Post-Game Talk: Leafs Lose (again) 4-0 vs. Pittsburgh.

[TheProspector]

Babcock's taking responsibility is ****ing amazing.

 

[Giuseppe Sallo]

People hating on BABS! Are you serious?! He's here for the long haul... be trusts Hunter/shanny. You don't think he knows this tram is crap.

He is committed to the future; a better future; with better talent.

 

[Mess]

Phil the thrill managed 1 measly shot on net in his return to Toronto and Pens PP has gone from one of the best last year to one of the worst this year by Pens replacing Kunitz with Kessel.

 

[JEI]

This was one of the few Leafs games I thought were 'tough to watch'.

Given it was back-to-back, and it's this team vs the Pens, I guess it was expected.

 

[ULF_55]

Morning after reflection ... I'm happy with the result.

If they continue to perform like this no one is getting a long term contract and those character flawed players will be move to another location to see if they might grow in a different climate.

Not all vegetables can be grown in every garden.

I certainly hope Hunter's scouting has some success because almost nothing drafted between 2006 and 2014 after Gunnarsson is worth a blink.

What a disaster Shanahan inherited.

 

[deletethis]

Morning after reflection ... I'm happy with the result.

If they continue to perform like this no one is getting a long term contract and those character flawed players will be move to another location to see if they might grow in a different climate.

Not all vegetables can be grown in every garden.

I certainly hope Hunter's scouting has some success because almost nothing drafted between 2006 and 2014 after Gunnarsson is worth a blink.

What a disaster Shanahan inherited.

This is where it both hurts and is beneficial. Players who are currently being promoted as salvageable may not be after all. But seriously you don't think anyone on this team can stay? Like Rielly at least?

 

[Mess]

This was one of the few Leafs games I thought were 'tough to watch'.

Given it was back-to-back, and it's this team vs the Pens, I guess it was expected.

In fairness to the Leafs Lundqvist .943 and Fleury .942 are both top 4 in the NHL in sv% this year so the 1 goal in 2 games isn't all that surprising.

 

[SprDaVE]

Morning after reflection ... I'm happy with the result.

If they continue to perform like this no one is getting a long term contract and those character flawed players will be move to another location to see if they might grow in a different climate.

Not all vegetables can be grown in every garden.

I certainly hope Hunter's scouting has some success because almost nothing drafted between 2006 and 2014 after Gunnarsson is worth a blink.

What a disaster Shanahan inherited.

The disaster is definitely on purpose though, more or less. They went into the season knowing it's a rather weak lineup but all for the sake of the long-term goal of creating a contender.

I don't think they expected it to be THIS bad but they definitely didn't expect to compete very much anyway.

 

[burpsalot]

Pretty soon Las Vegas is going to have an over under on Babcocks length of tenure here.

I have to say, just having a Kessel made this team watchable, but without him? Pretty unwatchable. Sure he was pretty snarky and stuff, but the guy had talent and was fun to watch, this is just so not fun to follow, bout as much fun as read the obituaries.

Yea, didn't he look awesome yesterday, so fun to watch him.

 

[Duffman955]

The disaster is definitely on purpose though, more or less. They went into the season knowing it's a rather weak lineup but all for the sake of the long-term goal of creating a contender.

I don't think they expected it to be THIS bad but they definitely didn't expect to compete very much anyway.

When Babcock signed that fat contract, all he talked about was increasing compete.

I haven't seen any compete this season. The players Shanahan and Babcock signed this year have all been colossal failures (except Hunwick).

 

[deletethis]

BTW, the Leafs won the Corsi matchup in this stinker.

 

[ULF_55]

The disaster is definitely on purpose though, more or less. They went into the season knowing it's a rather weak lineup but all for the sake of the long-term goal of creating a contender.

I don't think they expected it to be THIS bad but they definitely didn't expect to compete very much anyway.

I think the disaster is accidentally on purpose.

With nothing in the minors from almost a decade of poor drafting they didn't go out of their way to sign difference makers in the off season.

Drafting - accident
No difference makers - on purpose

This is where it both hurts and is beneficial. Players who are currently being promoted as salvageable may not be after all. But seriously you don't think anyone on this team can stay? Like Rielly at least?

I think the 23 and under should be given an opportunity to show they have the character the team needs.

 

[RobBrown4PM]

Garbage team is garbage. I was expecting these kind of results this season. I'm far from mad though as this might be the best thing to happen to the Leafs in a long time. We need a true stinker of a season or two to build through the draft.

 

[dimi78]

Babcock needs to be careful. There's nothing he can do and they're only 10 games into the season. Putting too much on yourself or on the players this early will make things real ugly real quick.

Ugly? They decided they I mean management decided that it would be ugly when the 5 kids earned a roster spot out of camp and were still sent down because they wanted ugly to tank. If anything Babcock is putting pressure on management to give him the kids that should have never been sent down to begin with.

Just trying to take some of the pressure off the players. The players I'm sure take notice and respect that. Good move by him.

Babcock is not trying to get the pressure off the players at all. He's an honest man and unlike fans knows exactly how the level of responsibility works. Management gave him this group to at least be competitive. That's Babcock's responsibility and when they're not that falls on him rather he has the talent to do it or not because that's his job. Until management gives him the kids that have earned jobs out of camp I'm afraid people around here should just forget about this year. It's a tank job and will be a massive challenge for Babcock to keep this team at least competitive.

Babcock has been set up to fail this year but he's not like the predecessors to point fingers eliminating himself from what his responsibility is to the current group he has to work with. As he said the Buck stops at him. The frustrating thing about this tank is that it doesn't have to be like this. They have ready talent to be competitive and not necessary be out of the lottery race if they just went young and actually rebuild instead of this "Tank". Lot's of waste of time and waste of an opportunity for valuable NHL experience not given out.

I've accepted the fact that they're tanking however I will really be upset if they call any of the deserving kids up at all this year rather it be at the trade deadline or not. Management should be crucified if they call any of the kids up with there flat out lies of propaganda coming full circle. You B.S your way into keeping kids down now stay by that. Keep them down all year. What I would really like right now is people stop going to games as well. That's part of a tank and management shouldn't get a pass for losing on purpose and not rebuilding like they said they would.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Ugly? They decided they I mean management decided that it would be ugly when the 5 kids earned a roster spot out of camp and were still sent down because they wanted ugly to tank. If anything Babcock is putting pressure on management to give him the kids that should have never been sent down to begin with.

Babcock is not trying to get the pressure off the players at all. He's an honest man and unlike fans knows exactly how the level of responsibility works. Management gave him this group to at least be competitive. That's Babcock's responsibility and when they're not that falls on him rather he has the talent to do it or not because that's his job. Until management gives him the kids that have earned jobs out of camp I'm afraid people around here should just forget about this year. It's a tank job and will be a massive challenge for Babcock to keep this team at least competitive.

Babcock has been set up to fail this year but he's not like the predecessors to point fingers eliminating himself from what his responsibility is to the current group he has to work with. As he said the Buck stops at him. The frustrating thing about this tank is that it doesn't have to be like this. They have ready talent to be competitive and not necessary be out of the lottery race if they just went young and actually rebuild instead of this "Tank". Lot's of waste of time and waste of an opportunity for valuable NHL experience not given out.

I've accepted the fact that they're tanking however I will really be upset if they call any of the deserving kids up at all this year rather it be at the trade deadline or not. Management should be crucified if they call any of the kids up with there flat out lies of propaganda coming full circle. You B.S your way into keeping kids down now stay by that. Keep them down all year. What I would really like right now is people stop going to games as well. That's part of a tank and management shouldn't get a pass for losing on purpose and not rebuilding like they said they would.

Keeping "the kids" up would have been a bad move IMO. I don't think this is the environment for development, and I certainly don't think we'd be competitive with a couple of kids added to this lineup. Rebuilding does not mean rushing prospects.

 

[Ovate]

No one in the Penguin's top 6 looked good yesterday. But they'd have looked much worse if Kunitz was there instead of Kessel.

 

[mikebel111*]

When Babcock signed that fat contract, all he talked about was increasing compete.

I haven't seen any compete this season. The players Shanahan and Babcock signed this year have all been colossal failures (except Hunwick).

The compete has improved. Just wasn't there last night
Watch more catefulky

 

[Riellyfan04]

Why are people so shocked about this outcome? management and babs told us all that this was expected! and thank god its happening! This is what Leafs needed 12 years ago!!!! a real rebuild! We need this year and next to lose as many as we can! get some more solid prospects in the system then try to get some winning attitude! If we get can another top 4 pick this year it would be amazing for our pool! we'd have Rielly,Nylander,Marner and 2016 top 4 pick to build around! We are finally seeing leafs having good youth in the system! I honestly think we need to trade JVR asap before he starts losing his value! he isn't as good as he was with Kessel.. but thats another thing to talk about.. Lets just hope this losing keeps going and our prospects develop nicely! cheers

 

[CabanaBoy5]

This is all fine and good, ya we have been sucking for a long time but there is NO OTHER SOLUTION. Unless we can get a time machine and go back 10-15 years when all this sucking started, we have to continue until the job is done. I'm not saying this is the start but this isn't close to the end, thats for sure. We have no first line centre, no number 1 D man, no number 1 goalie. This is the first time that there seems to be a logical plan in place, not "draft smahft" or "free agency is our draft day". Futility will continue until it is no longer needed, as is necessary in a system that rewards bottom feeding teams with top talent.

Fans will come when winning comes. If they lost a generation of fans, trading away futures to be semi competitive now won't bring them back. Competing for championships will.

There is no guarantee my friend. We can be 5 yrs up the road and the list of excuses will continue. You have to believe that this time management will do it right which doesn't mean sucking to acquire draft picks, but fill in the roster properly. My goodness the fill-ins that management acquired this year are atrocious to the point that Lupul and Bozak look like stars compared to them.

 

[colchar]

When a coach gives you 0 direction and just accepts a tank, thats what happens.

Babcok has done nothing to instill confidence in any players.

You haven't the slightest idea what Babcock has or hasn't done, nor what individual player's confidence levels are.

The drop in play of both Jake and morgan from the start of the season is alarming.

They are still young and defencemen take longer to develop.

 

[hotpaws]

No one in the Penguin's top 6 looked good yesterday. But they'd have looked much worse if Kunitz was there instead of Kessel.

Kessel was invisible , not only did he create nothing on Offense but he was also his typical soft lazy self .

 

[deletethis]

Kessel was invisible , not only did he create nothing on Offense but he was also his typical soft lazy self .

He's a different cat. It's like nothing raises his pulse. I remember him not looking the least bit fired up against the Bruins for most of the years he was here while they seemed super determined to not allow him to hurt them. We saw the same thing last night. It really just looked like any other game to him.

 

[deletethis]

BTW, what was up with that crowd last night? They reacted to nothing. When the game was still in doubt, stone silent.

 

[Duffman955]

BTW, what was up with that crowd last night? They reacted to nothing. When the game was still in doubt, stone silent.

Its been 10 years since there was something to cheer about

 

[ThrowDemTongs]

Some of the "fans" this team has... I wish they weren't fans of this team.