In one sentence, what's wrong with this team?

[18leafsfan18]

It's 4 things.

1) Special teams.

When you look at the top power play units over the last 5 years, they have had big right handed shots on the left half wall. Think Ovechkin, Stamkos, Pastranak, where they tee up on the left side of the power play above circle with that right shot. Matthews is a left handed shot, so he doesn't get as much of a clean look. Marner is a right handed shot but he doesn't have a very good shot. If only they were reversed. We need to address this somehow, as obviously this isn't the only formula to have power play success, just one of them. Matthews is never going to score 100 points if he can't score regular goals on the P.P... he also has a tendency to give the puck away on the player as well. A top 5 P.P in the league vs a top 20 P.P will result in a substantial difference in the standings, P.K as well.


2) Mindset, standards and consistency.

This team lacks the elite mental drive and willingness to do everything it takes to win. They are going at it at about a 90 % level. It's clear they haven't reached there potential. They don't have the mental drive of players playing for there lives or players that have the drive to win the whole thing. The fact William Nylander was willing to sit out an entire season shows you where his mind was. We've had less talented teams work much harder. This team legitimately does try to get by on there skill and it's an issue. Some blame the coach, same blame the GM, some blame the players. I don't know who or whom is responsible but this does seem to be an issue.


3) Lacking a top 10 defence group in the NHL.

We don't have a top 10 RHD shutdown defensmen. I'm nit picking here, I actually think Ceci is pretty decent and Barrie is being misused a little bit. Muzzin is a great piece, i'm very happy with him. Rielly isn't a top 10 d-man in the league either. This isn't a knock on Rielly by the way, the fact we have a top 5 offensive d-man in the league is great... however his defensive positioning on 2 on 1's is atrocious. Dermott for example is better at this as a sophmore. Rielly also makes some pretty boneheaded plays on the P.P, continuously throwing the puck into traffic on the power play. It's a very lower percentage shot, and giving the puck away on the player can kill 30 seconds of a 2:00 minute power play, and possibly the entire power play if we can get into the zone again. If we had a Parayko type defensmen it would make a huge difference. If our best d-man is going to be in the offensive mold, we need a top shutdown defender to play with him if he's going to log 25 minutes a night.


4) Overpaying our personnel.

We live in a cap world where every decision is magnified. Overpaying 3-4 players is going to make it extremely difficult moving forward. It's not just difficult to fill out the team it's just wrong.


These are 4 very big issues. I'm glad I don't have to fix them. It seems all 3 of GM, Coach and players are to blame.

In 80 sentences, what's wrong with this team ?

 

[BodaciousBeefBazooka]

Carlton the bear and the zamboni driver

 

[hobarth]

Great cores win Cups, dominate games, not seeing that from TO's core.

 

[Chungo2]

No. We need players that will hold each other just as accountable as they will the other team. One of the benefits of having a guy who will drop the gloves on your team is that when he does he sets a level of accountability and honesty with his teammates, that if he's going to the mat for these guys and for the team then they better be going to the mat for each other too. Right now that's absent. We don't need a goon - no team does anymore. What we do need is players with more of a willingness to do that if that's what it takes. To skate through players instead of around them. We're probably the nicest team in the league. Which in itself is perplexing considering we're top-10 in PMs right now too.

Potato potato... wish I could say this out loud for better effect.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Ferraro on Overdrive was discussing what the Leafs bench was like during a game. It was brought up regarding the reaction to Carter's hit on Kerfoot but he went in to what it was like all the time. Other than Babcock shouting his lungs out the Leafs bench is as quiet as the rest of the arena. Nobody chirps or really talks aside from saying "I'm going" or other things regarding line changes. After Carter hit Kerfoot nobody said anything to the dude.

I don't know about the rest of y'all who played hockey but when a guy hit one of ours we let him have it, whether we thought it was clean or dirty. Like these guys all played in junior right and surely talked smack growing up no? Was it really only Martin, Komarov, and Kadri that gave the other team lip? Nobody else on this team has any balls to at least tell Carter (or any opposing player) to f*** off?

Doesn't make any sense, it's so opposite of usual hockey culture. Where's the backbone and pride? Sure, it's the Kings and we have no rivalry with them but one of your teammates was just laid out and had to go to the room. All that earns is a stern word from just Rielly? It's shameful how these guys allow themselves to get pushed around without any rebuttal.

 

[horner]

Ferraro on Overdrive was discussing what the Leafs bench was like during a game. It was brought up regarding the reaction to Carter's hit on Kerfoot but he went in to what it was like all the time. Other than Babcock shouting his lungs out the Leafs bench is as quiet as the rest of the arena. Nobody chirps or really talks aside from saying "I'm going" or other things regarding line changes. After Carter hit Kerfoot nobody said anything to the dude.

I don't know about the rest of y'all who played hockey but when a guy hit one of ours we let him have it, whether we thought it was clean or dirty. Like these guys all played junior right and surely talked smack growing up no? Was it really only Martin, Komarov, and Kadri that gave the other team lip? Nobody else on this team has any balls to at least tell Carter (or any opposing player) to **** off?

Doesn't make any sense, it's so opposite of usual hockey culture. Where's the backbone and pride? Sure, it's the Kings and we have no rivalry with them but one of your teammates was just laid out and had to go to the room. All that earns is a stern word from just Rielly? It's shameful how these guys allow themselves to get pushed around without any rebuttal.

I agree
No emotion.
Almost like they are worried they will be next.

 

[Coachcorner]

Suckas and fools and we ain't got no goons.

 

[CDN24]

I think the biggest problem is the lack of chemistry caused by their mis-management of the Salary cap.

Hyman will soon be back and the other guys know he has to be fit in under the Cap. They also know that its going to take waiving or sending 3 guys making less than a million to the minors or trading someone with a cap hit in or around the $3M range. net effect is the only guys who really feel secure in their job are Mattherws, Marner, Tavares, rielly, Muzzin. barrie, Freddy and maybe Nylander. You have a bout 15 guys wondering if they will be here in a couple of weeks. That uncertainty is making guys play for themselves and not the team. It is a product of operating so close to the Cap. For fans its just math but for the players its their life and it creates a lot of uncertainty.

 

[darrylsittler27]

Something has to give and it isn't just the cap. Our system is Freddie wins every night. Barrie ain't working out here and with Liljegren and Sandin coming he has no LT here. I see Barrie and a winger going for a better fit at RHD before the playoffs. We have to wait until some team realizes it needs offense to pry an upgrade to play with Reilly or at least top 4. The problem with our cap we have to give to get. Like it or not a guy like Nylander could be the price. Nylander plus Barrie is a good package for a team that needs offense to make the playoffs. I also think we may seriously need to look for backup in case Freddie gets injured or tired. The way Barrie looked in Colorado and the way he plays here is night and day.

 

[unitedstars87]

We don’t play as good as the Bruins.

 

[Madap]

The fans

 

[Faltorvo]

Talented roster that is not a team yet , no one has anyone's back and far too few want to sacrifice their body and suffer discomfort.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Backup goalie

 

[Joey Hoser]

I think the biggest problem is the lack of chemistry caused by their mis-management of the Salary cap.

Hyman will soon be back and the other guys know he has to be fit in under the Cap. They also know that its going to take waiving or sending 3 guys making less than a million to the minors or trading someone with a cap hit in or around the $3M range. net effect is the only guys who really feel secure in their job are Mattherws, Marner, Tavares, rielly, Muzzin. barrie, Freddy and maybe Nylander. You have a bout 15 guys wondering if they will be here in a couple of weeks. That uncertainty is making guys play for themselves and not the team. It is a product of operating so close to the Cap. For fans its just math but for the players its their life and it creates a lot of uncertainty.

How would you suggest fixing this "problem". Get rid of some good players so our worse players feel better?

Half the league has less that 1 million in cap space anyway, so it's not like this is some weird thing that only the Leafs are doing.

Spending to the cap is only a bad thing when it's because of albatross contracts. The only debatable one the Leafs have is Ceci, and that seems like a situation with more to it than meets the eye.