/G = 9:22 minutes and has registered 2 shot on goal.
Pierre Engvall .......... has played 6 games posting 0-0-0 points with -2 +/- & 2 Pims & ATOI/G = 11:42 minutes and has registered 7 shot on goal.
Denis Malgin .......... has played 4 games posting 1-0-1 points with +2 +/- & 2 Pims & ATOI/G = 11:17 minutes and has registered 2 shot on goal.

What exactly are the Leafs missing out on by playing Clifford at the expense of players like these & NAK ?

Dubas spent the summer trying to rebuild the bottom 6 forwards and Adam Gaudette cleared waivers and is in the AHL and Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Zach Aston-Reese, Denis Malgin are all in the pressbox and we're only at game #7. Dubas also resigned Simmonds and Clifford and despite both tough guys already clearing waivers unclaimed they appear to be providing more then the new recruits.

According to this very simplistic and elementary model, Malgin is the best player of the bunch!

Good work Mess

 

[Nineteen67]

The gap between the have (playoff teams) and have-nots (non playoff teams is certainly closing.

View attachment 598673 View attachment 598674

The teams below the Leafs have been refuelling with high draft picks the past few years and starting to impact the top teams ..

If the playoffs started today the Leafs would not be in them.

Give it another 4 weeks until Thanksgiving before getting too concerned.

 

[centipede2233]

and he’d move on to a “better” situation.

He’ll come back to his norm soon, as will AM and Marner, and the team will likely make the playoffs. They’ve pinned their hopes on him being really good for two weeks in April.

This was the problem with giving matthews and marner the contracts that they did. It basically created a culture, “we are the Toronto maple leafs and will pay you what you want”. Not the bruins culture “we will pay you a fair contract where we can also compete for Stanley cups”. Because when the hyman’s mikayhev’s, campbell’s of the world come off their cheap contracts, why should they take a discount when M&M didn’t.

 

[The Podium]

This was the problem with giving matthews and marner the contracts that they did. It basically created a culture, “we are the Toronto maple leafs and will pay you what you want”. Not the bruins culture “we will pay you a fair contract where we can also compete for Stanley cups”. Because when the human’s, mikayhev’s, campbell’s of the world come off their cheap contracts, why should they take a discount when M&M didn’t.

The Boston model is “they sucked until they signed”

Lately it’s been “they sucked after they signed” (Hall, Foligno)

 

[DarkKnight]

Leafs are 29th in even strength goals.

 

[Nineteen67]

Trade Sandin, Robertson, Holl and next years 1st for Jakob C .. play Brodie with Jakob and we have a shutdown pair .. Gio plays with Lily and Rielly with a Marlie til Muzzy gets back and then put Rielly on right side

They need Robertson and the 1st more than one player.

 

[kevsh]

Trade Sandin, Robertson, Holl and next years 1st for Jakob C .. play Brodie with Jakob and we have a shutdown pair .. Gio plays with Lily and Rielly with a Marlie til Muzzy gets back and then put Rielly on right side

At this point in his career I don't see Reilly moving to the right side, and trading away two D with the hopes Muzzin gets back & stays healthy is a huge gamble. But I at least agree that they need a serious upgrade in their top two pairings (or at least a solid RD) so that Holl can be moved down or into the press box.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Hard to get a top 2 D for cheap .. you have to give up something decent .. and Leafs have to make cAP work too .. it is tricky

 

[Clark4Ever]

I fell asleep after the 1st intermission. Looks like I didn't miss much.

 

[LeafLoyalist]

Marner played 26 mins last night and was invisible

I love Marner, but this is ridiculous..no player should be playing regularly over 20 mins a game, how impactful can they really be!!!

This is NOT how you build a TEAM!!! How do the 3rd line and 4th line guys feel watching 1 player go 26 mins, don't tell me this is how you build a cup contender, on the contrary.

Look at the recent cup winners and how they spread the mins.

 

[Hoglund4MvP]

To 30? They are 25/26 years old lol. They are just hitting their prime years now. Do you realistically expect Nylander, Marner and Matthews to fall off a cliff at 30? Did Crosby, Ovie or any other superstars drop off at 30? Not really. The only one who may drop off after 30 is Tavares, the rest will still be really effective.

You need to re-read what I said. You don't seem to have understood it. Read it from the perspective that their best years are now and Dubas sucks

 

[Shooter2x]

They are just hitting their prime years now.

That's his point lol. He's saying Dubas is building the team like he's unleashing it when they're 30 or older or totally gone itself. i.e Wasting them

 

[Hoglund4MvP]

That's his point lol. He's saying Dubas is building the team like he's unleashing it when they're 30 or older or totally gone itself.

Why thank you

But you left out the part where I'm saying Dubas built team in 2026 will still suck too. There's not a single impact prospect in sight, only 1 or 2 top 6 complimentary players. Gotta hope core guys age well. I want to trade most of his prospects to win now while the best players are in their prime.

So no confusion again I am not saying core guys will suck when they're 30 but they will suck more when compared to themselves at 25-28