Either that or they are tired and out of shape
Olympics did not affect Doughty,Kopitar,brown, Quick carter or voyonov. Didn't have much effect on Lundqvist, st louis, nash, haglen, mcdonaugh etc.
Stop making excuses for them - they crapped the bed in the last month and a half.
and these players are the main reason there teams are good
Hope_Smoke @Hope_Smoke 1h1 hour ago
For the past two seasons Bozak's been dealing with an oblique injury. From my understanding those are very hard to come back from...
Its amusing that some will use the Olympics as an excuse. Like the two Leafs were the only two players in the NHL to participate in the Olympics. Players for the finalists as you mentioned played into mid June and played in 20+ odd more games. Games that were much more intense, demanding and gruelling. If this is some kind of excuse for these players..you might as well stop watching them right now. They will never compete with the athletes that have shown to be able to compete for much longer and a higher level. To be a winner...you will have to pick it up a notch or two come April...not fade away like the Leafs have become known for.
Its amusing that some will use the Olympics as an excuse. Like the two Leafs were the only two players in the NHL to participate in the Olympics. Players for the finalists as you mentioned played into mid June and played in 20+ odd more games. Games that were much more intense, demanding and gruelling. If this is some kind of excuse for these players..you might as well stop watching them right now. They will never compete with the athletes that have shown to be able to compete for much longer and a higher level. To be a winner...you will have to pick it up a notch or two come April...not fade away like the Leafs have become known for.
did those players have to spend 1/2 the period in their own zone every night skating like their heads were cut off? no. it's not that "oh they went to the Olympics." it's that: they went to the Olympics, came back and had documented injuries, played taxing minutes, AND the system that Randy employs had them more taxed out than everyone else that you've mentioned
Crosby, Doughty, Weber, whomever -if they were on the Leafs, playing the way the Leafs played - then yeah. I'd be using that as a factor of why they broke down sooner.
the fact that this still has to be brought up to bring in some sort of concept is mindboggling.
I will explain it one more time for everyone:
the average hockey shift is 30 seconds to 45 seconds in length.
some players will play at least 1 minute, to 1.10.
the Leafs would spend on average approx. 5 to 12 minutes per period in their own end. Some periods (usually the 2nd) this lowered, and it wasn't every game. Some of those possession times were 2-3 minutes of relentess forecheck by the visiting team (or home team if the Leafs were on the road).
So. it is safe to say the Leafs average shift time some periods were longer than 40 seconds in length. Not to mention if it was a defensive zone start (which it mostly always was) which would also cause some havoc.
therefore: the fact that the leafs played this way for 2 seasons, both in a condensed schedule and 2/3rds of the offense of the team (because other than Kadri and the defense near the end, no one else was really putting up points), and then they came back with injuries - yeah. the fact that they went to the Olympics was a factor for JVR/Phil breaking down.
did those players have to spend 1/2 the period in their own zone every night skating like their heads were cut off? no. it's not that "oh they went to the Olympics." it's that: they went to the Olympics, came back and had documented injuries, played taxing minutes, AND the system that Randy employs had them more taxed out than everyone else that you've mentioned
Crosby, Doughty, Weber, whomever -if they were on the Leafs, playing the way the Leafs played - then yeah. I'd be using that as a factor of why they broke down sooner.
the fact that this still has to be brought up to bring in some sort of concept is mindboggling.
I will explain it one more time for everyone:
the average hockey shift is 30 seconds to 45 seconds in length.
some players will play at least 1 minute, to 1.10.
the Leafs would spend on average approx. 5 to 12 minutes per period in their own end. Some periods (usually the 2nd) this lowered, and it wasn't every game. Some of those possession times were 2-3 minutes of relentess forecheck by the visiting team (or home team if the Leafs were on the road).
So. it is safe to say the Leafs average shift time some periods were longer than 40 seconds in length. Not to mention if it was a defensive zone start (which it mostly always was) which would also cause some havoc.
therefore: the fact that the leafs played this way for 2 seasons, both in a condensed schedule and 2/3rds of the offense of the team (because other than Kadri and the defense near the end, no one else was really putting up points), and then they came back with injuries - yeah. the fact that they went to the Olympics was a factor for JVR/Phil breaking down.
Kessel averaged 20:39 of ice time a game and averaged 24.5 shifts a game. JVR averaged 21:03 of ice time a game and 26.0 shifts a game. Of those minutes both averaged 3:08 a game on the PP.
JVR played tougher minutes as he played on the PK.....but lets get real here. Their minutes were were not in large chunks of ice time.
Kessel averaged 49 second shifts
JVR averaged 48.5 second shifts
Go ahead and look at the other players in the Olympics you will see that they all averaged similar amounts of shifts etc.
Crosby averaged 53.95 seconds per shift!
IMO, they would have been tired at the end Olympics or not. It's surprising(for some, not really) that some don't understand it's easier to play on a good team then a bad one. Maybe that's something that would have to be experienced to understand? There's no doubt it happens.
Either that or they are tired and out of shape
Olympics did not affect Doughty,Kopitar,brown, Quick carter or voyonov. Didn't have much effect on Lundqvist, st louis, nash, haglen, mcdonaugh etc.
Stop making excuses for them - they crapped the bed in the last month and a half.