Boudreau comes out and says it. "The Leafs aren't built for the playoffs."

[zeke]

Boudreau recently came out and said it. The Leafs don't have the pushback to win the cup. Can Dubas saves his job or is he just too in love with soft , small players who get negated in the tougher playoffs. This team could have trouble with Edmonton, Winnipeg(Dubois) or even a red hot Carey price.

Interested in comments because do we want Dubas to trade the future and scuttle the boat for a new GM?

Please bold all the small soft players here:


Hyman - Matthews - Marner
Galchenyuk - Tavares - Nylander
Thornton - Kerfoot - Spezza
Mikheyev - Engvall - Simmonds

Rielly - Brodie
Muzzin - Holl
Dermott - Bogosian

 

[htpwn]

Tampa was considered "not built for the playoffs..." until they won.

I respect Boudreau, but this narrative is tiring to be honest. The Leafs have outplayed their opponents in their last two playoff series. They have a very good team. Would it be nice to add a prime Wendel Clark? Absolutely. But its not like there are hundreds of those guys and we just don't have one. They're hard to get.

Of course, if we finally go on a run this year, then this thread and these comments will be conveniently forgotten. Аny success will be attributed to Simmonds and Bogosian and not, you know, the great talent we've assembled up front, just like getting Coleman won Tampa the Cup and not that Kucherov, Vasilevsky, and Hedman are three top 10 players in the NHL at their position.

 

[Martin Skoula]

Personally I'd wait on firing Dubas until we can get Ja Rule to weigh in.

 

[Clark4Ever]

In the past, I would have agreed with Boudreau, but I think this group has the right mix of skill, grit, defense, and veteran leadership to make some noise in the playoffs IF we can get solid goaltending, which is unfortunately our biggest question mark.

 

[Not My Tempo]

I don’t disagree that it would be nicer to be a bit tougher, but attributing our playoff failures to toughness I think is pretty lazy analysis.

Washington: we lost but they were the much better team. Most games went to OT and we could have won with some bounces.

Boston 1: Kadri suspended, horrible PK. Freddy stole a couple games for us (though gave it back in game 7)

Boston 2: Kadri suspended, horrible PK. We actually outplayed Boston at 5v5.

Columbus: We outplayed the blue jackets and their goalie stood on his head. This was after a long break between playing due to COVID.

I think it’s easy to point to toughness, but at no point in any of these series did the Leafs get “bullied” like the Canucks did in 2011.


This year: make no mistake, the only reason our division looks as close as it does is because of our goalie situation. When we were so far above the North Division the conversation wasn’t how we’re good, it was the North is bad. Now that we’ve lost a couple games, the narrative isn’t the North is bad anymore, it’s that the Leafs aren’t tough enough. People are always looking at something to knock the Leafs for, and I guess this week it’s toughness.

 

[Mr Hockey]

Please list all the small soft players here:


Hyman - Matthews - Marner
Galchenyuk - Tavares - Nylander
Thornton - Kerfoot - Spezza
Mikheyev - Engvall - Simmonds

Rielly - Brodie
Muzzin - Holl
Dermott - Bogosian

did you see Tavares get run over by a truck and Larson sitting on him in the last 2 games ... point out the hard players that responded to them ...

when Johnny Gud got run over by Holl against the flames, what happened?

 

[darrylsittler27]

Please bold all the small soft players here:


Hyman - Matthews - Marner
Galchenyuk - Tavares - Nylander
Thornton - Kerfoot - Spezza
Mikheyev - Engvall - Simmonds

Rielly - Brodie
Muzzin - Holl
Dermott - Bogosian

Are you kidding me? Marner,Nylander,Kerfoot just off the hop. Also, Thornton is old while Mickheyev and Engvall don't scare anyone. What is it you think the Leafs need to go deep into the playoffs then? I say a top 9 power forward and hot goaltending.

 

[zeke]

did you see Tavares get run over by a truck and Larson sitting on him in the last 2 games ... point out the hard players that responded to them ...

when Johnny Gud got run over by Holl against the flames, what happened?

Yes I saw the leafs pound the crap out of McDavid and draisaitl all games long.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

going by your logic, why was dubas hired to be GM, when they had a HOF GM in place who is a proven winner

so you just have no idea what it means when I say that I was correcting someone who erroneously said that Boudreau has won a cup before? That actually checks out completely

 

[darrylsittler27]

Thats not the point. Boudreau has always defended the Leafs, and now he isn't? Funny enough right after he didn't get the job. Then you have the OP bringing up his cup he hasn't even won.

No, let's keep the simple. What do the Leafs need to go deep into the playoffs?

 

[zeke]

Are you kidding me? Marner,Nylander,Kerfoot just off the hop. Also, Thornton is old while Mickheyev and Engvall don't scare anyone. What is it you think the Leafs need to go deep into the playoffs then? I say a top 9 power forward and hot goaltending.

Please bold all the small and soft players in that lineup.

Thanks in advance.

 

[darrylsittler27]

hard not agree with him, it was pretty embarrassing watching Tavares getting manhandled by the oilers the last 2 games and not a single player did anything about it... we will get pushed around big time in the playoffs, it will take its toll on the team

I put the wrong title. I should have put what do the Leafs need to go deep into the playoffs because they dont look ready. But that is too long. I don't think this team will go deep in its current form.

 

[darrylsittler27]

I put the wrong title. I should have put what do the Leafs need to go deep into the playoffs because they dont look ready. But that is too long. I don't think this team will go deep in its current form.

I don't think Dubas has a job if we lose first round.

 

[Srsly]

Couch who never won a Stanley cup in a long storied career despite being gifted numerous elite teams thinks we can’t win a cup? Good to know. He knows about as much about getting the job done as Keefe and Dubas do. Unless of course you count his experience not winning as a plus of course.

 

[Mr Hockey]

Yes I saw the leafs pound the crap out of McDavid and draisaitl all games long.

never happened zeke ...

 

[zeke]

never happened zeke ...

Sure did. You missed it.

 

[The90]

Boudreau recently came out and said it. The Leafs don't have the pushback to win the cup. Can Dubas saves his job or is he just too in love with soft , small players who get negated in the tougher playoffs. This team could have trouble with Edmonton, Winnipeg(Dubois) or even a red hot Carey price.

Interested in comments because do we want Dubas to trade the future and scuttle the boat for a new GM?

Why is Dubois highlighted. He scored a hat trick in 1 game and had 1 assist in the other 4?

 

[JohnCarlsaurus]

Personally I'd wait on firing Dubas until we can get Ja Rule to weigh in.

 

[Morbo]

Still waiting for a link, but am starting to think OP made all this up.

 

[ToneDog]

Please bold all the small and soft players in that lineup.

Thanks in advance.

It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.

Engvall is 6'5" and is as soft as they come. I'll leave it at that.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

If our leafs go down again in round 1 when new GM takes over it will be a fairly easy FIX to line this team up for winning in playoffs ... really it is much closer then ever before ... a couple more vet defenders, another tender to tandem with Soupy and a bigger tougher harder winger to play with JT ... really nothing Dubie could not fix on his own right now ... add it Korpisalo, Foligno and Savard and it likely does it

 

[al secord]

Bruce Boudreau is a threat to Dubas' job?

 

[The90]

Agreed. He made it sound like he was going to re-invent the bottom 6...but barely any changes were made. Replaced Clifford with Simmonds. And then added Vesey, who didn't do anything at all. I guess we replaced him with Galchenyuk which is better.

But still, that bottom 6 is still the same level of grit.

Bottom 6 wasn’t the prob

hard not agree with him, it was pretty embarrassing watching Tavares getting manhandled by the oilers the last 2 games and not a single player did anything about it... we will get pushed around big time in the playoffs, it will take its toll on the team

true. They should’ve taken a bad penalty after the kassian hit so that your ego feels better. Those big bad oilers amirite

 

[Mr Hockey]

I put the wrong title. I should have put what do the Leafs need to go deep into the playoffs because they dont look ready. But that is too long. I don't think this team will go deep in its current form.

well for starters all the teams we may go against in this Canadian division have a goalie that could shut us down lol its hard to say whats going to happen, this team was beat by a pretty shitty columbas team last year

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

No, let's keep the simple. What do the Leafs need to go deep into the playoffs?

If you wanted to keep it simple why use an inflammatory quote (one you still haven't linked to or proven exists btw) to lead off your discussion? I mean you're getting engagement but no one is discussing what you say you want to discuss. Could've just gone to the Trade thread on here.