Post-Game Talk: Leafs Lose 4-2

[thewave]

I wonder if I will ever forget that phrase and what it means in the context of this core? Probably not.

Is this the most memorable Leaf related phrase of the last 50 years? Probably, at least I can't think of anything else ATM. Sad stuff.

Can you believe that the Leafs have now been an NHL joke and losers for over half of their existence..

 

[IPS]

If this were actually the case, then this place would be far more measured after the Leafs win a few games in a row, but it's not. And that's fine. It's the nature of being a sports fan. But just like you shouldn't plan a parade when the team wins three games in a row, there is no reason to start talking about rebuilds after they lose two games in a row. Let's see what they look like when the playoffs start.

Yeah obviously nobody can predict the future. What most people do figure though is that the team is showing the exact identical problems they've shown the last 8 years which has resulted in garbage. I get it you were sort of all in on the whole Keefe being the entire problem and how Berbue is going to transform the entire team but it just hasn't been the case at all.

You can't look at this last stretch of games and think that the team is just going to magically elevate their play to a cup-worthy level in the postseason.

 

[Hockey 4 Life]

This place is toxic only because everyone overreacts after every win and loss. Teams are allowed to lose a couple of games in a row. The great Tampa Bay Lightning, the team that everyone here loves to praise, lost three in a row before last night. Florida lost to Montreal and looked terrible doing it. It happens. These games of course have value for determining where teams land in the standings, but history shows that regular season games tend to have pretty low predictive value for the outcome of playoff games. Judge this team for what it does in games 5, 6 and 7 of a playoff series, not game 68 of the regular season.

We are judging them based on what happens in games 5,6, and 7 of the post season and it's a fair judgement because they've lost every year except for one. Based on past precedent this team will fail again likely in the most embarrassing fashion possible as well. You're positivity is a fantasy based solely around you're love of the team and not grounded in anything factual whatsoever.

 

[notDatsyuk]

2026 is top 5 protected, 2027 is top 10 protected.

But yeah I agree with you. Dumbas and Shanahan bumbled this era so f***ing bad but they were also handed a bunch of frauds at the same time.

I just can't take another season of watching the trash 4 again. I just can't.

Top 5 or 10 protected is relevant if you're Buffalo or Chicago, but can you see Toronto dropping that far in the next two years?

 

[egd27]

My wife asked me earlier this year, “do you not watch hockey anymore?”

I realized, after the first couple games of Berube being here - it was just more of the same.

They don’t care, why should I invest my time into that?

Seems like others are in the same boat. Nothing to cheer for.

Yep.

I decided to spend a lot less time on watching them and following them here this season. I'm just not overly interested after seeing the same thing year after year.

If the opponent really wants to beat the Leafs, they do. There's no will to win baked into this team.

 

[Anthrax442]

 

[Nineteen67]

They are just not fun to watch right now.

Should be a fun off-season though I guess?

We thought that same thing this time last year, but remarkably it was more of the same.

 

[Bust]

How are the Islanders doing these days?

Islanders were in a much worse spot than us when Lou arrived. They’ve been wildly more successful in that time period than us with a fraction of the skill and resource.

The inmates run the asylum now due to the “buddy buddy” approach and they feel entitled to these huge salaries due to that. A strong leader would have checked that behaviour and/or moved on the the culprit(s).

 

[Anthrax442]

 

[Hockey 4 Life]

Marner and Tavares walking isn't going to make Matthews and Nylander instantly become players who give it there all night in and night out who hate to lose. It's just not who they are as players. The only hope is to surround them with players who do hate losing who can also produce in the hope that they will elevate their play when it matters most.

 

[Commander Clueless]

You're right, we should just re up Marner and Tavares for whatever they like and run it back until the respective contracts of our core four players become boat anchors as thy continue to regress. I'm sure you're right though and we should run it back, 8th or 9th time is the charm right ?

I didn't suggest they should run it back. I'm suggesting we're kind of screwed.

You're talking about trying to start a rebuild the off-season after losing a star for nothing because the team was too stupid to make a move when they should have and, now, after just trading away two future firsts.

Matthews, Nylander and Rielly have trade protection. In Toronto (for some reason) that means they won't be moved.

You're talking about a non-option. It's too late for that.

This is the bed they made when they didn't make moves the last few times this team failed. We're getting close to a decade now.

We have two options:

1) Run it back (LOL)
2) Try and retool around Matthews/Nylander/Rielly while losing Marner for nothing (screams into nearest pillow) and going into a thin UFA class with the cap skyrocketing and what seems like a growing trend towards players avoiding Canada.

If they take option 2, maybe we can start a rebuild in a couple years (barring Washington level success or something).

Hope is in short supply.

 

[Bust]

Making those TDL deals knowing this guy will not be 100% for the playoffs is plain and simple incompetence and will look very bad on them when they hold their annual playoff failure end of season presser.

I agree.

But what is the alternative? Tell the fanbase that your captain decided that the 4-nations was the most important thing to him in 2025?

Matthews was obviously told that if he is injured he couldn’t go. And has been roughing out for the year. Due to optics, he’s still playing - but it’s clear as day he’s hurt.

Inmates running the asylum. We can thank dubas for that behaviour and Shanny for enabling it.

 

[Hockey 4 Life]

I didn't suggest they should run it back. I'm suggesting we're kind of screwed.

You're talking about trying to start a rebuild the off-season after losing a star for nothing because the team was too stupid to make a move when they should have and, now, after just trading away two future firsts.

Matthews, Nylander and Rielly have trade protection. In Toronto (for some reason) that means they won't be moved.

You're talking about a non-option. It's too late for that.

This is the bed they made when they didn't make moves the last few times this team failed. We're getting close to a decade now.

We have two options:

1) Run it back (LOL)
2) Try and retool around Matthews/Nylander/Rielly while losing Marner for nothing (screams into nearest pillow) and going into a thin UFA class with the cap skyrocketing and what seems like a growing trend towards players avoiding Canada.

If they take option 2, maybe we can start a rebuild in a couple years (barring Washington level success or something).

Hope is in short supply.

If you take a look at a few of my earlier posts in this thread I've basically said the exact same thing. You and I are pretty much in complete agreement.

 

[MSZ]

Yep.

I decided to spend a lot less time on watching them and following them here this season. I'm just not overly interested after seeing the same thing year after year.

If the opponent really wants to beat the Leafs, they do. There's no will to win baked into this team.

I'm getting there already. It has been the exact same shit since 2018(I give them a pass for 2017), it's no longer entertaining.

 

[Nineteen67]

Weren’t Marleau and Thornton really good players, and decent in the playoffs?

I don’t think the problems with this core is lack of trying, my eyes tell me it has more to do with physical ability.

 

[rumman]

And the goalies are in new territory and nobody knows how well they’ll perform.

I’m amazed Woll hasn’t injured his groin yet, goaltending has been the bright spot thus far imo…….

 

[Commander Clueless]

If you take a look at a few of my earlier posts in this thread I've basically said the exact same thing. You and I are pretty much in complete agreement.

Fair enough.

We're at 20 pages. I may have skimmed the thread

 

[rumman]

Rielly is moveable. We're not getting a top prospect and 1st for him but he's moveable. And Mo doesn't seem like the type of dude to stand in the way of a trade. I'd rather allocate the 7.5m in cap space at this point.

Perhaps Marner and JT moving on to greener pastures will inspire the remaining overpaid divas to ask to be traded, it’s not the worst idea imo…….

 

[Stephen]

Yep. It’s hard to accept the harsh reality about him but yeah, he’s a loser until proven otherwise, it’s sad but true. So far, his entire career proves that fact.


As long as he’s famous and paid, he doesn’t seem to care about anything else. He seems to love the social and financial perks of being the premier star on the Maple Leafs more than anything else. He knows that here in Toronto, or in any other Canadian market, he will be worshipped just for breathing. In most of the American markets, no one would be able to notice his presence and existence. People would be too busy talking about the quarterback on their NFL team, the star point guard on their NBA team, or the star pitcher on their baseball team.

For a superstar at his level, his low urgency game and inability to meet any important head to head moment is just extremely disappointing.

 

[Peasy]

What your seeing is a fanbase who's witnessed many, many years of failure literally seeing a repeat of the same movie and knowing precisely what they're seeing.

Not a fanbase who's just slapping the blue and white goggles on and pretending it's all hunky dory.

Overreaction? Get the f*** out of here with that nonsense, believe it or not some of us a have memory that goes past 1 offseason.

Bros been sayin the Leafs are the best team in the atlantic, will win the atlantic etc for years now. Hes rarely ever right on his prediction for teams around the league yet always thinks so highly of the Leafs lol.

Pretty sure at the beginning of the year he was goin on about how Vasi is still ass and hes cooked now etc. The guy has literally been the 2nd best goalie this year

 

[rumman]

Honestly, I think he was told he needed surgery and went overseas for an 2nd opinion. Due to the 4 nations, he didn’t take that option, now he’s playing around 50% output.

He will have surgery immediately after we get eliminated.probably 3-6 months recovery if it’s his back.

Another wasted season it seems.

Surely we don’t do the same thing again, eh?

Leafs just willingly went along with this scenario?

 

[Metroid]

I've always sorta thought this year was a "transition" year ans next year they do some damage... But even like this, watching them play , whether it's a losing skid at the worst time or shit imploding isn't fun. We need to find a way to defund MLSE and not have major corporations in charge of a blue collar hockey team. (What once was back before all this bullshit corporatism, but unfortunately, corps are (actually.. have taken over the world. They're already ruined music with live Nation... End rant. Let's all go get our Timmies and Uber eats and Amazon shit and bow down to our corporate Over Lords

(How's that for a crazy morning rant)

 

[rumman]

Wow this place is toxic
Because the team is toxic

It’s simple, cause and effect……..

 

[myleafs]

I’m well aware that it’s been 57 years.

But let’s not act like they’ve just won the Cup after winning one round of the playoffs. And let’s not act like the franchise needs to be disbanded after a five game losing skid in the regular season.

It’s exactly like those Dr Pepper Fanville commercials.

what if we act like they have won just a single round in 8 yrs?

 

[rumman]

I promise I’m not chasing you around replying to you LOL. I agree with a lot of what you’re saying.

We needed to make changes after MTL. There needs to be consequences. This should be a results oriented business; and if it was, we wouldn’t have these bitchy little contract disputes. It’s all pretty simple really - if you demand a $ figure and proceed to not produce in the playoffs, you’re gone. We should not be worried about anything but how players produce in a leaf sweater.

Lou wouldn’t have stood for it and we would be in a better position if he was still here. We finally landed a premier GM and we let him go in like a year, for another “yes man”.

Completely agree, after losing to the Habs was the time to make changes yet hete we are…….