Our hurdle

[Gabriel426]

The narrative is starting to become true, whether these players want it to or not. I have never seen a team THAT much better than its opponent that simply had no heart or killer instinct to win.

Losing this series will not be good. This team simply can't win.

Obviously, I want and hope they win the series but the worst scenario is not losing Game 4 but winning game 4 and losing game 5 and then they think they tried and just got beat by a team with great D pairings....

They need to learn how to play and believe they can win. If they actually played the way they did in Game 1 after leading 3-0, they would have won the game but something happened after leading 3-0 and they just literally forgot how to hold on to leads.
Some say Marner played great in Game 3...to me his best game was Game 2 where he kept his game simple.
Some here crap on Willie and say let’s trade him for Dman...I am a big Willie fan but a Dman won’t solve the Lesfs problem. They need at least two vet Dman in the back plus another top 6 winger.
The mistake that Dermott had was unacceptable and as much as I wanted to use exp as an excuse, I just can’t. I believe Dermott can be a good Dman but he needs a steady partner to talk to him on the ice and tell him what to do and what not to do. It’s quite sad that Barrie and Ceci are the most exp Dman Dermott played with. Ever since he came into the league, he had Polak for a bit, Oz, Holl, and Sandin. That’s not how you bring up Dman. Dermott is literally Sandin and TL in a few years

 

[ECanuck]

Even a blind squirrel has better odds than Maple Leaf Organization.

 

[Mickey Marner]

We really need a good, vocal veteran player to hold everyone accountable and calm the ship. Johnny Milquetoast ain't it. As soon as we let in that second goal we stopped with the pass breakouts and just started chipping it back to Columbus or another barrage of attacks.

 

[zacholistic]

The last game was a perfect illustration of the team's weakness. When the Columbus players started to play hard and get in Freddies face, he had to fend for himself almost all the time (he was actually the only leaf who showed some balls). You need to show your goalie that you have his back in those situations, it's not that hard. Just do something about it ffs.. punch a guy, fight him, slash him, cross check or whatever. JUST DO SOMETHING to let the other team know that you will not get pushed over so easily. It's embarrassing to watch quite frankly.

Less spinning moves, more Clifford pleeeeaase... should be a leaf mantra by now

 

[rumman]

We really need a good, vocal veteran player to hold everyone accountable and calm the ship. Johnny Milquetoast ain't it. As soon as we let in that second goal we stopped with the pass breakouts and just started chipping it back to Columbus or another barrage of attacks.

these entitled players don't need a external entity to motivate them, they need to look within themselves and be accountable for their collective efforts.............

 

[colchar]

The narrative is starting to become true, whether these players want it to or not. I have never seen a team THAT much better than its opponent that simply had no heart or killer instinct to win.

Losing this series will not be good. This team simply can't win.

So apparently you missed the Tampa series last year?

 

[colchar]

The Leafs have to play hockey like a young person drives a car. Totally focused on what they're doing.

You don't know many young drivers do you?

 

[usernamezrhardtodo]

Effort comes in many forms. They really do try at the things they want to. They simply do not try that hard at the things they do not want to a la much of the gritty, physical and mental side. I think they can win but they have to wake up

I think losing to the BJ's will actually be a good thing long term. When they lost the other 3 series...they were underdogs each time...there was the excuse of being young and not experienced against a top 5 team etc....but now..Now they lose to a team they should have beaten that is missing Panarin et al...so they can't even say its the same team that beat TB last year. Lose this series and heads should start to roll...and that might be the match that gets this going for the future.

 

[Superstar]

 

[rumman]

I think losing to the BJ's will actually be a good thing long term. When they lost the other 3 series...they were underdogs each time...there was the excuse of being young and not experienced against a top 5 team etc....but now..Now they lose to a team they should have beaten that is missing Panarin et al...so they can't even say its the same team that beat TB last year. Lose this series and heads should start to roll...and that might be the match that gets this going for the future.

sadly I agree, this has to get worse so the MLSE board can't ignore the elephant in the room any longer........

 

[usernamezrhardtodo]

The core of this team is still really young and through our passion, we often forget this. This team still needs to grow, but I also feel that we need to have a serious look at adding veteran help in key roles beyond 4th line grinder. The main issue is that apart from Muzzin and Clifford, the veteran help we've acquired just hasn't had the playoff success that we would want the kids to learn from. We just don't have that guy that the youth can look to and say "This guy knows what he's doing. He's been there, done that, and knows how to win."

Our veterans are guys that haven't had the ultimate success, winning the Cup. Tavares, Spezza, and Marleau before them, great pros on and off the ice with long NHL careers, but they just haven't done it. When you look at Stanley Cup Champions in the past, the young teams who win will often have these vets sprinkled throughout their roster. The Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009 had Bill Guerin and Petr Sykora, the Boston Bruins in 2011 had Mark Recchi, Shawn Thornton and the LA Kings had Justin Williams, Dustin Penner, Rob Scuderi and Colin Fraser. The key factor in all of these is not only did these players win a Cup prior, they also played key roles and contributed on their new teams.

I really believe that having vets is super important...having vets that won the cup is way more important...we keep getting good pro's that never won anything and i concur with your assessment kind sir. We need some hard ass winners to lead...not JT who never won anything in his life. JT went missing the whole game...watching him chug around trying to catch guys is nauseating to be honest. Big mistake in team comprehension of what it takes to build a tough, winning roster by Duby...big mistakes were made.

 

[Canadian Finn]

The core is still young. No team in the last 10 years has won a cup with youth leading the way. All of their impact players are veterans with 8+ years on the league. It sucks but that's the harsh reality.

Then why did the youth get paid the way they did?

(serious question)

If they can't be expected to lead the way, why get paid as leaders?

 

[Lightsol]

The core of this team is still really young and through our passion, we often forget this. This team still needs to grow, but I also feel that we need to have a serious look at adding veteran help in key roles beyond 4th line grinder. The main issue is that apart from Muzzin and Clifford, the veteran help we've acquired just hasn't had the playoff success that we would want the kids to learn from. We just don't have that guy that the youth can look to and say "This guy knows what he's doing. He's been there, done that, and knows how to win."

I thought the same thing today. This team lacks veterans who have went all the way and know what it takes; outside of Clifford and Muzzin, who do they have that has? And with Muzzin hurt... The only experienced playoff guy is the fourth liner they brought in near the deadline.

They need to go out into FA this year and grab a few more veteran wingers/defensemen who have won and know what it takes. Guys that along with Tavares and Muzzin, can lead this team...

Someone who would have stood up during that third period and said "No, this is not going to be like the last few times. We ARE going to win this."

 

[Stephen]

I thought the same thing today. This team lacks veterans who have went all the way and know what it takes; outside of Clifford and Muzzin, who do they have that has? And with Muzzin hurt... The only experienced playoff guy is the fourth liner they brought in near the deadline.

They need to go out into FA this year and grab a few more veteran wingers/defensemen who have won and know what it takes. Guys that along with Tavares and Muzzin, can lead this team...

Someone who would have stood up during that third period and said "No, this is not going to be like the last few times. We ARE going to win this."

Tavares does not come across as a leader. He seems like a Team Canada program darling whose been cruising on reputation for a long time sort of like Marleau. He’s never led any team anywhere.