Post-Game Talk: YA BLEW IT | Leafs lose 3-2 in OT

[56 Years No Cup]

They were considered the underdogs against Washington, against Boston both were considered even.

Tell My BudJT that.

 

[egd27]

While I get your point, nobody is advocating for Hyman and/or Kappy to be designated to any of those things on the list.
Brown hasn't looked right since Pre-season, and Patty is just getting old.

Kap? No
Zach? There's still a contingent that hate that he's in the top 6

 

[MyBudJT]

Or maybe they just had it in them on their own.

Lol, come on man....

 

[Zybalto]

They were considered the underdogs against Washington, against Boston both were considered even.

Boston was favored by most people I know and I myself picked Boston.

They were the best NHL team in the 2nd half and had home ice.

Leafs were a dark horse pick by a lot of people just because they were 7th overall team that was explosive with a good keeper that got screwed by the playoff system.....Boston should still have been favored though.

 

[Eric bungay]

After listening to the radio shows this morning one could could conclude that without Kadri, Gardiner, and Dermott the Leafs are a borderline lottery team.

That's a little drastic..but I guess everyone is entitled to there opinion . I dont see it that way at all especially with the young guys on the Marlies ready to come up and fill out the roster...

 

[hoglund]

Tell My BudJT that.

Your bud JT wasn't on the Leafs those 2 playoffs.

 

[Brobust]

Defence is a shambles right now.

Gardiner, Dermott and even Rosen are sorely missed.

 

[Nineteen67]

That's a little drastic..but I guess everyone is entitled to there opinion . I dont see it that way at all especially with the young guys on the Marlies ready to come up and fill out the roster...

You think they were a little hyperbolic? Me too

 

[Arthur Morgan]

I fell asleep damn late games. were they that bad in the 3rd/OT?

 

[A1LeafNation]

Time to stack the 2nd line. Enough farting around Babcock. Lets go:

Hyman Tavares Marner 20 min
Kadri Matthews Nylander 20 min
Johnsson Marleau Kapanen 12 min
Moore Gauthier Ennis 8 min

Rotate Brown and Petan in when needed

 

[Eric bungay]

You think they were a little hyperbolic? Me too

Media is gonna spin it any which way they can to get the strongest reaction from us.. I like to think that Dubas an company have put a lot of thought in every which way possible this team could look and this is just the tip of ice berg.

 

[Al14]

That overtime looked to me like our Leafs were throwing the extra point the Canucks way. Both Babcock, with his OT player selections, and, the players on the ice looked like they were all screaming 'Here Cunucks, come take the puck and score.'

I mean come on, Andersen looked dreadful on that winning goal!

Sure looked to me like our Leafs threw that game in OT!

 

[Eric bungay]

Time to stack the 2nd line. Enough farting around Babcock. Lets go:

Hyman Tavares Marner 20 min
Kadri Matthews Nylander 20 min
Johnsson Marleau Kapanen 12 min
Moore Gauthier Ennis 8 min

Rotate Brown and Petan in when needed

Might be a little worried about that third line... but I'd love to see these lines in action. I really think that brown should be rotated out might do some good for him !!!

 

[notDatsyuk]

Time to stack the 2nd line. Enough farting around Babcock. Lets go:

Hyman Tavares Marner 20 min
Kadri Matthews Nylander 20 min
Johnsson Marleau Kapanen 12 min
Moore Gauthier Ennis 8 min

Rotate Brown and Petan in when needed

You would mess up two lines just to get Marleau to play a position he doesn't like?

 

[18leafsfan18]

Every single time people bring up his stat line. Yawn at this point. It's been addressed. no one is talking about that.

Also LOL at him being a generational player. Oof.

Alright, you must be right.

Insiders, GMs and other professionals in the business know less then you.

 

[18leafsfan18]

Just curious, best season in what way? Total points sure, but not sure how impressive that is considering how short the seasons used to be and how bad we've been over the last few decades. I think you'd have to look at winning percentage in order for it to have any meaning at all. What about it, are we on pace to havr best winning percentage ever? I doubt it but even if that was the case, TBH I don't see how it means very much, we're not competing against teams in our past, our main competitors are BOS and TB.

It seems like you're happy with where we are, hey that's great but if you were asked at the start of the season if you'd be happy at this point being in 3rd place behind Boston and miles behind TB, what would you have said then? I'd have said no way would I be happy with that, we should at least be ahead of Boston for sure but hey, that's me.

If at the start of the season someone said with 18 games left the Leafs would be 4th in the league I would take it every day of the week.

Honestly you think that's not a good season ?

 

[18leafsfan18]

BS its not one game, Mathews dominated games 1st season we were all in awe and since getting shoulder injury has totally dropped off and looks JVR engaged, he looked good at the start of this season until the Trouba hit and then Kronwall and is not even remotely close of the same player.
We need the engaged Mathews for this team to be successful and if he is damaged goods then they should have not buried this team with that contract, public skaters making big coin NO excuses for Nylander Mathews they are paid to produce and play for the Jersey and the fans that pay their salary and NOT sulking and pouting at the coach or anything else. I would take a Wendel Clark and Doug Gilmore in their prime every day and twice on Sundays over Mathews and Nylander, they had heart and spirit and did what it takes to win and Clarky had a bad back so.

Yeah he sucks. 30 goals and 60 points in 53 games.

 

[Gary Nylund]

If at the start of the season someone said with 18 games left the Leafs would be 4th in the league I would take it every day of the week.

Honestly you think that's not a good season ?

Actually we're 5th if you sort by PTS% (which is the only sensible way to look at it IMHO). That could change day to day so let's just say we're in a pack of teams fighting for position in the 2-8 spots.

Is it a good season? Sure maybe, depends on what you mean by "good". If you told me before the season that we added Tavares and we'll also add Muzzin a month before the TDL and be on pace for 1 more point than last season I'd be disappointed. If we beat Boston I'll be happy though, the playoffs are where it's at for me so we'll see what happens.

 

[Bluelines]

Babcock was a good coach not sure about some of his decision making. 10 years ago his system was working not anymore

One day ago Babcocks team was in 4th overall. 2 points out of 2nd overall. Only one of 2 teams with a GF/GA differential of +50. One of 2 teams with less than 10 losses on the road. He is doing all this winning with the least PP opportunities.

The results would suggest that the narrative being spread by some "fans", that the game has past Babcock by, is a big steaming pile of scat.

Where are my "Yeah but's?"

Yeah but he hasn't won anything lately....

Of the 31 active NHL coaches, eight have won a cup, Babcock (2007-08), Crawford (1995-96), Hitchcock (1998-99), Julien (2010-11), Laviolette (2005-2006), Sullivan (2015-16, 2016-17), Tortorella (2003-04), Trotz (2017-18). So the only two coaches who have won something recently is Sullivan and Trotz, both are trailing Babcocks team in the standings. Sullivan team is currently fighting for its playoff life and may miss the playoffs and Trotz was viewed so negatively by the management group in Washington , they refused to offer him a contract extension before last season started.

Oh and Cooper, who has the best team in the world right now, has never won a NHL championship, maybe TB should have fired him before this season because ya know, the only metric we should look at is if you've won anything of significance RECENTLY.

Hey if y'all don't like him cause he's a prickly, arrogant, know it all, that is fine but to say the game has passed him by or he is a bad coach, is simply not supported by reality. This team is performing at an elite level with very little support from it's special teams, that is virtually unheard of.

Babcock is still an elite coach.

 

[Bluelines]

Actually we're 5th if you sort by PTS% (which is the only sensible way to look at it IMHO). That could change day to day so let's just say we're in a pack of teams fighting for position in the 2-8 spots.

Is it a good season? Sure maybe, depends on what you mean by "good". If you told me before the season that we added Tavares and we'll also add Muzzin a month before the TDL and be on pace for 1 more point than last season I'd be disappointed. If we beat Boston I'll be happy though, the playoffs are where it's at for me so we'll see what happens.

What if I told you we lost Andersen for a month, lost our back up through waivers, lost our 3rd string goalie in Sparks at the same time as we lost Andersen, lost our 4th string goalie in Pickard through waivers, lost Matthews for a month, didn't have Nylander in the lineup for 2 months, we lost a 36 goal scorer from the previous season (JVR), we have the fewest PP opportunities, Kadri and Marleau are slumping (relative to their usual performance) and we were still top 5 in the league, would you still be disappointed?

Muzzin is not that great of a defender, he is a good defender but not a guy that would make a dramatic change in performance for this team, like a Slavin or a Parayko.

 

[Nineteen67]

Andersen is a Vezina Candidate
Rielly is a Norris Candidate
Marner has developed to the point where he could win the Hart and Art Ross...
Matthews won the Calder, and could win a Hart or Richard trophy in the not-too-distant future

But of course... Babcock doesn't know how to get the best out of his players.

I mean, COME ON!!! Are these people serious?

That’s a pretty big leap to assume Matthews will be Hart candidate. Marner, yes.

 

[MyBudJT]

That’s a pretty big leap to assume Matthews will be Hart candidate. Marner, yes.

Ever? I wasn't suggesting he'd win it this season.

 

[Nineteen67]

Ever? I wasn't suggesting he'd win it this season.

A lot candidates ahead of Matthews that I’d pick to win a Hart in next 5 years, including one on his own team.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Andersen is a Vezina Candidate
Rielly is a Norris Candidate
Marner has developed to the point where he could win the Hart and Art Ross...
Matthews won the Calder, and could win a Hart or Richard trophy in the not-too-distant future

But of course... Babcock doesn't know how to get the best out of his players.

I mean, COME ON!!! Are these people serious?

Andersen's SV% is up from .918 last season to .923, we added Tavares and now Muzzin but we're on pace for just one more point than we finished with last season. Do you really think that we can't do any better than that?

I mean, COME ON!!! Are you serious?

 

[56 Years No Cup]

Andersen's SV% is up from .918 last season to .923, we added Tavares and now Muzzin but we're on pace for just one more point than we finished with last season. Do you really think that we can't do any better than that?

I mean, COME ON!!! Are you serious?

The Babcock Apologists are out in full force now. Part of the point I made originally (which JT was responding to) was the very fact that a number of players are having good/great years individually yet as a team we have stagnated. That THE TEAM is not greater than the sum of its parts.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming of OMG BRO, Ballcock won a Cup 11 years ago!

*LOL. Babcock auto corrected to Ballcock. I like it. I think I'll keep it.