GDT: Leafs @ Golden Knights, Tue. Jan. 11 2022

[Griffin76]

Throw all the stats at me that you want but I like Matthews away from Marner so much. It forces him to be the guy. I think he needs this in his development.

 

[Racer88]

How is it weak when the guy is in the crease 1 on 1 with the goalie?

He should have been tighter to the post. He left way to much space on th3 short side

 

[Northernguy10]

Muzzin and Holl both took the same guy, Kampf joined them.

Exactly...When I saw Muzzin going behind the net to join Holl I said "oh no" and then to top it off Kampf decided there weren't enough Leafs back there so he thought he'd join the party...then Muzzin goes for a skate and the Vegas guy is sitting there all alone , not a Leaf within 15 feet of him...Not acceptable...Not sure where Muzzin's head is this year but he can't afford to keep making bad decisions to go along with his 'slowness'...

 

[Jojalu]

Decent road period against a good team. Anytime you can limit a team to 5 shots you should find success.

 

[fahad203]

We were warned...

"This is going to sound like sour grapes from a Boston fan but I don't give a shit.
Ritchie is one of the worst players I've seen in a Bruins sweater in a long time. He routinely made me question what it meant to be a Boston fan, he tested my patience and my ability to root for my boys on a routine basis.

I can excuse a lot, that's what sports fandom is, right? It's a place to be biased and petty and stupid in a safe little sandbox of biased petty stupidity. But suck me sideways Thick Dick Nick made it a chore. I can handle guys lacking talent but playing with heart, I can handle a lack of heart in crazy talented guys, I can handle the staggering room temperature milk mediocrity of guys like Lee Stempniak, but Thick Dick Nick is none of those things.

He plays the game like someone trying to egg you on into taking a swing at him. He skates with the urgency of an old lady shopping for canned beats, but with half the speed. His hockey IQ is on par with Brett Favre's. I'm assuming Brett Farve has never played hockey, correct me if I'm wrong. Nick constantly skates around like he's surprised he's at an NHL game and then glides back to the bench (probably from the penalty box for a stick infraction) with the dim look of Lenny from Of Mice and Men. Then he sits there like a melting chocolate Santa, with his hair inexplicably sticking up through the vent in his helmet, waiting to be surprised by his next turn to get on the ice.

Consider this: He scored 15 goals last year, found some dangerous ice as a PP scorer, and Bruins fans were debating if he would be a good 4th liner or not this year, because our 4th line was that f***ing bad, and Ritchie was the only skater who could conceivably make it worse. He scored 15 goals for us and we weren't sure if he would be a good replacement for Chris f***ing Wagner, the surly hobbit of the TD garden.

Nick Ritchie is a bigger contributor to the decline in cardiovascular health in Boston fans than smoking and obesity. He's the equivalent of a double bacon cheeseburger on your system. He is hockey diarrhea. The guy takes the stupidest retaliatory penalties you've ever seen. He is complete invisible until you need a momentum swing, goes "Got ya boss" and cross checks someone in the neck and bumbles off the ice like Abbott and/or Costello while simultaneously shrugging and bitching to the refs and the guy he blindsided.

I'm sure he's not a bad guy IRL, I don't mean for this to be a character assassination. I'm sure he has family and besides Brett they probably don't suck. This isn't about kicking a player on their way out; let the record reflect that every Boston fan has a few memories of cursing his name and that we started kicking him long before he was down. (See also the general well wishes for Kuraly upon his departure.)

Nick isn't a goon, he's a bad boyfriend. He'll score a couple of goals one week and you'll think he's turned a corner and then he'll hit on one of your friends and tell you to chill out because he's just being friendly. Don't buy the hype, be f***ing aware.
I am ecstatic that Ritchie wasn't held onto as a sunk cost, and that Toronto signed him. There you go, that's your analysis."

Then he sits there like a melting chocolate Santa..............


I laughed so hard at this........ Now I wont' be sleeping tonight. There's no way I can't unsee what I read here

 

[The Examiner]

Simmonds has been a new player this year. As someone who projected him to get waived at season start, he has become a consistent player. He's essentially what we hope Ritchie would be.

He has been great this year but has slowed down a bit since the Winnipeg game.

Night and day from last year. I think he was trying to be too much of a goon last year and this year he’s just playing hockey.

 

[1specter]

Like Luke Schenn before him, Nick Ritchie is just to slow for today's NHL.

He's also an idiot. You can't be both stupid and slow.

Ritchie is lucky he even has hockey cause I'm not sure what he'd be doing with his life otherwise

 

[Griffin76]

He should have been tighter to the post. He left way to much space on th3 short side

No. One of his 4 teammates should've had the guy covered instead of all 4 being below the goal line and there wouldn't have even been a shot.

 

[All Mod Cons]

Put Holl in the press box where he belongs on a team that has cup aspirations.

Imagine if we had Evan Rodrigues and Jared McCann right now.

 

[The Examiner]

We were warned...

"This is going to sound like sour grapes from a Boston fan but I don't give a shit.
Ritchie is one of the worst players I've seen in a Bruins sweater in a long time. He routinely made me question what it meant to be a Boston fan, he tested my patience and my ability to root for my boys on a routine basis.

I can excuse a lot, that's what sports fandom is, right? It's a place to be biased and petty and stupid in a safe little sandbox of biased petty stupidity. But suck me sideways Thick Dick Nick made it a chore. I can handle guys lacking talent but playing with heart, I can handle a lack of heart in crazy talented guys, I can handle the staggering room temperature milk mediocrity of guys like Lee Stempniak, but Thick Dick Nick is none of those things.

He plays the game like someone trying to egg you on into taking a swing at him. He skates with the urgency of an old lady shopping for canned beats, but with half the speed. His hockey IQ is on par with Brett Favre's. I'm assuming Brett Farve has never played hockey, correct me if I'm wrong. Nick constantly skates around like he's surprised he's at an NHL game and then glides back to the bench (probably from the penalty box for a stick infraction) with the dim look of Lenny from Of Mice and Men. Then he sits there like a melting chocolate Santa, with his hair inexplicably sticking up through the vent in his helmet, waiting to be surprised by his next turn to get on the ice.

Consider this: He scored 15 goals last year, found some dangerous ice as a PP scorer, and Bruins fans were debating if he would be a good 4th liner or not this year, because our 4th line was that f***ing bad, and Ritchie was the only skater who could conceivably make it worse. He scored 15 goals for us and we weren't sure if he would be a good replacement for Chris f***ing Wagner, the surly hobbit of the TD garden.

Nick Ritchie is a bigger contributor to the decline in cardiovascular health in Boston fans than smoking and obesity. He's the equivalent of a double bacon cheeseburger on your system. He is hockey diarrhea. The guy takes the stupidest retaliatory penalties you've ever seen. He is complete invisible until you need a momentum swing, goes "Got ya boss" and cross checks someone in the neck and bumbles off the ice like Abbott and/or Costello while simultaneously shrugging and bitching to the refs and the guy he blindsided.

I'm sure he's not a bad guy IRL, I don't mean for this to be a character assassination. I'm sure he has family and besides Brett they probably don't suck. This isn't about kicking a player on their way out; let the record reflect that every Boston fan has a few memories of cursing his name and that we started kicking him long before he was down. (See also the general well wishes for Kuraly upon his departure.)

Nick isn't a goon, he's a bad boyfriend. He'll score a couple of goals one week and you'll think he's turned a corner and then he'll hit on one of your friends and tell you to chill out because he's just being friendly. Don't buy the hype, be f***ing aware.
I am ecstatic that Ritchie wasn't held onto as a sunk cost, and that Toronto signed him. There you go, that's your analysis."

To be fair, I think most of us knew this.

 

[frizzer1]

They can’t compete for a cup with Holl but they can’t afford an upgrade.
Hence , no cup for us.
So we should at least enjoy watching hockey while we can.
,

 

[PanniniClaus]

We were warned...

"This is going to sound like sour grapes from a Boston fan but I don't give a shit.
Ritchie is one of the worst players I've seen in a Bruins sweater in a long time. He routinely made me question what it meant to be a Boston fan, he tested my patience and my ability to root for my boys on a routine basis.

I can excuse a lot, that's what sports fandom is, right? It's a place to be biased and petty and stupid in a safe little sandbox of biased petty stupidity. But suck me sideways Thick Dick Nick made it a chore. I can handle guys lacking talent but playing with heart, I can handle a lack of heart in crazy talented guys, I can handle the staggering room temperature milk mediocrity of guys like Lee Stempniak, but Thick Dick Nick is none of those things.

He plays the game like someone trying to egg you on into taking a swing at him. He skates with the urgency of an old lady shopping for canned beats, but with half the speed. His hockey IQ is on par with Brett Favre's. I'm assuming Brett Farve has never played hockey, correct me if I'm wrong. Nick constantly skates around like he's surprised he's at an NHL game and then glides back to the bench (probably from the penalty box for a stick infraction) with the dim look of Lenny from Of Mice and Men. Then he sits there like a melting chocolate Santa, with his hair inexplicably sticking up through the vent in his helmet, waiting to be surprised by his next turn to get on the ice.

Consider this: He scored 15 goals last year, found some dangerous ice as a PP scorer, and Bruins fans were debating if he would be a good 4th liner or not this year, because our 4th line was that f***ing bad, and Ritchie was the only skater who could conceivably make it worse. He scored 15 goals for us and we weren't sure if he would be a good replacement for Chris f***ing Wagner, the surly hobbit of the TD garden.

Nick Ritchie is a bigger contributor to the decline in cardiovascular health in Boston fans than smoking and obesity. He's the equivalent of a double bacon cheeseburger on your system. He is hockey diarrhea. The guy takes the stupidest retaliatory penalties you've ever seen. He is complete invisible until you need a momentum swing, goes "Got ya boss" and cross checks someone in the neck and bumbles off the ice like Abbott and/or Costello while simultaneously shrugging and bitching to the refs and the guy he blindsided.

I'm sure he's not a bad guy IRL, I don't mean for this to be a character assassination. I'm sure he has family and besides Brett they probably don't suck. This isn't about kicking a player on their way out; let the record reflect that every Boston fan has a few memories of cursing his name and that we started kicking him long before he was down. (See also the general well wishes for Kuraly upon his departure.)

Nick isn't a goon, he's a bad boyfriend. He'll score a couple of goals one week and you'll think he's turned a corner and then he'll hit on one of your friends and tell you to chill out because he's just being friendly. Don't buy the hype, be f***ing aware.
I am ecstatic that Ritchie wasn't held onto as a sunk cost, and that Toronto signed him. There you go, that's your analysis."

That's pretty good stuff.

 

[Havoc]

Vegas feed replaying their goal. Wow that was atrocious D by all 4 guys

 

[saffronleaf]

Throw all the stats at me that you want but I like Matthews away from Marner so much. It forces him to be the guy. I think he needs this in his development.

I used to dislike it when Babcock put Hyman - Matthews - Brown together.

But with how Matthews' game has evolved, he could probably thrive on that line.

At any rate, he doesn't need Nylander or Marner on his line anymore.

 

[fahad203]

Throw all the stats at me that you want but I like Matthews away from Marner so much. It forces him to be the guy. I think he needs this in his development.

His self confidence is off the roof right now. He looks so good out there

 

[LeafalCrusader]

Holl can't be our top 4 if we are a contending team.

Why the hell is Liljegren sitting again?

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Solid 1st period didn't give them much except that PP

 

[meefer]

A pretty uninspiring period of hockey, save the Nylander goal off a great pass by Rielly. Tavares, did he play the last 10 min.? Injured, I didn't see anything. Not to kick guys when they're down, but Muzz and Holl + Ritchie...whoa boy.

I'm struggling to find good or bad, well, 4 players behind the net on a PK = bad.

 

[saffronleaf]

He has been great this year but has slowed down a bit since the Winnipeg game.

Night and day from last year. I think he was trying to be too much of a goon last year and this year he’s just playing hockey.

he was decent last year until the injury. then sucked after that.

 

[fahad203]

Why the hell is Liljegren sitting again?

Covid?

Regardless, we can't go into the playoffs with Holl and Lilly. Lilly is too inexperienced

We need a veteran D. A depth player. Kraken has few of them

 

[Coachcorner]

His self confidence is off the roof right now. He looks so good out there

You've got that right sire. Also uh, imagine those others like that series Lost "others" right now getting evander kane... imagine we facing him in the playoffs with our hunchback of notredame in nick ritchie. Thats like... that's like a hillbilly facing a true G out there. We gotta be smart. Ritchie is not that.

 

[glue]

I so badly want Ritchie to start being better but dude is just hot garbage

 

[saffronleaf]

Eichel on this Vegas team... that's going to be huge. Will they win the West?

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

James Duthie: "What are the odds of Montreal trading their $10M star goaltender?"

Jeff O'Neill: "I'd say 50%."

Way to go out on a limb there Jeff

 

[saffronleaf]

I so badly want Ritchie to start being better but dude is just hot garbage

lol I'm trying not to kick him when he's down but it's taking a lot of discipline