Brad Treliving is doing a great job.

[GoonieFace]

Adding 3 bottom pairing defensemen instead of addressing the top-4, and making us worse defensively and in transition, was not his job.

If the Leafs win Game 7, you might just self destruct.

 

[IPS]

If the Leafs win Game 7, you might just self destruct.

The cope fest from him would make a game 7 win that much more amazing.

 

[Menzinger]

So much of judging Tre is going to come down to game 7.

If the Leafs win his tdl will look like a tidy bit of business, adding depth without spending any prime assets.

If the Leafs go down, a legitimate question emerges why he wasn't more aggressive using Klingberg's 4 million in ltir salary on a more impactful player

 

[Dekes For Days]

If the Leafs win Game 7, you might just self destruct.

I'd love it if we win game 7. It's very possible, especially with Woll playing like this. Wouldn't change what I said from being true.

 

[TIGERCOOL]

I've noticed they never show Tre during games, while the camera used to be on Dubas non-stop in playoff series. Wonder if that's a mandate from him?

 

[DarkKnight]

The three bottom pairing defenceman he added have been great. What a world to inhabit to not see how valuable they've been. Boosh literally hasn't been in for a single even strength goal, Edmundson has been steady as all get up and Benoit has competed all over the ice. Look at their ice time too, that ain't bottom pair.

Clueless.

 

[Dreakmur]

It’s a low scoring series and guys have been hurt. I assume you’ve watched the games, the style of play doesn’t cater to high scoring. What matters is winning.

It's a low scoring series because our 40 million isn't worth 40 million. It sucks that they're hurt, but that fact that we're winning anyway is very telling.

 

[Menzinger]

It's a low scoring series because our 40 million isn't worth 40 million. It sucks that they're hurt, but that fact that we're winning anyway is very telling.

Though conversely 2/3 wins this series are due to big performances from those core guys (in particular Matthews game 2 and Nylander game 6)

 

[Dreakmur]

Though conversely 2/3 wins this series are due to big performances from those core guys (in particular Matthews game 2 and Nylander game 6)

Those wins are partly due to those performances, yes. The whole team keeping Boston off the board played a huge part in those wins as well.

 

[notbias]

Dubas added some great pieces through the years (Muzzin, McCabe, early Brodie) but he didn't realize you needed players who will go through a wall during playoff time. The core 4 + Rielly aren't those type of players. Tre has given us a tougher group of players who can withstand the rigors of playoff series. Look at the shot blocking, hitting, heart being shown by Benoit, Edmundson, Lybushkin, Domi, Bertuzzi, etc. I honestly believe that if we got one more win in us, we'll beat Florida because we've figured out how to play playoff hockey, and also we now have a goalie who is playing extremely solidly.

Over the last 5 playoffs:

The cut-off I used was 10 games, so only 175 D to compare with.

Gio, Schenn, and Muzzin are all top 50 for D blocks/60
Rielly, Brodie, Holl, and Lub are all top 100 for D in block/60

Schenn, Lub, McCabe, Muzzin, and Timmins are all top 50 for D hits/60
Liljegren and Holl are all top 100 for D hits/60

The cut-off I used was 10 games, so only 336 forwards to compare with.

Acciari, Kerfoot, and Matthews are all top 50 for F blocks/60
Nash, Knies, ZAR, Foligno, and Kase are all top 100 for F in block/60

Acciari, NAK, Ritchie, and Lafferty are all top 50 for F hits/60
Knies, ZAR, Foligno, and Galchenyuk are all top 100 for F hits/60

We've always had these types of players, they block a lot of shots and hit.

Never understand people who say we have a bunch of guys who don't play the "playoff style"... this team maybe has a couple more than usual, but we've always had those types.

 

[seventieslord]

Adding 3 bottom pairing defensemen instead of addressing the top-4, and making us worse defensively and in transition, was not his job.

I agree they are bottom pairing defensemen. But, it is somehow working.

 

[Dekes For Days]

Look at their ice time too, that ain't bottom pair.

Did you even look at their ice time? 15-18 minutes is very much in the bottom pairing range. And I mean, somebody has to take the minutes. Their play hasn't been particularly good. They've had a few good moments (Edmundson notably had a key block a couple games ago which he deserves credit for) but their limitations have been really glaring. The crosschecks in front of the net may be marginally harder, but our defense has had worse positioning, been slow to pucks, fumbling pucks, have struggled passing and transitioning the puck both within the zone and out of the zone and up to the forwards, denying zone entries, etc. Overall, we've been worse defensively than past years, and our PK (which those players like putting us on) has been historically bad.

Our best defensemen this series have pretty easily been Rielly - who was already here and signed by Tre's predecessor, and McCabe - who was acquired by Tre's predecessor.

I agree they are bottom pairing defensemen. But, it is somehow working.

Is it? Seems that finally having a goalie do what opposing goalies have done to us in many years is working. Let's hope he keeps it up, and we somehow continue avoiding the PK.

 

[Dekes For Days]

Though conversely 2/3 wins this series are due to big performances from those core guys (in particular Matthews game 2 and Nylander game 6)

We also won game 5 on the back of the Marner line, and Tavares' drive to the net in OT.

 

[DarkKnight]

Did you even look at their ice time? 15-18 minutes is very much in the bottom pairing range. And I mean, somebody has to take the minutes. Their play hasn't been particularly good. They've had a few good moments (Edmundson notably had a key block a couple games ago which he deserves credit for) but their limitations have been really glaring. The crosschecks in front of the net may be marginally harder, but our defense has had worse positioning, been slow to pucks, fumbling pucks, have struggled passing and transitioning the puck both within the zone and out of the zone and up to the forwards, denying zone entries, etc. Overall, we've been worse defensively than past years, and our PK (which those players like putting us on) has been historically bad.

Our best defensemen this series have pretty easily been Rielly - who was already here and signed by Tre's predecessor, and McCabe - who was acquired by Tre's predecessor.

Is it? Seems that finally having a goalie do what opposing goalies have done to us in many years is working. Let's hope he keeps it up, and we somehow continue avoiding the PK.

You're such a bore dude, they played 3,4,5 minutes played. Lil actually the lowest. Go find something else to do, defending Dubas a year later, get over it.

Boreasaurus. Have the last word too, nobody here cares.

 

[Leafs1991]

Over the last 5 playoffs:

The cut-off I used was 10 games, so only 175 D to compare with.

Gio, Schenn, and Muzzin are all top 50 for D blocks/60
Rielly, Brodie, Holl, and Lub are all top 100 for D in block/60

Schenn, Lub, McCabe, Muzzin, and Timmins are all top 50 for D hits/60
Liljegren and Holl are all top 100 for D hits/60

The cut-off I used was 10 games, so only 336 forwards to compare with.

Acciari, Kerfoot, and Matthews are all top 50 for F blocks/60
Nash, Knies, ZAR, Foligno, and Kase are all top 100 for F in block/60

Acciari, NAK, Ritchie, and Lafferty are all top 50 for F hits/60
Knies, ZAR, Foligno, and Galchenyuk are all top 100 for F hits/60

We've always had these types of players, they block a lot of shots and hit.

Never understand people who say we have a bunch of guys who don't play the "playoff style"... this team maybe has a couple more than usual, but we've always had those types.

Except we had very few of those types and most of them weren't that good either.

 

[Dekes For Days]

they played 3,4,5 minutes played.

They're actually 3rd, 6th and 7th out of 7 defensemen in average ice time, and all playing minutes within the range of a bottom pairing defenseman, while playing like bottom pairing defensemen.

Except we had very few of those types and most of them weren't that good either.

We've actually had an abundance of those types over the years, that were better than what we have now. Some people just aren't happy until we have the most of any team and the whole roster is like that, to the team's detriment.

 

[Shooter2x]

The three bottom pairing defenceman he added have been great. What a world to inhabit to not see how valuable they've been. Boosh literally hasn't been in for a single even strength goal, Edmundson has been steady as all get up and Benoit has competed all over the ice. Look at their ice time too, that ain't bottom pair.

Clueless.

If a puck hits Holl in the ass by accident down 6 on 5, he's the best thing since slice bread.

Benoit buries McAvoy in open ice, ending all of Bostons momentum and any chance they had of a comeback......and crickets.

 

[Shooter2x]

When Lindholm was available, a real top 4 D, so much fuss was made over how smart Dubas was for not spending the assets on him.

When no top 4 D are available, fuss is made over how Treliving ruined the team by not bringing anyone in. Bring in who? Matt Dumba? Plus, if there was any top 4 available, they're super expensive. Top 4 mobile D are premium. You can't roll out of bed and say "All I'm missing is that, let's go get it". All 32 gms are after those guys. Maybe we could have one if Dubas didn't strip all our trade chips on his failed attempts.

The logical inconsistencies are what's frustrating, not the actual GMs themselves

 

[Dekes For Days]

When no top 4 D are available, fuss is made over how Treliving ruined the team by not bringing anyone in.

Top-4 D were available, both in the offseason and at the deadline. So were lesser defensemen that brought different attributes that we could use right now.

 

[Shooter2x]

Top-4 D were available, both in the offseason and at the deadline. So were lesser defensemen that brought different attributes that we could use right now.

You could apply this statement to any of our previous years.

Takes two to tango in trades and Ufa and for the latter it's not easy to predict who will fit in best on their new team. Increased difficulty when you consider player A on new team B might not work on new team C. The hindsight game in this very specific moment of time is a really cheap move. I can sit here and write you essays about Dubas if this is truly the angle you want to take.


At the end of the day, Treliving inherited a defence devoid both in skill and physicality. Skill takes longer to fix in today's game, especially on defence. Even a rebuilding team will enter sweepstakes if a legit mobile D under 30 emerges.

He did a good job on the physicality side of things. Boston is having a very hard time generating anything around the net.

Due to the initial state, it may have been best to go all in on the big dmen instead of ending up with an average to below average skill and average physicality by trying to fix both, where the poop (pool* lol) of players for skill are dart board throws at best.

 

[Hoglund4MvP]

Treliving wouldn't even be able to trade for Tyson Barrie with the draft pick setup he inherit . Klingberg was a nice gamble. Rielly klingberg followed by royal rumble would have been perfect If berg was healthy.

 

[SprDaVE]

Treliving wouldn't even be able to trade for Tyson Barrie with the draft pick setup he inherit . Klingberg was a nice gamble. Rielly klingberg followed by royal rumble would have been perfect If berg was healthy.

He traded 5 picks for 3 defensemen... And I'm pretty sure Barrie could be had for free.

 

[Hoglund4MvP]

He traded 5 picks for 3 defensemen... And I'm pretty sure Barrie could be had for free.

Thats not how i meant it. Nobody likes Tyson Barrie and I'm talking about when he was expensive.

Wouldn't you prefer we tried barrie through Ufa instead? Get it now? And the fact we can't even afford younger barrie with our picks today is showing how even more tricky the situation is because the assets would been thrown away.

It's a short post but deep post that require thought.

 

[Dekes For Days]

You could apply this statement to any of our previous years.

We did bring in at least one top-4 defenseman pretty much every year though, even when we needed it much less than this year.
And we had a better diversity of attributes within our defensemen.

The hindsight game in this very specific moment of time is a really cheap move.

This isn't hindsight. This has been a glaring issue since the offseason, that was discussed in the offseason and throughout the entire year, including at the deadline when we just spent picks on more of what we had.

At the end of the day, Treliving inherited a defence devoid both in skill and physicality.

He inherited a good defensive team with a good mix of attributes. He went way too hard after physicality, at the expense of other valuable attributes, failed to address the top-4 of our defense and losses from the roster, inserted some of the worst defensive players in the league throughout the roster, and ignored PKing. As a result, we're worse defensively, worse on the PK, and we're really struggling with transition because we're missing key attributes in our back-end.

 

[Hoglund4MvP]

We did bring in at least one top-4 defenseman pretty much every year though, even when we needed it much less than this year.
And we had a better diversity of attributes within our defensemen.

This isn't hindsight. This has been a glaring issue since the offseason, that was discussed in the offseason and throughout the entire year, including at the deadline when we just spent picks on more of what we had.

He inherited a good defensive team with a good mix of attributes. He went way too hard after physicality, at the expense of other valuable attributes, failed to address the top-4 of our defense, inserted some of the worst defensive players in the league throughout the roster, and ignored PKing. As a result, we're worse defensively, worse on the PK, and we're really struggling with transition because we're missing key attributes in our back-end.

Dubas did a horrible job addressing the top 4 besides Muzzin. Tre doesn't have his muzzin level haul yet but the state of league today and his trade chips need to be accounted for. It's year 1, he has time to find his muzzin still.

Tell us an actual top 4 worth having no picks in next couple years that was available for Tre?

Tre wanted Hanifin but Hanifin doesn't want to play in Canada. At least we know that was the type of player he'd want which is good news for future attempts