Is this leafs team likeable?

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Definitely not. We had a group of young guys that could have endeared themselves to their fan base but instead they thought it was a great idea to act like a bunch of spoiled entitled brats.

Marner especially missed a golden opportunity to be really entrench himself as the fan favourite. Had he taken a contract that started with a 9 instead of 10, he’d have established his persona of being the hometown kid who just wants to play while still being stupid rich. The contrast between him and Matthews and Nylander would’ve been palpable.

Instead him and his entire camp acted like dicks throughout the entire process and soured his reputation. Just had to get that near $11 million a year contract. Now he’ll be scrutinized for the rest of his deal.

Overdrive guys have said it best, this core will go down as either the greatest or the most disappointing core in the team’s history. I hope it’s the former.

 

[Killer Orcas]

Mathews needs to learn to smile and team starts winning more and I'm sure that's enough to like them.

 

[paulhiggins]

This is the only team in 50 years that the only time I'll watch them intently is when I'm at work getting paid to watch them, during my lunch and breaks. This has only been true since Dubas took over from Lou, although my patience for the multimillionaire coach was wearing thin long before that. I like a team that prides itself on heart, grit, hustle and character. Not much of that here.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

No heart, no emotion, no character.

my fav team in the last 10 years is the lockout shortened season. Orr, Mclaren, Frazer would tune anyone who came even close to Kessel JVR and Kadri tf up. Throw a Matthews or Marner on that team and you have a heavy skilled and balanced team. What we have now won’t win ****. If the offence isn’t going we are screwed. No willingness to back check, play team D and get into the dirty areas.

not a lot of skill on that team but all heart and we still had some good players. Letting Nonis go after Clarkson while walking Grabo and McArthur and history wrote itself.

Whoever enjoys this “all skill and speed” team doesn’t know what real hockey is. Dubas IMO isnt qualified to even hold the door open at Scotiabank arena. No idea how Shanahan stands for this **** after he came in and was “disgusted” by the lack of character form Phanuef and Kessel. What do you think of this team Shanny?

Too true, that brief moment from 2013 until that horrific collapse in 2014 was entertaining as all hell. Last gasp of that blue collar Leafs persona. Not nearly as much success as their early 90s and 2000s counterparts but at least the majority of games weren’t a snooze fest.

A lot of heart on the 2013 team too. Kadri, Grabovski, MacArthur, Lupul, Komarov, they were skilled and gave a damn. Orr, McLaren, and Fraser were the muscle behind our stars. Kessel and Phaneuf still had warts when it came to perception from the fan base, let’s not get revisionist, but it is fair to say that they got dumped on for things other than their on ice play. Reimer was also very likeable as the underdog goalie. Still a goddamn shame that they just couldn’t keep it together for 10 minutes.

what's to like?

every single guy on this team is devoid of a personality-- matthews, marner, nylander, andersen, tavares, you name it - they put half the nation to sleep soon as they start talking in a post-game interview - yes, these guys really ARE that solemn

all we had was kadri and komarov but of course they gave them away - now we have nothing, literally NOTHING in terms of personality, heart, passion, soul and grit

the entire team looks like a sad collecton of small, soft, scared little kids

the real men are playing on teams like st. louis and boston

and then we have our big, tough guys like - marner, nylander - bahahaha sorry I cant even finish this without laughing

Lack of personality is also an issue when it comes to likability . Tavares is stoic and the rest of the stars are so media trained that there’s no real character at all. You know who the most interesting guys are? A guy who’s known for loving soup and can barely speak English, and Freddy the Goat. Wow, what engrossing personalities. It’s certainly not the 15-16 Jays or last seasons Raptors.

Overall, no one within or around the organization seems to be enjoying themselves, and this goes back to last season. Yes at the end of the day this is a business with millions of dollars involved, but it’s still a sport! It’s still entertainment! It’s still supposed to be fun to watch! The Leafs right now are anything but.

I hope they can wake up out of whatever this funk is that permeates the team soon. Tonight against Washington was a step in the right direction. Hopefully we see more pushback and fight and some semblance of character going forward.

 

[Hacketts]

no

 

[TheBigThree]

No heart, no emotion, no character.

my fav team in the last 10 years is the lockout shortened season. Orr, Mclaren, Frazer would tune anyone who came even close to Kessel JVR and Kadri tf up. Throw a Matthews or Marner on that team and you have a heavy skilled and balanced team. What we have now won’t win ****. If the offence isn’t going we are screwed. No willingness to back check, play team D and get into the dirty areas.

not a lot of skill on that team but all heart and we still had some good players. Letting Nonis go after Clarkson while walking Grabo and McArthur and history wrote itself.

Whoever enjoys this “all skill and speed” team doesn’t know what real hockey is. Dubas IMO isnt qualified to even hold the door open at Scotiabank arena. No idea how Shanahan stands for this **** after he came in and was “disgusted” by the lack of character form Phanuef and Kessel. What do you think of this team Shanny?

That 2013 team was great with McLaren and orr. Two of them beat the shit out of the whole Montreal team in one game. Even though they were scrubs other than toughness I still have so much fond memories. Toronto fans always loves tough teams, this new team is so damn soft built in the image of the soft GM who old school real men agents turned him inside out. Dubas is a sissy and so is his team.

 

[thewave]

That 2013 team was great with McLaren and orr. Two of them beat the **** out of the whole Montreal team in one game. Even though they were scrubs other than toughness I still have so much fond memories. Toronto fans always loves tough teams, this new team is so damn soft built in the image of the soft GM who old school real men agents turned him inside out. Dubas is a sissy and so is his team.

This team sucks, it's a sissy team for sure. I don't think I will make it watching them much longer tbh. The 2013 team was awesome, they could have done it too if they brought in tending and another player like Cammy. Was a good team, 3 ppg players, that's so rare in that era and they didn't invest, stupid managers... Big sexy lol

 

[supsens]

You guys wanna trade teams?

 

[ZEBROA]

They could be a likeable team. Switch the voice in the lockerroom. You cant make this team a gritty team, so play them in there strenghts. A gameplan that support the players, dont force to much crap that dont come natural. The best players on each line needs the best support. Find that out. Reward players in game who got great flow that same game. Play the best players(that game) at the same time as much as possible, when trailing and some when not trailing.

Small adjustments can make a big difference.

 

[Joedoggy]

Not sure a team can be likeable with certain coach's face out there all the time..."Its all about Mike"

 

[Cecithepylon]

Some players are. Matthews is great. Marner has pissed people off. I like soup and Moore a lot. Riley is good. Muzzin is great

 

[TheGroceryStick]

It isnt fun because our biggest assets aren't doing what I expected them to do.

Make teams pay for taking penalties ..their bad matchups... mistakes... etc (that's what good teams do)

We lack the killer instinct to put teams away with our skill. We should be the team coaches worry about when trying to deploy their defensive forwards... yet they can just roll lines, play aggressive and make the 'skill' think twice about wanting to go into corners.

I've liked babcock.. but his style is that of a boring game relying on structure, he even mentioned his finish product wont rely on high scoring/fun looking games.

It's tough to look at. I dont know how we lost that fire and fun we saw a few years ago.... I remember thinking "it nice to see a team finally have a good time, flush out the loser mentality" but here we are, looking like the Oilers.


The odd thing is... I really like these players. Something has to give

 

[ImpartialNHLfan]

This team stinks. Not even close to the "best leaf team in history" that I've heard around here all summer.

 

[ThaiTanicDK]

The only guy you can love on this team currently is Andersen cuz buds for ever.

 

[thewave]

This team stinks. Not even close to the "best leaf team in history" that I've heard around here all summer.

It's like a movie with the most amazing of hype, just non stop hype and then it drops... Bombs. Then come the excuses lol

 

[FlatIron]

I know people will tell me “if you don’t like it, stop watching” but I don’t want to stop.

Do what I do with the Habs, watch occasionally but don't lose your mind over them and wait for coach/GM to get fired. I beg for Habs to lose because I want to see Bergevin get fired so badly. He's a terrible GM IMO, I mean he brought back Therrien as his first duty as a GM in 2012. Habs are as soft as Leafs, we have speed but that's it.

Don't go crazy, I've appreciated being a fan of the league more now that I'm not a super fan of the Habs fan. I'm getting too old for the nonsense of the Habs front office.

 

[ToneDog]

Love Kappy. The Greedy 3 have left a bad taste in the mouths of Leaf fans. Had they settled without the holdouts and/or appeared to leave money of the table for the "team", they would be more likeable. Hard for players like Nylander and Marner not to be liked by Leaf nation, but they did this to themselves by claiming there were better than they were and then under performing.

 

[BayStreetBully]

Love Kappy. The Greedy 3 have left a bad taste in the mouths of Leaf fans. Had they settled without the holdouts and/or appeared to leave money of the table for the "team", they would be more likeable. Hard for players like Nylander and Marner not to be liked by Leaf nation, but they did this to themselves by claiming there were better than they were and then under performing.

Guys like Rielly, Tavares, Andersen and Kapanen are fine with me and still very likeable.

I agree with you about the “G-3”.

 

[Commander Clueless]

This team stinks. Not even close to the "best leaf team in history" that I've heard around here all summer.

I was excited for them this year...on paper....

I should have known it was dangerous to have hope. Somehow, the Leafs always manage to sucker me in...


Mind you, there's plenty of time to tow this 18-wheeler back up the cliff....not super optimistic, personally, but it could be done.

 

[ToneDog]

what's to like?

every single guy on this team is devoid of a personality-- matthews, marner, nylander, andersen, tavares, you name it - they put half the nation to sleep soon as they start talking in a post-game interview - yes, these guys really ARE that solemn

all we had was kadri and komarov but of course they gave them away - now we have nothing, literally NOTHING in terms of personality, heart, passion, soul and grit

the entire team looks like a sad collecton of small, soft, scared little kids

the real men are playing on teams like st. louis and boston

and then we have our big, tough guys like - marner, nylander - bahahaha sorry I cant even finish this without laughing

I do not agree when it comes to Kappy (hard worker, passionate and has character) and Tavares (professional, hard worker who bleeds blue and white). There are others but Nylander and Marner have tarnished their brand with Leaf nation.

 

[ToneDog]

I was excited for them this year...on paper....

I should have known it was dangerous to have hope. Somehow, the Leafs always manage to sucker me in...


Mind you, there's plenty of time to tow this 18-wheeler back up the cliff....not super optimistic, personally, but it could be done.

Suckering Leaf fans for 52 years and counting.

 

[socko]

 

[Lenovs]

I really like the bottom six and our rookies, that's where I can see heart and soul of this team.

I dislike the big three, paid like superstars and not willing to carry the team or not capable of doing so.

love the crest, but not the current team.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Suckering Leaf fans for 52 years and counting.

Nah, there was a solid decade in there where my hope levels were bottomed out....and for good reason!

Ironically enough, I enjoyed watching the games during the garbage-but-hardworking era. No expectations is a wonderful thing in hockey.

 

[ShaneFalco]

I think they will be when the coach is removed