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HisNoodliness said:
Honestly I can only hope that these teams destroy each other. Boston's game plan for years has been "NHL refs will always swallow their whistles in the playoffs, and try to keep penalties relatively even. If we commit 30 penalties, get called 4 times and the other team commits 5 penalties and gets called twice, we come out way ahead. So let's just hurt people." I can't feel any sympathy watching it get used against them.

I don't care who wins the series. I just am excited to watch. I hope the NHL figures out that a very successful team strategy involves flagrant disregard for the rules and fixes that somehow.
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it certainly doesn't help that they also try and call less penalties in general in the Playoffs as well

the whole evening up penalties thing is bad enough in the regular season, when they're also making a special effort to let things go at the same time it can become downright comical at times
 
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You can't say Keefe didn't get enough opportunities to bail out management. It was like a time-warp movie, where White Star Line kept building the same Titanic over and over again, and putting Capt. Smith in charge every time,, without ever remembering what happened on the previous maiden voyage.
 
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OldnotDeadWings said:
You can't say Keefe didn't get enough opportunities to bail out management. It was like a time-warp movie, where White Star Line kept building the same Titanic over and over again, and putting Capt. Smith in charge every time,, without ever remembering what happened on the previous maiden voyage.
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I don't fully blame Keefe. I don't think there was a single playoff series where the Leafs had the better defense or better goaltending. The Tavares contract caused cascading effects to their roster by forcing Marner, Nylander and Matthews contracts to be just as inflated. And it also cost them considerable depth in Hyman, Kadri (traded for Barrie, lol) Van Riemsdyk. 2021-22 was statistically their best year but I think that the 2017-18 team was probably the best and deepest that roster was since before the 2005 lockout.

If they could get rid of Marner and Tavares that gives them enough money to fill out a pretty solid 2nd line, get a good goalie enough left over for a 2nd pair defenseman.
 
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OgeeOgelthorpe said:
I don't fully blame Keefe. I don't think there was a single playoff series where the Leafs had the better defense or better goaltending. The Tavares contract caused cascading effects to their roster by forcing Marner, Nylander and Matthews contracts to be just as inflated. And it also cost them considerable depth in Hyman, Kadri (traded for Barrie, lol) Van Riemsdyk. 2021-22 was statistically their best year but I think that the 2017-18 team was probably the best and deepest that roster was since before the 2005 lockout.

If they could get rid of Marner and Tavares that gives them enough money to fill out a pretty solid 2nd line, get a good goalie enough left over for a 2nd pair defenseman.
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You've pretty much nailed it. Keefe I thought actually did a pretty good job with what he's been given. They made things very hard on Boston this year, and lost on a play where two of the core guys, Marner and Rielly, fell asleep on a planned dump-in pass in a rink where they had to know the boards and the potential danger of Pasta being on the ice. They have ways to fix things if they have the balls to do it.
 
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I dont think Keefe is a good coach.

To me it's simple. If you have a top 5 center in the league, and make the playoffs every year, you should win more series than you lose. Like yeah, maybe you can argue that their back-end is poorly assembled for deep playoff runs, but this is a team that constantly crashes and burns in the first round...never mind winning a cup. Cup winning teams have varying degrees of strength at D and G either way (particularly G, which is often just about who gets hot at the right time), but the vast majority of them have a top 10ish franchise center. The Leafs have one of the very best of those and they're 1-8 in playoff series with him. That's quite awful. Keefe shoulda been fired after last year.

Im sure someone will be giving him another shot though. Worse coaches than Keefe have gotten second head coaching jobs anyway.
 
WaW said:
I dont think Keefe is a good coach.

To me it's simple. If you have a top 5 center in the league, and make the playoffs every year, you should win more series than you lose. Like yeah, maybe you can argue that their back-end is poorly assembled for deep playoff runs, but this is a team that constantly crashes and burns in the first round...never mind winning a cup. Cup winning teams have varying degrees of strength at D and G either way (particularly G, which is often just about who gets hot at the right time), but the vast majority of them have a top 10ish franchise center. The Leafs have one of the very best of those and they're 1-8 in playoff series with him. That's quite awful. Keefe shoulda been fired after last year.

Im sure someone will be giving him another shot though. Worse coaches than Keefe have gotten second head coaching jobs anyway.
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It also might help if their top 5 center played like one when the playoffs started, and I'm not talking about points scored. The level of killer instinct and intensity with Matthews versus guys like Crosby, Barkov, and MacKinnon is night and day.

I'm not saying Keefe shares no blame. But they could put Scotty Bowman behind the bench, and it's just going to result in him asking the Leafs to trade a player or two, because some of their top guns can't or won't commit to winning playoff hockey.
 
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The only defence I will let Keefe have, is they never gave him a good goalie to play net while he was there. The top guys should have been able to get more done absolutely and some of that is on the coach.

OT - but how is Matthews a Selke level player? He isn't even as good as Dylan defensively and no one says Dylan is Selke level. Why I wish they would get rid of media members voting for awards as there are way too many Toronto media people who get a vote. If Auston was on the Wings, I don't foresee him getting even top 15 Selke votes. I see the same defense or there abouts from Auston as Connor or Leon.
 
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ricky0034 said:
Keefe probably deserved to get fired

but there's probably a good chance they just use it as an excuse to make no major changes to the roster again which will be hilarious
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I don't think anyone around here will complain if they make no major changes.
 
www.tsn.ca

Bednar astounded by no-call on Dallas Stars' Jamie Benn for high hit on Colorado Avalanche D Toews | TSN

Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar was at a loss Thursday to explain how Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn went unpenalized for a high hit on Avs defenceman Devon Toews.
www.tsn.ca www.tsn.ca

A potentially dirty hit? By Jamie Benn?

cb6667aa8a69725db8f398feacc1b251.jpg
 
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jkutswings said:
www.tsn.ca

Bednar astounded by no-call on Dallas Stars' Jamie Benn for high hit on Colorado Avalanche D Toews | TSN

Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar was at a loss Thursday to explain how Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn went unpenalized for a high hit on Avs defenceman Devon Toews.
www.tsn.ca www.tsn.ca

A potentially dirty hit? By Jamie Benn?

cb6667aa8a69725db8f398feacc1b251.jpg
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It would be easier to root for the Stars if that shitbird weren't on the team.

Though honestly that hit looks legal by rule 48.1. The puck is there. Skates on the ice, shoulder tucked. A pretty brutal hit, but he caught a lot of the core of the body. Then Toews spins and goes headfirst into another player. Ouch.
 
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Lazlo Hollyfeld said:
It would be easier to root for the Stars if that shitbird weren't on the team.
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Fo' real, dawg. I have Ryan Getzlaf levels of disdain for that piece of caca.

I would love to see the 3 former Badgers on Dallas hoist the Cup...I just want for there to be a way to do it without Benn involved.
 
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RabidBadger said:
Fo' real, dawg. I have Ryan Getzlaf levels of disdain for that piece of caca.

I would love to see the 3 former Badgers on Dallas hoist the Cup...I just want for there to be a way to do it without Benn involved.
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Upon further review by the Department of Player Safety, Jamie Benn is ineligible to have his name on the Stanley Cup.

Citing Rule 104.9c, "each eligible player must have played at least 41 regular season games, or 10 playoff games...while maintaining a Douchebaggery Quotient lower than 10."

You just. Hate. To see it.
 
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