Pre-Game Talk: Flyers @ Leafs - must watch TV

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Hmm, who knew TS Eliot was a Leaf fan.

The Grown Men

We are the hollow men
We are the grown men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried sticks, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or slugged feet over broken ice
In our dry offense
This is an accurate summation of the Leafs season thus far lol
 
Robertson doesn’t suck, his deployment by Keefe sucks. He would be awesome with Matthews, both of them have a great shots and because of that they would open lanes for each other.

Robertson - Matthews - Nylander would be a great line. Everyone can finish and Nylander and Matthews are good at creating. They would get a ton of chances and would score a bunch off the rush.

"Robertson doesn't suck he would be awesome with our franchise center."

Yeah he does he isn't any more useful than ZAR or NAK. Yes he has a lethal shot but that is about it right now, he lacks explosiveness in his skating at the NHL lever and size to battle for pucks. Not a good combo. Who is going and getting the puck on that line? Nylander? You want Matthews to be the F1?

He needs to get bigger and faster still. That's fine he is 21. But the issue is not deployment, he had many games with Tavares and Nylander, and then a game with Nylander and Malgin. Both Malgin and Robertson are not currently NHLers on a contending team. Accept it.
 
"Robertson doesn't suck he would be awesome with our franchise center."

Yeah he does he isn't any more useful than ZAR or NAK. Yes he has a lethal shot but that is about it right now, he lacks explosiveness in his skating at the NHL lever and size to battle for pucks. Not a good combo. Who is going and getting the puck on that line? Nylander? You want Matthews to be the F1?

He needs to get bigger and faster still. That's fine he is 21. But the issue is not deployment, he had many games with Tavares and Nylander, and then a game with Nylander and Malgin. Both Malgin and Robertson are not currently NHLers on a contending team. Accept it.

Lol.. did you think about your post before you made it? He’s 10x better than ZAR and NAK and tbh I think he’s a better hockey player than Bunting. Especially when it comes to goal scoring which is the most important thing in hockey.

Also Robertson consistently wins board battles for a guy his size, he’s pretty tenacious. Once guys hit the NHL they aren’t going to get faster, their speed is what it is. We don’t really need him to be fast, we need him to be in offensive positions. That overtime with Matthews was a perfect example of what having two elite level shooters coming down on a goaltender can do.

And you know what I wouldn’t mind Matthews being F1, maybe that’s the change he needs in order to become a playoff legend. Crosby is F1 on his line, so why can’t Matthews be F1? He’s 6’3 for Christ sake. If he can’t forecheck we are doomed
 
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Lol.. did you think about your post before you made it? He’s 10x better than ZAR and NAK and tbh I think he’s a better hockey player than Bunting. Especially when it comes to goal scoring which is the most important thing in hockey.

Also Robertson consistently wins board battles for a guy his size, he’s pretty tenacious. Once guys hit the NHL they aren’t going to get faster, their speed is what it is. We don’t really need him to be fast, we need him to be in offensive positions. That overtime with Matthews was a perfect example of what having two elite level shooters coming down on a goaltender can do.

And you know what I wouldn’t mind Matthews being F1, maybe that’s the change he needs in order to become a playoff legend. Crosby is F1 on his line, so why can’t Matthews be F1? He’s 6’3 for Christ sake. If he can’t forecheck we are doomed

Robertson MIGHT be the better player but today he is not. Did you ignore my previous criticsm? He can't get the puck for his linemates and he needs them to make space for him and get him the puck. That is simply not going to cut it when we already have Tavares who can score 40 goals and Matthews scoring 60 on the top lines. We would simply rather these players are being made space and given time to shoot.

He lacks the dynamic ability in his game at this point in time. I said in pre-season when I was very harsh on him, I don't see an NHL star here. I see someone who is going to make their career as a PP specialist, likely scoring 30 goals a year and being sheltered 5v5 and going from team to team not really being a factor 5v5 much but helping them score when on the PP. Someone like Palmieri.

Right now he is simply not ready because we do not need PP help, he won't get minutes to make impact on the 2nd unit. And he isn't able to help in other areas of the game. He needs another year. That said, I think him being up with the team so far is a big part of his development as well. He needs the experience to fail and get better. Liljegren had a similar run, as did Sandin. Then they went back and dominated and earned roster spots the following season.

Maybe he is an option later in the season as well. But people are acting as if we are sitting a 40 goal scorer here when he is invisible and ineffective so far.
 

Damn even rival execs are saying the Leafs will be fine.

They are 4-4-2 with 72 games to go.

The media is absolutely putting the fear syringe on something that is hardly the end of the world. Insane. Simmonds is also losing his mind because Dubas won't comment at this time. There are so many other stories to tell.
 
They are 4-4-2 with 72 games to go.

The media is absolutely putting the fear syringe on something that is hardly the end of the world. Insane. Simmonds is also losing his mind because Dubas won't comment at this time. There are so many other stories to tell.

Yes. Even in the article he said some execs declined to comment because it was too early. And the ones who did comment basically said it's too early they will be fine.

The media was contained for a long time. Fans were not willing to accept toxicity because we had faith. As soon as they smelt the blood they let lose and people are eating it up
 
Hopefully matthews and Marner get it together

i don’t think we lose if they play at their capable levels
 
Matty likely is da story tonight .. he started to show more speed in Ducks game and 2 more hard skating practices this week and my guess he looks like best player on ice again tonight .. our Leafs will rise and fall on Matty's stamina being back .. I expect Matty to be back in game shape (or really close to it) tonight
 
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Damn even rival execs are saying the Leafs will be fine.

I am sure they are pumped to see Dubas and Keefe stay.

They are 4-4-2 with 72 games to go.

The media is absolutely putting the fear syringe on something that is hardly the end of the world. Insane. Simmonds is also losing his mind because Dubas won't comment at this time. There are so many other stories to tell.

Do people just not giv e a shit about 6 years of failure?

"the team is 4-4-2, oh, and they look worse than any other year, and the same glaring issues still exist...but hey, there's a long way to go before we burn another year of our core".

It's a tired retort that is basically an attempt at trying to look level headed but ends up just being appeasing.

I question if anyone that parrots this take watches other teams. We're not young anymore, other orgs have made great moves and are swiftly catching up to us and passing us.
 
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I am sure they are pumped to see Dubas and Keefe stay.



Do people just not giv e a shit about 6 years of failure?

"the team is 4-4-2, oh, and they look worse than any other year, and the same glaring issues still exist...but hey, there's a long way to go before we burn another year of our core".

It's a tired retort that is basically an attempt at trying to look level headed but ends up just being appeasing.

They do? But this article isn't about that.
 
I am sure they are pumped to see Dubas and Keefe stay.



Do people just not giv e a shit about 6 years of failure?

"the team is 4-4-2, oh, and they look worse than any other year, and the same glaring issues still exist...but hey, there's a long way to go before we burn another year of our core".

It's a tired retort that is basically an attempt at trying to look level headed but ends up just being appeasing.

I question if anyone that parrots this take watches other teams. We're not young anymore, other orgs have made great moves and are swiftly catching up to us and passing us.

Of course we do. But losing your mind over October games is insanity. A month ago, this entire forum said regular season does not matter. 10 games in people are giving up on life because the team has a .500 record. Had they gone 10-0 people would be saying it doesn't matter at all until they win a round.

So as long as they make the playoffs and win a round, who cares? Trying to claim their play in October has ANY merit on how the season ends is nonsense. Or else we would have won the cup last year how we played in November
 
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Of course we do. But losing your mind over October games is insanity. A month ago, this entire forum said regular season does not matter. 10 games in people are giving up on life because the team has a .500 record. Had they gone 10-0 people would be saying it doesn't matter at all until they win a round.

So as long as they make the playoffs and win a round, who cares? Trying to claim their play in October has ANY merit on how the season ends is nonsense. Or else we would have won the cup last year how we played in November
I've never held the impression that regular season doesn't matter.

I also don't think winning a round is some big achievement. We're the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Having your team playing like they don't care in October should worry you. It should worry you that everyone around us does care, and are young and hungry. We're long past looking like the young Penguins, and we're slowly entering Sharks territory, but with less success.
 
"Robertson doesn't suck he would be awesome with our franchise center."

Yeah he does he isn't any more useful than ZAR or NAK. Yes he has a lethal shot but that is about it right now, he lacks explosiveness in his skating at the NHL lever and size to battle for pucks. Not a good combo. Who is going and getting the puck on that line? Nylander? You want Matthews to be the F1?

He needs to get bigger and faster still. That's fine he is 21. But the issue is not deployment, he had many games with Tavares and Nylander, and then a game with Nylander and Malgin. Both Malgin and Robertson are not currently NHLers on a contending team. Accept it.
The Leafs aren’t expected to contend for the Cup this year, so why not let Robertson play and learn what it takes? They don’t really have a lot of options.
 
I've never held the impression that regular season doesn't matter.

I also don't think winning a round is some big achievement. We're the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Having your team playing like they don't care in October should worry you. It should worry you that everyone around us does care, and are young and hungry. We're long past looking like the young Penguins, and we're slowly entering Sharks territory, but with less success.

Agreed completely. Success is not winning a round this year, success is showing we can compete for a cup which means making the final 4 at minimum.

And it does concern me how they are playing. It is also concerning Keefe. But here is the difference is I know the difference between a BAD team and a team who is playing poorly. We have a .500 record while being a bottom 5 offensive team (we were top 5 last year) and a shit PP (we were #1 last year) along with shit defensive structure and terrible effort. Fixing even 1 of these things is going to win us games. We will fix most of them.

This is easily a playoff team. We have 70+ games to find our legs and structure and address weakspots. I also think a big part of it is our stars simply don't give a shit about the regular season anymore, nevermind in october. As the year goes on they will get better and better.

We are winning some rounds this year!!

The Leafs aren’t expected to contend for the Cup this year, so why not let Robertson play and learn what it takes? They don’t really have a lot of options.

They aren't? Then why the freakout on our board?
 
playing a team on the back half of a b2b
playing against a nobody b/u goalie

should be a cake walk , right ?

i bet Kyle is so tight his little jewels are shriveled up like raisins at the thought this might his besties last week behind the bench
 
What the f*** is Keefe doing with these lines? Robertson looks good early on and he gets rewarded for it by getting his minutes reduced each game and eventually in the press box. Malgin looks good with Robertson+Nylander but is now on the fourth line where he doesn't really fit at all. Holmberg who has never played an NHL game is now our 3C, over Kampf who has repeatedly shown that he can take insanely hard usage as a 3C and still manage to score some timely goals.

Kerfoot-Tavares-Nylander has never really looked all that good but he keeps going back to it. He refuses to ever split Marner-Matthews even when we know Marner-JT is a good combo as is Matthews-Nylander.

And don't even get me started on the defense..
 
Can Liljegren play tonight? He's looked great in his AHL stint. He certainly can't be worsr than what we've seen from others so far.
 
The Leafs aren’t expected to contend for the Cup this year, so why not let Robertson play and learn what it takes? They don’t really have a lot of options.
I can guarantee with 100% certainty that they won't win the cup against the Flyers tonight.
 
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"Robertson doesn't suck he would be awesome with our franchise center."

Yeah he does he isn't any more useful than ZAR or NAK. Yes he has a lethal shot but that is about it right now, he lacks explosiveness in his skating at the NHL lever and size to battle for pucks. Not a good combo. Who is going and getting the puck on that line? Nylander? You want Matthews to be the F1?

He needs to get bigger and faster still. That's fine he is 21. But the issue is not deployment, he had many games with Tavares and Nylander, and then a game with Nylander and Malgin. Both Malgin and Robertson are not currently NHLers on a contending team. Accept it.
Actually, the issue IS deployment, but not just Robertson.

Tavares and Nylander are both good, but don't seem to work well together. Robertson added to that dysfunctional pair isn't going to do much good.

On the other hand, in the period + he played with Nylander and Malgin he (and they) looked very good.

Why they are not currently on the team, which currently doesn't look like a contending team, is "a puzzlement".
 
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