How does Nick Paul beast us (our D made it easy for him but can't deny his effort level) but mik and engvall continue to do nothing.
And how did Keefe fall for their little run with the goalie pulled in game 3, costing us game 4 by losing the first period?
If Dubas continues to think mik engvall holl are playoff depth my loyalty ends in 22/23.
Goes without saying I want Trotz in for Keefe. Tampa had the lead and shortened their bench. We're still rolling 4 lines until 6 minutes left down 2-1
Put me on the fire Dubas bandwagon...
How does Nick Paul beat us? The same way he consistently did very well against us with the Sens. He's a big body, works his ### off every shift, and has some semblance of skill. If the Leafs were going to be serious about contending at the deadline, they needed to do more than Colin Blackwell upfront.
This loss doesn't fall on the shoulders of Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Campbell or Rielly. It probably doesn't even fall on the shoulders of Tavares, or anyone on their D. This was by far the best top 6 D the Leafs have had in the last 10+ years.
This loss, falls on the lack of depth up front, and specifically the number of players who contributed basically nothing during the time the games were close. Mikheyev had 2 goals in this series, but both empty netters. Engvall played 105 minutes in this series, and I believe his greatest contributions were a couple of assists on Mikheyev's empty netters. Kerfoot also played over 105 minutes in this series, had several glaring gaffes that resulted in pucks in our net. His greatest contribution was a shorty that made a blowout loss
slightly interesting. Even Bunting was an obvious passenger for most of the series. I do not recall Kase doing anything of any significance during this series; and Spezza & Blackwell didn't play enough to matter; although I do like what Blackwell did bring in his limited action.
Ultimately, I think the Leafs need to get away from the analytics-approach they've relied on for the past however many years. I don't care that Engvall & Mikheyev are analytics-darlings throughout the regular season. These guys do not have the x-factor to contribute either offensively, or in a true shutdown capacity in the playoffs.
The conversations regarding the big 4 will of course dominate the offseason chatter.... but I think it may be worthwhile to also look at the $8.5m the Leafs spent on Kerfoot, Mikheyev, Kase, Engvall, and Simmonds; and for the Leafs to ask themselves, what did they actually get out of this group? Certainly toss Mrazek into that group as well.
That's the thing with the playoffs -- in a do-or-die situation, you're going to run into a hot goalie, and/or a team is going to just start collapsing, blocking shots, and nullify your superstar power. You need guys on the 3rd line that can jump on a single mistake, and make the other team pay. Kampf did it a couple of times early in the season. Even though he didn't do it later on, as the 3rd line C, I think he gets a pass because of how reliable he was, but the wingers have to be able to do something.
