Are the Toronto Maple Leafs Stanley Cup contenders?

[winnipegger]

I've learned not to give a shit about what the regular season tells me. Its all irrelevant.

Florida weren't contenders last year, look what happened.

Not a single soul thought Boston would be beaten by a team in the East, much less in round 1.

Any team that gets into the playoffs is a contender.

The idea that there's only 1 or 3 "serious contenders" in HOCKEY is just stupid. Anyone can beat anyone. Luck. Goaltending. And whos hot when.

Disagree. The Stanley Cup is the hardest trophy to win in major league sports. 4 increasingly difficult 7 game series will find out who the most resilient team is. There are still modern dynasty's like Chicago, LA, Tampa for a reason (whatever your definition of dynasty is). A team as soft as the Leafs will never last 4 rounds of brutal competition, that's why they keep losing in the early rounds. Toronto deserves a winning team even I would admit this but their investments have been questionable and the backend continues to be a weakness 7 years later.

 

[jcs0218]

Craig Button is destroying the Maple Leafs after tonight's game.

 

[Artorius Horus T]

 

[steleh]

Think it's going to be hard to win with Matthews and Marner. Their primary goal isn't winning, it's getting paid and living the lifestyle. Winning is secondary. And you can tell too. They don't play with their heart on their sleeves and do whatever needs to be done. I won't say they're perfectly happy to keep loosing, but as long as the money, fame and sponsorships keep coming they don't mind it.

 

[Ducer]

Big change coming or they're toast. It's becoming apparent that allowing a losing culture to fester is okay as long as it brings in the benjamins.

Look up the H Ballard years the team has always brought in the money, if the team misses the playoffs or can not win 2 rounds this year is a failure.

 

[NotASheep]

I need a big bag of popcorn for this

 

[pb1300]

Their team is a bunch of pu**ies. They will make the playoffs, and they will once again be bullied into elimination.

Again you saw it the other night. Matthews takes a hit in the corner, and is knocked into the boards. What happens? As always happened, which is nothing. They have no grit in them, no balls to fight back. That is why they will never be capable of winning 4 playoffs series in one year.

Well, a huge part of the reason why.

 

[pb1300]

Think it's going to be hard to win with Matthews and Marner. Their primary goal isn't winning, it's getting paid and living the lifestyle. Winning is secondary. And you can tell too. They don't play with their heart on their sleeves and do whatever needs to be done. I won't say they're perfectly happy to keep loosing, but as long as the money, fame and sponsorships keep coming they don't mind it.

I have been saying this the past few seasons, only to be debunked by some of the Leafs eyeglass wearers.

They need someone, whether to be a coach or a change in players, to bring in and change that culture.

This was such a huge missing factor for the Panthers, for years. Once Zito came in, he started changing the culture of the team. Adding Tkachuk and Coach Maurice has really helped, as you can see that the team is always there for each other, and are always willing to fight.

 

[JianYang]

I have been saying this the past few seasons, only to be debunked by some of the Leafs eyeglass wearers.

They need someone, whether to be a coach or a change in players, to bring in and change that culture.

This was such a huge missing factor for the Panthers, for years. Once Zito came in, he started changing the culture of the team. Adding Tkachuk and Coach Maurice has really helped, as you can see that the team is always there for each other, and are always willing to fight.

The regular season has never really been a problem, but the team is too fundementally flawed to do much in the playoffs and it's been that way for almost a decade now. I don't see a potential solution to that until Tavares contract comes off the books, and even then, they will have to bring things together quickly because the core itself will be getting up there.

You can bring in a new coach and get that bump that typically comes with it, but when the playoffs roll around, it's still lipstick on a pig in the context of cup contention.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Nylander with four straight 0 point games after signing that massive contract. Yikes

 

[Artorius Horus T]

Next game for them is Flames, at Calgary
Flames have 7 wins from their last 9 games. (won 4 in a row).

Then road games continue; Canucks and Kraken.
After that 2 games against the league leaders Jets (Home&Away)

That's 5 games and that's 5 games they could lose
and it probably wouldn't be that surprising if they did.

= 9 losses in a row

Islanders at home after that, to whom they have lost 4 of their last 5 meetings.
Then the Dallas Stars comes to Toronto

Doesn't look good for them, those 2 games either, it could be 11 losses in a row.

Feel bad for the Leafs fans.

 

[Mick Riddleton]

This group may well be the biggest chokers of all time. There are now 8 teams in the east vying for the wild card spot and the laffs are one of them because of this recent slide. Pond hockey is not a game plan, someone has to check and defend. They have had an easy schedule lately, it is going to be tough for them playing teams that are structured to the 200-foot game the next few weeks.

 

[Mick Riddleton]

The regular season has never really been a problem, but the team is too fundementally flawed to do much in the playoffs and it's been that way for almost a decade now. I don't see a potential solution to that until Tavares contract comes off the books, and even then, they will have to bring things together quickly because the core itself will be getting up there.

You can bring in a new coach and get that bump that typically comes with it, but when the playoffs roll around, it's still lipstick on a pig in the context of cup contention.

You might want to check the standings, they are a few pts away from being out of them. The eastern teams are making a push to catch them. I see them in a wild card spot soon and maybe out of that, depending on this next round of better teams they are playing.

 

[pb1300]

The regular season has never really been a problem, but the team is too fundementally flawed to do much in the playoffs and it's been that way for almost a decade now. I don't see a potential solution to that until Tavares contract comes off the books, and even then, they will have to bring things together quickly because the core itself will be getting up there.

You can bring in a new coach and get that bump that typically comes with it, but when the playoffs roll around, it's still lipstick on a pig in the context of cup contention.

Regular season was never really a problem for the Panthers the past few seasons, other than last season. But once you get into the playoffs, that is where things change completely.

The Panthers President trophy team is an obvious example. I knew the postseason would be an issue, because the SCF playoffs requires sacrifices and a play that is just different from the regular season. Florida had to learn that, and have the right people in charge to make the necessary changes, to take become that team.

The Leafs just do not have that as an option.

 

[Jaska]

Nylander with four straight 0 point games after signing that massive contract. Yikes

He is a Leaf now!

 

[steleh]

I have been saying this the past few seasons, only to be debunked by some of the Leafs eyeglass wearers.

They need someone, whether to be a coach or a change in players, to bring in and change that culture.

This was such a huge missing factor for the Panthers, for years. Once Zito came in, he started changing the culture of the team. Adding Tkachuk and Coach Maurice has really helped, as you can see that the team is always there for each other, and are always willing to fight.

Yeah, they need a couple of top 6 players who are also born winners, real sore losers who hate loosing beyond anything else. Someone who loves winning enough to risk their health and everything else to achieve their dreams. And if things don't go their way they need someone who will drop the gloves, lay a huge dirty hit, be a pest.
Tavares is off the books soon, Marner can be traded for the above. See if Matthews can grow up and evolve and become great. Nylanders contract they'll be stuck with though.

 

[nbwingsfan]

The injury bug has hit since the beginning of the year. They have had no more luck than any other team's core 4. They haven't been playing the well recently though.

Huh, Matthews is the only one oft he 4 to miss a single game. Also most teams don’t have a “big 4” and then junk

 

[TheNumber4]

Not a Cup Contender confirmed. As if that even needed to be confirmed, they haven’t been one since 1967.

Why? Allow me to educate:

- Nylander overpaid. This is Johnny Contract Year all over again as I said when the contract was signed; except i didn’t expect it to happen this soon. 0 points in 4 games? Time to get refund.

- Mitch is a loser. Plain and simple. If his on ice quitting hasn’t taught you this, his multiple loser-talk press conferences should have. Pulled the “scrambles in my brain” narrative again tonight. I thought Marner Sr taught him accountability with all that side line yelling, guess not.

- Matthews ain’t it. Great shooter but a ghost when it matters. He will never lead a team to a Cup. It’s not in his DNA. Supreme, Beanie Hats, and Clout are his DNA.

- Keefe is a fraud. He’s been riding Babcocks offensive system for years. Couldn’t get a team to compete to save his life.

- Goaltending complete trash. And it has been for how many years now. What is this the 10th “starter” they’ve had in the Mathews era?

- Tavares has fallen hard. Game has passed him by as it has Gio and Brodie. Unfortunate that he wasted half his prime in a No Chance at a Cup scenario. Could have retired an Islander legend and got closer to a Cup to boot. Oh well, atleast he didn’t take a discount to do it.

- Defence? Well, just LOL.

- Treliving is the savior maybe? This guy signed the worst contract in NHL history. Had nearly unlimited time to build a contender in Calgary and never got close. Doesn’t have an eye for talent, doesn’t have an eye for roster construction. Great on the mic though and selling the dream. But this silver spoon fed GM who’s never earned a thing in his life will not be building a winner in Toronto. Oh and he’ll be around for a longgg time, keeping his job in spite of no success is his bread and butter.

 

[Leaf Fans]

Huh, Matthews is the only one oft he 4 to miss a single game. Also most teams don’t have a “big 4” and then junk

There are other injuries.

 

[Michoulicious]

I think they miss the playoffs.

That defense and goaltending sucks. Jones, Samsonov. Wow.

 

[nbwingsfan]

There are other injuries.

Not to anyone of any importance.
two of tourney injuries (Klingber and Murray) potentially saved the leafs season

 

[Gizmo Tkachuk]

Wonder what could’ve been if Dubas didn’t get fired and actually moved one of the big 4 in the offseason. Keeping Keefe doesn’t make sense anymore. I think he’s an okay coach, but he can’t do anything with these players who don’t even like him.

 

[Chuck Testa]

The long and short of it: no.

 

[Buck Naked]

Starting to get fat from all the popcorn I'm eating while reading this thread.

 

[Ducer]

Their team is a bunch of pu**ies. They will make the playoffs, and they will once again be bullied into elimination.

Again you saw it the other night. Matthews takes a hit in the corner, and is knocked into the boards. What happens? As always happened, which is nothing. They have no grit in them, no balls to fight back. That is why they will never be capable of winning 4 playoffs series in one year.

Well, a huge part of the reason why.