Round 1 MVP?

[Dayjobdave]

I never vote in polls but if I did, Sammy would get my vote.

I will only add that I'm surprised that after about 180 people have voted, Mitch Marner who lead the team in scoring with 11 points has only 1 vote.

Paul, if you’re reading this we love Mitch too!

The best series are ones like this where there are a bunch of guys who played well enough to be an MVP. Great team win where multiple players took turns carrying the squad.

 

[LeafSteel]

We don't win without Samsonov making those saves.

Having said that, couldn't be happier for Rielly. The guy gets undeserved heat from this fan base, and all he does is show up huge.

Rielly is just such a genuinely likeable guy, and he bleeds blue. We are lucky to have him and I still honestly hope that Dubas or our GM can finally find him a true RHD partner to play with him that really let's him show his strengths.

 

[saltming]

Paul, if you’re reading this we love Mitch too!

The best series are ones like this where there are a bunch of guys who played well enough to be an MVP. Great team win where multiple players took turns carrying the squad.

This is the thing, to win a series your players all have to have great performances.
I personally didn't vote as I enjoyed watching the team play as a team

 

[TopCheese]

Went with Matthews since he only got better as the series went along. Games 6 and 7 were his best. He was dominant last night. Hopefully Keefe learned not to hide Matthews against anyone. You think Matthews is going to let Cirelli deny him when he's playing like that? Nah. Rielly a close second. What a playoff warrior that guy is

 

[Gary Nylund]

Paul, if you’re reading this we love Mitch too!

The best series are ones like this where there are a bunch of guys who played well enough to be an MVP. Great team win where multiple players took turns carrying the squad.

Yeah, this is some truth right here. This team has always been less than the sum of it's parts in the playoffs, maybe this is the year when that changes. A lot of great players, on paper this team has dynasty potential. The goaltending is so important, as long as that holds up we should be in good shape.

We don't win without Samsonov making those saves.

Having said that, couldn't be happier for Rielly. The guy gets undeserved heat from this fan base, and all he does is show up huge.

Rielly is just such a genuinely likeable guy, and he bleeds blue. We are lucky to have him and I still honestly hope that Dubas or our GM can finally find him a true RHD partner to play with him that really let's him show his strengths.

Agree 100% about Rielly. I feel happy for @diceman934 today. His two favorite players by a mile are Rielly and Marner and they both played great in this series!

 

[HogTown06]

No Justin Holl? How are Lightning fans going to vote?

 

[Throw More Waffles]

I mean I fully understand the case for Reilly, but I still think it's Matthews.

Clutch scoring through and through.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

Poor Tavares. Scores the game/series winning goal, and not 1 vote.

 

[The Podium]

Debate that all day. No Sammy, basically any goalie we've had on roster the past 20 years or so and the series was over, TB advancing.

Agreed, he also was among the worst Leafs in their 2 losses.

He’s the reason we won the series, but also wasn’t the most consistently good Leaf

 

[ACC1224]

Too many to pick just one player, Marner does seem to be severely underrated though.

I’ll go off the board with Dubas for the deadline additions.

 

[Sypher04]

Sammy/Matthews/Marner/Rielly

Pick your poison. Each one integral

 

[Ignatius Reilly]

Poor Tavares. Scores the game/series winning goal, and not 1 vote.

Prolly didn't get enough hat tricks to gain any respect....

Anyways, I'm going with the "team" vote - too many guys played great to single any one out as the best, but Reilly and Sammy were critical to us moving forward.

Matthews and Marner played up to their potential - which was great to see.

Schenn was a surprise "dark horse" from the past and we need to keep him. Knies was our surprise dark horse from the future and we need to keep him too.

ACC1224 makes a good point, Dubas' moves at the TDL were also critical.

I may change my mind if I sober up, it's still early.

 

[ErnieLeafs]

It’s Sammy or Rielly for me.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

My initial reaction was Rielly but honestly think it is Matthews. Can't go wrong either way and both guys stepped up huge.

 

[lipstickjunkie]

1. Rielly
2. Matthews
3. O'Reilly

HM to Samsonov for Game 6 alone

 

[hoglund]

Samsonov
Reilly
Tavares

At least the core 4 showed up this round,let's hope that it continues.

 

[LeafGrief]

You put Rielly at the top of the list for good reason.

What a series, what a player!

 

[Lauro]

Schenn/Rielly/Samsonov

 

[SprDaVE]

Samsonov was good. Rielly was great.

Matthews deserves a nod though. Not only for scoring but his 2-way play.

 

[Primary Assist]

You put Rielly at the top of the list for good reason.

What a series, what a player!

I actually ordered them based on my personal ranking (Luke as an honorable men-Schenn and I'd be crazy to leave ROR off the list). I also debated putting Keefe and Dubas options but wanted to leave it to the players. As others have said in this thread though it's just a remarkable team effort. Rielly dominating the poll but you can make damn good arguments for da real MVP

 

[GQS]

I was deciding between Samsonov and Rielly and in the end I gave the edge to Samsonov because he gave the Leafs solid goaltending and maybe his best game last night. Game 1 was a stinker, but he played well to very good in most other games and he seemed Grant Fuhr like where he might've let in some goals and even a few bad ones, but he then batten down the hatches and kept the Leafs in and gave them the chance for the win especially in those 3 OT victories.

As for Rielly what can you say? After his regular season play I didn't expect him to turn into Erik Karlsson with good defense and perhaps playing the best I've ever seen him play as a Leaf. If he played like all the time, he'd be a great number one Dman for the Leafs. Who knows maybe having Schenn play with him for a good amount of the time has really helped him out because he was a monster against Tampa and Schenn also played well above my expectations after Dubas traded for him.

 

[nuttica]

1A - Samsonov
1B - Reilly

 

[Strangle]

Rielly for me.

Think that answer is easy. One of, if not the best, player on our team in each and every game. Rarely made mistakes. Carried us like a true #1 and came up clutch in key moments.

Marner and Matthews went quiet in between their loud moments. Rielly did not.

And I think it is fairly telling that there was only one guy getting booed whenever he touched the puck and he did nothing dirty to the other team besides end their series.

Agreed, this was Rielly’s series. He was dominant

 

[Burnie97]

Mo all the way

 

[Strangle]

okay so can’t believe I did this but I’m one of the 2 people who selected luke schenn. from my perspective if we’re talking about mvp we have to contextualize it with what we have done and have not done in our history. We have won games before. We’ve won 3 games before. What we haven’t done in forever until today is win a series. So going to have a heavier bias towards series deciding games.

Tavares scored the ot winner but he didn’t do enough all series. Matthews scored today and last game so that counts but we have had that before.

What we haven’t had is solid shut down play in series deciding games and Schenn provided that in game 5 and 6. You could also give it to samsonov for having a great game in a series decider which we haven’t had from a goalie in such games.

Actually I might even select knies. Sometimes it’s just about having a player who is carrying that luck with you. Kapanen had that. Knies seems to have it. Very underrated assist on the game winner today and has looked dangerous every time he touched the puck. That depth forward - aka someone other than mmn & jt getting a point he provided. We didn’t have that contribution from non core players in such games in previous years. Fuk it my mvp is knies and schenn.

I absolutely love Schenn back on this team. He’s not Muzzin, but having him back just makes me happy.

I know Schenn has THE PASSION and he did exactly what he was brought in to do