Phil Kessel and the first line isn’t, and wasn’t, the problem. Kessel pulling double shifts, and JVR/Kessel playing in the Olympics, and they and Bozak playing the big minutes that they did…how could they not be exhausted. The problem was the bottom six; they simply were not good enough. And I really do hope that the Leafs have fixed it this year, but we’ll find out.
I didnt say that they were the problem; I say they burned out because of our lack of scoring depth. Not pitting the blame on the first line, and given the predicament they were placed in last season, its understandable that they're production dropped.
I am not saying you did. I am agreeing with your post.
How do none of you understand it's all lip service? What do you want him to say, "o yea we sucked all last year but jvr and bernie and i saved the team on a nightly basis, expect more of the same because uncle randy is too busy playing with toasters to coach properly"?
Man. You people **** all over phil no matter what he says or does. How you could really expect him to say any different is beyond me. And regardless of whether or not they did actually suck last year, he is totally right.
If Kessel and JVR's red hot Olympics play had been saved for a Leafs hockey I wonder if we would have staved off that total collapse and at least made the playoffs?
Actually that would have been rather nice .How do none of you understand it's all lip service? What do you want him to say, "o yea we sucked all last year but jvr and bernie and i saved the team on a nightly basis, expect more of the same because uncle randy is too busy playing with toasters to coach properly"?
Man. You people **** all over phil no matter what he says or does. How you could really expect him to say any different is beyond me. And regardless of whether or not they did actually suck last year, he is totally right.
I'm sure Shanahan has identified, fatigue, possession and other factors, and has made changes to address them. Whether these moves work or not, has yet to be seen.
I don't expect Kessel to really say anything different.
a fair shot could be the team is good, which played a bad system.
hey shanny, want to avoid a tail spin?
fire carlyle.
hey shanny, want to avoid a tail spin?
fire carlyle.
Well if Randy ****ing rolls 4 lines, which I'm pretty sure management is telling him to do, then the pressure will be taken off Phil and JVR a lot more and they shouldn't run out of gas. That's the one thing that makes me hopeful. We need scoring from all of our lines because there's going to be nights where our top guys come up dry. It happens.
One 35+ goal scorer, one 30 goal scorer, two 20+ goal scorers and two more one goal shy of 20 doesn't look like a team having any particular difficulty scoring goals to me.To be completely honest, the whole team offensively was kessel and jvr. We had no depth when it came to offence. Kadri and Lupul were alright.