London Knights 2024 - 25 Season Thread, Part VII

[Fastpace]

Toronto fan here
I have been a Marner fan since his days with the Knights.
When watching him with the London I thought we had drafted a Gilmour like player . He seemed to be always in the mix.
People that have watched him with London and Toronto , what happened to him ?

What happened to Toronto fans, you mean? When the expectation is way too high, so will be the disappointment.

Tell this board what could Marner have done all by himself, that will have had the Leafs moving on to the next round. Including the goaltender, of the 20 player team, there also were 5 other players on that ice with him. The salary contract, he signed, doesn't specify that he was bringing a Stanley Cup with it. Considering the players he was with, the man did his very best.

 

[EvenSteven]

Leafs fans and media always single out a whipping boy. It’s been Marner the lest few years. Unfairly in my mind.

The core four hasn’t gotten it done as a collective. But Marner is the guy that gets singled out while Matthews gets a free pass.

Never understood it.

I hope he signs somewhere else and wins a cup. Leafs fans deserve it.

 

[Fastpace]

Poster stated, "I thought we had drafted a Gilmour like player"

So let's compare some notes here:

Marner played 9 NHL seasons - Played 657 games - 221 goals - 520 assists - 741 total & +/- +128
Gilmour, first 9 NHL seasons - Played 690 games - 245 goals - 453 assists - 698 total & +/- +105

The fact that Gilmour played 110 playoff games in his first 9 season, means he was on a better team and surrounded by better players, to Marner's 70 playoffs games in his 9 seasons

My guess they are pretty close. What would have Gilmour numbers been like, have he had the same players as Marner is playing with now, or vice versa ? As you say EvenSteven, they need to single out a player, while all others gets the free-passes.

 

[RayzorIsDull]

Leafs fans and media always single out a whipping boy. It’s been Marner the lest few years. Unfairly in my mind.

The core four hasn’t gotten it done as a collective. But Marner is the guy that gets singled out while Matthews gets a free pass.

Never understood it.

I hope he signs somewhere else and wins a cup. Leafs fans deserve it.

This isn't a black and white thing though. There are shades of gray. Marner is most likely going to be a UFA. Marner had a chance to re-sign on July 1st of 2024 but chose not to. He's fully entitled to do that but when it's a local kid who isn't jumping at the chance to stay you will get flack.

Trade deadline they ask him to lift his ntc for Rantanen. He says no which he's fully entitled to do. When Rantanen is still playing now and Marner struggled.

Matthews never went to UFA he signed his extension only 5 years but he still wanted to be back. Fans were bothered it wasn't 8 years but point is if Marner leaves Matthews will still have spent 12 years of his career in Toronto.

 

[Fastpace]

Being a local boy playing on the local team, is great, but being a local boy taking abuse by local fans is another. He is not running out of town, he is being pushed out of town.

 

[purple pharrt]

Toronto fan here
I have been a Marner fan since his days with the Knights.
When watching him with the London I thought we had drafted a Gilmour like player . He seemed to be always in the mix.
People that have watched him with London and Toronto , what happened to him ?

What happened was the supporting cast of players never really gelled.. The really good teams inevitably have a player with some "snarl " to their game. Guys who are willing & able to get their points simply by being nasty S.O.B.'s. Those types of player who everyone hates to play against, but would love to have as a team mate.
Name me one player on the Toronto Maple Leafs that fits that description ? Even among the core group, that type of player is non existant, and I feel that's the missing ingredient. Toronto missed an opportunity to add just such a player when Matthew Taychuk became available. Remember Dale Hunter's playing days, and what he brought to those teams he played on ? Snarl !!!
Toronto, if ever they had it, never placed much value on it, and built that team around highly skilled individuals, with little to no inclination toward that style of play. No surprise that they sputtered out when games got tighter during playoffs.

 

[EvenSteven]

What happened was the supporting cast of players never really gelled.. The really good teams inevitably have a player with some "snarl " to their game. Guys who are willing & able to get their points simply by being nasty S.O.B.'s. Those types of player who everyone hates to play against, but would love to have as a team mate.
Name me one player on the Toronto Maple Leafs that fits that description ? Even among the core group, that type of player is non existant, and I feel that's the missing ingredient. Toronto missed an opportunity to add just such a player when Matthew Taychuk became available. Remember Dale Hunter's playing days, and what he brought to those teams he played on ? Snarl !!!
Toronto, if ever they had it, never placed much value on it, and built that team around highly skilled individuals, with little to no inclination toward that style of play. No surprise that they sputtered out when games got tighter during playoffs.

Knies might be that player in a couple years.

 

[leafs4life94]

What happened was the supporting cast of players never really gelled.. The really good teams inevitably have a player with some "snarl " to their game. Guys who are willing & able to get their points simply by being nasty S.O.B.'s. Those types of player who everyone hates to play against, but would love to have as a team mate.
Name me one player on the Toronto Maple Leafs that fits that description ? Even among the core group, that type of player is non existant, and I feel that's the missing ingredient. Toronto missed an opportunity to add just such a player when Matthew Taychuk became available. Remember Dale Hunter's playing days, and what he brought to those teams he played on ? Snarl !!!
Toronto, if ever they had it, never placed much value on it, and built that team around highly skilled individuals, with little to no inclination toward that style of play. No surprise that they sputtered out when games got tighter during playoffs.

It has nothing to do with the supporting cast and everything to do with the core four. Two points between the four of them in games 4-7 is flat out unacceptable, and the fact is none of the core four play with any ounce of grit or snarl, where every other good team over the past thousand years has top players that can combine snarl and skill.

The supporting cast had their 3-4 best forwards in Laughton, Pacioretty, Domi and maybe even Lorentz. No team is going to win anything with those four as your best forwards.

 

[purple pharrt]

Knies might be that player in a couple years.

What really surprises me is that Shannahan himself was that type of player, and yet he somehow failed recognize that such a player was essential as an ingredient to the line-up. Agree that Knies could develop into that role. Hope that he doesn't evolve into a Lady Bying candidate

 

[EvenSteven]

What really surprises me is that Shannahan himself was that type of player, and yet he somehow failed recognize that such a player was essential as an ingredient to the line-up. Agree that Knies could develop into that role. Hope that he doesn't evolve into a Lady Bying candidate

Shanahan’s mistake was handing the keys over to Dubas.

The damage he did up to now was irreparable.

 

[Ferguson Jenkins]

f*** the Leafs.

 

[Fastpace]

It has nothing to do with the supporting cast and everything to do with the core four. Two points between the four of them in games 4-7 is flat out unacceptable, and the fact is none of the core four play with any ounce of grit or snarl, where every other good team over the past thousand years has top players that can combine snarl and skill.

The supporting cast had their 3-4 best forwards in Laughton, Pacioretty, Domi and maybe even Lorentz. No team is going to win anything with those four as your best forwards.

I would say, other successful teams usually brings in former cup winning experiences when they go after players to fit in their lineups, something that the Leafs organization don't seem to want to do. They are bringing in some great players, yes, but most have no cup winning experience!

 

[Hokky]

Fronts fan here and not a Knights hater. I'm in awe how the Knights are strong year after year. I am here to say how impressed I am with Austin Elliotts stats. Regular season and playoffs combined he has a 48-2 record, .918 save percentage and 2.24 goals against. Amazing stats over a 50 game span. I hope he keeps it up and wins a Memorial Cup for the Knights and the OHL. Good luck in the tourney guys.

 

[Otto]

When you strip the C from a player and bestow it upon another, you expect that new Captain to be a leader.

The poor performance isn't on Marner. It's on Mathews amd Berube for failing to get the team motivated. Berube especially should be held accountable for the horrible second period last night. You can't be dominated like that in the first period and come out as flat as they did. That's on the coach. Strategy needed to change and it didn't.

 

[frontsfan67]

Leafs fans and media always single out a whipping boy. It’s been Marner the lest few years. Unfairly in my mind.

The core four hasn’t gotten it done as a collective. But Marner is the guy that gets singled out while Matthews gets a free pass.

Never understood it.

I hope he signs somewhere else and wins a cup. Leafs fans deserve it.

They push everybody out and act surprised when those players have success with other teams

 

[leafs4life94]

I would say, other successful teams usually brings in former cup winning experiences when they go after players to fit in their lineups, something that the Leafs organization don't seem to want to do. They are bringing in some great players, yes, but most have no cup winning experience!

In the past yes but they brought in 3 players from last year's cup champs so I don't think that's the issue.

When you strip the C from a player and bestow it upon another, you expect that new Captain to be a leader.

The poor performance isn't on Marner. It's on Mathews amd Berube for failing to get the team motivated. Berube especially should be held accountable for the horrible second period last night. You can't be dominated like that in the first period and come out as flat as they did. That's on the coach. Strategy needed to change and it didn't.

Completely absolving Marner of any responsibility is an crazy take. Matthews is absolutely responsible for the performance - he's not captain material and stripping JT was an awful decision - but this at Marner isn't seems crazy.

I'm also not fully buying into blaming Berube yet - at a certain point the coach can only do so much - if the players don't have the drive anywhere deep down, no matter how motivating the coach is it's just not there.

It takes a rare breed of player to handle the pressure and media BS of playoff games in Toronto and unfortunately it doesn't seem like Toronto has enough of them

 

[EvenSteven]

Shanahan’s mistake was handing the keys over to Dubas.

The damage he did up to now was irreparable.

“We can and we will”, Kyle Dubas.

Those five words sum up most of what’s wrong with the Leafs.

Shanahan should have ran with Lou and Mark Hunter. This whole mess is on him.

But as a Habs fan, it’s all good with me!!

 

[LDN]

Marner was an AWESOME Knight. He hasn’t had the same level of jam when the games matter most (games 5/6/7). This is a fact. He is being paid to play at a top10 level and he’s simply not. He will go elsewhere and do well. He’s incredibly skilled and needs a change

 

[Otto]

In the past yes but they brought in 3 players from last year's cup champs so I don't think that's the issue.
Completely absolving Marner of any responsibility is an crazy take. Matthews is absolutely responsible for the performance - he's not captain material and stripping JT was an awful decision - but this at Marner isn't seems crazy.

I'm not completely absolving anyone, it's a team game. But Marner is a set up guy, he was feeding the puck. Matthews is the captain who was invisible and the goal scorer who only put 3 in the net. Your top goal scorer had the same total as Pacioretty and Domi.

I'm also not fully buying into blaming Berube yet - at a certain point the coach can only do so much

And he didn’t do anything

 

[tjziel]

If Rob Simpson actually does decide to take the job in Niagara, one person that I would literally want as the next GM and President for when Mark and Dale decide to retire, is Adam Dennis. He’s done a fantastic job with North Bay, and would be great to have him back in London where he belongs…

How poetic would it be to have both Adam Dennis and Dylan Hunter, the players of the 2005 team running the team in the future.

 

[shootscore115]

Yup,

Gavin McKenna, Cayden Lindstrom, Ryder Ritchie, Hunter St. Martin, Andrew Basha are all NHL draft prospects up front. They are deep as well..

With Tanner Molendyk, Niilopekka Muhonen, Veeti Vaisanen are all NHL drafted prospects on the backend.

But can we slow down Gavin McKenna?? I hope so….

McKenna is coming back from a leg injury. Lindstrom is not playing back to back games due to his ongoing injuries. So neither is 100% but neither was necessary for victory due to depth. Ritchie and St. Martin are legit stars on their own. All this said I think they play a fast game and like Oshawa, are susceptible to the counter which London is a master of.
Was not overly excited about Rimouski but they are fast in every zone but I still think other than home ice advantage they should take 4th
Monkton I think plays the most like us. Good goaltending structure defensive game and forwards are first to the puck putting pressure on the defense. I am more worried about them than the other 2 teams and if this was a best of 7, I wouldn't even be worried about them.
I like the way our defensive structure is more man to man pressure which keeps any offensive structure of the opposition to the outside and not as lethal. Moncton, Rimouski, and Medicine Hat play a zone defense which will be confused the way our offense works, especially our defense continually cycling into the O-zone.
The wild card as we know is nothing is given. You can win all the games and still lose the final. That is the only thing that scares me.

 

[tjziel]

A couple cool notes..

Knights with the Finnish connection..
Every time the Knights have had a Finnish import that has reported, we have a good chance to win the OHL Championship.
Olli Maatta (2012-2013)
Olli Juolevi (2016)
Kasper Halttunen (2024-2025)
Jesse Nurmi (2025)

EXCEPTION: Janne Kuokkanen (2017)

Knights use “defective players” to win….
Every time the Knights have traded for a “defective player”, we have won an OHL Championship.
Max Domi (2012-2013)
Victor Mete (2016)
Sam Dickinson (2024-2025)
Henry Brzustewicz (2024-2025)

 

[nelli27]

A couple cool notes..

Knights with the Finnish connection..
Every time the Knights have had a Finnish import that has reported, we have a good chance to win the OHL Championship.
Olli Maatta (2012-2013)
Olli Juolevi (2016)
Kasper Halttunen (2024-2025)
Jesse Nurmi (2025)

EXCEPTION: Janne Kuokkanen (2017)

Knights use “defective players” to win….
Every time the Knights have traded for a “defective player”, we have won an OHL Championship.
Max Domi (2012-2013)
Bo Horvat (2012-2013)
Victor Mete (2016)
Sam Dickinson (2024-2025)
Henry Brzustewicz (2024-2025)

Horvat was our own pick.

 

[SaneKnightsfsn]

Leafs fans and media always single out a whipping boy. It’s been Marner the lest few years. Unfairly in my mind.

The core four hasn’t gotten it done as a collective. But Marner is the guy that gets singled out while Matthews gets a free pass.

Never understood it.

I hope he signs somewhere else and wins a cup. Leafs fans deserve it.

Yeah and with no Marner we will see how good or not so good Mathew’s is

 

[SaneKnightsfsn]

When do tbe Knights fly out ?