“We got a lot of respect in that (handshake) line from that team" - Sheldon Keefe....Thoughts on the handshake line.

[Divine]

The Leafs were up 3-1 on a bad Montreal team and lost 3 straight games. That’s a choke. They also choked against Columbus, a mediocre team outside of a playoff spot.
The Leafs are a very good regular season team that underperforms in the playoffs. That needs to change if they are ever going to win a round because in a normal year they are not going to get favourable matchups with weaker teams like Montreal and Columbus.

The Leafs and Columbus had the same number of points. That wasn't a good Leafs team. The Leafs were not the same team they are now. They might have missed the playoffs to Columbus that season. It was an 8th seed Leafs team playing an 8th seed Columbus team. If you want to have Toronto as 8th and Columbus at 9th due to the tiebreaker, sure, but they had the same amount of points.

Most series that you claim the Leafs are 'choking' they were the road team. I don't even define losing as the lower seed choking.

To Montreal, they blew the 3-1 lead. That's fair, but no other team could beat them either. Did Vegas choke? Did Winnipeg choke? Did Colorado choke? Did Edmonton choke? It feels like you throw around the word choking without any criteria, it makes no sense.

 

[WatchfulElm]

View attachment 547782

Post of the year !

 

[Zalos]

Yeah they choked against Columbus and Montreal. In fact Montreal was so bad they have the first overall pick this year.
Leafs were up 3-1 last year and choked once again.
If excuses like the refs and bad luck help you cope then go for it. But that’s a team that’s underachieved when it matters most. Could change at some point but it has nothing to do with luck. They just need to play better.

I always hated this sort of thought process. There are no bad TEAMS that make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. To get there you have to have a good team. It's not about individual stars, it's about teamwork and hard work. It's the toughest prize to win in all professional sports.

It's just wrong to lessen a team's achievements just so you can shit all over a team you dislike. The Leafs got beat those two times because they were simply not good enough to move on to the next round. The game is played on the ice, not on paper.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

 

[Sensin5]

So happy to hear that Sheldon Keefe will be returning as Leafs coach for next season.

 

[Steerpike]

So happy to hear that Sheldon Keefe will be returning as Leafs coach for next season.

I went through so many interpretations of this post:

Leafs fan who genuinely thinks Keefe is a good coach.
Salty sarcastic Leafs fan who doesn't think Keefe is any good.
Non-Leafs fan glad that they're keeping Keefe as they don't think he's any good.

It's the "So happy" instead of just like... "glad" which really makes it confusing.

I know that tons of knee jerk Avs fans will want to fire Bednar if we don't at least make it to the Stanley Cup FInals, and that would be a mistake (unless the team clearly collapses at a systems based level)

 

[crazy8888]

Sometimes you have to dig really hard to find the positives.

 

[Sensin5]

I went through so many interpretations of this post:

Leafs fan who genuinely thinks Keefe is a good coach.
Salty sarcastic Leafs fan who doesn't think Keefe is any good.
Non-Leafs fan glad that they're keeping Keefe as they don't think he's any good.

It's the "So happy" instead of just like... "glad" which really makes it confusing.

I know that tons of knee jerk Avs fans will want to fire Bednar if we don't at least make it to the Stanley Cup FInals, and that would be a mistake (unless the team clearly collapses at a systems based level)

I'll put you out of your misery. I think he is not a good coach and thus not unhappy he remains (being a supporter of a different Atlantic Conference team). The kind of serial failures the Leafs have had should be able to be addressed by coaching and if not, then GM (who is also a fail) should help with personnel.

I can't believe how much of a pass the Leafs fanbase continues to give management. Letdown after letdown.

 

[jcs0218]

Barry Trotz gets fired after 1 non-playoff season, even though he led the Islanders to back-to-back Conference Finals and another 2nd round appearance.

He gets fired, and Keefe doesn't?

Trotz proved he could successfully coach star-level talent too, as evidenced by his Stanley Cup win with Washington in 2018/

Toronto should be firing Keefe and offering Trotz a blank cheque, shouldn't they?

But they won't, because Dubas and Keefe are buddies, and go all the way back to the days in the OHL for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

If I were in charge, both would be gone.

Dubas for his inability to successfully manage the salary cap, getting fleeced in contract negotiations, and creating a team with ZERO DEPTH (how many bargain-bin players does that team have?).

Keefe for his inability to get them past the 1st round and just an all-around feeling of incompetence.

 

[WATTAGE4451]

People will find issue with anything a player says then wonder why so many players sound like they are reading a script in interviews

 

[Eye of Ra]

i would never shake the hand of a leaf player/coach/fan

 

[Nick Hansen]

i would never shake the hand of a leaf player/coach/fan

Me neither. They should be treated like the bubonic plague.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

i would never shake the hand of a leaf player/coach/fan

Based