I think people are overlooking maybe the most important factor: the Atlantic division, and maybe the eastern conference, is the worst it has been in years. I think this season represents the Leafs' best chance to reach the finals, and i think they will unless the rangers stand in their way.
I have to disagree. It almost seems like you are trying really, really hard to suggest things are not different...almost to protect a narrative.
I wold argue the other way around, but to your greater point, yes, they both looked well.
He believed Holl was part of our great top 4 defence, that's all you have to know about the validity of his comparisons. It's a joke.
I’m not overlooking that, the East is weak in general.
I don't know enough about the poster but he SEEMS like an example of someone who is very tied to previous regime and this clouds his perspective on current results and progress.
We've struggled to score through stretches before, and won.
Your instincts are spot on. Everything is through the Dubas lens there.
Yeah, you seem to have listed a bunch of things that may have happened over the past five years, I don't recall a stretch where they happened at the same time.
I think people vastly overblow the toughness, grittiness, etc. stuff. Every winning team has it, but it's not the reason why a team wins. The single biggest change in the Leafs this season is their structure. All you have to do is look at any defensive metric to appreciate how different this iteration of the team is winning compared to past seasons, regardless of whether the records are similar. Penalty killing is now one of the best in the league. Goaltending is likely the best in the league when you take into account the quality of both goalies. Comparing this team to prior Leafs' teams is lazy. They are not remotely the same.
I've never understood the irrational hatred of Dubas given that he built important pieces of this team. But I was never a fan of Keefe.
Their goal was to win, but they were so poorly built they had no chance.
More than 10, even worse is they play Sunday night, as do the Eagles
It's happened at the same time quite a bit. For example, in 2022-2023 when Rielly went down (after losing Muzzin permanently, Brodie missing a bunch of games to injury, Matthews playing injured, etc.), we showed our depth, came together as a team, and despite a 17% PP, went 12-2-1 and put up top-5 defensive metrics, the 2nd best SV% in the league (with all 3 of the goalies we used being 0.920+), and an 83% PK. A lot of people seem to have really short memories. I believe that you just want to be genuinely positive about the team you have in front of you, but there are clearly different motivations for some.
Really? KDs decisions early in his tenure were what made the club the playoff failure it has been. The unnecessary JT signing and getting railed on contract negotiations colored every move he made since then because of the financial restrictions it put on the club. We don't know what he might have done if he had the the budget because he stubbornly stuck to that path so he also wears not correcting the initial mistakes. And hiring and keeping Keefe is on him when other teams rewarded repeated playoff failure with pink slips for coaches that weren't getting the results.
I hate agreeing with you, but this is Groundhog Day, except Bill Murray is now Berube instead of Keefe
I've never "fought" over it. Ask the people who seem to be obsessed with tracking every Penguins game. For me, the one real mistake he made was keeping Keefe after the Montreal series. That's when change should have happened.
7.5
The 1st few years were the optimum times, even later 2 of the 4 core should have been cost controlled to more reasonable RFA Deals and that extra cash could have been spent on quality UFA’s . As opposed to now trying to get 3 equal quality players on ELC’s.
Sorry I wasn't homing in on you with that comment. There are other folks on this board heavily invested in winning this unwinnable argument. Re: Keefe its a tough call on when. Hindsight says after Montreal altho thats only 2 years in. Next year they play .700 hockey and lose in 7 to the Cup finalist. Then in 22-23 they finally win a series so there is this mirage of getting closer each year. Then they keep him after Kyle is gone and make no significant changes, as tho it would somehow yield a different result because..... Matthews loves him and they want to be assured of a re-sign? I would not have hired him in the first place. Maybe Kyle made him a Willie promise too?
They had made the playoffs the two seasons before he became GM, so simply making them was not "an accomplishment".
