Toggle sidebar

Line Combos: GM/Coaching criticism

  • Xenforo Cloud has upgraded us to version 2.3.6. Please report any issues you experience.
VanW27 said:
Coaching takes blame because the two players, Sandin and Thornton, who most contributed to being down 3-0 were at best questionable decisions to be in the lineup, and at worst completely asinine decisions.
Click to expand...

Sandin rookie mistakes cost the Leafs game #1 and game #5, but he also help them win game #2. When Sandin burned the Leafs in game #1 I thought that might be the last we saw of him in the series, but Keefe seems to disagree but he is getting burned by his decisions.

Galchenyuk cost the Leafs game #5 directly, but then his 1-2-3 points was the main reason for game #4. You know he has offensive talent, but is a defensive liability and again the return both good and bad is expected.

Leafs have a deep roster so certainly coaching decisions even in retrospective analysis could be considered questionable.

PS. Leafs are lucky they have the easiest mismatch of the 1st round with Montreal ranked #16 and last entering the playoffs, because if Leafs were up against their regular Atlantic opponents and had been facing Boston or Tampa in round #1, then based on coaching decisions Leafs might already be OUT. IMO
 
  • Like
Reactions: CanadasTeam and JT AM da real deal
Good morning arm chair GMs.
Please make your roster calls and predictions pregame and not post game.
Thank you :)

Wondering who on here thought playing Galchenyuk game 5 was a bad call before the game?
With JT and Foligno out I hope nobody.

As far as Sandin over Dermott. This experiment is officially over for round 1.
I for one wanted to see it but last night was more than i wanted to see. Sandin went from 6 to 8 on the depth charts after game 5. Mr Hutton leapfrogged him IMO.
 
  • Like
Reactions: theTTC, CanadasTeam, Jeypic and 2 others
Gary Nylund said:
Before the game I saw a clip of Keefe being interviewed and Simmons asking Keefe about why Nylander gets so little ice time - attaboy Steve, good question! In this response Keefe rambled on and his answer came down to the line ... the line ... Nylander doesn't play on the line.

Really? Nylander doesn't play on the top line, that's your answer? He's not on the top line and that means that you as the coach can't find a way to get your most effective player a few more minutes, are you for real?

Last night again, Nylander's ice time 17:01, Marner got 24:28. Time to get your head out of your ass Sheldon.
Click to expand...
Da whole hockey world knows Sandin and Mitch have short strides and can't keep up .. too many of our fans are not close enough to it either so they don't understand either .. NHL playoff hockey is much faster than regular season hockey .. and refs let most everything go too .. so slower guys end up in trouble .. they are both trying their best but they don't have da requisite skills to compete at this level .. it would be very easy to swop Willy and Mitch and Dermy and Sandin .. simple fixes very simple
 
The Iceman said:
Good morning arm chair GMs.
Please make your roster calls and predictions pregame and not post game.
Thank you :)

Wondering who on here thought playing Galchenyuk game 5 was a bad call before the game?
With JT and Foligno out I hope nobody.

As far as Sandin over Dermott. This experiment is officially over for round 1.
I for one wanted to see it but last night was more than i wanted to see. Sandin went from 6 to 8 on the depth charts after game 5. Mr Hutton leapfrogged him IMO.
Click to expand...

Not me, I wanted him playing in game 1 and every game since then. Still do too.
 
The Iceman said:
Good morning arm chair GMs.
Please make your roster calls and predictions pregame and not post game.
Thank you :)

Wondering who on here thought playing Galchenyuk game 5 was a bad call before the game?
With JT and Foligno out I hope nobody.

As far as Sandin over Dermott. This experiment is officially over for round 1.
I for one wanted to see it but last night was more than i wanted to see. Sandin went from 6 to 8 on the depth charts after game 5. Mr Hutton leapfrogged him IMO.
Click to expand...
Gally has been really good, he made a defensive gaf that shouldn't have happened but that's also why he shouldn't be out there unless he's with guys with high defensive IQ in game deciding situations. I'd had 0 issue with Gally prior to that and still want to see him next game in the top 6.

I'd be running:

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

Rielly-Brodie
Muzzin-Holl
Dermott-Bogosian

Campbell

If Foligno is out, bump ever C up one, bring Nash in, flip Marner and Nylander.
 
Continuing with Thornton is insanity at this point. Everyone can see he is finished but Keefe doesn’t have balls to sit him. Leads me to believe there was some sort of verbal agreement between the coach and player.

The worst part of this is it throws our bottom 6 out of whack. We need Brooks in, but that pushes Simmonds to 3rd line which is asking too much out of the player who can’t keep up with Mikheyev and Engvall.

All of this to accommodate one guy, makes you wonder who is coaching the team here
 
Just pondering....

To me, if they ever brought back the 'rover' position, Rielly would be the dream player for that position. With key injuries on forward, honestly I'd rather see him play out of position than using Nash or Thorton at this point. He doesn't have a huge point blast, but can shoot when in close. He can definitely pass the puck. Montreal has had trouble with the Leaf's defense jumping in the play. Who better to fall back on a pinching defenseman than another defenseman? I love that the Matthews/Marner line hasn't been making too many Galchenyuk-type plays, but their offense seem stagnated. Rielly will find an open Matthews better than any other option we could put on LW.

Rielly Matthews Marner
Sandin Brodie
Galchenyuk Kerfoot Nylander
Muzzin Holl
Hyman Engvall Mikeyev
Dermott Bogosian
Simmonds Brooks Spezza
 
It's going to take creative thought for a "rover" in a system. The NHL and the don't lose the single point mentality doesn't really lend itself to creativity.

That said... he is a smooth skater and if there was ever a line up that could pull this off... it's ours.
 
TheShape said:
Continuing with Thornton is insanity at this point. Everyone can see he is finished but Keefe doesn’t have balls to sit him. Leads me to believe there was some sort of verbal agreement between the coach and player.

The worst part of this is it throws our bottom 6 out of whack. We need Brooks in, but that pushes Simmonds to 3rd line which is asking too much out of the player who can’t keep up with Mikheyev and Engvall.

All of this to accommodate one guy, makes you wonder who is coaching the team here
Click to expand...

If Thornton plays or Thornton sits... it doesn't matter.

This line up Dubas assembled (credit is due) is much more talented than Montreal. Even without Tavares.

If we lose this series, it will be because we beat ourselves.

Matthews. Marner. Nylander. Even Rielly. Neither of these guys can look down the bench at each other when they need to be calmed down.

Hell, Matthews gets hit and he looks at the refs with a goofy smile on his face while his teammate takes 4 gloves to the face.

They need someone to settle them down. Particularly if they get down a goal in Game 6. The ghosts of the past are floating in their heads right now.

They need someone to say it's alright. I've been through this before. Just focus on what you do. Simple game. Fun game. Puck. In. Net. Go.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rumman
Can we agree that we don’t have a genius coach. Or a genius GM?

that the team’s success depends on whether the talented players outwork the other team’s talented players?

hopefully for 60 mins on Monday, they can do just that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rumman and meefer
I’m not even mad… but I’m defeated. And I kinda knew this was going to happen.
 
Reporter:" What was your level of confidence in that video challenge"
Keefe: "Not very high"

Paraphrased. :laugh:

Keefecock is a train wreck.
 
TheShape said:
Continuing with Thornton is insanity at this point. Everyone can see he is finished but Keefe doesn’t have balls to sit him. Leads me to believe there was some sort of verbal agreement between the coach and player.

The worst part of this is it throws our bottom 6 out of whack. We need Brooks in, but that pushes Simmonds to 3rd line which is asking too much out of the player who can’t keep up with Mikheyev and Engvall.

All of this to accommodate one guy, makes you wonder who is coaching the team here
Click to expand...
At least he scored a goal unlike the other two prima donnas
 
I really don't see how Keefe keeps his job if we lose Monday. Doesn't seem to have much in his playbook beyond circle the perimeter and play the f*** out of his stars and if that doesn't work, circle the perimeter and play them even more.
 
Keefe doesn’t seem to understand how to work with momentum very well. How does a team that battles back to make it 2-2 come out with medium level urgency and puck possession in OT?
 
I don't think Keefe is very bright, but I don't fault him completely.

I can see MTL'S strategy though: whack, cross check, hold, etc. The leafs will do nothing on the power play. It's so worth the risk for them.

Toronto are just beating themselves now.
 
At the end of the day, it firmly falls on Matthews and Marner.

The team is only going as far as those two take it. You can fire the GM, coach, trade whoever, none of that actually matters. If those two dont produce, the team wont ever make a lengthy run.

They need to figure out why Matthews and Marner couldnt produce to a similar level as they did in the regular season. Was it poor shooting luck, something montreal did, coaches changed something? Was it a combination of things? Is it mental? Idk, but thats the answer you need to find and address.
 
  • Like
Reactions: freshwind and Petrus
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Top Bottom