Post-Game Talk: Leafs lose to Stars, 4-1

[leafs in five]

Awful, just awful. This is what happens when half the cap is spent on 3 bums and one playmaking savant - no flexibility, too many bad depth players since you can’t afford anything else etc. I feel for the coaches of this franchise, their GM/president don’t give them the tools to work with.

we can afford to pay Domi+Kampf+Reaves 7.5m combined

 

[Racer88]

So we are back to bad coach. Next is bad goalie. Then the media and town are not supporting the team correctly. Then repeat the full circle after the next bad coach is hired.

No kidding eh. All I hear are excuse after excuse. What about all the years of Keefe where they didn’t play dump and chase and we had the same results as we are seeing this year

 

[leafs in five]

No kidding eh. All I hear are excuse after excuse. What about all the years of Keefe where they didn’t play dump and chase and we had the same results as we are seeing this year

same results as in, first place in division?

 

[TheGreenTBer]

Bunkis also taking these clowns to task. Got their money x2 and are no longer kids. Time to get it done.

Most unlikable core. Blow it up if we see the same rerun in the playoffs.

Yup. This is it. No more chances. If they still can't win with the improved goaltending we've seen for much of the year they never, ever will and it's time to move on (in case it wasn't already.)

 

[horner]

NewGM strategy is to overpay the stars and the depth, rather than just the stars.

At that time when he came in as GM
He didn't have alot of options at center

The previous GM did such a great job at shoring up the center position that he had no choice.

Dubas in trading for O'Reilly should have signed him before the trade the same with Schenn .

 

[leafs in five]

LOL and we pay what 40+ million AAV combined for four forwards for offense eh? LMAO

you can look up standings and stats by date on nhl.com, Leafs were +30 on Jan 15 in 21/22 and 22/23 (+14 last year)

 

[Racer88]

The PP is a snap shot that’s what’s wrong with this team. It’s 5 talented players, it’s not dump and chase and it’s a train wreck.
Some have even blamed it on PP unit 2 however PP unit 1 more times then not stays out for almost the entire 2 minutes so unit 2 gets very little time.
This core as individuals are talented but as a group is not a winning group.
They just don’t have the drive it takes to force wins.
Management and coaches refuse to hold them accountable and unless that starts to happen nothing will change.

same results as in, first place in division?

Hold that though for a few more games

 

[leafs in five]

Since December 1st the Leafs are:

24th in xGF%
21st in SF (shots at 5v5)
23rd in scoring chances%
19th in high danger chance%

That is 22 games of being a lottery level team at 5v5

they play like they're protecting a lead in the last 5 mins of a game for the whole game. as they did when they came back from down 3-1 vs Boston. I'm not impressed but idk it could win a series or two.

 

[leafs in five]

Hold that though for a few more games

sure it's the same thing as previous seasons and the ways in which it is different from previous seasons (goal differential, being very bad at producing offence at even strength) is also down to the players I hate

 

[leafs in five]

like I understand the frustration, understand that people are sick of the sight of these guys after a string of losses or bad effort but all they do is try to 'force wins', it's an effort contest every night and when they can't win it, and/or they don't get .935 goaltending, they usually lose. and so a ticky tack neutral zone penalty leads to a mostly impotent PP that gets a lucky double tip goal at the tail end of it. it sucks. I'm sorry

 

[Da Mash]

You have players that have NMC and some were even resigned by Tre.
The Stars are not going anywhere.

You put in a system that doesn't put the players in the best position to succeed.
Then you fill up the roster with old big guys on D that cant generate offense and a 3rd and 4th line that offers very little scoring.

And Rielly is still looking for a partner to hide his weakness.

Fans thought Berube was the saviour. Players may have tuned him out already.

The team plays a bad looking game. Dump and Chase and have your D constantly bounce pucks off the boards is boring and ugly hockey. Players dont like it. Fans hate watching it.

The PP is still a problem and this coaching staff is lost on how to fix it like the previous regime.

The only saving grace is hoping this style pays dividends in the playoffs where the rules change. By the looks of it though , the same problem exist ......no scoring.

You basically have to have a shut down excellent goaltending to succeed with this system and at the same time handcuff you star players from being who they are on the ice.

JMHO

 

[Anthrax442]

what has to happen is clear

 

[Da Mash]

what has to happen is clear


View attachment 961382

No lies here.

You have a coach putting a square peg in a round hole. You have to know your roster. The only player in the core 4 that this system benefits is Tavares. The rest Berube is taking the sticks out of their hands even though he mentioned he wouldn't.

Like mentioned in this thread, the game is played all game long to protect a lead. If your goaltending isnt excellent and your D struggles then its a up hill battle all game.

We have alot of secondary players here who are black holes. They offer nothing offensively. We have Rielly on the back end that has some skill but has a terrible shot from the point and is lost defensively alot.

Kinda reminds me of Lou type of hockey in Jersey and the Islanders. Players hate playing it. But alot of fans wanted this type of hockey so we can supposedly have some playoff success.

Time will only tell if it was all worth while

If another early exit then what? Will fans boo Berube like they did Keefer? Or will fans beg for the stars to waive their NMC?

Still early to right the ship and maybe the players jump on board with this boring .....playing to not to lose instead of playing to win kind of style of hockey Berube wants.

 

[Nineteen67]

They’re clearly in their dog days slump. January was always going to be tough and I assume they’ll get over it soon.

 

[Anthrax442]

No lies here.

You have a coach putting a square peg in a round hole. You have to know your roster. The only player in the core 4 that this system benefits is Tavares. The rest Berube is taking the sticks out of their hands even though he mentioned he wouldn't.

Like mentioned in this thread, the game is played all game long to protect a lead. If your goaltending isnt excellent and your D struggles then its a up hill battle all game.

We have alot of secondary players here who are black holes. They offer nothing offensively. We have Rielly on the back end that has some skill but has a terrible shot from the point and is lost defensively alot.

Kinda reminds me of Lou type of hockey in Jersey and the Islanders. Players hate playing it. But alot of fans wanted this type of hockey so we can supposedly have some playoff success.

Time will only tell if it was all worth while

If another early exit then what? Will fans boo Berube like they did Keefer? Or will fans beg for the stars to waive their NMC?

Still early to right the ship and maybe the players jump on board with this boring .....playing to not to lose instead of playing to win kind of style of hockey Berube wants.

The fans wanted "compete" and we are not getting it. Same old flat effort like the last 2 games.

 

[leafs in five]

when Knies turned away from a backhand chance in the slot to attempt some sauce to the pinching dman, OEL I think?

 

[Nineteen67]

when Knies turned away from a backhand chance in the slot to attempt some sauce to the pinching dman, OEL I think?

That’s the type of stuff that tells me they’re in a dog days slump. Every team goes through a cold stretch it and we’ll see how long it last and how it affects their playoff position.

I’m still confident they’ll make the playoffs and that’s all they’re going to be judge on anyway.

 

[hoglund]

They were playing well until the soft goal that Woll let in that tied the game, that seemed to take all the energy out of the team. It looks like the next couple of games aren't going to be easy either, the Devils are one of the best teams in the league and although Montreal has sucked most of the year they seem to be on a hot streak.

 

[shaner8989]

Offense is trash
Goaltending is trash

Team is absolute trash.

All when to trash when Matthews returned. Coincidentally? No. Team plays way better and different without him. Marner is a legit star without him. He’s shit with him.

 

[IPS]

That is so f***ing amazing the lengths some posters go on here to still blame everything except the core 4.

 

[Al14]

With Matthews at $10M, Marner at $9M, Nylander at $8M, and Tavares at $6M, I could tolerate a 3 game losing streak a lot more!

At their current cap hits, even losing ONE GAME against a top NHL team is nearly unacceptable to me.

Marner and Nylander only skate hard to an open puck if they are absolutely sure they won't have to take a hit. A couple of times last night, Marner failed to make any effort to winning a race to an open puck. Until he takes it upon himself to compete harder, nothing is going to change.

As for Berube, at this point, I'm starting to really miss Keefe. Keefe hockey was more exciting than this losing games constantly while scoring only a single goal.

Sure, the Refs called a couple of chintzy penalties against our Leafs, however great teams overcome this stupidity most of the time. Not our Leafs, they cough up PK goals faster than a fat kid eats donuts.

When the Refs do give our Leafs a power play, our HIGH PRICED core mostly fail to get a shot, never mind scoring a goal.

One of the core players HAS TO GO !!! I think it's time to part ways with Rielly too. He's just NOT earning his cap hit much at all. $5M might be an overpay for him right now too!

It might be time for Berube TO HEALTHY SCRATCH Nylander. He needs to take a really NOT earned game off. He's been a no-show for what, 7 or 8 games in a row now?

Maybe Berube should resign. This group of OVERPAID core players aren't willing to work hard for him on a constant basis.

JMHO.

 

[Da Mash]

The fans wanted "compete" and we are not getting it. Same old flat effort like the last 2 games.

Keefer wanted "compete" too but fans thought he was a wuss.

Yes the players need to put in more effort. But so do the coaches. The PP still sucks.
Also this style of hockey may be good in the playoffs when the rules change and interference and cross checking etc are let go and you can play this boring dump and chase neutral zone crap but as we are witnessing here its hard to win comfortably when you play the game "not to lose" instead of "trying to win".

You have to know your players and put them in the best position to succeed.

That being said ....the same issues exist. We cant score and our PP sucks.
We changed goalies and IMHO we do have a great pair here once healed and our D is more physical but we still lack offense in the back end and Rielly still hasnt found a partner to hide his deficiencies.

And like with Keefers team....our bottom 6 need to do more. We just have too many black holes on the team.

We just have to accept that 34 and 88 are not going anywhere. Marner wants to stay but he may well leave during free agency and we dont have much control over that.

 

[IPS]

That’s the type of stuff that tells me they’re in a dog days slump. Every team goes through a cold stretch it and we’ll see how long it last and how it affects their playoff position.

I’m still confident they’ll make the playoffs and that’s all they’re going to be judge on anyway.

Dog days slump is best scenario, worst case scenario is they've tuned Berube out already.

 

[Da Mash]

That is so f***ing amazing the lengths some posters go on here to still blame everything except the core 4.

Rielly gets a pass?

Why isnt ever the core 5? And is Domi living up to his contract? Others making less need to step up too

 

[IPS]

Rielly gets a pass?

Why isnt ever the core 5? And is Domi living up to his contract? Others making less need to step up too

Matthews, Marner, Tavares - they're the leader core here bro. The team goes as they go, they set the tone and the pace, and they make shit loads of money too.

Where possibly are we ever gonna get if just keep safeguarding them from criticism and keep poking at secondary players? These same secondary players are the ones who'll get more points in the playoffs than our core.

Rielly's been ass for awhile and that contract was a mistake, no doubt about that though.