Post-Game Talk: Hockey is Fun!

[Nooodles]

How it was almost never tried is ****ing crazy. Why try one of the best assist guys in the league with arguably the best shot in the league? That doesnt make sense! Imagine if the Capitals refused to try Backstrom and Ovechkin together. That's how ridiculous it is that Babs never tried it. I dont remember the exact figure but it was baffling at how little Matthews and Marner played together 5 on 5 over the years.

I thinks it's pretty obvious. All the fame would go to the stars. They would be the reason we won all the games, and that egoist sick maniac wouldn't be able to tolerate it. He wanted all the fame, he wanted to be a difference maker. He would rather lose than release the top guys and to see them winning.

It is such a shame we have wasted the last two years thanks to that prick.

 

[Man Bear Pig]

I thinks it's pretty obvious. All the fame would go to the stars. They would be the reason we won all the games, and that egoist sick maniac wouldn't be able to tolerate it. He wanted all the fame, he wanted to be a difference maker. He would rather lose than release the top guys and to see them winning.

It is such a shame we have wasted the last two years thanks to that prick.

I wont disagree. I remember when Babs was brought in he took it upon himself to "protect" the young players as he said from the media by throwing himself in front of the cameras. In hindsight, I really wonder if that's why he actually did it. Was it about protecting the young players or about stroking his ego? I'm so happy hes gone. It's a huge relief as a fan and you can see the players feel that way too. I think we've all worked for an awful boss and when they get canned, it's like you can breathe again.

 

[mallory67]

Lolwut Carolina is one of the better defensive teams in the league and Reiner has been lights out this year, Mrazek hasn’t been bad either.

I meant OUR defense and goalie.
We outscored our own horrible defense ... which is not something we will do n a lot of important nights.

 

[Mugzy97]

Marner took over this game. He threw the team on his back and won it for us, very similar to watching him with the London Knights in his last OHL year. 5 point nights were common for him back then. Hopefully a sign of things to come in the playoffs.

 

[SprDaVE]

I meant OUR defense and goalie.
We outscored our own horrible defense ... which is not something we will do n a lot of important nights.

Our goals against are down since changing the coach and I'm pretty sure our expected goals against and shots against are down as well.

Even when you have a great defence and goaltender, sometimes the pucks will go in regardless of how great you are.

 

[supermann_98]

The Oilers one is hilarious, those guys hate us so much

They got 5 first overall picks and literally 1 turned into anything for them and he was a generational can't miss prospect, while they've struck gold on getting Draisatl at 3rd overall.

All their other top 10 picks have been good-to-very good or complete busts, and considering how bad they've sucked for 10 years they've got like nothing from their drafts to show for it

 

[supermann_98]

So Babcock would have just kept the lines the same and roll 4 lines in the 3rd while down by 2 goals?

This should not be a question, it should be a (true) statement

 

[BertCorbeau]

Our goals against are down since changing the coach and I'm pretty sure our expected goals against and shots against are down as well.

Even when you have a great defence and goaltender, sometimes the pucks will go in regardless of how great you are.

I think it's less of an issue of poor defense and more of just sloppy management with the puck at times (see Holl's two giveaways that lead to goals).

With the Leafs playing the possession based game instead of the dump and chase methods, they're passing a lot more. If a support player isn't there or a player makes a bad read on a pass, all of a sudden it's a bad turnover and off the opposition goes down the ice.

I've noticed, as Keefe gets more time with the club, that these misplays are less frequent but there will be games like yesterday where they are just completely off target. It's just a matter of practicing and getting the players to understand where their outlets are.

 

[CabanaBoy5]

I think it's less of an issue of poor defense and more of just sloppy management with the puck at times (see Holl's two giveaways that lead to goals).

With the Leafs playing the possession based game instead of the dump and chase methods, they're passing a lot more. If a support player isn't there or a player makes a bad read on a pass, all of a sudden it's a bad turnover and off the opposition goes down the ice.

I've noticed, as Keefe gets more time with the club, that these misplays are less frequent but there will be games like yesterday where they are just completely off target. It's just a matter of practicing and getting the players to understand where their outlets are.

Holl has been a revelation for us, but he was not very good in this game. It happens. Let's see how he recovers from it. Another player who continues to underwhelm and is constantly making poor reads and passes is Rielly. Keefe has to find what's going on with this guy, he's too good to be making those kinds of blunders.

 

[Doublerum1975]

I remember keefe saying some nights they might look pretty bad while learning this new system looked that way last night for stretchs of the game

 

[ULF_55]

And Rielly's brainfart leading to a goal against in his own zone.

I know another player who would have a thread slamming him for a giveaway in the O-Zone, let along up the middle in the D-Zone.

Kid love of kid gloves?

 

[SprDaVE]

I think it's less of an issue of poor defense and more of just sloppy management with the puck at times (see Holl's two giveaways that lead to goals).

With the Leafs playing the possession based game instead of the dump and chase methods, they're passing a lot more. If a support player isn't there or a player makes a bad read on a pass, all of a sudden it's a bad turnover and off the opposition goes down the ice.

I've noticed, as Keefe gets more time with the club, that these misplays are less frequent but there will be games like yesterday where they are just completely off target. It's just a matter of practicing and getting the players to understand where their outlets are.

I'd rather this team make mistakes by trying to keep puck possession rather than giving up the puck willingly and then getting destroyed game after game in terms of puck possession.

You said it really well that if you have the puck a lot, sometimes you will have off games in terms of puck management. But as we saw, the benefits of having the puck a lot and generating chances is that you can also score a lot.

 

[SprDaVE]

And Rielly's brainfart leading to a goal against in his own zone.

I know another player who would have a thread slamming him for a giveaway in the O-Zone, let along up the middle in the D-Zone.

Kid love of kid gloves?

Great players make plenty of mistakes. Rielly hasn't been as crisp this season but he played a lot last night and made a lot more good plays than bad.

I feel like Toronto fans have this worldly expectations of their defensemen that they need to be perfect to be great. They have to hit, get points, make zero mistakes and play 40 minutes a game. Anything other than that and they aren't top pairing or that good.

 

[Peasy]

And Rielly's brainfart leading to a goal against in his own zone.

I know another player who would have a thread slamming him for a giveaway in the O-Zone, let along up the middle in the D-Zone.

Kid love of kid gloves?

Its always funny how the broadcast will rarely criticize Rielly for making a play like that either. When that happened, Millen explained how Rielly had no options so he threw it up the middle. He could have made a number of different plays (Ceci was open on the half wall, hold onto it a bit longer, bank it off the glass etc) but he didn't. As you said, if another certain player did this it would have been talked about how it was their turnover that directly resulted in a goal against.

 

[Teeder Keon]

Great players make plenty of mistakes. Rielly hasn't been as crisp this season but he played a lot last night and made a lot more good plays than bad.

I feel like Toronto fans have this worldly expectations of their defensemen that they need to be perfect to be great. They have to hit, get points, make zero mistakes and play 40 minutes a game. Anything other than that and they aren't top pairing or that good.

Way to go !!
Terrific post

 

[Joey Hoser]

And Rielly's brainfart leading to a goal against in his own zone.

I know another player who would have a thread slamming him for a giveaway in the O-Zone, let along up the middle in the D-Zone.

Kid love of kid gloves?

It's more hate for Nylander(who I assume you meant) for being a skilled pretty euro than kid gloves for Rielly.

 

[Jmo89]

The Oilers one is hilarious, those guys hate us so much

I normally don't venture far on other boards, but that was actually a decent laugh.

 

[Aintboutdatlyfe]

They’re not similar players, but WN and ZH are both playing at 0.74 P\GP, and we know that Hyman brings a ton more extra curriculars and valuable things that don’t necessarily show up on the scoresheet.

He’ll be in for a good pay day, and people here shouldn’t be blindsided by it like they were Marner (they probably shouldn’t have been blindsided by the Marner contract too once Matthews got his contract, TBH.)

Hyman has a 106 PDO. There's 0 chance his production stays anywhere close to this rate for an extended period of time. Nylander's PDO is 99...

 

[Cleetus]

Back to back 3 point games for Zach Hyman looking good!

 

[Apotheosis]

Outside of the comeback, I think the Canes are in a really good position. Great blueline and their forwards are really coming around. Loved what I saw from Necas and Svechnikov. And Aho is Aho.

 

[Randy Randerson]

Back to back 3 point games for Zach Hyman looking good!

I've been a Hyman critic in the past, he has looked worthy of playing with those linemates this year, found some scoring touch and is actually retrieving contested pucks on his own rather than just getting there fast enough to tie it up. I thought he was very expendable, and we may still have to in order to make room, but I'm less excited about it than I was.

 

[ACC1224]

Outside of the comeback, I think the Canes are in a really good position. Great blueline and their forwards are really coming around. Loved what I saw from Necas and Svechnikov. And Aho is Aho.

He was their best player from my seat. Didn't really notice Aho.

had some good laughs at Reimer,

 

[Havoc]

I thinks it's pretty obvious. All the fame would go to the stars. They would be the reason we won all the games, and that egoist sick maniac wouldn't be able to tolerate it. He wanted all the fame, he wanted to be a difference maker. He would rather lose than release the top guys and to see them winning.

It is such a shame we have wasted the last two years thanks to that prick.

On the bright side, we were able to last 7 games under Babcock.

Leafs have looked better than Boston over the last 15 games.

If we go by this, Leafs should be finishing off Boston in 6 or less. If Babcock can last 7 games Keefe should have no issues.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Outside of the comeback, I think the Canes are in a really good position. Great blueline and their forwards are really coming around. Loved what I saw from Necas and Svechnikov. And Aho is Aho.

He was their best player from my seat. Didn't really notice Aho.

had some good laughs at Reimer,

Svechnikov is a keeper for sure. Goaltending has been the issue for them over the last few years. I think it might be better this year, but not sure how good it is exactly.

 

[Erdinger]

On the bright side, we were able to last 7 games under Babcock.

Leafs have looked better than Boston over the last 15 games.

If we go by this, Leafs should be finishing off Boston in 6 or less. If Babcock can last 7 games Keefe should have no issues.

This team has become a lot more difficult for opposing coaches to plan for. Because of the egomaniac's obsession with line matching it was easy for the opposing coach to dictate how much and when our top players got to play. That's out the window under Keefe

 

[ShaneFalco]

Just boggles the mind how rigid and pig-headed Babcock was