Speculation: "This is the new NHL"

Kamiccolo

Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is.
Aug 30, 2011
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Our D is too soft for my liking. Let's see how the Bruins play against Columbus.

Oh there should be major changes. Our offense which was supposed to be top of the league was a no show for the last 3 games, scoring 2 goals at most. How do we win scoring 2 goals? Trade half of them and rebuild the defense, and keep JT and Matthews.

Bye Kadri, Nylander, Brown, Kapanen, Gardiner, etc etc. Time to retool a bit. Keep the JT, Matthews, Marner, Rielly core but add some good young pieces to it like Pesce or Miller. A few more top 4 RD will do wonders.

Then go look for a few more Hyman / Moore types.
 
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18leafsfan18

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Jul 28, 2012
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PK lost game 6 but our D and Andy lost game #7.

That's exactly my point. It isn't one thing that lost the series. Made that pretty clear I thought.

Babcock however was a large contributor to multiple issues (not all) that caused the team to lose the series.

Go look at the ice time for all the teams left.
 

Warden of the North

Ned Stark's head
Apr 28, 2006
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We were "outgritted". Toronto could not get scoring chances in the high % zone in front oft he net. Refs still will not call penalties in the playoffs as they should. The new NHL is different in the playoffs. It's fast but it requires size and toughness. Matthews has no one to play with and he was not utilized by Babcock as he should have been.

Our special teams stunk, and not because of grit.
 
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Warden of the North

Ned Stark's head
Apr 28, 2006
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That's exactly my point. It isn't one thing that lost the series. Made that pretty clear I thought.

Babcock however was a large contributor to multiple issues (not all) that caused the team to lose the series.

Go look at the ice time for all the teams left.

Our PK was 55%. Bostons was well over 80%. Thats literally one thing that lost the series for us.
 
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ToneDog

56 years and counting. #FireTheShanaClan!
Jun 11, 2017
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I think this team needs more experience. The Bruins have it in spades, the Leafs do not. The Leafs also have a stubborn coach while the Bruins coach was able to make adjustments. Shanny needs to tell Babs that he either changes or he is fired.
 

KingJoffrey

Registered User
Jan 30, 2014
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Dubler Dubas is a entitled brat who got his job from his dad. He is in good track to ruin Leafs for years to come. Softness will only prevail in Dubas's soy fulled head. Leafs and their millennial GM is the laughing stock in the NHL.

Only thing why Dubas is survived so far is that he have Mirtle and Athletic on his corner. And Mirtles tactics have worked very well. There is a lot of people who get their opinions from Athletic and Mirtle on one way or another. Either they read their paper or they will listen talking heads like Steve Dangle and believe everything what they say.
 
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ToneDog

56 years and counting. #FireTheShanaClan!
Jun 11, 2017
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That's exactly my point. It isn't one thing that lost the series. Made that pretty clear I thought.

Babcock however was a large contributor to multiple issues (not all) that caused the team to lose the series.

Go look at the ice time for all the teams left.

You said "The team did not lose the series because of "soft" D.". How is that clear ? Many blame our speciality teams and that is what I thought you were insinuating. I'll agree that Babs was one of the reasons for his questionable decisions. He needs to wake up next season.
 

Whaleafs

“The Leafs are mulch again”
Mar 24, 2017
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I’m inclined to give Dubas a long leash based on this being his first year at the helm. He inherited some bad contracts from Lou which made it difficult to address enough of the weaknesses in the roster. Tavares arguably fell in his lap, the Nylander contract looks terrible right now but I’d wait to see how he starts next season. Muzzin was a great addition. To add another defenceman or a Ferland type would have involved giving up too many futures & I support the decision made to not go crazy at the deadline. I think Dubas comes out neutral all in all. I am not a fan of the moneyball/spread sheet system that has produced a high skill, high speed team that plays a flashy exciting style to watch but has practically no spine to speak of. Kadri eliminated himself as a factor. Without Muzzin we would have been fully neutered. I hope this is addressed in the summer and some of the passengers and under performers are moved out. The soft play of Johnsson, Kapanen & Nylander was especially noticeable & pathetic.

But I think that despite the deficiencies we had the talent to ride 2 top stacked lines to a series win and that is on Babcock. I don’t think another round would have been won but the Bruins should have been finished off in 6. But the gud pros needed their more than fair share of ice time to ensure our top guys aren’t too tired for tee off or something.
 

ToneDog

56 years and counting. #FireTheShanaClan!
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Our PK was 55%. Bostons was well over 80%. Thats literally one thing that lost the series for us.

Correct but they did not give up any PP goals last night. Andy needs to stop the first and third goals. What concerns me is that they gave up after the third goal. The Sharks were down 3 with under 11 minutes to go. The Leafs would have folded after Jones gave up the weak 3rd goal.
 

18leafsfan18

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Jul 28, 2012
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They did not lose for one reason alone. Look at the D's of the teams that are left and tell me which teams have soft Ds ?

Boston. Their only Tough D is Chara, and he wasn't throwing his weight around at all this series.

There are multiple teams left who don't have a tough D
 

ToneDog

56 years and counting. #FireTheShanaClan!
Jun 11, 2017
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Boston. Their only Tough D is Chara, and he wasn't throwing his weight around at all this series.

There are multiple teams left who don't have a tough D

Avs, Canes and perhaps SJ. The rest have more physical dmen. Perhaps tough is not the right word.
 

Whaleafs

“The Leafs are mulch again”
Mar 24, 2017
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So Cassidy is the better coach because their 4th line scrubs won the game last night?

Losing first round game 7s to the same team in consecutive years despite having deeper, more talented rosters means you have better coaching.
 

GoonieFace

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Jun 24, 2013
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Losing first round game 7s to the same team in consecutive years despite having deeper, more talented rosters means you have better coaching.

Talent is nice, but it takes more than talent to win in the playoffs. Maybe, we are overestimating the talent level on this team. Regular season and playoffs are 2 different animals. Look at our forwards.

Marleau, Brown, Hyman not exactly talented.
Johnsson and Kapanen are unproven. To be honest Kapanen was underwhelming this playoff. Seems like a straight ahead type player with no real vision. Johnsson showed some flashes, but was largely inconsistent
Nylander has talent, but is beyond lazy.
Thats 6 of the top 9 forwards right there.
Tavares/Marner did a nice job defensively, but contributed next to nothing on offence.
Matthews had a good series, no complaints there.

Our D - I can see 3 of them for sure back (Reilly/Muzzin/Dermott) and the rest is up in the air

Reilly/Muzzin - very good
Dermott - young and looked terrible last night, some growing to do
Gardiner - was a disaster last night again, he was playing hurt, but still
Zaitsev - fairly solid, but at $4.5/year, you can get that for half the price
Hainsey- old and needs to go

All in all, this team has alot of flaws and question marks. They are not a finished product yet. Its on Dubas to make this roster better, but with so much money tied up in (Matthews/Tavares/Nylander and soon Marner), that is going to be a task. Nylander and Marleau need to go for this to happen.
 

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