Do We Overreact to The Maple Leafs' Struggles at Times?

[dimi78]

We definitely do.

I definitely have.

We all have had are moments... We're freaking fans, comes with the territory when your passionate about something and have zero in the way of controlling the outcome. The result is to vent when things are going bad. That's life as a sports fanatic everywhere

 

[danron1376]

well, reading some of the other team's threads there are overreactions in other fanbases. i guess the question is if we have a greater intensity of it.

 

[ottomaddox]

Okay your figure of speech is flawed then. I too am a fan who doesn't use equations and you don't need them to plainly see that coaching, injuries and goaltending matter greatly. Any sensible person would see that the Leafs have been handicapped by these 3 mitigating factors more so than most this season, as I outlined above:

Coaching - it's a new team and season since Keefe took over (one that is near the top of the standings)
Injuries - 7th most affected in the NHL
Goaltending - Freddie has been far below his usual standard.

Glad you can see that we are likely making the playoffs. Therefore, your expectations will have been largely met. Odd that you only ever post negatively then.

I don't think you're a fan. I also don't think that you think coaching, injuries, and goaltending matter greatly. I think what matters to you is telling people on this board that they are "flawed".

 

[Jojalu]

It's true both ways. There are blatant homers in this fan base who can never accept the team has issues. We can let in the first goal every game of the year, and when people freak out about it, there are people in the GDT going "it's just a bad start don't worry about it".

Last week, this team deserved everything they got. The loss to the Zamboni driver and the reaction was not all about one game like so many people pretend. It was a release of pent up frustration going back to last Jan where the Leafs fell into this pattern of low effort games. Jan onwards last season they paced as the 17th best team in the league.

Then they lose to Boston AGAIN, this time having the chance to win in games 6 and 7, say all the right things, the kids get paid big, and we come back to this season with the same problems, same lack of effort.

Ok cool. It's the coach. Fire Babcock and everything is good again. team looks better across the board for a month. And then the same patterns come back into the game.

Jan onwards they had the same record that got Babcock fired. And the team is falling out of a playoff spot, and it seemed no matter how much they talked, the result was the same. Poor efforts almost a week straight led up to that Canes loss. They beat the Pens, talked the talk, and then fell on their faces once again, same pattern for the past year.

So yeah, people let them have it. They told the team in no uncertain terms that they aren't as good as they think they are if they think they can skill their ways to wins. The same message Keefe had been giving for weeks (immature team stuff).

Now they've won 3 in a row. One to a tanking Panthers team, one to a tanking Vancouver team, and one to the Bolts where the third period they essentially were in a shell and barely made it out, and people want to pretend that 3 games erases a year of patterns.

Nah it doesn't to most of us who understand sample sizes and patterns. We need to see this urgency most games, with the poor effort being outliers. Not the other way around. We need to see urgency on defense like we've seen the past few games. We need to see the boys battling hard for pucks like they have been.

I look at the schedule and I see 16 games left. I see a playoff spot there for the taking. I want to see them work for it and earn it, and not fall ass backwords because another team sucked more than us down the stretch.

This is supposed to be a cup team and we haven't seen cup pedigree from them much this year. Maybe this is where they turn things around, but one thing is clear to me. Those who pretend there are no problems that are concerning for a supposed cup bound team after they win a game or two are no different than those who think the sky is falling after a bad game. Two sides of the same coin.

Or, win or lose you can take a rational approach. Getting angry or frustrated with poor play does nothing but cause yourself grief.

The Leafs and players certainly don't care or even know who Joe Fan is or would care what their opinion is.

People that take an optimistic view on life are not denying there are issues. They just don't let it consume them.

Also, who said it was supposed to a Cup team? Vegas? The media? They are in year 4 with 13 players under 24. That seems like unrealistic expectations.

 

[4thline]

I think more than anything people have trouble differentiating short run performance vs. actual current ability vs. likely future ability.

Player x is playing below norm but is still a good player who will likely be great
vs.
Player x is shit and will always be shit get rid of them.

See HF boards re- William Nylander last year.


Happens all the time for both individual players and the team as a whole. One bad loss is proof that the team can't win as constructed, the roster at a given point in time is proof that management has absolute and unwavering preferences.

 

[Impaulator]

I was hoping to find awesome GIFs in this thread.... Am a little disappointed

 

[CelticDruid]

well, reading some of the other team's threads there are overreactions in other fanbases. i guess the question is if we have a greater intensity of it.

Larger fan base.

 

[BrainyBomber]

I don't think you're a fan. I also don't think that you think coaching, injuries, and goaltending matter greatly. I think what matters to you is telling people on this board that they are "flawed".

Wrong on all 3 charges.

1) If I wasn't a long-suffering fan I wouldn't be wasting my spare time watching every rollercoaster Leafs game (when I'm in Canada) or posting on here. Or sadly caring enough to argue with other fans here.

2) If I didn't think coaching, injuries and tending mattered I clearly wouldn't have barged into this thread bleating on about their importance.

3) And see I didn't tell anyone that they are flawed

 

[danron1376]

Larger fan base.

in terms of raw numbers we are definitely more vocal.

 

[ottomaddox]

Wrong on all 3 charges.

1) If I wasn't a long-suffering fan I wouldn't be wasting my spare time watching every rollercoaster Leafs game (when I'm in Canada) or posting on here. Or sadly caring enough to argue with other fans here.

2) If I didn't think coaching, injuries and tending mattered I clearly wouldn't have barged into this thread bleating on about their importance.

3) And see I didn't tell anyone that they are flawed

Do you really want to use "bleating"?

 

[Zizzzzy]

Our overreaction contributes to this teams struggles. Self fulfilling prophecy

 

[BrainyBomber]

Do you really want to use "bleating"?

Do you really look like a waffle?

 

[ottomaddox]

Wrong on all 3 charges.

1) If I wasn't a long-suffering fan I wouldn't be wasting my spare time watching every rollercoaster Leafs game (when I'm in Canada) or posting on here. Or sadly caring enough to argue with other fans here.

2) If I didn't think coaching, injuries and tending mattered I clearly wouldn't have barged into this thread bleating on about their importance.

3) And see I didn't tell anyone that they are flawed

Why all the hostility? It's just a messageboard. People state opinions here. No one is wrong. People who don't agree with me are not flawed. Give it a rest.

 

[ULF_55]

Only when we care.

 

[BrainyBomber]

Why all the hostility? It's just a messageboard. People state opinions here. No one is wrong. People who don't agree with me are not flawed. Give it a rest.

Didn't realize I was being hostile - wink emoticons don't normally signal that. But apologies if I have come across that way.

I'm not actually a BrainyBomber just a big fan of the original

 

[Gary Nylund]

im confused. What part of what I said was false? All I said was that you guys are likely to make the playoffs and Florida won’t. Is that incorrect?

You said that we are likely to make the playoffs since the Panthers are shitting the bed, that's what's false.

If it looked like we'd finish 18th overall or 10th in the East and still make the playoffs, what you said would be correct but as of today we're 11th overall, 7th in the East and for the moment, Florida is an afterthought.

 

[DavePoulin4PM]

This organization hasn’t won a playoff series in 16 years. They’re failures until proven otherwise. It’s up to them to change the narrative. No one is overreacting to anything.. they just react to years of incompetence.

 

[tmlms13]

Is this even a question? The answer is so obviously yes we overreact to absolutely every little thing possible. HF is ground zero for overreacting Leaf fans. It's why I love and hate this place.

 

[Captain14]

No. I don’t think it’s an overreaction. Let’s face it, this team has underachieved all season.
They have displayed a nice push back over the last three games, however, we still get run around too much in the d zone.
I realize our defense is depleted, but the forwards need to be more aggressive in coverage.
They collapse far too deep and with a really tough few weeks on the horizon against good Eastern Conference teams after the road trip, they need to tighten up and make the simple outlets.

 

[Brown Dog]

We're fans! It's our prerogative to be emotional, irrational, and unreasonable!

 

[67Leafs67]

Yes, recency bias is a huge problem with this, and every single fanbase. It is very difficult to take the long view, and not have knee jerk reactions to single games, or small 3+ game runs of good or bad. Pretty much every fan is prone to it, myself included, but I always try to take a step back, look at the big picture, and usually it sobers me, and I come to the table with a more neutral, realistic answer. However, it is part of the fan experience in a way to get caught up in these biases and emotions. I think its helpful to try to think about the team the way you'd think about other teams. For example, Pittsburgh is on a five game losing streak, but I look at the standings, underlying numbers, know how good they can be, and have no doubt they are still a Cup contending team.

 

[blue stick]

Terrible fans on here. Can’t even look at a game day thread anymore.

 

[ITM]

Why all the hostility? It's just a messageboard. People state opinions here. No one is wrong. People who don't agree with me are not flawed. Give it a rest.

Interesting. People who don’t agree with you aren’t flawed, they’re just falsely accused of running multiple accounts.

“Why all the hostility?” LMAO!

What is wrong with the HFboards Leafs fan base as an example, are people who are allowed the freedom to run their sub-hobby of inciting antagonism through deception and confusion.

You need to give it a rest.

 

[blue stick]

Game day threads are the worst.

 

[666]

Overreact? No.

We played some pretty mediocre hockey outside of Dec.

Fans should expect to qualify for the playoffs with a team like this. On paper they should be good enough.

And we're missing 3 top 4 D.