Sorry , we are the softest team in the NHL

[Pookie]

Yup, and we all know who the actual Kadri haters were.

It's absolutely hilarious seeing all the people who trashed Kadri non-stop are now longing for his grit and toughness.

Folks want grit for the playoffs.

Kadri took himself out of the playoffs

Grit in the press box is useless.

What’s so hard to understand?

 

[Pookie]

Many fans are in this boat, I'm 52 and was 3 months old the last time they won the cup, they've come close in some of the years like 87,93,94 and 02, but those were conference finals, 93 was the team that was destined because Lemieux was sick leaving the playoffs wide open for anyone, but Kerry Fraser's missed non call prevented a Leafs vs Canadiens final with the Leafs probably winning. Anyways think of how many generations of Cubs fans that saw no championships from 1908 to 2016, we're only half way there.

That’s the spirit

 

[Pookie]

It's like some are expecting Dubas to create this ****ing skilled power forward in a lab or something.

Or.....

Focus on drafting, developing or trading for one.

 

[Deuce Awesome]

One thing I have always noticed about us is when we are good, we are one obvious thing away from being a contender.

We are leaps and bounds from where we were ten years ago, when we had nothing post Sundin, but now have a GM (and coach) who wants to recreate the Red Army team from the 70's

In the good years of the early 2000's, we had skill and grit but no defence. No problem, CuJo will win most of the games.

Now we have skill amongst the best in the league, a goalie who is in the top ten conversation, and no grit.

Top 6 players are always worth more than bottom 6 and stay at home defenceman. To me the answer is obvious, trade one of the top guys for a quality vs quantity of lesser skill, but more grit.

Nylander, Kapanen, Johnsson, these guys could all fetch from grinders. We don't need four lines of scoring. No team has ever one with this formula. It took washington a long time to figure this out and it panned out big time. Nylanders salary alone would balance it out for the salary cap, and Im sure there are enough teams out there who would be interested.

I have a feeling though that Glasses is arrogant enough to not change his ways. He seems to be wanting to make his mark out there by turning the NHL into soccer.

Babcock, while never a fan, won in Detroit by having a balance. We all said the teams were soft, but they were the broad street bullies compared to this.

I think we our in a position of strength to trade "down" to get some sandpaper. We don't need goons, just some energy guys who can lay the body and stick up for teammates.

Babcock, while stil not a fan, at least played Hyman quite a bit, and while he is far from Matt Martin or Tom Wilson, at least he can thump and bang and go hard to the net.

Im having a hard time watching this team right now. The word is out. Hit them, run them, there are no consequences. Mathews will be on the first flight out of here as soon as he can be a UFA. What a wasted talent, one we haven't seen since Gilmour.

Ive watched the Leafs since the 80's, and my favorite teams of all time were the Fletcher era with Clark, Gilmour, Clark, Zezel;, Rouse, Macoun.

I see flashes of Gilmour in Marner, but he lacks the feisty. Maybe that will come.

These guys are all till young though, and with the right players brought in, Ill be able to watch the Leafs play the Bruins again. Right now its just depressing. I want to see some "hate" between these teams again. Not just pray Andy plays lights out and we score 6 goals.

 

[Deuce Awesome]

I'm sure of it! What kind of hockey player would play this way...the whole team does it! It has to come from the top.

I believe that Dubas thinks this is how the league is trending...it's what they want to sell...skill/fancy shmancy hockey. He is probably correct.They want to distance themselves from the 'old-time' hockey attitude that said 'if you can't beat 'em in the alley...you can't beat 'em on the ice".There are reasons for this.

The physical stuff causes problems the league ultimately doesn't want to deal with. Legal stuff...like concussion issues/liability,etc. They don't want to be seen as being able to do something about it ,yet use the excuse that 'this is what the fans pay to see'... but the optics are bad when trying to justify head injuries and the like, even if the players willingly signed on to accept fighting ,some lawyer can make misery for the league in being negligent should that player get seriously hurt.

Right now,in this era of hockey ,we are witnessing a different type of game.Newer fans won't necessarily notice ...Older fans will possibly turn away altogether(i have considered it). I think teams are trying to find that skill/toughness balance...not an easy task![/QUOTE]

I think you might be on to something here. The game has gotten much faster since the elimination of the red line, and if there are Scott Stevens style hits with this speed, guys are going to get hurt. Basic physics right there.

Sometimes the speed is entertaining, but when you play a defence first, tough team, it seems to shut right now.

Then the playoffs come, the whistles are put away, and the players know this. Just look at Jake Debrusk in Game two last year, he just went full bore rat, hacking and smashing at everyone, and nothing came of it till Kadri took him out. It shouldn't have got that far.

 

[hoglund]

Many fans are in this boat, I'm 52 and was 3 months old the last time they won the cup, they've come close in some of the years like 87,93,94 and 02, but those were conference finals, 93 was the team that was destined because Lemieux was sick leaving the playoffs wide open for anyone, but Kerry Fraser's missed non call prevented a Leafs vs Canadiens final with the Leafs probably winning. Anyways think of how many generations of Cubs fans that saw no championships from 1908 to 2016, we're only half way there.

I forgot to mention 79 and 99 the Leafs went to the conference finals too, but 02 is the most recent, so anyone under 25 won't remember. Contrary to popular belief, the Leafs haven't been losers since 1967, they just haven't gone to the finals, every decade except for 2010's they've had teams that went deep into the playoffs. The new format will make it difficult to go deep or even make the playoffs, there are just too many good teams in the Atlantic and the Leafs are good enough in the Pacific or Central, but the Atlantic is too strong and I hope that I'm wrong, but I predict that the Leafs miss the playoffs this year.

 

[Trapper]

Or.....

Focus on drafting, developing or trading for one.

Thought we had all this collection of elite skill to acquire things we need.
Strange.

 

[deletethis]

Thought we had all this collection of elite skill to acquire things we need.
Strange.

When it came time to acquire something we needed (Muzzin), it cost the team its best power forward type prospect (Grundstrom) and its 2019 1st round pick which is quite noticeably not one of the team's skill hoard.

 

[Trapper]

When it came time to acquire something we needed (Muzzin), it cost the team its best power forward type prospect (Grundstrom) and its 2019 1st round pick which is quite noticeably not one of the team's skill hoard.

Well now we could certainly use a long term solution for top 4 RHD and it would be nice to find a slightly higher skilled Hyman for Tavares/Marner so maybe we could have a line closer to the Bergeron/MacKinnon lines of the world.

 

[GoonieFace]

Hockey is a contact sport by nature, you can never take that element out of the game. I mean how hard is it to finish a check? Over the course of a game if each and every guy just finishes their checks it adds up.

 

[rumman]

Of course we is. We MY THUGS AT!!! He yoouuuuu where my thugs at!!!!!!!!!!! :pump:

We need em real hard. Get em dubas, or fail again in the playoffs. Again and again. When will a sucka learn though? That is the shakesphere question.

I've been trying to read your posts for a while now and although I think I agree with most of what your saying, trying to decipher said comments usually gives me a headache. I guess I'm beyond ever becoming a street gang member?

p.s.: love your avatar.

 

[Nineteen67]

One thing I have always noticed about us is when we are good, we are one obvious thing away from being a contender.

We are leaps and bounds from where we were ten years ago, when we had nothing post Sundin, but now have a GM (and coach) who wants to recreate the Red Army team from the 70's

In the good years of the early 2000's, we had skill and grit but no defence. No problem, CuJo will win most of the games.

Now we have skill amongst the best in the league, a goalie who is in the top ten conversation, and no grit.

Top 6 players are always worth more than bottom 6 and stay at home defenceman. To me the answer is obvious, trade one of the top guys for a quality vs quantity of lesser skill, but more grit.

Nylander, Kapanen, Johnsson, these guys could all fetch from grinders. We don't need four lines of scoring. No team has ever one with this formula. It took washington a long time to figure this out and it panned out big time. Nylanders salary alone would balance it out for the salary cap, and Im sure there are enough teams out there who would be interested.

I have a feeling though that Glasses is arrogant enough to not change his ways. He seems to be wanting to make his mark out there by turning the NHL into soccer.

Babcock, while never a fan, won in Detroit by having a balance. We all said the teams were soft, but they were the broad street bullies compared to this.

I think we our in a position of strength to trade "down" to get some sandpaper. We don't need goons, just some energy guys who can lay the body and stick up for teammates.

Babcock, while stil not a fan, at least played Hyman quite a bit, and while he is far from Matt Martin or Tom Wilson, at least he can thump and bang and go hard to the net.

Im having a hard time watching this team right now. The word is out. Hit them, run them, there are no consequences. Mathews will be on the first flight out of here as soon as he can be a UFA. What a wasted talent, one we haven't seen since Gilmour.

Ive watched the Leafs since the 80's, and my favorite teams of all time were the Fletcher era with Clark, Gilmour, Clark, Zezel;, Rouse, Macoun.

I see flashes of Gilmour in Marner, but he lacks the feisty. Maybe that will come.

These guys are all till young though, and with the right players brought in, Ill be able to watch the Leafs play the Bruins again. Right now its just depressing. I want to see some "hate" between these teams again. Not just pray Andy plays lights out and we score 6 goals.

Great post.

In order to be competitive the Leafs top 6 have to play with more effort, determination, grit, whatever you want to call it. The only reason the don't play that way is because they don’t play that way. They can, you would think, but they elect not too.

Skill and talent are no good if you don’t use it. It’s difficult to make the argument the Leafs top players are as skilled as any in the NHL when what we see is a group on par with Philly. No disrespect to Philly.

The core of this team -Matthews,Marner, Tavares, Nylander, Rielly, and Andersen in their last 80 games are a 500 team.
That is a not a bottom 6 problem, in my mind. There is no excuse why this core is not playing better hockey on a more consistent basis.

I mentioned “red flags” before the season started and quite obvious to me there is something rotten on that team. My guess, it’s Babcock., but it’s up the GM to figure it out and fix it.

 

[BayStreetBully]

Eddie Shack came out with advice for the current Leafs yesterday, telling them to stick up for each other. If someone’s getting bullied, you protect them and get involved.

This should be common sense. I don’t understand how this is even a question for the current Leafs.

 

[paulhiggins]

I think Matthews, Nylander and Marner are thinking "it's not safe for me out here on the ice so I am going to play soft without annoying anybody until this management/coaching group changes or I escape as a free agent. Otherwise I will have a career shortened by injury"

 

[ACC1224]

Eddie Shack came out with advice for the current Leafs yesterday, telling them to stick up for each other. If someone’s getting bullied, you protect them and get involved.

This should be common sense. I don’t understand how this is even a question for the current Leafs.

Really shouldn't be a question for anyone who's been part of a team in any sport.

OT - never understood why people start off their thought with 'sorry'.
What's there to be sorry for?

 

[Morbo]

Folks want grit for the playoffs.

Kadri took himself out of the playoffs

Grit in the press box is useless.

What’s so hard to understand?

Let's not pretend you weren't constantly talking about trading Kadri for years on end.

 

[Duffman955]

People are finally starting to understand that hockey isn't an ice skating dance.

 

[Wafflewhipper]

Everyone playing with some heart is the key. We haven’t seen enough heart from enough players at the same time. The Magic number is 22 or 23 players with heart per game If we watch the amount of times players don’t lay on the body and do a skate by trying to knock out the puck with their stick you will have found the problem. Containment hits don’t have to be hard, just effective. Fly by stick checks are killing us and allowing opponents possession and eventually to many shots against. So tes we do need more physical play BUT we could do it with the players we have.

A good coach picks this up as a problem instantly. Not our coach nope, he doesn’t see it and never speaks to it in scrums. Maybe his fault no!!!!!

 

[18leafsfan18]

Toughness is so overrated in hockey.

The team just needs to play with more grit, you don't need to go and trade for some "tough" players.

The team needs to compete every night and play much better then they have been.

Toughness didn't get them eliminated the last 2 seasons, as much as posters love to say it was.

 

[paulhiggins]

Toughness is so overrated in hockey.

The team just needs to play with more grit, you don't need to go and trade for some "tough" players.

The team needs to compete every night and play much better then they have been.

Toughness didn't get them eliminated the last 2 seasons, as much as posters love to say it was.

Easy to say but if it was that easy to implement without changing the core or the coach it would have been done last year.

 

[ACC1224]

Toughness is so overrated in hockey.

The team just needs to play with more grit, you don't need to go and trade for some "tough" players.

The team needs to compete every night and play much better then they have been.

Toughness didn't get them eliminated the last 2 seasons, as much as posters love to say it was.

That's the toughness most are referring to and it is in no way 'overrated'.

 

[TML1990]

Should've never traded Kadri. And even if we had too...it shouldve been for a top 4 dman with some damn Grit in his game

Yup Kadri has one of the best contracts in the league... I don't know how we let him go for one year of Barrie.

 

[rumman]

Yup Kadri has one of the best contracts in the league... I don't know how we let him go for one year of Barrie.

I'd say wait and see what the Av's do in the playoffs, but we're talking about Kadri here!

 

[18leafsfan18]

Easy to say but if it was that easy to implement without changing the core or the coach it would have been done last year.

That's the toughness most are referring to and it is in no way 'overrated'.

They had it for the 2 series vs the Bruins, but all I see here is complaints that its nowhere to be found.

They need to just be consistent about bringing it every night.

This doesn't require a change of players as many posters are suggesting.

 

[Morbo]

They had it for the 2 series vs the Bruins, but all I see here is complaints that its nowhere to be found.

A soft pathetic no-compete team took the Bruins to 7 twice. Seems legit.