Post-Game Talk: Leafs lose. Thornton on the first PP unit. Weak. Nice work keefe. Do better.

[mrbagina]

The Habs are more than happy playing a tight game and waiting for a mistake. Need to inject more offense.

Felt like we played right into their hands instead of setting the pace and tone ourselves. We were reactive instead of proactive. This is a playoff recording.

 

[Suntouchable13]

Felt like we played right into their hands instead of setting the pace and tone ourselves. We were reactive instead of proactive. This is a playoff recording.

Exactly. They love it that Leafs are playing Thornton, Simmonds, and Nash.

 

[Ziggdiezan]

Which is fair, but then this core needs to figure it out cause you got 3 players like that

Pretty much lol

 

[Trapper]

You don't win a trade if you trade Marner. He is that special of a player and not many teams will be able to fit his cap hit so the return would be extra bad with likely cap dumps coming the other way.

You go as long as you can with your core but eventually if you can’t win, changes need to be made. I’m not talking about beating Montreal (the who you should beat anyway) teams. The big picture

Eventually these guys will also be coming up to UFA so that always needs to be watched.
What did you achieve from draft to UFA?

 

[mrbagina]

exactly. So many people in hear need to chill the hell out. It’s one game, after a week off, after a devastating injury to our captain. We had our chances and unfortunately got unlucky. Did we play well? Not really. I don’t see ya playing like shit next game.

If the boys don’t come out hard for JT On Saturday night And lose that game, then I’ll be nervous. But for now, it’s 1 friggen game people

Your right it is only one game, however that one game looked a lot like (exactly) the games against the Jackets last year and that's what has everyone on edge cause we haven't shown yet that we can do anything about it.

 

[6ix]

If the leafs lose this series Marner needs to be traded for Seth Jones

 

[Ziggdiezan]

At the same time if a core shake up is needed, after 5 early exits, Marner might be the best way to shake up the leadership group and core.

I agree he brings a lot of good intangible and tangible qualities, but at the end of the day if he can't step up and produce in the playoffs like he can in the regular season... that's a big issue.

If he could take it up a notch, with Matthews, they should be a dominate force in the NHL playoffs. We need them to take that line to Pasta-Bergeron-Marchand levels.

With JT out, this is their time to step up and lead this team out of the first round. The have the offensive ability to carry this team for a round, collectively, so it's time for Marner to step up and do it.

I completely get that sentiment and I am bias because Marner is my favorite player. However I don't think management will trade him even if I think it is a good idea. Also his cap hit would really reduce the return to the point it wouldn't be worth doing I would think.

Agreed it is time for the original big 3 to step it up and prove they aren't regular season only players. I still think they can do it this year but wasn't a great start though Nylander did have a good game

 

[Ziggdiezan]

Poor teams (ie, most of the league) would be flat out desperate for Marner. Trade him after July 1st when he gets his signing bonus, and you get four years of Marner for 5 million a year in real money. A 100 point player for 5 mil... they would make whatever cap adjustments were necessary.

That is a good point however that limits the amount of teams he could be traded to which would limit his return. Plus when you trade a player like Marner it is almost always for a collection of lesser assets

 

[Ziggdiezan]

You go as long as you can with your core but eventually if you can’t win, changes need to be made. I’m not talking about beating Montreal (the who you should beat anyway) teams. The big picture

Eventually these guys will also be coming up to UFA so that always needs to be watched.
What did you achieve from draft to UFA?

Agreed, not saying I think Marner should be untouchable i just don't think he will be moved for a few reasons.

 

[Dreakmur]

Exactly. They love it that Leafs are playing Thornton, Simmonds, and Nash.

They barely played those guys. Marner played almost as much as all three of them combined.

 

[Willchel Marlynder]

Really happy to hear JT has been discharged and is doing well. Hoping he has a speedy recovery.

As for what happens next, it's just the next man up. We really need Nylander to shoulder the load for secondary scoring. There have been nuggets of games where he has taken over and has been flat out elite. Going to need to see that Nylander much more (He had stretches of that last night).

We're also really going to need a better game from Marner. He's a special player so hopefully he can just relax and play like we know he can play. Aside from Spezza, who only plays on the 4th line, I don't really have much confidence that anyone in the bottom 6 can provide offense. Maybe we see that Mik-Kerf-Engvall line again that looked pretty good at times last season. Would love to play Joe maybe every third game and have someone like Brooks in instead.

 

[CabanaBoy5]

If Simmonds doesn’t pound on Chiarot next game then why the hell is on the team. Semi dirty hit on Tavares leading to his injury, grabbing our star by the collar and trying to rag doll him, and numerous cross checks to our players in front of the net. Do your bloody job!

 

[Throw More Waffles]

That is a good point however that limits the amount of teams he could be traded to which would limit his return. Plus when you trade a player like Marner it is almost always for a collection of lesser assets

We wouldn't be looking for a similar player, as they cost too much money. Marner would be traded because the unprecedented experiment of half the cap on four forwards has proven to be a failure. So yes, he'd be traded for lesser assets. And that would be the plan.

This is based on the leafs losing the series to the Habs. I think it's about 50/50 at this point. Could go either way.

 

[Twine Tickler]

for as pissed off as we are, can anyone imagine how pissed off the guys on the team are?

do you think they liked losing their captain, and losing the game?

they'll come out tmw and kick the living shit out of them physically and on the scoresheet

 

[mrbagina]

Hyman-Engvall-Mikeyhev needs to be reunited.

Take Thorton out and put Galchenyuk back up with 34 and 16.

Yes please to the bolded. Also 77 between 97-19 and Foligno back with Matthews Marner

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Mitch has ZERO chance to get through da trap Habs are playing .. he is gonna be reduced to starting shifts when faceoff in Habs end .. he is just not fast enough to break a trap .. and not strong enough to play a game needed to break a trap .. Willy at least can use his speed to break it .. and Matty has power to break through too .. Mitch unfortunately has neither and his shot not strong enough either when he gets setup like last night .. folks don't rail on him he does not have raw skills to be a factor on this series da way Habbs are playing it .. virtually every Hab forward except Perry can outskate him

 

[ShaneFalco]

It's maybe time to not play Mitch so much - ZERO power play goals?

 

[hockeyes]

If Simmonds doesn’t pound on Chiarot next game then why the hell is on the team. Semi dirty hit on Tavares leading to his injury, grabbing our star by the collar and trying to rag doll him, and numerous cross checks to our players in front of the net. Do your bloody job!

Yea, Simmonds was a big disappointment last night. Anderson tried to take his head off and there was no retaliation at all on anyone. Not saying he needs to do something stupid but when Montreal is running around like a bunch of reckless scrubs, his job is to make them think twice. If he can't or won't do that, he shouldn't be taking up a spot.

 

[killer1980]

I love how when we were a bottom of the league team everyone clamored for more skill and less toughness and now that we have a lot of skill we want to downgrade for more toughness.

I want skill players with toughness. They are not exclusive to each other. Most winning teams combine the two.

 

[Woodman19]

I want skill players with toughness. They are not exclusive to each other. Most winning teams combine the two.

Of course, but you can probably count on one hand the amount of high skill players who are also exceptionally tough and physical.

 

[mrbagina]

Poor teams (ie, most of the league) would be flat out desperate for Marner. Trade him after July 1st when he gets his signing bonus, and you get four years of Marner for 5 million a year in real money. A 100 point player for 5 mil... they would make whatever cap adjustments were necessary.

Swap out Marner, nylander for both Tkachuks

 

[Gallagbi]

A lot could change i just don't see them moving Marner over Nylander. He is one of the main guys in the leadership group. Always him giving the entire team high fives when they go on/off the ice. Plus he is a local kid, I just don't think he will ever be traded. Nylander as you said has played well and is paid much less, this should also help get a really good return if a shakeup is needed

I get your point and don't necessarily disagree, but I think a lot of how much of a move they feel they need to make.

 

[Pookie]

Lots of suggestions for 4th line changes.

bottom line is that when Marner plays 27 mins... if he doesn’t produce, it’s not looking good.

27 mins?? Wow.

 

[Gallagbi]

Getting ahead did us sweet f*** all in 2018-19. we had a 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 series leads. If we want to reference demons of the past, than getting ahead in the series would not exactly mean much.

We agree the Bruins were a significantly better team than CLB or MTL, no?

lets reserve judgement on this team if/when they don't get past Montreal. This pack it in mentality after 1 game is part of the reason this team never succeeds in the first place. A large portion of the fanbase expects failure. There is still a f*** ton of hockey to be played, and half of this fanbase is talking about shit that is irrelevant to them winning the next 4 games. My opinions of this team don't shift game to game. My opinions of VGK didn't change after losing game 1 either. I'll gladly jump on the train of misery if they end up coming up short, but until then I'll keep my head up

Vegas has earned the benefit of the doubt, we haven't.

I want this team to succeed. I'm hopeful they can because by all accounts they should, but they never seem to come through and boy does that ever scare me.

 

[Gallagbi]

Mitch has ZERO chance to get through da trap Habs are playing .. he is gonna be reduced to starting shifts when faceoff in Habs end .. he is just not fast enough to break a trap .. and not strong enough to play a game needed to break a trap .. Willy at least can use his speed to break it .. and Matty has power to break through too .. Mitch unfortunately has neither and his shot not strong enough either when he gets setup like last night .. folks don't rail on him he does not have raw skills to be a factor on this series da way Habbs are playing it .. virtually every Hab forward except Perry can outskate him

The trap wasn't his issue. Finish and unforced turnovers were.

Hit the open man when its there instead of misreading their speed or forcing it needless. Elevate on that 2on1 and were all praising him today