Keefe on physicality and grit

[HandshakeLineRespect]

The Leafs inevitable downfall will be lack of grit, intensity and toughness. Too many stoic players that just take it and dont push back. They have a bunch of players that like winning more than they hate losing. Just take a look around the league and look at teams best players and see what kind of nastiness they play with. Scheifele for example, he cant even bring himself to swear but he will blow someone up and drop the gloves if need be. I can go on and on with so called skill players that play mean. Also, the lazy lazy idea that its not in their dna to play nasty is ridiculous. Human males are hard wired for aggression, its literally encoded into out dna and for someone to say that a human is unable to tap into their aggression shows a total lack of knowledge into the human mind.

 

[Magic Man]

Doesn’t surprise me. Players come here and their physical play evaporates immediately.

Look no further than the Amazon series. Keefe urges Foligno not to fight Lowry. Foligno’s response was what stuck with me - looked genuinely shocked that an NHL coach was telling him not to respond after Lowry was abusing guys and the Leafs weren’t even winning.

A substantial portion of the Leafs problems are related to culture.

That bothered me too. Good catch by Amazon. I found that scene pretty interesting. Discouraging a player to fight. It looked like Foligno was trying to come in and make a statement and show what he brings to the table on his new team and there was Keefe insisting he stop.

 

[DraftSchmaft]

Effort level shown by Andreas Johnsson in 18/19 playoffs is what our depth is missing. Guy was everywhere and finishing his checks. Our depth guys today are so soft in comparison. Could really use Moore and Marchment too over any 2 of Mik/Engvall/Simmonds/Spezza. Our management falls in love with the wrong guys.

 

[Stephen]

Effort level shown by Andreas Johnsson in 18/19 playoffs is what our depth is missing. Guy was everywhere and finishing his checks. Our depth guys today are so soft in comparison. Could really use Moore and Marchment too over any 2 of Mik/Engvall/Simmonds/Spezza. Our management falls in love with the wrong guys.

I feel like one of the big errors in the Leafs good guy room building is they passed on Corey Perry in 2020-21, while signing guys like Simmonds and Thornton. Here they were looking for a playoff presence and leader, and they said no to the guy who was coming off a finals run in Dallas, who has a greasy rat demeanor.

 

[PromisedLand]

Initiate not retaliate. That's our playoff issue.

pretty much LOL

but now that kadri isn't here I don't see anyone even retaliate. may be Spezza/Simmonds

 

[Antropovsky]

pretty much LOL

but now that kadri isn't here I don't see anyone even retaliate. may be Spezza/Simmonds

I don't like the idea of old veterans on their last legs who contemplate retirement every year over young players who want to start a career. Built the way it is... with the ufa signings, the goalies, the old guys... this team would have to have a big horseshoe up it's ass to succeed. Kase... injury prone. Spezza and Simmonds haven't been relevant for 3-4 years. Campbell and Mrazek have had shaky careers at best... kase and Bunting? Dubas hit on these two guys but hitting on them all?

 

[ACC1224]

Engvall just got bullied into the boards by Dahlin from the crease. The intensity shown to stand his ground is the same intensity our bottom 6 shows in the playoffs.

Really hope Kase is good to go for the playoffs and lasts 20-25 games. He's the only one I have as a lock to put his heart on his sleeve.

Engvall should have beaten the shit out of him there. Game was over show some frustration

 

[Antropovsky]

Engvall should have beaten the shit out of him there. Game was over show some frustration

Its sad watching this team get bullied around. It really is almost funny at times too.

 

[Antropovsky]

I remember when Carlyle was hired and he walked into the intermission and demanded his team stand up physically to the Bruins. The Leafs went out and I think a few fights happened, one of them being Colby Armstrong who was annihilated. It made them look even worse. Burke went out and got McClaren and Orr and stuck them on the fourth line and surprise surprise, despite having two enforcers who couldn't play hockey, the leafs actually bullied people quite a bit and won alot of hockey games... the Montreal blow out where McClaren and Orr went full out bash brothers is one of my favoritr games of all time. Those leads even nearly pulled an upset on the heavily favored Bruins.

Point is... Keefe, you can't change your players. Only your gm can. You don't need enforcers either... Grabovski was all heart for example. Problem with this group of guys is that for the most part they won't even scowl at their opposition and they don't stand up for each other. I mean what do you expect... 3-4 of them want to be fashion icons.

 

[GQS]

I feel like one of the big errors in the Leafs good guy room building is they passed on Corey Perry in 2020-21, while signing guys like Simmonds and Thornton. Here they were looking for a playoff presence and leader, and they said no to the guy who was coming off a finals run in Dallas, who has a greasy rat demeanor.

I really wished the Leafs had gotten Perry over Simmonds. Wasn't it reported that Perry wanted to sign with the Leafs and Dubas chose Simmonds over him? What a missed opportunity. Other than bringing abit of toughness Simmonds isn't doing much else for us while Perry can still play decent minutes, provide the same toughness and grit and put up a decent amount of points too.

 

[Stephen]

I really wished the Leafs had gotten Perry over Simmonds. Wasn't it reported that Perry wanted to sign with the Leafs and Dubas chose Simmonds over him? What a missed opportunity. Other than bringing abit of toughness Simmonds isn't doing much else for us while Perry can still play decent minutes, provide the same toughness and grit and put up a decent amount of points too.

Perry is better than Simmonds but I would have just gobbled up all three of them if it was league minimum money. We did also gave Jimmy Vesey and Alex Galchenyuk meaningful reps so it's not like we had a flawless roster.

 

[GQS]

Point is... Keefe, you can't change your players. Only your gm can. You don't need enforcers either... Grabovski was all heart for example. Problem with this group of guys is that for the most part they won't even scowl at their opposition and they don't stand up for each other. I mean what do you expect... 3-4 of them want to be fashion icons.

The thing is if the Leafs want to go far in the playoffs then our best players NEED to change and play with heart and fire every game. All our best players need to be more like Bunting who gives it his all every game. We don't need our guys to necessarliy hit or fight more to be seen as tough, we just need them to battle hard and show their fire every shift.

Dubas can bring in players that are tougher and whatnot, but at the end of the day our best guys are going to be playing the bulk of the minutes in the most important times of a game and its on them as to how far the Leafs will go in the playoffs. They're going to be the ones that decide whether the Leafs go far in the playoffs or if they're going to have another early exit.

 

[Sammy Kat]

When I played our coach was very clear,if you don't want to fight you don't have to.
However you must be involved and initiate as well as take.

You have to use a low elbow,a punch,a facewash and some hacking and whacking or they will own you.

If a knuckledragger shows up we have guys for that job too.
Respect is bigger when a little fear comes with it.

Dubas built a team that will keep taking it and almost never give it so no teams have any fear and little respect and just go at them over and over and then we are done.
What toughness he did provide is over the hill or almost useless as proven by one now gone and one sent down.

Our coach is just an extension of our GM so he will not sing a different tune and he stinks at adjustments so come playoff time we again will be making an early exit and burning off another Matthews contract year.

 

[Shooter2x]

The thing is if the Leafs want to go far in the playoffs then our best players NEED to change and play with heart and fire every game. All our best players need to be more like Bunting who gives it his all every game. We don't need our guys to necessarliy hit or fight more to be seen as tough, we just need them to battle hard and show their fire every shift.

Dubas can bring in players that are tougher and whatnot, but at the end of the day our best guys are going to be playing the bulk of the minutes in the most important times of a game and its on them as to how far the Leafs will go in the playoffs. They're going to be the ones that decide whether the Leafs go far in the playoffs or if they're going to have another early exit.

I disagree. Core 4 job is to light the lamp. Whether they do it with grit or not I couldn't care less as long as goals are going on the board constantly. Matthew's was actually a beast though and Nylanders puck protection was his version of strong.

Bunting is A+ and Kampf is defensive stud.

5 roster spots of old, injury prone or soft as butter useless playoff players will kill this team + Justin Holl. That's more than enough spots to fix our grit issue. Still missing one more cycle stopper on D too like how some of Bostons D rack up their hit counts.

Kerfoot is ass as a top 6 winger but not sure what to do about that yet.

 

[GQS]

I disagree. Core 4 job is to light the lamp. Whether they do it with grit or not I couldn't care less as long as goals are going on the board constantly. Matthew's was actually a beast though and Nylanders puck protection was his version of strong.

Bunting is exactly the kind of player that our other top 4 need to be more like night in and night out. Just battle, show heart and be a handful to play against. That's what will generate more offense especially in the playoffs. We know our players are capable of doing that, they just need to do it consistently.

 

[Le Cobra]

If not a single leafs player can even facewash someone or push back when intimidated, that’s a problem. Bunting having to deal with multiple opponents by himself in scrums is a problem. It is a sh.tty way to play a team game. All teams would gladly play Leafs in playoffs cause they have no grit or guts, whatever semantics you wanna use.

i remember a leafs team when even their goalie belfour would push back and often took penalties. long gone are the days of domi baumgartner tucker belak

 

[Le Cobra]

Not too many other than the homers. Honestly the Leafs winning round 1 against any team would be a surprise.

thats not how you spell miracle

 

[Eternal Leaf]

Dubas and Keefe don't have a good read on playoff hockey.

A seven-game series is not like a regular-season game. Everything about it is different. The way a game is called. The effort players put in per shift. The physicality. It becomes a war of attrition and you can legitimately break a team down through hits, scrums, and other pleasantries during the game.

Nothing about that part of the game is symbolic.

 

[Le Cobra]

I feel like one of the big errors in the Leafs good guy room building is they passed on Corey Perry in 2020-21, while signing guys like Simmonds and Thornton. Here they were looking for a playoff presence and leader, and they said no to the guy who was coming off a finals run in Dallas, who has a greasy rat demeanor.

Kadri is missed. Would be interesting if we kept him

 

[Le Cobra]

Bunting is exactly the kind of player that our other top 4 need to be more like night in and night out. Just battle, show heart and be a handful to play against. That's what will generate more offense especially in the playoffs. We know our players are capable of doing that, they just need to do it consistently.

some commentators mentioned that they noticed Buntings style rubbing off on Matthews and Marner - i hope this becomes more apparent in the postseason

 

[2legit2quit]

Could have signed Corey Perry or others but instead we have dog sh1t Simmonds on the 4th line doing jack all.

 

[paulhiggins]

Fire the clown and his clown boss and let them coach and general manage in a non-contact hockey league where they belong.

 

[Shooter2x]

Bunting is exactly the kind of player that our other top 4 need to be more like night in and night out. Just battle, show heart and be a handful to play against. That's what will generate more offense especially in the playoffs. We know our players are capable of doing that, they just need to do it consistently.

Their job is to be elite offensively and play a 200 ft game. If all 4 go point per game who cares what style of play they used to get it is all I'm saying. Whatever theyre doing in that scenario is working. I'm just getting tired of all the heart being thrown towards them when there's 5-8 other roster spots doing jack all in the playoffs.

We have a composition issue. Our core 4 needs to be complimented better. Not even Tampa can win off their skill guys alone. They won the cup after complimenting their skill with a battle ready supporting cast. Our team is soft. Underdogs out play non core 4 players or lines with no core 4 with ease in the playoffs yet they're still going with the same composition against equals.

 

[Griffin76]

The culture created within the Leafs org is to just take it.

 

[Niagara Bill]

i remember a leafs team when even their goalie belfour would push back and often took penalties. long gone are the days of domi baumgartner tucker belak

We still lost. But today with that toughness we have elite skill to win.