What does Vegas do differently than us?

[stickty111]

GG is masterful at getting Vegas to play to their stengths and minimize weakness. He's also a fantastic motivator. Babcock isn't very good at either.

Also Fleury is way better than Andersen. That's pretty much it.

This is completely false, and you should know that.
Babcock is a great motivator. Infact its one of his best qualities.

 

[stickty111]

Couldnt agree more! Said the same thing, those are the 2 differences why they are still playing and we are not imo.

:

 

[Buds17]

Looks like they might beat us to winning a Cup without having anyone wearing the C.

Incredible what they have accomplished so far, and what they still might do, but who knows what it'll look like moving forward. Win what you can, when you can; goes for any team really.

 

[stickty111]

Mike Babcock brings accountability, communication to Maple Leafs | The Star

One of the quotes
Babcock brings a hard-nosed style to the Maple Leafs, a motivator who has won the Stanley Cup (with Detroit in 2008), two Olympic gold medals (2010, 2014) and a world championship gold medal (2004).

Championship season with Lethbridge still a golden memory for Mike Babcock

One of the quotes

“He’s the best motivator I’ve ever seen in my life,” Zukiwsky says. “A lot of coaches will be personal with players, but it’s about creating a relationship where you want to perform for him.”

 

[ottomaddox]

I think we might be 6 forwards and 2 defensemen short of a cup.

:/

 

[deletethis]

Apart from Vegas' superior compete level, their entire team is in its prime and not leaning heavily on 20/21/22 year olds.

 

[Pookie]

They're doing something no exansion team in pro sports (if i'm not mistaken) have done. This team was not expected to make the playoffs let alone the NHL Finals. VGK have the potential to do more in 1 year than this whole franchise has done in 50+.

By NHL design...

 

[Leafblooded]

Much better effort on defence, clutch goaltending, and no moping.

 

[Popeye7735]

Toronto should have a 2nd - expansion - team. The market can more than support it. Maybe we can have a cup parade down Bay Street finally .....

 

[Stephen]

They lay in the weeds for a hundred years, willed themselves into existence with a half billion dollar cheque and marched to a Stanley Cup final (and hopefully championship).

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

This is completely false, and you should know that.
Babcock is a great motivator. Infact its one of his best qualities.

I don't really see it unfortunately. Leafs take at least a period off every game, but you never see that from Vegas. They keep working. If Babcock is really a master motivator like Gallant, why can't he achieve that? He also seems to have a much harsher approach with his players that can be hit and miss. Gallant trusts everyone and is completely fine with mistakes. Babcock has his favourites (usually unskilled vets), and is prone to being too lenient and trusting to them, and the exact opposite with other players. Gallant genuinely gets the most out of all his players and has a team greater than the sum of its parts. You can't say that about the Leafs

 

[charliolemieux]

I think we might be 6 forwards and 2 defensemen short of a cup.

:/

Definitly 2 defensemen, but I think we have the forwards in our system to get the job done.
What we need most right now is patience.

 

[Stephen]

They lay in the weeds for a hundred years, willed themselves into existence with a half billion dollar cheque and marched to a Stanley Cup final (and hopefully championship).

Imagine if this was Toronto II?

 

[Peiskos]

I don't really see it unfortunately. Leafs take at least a period off every game, but you never see that from Vegas. They keep working. If Babcock is really a master motivator like Gallant, why can't he achieve that? He also seems to have a much harsher approach with his players that can be hit and miss. Gallant trusts everyone and is completely fine with mistakes. Babcock has his favourites (usually unskilled vets), and is prone to being too lenient and trusting to them, and the exact opposite with other players. Gallant genuinely gets the most out of all his players and has a team greater than the sum of its parts. You can't say that about the Leafs

This. Its pretty embarrassing that a 1st year expansion team knows that you can't take the foot off the gas at any point in an NHL game, but the 101 year old Leafs with a core that's been together for a few years now still hasn't learned that lesson.

 

[Battle Lin]

their goalie is playing elite hockey, elite vezina like hockey, which matters like a lot...our goalie is just good, a very good goalie, not even great let alone elite

they have fast and skilled guys but so they we, and their D is just good and solid, nothing special...the goal tending though, its a big difference, i mean if we had elite goal tending we get past caps and bos this and last year

 

[hector morrison]

The goalie difference is obvious. Fleury is having fun,Anderson was worried. I know fleury has been there before but I'm not sure Freddy will ever look like he is having fun.
Gallant did well in Florida, he will be a coach to be reconned with for many years. Babs is out of touch,needs to reassess his methods,hasn't won anything without a stacked team.

 

[Jozay]

from what ive seen, their forecheck is way more aggressive and effective than ours.

And obviously MAF is playing out of his mind.

 

[GoldenGOOSE]

Where to even start? Probably a good start would be McPhee and Gallant and work on down from there. Their team defence is light years ahead of ours. Pat Burns had a great team defence for two years. Its never been since in Toronto since. Babcock, is out of date. Players make more than most CEO's now. You just cannot treat them like Babcock does. I really don't see Babcock lasting the full length of his contract, I think the Leafs will be very hard pressed to do much of anything with him leading the way.

 

[Stephen]

This. Its pretty embarrassing that a 1st year expansion team knows that you can't take the foot off the gas at any point in an NHL game, but the 101 year old Leafs with a core that's been together for a few years now still hasn't learned that lesson.

Not sure that actually makes any sense. The Vegas team is made up of mostly veterans while the Leafs core is filled with 20-23 year olds.

 

[WTFMAN99]

They don't stop playing you hard - you have to play 60 or more minutes at their level
Great break outs
Great forecheck
It never seems like any player isn't giving 110%
Strong goaltending

On paper a lot of teams have more talent but Vegas executes. Babcock might want to simplify the system and try to get more buy in from guys. Defense is all about effort but playing a smart system helps too. I was frustrated with guys trying to fly the zone early or the wingers collapsing inwards (or wandering to the other wing side or middle entirely) it just left the points so open and we'd be scrambling from there.

 

[Nithoniniel]

If Vegas had the goaltending we've had, they would have been out in the first round too. Fleury is putting up one of the best playoff goaltending performances in history. He might actually beat out Quick's second run. That's their success, right there.

With that said, the way Vegas puts pressure on their opponents is awe-inspiring. They don't allow anyone any time regardless of circumstances.

 

[stickty111]

I don't really see it unfortunately. Leafs take at least a period off every game, but you never see that from Vegas. They keep working. If Babcock is really a master motivator like Gallant, why can't he achieve that? He also seems to have a much harsher approach with his players that can be hit and miss. Gallant trusts everyone and is completely fine with mistakes. Babcock has his favourites (usually unskilled vets), and is prone to being too lenient and trusting to them, and the exact opposite with other players. Gallant genuinely gets the most out of all his players and has a team greater than the sum of its parts. You can't say that about the Leafs

If Babcock really needs to motivate a bunch of young guys, then we have a problem.
Everything is going right for Vegas, so I dont think their success should somehow put a red mark on our team. Plus it wont be just Babcock, then the 29 other teams coaches dont how to motivate either then. Those teams also dont show up 100% of the time.
Gallant isnt perfect, he plays a certain player or players too much(Sbisa). Maybe Babcock cant achieve that because our team has a maturity issue, and there is not much Babcock can do there other then keep teaching.
Babcock got the most out of this team as well. He battled Matthews not showing up, Andersen deciding to play like an AHL calibre goalie, and despite that made it to a game 7 against a great team.

Look I understand Babcock had some habits that hurt the team, we all know what they are. However motivation isnt one of them. If motivation is exemplified by Gallant, then 30 other coaches also have this issue.

 

[stickty111]

Where to even start? Probably a good start would be McPhee and Gallant and work on down from there. Their team defence is light years ahead of ours. Pat Burns had a great team defence for two years. Its never been since in Toronto since. Babcock, is out of date. Players make more than most CEO's now. You just cannot treat them like Babcock does. I really don't see Babcock lasting the full length of his contract, I think the Leafs will be very hard pressed to do much of anything with him leading the way.

If 100 points and continuing to improve in the playoffs, then I hope Babcock continues to be outdated.
I think the Leafs will find it easy to do a lot with him leading the way.

 

[Pookie]

If Vegas had the goaltending we've had, they would have been out in the first round too. Fleury is putting up one of the best playoff goaltending performances in history. He might actually beat out Quick's second run. That's their success, right there.

With that said, the way Vegas puts pressure on their opponents is awe-inspiring. They don't allow anyone any time regardless of circumstances.

It is like the basketball equivalent of a full court press

 

[The Podium]

They're doing something no exansion team in pro sports (if i'm not mistaken) have done. This team was not expected to make the playoffs let alone the NHL Finals. VGK have the potential to do more in 1 year than this whole franchise has done in 50+.

St. Louis made the cup finals in their first 3 years. Although the 67 expansion made an entirely new conference, and by design an expansion team had to make the finals. St. Louis was swept in all 3 of them.