Post-Game Talk: Leafs lose 3-2 in OT | Down 3-0 in the Series

[ACC1224]

I haven’t read the whole thread but are we still blaming McCauley?

 

[Azail]

Then they shouldn't have been paid $11 million.

Win first, then get paid.

Instead Dubas decided to pay, then cross fingers they're not absolute playoff busts...

Which they indeed are, irrefutably.

Pretty rare for players to get paid after cup wins or even tons of playoff success though. Tkachuk got 9.5/year as a perennial playoff disappointment. Rantanen got paid before any post-season success. Eichel 10.5 before ever making the playoffs. Mack only got paid after as he was a pretty meh until his 5th year, so he was signed to a very team friendly deal.

Are they overpaid, sure, but I don't think saving 1.5 mil per deal is the difference between the Leafs winning or losing. If Matthews and Marner were making 9.5-10mil instead of 11mil each, does that make them perform any better in the playoffs?

 

[ItsFineImFine]

I dunno if anyone remembers this. Obviously there's only one Cale Makar but at the same tiem there aren't teams winning a cup spending $40 M on like 4 forwards and having their leading dman score only 41 pts in a season and the next guy almost half that.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

2 goals in game 5 vs Tampa - Loss
2 goals in game 6 - OT win
2 goals in game 1 - loss
2 goals in game 2 - loss
2 goals in game 3 - loss

It's not a surprise that an offense that relies on a few players has fallen off a cliff yet again in the playoffs, that's happened constantly especially as series go deeper. You can't win if you can't score, and this team is just so badly built from top to bottom. Teams find it so easy to contain the Leafs offensively and Dubas has done pretty much nothing to address it

 

[I am Canadian]

Can anyone explain to me why they had such a game plan for tipped shots from the point against Vasil and then completely gave up on that plan??

Why are we acting like screening the goalie isn't what you should do against EVERYONE

 

[thewave]

I'm not trying to come in here as a Lightning fan to take shots in a dark moment. Just shedding light


That series last year was probably the hardest we ever had. And for the Leafs going out like that would have been okay like 5 years ago. When it's early in the process but you have that much fight you can afford to say "deep breath it's okay fans" and preach patience. You guys played like champions. Honest to God champions. Tampa just won because of experience. But this has gone on so long that merely winning a series became akin to the Stanley Cup. Tampa was a lame duck. We haven't had anything in the tank since December. We've literally just been faking it and spent almost 6 months trying to convince ourselves we can climb the Savage Mountain a 4th time without it trying to kill us. But this time we'll do it naked AND without oxygen AND without shelter! I'm not trying to say the Leafs didn't earn the win. I'm saying that they ran into a team more broken than them. Look at what Vasilevskiy has been saying all off season. We were full of shit to the point where even he was neglecting his own recovery process between games.

This is what happens when guys in the office let heart win over mind. Dubas wanted a splash, Tavares wanted to come home. I get it. I really do. But it led to a team that can't effectively allocate the financial resources it needs to win more than a round or two. Signing Tavares moved the pay scale to where Marner and Matthews had to sign for similar. It's not that the stars are failing (we've seen bad years by many guys because it's been so long) but there's not enough around them. It's the dream of building a mansion and Dubas has everything but nails to hold it together.

The front office needs to go. A few guys need to go to alleviate the cap situation. Keefe is unfortunately going to be a burnt offering but he's run into the same problem every coach for the last 13 years has run into in Edmonton. There's a few shining stars and not much else.

I would be furious at the way this team is built and I think you guys deserve better

Cheers

Good read. Rational and I fundamentally agree with you.

 

[Remu]

If only the cup was a limited edition Rolex or Jaeger-LeCoultre then Matthews would be scoring 5 goals per game.

 

[notDatsyuk]

I came to the post game thread wondering how some posters were going to spin this as all Nylander's fault.

Pleasantly surprised that he's been mentioned negatively as little as he has.

The only one really blaming him that I've seen is a known hater, and that's been on a different thread.

 

[Rob Brown]

This is seriously the pain and joy we must endure… coming back from 0-3 and winning 4 in a row.

Starts Wednesday

Go Leafs

Would be cool but doubt it happens. Maybe we win 2 and lose in 6 or something dumb.

 

[keonsbitterness]

I haven’t read the whole thread but are we still blaming McCauley?

Just one person based on the last 3-4 pages.

 

[Darcy Tucker]

I mean, Matthews has proven his worth in past seasons. Nowhere near an 11mil player this year, or unfortunately in the playoffs. He has never elevated like McDavid or Draisaitl or Mack. JT was always going to be overpaid as a UFA. Marner in the regular season is probably close to a $11mil player. Unfortunately all of this doesn't transfer to playoff success.

The simple solution is to force JT into accepting a cap dump trade and moving him to the Kraken for a draft pick and prospect at 25% retained.

Matthews , Marner and Nylander you re-up when the time comes and hope that O'Reilly and Aciari help change the complexion of our team going forward. Lafferty is usable as well.

The dmen... I have no fkin clue how they are going to shake down. Samsonov is now a big question mark too.

Throw in our top prospect saviour Knies playing a few games then getting stone cold stunnered by that clown Bennet.

All after beating our arch nemesis and gaining respect in the hand shake line.

Ouch

 

[PromisedLand]

Its a good thing that Liljegren is getting the experience at least

oh wait....

we gotta play a pending UFA that is absolute trash in holl and gotta massage the ego of 39 yr old Giordano eventhough he has sucked ass

 

[Gallagbi]

[

You don’t blow it up.

Did they? I’m not looking it up, but to my memory OV’s teams got Penguined in round 2 until they finally took them down and went all the way.

I dont think you blow it up, but i dont see how you keep this core together. Im sure itll by Nylander going, but I dont think thats the right call

 

[Azail]

I dunno if anyone remembers this. Obviously there's only one Cale Makar but at the same tiem there aren't teams winning a cup spending $40 M on like 4 forwards and having their leading dman score only 41 pts in a season and the next guy almost half that.

Honestly, Rielly has really stepped up. He's been great. The problem is their big core players have not been anywhere equivalent to Mack, Rantanen etc.

 

[34]

He's untradable first because some idiot of a GM (I won't mention Dubas' name) gave him an NMC.

He's untradable second because even at 50% retained he isn't worth it now.

Yeah, tavares is brutal.

 

[myleafs]

So who do you trade? Honestly? Which one do you trade just knowing it's gonna bite you in the ass.

And how the hell do we get out of Holl's contract?

We have the pieces to maybe pry Bedard out of whoever gets him. That would be a pretty good start

 

[Rob Brown]

We have the pieces to maybe pry Bedard out of whoever gets him. That would be a pretty good start

Never going to happen

 

[Stephen]

Defence and goalies. I’m at low point here but D and goalies wins Cups right? Always has been always will be.

I’ll be better tomorrow

Cheap goalies, imploding defense and star power that doesn’t shine really isn’t a winning recipe eh?

 

[Gabriel426]

Just want to put it out there Gallant is available, lol.

For real. It is more than coaching if the top guys played in a do or die game like they did today. There is no way anyone can justify AM, MM and JT brought anything in the 2nd round.

They still can redeem themselves in the series but most likely, they will be good in one or two games with great stats and then become silence again in Game 6.

Why can’t our top guys play like other teams top guys.

 

[wingman75]

Can anyone explain to me why they had such a game plan for tipped shots from the point against Vasil and then completely gave up on that plan??

Why are we acting like screening the goalie isn't what you should do against EVERYONE

It's bizarre. After 7 years of playoff nonsense, they actually played a playoff style game in round 1... and then tossed it out the window and went right back to doing the same shit that didn't work for said 7 years (or 6 or whatever it was).

Clearly this leadership group do not have the mental wherewithal to do what works... consistently.

 

[stuart5035]

finally time for a proper rebuild

I don’t envy the ownership on this, it is going to be very difficult to decide what to do.

On the one hand, there is the fact that Dubas has built a strong contender for several years now and has shown himself to be adaptable and has many shrewd moves to his credit. I think I read that the teams streak of making the playoffs every year is an enviable one.

I think the first decision is Matthew’s and Nylander extensions followed by what to do about Tavares. It will require balls to trade them if they haven’t signed long term by next season and it will take even more balls to buy out Tavares or cook up a deal for some other team to eat at least half his contract. Despite him being a class act, his contract and what he delivers is a big anchor on this team.

I don’t know that Dubas could be the guy to do all this, that might make letting him go the first move, which might lead to Matthew’s and Nylander not signing anyways, which also leads to the end of keefe

What a tangled mess this summer will be

 

[Larcos_Unal]

I dunno if anyone remembers this. Obviously there's only one Cale Makar but at the same tiem there aren't teams winning a cup spending $40 M on like 4 forwards and having their leading dman score only 41 pts in a season and the next guy almost half that.

Blow your load on 4 forwards and you're left with limited cap space for D. It's not a balanced roster, and if the big boys don't show up you have no shot.

 

[A1LeafNation]

I literally cannot wrap my head around 91 34 and 16 invisible in a must win.

Without hyperbole, can this be rationally explained. Anyone?

 

[Guided by Veseys]

The window definitely seems to be almost closed. I’m a bit surprised that it is the panthers slamming it shut but we are a game away from a sweep. Never really thought much of the Panthers this year or last, Leafs always played them close, but now it’s three straight games lost against a team that just barely made the playoffs and has Radko Gusas and Mark Staal establishing themselves as the top d men in the series.

 

[Azail]

The simple solution is to force JT into accepting a cap dump trade and moving him to the Kraken for a draft pick and prospect at 25% retained.

Matthews , Marner and Nylander you re-up when the time comes and hope that O'Reilly and Aciari help change the complexion of our team going forward. Lafferty is usable as well.

The dmen... I have no fkin clue how they are going to shake down. Samsonov is now a big question mark too.

Throw in our top prospect saviour Knies playing a few games then getting stone cold stunnered by that clown Bennet.

All after beating our arch nemesis and gaining respect in the hand shake line.

Ouch

Yea, JT isn't going anywhere. He's here for 2 more years. Why would he say yes to a trade when his entire family and roots have been laid down here to retire.

ROR is already 32, isn't the fleetest of foot. I can't say I would be thrilled at signing him long term. Also don't think he will stay anyways based on people saying his family is all in St. Louis still.

Matthews, Marner and Nylander I have no idea though. I feel like one probably has to go, just to change something lol.