TSN: Leafs at Championship

[saltming]

Great so Matthews' mom is pissed cause he is playing too little and Freddy's mom is pissed cause he is playing too much. Wonder how Leivo's mom is feeling towards Babs

The 3 moms are creating the MAMB foundation: Mothers Against Mike Babcock

 

[Al14]

The 3 moms are creating the MAMB foundation: Mothers Against Mike Babcock

Dang, now we need a FAMAMB foundation! Fans Against Mothers Against Mike Babcock!

 

[saltming]

Dang, now we need a FAMAMB foundation! Fans Against Mothers Against Mike Babcock!

But that would lead to a HFFAFAMAMB: hockey futures fans against fans against mothers against Mike Babcock

 

[Al14]

But that would lead to a HFFAFAMAMB: hockey futures fans against fans against mothers against Mike Babcock

There is NO END to this MADNESS, unless, Mike Babcock fixes his MO!

 

[saltming]

There is NO END to this MADNESS, unless, Mike Babcock fixes his MO!

Hmm I doubt that would help haha
I think it would take a shift in the universal constant!
(Whatever that means)

 

[Anthrax442]

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Sorry Zaitsev, but I was for Canada all thee way there. Wicked pass by McDavid thereto O’Reilly to win it.

 

[Nineteen67]

O O O’Rielly...

 

[ShaneFalco]

How can we get that guy in a Leaf jersey

 

[BrainyBomber]

Just watched a great Canada-Russia quarter-final. Thankfully we prevailed in OT! But Zaitsev was excellent 3 assists and +3.

In fact he had a great tourney overall been one of the better Dmen and is currently tied for the scoring lead. 8 points in 8 games with a +8.

Hopefully he's put his troubling last season behind him now and carries this tourney's play forward. We really need him to be the solid top 4 Dman we are paying him to be.

 

[Muston Atthews]

Russian fans have said that they’ve found it interesting how Babcock was/is trying to turn Zaitsev into a defensive defenseman. It’s clear he has great offensive instincts but we’re trying to make him into something he’s clearly not. Hopefully we can let him loose offensively

 

[MattySnipes]

He always seems to play well for Russia. Made some nice first-pass outlet passes, looked very good. Russia coach very fond of him and Gusev.

 

[Menzinger]

Guy just needs to start playing on NHL ice how he does on International ice.

Hopefully what he really needs is just a big confidence booster and ability to get past his injury issues this year. Because if he could get his game going back in the NHL that would be huge for the leafs

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

I've always thought that zaitsev needs to have a stabilizing partner like Hainsey rather than trying to be one for Gardiner. He doesn't seem to be utilized properly by Babcock and it's hurting him

 

[KlattNazty]

I've always thought that zaitsev needs to have a stabilizing partner like Hainsey rather than trying to be one for Gardiner. He doesn't seem to be utilized properly by Babcock and it's hurting him

Think you are right with this. Honestly, if we lost JG51 and were able to replace him with a steadier partner for Zaitsev to take a more offensive role, I wouldn't be surprised if the difference in offence between the two was minimal.

Problem is, all of our LHD are offensive players. Need a new blend on D.

 

[nuck]

Hopefully Zaits builds off the tournament better than Willie from last year. Assuming Gards is in fact dealt it is probably a positive opportunity for Zaitsev to step his game up. Nice to see him "back"

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Russian fans have said that they’ve found it interesting how Babcock was/is trying to turn Zaitsev into a defensive defenseman. It’s clear he has great offensive instincts but we’re trying to make him into something he’s clearly not. Hopefully we can let him loose offensively

Never going to happen as long as he's playing with Gardiner. Now that he is more familiar with the NHL and Rielly has more familiarity against top level competition, they may be able to work well together the second time around, but Gardiner is an anchor on any defensive pairing when it comes to allowing his partner to do things offensively.

Zaitsev is either going to have to play with Rielly, Dermott (who may not be ready for the type of minutes Zaitsev will be getting) or we need to trade Gardiner and get someone better than him.

 

[ShaneFalco]

The coaching staff needs to get more out of Z. Yes international play is different but it sounds like he's a different player altogether

 

[SeaOfBlue]

I don't know why Canada is playing Kuemper. Has he even had a good game this tournament? His save percentage definitely doesn't show it. I get that he is the starting goalie and he had to go up against tougher competition than McElhinney did, but the guy is clearly a hot mess right now. Let in 2 soft goals against Russia today and he's looked shaky even against crappy teams.

 

[Trapper]

Never going to happen as long as he's playing with Gardiner. Now that he is more familiar with the NHL and Rielly has more familiarity against top level competition, they may be able to work well together the second time around, but Gardiner is an anchor on any defensive pairing when it comes to allowing his partner to do things offensively.

Zaitsev is either going to have to play with Rielly, Dermott (who may not be ready for the type of minutes Zaitsev will be getting) or we need to trade Gardiner and get someone better than him.

Get him a partner who's main focus is D like De Haan.

 

[Zybalto]

Not really shocking that our best dman from the playoffs is having a good tournament.

The faulty analysis on him went beyond the absurd some time ago.

Awesome that he got over whatever was ailing him for most of the year and amazing we got him locked up long term.

 

[Magic Man]

Russian fans have said that they’ve found it interesting how Babcock was/is trying to turn Zaitsev into a defensive defenseman. It’s clear he has great offensive instincts but we’re trying to make him into something he’s clearly not. Hopefully we can let him loose offensively

He went from 2:00 minutes of PP time to 13 seconds or something similar. Why they used Komarov and Brown over him on the PP over him boggles my mind. He also had some injury issues. His play at this tournament is very encouraging going into next season.

 

[Leaffan1991]

Finland loses to Switzerland. Was hoping Kappy would come up with the clutch goal but his teammates didn’t pass to him much. Granlund tries to do too much by himself but fails.
Also Finlands D was very poor.

 

[nsleaf]

Performances in this tournament are to be taken with a grain of salt, the competition is quite watered down, bigger ice surface, etc.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

On one hand, feel bad for Kappy not going any further in the tournament.

On the other hand, it's nice that Finnish fans will be taken down a peg.