Can we beat Tampa?

[ShaneFalco]

Point out to me precisely where I claimed it was a big accomplishment.

Why even mention it then?

Matched evenly yet we pay our top players a whole hell of a lot more than Tampa does. We need more out of ours than they do out of theirs if we are to win.

Wins, losses - to some it doesn't matter! We edged them out in stats (apparently!)!!!!

 

[Sypher04]

Why even mention it then?



Wins, losses - to some it doesn't matter! We edged them out in stats (apparently!)!!!!

Of course wins and losses matter, that’s why no one here is satisfied with losing. But if you’re going to claim our core hasn’t learned to play playoff hockey, then it’s relevant to being up how they played well against Tampa even if the ultimate result went against them.

It not being good enough to win doesn’t mean they didn’t play well. We were let down by our bottom 6 mix of players (minus Kampf), who showed promise in the regular season then ghosted us in the playoffs. And goaltending.

If our top 4 perform again, and our depth shows up this time, we will win

 

[rocketman588]

I believe we can

Will we who knows

If we don't we just need to look at the personalities or get a coach with a big background in sports psychology ( kinda like what herdman did to Canada soccer)

 

[egd27]

if we went back to the old format we'd still be playing Tampa and the wildcard teams get Bos or Car , there's no easy path in the east this year

Agreed....so sick of listening to some moaning about the playoff format.

You want to play the 7th or 8th place team....stop throwing away points on crappy teams and win the division.

As it stands today, the Leafs meet TBL in this format or in the 1 v 8, 2 v 7 format.

 

[Sypher04]

if we went back to the old format we'd still be playing Tampa and the wildcard teams get Bos or Car , there's no easy path in the east this year

If the goal is the cup, and struggles or not, it absolutely should be, then you have to go through all the best teams regardless. I think it sucks to draw Tampa in the first round as both teams are good enough to be a cup final, but those are the breaks. Go out there and just get it done.

 

[Dekes For Days]

Agreed....so sick of listening to some moaning about the playoff format.
You want to play the 7th or 8th place team....stop throwing away points on crappy teams and win the division.
As it stands today, the Leafs meet TBL in this format or in the 1 v 8, 2 v 7 format.

Current format:
Matchup with top-5 team/3X cup finalist locked in ~30 games into the season, no way to change it other than matching a historic record, no suspense or anything to play for.

1v8 format:
Matchups are undetermined until the very end of the season, could battle through to play a lesser 7th place team like Buffalo or Pittsburgh.

1v16 format:
Matchups are undetermined until the last game of the season, currently matches us up against a lesser team like Seattle.

Gee, I wonder why people don't like it...

 

[Sypher04]

Current format:
Matchup locked in ~30 games into the season, no way to change it other than matching a historic record, no suspense or anything to play for.

1v8 format:
Matchups are undetermined until the very end of the season, could battle through to play a lesser 7th place team like Buffalo or Pittsburgh

1v16 format:
Matchups are undetermined until the last game of the season, currently matches us up against a lesser team like Buffalo

Gee, I wonder why people don't like it...

I do agree with this angle. I don’t enjoy knowing our matchup so long before the playoffs. Kinda makes the rest of the season boring

 

[ACC1224]

Agreed....so sick of listening to some moaning about the playoff format.

You want to play the 7th or 8th place team....stop throwing away points on crappy teams and win the division.

As it stands today, the Leafs meet TBL in this format or in the 1 v 8, 2 v 7 format.

People will bitch and moan about anything and everything these days and there are now many platforms for the whines to be heard.
Society has become so soft.

 

[Gary Nylund]

People will bitch and moan about anything and everything these days and there are now many platforms for the whines to be heard.
Society has become so soft.

What would you say is more annoying, people bitching and moaning about anything and everything, or people people bitching and moaning about people bitching and moaning?

 

[ALine]

if we went back to the old format we'd still be playing Tampa and the wildcard teams get Bos or Car , there's no easy path in the east this year

In the old format (not really the ‘old format’ because there’s only 2 division winners now) there’s a real possibility that Leafs could pass NJ, and their path to the the finals could be something like NYR>CAR>BOS

Some other conference jockeying, plus an upset or two along the way, could see the leafs path be NJ>CAR>NYR, or even something crazy like NJ>PIT>NYI/NYR.

Saying the one phrase that might be those repeated on HF this season (insert SpongeBob meme) “tHey’D sTIll pLaY TaMpA” isn’t really such a gotcha moment you want it to be because your ignoring the very real likely hood of standings movement over the course of the season or down the stretch. Which is now basically impossible, short of a nuclear bomb going off in the cities of Tampa Bay or Boston.

Players and even coaches might take these conference games differently if there were tangible standings implications on the line. That and the 2nd round reseeding goes a long way to making different paths in the ‘old format’.
I think it would be a more fun regular season too

All that being said, just win

 

[Stephen]

Agreed....so sick of listening to some moaning about the playoff format.

You want to play the 7th or 8th place team....stop throwing away points on crappy teams and win the division.

As it stands today, the Leafs meet TBL in this format or in the 1 v 8, 2 v 7 format.

Agreed. If you want to be the best, go through the best.

 

[willmma]

i just can’t get over this insane playoff format where it looks like for the 100th year in a row we’re going to get f***ed over with a brutal first round matchup again.

honest to god it would be better to be a wildcard team than our place in the standing.

so much is riding on the first round this year and the Exact same thing that happens every year is looking like it’s going to happen again.

all you can do is laugh.

Yeah, and this is the commissioner making fun of the fans of the leagues biggest market

 

[The Management]

Have to go through the big dogs at some point.

All of the top eight teams in the Eastern Conference would be pretty tough. I'd probably rather take our chances with Tampa than the Devils or the Rangers. I think we've played Tampa twice this season in December, losing once in OT and winning the other 4-1 in Regulation.

My biggest concern is goaltending, but there's not much we can do about that.

 

[Daisy Jane]

Agreed....so sick of listening to some moaning about the playoff format.

You want to play the 7th or 8th place team....stop throwing away points on crappy teams and win the division.

As it stands today, the Leafs meet TBL in this format or in the 1 v 8, 2 v 7 format.

people bring this up all the time. the reason why it is so close is because of the cap/parity. the Hockey Guy breaks it down every year most of "it would suck to lose them in th first round" teams would face each other in the first round anyway.

update your thinkin' folks.

 

[GoonieFace]

Agreed. If you want to be the best, go through the best.

And I would much rather get the best early before they start to roll

 

[Dekes For Days]

Agreed. If you want to be the best, go through the best.

Nobody who has won the Stanley Cup has beat the 4 other best teams in the league. Paths are very different across the league, and they impact outcomes.
Much more than they should right now. It's bad for the game.

 

[egd27]

Current format:
Matchup with top-5 team/3X cup finalist locked in ~30 games into the season, no way to change it other than matching a historic record, no suspense or anything to play for.

1v8 format:
Matchups are undetermined until the very end of the season, could battle through to play a lesser 7th place team like Buffalo or Pittsburgh.

1v16 format:
Matchups are undetermined until the last game of the season, currently matches us up against a lesser team like Seattle.

Gee, I wonder why people don't like it...

Aside from the TML / TBL series, what other matchups are "locked in" ?

 

[darrylsittler27]

Can we? Sure. Will we? That's the terrifying part. No picks forever and Dubas will move on to a new challenge.

 

[Rielly4]

Its gonna be a dog fight. Could go either way. Boston gonna be even tougher. All this spending could easily be for nothing. Hopefully we can re-sign ROR so its not a waste of assets.

 

[Dekes For Days]

Aside from the TML / TBL series, what other matchups are "locked in" ?

There shouldn't be any teams locked in halfway through the season. It's a horrible way to run a sports league. Central #2 and #3 were also locked in quite early last year. Potential paths are limited for everybody through the first couple rounds, and it's only going to lock in more and more as the season progresses. Other formats would provide much more matchup suspense and excitement through the very last games of the season.

 

[egd27]

There shouldn't be any teams locked in halfway through the season. It's a horrible way to run a sports league. Central #2 and #3 were also locked in quite early last year. Potential paths are limited for everybody through the first couple rounds, and it's only going to lock in more and more as the season progresses. Other formats would provide much more matchup suspense and excitement through the very last games of the season.

Too bad Boston is playing so well this year, and Buffalo and Detroit aren't quite good enough yet.

 

[Arzak]

Did someone mention we can already?

Because we moved from we can to we better !

 

[Stephen]

Nobody who has won the Stanley Cup has beat the 4 other best teams in the league. Paths are very different across the league, and they impact outcomes.
Much more than they should right now. It's bad for the game.

Would you rather be the first team that won a cup going through the best 4 teams in the league or make a bunch of excuses about how unfair it is?

 

[ShaneFalco]

Can we? Sure. Will we? That's the terrifying part. No picks forever and Dubas will move on to a new challenge.

Kinda scary! If they can't get it done this year, it's not happening with this core. And I don't mean blowign up the core, just one piece traded.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Would you rather be the first team that won a cup going through the best 4 teams in the league or make a bunch of excuses about how unfair it is?

If only those were the only two possible outcomes.

Kinda scary! If they can't get it done this year, it's not happening with this core. And I don't mean blowign up the core, just one piece traded.

Get what done, win the cup? Win a round?