Is this what the Leafs desperately lack ?

[Nineteen67]

What do you mean? I see other teams get into scrums a lot when dodgy crap happens. Or am I missing your point completely?

The rest of the League doesn’t play like the Leafs. And with the last 15 games we’ll see a lot of intensity around the League.
I expect the Leafs to play like they did against Vancouver.

 

[Guided by Veseys]

Matthews would be shadowed and badgered even if he had Chara. Nylander would still gain zone and button hook only to find to no open lanes.
Brown would still lack in offensive flair.
Kapanen would still have tunnel vision.
What difference would having a chara make? The players might feel like they can act a bit tougher but we probably get scored on more as players walk around our lumbering aged giant.
Chara is the effective player that he is because Boston has their system worked out to the utmost potential and every player knows what works best. Put Chara on the leafs he would look like dog shit and probably retire in a month.

 

[Incetardis]

I mean, ya we do lack a physically imposing player like Chara but there's really only a handful of those guys in the league that can still keep up with the speed of today's game. I wouldn't say Chara fighting Kane is a feather in his cap either. There's nobody in the league except for maybe big buff that has the physicality to threaten Chara. He's 6'7" 250lbs ffs

 

[Morbo]

Lol you know a timble full of what a past NHL player knows if that.

then why do most of them always sound so goddamn stupid on air?

Teams need to be able to accept physical play and give it back if they are to win in the playoffs. What is called a penalty in the regular season is let go in the playoffs.

There is barely anything being called a penalty on the Leafs now. "let go" has no meaning for this team.

Like I have stated many times we can win in the playoffs but only if we do not run away like several of our better players did last year. Hell we had two players visibly slow down for fear that they would get to the puck first many many times against the Bruins and despite getting their second chose to jab at the puck as they skated pass the player.

Can I ask why the series went 7 games if we were running away? Or were the Bruins just not physical in the 3 games they lost?

 

[Raging Bull]

Lol @ Chara "stepping up" to fight anyone. The guy is a freak and it's not really fair for anybody in the league to fight him.

 

[56 Years No Cup]

I mean, ya we do lack a physically imposing player like Chara but there's really only a handful of those guys in the league that can still keep up with the speed of today's game. I wouldn't say Chara fighting Kane is a feather in his cap either. There's nobody in the league except for maybe big buff that has the physicality to threaten Chara. He's 6'7" 250lbs ffs

Freddy the Goat can take him.

 

[Notsince67]

He asked Kane to fight several times after going after a kid. Then he punished him with checks after this until Kane jumped him.

Yes he stepped up he is a old man and still knocked Kane around. To answer the op yes we could use this.

Which team in the league couldn't?

 

[zeke]

As someone who will rail against the "toughness" cliche all day long....

.....Chara is special. He's a monster.

He is likely the singular most impactful defensive player in NHL history. And he's a nuclear deterrent physically as well - I would take Chara in a fight over any other player in league history.

I will be glad when age finally catches up to him.


The thing is, it's futile to try and match up to Chara. no other tough guy in the league comes close. let alone anyone who can still play and dominate top line matchups. Chara is chara. You either have him or you don't.

 

[Notsince67]

Matthews would be shadowed and badgered even if he had Chara. Nylander would still gain zone and button hook only to find to no open lanes.
Brown would still lack in offensive flair.
Kapanen would still have tunnel vision.
What difference would having a chara make? The players might feel like they can act a bit tougher but we probably get scored on more as players walk around our lumbering aged giant.
Chara is the effective player that he is because Boston has their system worked out to the utmost potential and every player knows what works best. Put Chara on the leafs he would look like dog **** and probably retire in a month.

Lol. Chara is still a dominant force who is like a second goaltender. You don't get a lot of second chances to score when he is around the net

 

[Notsince67]

Freddy the Goat can take him.

Chara is so physically strong he could easily rag doll him

 

[56 Years No Cup]

Chara is so physically strong he could easily rag doll him

It was obviously a joke.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Chara has been a thorn in our side for years. Everyone is scared of him. Even today they all are. And rightly so. The guy throws hammers with immense force. We are not getting Big Buff so we can't even attempt to go after Chara. Best bet is we let sleeping dogs lie.

We can't get into any kind of physical game with Bruins. It would be a huge mistake. Even Chara knows his strength he can really hurt somebody. He just toyed with Kane. After he hit Kane a couple times Kane turtled. And I can't blame him. Why get hit by a hammer in the head. Really stupid.

 

[Notsince67]

It was obviously a joke.

Sorry. Got caught up in the moment. I hate the bruins but I admire how good guys like Chara are.

 

[GoonieFace]

Do the Bolts lack physicality? Are they not considered the team to beat?? This is silly.

If you watch them play, they all play hard. I mean they finish checks and compete. They have a very big and physical blueline that wont get manhandled by a forecheck. These are things the Leafs lack.

 

[HOF Paul Henderson]

The leafs lack Chara, yes

 

[Vaive50]

I have more of a problem with no one stepping up for Dermott. Let's just say I wish we could have a Tom Wilson in the lineup.

Kadri probably would have but he wasn't playing. But I'm sure Kadri will have the next game against those losers circled on his calendar.

 

[Vaive50]

Bruins just rolled over them recently as well

The Bruins beat the Bolts 4-1 and the Leafs beat them 4-2. Just last night the Wild beat them 3-0 so it's not unheard of to beat the Bolts, they're only human.

 

[pcruz]

As someone who will rail against the "toughness" cliche all day long....

.....Chara is special. He's a monster.

He is likely the singular most impactful defensive player in NHL history. And he's a nuclear deterrent physically as well - I would take Chara in a fight over any other player in league history.

I will be glad when age finally catches up to him.


The thing is, it's futile to try and match up to Chara. no other tough guy in the league comes close. let alone anyone who can still play and dominate top line matchups. Chara is chara. You either have him or you don't.

Historically speaking, I’d prefer Pronger.
Just as nasty, dirtier, better skater and scorer and arguably, at their height, better defender as well.

Looking at the crater he left in Edmonton is astonishing.

Anyway, as to the question:

The Leafs don’t need a fighter like Chara. In fact, if there is someone in that clip that we need our players to emulate it’s arguably Kane.

Our top guys have to play tougher. Matthews, Tavares, Kadri, Nylander, Hyman, Kapanen, Johnsson, and the entire bottom 6, need to finish their checks, use their bodies to intentionally run into people and try to make it uncomfortable to play against the Leafs.

Reilly, Hainsey, Muzzin and whoever our 6th defense man is, need to throw people into the boards once in a while, clear out the front of the net, push forwards off Andersen, etc.

People don’t advocate for fights or for acquiring George Larocque, we need our own players to be pissed off on the ice and take it out on the opponents.

Before every playoff game, someone should go to each player’s house and slap their puppy, record it and send it to the player with an opponents name on the caption. Just to have the guy be angry.

Hell, put up signs that have quotes from opponents saying “Matthews sucks at Fortnight - Bergeron”.

Maybe someone should just punch each of them in the nose prior to games.

Restaurant employees should intentionally get their orders mixed up.

Tim Horton/ Starbucks employees should write their names wrong on the cup and leave the kids slightly loose so that when they take the first drink, molten gold temperatured coffee spills onto their face and nice suits.

Maybe, on rainy days, drivers should speed up and run through puddles to give them unwanted showers.

They seem far too laid back, and play without a care in the world. We need angry players, spitting venom, blood shot eyes. Just a comment away from stick swinging.

 

[zeke]

Historically speaking, I’d prefer Pronger.
Just as nasty, dirtier, better skater and scorer and arguably, at their height, better defender as well.

pronger was awesome, but imo his defense was always a bit overrated and his offense underrated. (for me, nieds was the better defensive dman in anaheim).

defensively speaking, imo chara is on another level.

 

[TheProspector]

Only one Chara in the league. And, yeah, he's good. But it's his on-ice skilled plays that make him good.

 

[diceman934]

then why do most of them always sound so goddamn stupid on air?



There is barely anything being called a penalty on the Leafs now. "let go" has no meaning for this team.



Can I ask why the series went 7 games if we were running away? Or were the Bruins just not physical in the 3 games they lost?

They sound stupid to you because you simply do not get it. Listen to ex players talk about what it takes to win should inform any hockey fan on what is needed to win in the playoffs. They are not guessing they are sharing knowledge.

If you think nothing is being called now we’ll wait for when a player skates full speed and hits a player into the boards and hits him. Or watch all the two hand slashes and punched to the face that do not get called and running goalies.

We lost in 7 because we had a good coach who despite what people on here think made many adjustments and used matchups to help. He had Marner out against Boston top D pairing as much as he could so that Mathews and Nylander would possibly play a little hard. Marner proved that he is fearless sadly the same could not be said for Nylander and Marthews to a lessor extent. Look at the ice time of Nylander in all the games we won. It was low as he seen very little ice time in the 3rd periods when we were protecting leads.
Babs played his counted on players to play a lot more and he almost pulled it off. And despite what people said Freddy was a huge reason why we pushed it to 7 games. He was out shot 117 to 84 in our 3 wins. When he played well we won.

 

[Guided by Veseys]

Lol. Chara is still a dominant force who is like a second goaltender. You don't get a lot of second chances to score when he is around the net

Most Boston fans think he has declined significantly and is quite slow. That doesn’t mean he is bad, he fits in great with Boston. But if you plug him into our defence he’s probably going to be much less effective, similar to Muzzin.
My point is that our problem is with the utilization of our existing talent rather than our deficiency of 6’7’’ ogres who can beat the shit out of everyone.

 

[SHANNYPLAN]

I have more of a problem with no one stepping up for Dermott. Let's just say I wish we could have a Tom Wilson in the lineup.

I WANT JOSH ANDERSON

 

[Notsince67]

Most Boston fans think he has declined significantly and is quite slow. That doesn’t mean he is bad, he fits in great with Boston. But if you plug him into our defence he’s probably going to be much less effective, similar to Muzzin.
My point is that our problem is with the utilization of our existing talent rather than our deficiency of 6’7’’ ogres who can beat the **** out of everyone.

Defensive systems are really different. A guy like Chara could shift that

 

[Rogue]

The truth is we lack heart and soul players.
Maybe Marner and Hyman is the closest we have.
But I envy how the whole Sharks roster is willing to die for Joe Thornton.
I actually have come to think the problem is in Babcock.