Confirmed with Link: Locker Room Exit Interviews Monday May 6 (Players and Keefe) + Pelley/Shanny/Tre on Friday VIDEO LINK PG 57

[Leaf Fans]

I'm sorry but, I've never heard a guy missing the most important games of his career because of a headache or a cold. I'm not saying it doesn't happen but... When I was a kid, I played in a house league final with a partially separated shoulder and banged up knee and allI got was pizza after it was over, not $11 million. I'm hoping there was a legit reason for these guys but I don't see one and certainly didn't hear any explanation that makes sense in the presser.

I don't think any of the Leafs missed games due to those things: Nylander missed gamed due to migraines, Matthews missed games due to an illness and then a possible concussion.

 

[killer1980]

I bet you were really useful

Absolutely not but, I showed up for my team.

 

[killer1980]

I don't think any of the Leafs missed games due to those things: Nylander missed gamed due to migraines, Matthews missed games due to an illness and then a possible concussion.

They weren't with the team, at least for support and I just thought the explanations were extremely weak.

 

[Madap]

They are good enough to win with, and there should be more than enough for the rest of the roster, especially with the cap rising again, and getting cheap internal help again.

We've been competitive for a while now, because they were so good, and we got good management. The point is that there's no reason that the potential of this era should be drying up when the best players are in their mid-20s.

You may be right, but there is no evidence to suggest they are good enough to win and plenty of evidence on the contrary. Believing they will somehow turn it around one year is nothing more than blind faith at this point, and even the mastermind himself Shanahan has stopped believing.

They are good in the regular season, but not so much in the playoffs. In prior years we may have been able to chalk that up to bad luck or small sample size, but that is just absolutely not an excuse anymore.

 

[Leaf Fans]

They weren't with the team, at least for support and I just thought the explanations were extremely weak.

Well, I can only give anecdotal evidence of migraines, technically they are a kind of headache, but they are treated differently. They come in clusters, you vomit, extreme sensitivity to light that you cannot even stand to have your eyes open, you have balance issues. Once things were so bad, that I was hospitalized and had to be put in a sensory depravation room.

 

[notbias]

Exactly, that’s our problem. Of all the top end talents we could draft and sign, we got four who just doesn’t like to battle

Why do we keep firing coaches and GMs if it is just the players not trying?

Also, it is so weird to me that this team could win when they want if they just tried.

It makes no sense why they wouldn't try.

Unless... they are trying

 

[Rare Jewel]

Not into the buyout. I'd rather have one more year of a 50-60ish point Tavares playing third line centre or second line wing at $11 million than two years of $5.5 million in dead cap space and no Tavares.

That's not how the buyout spreads out, but okay.

 

[killer1980]

Well, I can only give anecdotal evidence of migraines, technically they are a kind of headache, but they are treated differently. They come in clusters, you vomit, extreme sensitivity to light that you cannot even stand to have your eyes open, you have balance issues. Once things were so bad, that I was hospitalized and had to be put in a sensory depravation room.

I am not minimizing the gravity of his condition. I thought it was handled poorly by all involved, both his and Matthews condition. I am afraid I also do question their committment. I'm a real old-timer and visions of Bobby Baun playing with a broken leg and scoring the'64 OT SC winner keep dancing through my head.

 

[colchar]

I'm sorry but, I've never heard a guy missing the most important games of his career because of a headache or a cold.

That isn't what happened.

When I was a kid, I played in a house league final with a partially separated shoulder and banged up knee and allI got was pizza after it was over

Ah, another House League hero.

I'm hoping there was a legit reason for these guys but I don't see one and certainly didn't hear any explanation that makes sense in the presser.

Then you weren't paying attention.

To Toronto-
PLD 1.5 million retained

What is wrong with you?

I bet you were really useful

He scored three touchdowns in that game.

 

[colchar]

Well, I can only give anecdotal evidence of migraines, technically they are a kind of headache, but they are treated differently. They come in clusters, you vomit, extreme sensitivity to light that you cannot even stand to have your eyes open, you have balance issues. Once things were so bad, that I was hospitalized and had to be put in a sensory depravation room.

Style, symptoms, and severity vary from one person to the next.

 

[killer1980]

Then you weren't paying attention.

I admire your fortitude in believing an organization that has never, ever told the truth.

 

[Leaf Fans]

Style, symptoms, and severity vary from one person to the next.

That is true.

 

[Gabriel426]

Why do we keep firing coaches and GMs if it is just the players not trying?

Also, it is so weird to me that this team could win when they want if they just tried.

It makes no sense why they wouldn't try.

Unless... they are trying

Firing coaches and GMs are easier.

What you are saying, they are trying but just not good enough. Which means Leafs need better players. Better doesn’t necessarily mean talents but rather it means players who can make the team better.

 

[notbias]

Firing coaches and GMs are easier.

What you are saying, they are trying but just not good enough. Which means Leafs need better players. Better doesn’t necessarily mean talents but rather it means players who can make the team better.

They lost for a ton of different reasons, but I don't think effort was ever one of them.

People generally just don't have answers so they say something like effort because they don't know... it is just a weak way to try to make sense the of loses.

 

[Gabriel426]

They lost for a ton of different reasons, but I don't think effort was ever one of them.

People generally just don't have answers so they say something like effort because they don't know... it is just a weak way to try to make sense the of loses.

I think efforts are more than just one the ice for 60mins plus OT. It is practices, training, even diet.
We can use Mackinnon and his diet as an example, or how Kobe just trained and practiced more than his peers. We can also see how the players played on the ICE. You look at McD and Drai, they are actively engaging 50/50 board battles, getting pounded, and they kept doing it till they get the puck. Can you honestly say our top guys do that on a consistency basis?
It is not our guys not putting in the effort but how much efforts are they putting in? BC in playoffs, 80% and 81% efforts might be 1% difference but that is also the difference between winning and losing.
I don't think it is a lazy way to say our guys didn't give efforts or didn't try or didn't care, rather they are all part of the reasons as to why they only won ONE round in 8 years and AM, MM and JT combined for as many goals as Bert, Domi and Kampf, which combined to make less than any of them individually.
They do give efforts, or tried their best or care, I am 100% sure they do. BUT, what have they done about it? Had they trained harder in the off season to change the narratives, to get an edge to win, to be better.....Just look at how they started the season the past two years, and you can't possibly think they were ready to play from the start. They might be in great shape but mentally, they were not there and their plays showed it.

 

[notbias]

I think efforts are more than just one the ice for 60mins plus OT. It is practices, training, even diet.
We can use Mackinnon and his diet as an example, or how Kobe just trained and practiced more than his peers. We can also see how the players played on the ICE. You look at McD and Drai, they are actively engaging 50/50 board battles, getting pounded, and they kept doing it till they get the puck. Can you honestly say our top guys do that on a consistency basis?
It is not our guys not putting in the effort but how much efforts are they putting in? BC in playoffs, 80% and 81% efforts might be 1% difference but that is also the difference between winning and losing.
I don't think it is a lazy way to say our guys didn't give efforts or didn't try or didn't care, rather they are all part of the reasons as to why they only won ONE round in 8 years and AM, MM and JT combined for as many goals as Bert, Domi and Kampf, which combined to make less than any of them individually.
They do give efforts, or tried their best or care, I am 100% sure they do. BUT, what have they done about it? Had they trained harder in the off season to change the narratives, to get an edge to win, to be better.....Just look at how they started the season the past two years, and you can't possibly think they were ready to play from the start. They might be in great shape but mentally, they were not there and their plays showed it.

MacKinnon has won one cup, was not the Conn Smythe winner, and hasn't been past the 2nd round in any other season. He led his team to some pretty terrible seasons.

His diet is pointless... he probably eats the same as 95% of the star players, you can't be smoking cigarettes and drinking all day and still be one of the best.

Cap always comes up... Domi and Bert also performed worse than a ton of 4-5 million dollar guys... everyone failed.

Also, I am not sure McDavid or Draisaitl win more board battles than Matthews, McDavid is very fast and they have an amazing PP, not sure if either is because of effort.

I am not even sure what you were arguing by the end of this... I think we both agree the effort is there, you may just question their diet or how much they practice, but it wouldn't make sense for them to do so well in the regular season.

 

[Gabriel426]

MacKinnon has won one cup, was not the Conn Smythe winner, and hasn't been past the 2nd round in any other season. He led his team to some pretty terrible seasons.

His diet is pointless... he probably eats the same as 95% of the star players, you can't be smoking cigarettes and drinking all day and still be one of the best.

Cap always comes up... Domi and Bert also performed worse than a ton of 4-5 million dollar guys... everyone failed.

Also, I am not sure McDavid or Draisaitl win more board battles than Matthews, McDavid is very fast and they have an amazing PP, not sure if either is because of effort.

I am not even sure what you were arguing by the end of this... I think we both agree the effort is there, you may just question their diet or how much they practice, but it wouldn't make sense for them to do so well in the regular season.

Their efforts just not good enough, as simple as that.
In short, our top guys are not good enough as a group.
Dubas or Shanny betted on the wrong horses.

 

[notbias]

Their efforts just not good enough, as simple as that.
In short, our top guys are not good enough as a group.
Dubas or Shanny betted on the wrong horses.

Is it effort or skill? You cited both.

Lou brought them in, just so you can add another person to the ones who bet on them.

I'd say Lou is likely the most at fault for bringing them in.

 

[57 Years No Cup]

The sooner you stop replying to those two posters the sooner they will go away.

Are you guys slow learners?

 

[Gabriel426]

Is it effort or skill? You cited both.

Lou brought them in, just so you can add another person to the ones who bet on them.

I'd say Lou is likely the most at fault for bringing them in.

Can be both effort and skill, it is not either or.

It is not about pointing fingers, MGT all around the league betted on the wrong horses all the time.
Who cares if Lou is at fault, the important thing is fixing the problem and build a team that win the Cup.

Winning the Cup will involve luck but luck can help a team to win 4 rounds in the playoffs.

 

[Martin Skoula]

Absolutely not but, I showed up for my team.

So basically to show everyone how tough you are you actively chose to make your team worse by playing a useless pylon and you think this is somehow a good thing. The NHL isn’t house league, if you’re at 30%, the team doesn’t have to play a man down, there’s a line of top 0.01% in the world players chomping at the bit to fill a 4th line spot after everyone else moves up a slot.

 

[darrylsittler27]

Who is Dumbad? Dubas?

Who else? He took the perfect build from Lou and completely botched it.

 

[darrylsittler27]

Boston vs Florida. The Leafs were never close. Tavares must be stripped of his C now. See if that takes us over the edge Rofl.

 

[LeafEgo]

I'm sorry but, I've never heard a guy missing the most important games of his career because of a headache or a cold. I'm not saying it doesn't happen but... When I was a kid, I played in a house league final with a partially separated shoulder and banged up knee and allI got was pizza after it was over, not $11 million. I'm hoping there was a legit reason for these guys but I don't see one and certainly didn't hear any explanation that makes sense in the presser.

It's pretty amazing what blunt force injuries players can play through. Ekblad was a paraplegic last playoffs - broken foot, two separated shoulders, torn oblique.

Brain problems and viruses can make it impossible to be on the ice though.

 

[killer1980]

So basically to show everyone how tough you are you actively chose to make your team worse by playing a useless pylon

So, how much worse would the team have been if they had played?