Is Keefe the right coach for this team at this time.

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

I’ll have to go back and check , sorry if I don’t take your word for it .

anyway my point still stands that Keefe made a mistake by moving him to center when he barely played there all year

but I’d you think it was a wise move then your entitled to your opinion

Why couldn't you just say that instead of implying that Babcock didn't do the same thing even though he did? I didn't comment on if it was a good move or not

 

[Martin Skoula]

So your saying Dubas f***ed up by not replacing him when there was a large amount of available goalies this off season .

Yeah he might have, it's my least favorite of his choices so far. Granted I don't know what the market was like and once Lehner was gone there was no large upgrade available. Guess we'll see what happens if there's a season and Campbell gets some 1B starts.

We do know that Dubas tried to move up to Nashville's pick for Askarov, so there's at least some proactivity to fix the position long-term.

 

[X66]

We don’t make decisions , if Andy is holding the team back then it’s on the Dubie to replace him .

I agree, I wished they replaced him.

The only UFA I saw as an upgrade was lehner.

 

[Menzinger]

While there's certainly things you can critique Keefe on during that series, the series went down to being determined by just 60 minutes of play, so think its definitely not at all accurate to claim he got "schooled". If that had been thr case the series would have been over in 3 games.

Taking over a team midway through a season is less than ideal for any coach. To top it off having to go through a non traditional playoff setup is nowhere near sufficient to judge a coach.

Its definitely "time will tell when it comes to Keefe and the Leafs one way or the other. But I've liked what I've seen so far. Hes got a proven track record of working with young players - isn't afraid to bench guys who underperformed and most importantly is willing to experiment with change when things aren't working. Whochbi think is a much healthier attitude than simply repeating the same thing and hoping for randomly new results

 

[Kiwi]

While Andersen wasn’t the problem, he certainly wasn’t the solution. He played well but the team also limited Columbus’ chances. Not to mention he was up against the worst offensive team in the play-in. He was the worst of the 3 goalies that played and let in a few softies that put some games out of reach.

That doesn’t excuse the forwards, but let’s not pretend like he had a strong series either.

Let's not pretend he's the reason we lost either, our forwards and coaching decisions (especially the game 5 lineup) have a lot to answer for as well

That sounds impressive until you realize it puts him 3rd out of 3 goalies that played in that series. He's never been the best goalie in a series ever. That is an issue. He's 31. When will this happen? He was 0-4 in deciding games in Anaheim and they traded him

We're spending 40 million dollars on 4 forwards, most of our available resources are going towards offensive production and we made two good not great goalies look like prime Roy

It's hard to win an elimination game with 0 goals and that has nothing to do with Andersen choking

He had a .936 against the worst offense in the league with no real offensive threats and was the distant 3rd best goalie in a 5 game series.

So he played against an offensively inept team and produced good results?

Perhaps the team that's built around scoring more than the opposition should score at least once in an elimination game instead of whatever the hell they were doing?

 

[hotpaws]

Why couldn't you just say that instead of implying that Babcock didn't do the same thing even though he did? I didn't comment on if it was a good move or not

My memories coming back , didn’t Babs move him to centre after Kadri was suspended ? much different situation so I don’t see your point considering one did it out of necessity and the other did it by choice .

 

[Kiwi]

While there's certainly things you can critique Keefe on during that series, the series went down to being determined by just 60 minutes of play, so think its definitely not at all accurate to claim he got "schooled". If that had been thr case the series would have been over in 3 games.

Taking over a team midway through a season is less than ideal for any coach. To top it off having to go through a non traditional playoff setup is nowhere near sufficient to judge a coach.

Its definitely "time will tell when it comes to Keefe and the Leafs one way or the other. But I've liked what I've seen so far. Hes got a proven track record of working with young players - isn't afraid to bench guys who underperformed and most importantly is willing to experiment with change when things aren't working. Whochbi think is a much healthier attitude than simply repeating the same thing and hoping for randomly new results

I've got no problem with giving a young coach an opportunity but with that comes some drawbacks, much like Dubas when he took over the GM's job

I think Keefe panicked and made some poor decisions during that play in round, were going to have to accept that as he gains experience but I do want to see growth from him and the team this season

 

[stickty111]

He had a 936sv%

If that isn't good enough we've got a serious problem, especially when your sinking tens of millions of dollars into offensive play drivers

Most of whom disappeared

And he also allowed those bad goals. Not sure why people think Andersen is allowed to have bad goals. Actually those players showed up. They ran into a lucky team.
I can't blame the players for running into bad luck.

 

[stickty111]

Let's not pretend he's the reason we lost either, our forwards and coaching decisions (especially the game 5 lineup) have a lot to answer for as well



We're spending 40 million dollars on 4 forwards, most of our available resources are going towards offensive production and we made two good not great goalies look like prime Roy

It's hard to win an elimination game with 0 goals and that has nothing to do with Andersen choking



So he played against an offensively inept team and produced good results?

Perhaps the team that's built around scoring more than the opposition should score at least once in an elimination game instead of whatever the hell they were doing?

Also lets not pretend Andersen did his job well. If your happy with a goalie who was outplayed and gave up deflating goals, then sure but when that happens, you aren't going far.
No they didn't make them look like that. Theu ran into a team who had a rediculious stretch of luck.
How did he produce good results? Your being fixated on the .936 and not looking at the goals and when he gave them up.
Your just being angry and responding without context. They got plenty of chances but the other goalie was better. Thats not their fault.

 

[stickty111]

I've got no problem with giving a young coach an opportunity but with that comes some drawbacks, much like Dubas when he took over the GM's job

I think Keefe panicked and made some poor decisions during that play in round, were going to have to accept that as he gains experience but I do want to see growth from him and the team this season

Keefe didn't panic. He coached that series really well.

 

[stickty111]

I just don't get how it's so hard for people to see that.

This is the 4th straight series that Andersen was outplayed by the other goalie.

And this series in particular, Columbus' goalies were simply making saves that Andersen wasn't.

Some just want to point at a different direction in terms of blame, and not look at context on Andersen. He didn't perform again.

 

[stickty111]

I just don't get how it's so hard for people to see that.

This is the 4th straight series that Andersen was outplayed by the other goalie.

And this series in particular, Columbus' goalies were simply making saves that Andersen wasn't.

He had a .936 against the worst offense in the league with no real offensive threats and was the distant 3rd best goalie in a 5 game series.

Some just want to point at a different direction in terms of blame, and not look at context on Andersen. He didn't perform again.

Andersen's SV% on low danger shots in the playoffs? .931. 2nd lowest from all goalies.
He was awful again and allowed horrendous goals that should be stopped.

He actually was good at stopping the dangerous shots. .905(6th best)

However he was bad stopping the medium danger shots

So again he allowed deflating goals. Didn't stop the ones he should have stopped. He wasn't good. Thats just a fact.

 

[Martin Skoula]

Andersen's SV% on low danger shots in the playoffs? .931. 2nd lowest from all goalies.
He was awful again and allowed horrendous goals that should be stopped.

He actually was good at stopping the dangerous shots. .905(6th best)

However he was bad stopping the medium danger shots

So again he allowed deflating goals. Didn't stop the ones he should have stopped. He wasn't good. Thats just a fact.

Just blindly saying ".936" is becoming the new +/- of this board. Just letting in the first goal of the game and letting CBJ turtle with the lead is bad enough, that's not even bringing up how many goals he let in within 2-3 minutes of the period starting or ending.

 

[ACC1224]

Torts absolutely schooled Keefe in the playoffs. He is a nice guy but he is at another level. Players like to play for him....because Keefe does not crack the whip so to speak.

The leafs need a guy to push them. The talent is there handsdown to win it all. But someone needs to push them like a Torts/Keenan type coach that wont take any crap from the youngin's.

Is Keefe on a short reign if he fails in the playoffs again?

What are your thoughts?

It never seemed like a good idea to have a green GM and a green Coach but that’s what we have. They’ll learn on the job and hopefully find success. Dubas seems to be learning from his mistakes, hopefully Keefe does as well.

 

[KyleDubasBoyGeniua]

Just blindly saying ".936" is becoming the new +/- of this board. Just letting in the first goal of the game and letting CBJ turtle with the lead is bad enough, that's not even bringing up how many goals he let in within 2-3 minutes of the period starting or ending.

Yep. And it places him 3rd of 3 goalies in that series. It means nothing.

Also, Andersen had the exact same issues in Anaheim in the playoffs with a "Better D".

 

[Captain Crunch]

Torts absolutely schooled Keefe in the playoffs. He is a nice guy but he is at another level. Players like to play for him....because Keefe does not crack the whip so to speak.

The leafs need a guy to push them. The talent is there handsdown to win it all. But someone needs to push them like a Torts/Keenan type coach that wont take any crap from the youngin's.

Is Keefe on a short reign if he fails in the playoffs again?

What are your thoughts?

I don’t believe that Keefe got schooled. Torts had two goalies playing out of their minds, as well as a solid defensive system (and it also helps having Seth Jones and Zach Werenski on defence).

I’m hoping that the changes Dubas has made, as well as Keefe being here right from the start, will help propel us towards a more successful regular season, and a much-needed deep playoff run.

 

[KyleDubasBoyGeniua]

Torts has been fired 3 times. He'll get fired again. He's nothing special.

 

[Kiwi]

And he also allowed those bad goals. Not sure why people think Andersen is allowed to have bad goals. Actually those players showed up. They ran into a lucky team.
I can't blame the players for running into bad luck.

Marner and Nylander sucked, Tavares was ok and Matthews was excellent, everybody else was varying degrees of meh

That isn't showing up and our offense disappearing isn't on Andersen

Also lets not pretend Andersen did his job well. If your happy with a goalie who was outplayed and gave up deflating goals, then sure but when that happens, you aren't going far.
No they didn't make them look like that. Theu ran into a team who had a rediculious stretch of luck.
How did he produce good results? Your being fixated on the .936 and not looking at the goals and when he gave them up.
Your just being angry and responding without context. They got plenty of chances but the other goalie was better. Thats not their fault.

And your looking to put the blame on one guy because then you don't have to do uncomfortable things like look at the skaters or coaching staff and the mistakes they made

Context? The team didn't score in an elimination game and the game 5 lineup was insane but that me being angry is it? I keenly await you now telling me why Andersen screwed that up as well

Keefe didn't panic. He coached that series really well.

He completely changed the forward lineup before game 5 and put our 2 franchise centers on one line, it also put the middle 6 into a blender

If that's what good coaching looks like I want a second opinion

 

[Martin Skoula]

Marner and Nylander sucked, Tavares was ok and Matthews was excellent, everybody else was varying degrees of meh

That isn't showing up and our offense disappearing isn't on Andersen



And your looking to put the blame on one guy because then you don't have to do uncomfortable things like look at the skaters or coaching staff and the mistakes they made

Context? The team didn't score in an elimination game and the game 5 lineup was insane but that me being angry is it? I keenly await you now telling me why Andersen screwed that up as well



He completely changed the forward lineup before game 5 and put our 2 franchise centers on one line, it also put the middle 6 into a blender

If that's what good coaching looks like I want a second opinion

Gee why would you run the line that scored 3 goals in a couple minutes the night before?

 

[ACC1224]

Gee why would you run the line that scored 3 goals in a couple minutes the night before?

They probably should have went with the goalie out as well.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

He better be, because he's been given the team Babcock should have been given.

Keefe has the grit up front Babcock was never given.

Keefe has 3 capable goalies, Babcock had 2 for a short while, then Mac got waived and the backup was ignored for 17 months.

Keefe has a MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH more complete defense than Babcock EVER did.

This is the team Babcock should have been given.

It's the team Keefe has, he better make good with this opportunity.

 

[ShaneFalco]

smh

 

[KyleDubasBoyGeniua]

He better be, because he's been given the team Babcock should have been given.

Keefe has the grit up front Babcock was never given.

Keefe has 3 capable goalies, Babcock had 2 for a short while, then Mac got waived and the backup was ignored for 17 months.

Keefe has a MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH more complete defense than Babcock EVER did.

This is the team Babcock should have been given.

It's the team Keefe has, he better make good with this opportunity.

Babcock constantly misused the talents he was given. He saw many years of that. That's 100% on him.
Leafs were not losing in the playoffs because of "Grit" at all. They outhit Boston in the 7 game series last time they played and Kadri was barely there. He chose to obsess over line-matching therefore allowing the opposition to dictate Leafs' own usage.

Babcock could have run the PP like Keefe did. He had the same tools but chose not too. He could have given the young stars the TOI Keefe does, but chose not to. He could have played a puck possession game, but chose to have his team dump the puck on every shift.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Babcock constantly misused the talents he was given. He saw many years of that. That's 100% on him.
Leafs were not losing in the playoffs because of "Grit" at all. They outhit Boston in the 7 game series last time they played and Kadri was barely there. He chose to obsess over line-matching therefore allowing the opposition to dictate Leafs' own usage.

Babcock could have run the PP like Keefe did. He had the same tools but chose not too. He could have given the young stars the TOI Keefe does, but chose not to. He could have played a puck possession game, but chose to have his team dump the puck on every shift.

I'm not talking about just losing to Boston because I do blame that more on Kadri being an idiot than anything else. I'm talking about allowing Sparks and especially Hutchinson to piss away points LONG after it was clear they weren't good enough.

I'm talking about not addressing the defense properly and allowing Marincin, who is VERY clearly not good enough to be the #7 guy when teams like Boston had Halak as the backup and John Moore as the #7 guy.

These are things that should have been addressed years ago when Babcock was coach.

But they are addressed now and that's good, now it's time to deliver there are no excuses left for Keefe or Dubas now they HAVE to deliver

 

[KyleDubasBoyGeniua]

I'm not talking about just losing to Boston because I do blame that more on Kadri being an idiot than anything else. I'm talking about allowing Sparks and especially Hutchinson to piss away points LONG after it was clear they weren't good enough.

I'm talking about not addressing the defense properly and allowing Marincin, who is VERY clearly not good enough to be the #7 guy when teams like Boston had Halak as the backup and John Moore as the #7 guy.

These are things that should have been addressed years ago when Babcock was coach.

But they are addressed now and that's good, now it's time to deliver there are no excuses left for Keefe or Dubas now they HAVE to deliver

I'm just stating that Babcock misused the great tools he was given every single game. Keefe did a much better job at using them than Babcock did.

Babcock was given Matt Martin and benched him half a season let's not forget that. And babcock pushed to get him to begin with.