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A thread for hope

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I actually find Kase to be a pretty good player. Very heavy on the puck, good skater and has a crafty stick to steal or recover pucks in board battles. Has made a few poor decisions in the neutral zone that have hurt the team, but overall I like how he plays. I think he has some offensive upside too...

In crunch time moments, tie games in the 3rd period, I would not mind seeing him or Spezza moved up to replace Kerfoot on the 2nd line. I think they both offer more offensively than the extremely offensively challenger Kerfoot. I really don't think you lose much defensively either.

I wouldn't mind seeing Kase on the PP in front of the net either... again, he is crafty at recovering pucks which is a major plus for a PP.
 
ACC1224 said:
Engvall found his spine last night. He can stay if he plays like that.
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At least one player has to bring that for each game. Doesn't have to be the same guy, but it just gets the team involved emotioanlly... something I find this core lacks desperately. Cause some shit, hell, take a penalty if you have to, as long as the result is that the team is more involved emotionally it was well worth it.
 
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Tak7 said:
Positive - Nylander continues to make his doubters look stupid.



Once upon a time, Mitch Marner was a fun-loving adorable young gun, flipping pucks up to young fans in warm-up and playing with the puck attached his string & a smile attached to his face.

This current Marner looks miserable. I'm glad we saw some smiles again last night, but the Leafs biggest challenge with Mitch is to find a way to get him to fall in love with the game and that exuberant side of his game, again.
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Honestly getting it through his head that in the end only he is Mitch Marner and only he can bring to a game what Mitch Marner brings to games would be step number 1...yeah he gets a lot of criticism but in the end every single person does not doubt that he is a sublimely skilled kid, the kid can play! and he's uber talented but he's got to stop thinking and let his instincts take over
 
Have to say that was a big win. Huge in really. Real gut check.

I liked Matthews more of that.
 
The role guys have been playing very well. Nylander and Campbell have been for the most part excellent. Now that Matthews Marner and JT look to have finally found their game, the team is going to start winning games.

And in the grand scheme of things too many people have been drawing too big of conclusions from these first five or six games. Look at the avalanche, kights, or bolts, all have struggled as well. That's not to say disappointment and concern aren't warranted, but these early games aren't going to define what happens by the end of the year.
 
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Truth: this is one of the most challenging starts in recent memory.

Hope: overcoming this challenge may be just the adversity this team needs to galvanize into a playoff ready group
 
Mugzy97 said:
Maybe Reilly’s signing gives this team a boost. A leader is locked in and believes in the team.
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I don't know if it's just something for us fans to feel excited about, but I feel like the energy around here has been a lot more positive since his signing. Even the boys at practice, that was awesome to see. A real tough win the other day, showed a lot of character coming back from a 0-2 deficit to win it in OT. Lots of positives going into tonights game. Coming off a W, the boys played really well overall, Marner/JT looked engaged and it was Marners best game of the year by far.
 
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I think Matthews looks even faster this year.

Nylander is morphing from Lion cub into Lion King
 
The Rielly signing/celebration, the win against Chicago, and Matthews chirping Holl have brought me some much needed hope. Feel more positive about today's game.
 
Team is starting to figure out the new offensive system.
Winning hockey. Playoff hockey fingers crossed
 
Though I missed the game because of travel, the last two outings suggest to me that there is some hope in leaf land. Could it be that the terrible start to the season was just a terrible start and not a true indication of what the team can be ?
 
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meefer said:
Though I missed the game because of travel, the last two outings suggest to me that there is some hope in leaf land. Could it be that the terrible start to the season was just a terrible start and not a true indication of what the team can be ?
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I would say the “terrible” start was a couple terrible games (San Jose and Pittsburgh) after a few games where they would have won 9/10 times if played over again (Ottawa and New York). In 11 games by the eye test they could easily be 8-3 in some way or the other. Results talk but those were the games everyone was worried about. The canes game, the leafs simply got beat by a good team, it’s gonna happen again, but they’ll also beat them good once or twice. If it was mid season this whole thing wouldn’t even be a discussion.

Sorry to rant on your post, but to answer your questions I don’t think it was a terrible start at all, and this team can still be a lot better.
 
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