Post-Game Talk: Leafs lose 3-1; lose series

[HoweHullOrr]

Dubas has screwed us so big i dont even know firing him does anything for the club immediately. It might take couple of seasons to straighten his mess

I think Dubas or Marner might win. Its probably a toss up between those two.

Ya, I don't what it would take to turn it around. This team needs a heart.

 

[93LEAFS]

Tell me about it.

Dubas builds a team with skill in 2019 and 2020 and doesnt win = not his fault.

But when he builds a team with skill and a little more grit in 2021 = still not his fault

I dont follow this logic.

It isnt getting better next season;
-We are back in a division with Boston, Tampa, Florida, and Montreal which means Tampa or Boston in the first round if we make the playoffs.
-$12M in cap space and we need 4-5 forwards. 1-2 D and at least a 1B goalie
-Oh and btw way we have little assets to get better; no 1st, 3rd, 4th and 7th and next year we have 3 picks too
-We are going to lose someone in the expansion draft

It's the cult of Dubas. He can do no wrong.

 

[Lightsol]

Mtl's philosophy has worked for decades, except when they deviate from it. It's simple too
Big mean Dmen that will punish you in front of the goalie and speedy forwards. It works.

And if the Leafs were to try that, they'd be in the box so often you'd think they were the Broad Street Bullies...

 

[Brobust]

 

[Transplanted Caper]

Terrible game. Flashbacks to Jersey in 2001. Just a wet fart of a performance when it mattered most.

Lots of criticisms around the edges, and some of it longstanding, but if Matthews and Marner do what they're paid to do, we're in Round 2. Hard to get past that and have a serious discussion about anything else related to the structure of the organization.

 

[The Best Leafs Ever]

And the Leafs will STILL be a top-heavy, unbalanced team with almost half of their cap tied up in finesse fowards. This model doesn't work. We need Seth Jones, not Jack Eichel.

What will Seth Jones do? We literally gave up 2 goals per game, how many less goals per game with him? Our top line couldn't score to save their careers. We clearly need more scoring come playoffs.

 

[stickty111]

100% right.

 

[Menzinger]

Lou sends his regards from the TD garden in round .... wait for it .... 2.

If he had managed to that here he probably would have kept his job

 

[Boxscore]

Where are the people that were gloating over Foligno

On the list of reasons the Leafs lost this series, the acquisition of Foligno is probably reason #28. When our top two forwards are making a combined $22 million and score a combined ONE goal, we're not going to win anything substantial. Not sure why Nick Foligno is even a topic of conversation lol.

 

[Pookie]

I don't think he's wrong there. It's hard to win in this league and if you make rash decisions based on one series or game, you're bound to make mistakes.

If you are consistently a good to great team, sooner or later, everything clicks and you win the Cup (similar to Washington, Tampa etc) unless you're unlucky like San Jose. The problem is that the Leafs aren't a high performing team. They have trouble winning playoff series that they are totally in control of so the mental damage may be far greater than we think if they can go from looking like a team that allows 4 goals in 4 games to crumbling to the point where every Leaf fan before Game 7 started already knew they were going to lose.

we are 7 years into the Shanaplan.

And just suffered arguably the worst playoff defeat in over 40 years.

they are not building a winning program here.

it has regressed for the last 3.

 

[Lightsol]

Terrible game. Flashbacks to Jersey in 2001. Just a wet fart of a performance when it mattered most.

Lots of criticisms around the edges, and some of it longstanding, but if Matthews and Marner do what they're paid to do, we're in Round 2. Hard to get past that and have a serious discussion about anything else related to the structure of the organization.

And they didn't blow the team up, and they went three rounds the next year...

 

[ItalianLeaf]

Mods, I don’t envy your job the next few days. Please ban as many trolls as possible. This one hurts.

The mods should move the Toronto Maple Leafs team section under the ECHL. Its unacceptable to have advanced to the second round as many times as the atlanta thrashers have in the last 17 years when the other team hasn’t existed in a decade!

 

[Cleetus]

You called it first.
It's not deflecting anything. 2019 was a goalie issue and coaching issue. You know that well. Lets not try blaming Dubas for everything now. 2020 they were literally all kinds of unlucky plus bad goaltending at crucial times. 2021 he fell for fan pressure. Lets give him 2022 without all these things getting in the way.

Can you provide proof of this?, or is the some non sense you made up? how the f*** do the fans get blamed for putting this team together?, they suffered enough with the team losing all the time, so now you say the fans are the ones that built this failure? what a joke. this Falls on the management, the players, not the fans.... this is a cop out.... hoping Dubas gets fired thats enough of his vision sputtering year after year....

 

[baton elevated]

And if the Leafs were to try that, they'd be in the box so often you'd think they were the Broad Street Bullies...

True but so worth it seeing the opposition's teeth on the ice.

 

[Lightsol]

And just suffered arguably the worst playoff defeat in over 40 years.

Well, THERE's the kind of stupid hyperbole we don't need...

 

[Gallagbi]

On the list of reasons the Leafs lost this series, the acquisition of Foligno is probably reason #28. When our top two forwards are making a combined $22 million and score a combined ONE goal, we're not going to win anything substantial. Not sure why Nick Foligno is even a topic of conversation lol.

Because of the assets he cost. We overpaid for the level of player we received. I understand it was market, but we never got the return anyone hoped even if it was due to injury

 

[phillipmike]

You called it first.
It's not deflecting anything. 2019 was a goalie issue and coaching issue. You know that well. Lets not try blaming Dubas for everything now. 2020 they were literally all kinds of unlucky plus bad goaltending at crucial times. 2021 he fell for fan pressure. Lets give him 2022 without all these things getting in the way.

"You called it first" - really?

So lets wait until the team has no adversity whatsoever and then we can fairly judge him? Makes no sense.

Im blaming him because he is the highest ranking hockey official that is responsible for the results of the team on the ice. Him, Keefe and the core failed us and he brought Keefe and signed the core, not to mention the "gritty guys" as well.

This is Dubas' team: everyone on the roster he signed, re-signed. traded for or drafted except for Andersen, Rielly and Hyman plus the coaching staff. That is 90% of the team. If he isnt responsible then fanboy is accurate. Call me a hater for spitting facts - its a badge i gladly wear.

 

[Lightsol]

True but so worth it seeing the opposition's teeth on the ice.

I mean, we tried with the tough gritty team in the early 00's. You know, the one that despite not being all that dirty, is listed as one of the 25 dirtiest teams in NHL history?

 

[SeaOfBlue]

So, we have a combined 6 draft picks in the next 2 seasons. For another first round exit. Isn't a tenet of analytics having more draft picks to increase your odds, but we probably have the least over the next 2 seasons? With nothing to show for it.

More draft picks gives you more opportunities for value. Doesn't really mean you will do all that well with them though. We had a ton of picks in 2016 and we wasted a lot of them on guys who should have never been drafted. 2019 had half the picks and no 1st rounder and we will probably get significantly more value out of that draft (besides Matthews) than we will get from 2016.

Ultimately, it is more about pick value and selecting the right players in the right spots... And I am not talking about those static pick value models you find on the internet. Those are awful and useless.

And finding, or at least narrowing down, the "right players" is a lot easier than NHL teams are making it seem with their drafting abilities.

 

[HockeyThoughts]

I'll be watching too, with the full expectation that they probably miss the playoffs. We are going back to real divisions and ours is a monster. I don't think we are in the top 4 teams...

This year those standings would have been:

GP W L OL PTS PTS% GF GA RPt% RW
Carolina Hurricanes* 56 36 12 8 80 0.714 179 136 0.625 27
Florida Panthers* 56 37 14 5 79 0.705 189 153 0.67 26
Toronto Maple Leafs* 56 35 14 7 77 0.688 187 148 0.616 29
Tampa Bay Lightning* 56 36 17 3 75 0.67 181 147 0.652 29
Boston Bruins* 56 33 16 7 73 0.652 168 136 0.571 25
Montreal Canadiens* 56 24 21 11 59 0.527 159 168 0.446 20
Ottawa Senators 56 23 28 5 51 0.455 157 190 0.402 18
Detroit Red Wings 56 19 27 10 48 0.429 127 171 0.348 16
Buffalo Sabres 56 15 34 7 37 0.33 138 199 0.259 11

I don't feel we are actually better than Boston or Tampa. Its going to be a battle to say the least!

Edit: CAR is not in our division!!

Lol - there is pessimism and then there is this.

The Leafs will not even struggle to make the playoffs next year.

It is what how perform in the postseason that is the concern.

 

[Bomber0104]

If he had managed to that here he probably would have kept his job

Lou's Leafs were way better when they were losing to Cup contenders like the Caps and Bruins in the first round, fresh off of finishing last in entire league.

Dubas' teams (at a much later stage in the team's developement) are getting straight up embarrassed by the lowly, lowly Blue Jackets and Habs.

 

[killer1980]

Absolutely. I hate to say it but the Leafs are a complete joy during the regular season -- they are exciting, put up digits, score tons of goals, and have dynamic players that make games entertaining. I love watching Leafs games and I won't stop. The problem is, they are a totally different team come playoffs.

The Leafs are not a totally different teams come the playoffs, all the other teams are.

 

[ToneDog]

Serious question. How do u beat Colorado when they have Mac making half what 34 is making Ranta making 1.5m less than 16 and they have a young strong D? Simplest answer I can think of is a #1 goalie who does not give up many softies.

 

[17 Clark]

Yes fanboys is name calling. I can't blame Dubas for this but I agree the contracts are on him. He can rectify that mistake unless this organization does something silly and fires him.[/QUOTE Is that Kyle writing this Or his number one fan club yeah it is his fault when you reward people before their time they get lazy proven fact

 

[Mats13]

"You called it first" - really?

So lets wait until the team has no adversity whatsoever and then we can fairly judge him? Makes no sense.

Im blaming him because he is the highest ranking hockey official that is responsible for the results of the team on the ice. Him, Keefe and the core failed us and he brought Keefe and signed the core, not to mention the "gritty guys" as well.

This is Dubas' team: everyone on the roster he signed, re-signed. traded for or drafted except for Andersen, Rielly and Hyman plus the coaching staff. That is 90% of the team. If he isnt responsible then fanboy is accurate. Call me a hater for spitting facts - its a badge i gladly wear.

He actually acquired Hyman too

I don’t think this is his fault. He built a good team and his best players turned into Casper when it mattered most.