Pre-Game Talk: Leafs in Ottawa, Saturday Nights Alright for Fighting, 7 pm on CBC

[pepty]

They had already hired and fired Paddock and Hartsburg(and Murray took another run at coaching them) before any of the present payers were on the team.
Before Murray, Jacques Martin was the coach for several years.

 

[pepty]

Yet all these coaches, despite being awful were able to make the playoffs and then suddenly things turned upside down. I'm trying to suggest the coaches are coach killers but I just don't want to see another coach come in because for one season, things didn't go the way we expected them to. I think a part of the problem there is Melnyk but for once I would like to see the players be able to work things out with the same coach.

As for the part about Dorion, this idea that Boucher calls the shots is... is...terrible. Every Coach and GM have a working relationship. Sometimes a GM gets a player the coach wants, sometimes the Coach plays a player the GM wants. If thats not happening I'd be worried.

I didn't say they were awful .
And it is a pattern with Boucher.
As far as the GM trying to fit the players with the coaches style, I agree that is necessary but in this case perhaps a bit over the top. I cant remember another GM bringing in so many players that the coach had on previous teams.And Dorion sometimes seemed to be so smitten with his coach that
he seemed to be deferring to him.

 

[Langdon Alger]

I didn't say they were awful .
And it is a pattern with Boucher.
As far as the GM trying to fit the players with the coaches style, I agree that is necessary but in this case perhaps a bit over the top. I cant remember another GM bringing in so many players that the coach had on previous teams.And Dorion sometimes seemed to be so smitten with his coach that
he seemed to be deferring to him.

That whole thing is so overblown. Boucher previously coached Pyatt, Thompson and Dumont. Lots of coaches do the same because they are familiar with the player. Mike Keenan had Stephane Matthau in Chicago, New York and St. Louis. So what? Who cares?

 

[Joeyjoejoe]

Does Boucher have a 2nd job or something? Is that why he's not practicing? It would explain alot if he picked up a 2nd job since he already knows he is done after this spring.

 

[branch]

He said it was up to management, He has said before that he would like to be here his whole career.

Count Dracula: please provide quotes and proof of his motives Inception style please

 

[DrEasy]

I heard Andy is cooking the bacon wrapped chicken breast

Nooooooooooooooooo!

 

[oooooooooohCanada]

Leafs fan in peace.

Dirty play by Gardiner. Don't like that at all.

I hope Stone comes back. He's a great talent.

That wasn't a dirty play. Stone is the one that initiated contact. He just fell over unfortunately. Dime a dozen puck positioning battle.

Toronto really has been trash for over a month now. Any other division and that isn't a playoff team.

The only division Toronto wouldn't be a playoff team in is the Central, and they would still hold a wild card. I posted this in another thread but it's worth a post here. The NHL schedule this year has divisional games mainly in the last half of the season. Metro teams have played the Atlantic more than the Atlantic has. So really, as of right now, it's the Metro teams that are benefiting from the Atlantic being bad.

Tampa Bay 9-3-1 vs Atlantic (13 GP)
Boston 8-1-2 vs Atlantic (11 GP)
Toronto 5-4-1 vs Atlantic (10 GP)

Washington 9-4-1 vs Atlantic (14 GP)
New Jersey 8-1-4 vs Atlantic (13 GP)
Columbus 10-6-1 vs Atlantic (17 GP)
New York R. 9-5-1 vs Atlantic (15 GP)
Pittsburgh 9-5-0 vs Atlantic (14 GP)
Philadelphia 8-4-0 vs Atlantic (12 GP)
New York I. 6-6-0 vs Atlantic (12 GP)
Carolina 7-5-0 vs Atlantic (12 GP)

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

 

[Jorge Garcia]

Well that's Toronto's second win against us in the last 3 years. We were bound to get bit sooner or later.

It's still disappointing that we didn't get to see all those Leaf lovers slink out of the building with another loss.

 

[Beville]

Successful Choke,

The tank is in full motion.

 

[Langdon Alger]

It's still disappointing that we didn't get to see all those Leaf lovers slink out of the building with another loss.

We’ll get em next time.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

So apparently dion and oduya are playing hurt? But they’re playing over a healthy claessen?

 

[Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk]

Instead of practicing, Boucher is gonna have them all over to his place for pancakes & bacon. Mmmm bacon...

"Bacon is a great example of the goals we need to score, and how. You need the crisp passes, but you need to get greasy goals out there. You want to muck it up in the pan before you serve and you need elite cardio to survive that much work as well."

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

Melnyk was in attendance yesterday. When was the last time he was in attendance for a game?

 

[Do Make Say Think]

On a positive note, I was rather impressed with White: he was solid.

 

[BatherSeason]

That whole thing is so overblown. Boucher previously coached Pyatt, Thompson and Dumont. Lots of coaches do the same because they are familiar with the player. Mike Keenan had Stephane Matthau in Chicago, New York and St. Louis. So what? Who cares?

There is a big difference in todays game and the game when Mike Keenan was coaching. Also, Keenan had ONE guy, Boucher has 3 pets. Having 3 pets is way worse than only having one

 

[BatherSeason]

How about watching tape? How about getting the team together and working **** out?

This way Melnyk can keep the lights off and save some money. Callups probably wont happen until after 5 today either. Wouldnt want to have to pay them an NHL salary for today either.

 

[Back in Black]

Can't win 'em all, next........ Back to back games on the road

 

[armani]

A large contingent of Leaf fans in CTC actually drive from Pembroke, Petawawa, and places within/close to the region, but still distant enough that they have no affinity for this city or the franchise. Their kids and grandkids are Leaf fans as well.

They drink and take over. Sens fans are mostly Ottawa folks, and we are conditioned to be extra nice.

 

[philb613]

The problem with all these coaches we'e tun through is the way they treat veteran players and more specifically Karlsson. None of the coaches we've had have ever benches veterans or held them accountable for poor play. Example from Thursday, karlsson turns puck over forcing Anderson to make a big save and karlsson says nothing to Andy returns to the bench and not one coach says anything to him about it, while you can see Smith yelling at the coaches about it. Until all players are held accountable for their performance nothing will change.

 

[Larionov]

I'm sure it's been said elsewhere but it bears repeating - no one wins in this league getting sub .900 goaltending. No way, no how. If you're getting sub .900 goaltending, you're a bottom five team, end of story, and recent history bears that out. Once our goaltenders are playing at an NHL average level (.914, IIRC) we can talk about fixing the rest of the problems, but not much else matters right now.

When you have a 3-1 lead in the third your goaltender simply HAS to shut the door and get you that win - no excuses. Every night now, he lets in at least one, often two complete stinkers. You can't win that way - it sucks the life out of your bench like freaking Dracula. Anderson is the worst starting goaltender in the NHL now, (42nd in save percentage) and it's not particularly close. (Condon is 44th.) He needs to decide if he wants to be a pro, or if he wants to retire. I would completely understand if he wanted to retire now given his family circumstances, but if he wants to keep playing then he needs to re-dedicate himself to his craft because right now he looks like a guy who has mentally checked out. (Mike Condon isn't earning his pay cheque either, but Condon is a garden variety backup. If Dorion fantasized that he could potentially be a starter, then he's even dumber than we thought.)

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

Anderson has not been good this year but Karlsson and the defence have not been helping him either. How many uncontested shots do they let through on the point? How many players aren't being boxed out for tips? How many puck watchers on the Sens are there in close? Abomination of a defensive system by the coach and his players

 

[Do Make Say Think]

I wouldn't blame Anderson for last night.

He's been bad this year but he isn't the reason we lost. The Leafs have great forwards and they took over the third after a pathetic powerplay on our part.

This was a systemic failure.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Forgot to mention. I f***ing liked white last night. He played well. Looked a little more comfy on the puck. Was chill. Chlapik again looks good. But like get him the eff away from dumont and burrows

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

Forgot to mention. I ****ing liked white last night. He played well. Looked a little more comfy on the puck. Was chill. Chlapik again looks good. But like get him the eff away from dumont and burrows

You don't get him away from Dumont and Burrows. You get Dumont and Burrows away from this team.