Speculation: Was Marleau a bad influence?

[ACC1224]

Do you think a few months is enough for somebody to radically change their attitudes?

I doubt their personalities are any different from when Marleau was a teammate

I wasn't entirely serious was more a shot at how poor the team looks now in comparison.

 

[qqaz]

You made a case for it, OP. I'll give you that. It's a groundless theory and you really did make it sound plausible.

But the answer is no. There's nothing we've seen from the outside to suggest anything other than Marleau being a fantastically positive influence. I disagree strongly with the premise you've set up, and the conclusions you've come to.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Hear me out.

Matthews and Marner were very modest kids coming into the NHL. They spent a lot of time with Marleau. Progressively over the years Matthews and Marner gained bad attitudes. Matthews went from humble hard worker who always took things on his shoulder to making constant smirky comments and really is not as aggressive in loose puck battles and stripping pucks as he was as a rookie. Marner came in giving up performance bonuses to squeezing every last penny when he knew it’ll hurt his team.


When Marleau came in he demanded 3 years knowing the third year will hurt the leafs. He even asked for a trade in that third year to return only to the sharks making the leafs pay a 1st to offload him so a team can buy him out.

I know I’m reaching a bit here, but does anyone ever wonder if Marleau’s presence was not the best for them? He was also stripped of the captaincy in the past and asked for a trade than backed out and left his team at 38 to go money chasing

work ethic and attitudes of these two definitely didn’t improve with Marleau around and they did spend a lot of time with him.

The contract demands also show me they weren’t really shown much about putting the team ahead of yourself.

I understand there is a lot of assumptions here and I may be reaching but something in the culture of this team went completely wrong. Having a rookie GM throughout a lot of this didn’t help either.

Marleau was a solid add in year 1. Then father time caught up to him. It happens. Again this was a Leafs error not Marleau's. He got best deal he could get. Mitch and Auston are great kids from poor families trying to make something for themselves. They are not the typical rich hockey family like Hyman's or Brown's were kids get whatever they wanted.

 

[Kamiccolo]

Lol. If you play that many consecutive games in the NHL you are doing everything right. It’s called being a pro.. and he’s a great one. Joe Thornton was also stripped of his captaincy there too and he will make the HOF.

This thread is a major reach. Marleau is an extremely hard worker and a great teammate. He might not display a ton of killer instinct, but he definitely is not a bad influence.

You know this season is crazy when I've been thinking your posts are on point lately. Never thought I would agree with you so much.

 

[usernamezrhardtodo]

All I can say is the Patty left a contending team that he had played for his whole career...for us. A team that made the playoffs for the first time in a long time and lost to washington in 6 games. He did not come here because of the "hope and talent" ...he came for the $$. So how can you respect a guy who never won a cup in his career for leaving arguably a better team to come here just for a lousy extra year? He cares about his streak and money..that's it. Even Babs mentioned his caring for his streak in his game day presser last month. What did Marleau do? he replied via his wife's twatter account that he plays to win a cup...not for a record. So, which is it? if he left a contender because they wouldn't fork out the 3rd year of his deal...then he doesn't care about winning. He had a better chance at winning in SJ than he did here.

I would have preferred Justin Williams...he was way cheaper and he was a true winner...You don't get the moniker of Mr.Game 7 for nothing. That was huge mistake by Lou...i think it was because of Babs wanting him so badly.

 

[Teeder Keon]

 

[Kazparov]

Hear me out.

Matthews and Marner were very modest kids coming into the NHL. They spent a lot of time with Marleau. Progressively over the years Matthews and Marner gained bad attitudes. Matthews went from humble hard worker who always took things on his shoulder to making constant smirky comments and really is not as aggressive in loose puck battles and stripping pucks as he was as a rookie. Marner came in giving up performance bonuses to squeezing every last penny when he knew it’ll hurt his team.


When Marleau came in he demanded 3 years knowing the third year will hurt the leafs. He even asked for a trade in that third year to return only to the sharks making the leafs pay a 1st to offload him so a team can buy him out.

I know I’m reaching a bit here, but does anyone ever wonder if Marleau’s presence was not the best for them? He was also stripped of the captaincy in the past and asked for a trade than backed out and left his team at 38 to go money chasing

work ethic and attitudes of these two definitely didn’t improve with Marleau around and they did spend a lot of time with him.

The contract demands also show me they weren’t really shown much about putting the team ahead of yourself.

I understand there is a lot of assumptions here and I may be reaching but something in the culture of this team went completely wrong. Having a rookie GM throughout a lot of this didn’t help either.

You're attributing Marner's and Marleaus's contracts to their intentions/actions when it was their agents who negotiated them.

The only person to blame for the contracts is Dubas/Lou who offered them.

 

[TheScandal89]

Matthews started to play differently after hurting his shoulders imo. He hasnt been as tenacious on the puck ever since. We need him to stay healthy so to me its no big deal if he protects himself to an extent. Hyman helped a lot with the dirty work his rookie year aswell.

Marner's agent and people surrounding him contributed a lot to him squeezing every penny. Him being on the PK must've been a huge arguing point to why he wanted his salary on par with the other 2.

I've supported Babcock and think he's a good coach, but from what I've seen, he may have lost the room. The team comes out with no energy, the power play has no movement, players show no discipline taking poor penalties, the 4th line is overused, etc.