List of objective mistakes Keefe could make in the playoffs (A priori, aka before) (speak now or forever hold your peace).

[Shooter2x]

Our 40 goal scorer and current best playoff scorer isn't on PP 1


O'Reilly is so slow and past his prime yet jumps Nylander on the depth chart "just because"

 

[ThrowDemTongs]

W thread W idea L coach

 

[notDatsyuk]

Playing Holl more than 20 minutes a game.

Playing JT higher than line 3.

Playing Willy with JT.

Not playing either Mitch or Willy with Matthews.

Not using his timeout at the right time.

Swapping goalies unnecessarily.

Got the first three right, and it's only been one game.

I missed "playing Bunting on like one instead of Jarnkrok".

The good news is we seem to have injured a few if their players. The bad news is that it didn't seem to help.

Maybe it's bad enough that Keefe will play Jarnkrok on line one, Knies on line two, and Tavares on line three.

Can't say I blame Sammy much.

Reffing wasn't great, but it wasn't bad, but boy did we take some dumb penalties, including the challenge - I don't think I've ever seen them change a goal because of a challenge after they have already reviewed it.

Nylander easily our best player. ROR, Matthews, and McCabe were good. Marner and Lafferty had good spots.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Our 40 goal scorer and current best playoff scorer isn't on PP 1


O'Reilly is so slow and past his prime yet jumps Nylander on the depth chart "just because"

Well he made the second unit look a lot better, and still scored.

 

[ponder]

Cheating by replying after game 1, but whatever:

- Playing Holl over Lily. Lily is a lot better than Holl, Schenn is roughly Holl-level but tougher/better for the playoffs. Rielly/Brodie, Gio/Lily, McCabe/Schenn, done

- Failing to pull a goalie fast enough if they’re having a bad game

- Not playing Willie on PP1

- Dumb ass challenges

- Underplaying our best forwards. He consistently finds minutes for Marner, but often fails to do so for some/many of Matthews, Willie, JT, ROR

 

[1specter]

Fire this f***ing moron

In the morning press conference, Sheldon Keefe stated, “Generally, you just try to make it seem as much like a regular game day.”

It struck me as a bizarre quote at the time. This is not just a regular game day. It’s the playoffs. Everything has to elevate across the board as you’re entering an elite tournament against a team that has gone to the last three Stanley Cup Finals and has won two of them.


I get the sentiment — he’s probably not trying to overhype it too much — but they came out for a game in April like it was the middle of November. They haven’t started almost any playoff game under Keefe on time, including the ones they actually win. The approach has consistently been easing into games or making furious rallies once they’re trailing.

They can’t get away with that through four straight series. Good teams do what Tampa Bay did tonight — they come out with their hair on fire, ready to take it to you.

The fact that the Leafs were at home — with a crowd that was absolutely rocking — only compounds matters. It’s fine that they scored right away and the team was a little flat; it happens. They can recover from that, and it’s not that uncommon. But they were down 3-0 after the first, and it arguably could have been worse.

The Leafs played maybe four reasonable minutes of hockey through the opening 20. They were just completely unprepared on all levels.

 

[klmdg]

On TSN, Johnson made some great points about Keefe and his early line matching that backfired

Basically, Keefe has the better team, he came out coaching scared by looking to keep Matthews away from Cirelli when Matthews is supposed to be the best player on the ice and most likely doesn't give a shit about who is out there because he just wants to play and do his thing without being handcuffed by coaching decisions

Can't say I disagree with that at all

 

[ponder]

On TSN, Johnson made some great points about Keefe and his early line matching that backfired

Basically, Keefe has the better team, he came out coaching scared by looking to keep Matthews away from Cirelli when Matthews is supposed to be the best player on the ice and most likely doesn't give a shit about who is out there because he just wants to play and do his thing without being handcuffed by coaching decisions

Can't say I disagree with that at all

Agreed. Matthews played 17:50, ROR 16:41, Willie 15:54, JT 14:42. Obviously all the penalties make it harder to find ice time for your top forwards, but so does dumb line matching. The moment the penalties end you gotta be playing these guys heavily, he simply didn’t play our best players enough.

Also, Holl played more than Rielly, McCabe, Gio or Schenn. And I think Holl was on for 6 of the 7 goals against?

 

[Antropovsky]

Can't believe we could have hired Trotz. Instead we kept the junior coach whose master plan was to play his small winger on defense! Why hasn't anyone else think of playing their best small forwards on defense before! Watch out for Keefe the trailblazer! I'm honestly surprised we haven't seen Mitch in net yet.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

On TSN, Johnson made some great points about Keefe and his early line matching that backfired

Many people predicted Keefe's line matching antics.
Before the game.

He's just not doing well.

If the Leafs can't get some results this year Tanenbaum needs to send all 3 packing.

 

[LeafalCrusader]

Cooper read your book Sheldon

 

[klmdg]

Agreed. Matthews played 17:50, ROR 16:41, Willie 15:54, JT 14:42. Obviously all the penalties make it harder to find ice time for your top forwards, but so does dumb line matching. The moment the penalties end you gotta be playing these guys heavily, he simply didn’t play our best players enough.

Also, Holl played more than Rielly, McCabe, Gio or Schenn. And I think Holl was on for 6 of the 7 goals against?

Yep, we were basically down 2-0, and Matthews and Marner had about 20 seconds of ice at that point

And don't even get me started on Holl and the fetish management has for him

 

[Visnovsky]

I am willing to eat a lot of crow if I'm wrong, but this 'man' is not going to take any team anywhere in the National Hockey League... get rid of him as soon as Tampa has had their fourth victory in this series.

 

[Puckstuff]

I am willing to eat a lot of crow if I'm wrong, but this 'man' is not going to take any team anywhere in the National Hockey League... get rid of him as soon as Tampa has had their fourth victory in this series.

I agree. He doesn’t have the IQ to out coach Cooper. Keefe is the biggest net negative on this team imo and his forward lines are horrible.

 

[DarkKnight]

Keefe isn’t a great coach, he’s been gifted with talent any coach would kill for, he should have been fired last year.

 

[mapleleafs34]

Maybe that's why we play better on the road so Keefe can't line match and just plays our top guys.

 

[Bomber0104]

Played behind the 8-ball all night long (with last change) and directly cost the team a goal against with his bench minor.

Pretty much the sort of playoff game you expect from Keefe at this point.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Knies is a must.
So is Woll.

Dont screw this up Keefe.

I already trust Knies more than Bunting. And he has more skill than ZAR.

He should and will play.

Well played.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Bottom line is the Bunting Debacle that got Knies in the lineup.

Keefe would not have played him.

He's bad.


Overplay Holl.
Overplay Tavares.
Overmatchup home games.

Keefe just doesnt have it.

AS THIS THREAD SHOWS, Keefe's Holl love affair is ridiculous.

Sadly, the media is backing Keefe into a corner. If he plays Holl for Game 6, the **** will hit the fan. Surely even Keefe is able to comprehend the need for a change.

Surely ?

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Sticking with a goalie.
Play whoever gets hot.

Playing Holl

Over relying on Holl.

Playing Holl more than 20 minutes a game.

- Justin Holl at over 16 a game - or in every game.

Play Justin Holl in game 7.

Don’t bench liljegren. He is our 2nd best defenseman and it is madness to bench a player of his caliber in favor of Holl.

I already trust Knies more than Bunting.

NO WAY Liljegren and Knies shouldn't be in there

Playing Holl over Lily. Lily is a lot better than Holl,

Well done lads.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

You can't make this shit up. f*** THIS SHIT

 

[bbgobie]

Well done lads.

If Samsonov has a couple more sub 900 outings this series just make me coach for next season. Il leave the x and o's to my assistants and really anything else that requires a big brain. But I'll be damn sure to make sure no players get photos of me doing my privy stuff so I can bench them when they suck

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Holl’s agent probably took him out for fear his next contract tanks if he doesn’t play well in game 6

 

[thewave]

Congrats to the person that said All the mistakes! You win!

 

[BayStBullies]

Congrats to the person that said All the mistakes! You win!

It's a running list. Keefe isn't done f***ing up.