Post-Game Talk: Only Morgan Reilly has a high read on the Give a ___ Reader. (Leafs Lose 5-4).

[horner]

If a young kid gets recalled from the AHL and puts up a performance like Kessel did tonight, he gets sent to the ECHL and never gets another look.

I'm worried that the market is going to be bearish on Kessel ... Organization needs to get something worthwhile...

I would trade Kessel and Bozak today

Dont even care what we get back

As long as he is traded to the west because some day he will wake up

But for the benefit of the young kids get him out of town

Hell we scored 4 goals without him

He and his little **** buddy were a minus 4 WOW

 

[4evaBlue]

Outside of Polak I do not see a defenceman on this team. Rielly showing his offensive talents more no doubt but that 5th winning goal he was outmuscled for puck by Nash in his own end. Nash made the play with his size over Rielly and bingo bango Leafs lose. Watching Kessel watch on and not cover his man who was the shooter was pathetic too. Overall however a lot more fun to watch the Leafs when they open up. Yes they do cheat a little like tonight but hockey is much more entertaining.

What do you mean? That's totally on Smith. Kessel's man is the center's responsibility by default.

It was an entertaining game to watch, with Rielly showing that he has room to develop still. It's a promising sign when a young player is upset with themselves after making poor decisions.

Winnik and Panik also deserve props for bringing their game tonight.

As for players needing to be scratched, add Komarov to the list. He's been very ineffective at retrieving the puck and delivering those bone crunchers we've become accustomed to on a shift by shift basis. Now? Nada. I can't remember when the last time he took someone out good.

 

[horner]

The same goes with Dion bye bye

Trade
Winnik and Santo then sign them as FA's

They are the type of players our young players need to look up to

 

[4evaBlue]

The same goes with Dion bye bye

Trade
Winnik and Santo then sign them as FA's

They are the type of players our young players need to look up to

Why would they come back after potentially getting a shot on a contending team?

 

[Maplebeasts]

Not all. Don't forget the Board of Directors, Leiweke, Shanahan, Nonis, the coach and some of the scouts.

What did Shanahan do to deserve to be on a list with those guys? Holy ******* people he's in his first year of the job.

 

[Maplebeasts]

Why would they come back after potentially getting a shot on a contending team?

I don't maybe for the same reasons they signed here in the first place?

 

[RadekBong]

Loved that "give a **** meter" quote from Horachek. Fell bad for the guy, you can tell he's trying and the team's not doing what he wants but he doesn't want to be unprofessional in the media.

Didn't like his comment Re: Reimer though, that 4 goals should be enough to win. I'm no Reimer fan but the team left him completely hung out to dry tonight.

 

[4evaBlue]

I'm not okay with Kessel's play the last 15ish games, but I'm saying that he's better than people here are saying and if he's traded we'll likely regret it. He's an elite player that hardly ever gets credit and I'm not giving him a pass, but there are countless games during his stay here where he single handily won us games. It's an off year for him, but he's still a fantastic player and while he needs to be better in some areas, but I've noticed him come back further to support our zone exits (not this game as most of the team was playing rush hockey). Our whole team is **** right now, but I'm just trying to say that he gets a lot of undeserved hate.

It's funny, in the remaining games people will be complaining about Kessel winning us games and saying "he only shows up in games that matter". The guy seriously can not win.

He needs the right surrounding cast, which the Leafs at this time cannot provide for him. His offense is streaky, and that's fine. But he's been a significant liability in his own end. He loses his man very easily, cannot win a board battle against big defenders to save his life (takes an option away from the D and they start forcing passes), and is very prone to just bail on/cough up the puck while carrying it out of the zone.

When he's not producing, or at the very least, when he's not generating his share of chances, these are things that come to the forefront. Stunts like his areal flip pass attempt to himself just adds fuel to the fire.

 

[Pucker77]

Some notes from tonughts game:

-The Leafs looked dreadful in the first, leaving Reimer out to dry on both of the first two goals.
-Rielly looked impressive. He is still learning how to combat different players and Nash exploited that tonight.
-Franson looked pretty bad. Horrible whiff on his breakout pass, Kreider blew past him, and overall ineffective.
-The top line was disappointing to say the least. Good on Horachek for benching them for 5 or so minutes in the second. (It was unfortunate that he immediately gave them the 1st PP time but they got scored on so karma at least struck)
-I liked the idea of dismantling the first line. In the 3rd Kessel was on the fourth line with Booth and Smith. The top line was configured with JVR-Bozak-Panik
-Eventually that fourth line was scored on but it started with a bad play by Smith. He was skating into the slot and rather than shooting he passed it to Kessel in the corner, not just that but the pass was behind Kessel and ruined any momentum Kessel had. Once Kessel received the pass he returned it to Smith who one touched it back and it handcuffed kessel and probably surprised him as well. That was when Kessel threw it to Hagelin. I don't think he actually passed it rather that the puck deflected off his stick from a bad pass.
-Winnik and Santorelli both had strong games, which is great because the Rangers are one of several teams looking for bottom 6 help and those two could do wonders for them, so great first impression.
-Booth had a complicated game. He did great to create chances for himself, but holy crap he couldnt hit water if he fell out of a boat!

Overall, all the players who are fighting for contracts (Santo, Winnik, Kadri, Holzer) did well and all the secured players looked like they couldn't be bothered.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Loved that "give a **** meter" quote from Horachek. Fell bad for the guy, you can tell he's trying and the team's not doing what he wants but he doesn't want to be unprofessional in the media.

Didn't like his comment Re: Reimer though, that 4 goals should be enough to win. I'm no Reimer fan but the team left him completely hung out to dry tonight.

Oh so just another day at the office for any Leafs goaltender the past three-four years.

 

[Leafidelity]

Fell asleep after Rielly's first goal, looks like things turned out for the best anyways.

I can't remember the last time Leafs games put me to sleep, maybe the Jason Blake era.

 

[Leafs at Knight]

Fell asleep after Rielly's first goal, looks like things turned out for the best anyways.

I can't remember the last time Leafs games put me to sleep, maybe the Jason Blake era.

Last week ?

 

[Daisy Jane]

Man. I'd feel so bad for Kessel if his gp streak is broken by a healthy scratch.

i don't
if he played better he wouldn't be a healthy scratch. the end.

 

[Daisy Jane]

Loved that "give a **** meter" quote from Horachek. Fell bad for the guy, you can tell he's trying and the team's not doing what he wants but he doesn't want to be unprofessional in the media.

Didn't like his comment Re: Reimer though, that 4 goals should be enough to win. I'm no Reimer fan but the team left him completely hung out to dry tonight.

i don't think the comment was re: Reimer. every single goal allowed tonight was based on poor defensive coverage, and lack of back check. (reimer had NO hope on like 2 of them, ie - empty net). so i think that was a shot to the team - not reimer.


and what I love about the S. meter quote -you could totally tell he was trying to find a politically correct version and went screw it and said what was on his mind

 

[Primary Assist]

Except that Keith isn't a #1 defenseman. He's a solid #3-4 guy. When this team gets good and Seabrook has a legitimate partner on the top pairing, Keith will be a very quality piece of our blueline. He's not the problem. Nobody on defense is. The fact that we've scored less then 2 goals per game and are .500 should have people optimistic.

Found this gem in an old thread about Duncan Keith from the Hawks board. It's scary how much it reminds me of the comments on Rielly on the boards. I'm not saying he'll ever achieve the career that Duncan Keith has, but I still think the two guys are pretty damn comparable.

 

[VasilyHoglander]

Everybody is complaining about Kessel and how bad he's been during this stretch. Obviously tonight was one of his worse games as a Leaf, but I'm going to come out and say that the hate is getting ridiculous.

For any other team, people say ____'s been in a slump or he's having a bad year, but for Kessel he gets **** on every opportunity no matter what it is he's doing. People have complained about him not showing emotion and also for not controlling his emotions. He's been called fat, a loser, that he doesn't care about this team, out of shape, one dimensional, entitled, etc., but year after year he's our best player.

I'm fine with people criticizing his play, but he's the most talented player we have and I hope he stays with our team for the future as I have faith in him. I'd rather trade Bozak and even JVR personally. However, I am open to trading him if the return makes sense (same for every player), but I'm not going to shove out a player that could hold franchise scoring records for the Leafs by the end of his career. Kessel needs to be better, but I have more faith in him staying an elite player than I do JVR if Kessel is traded.

Also that damn line ends to be split up. Theres multiple times I've seen Bozak the deepest player and terrible defensively this past game... add JVR and Kessel's below average defensive play and it's obvious that line shouldn't be together.


I'm happy to let PK play through this year, tell him we want him to stay, but we want him to be more of a leader on ice and set an example for the young player as we need him to be on the top of his game if we're going to compete in the future. It seems to be like Kessel cares a lot about winning and is just trying to score as this is what he knows how to do (and therefore contribute to winning more games), I think he'll do what the coach wants if Kessel thinks it's best for the team too.

Thats misleading hes not the best player on the leaf year after year he never plays defense just because he puts up point doesnt mean hes your best player. Kane puts up more point than toews but i would take toews over kane if i wanna win championships well i would have both but if i had to choose.

 

[Community]

Thats misleading hes not the best player on the leaf year after year he never plays defense just because he puts up point doesnt mean hes your best player. Kane puts up more point than toews but i would take toews over kane if i wanna win championships well i would have both but if i had to choose.

Who's been a better player for the Leafs in the past 5 years? I thought that was a known fact that Kessel's been our best player since he's gotten here and really had nobody close to as good as him for any extended amount of time. The closest being Kulemin in his fluke 30g season, Lupul in his first season where he only played 60 games, and DP for 1/2 a year a few years ago (season where he was in Norris talks for 40ish games before falling off a cliff... Think it was the year before the shorted end season).

None of these streaks were continuous and Lupuls streak seemed like a by-product of Kessel to be honest.

 

[ANDI P IS CUTE]

anyone know where i can watch Horachek's post game? Not on leafs site.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXOOrhDoX1c

 

[Willchel Marlynder]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXOOrhDoX1c

Thank you!

 

[senor martinez]

I would trade Kessel and Bozak today

Dont even care what we get back

As long as he is traded to the west because some day he will wake up

But for the benefit of the young kids get him out of town

Hell we scored 4 goals without him

He and his little **** buddy were a minus 4 WOW

Should be traded yeah. Even before the deadline.

These type of players should never to have entered the toronto.

It's a real shame we can't always see into people's minds before we get them. Clearly Kessel and many of our players don't care at all what they do for this legendary organization.

 

[Confucius]

I would trade Kessel and Bozak today

Dont even care what we get back

As long as he is traded to the west because some day he will wake up

But for the benefit of the young kids get him out of town

Hell we scored 4 goals without him

He and his little **** buddy were a minus 4 WOW

but the plus minus stat means nothing. At least thats shat most say about it. you know fans say stuff like useless stat its a team thing not an individual's indication of play at all.

 

[Pookie]

My own give a s____ meter is surprisingly low.

Went to bed with the score tied 4-4 in the 3rd and didn't care. After years of blue wigs I would have never thought that possible. I guess we all move on.

Hopefully Rogers/Bell move on one day too.

 

[Yosho]

Rielly is the only thing keeping me interested in this team.

The kid is hot fire right now. Looks really damn good.

 

[Trapper]

Rielly is the only thing keeping me interested in this team.

The kid is hot fire right now. Looks really damn good.

Not saying this is the reason but it is funny how Rielly has risen with Phaneuf out. We are surviving without Phaneuf and we will survive just fine without Kessel. But we will change the culture.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Rielly just needs a bit more time to become an all-star Defenceman, good to see him start to finish more, looks like he has been working on his shot. Let's remember He was also at fault for the game winning goal chasing Nash instead of playing positionally sound. So he is far from a finished product. He will continue to learn.