Another 1st round loss, but I'm happy with the players and coaching

[GoonieFace]

You are delusional. This team from top to bottom is a joke. They haven’t won a playoff series since 2004. There is nothing to be optimistic about. Wake up

 

[The Podium]

Babcock's game plan is actual quite conventional. Balanced scoring lines, pairing of grinders with skill guys, heavy forecheck, playing with pace, a strong blueline as the general backbone of the team to puck possession bump back to, stretch pass as the mechanism for a quick transition. A lot of teams generally play that way, especially in the West.

Ya, its a pretty standard gameplan. The problem is the team wasnt built for it. Im sure Keefe would deploy something similar as well if he had the team for it, like he did with the Marlies, but he knows he has to play to his teams strengths. You pretty much said "If Babcock had an ideal team, he would want his team to play a predictable game that is only possible with an ideal team".

 

[Stephen]

Ya, its a pretty standard gameplan. The problem is the team wasnt built for it. Im sure Keefe would deploy something similar as well if he had the team for it, like he did with the Marlies, but he knows he has to play to his teams strengths. You pretty much said "If Babcock had an ideal team, he would want his team to play a predictable game that is only possible with an ideal team".

The Marlies model doesn't tell us very much because they were able to overstock those rosters with a lot of veteran tweeners, which isn't a luxury they have in the NHL.

 

[The Podium]

The Marlies model doesn't tell us very much because they were able to overstock those rosters with a lot of veteran tweeners, which isn't a luxury they have in the NHL.

Be it as it may, Keefe coached that team as a "Babcock" team because he had gritty, defensively responsible vets. It is proof contrary to the notion that he is a skill only anti-conventional coach

 

[Gallagbi]

He still plays too rambunctious, but he's never been paired with a quality vet in his entire career and our defensive development is an absolute joke. He has the skating, puck skills and ability to pinch and hold the line that we ask of our defense though. Holl was lost too once he no longer had Muzzin barking orders at him letting know where to be. If we ever bothered to provide Dermott with guidance, he'd have a considerably better grasp of the position.

He was noticeably better with Barrie, but Barrie's capable of bailing him out of trouble on the forecheck. Like you said, he's rambunctious, which puts him in this awkward spot of not being good offensively because or defensively because of his decision making.

He's a fine bottom pairing guy, but we have those IMO and need to get Sandin in the lineup.

 

[Mickey Marner]

He was noticeably better with Barrie, but Barrie's capable of bailing him out of trouble on the forecheck. Like you said, he's rambunctious, which puts him in this awkward spot of not being good offensively because or defensively because of his decision making.

He's a fine bottom pairing guy, but we have those IMO and need to get Sandin in the lineup.

It's definitely decision time on who to keep out of Dermott/Sandin/Liljegren. We can't keep running a bottom-5 RD and dressing Marincin in the playoffs expecting to win.

 

[Leaf Fans]

You are delusional. This team from top to bottom is a joke. They haven’t won a playoff series since 2004. There is nothing to be optimistic about. Wake up

That is preposterous. Of course, there is something to be optimistic about- next season.

 

[Robert]

My apology to Leaf fans and all of Ontario for anything I said last night... I was excited to win a series for once and had to much Blue... You guys kicked ass and are the standard for North American professional hockey..

 

[7even]

That's an opinion, for sure.

 

[Stephen]

It's definitely decision time on who to keep out of Dermott/Sandin/Liljegren. We can't keep running a bottom-5 RD and dressing Marincin in the playoffs expecting to win.

I can tell you it's definitely not decision time when two of the three have barely played in the NHL.

 

[OptimusReim]

How can anybody that watched this season unfold, with all the contract drama, goaltending issues, effort issues, lack of leadership, multiple head coaches, failing to win a play in series to even make the playoffs against a team that we absolutely should have beat...

How can anybody say this season was progress and a step in the right direction is beyond me.

We need to stop accepting mediocrity and expect better.

 

[Mickey Marner]

I can tell you it's definitely not decision time when two of the three have barely played in the NHL.

A decision needs to be made out of necessity, not preparedness. We need to expedite the process of improving the defense before Muzzin ages out and our forward hit free agency.

 

[Stephen]

A decision needs to be made out of necessity, not preparedness. We need to expedite the process of improving the defense before Muzzin ages out and our forward hit free agency.

You improve the defense, but you don't panic and pull the plug on two recent defensemen drafted in the first round.

 

[Stephen]

How can anybody that watched this season unfold, with all the contract drama, goaltending issues, effort issues, lack of leadership, multiple head coaches, failing to win a play in series to even make the playoffs against a team that we absolutely should have beat...

How can anybody say this season was progress and a step in the right direction is beyond me.

We need to stop accepting mediocrity and expect better.

I can only hope the posters who think everything's going well and defend management aren't secretly Kyle Dubas defending his own project on here...

 

[LaPlante94]

You are delusional. This team from top to bottom is a joke. They haven’t won a playoff series since 2004. There is nothing to be optimistic about. Wake up

Did Keefe ever try a line of Tavares-Matthews-Nylander? I can't remember if he tried it or not. I know he had Marner with those 2 and put Nylander at C. Or even Matthews-Marner-Nylander together?

 

[biotk]

He still plays too rambunctious, but he's never been paired with a quality vet in his entire career and our defensive development is an absolute joke. He has the skating, puck skills and ability to pinch and hold the line that we ask of our defense though. Holl was lost too once he no longer had Muzzin barking orders at him letting know where to be. If we ever bothered to provide Dermott with guidance, he'd have a considerably better grasp of the position.

Too bad the defensive development being an absolute joke will undoubtedly continue for this organization.

 

[The Iceman]

Did Keefe ever try a line of Tavares-Matthews-Nylander? I can't remember if he tried it or not. I know he had Marner with those 2 and put Nylander at C. Or even Matthews-Marner-Nylander together?

Who would your 2nd line centre be?

 

[SeaOfBlue]

I don't agree with everything you said, but it is a reasonable outlook on the series and the team, so good work.

 

[Jmo89]

yea not sure you can really argue this....

I thought Tavares played well, but he missed on way too many opportunities.

IMO Toronto's biggest issue is they have no second element to win. Their D can't win them games. Their tenacity/grit/grinding can't win them games. And when it comes to playoffs their goalie barely wins them games.

Their scoring depth has also been downgraded due to a top heavy forward group. They have one really good element, but when that gets stifled they have nothing to win them games.

They were likely the better team during the qualifier. Matthews played great. I thought Tavares and Rielly were both good, and Andersen was okay (don't really car eif he stays or goes tbh.) But they ran into (2) hot goalies in a 5 game series and simply didn't have the personnel to win a game a different way.

The team needs a couple significant changes, though I'd agree they don't need an entire overhaul. And if Dubas makes another significant mistake he has to go. 2019/2020 was a disaster management-wise.

 

[Dreakmur]

If a few bounces are the difference between you and the 9th place team, you’re probably not a very good team.

 

[hoglund]

You are delusional. This team from top to bottom is a joke. They haven’t won a playoff series since 2004. There is nothing to be optimistic about. Wake up

The franchise hasn't won a series since 2004, not this team, this is the 1st year since 2015 that they missed the playoffs and this year they didn't really miss they were 3 points up at the time of the pause.

 

[Stamkos4life]

Although we lost in the 1st round yet again, I thought the effort from the players was strong, and I thought we were a well coached team.

Re: the players, Columbus are known for their hustle/compete level, they're one of the best teams in the league in this regard, but I thought we actually outcompeted them, won the majority of puck battles throughout the series. I thought the effort level from basically every Leafs player was great, going super hard all game long, great speed and battle throughout. Nylander had a few softer than I'd like games, and you could tell Mikheyev and Johnsson (in game 5) were a bit out of rhythm coming back from injuries, but everyone else was battling like crazy.

Re: the coaching, since Keefe took over, the team has really played to their strengths. We saw what this roster looks like with poor coaching under Babs, and it was a completely different story under Keefe. Much more of an up-tempo, puck possession style, making use of all of our skill at forward. Tonnes of creativity/flow in the offensive zone. Despite weak dmen, we played decent team D. I think he did a better job, with this roster, than the majority of other NHL coaches would, which is great for a rookie coach, who is hopefully rapidly learning/improving.

Re: the result, of course it sucks to once again lose in the 1st round, I'm very disappointed and was pining for a legit playoff run. But on the bright side, this is the first time in AGES where I thought we actually outplayed the opposition in a playoff series. We got thoroughly outplayed in our last 3 appearances (Washington and the two against Boston), constantly hemmed into our own zone and bleeding defensive breakdowns, but that was not the case at all this year. We controlled the puck/play much more than Columbus, were regularly generating high quality scoring chances, and played solid defensively without many breakdowns.

We were the better team in this series. We completely dominated game 5, had nearly all of the great scoring chances, but did not get the bounces. Numerous posts, tonnes of desperation barely-saves by Korpisalo, with average luck we should have had 3+ goals. And we were terrific defensively, I thought Columbus had roughly zero high end scoring chances, both goals were flukes (Barrie deflecting the puck into his own net, and Foudy with a very flukey goal that somehow slipped through from a terrible angle). Overall, I'd say Columbus were better than us in game 1, we dominated game 2, game 3 was about even (with a crazy Columbus combeback), game 4 was about even (with a crazy Leafs comeback), and we honestly dominated game 5, just had bad puck luck.

Criticism of Dubas I think has some merit. He's drafted well (it's very early, but Sandin at 29 and Robertson at 53 look like outstanding picks so far), I personally like the Tavares signing, and I like the Muzzin trade and re-signing a lot. But on the flip side, he did a very poor job negotiating contracts with our RFAs, Barrie was clearly not the RD to target for our team, and overall he has left us invested too heavily in a small number of forwards, without the cap space to build a truly strong team around them. Personally, I've seen enough positives that I'd give him 1 more year to make us into a top team, but his leash is reasonably short.

However, I don't think Keefe or the players deserve much criticism. This was a well coached team, that played their hearts out, but still lost a playoff series to another good, well coached team. We outplayed Columbus a bit IMO, but had worse puck luck, and lost. I get the emotional reaction of wanting to blame everyone, and tear the team apart, but I think it's misguided. Look at the last 2 cup winners, the Blues and Caps. These teams went through year after year of disappointing playoff exits, and in many of them they played well, but didn't have the puck luck, and lost. But they kept the team together, always just tweaking and staying competitive vs. blowing things up, and eventually everything came together for them in a single run, and they won the cup. Our best chance to win a cup is similar. Moderate changes to the team every offseason, but keep building around our stars, and year-after-year field good teams that have a chance, with some good luck that basically every cup winner needs, to go all the way.

We lost to our own 40 y.o. emergency back up. That was the most embarrassing thing I have seen from the leafs in years.

Then we failed the make the playoffs this season.

The NHL clearly stated that this year's playoffs will be 7 game series. So 5 games do not count.

This year was a step back.

 

[ACC1224]

Not happy at all with any of them. This is the most disappointed I've been in this team in a very long time.
Blowing a once in a lifetime opportunity to entertain me through the summer is not something I will easily forget.

 

[ECanuck]

I don't think people are upset at the team's play.
They outplayed the Jackets.

The frustration comes from the same outcome.

 

[Gallagbi]

I don't think people are upset at the team's play.
They outplayed the Jackets.

The frustration comes from the same outcome.

Some don't believe we outplayed the Jackets