If NYlander was sick, they would say so, if he was injured they would say lower or upper body. Nylander has never missed a game, he is basically an ironman. All of a sudden after dog effing it down the stretch, he doesnt start the playoffs. He was scratched for game 1, imo. He is also notorious for being late. Its possible after signing his deal he was late more often, his play dropped off a cliff after he signed a huge deal. Its possible they are tired of his aloof, b,s. or the example he shows on the ice which is " ill play when i want".
Pre-Game Talk: Leafs @ Bruins game 2.
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HellasLEAF
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To be honest the fact he missed game 1 felt almost automatic would be out game 2 as well. Last 3 seasons 81, 82, 82. Unless he further aggravated it in Tampa, the fact he was playing down the stretch is baffling to me.
Willie's absence is very noticeable. The team has lost a dimension with him out.
stickty111
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Aashir Mallik
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I don't think he's "faking" or "being benched" or whatever bs others have come up with
my thing is that while this may or may not have happened after the 82nd game, there was no reason to play nylander all 82. He could've sat 2-3 and especially the b2b to end the season. We pretty much knew we were going to play saturday so even from a freshness perspective, it would've been 3 days off.
Sitting him wouldn't for sure have stopped this, but it sure as hell wouldn't have made this worse.
Stephen
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Woll is most likely going to give us poor goaltending. I’m of the mindset this series is a lost cause and if anyone wants to try anything I’m not really against it. But the downside is you’re giving up the odd chance Sammy gets it back and the alternative is no better. Personally, I think we’re probably not far from a Murray call up. And I see the series progressing like the Florida series.
There’s nothing from Game 1 or the tune up that gives me confidence this team isn’t the second worst team in the Eastern conference bracket. Team is free to prove me wrong.
HockeyVirus
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Come on man. Only thing I can think of is he could probably play through it and the debate internally is to let him play and perhaps further injure himself and be out later, or let him miss the first few games and hopefully he is healthy for a long playoff run.
Either this or it is mind games
I get your point. Hill came in and played out of his mind. A goalie 100% can steal a series if he gets hot at the right time.
I find it harder to do unser this Leafs current squad, but it absolutely can be done
3blizzard4
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I don’t think he is sick. They can disclose sickness. No worries there.
They can’t disclose injuries for obvious reasons.
Remember Keele said after the Tampa game that Willy has been done with the regular season for a while and is waiting for the playoffs?
So what gives?
Aashir Mallik
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Why wait till game 1? Why not send the message earlier on where you could call him out and no one would bat an eye at management and coaching. He's been skating leisurely since game 69, so the call out could've been game 75 or something
I'd buy this for a regular season game, but it makes no sense for the playoffs. You send messages to make it clear this shit won't fly IN the playoffs. No one sends messages to one of their top players during the playoffs.
SprDaVE
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No they wouldn't. They said before game 1 they wouldn't disclose any injuries or what they are in the playoffs. If it was disciplinary reasons, why not just say that with that logic? Why hide it through some fake injury? Only reason why we know McMann is out with a lower body injury is because he got injured well before the playoffs started.
It's truly amazing what people will want to believe. It's easier than just accept the fact that he got a bad injury at the worst possible time.
No he's not.
Also makes no sense to scratch one of your best players in the playoffs.
If you know that your goaltending isn't a strength, then it's up to the coaching staff to design and implement a system that insulates them as much as possible. Our coach does not do that.
tom leafers
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was it against Detroit or Florida that nylander got rocked with that big hit? i wonder if that has anything to do with it and whatever it was it just kept getting worse and worse
weems
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HellasLEAF
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He is? I don't see how you can know this so definitely. Can't be any worse than Sammy he was swimming around all game and was nowhere near good enough to win that hockey game. Sammy sucked in Game 1, but let's go right back to him because...why I dunno. His feelings might get hurt.
You then recommend we skip over Woll and go to Murray.... Oh dear.
It really is. I know its been said many times by fans of my age (36), but the teams I watched growing up never won anything either. But damn I look back fondly on players like Roberts, Tucker, Thomas, Clark. Those guys won nothing but are legends in Toronto. Basically all you gotta do is try, play hard, make a run or two. This group doesn't seem to have that in them, which is sad cause that seems like the bare minimum for playoff hockey. Probably the same reason we look back with hindsight and say yeah he made some dumb plays but damn we miss Kadri. Toronto fans don't really ask for much, but unfortunately this team isn't capable of giving much.
I hope they will prove me wrong but I won't hold my breath.
this team is simply cursed like wtf
Stephen
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Leafs started him vs Boston back to back and he lost by identical scores of 4-1 that played out just like Game 1. He shows lapses in mental concentration allowing the opening goal in multiple games. And he did the same in the Florida game last Tuesday that imploded a great 1st period.
Woll is not a saviour. Put him in if you want, I don’t think it matters but this Samsonov Woll back and forth produces the same mediocre goaltending both ways. Each guy sucks long enough for fans to want to try the other one.
Only “risk” here is once you move on from Sammy there is virtually no chance he’s going to bounce back and be the good version of himself that he was building up to.
I think the reason why Keefe won't comment on Nylanders injury is because it's something that happened in either game 81/82 where there was absolutely no need to play Nylander other than padding personal stats. Seems more like him covering his own ass at this point.
WTFMAN99
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Nylander being in would be a huge help but at the same time, if you can't overcome so adversity and 1 player being out of your line up, you are never winning a thing.
Stephen
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I almost feel like they need to tell us what’s wrong with Nylander, and that explanation needs to be a good one or else they’re risking player reputation damage and fans will be going apoplectic if Game 2 goes poorly. It’s no longer about Bruins gamesmanship. Especially Keefe saying all that careless “Willie is done with the regular season.”
Evilhomer
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Lower back is always a good guess. Anything back-related can be pretty debilitating.
Stephen
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