TSN: Responsibility for playoff failures

[Stephen]

If your theory was true, you would have players taking pay cuts and all wanting to play in not only Toronto but all Canadian markets.

I’m not saying players are looking for the glory of the big stage, but they probably find winning in a southeast market means you’re barley playing a Big 4 sport.

Why else are Cooper and Maurice so horned up every time there’s a big market press conference.

 

[stealth1]

I’m not saying players are looking for the glory of the big stage, but they probably find winning in a southeast market means you’re barley playing a Big 4 sport.

Why else are Cooper and Maurice so horned up every time there’s a big market press conference.

They are horned up cause they love the clicks and the attention.
Personally I don't think players care that much where they win as long as they win. IMO it's the Canadian fans and markets that make a bigger deal out of it.

 

[Mr_Fun]

It's a team game; they ALL didn't get it done as a collective.

 

[Stephen]

They are horned up cause they love the clicks and the attention.
Personally I don't think players care that much where they win as long as they win. IMO it's the Canadian fans and markets that make a bigger deal out of it.

I think the narcissists and trolls like Marchand and M. Tkachuk like it.

 

[Tak7]

really not seeing this "friendlier media". They've almost universally been trashing the Leafs core for half a decade straight. A whole lot of it personal too. Same as it ever was. Except now we have social media on top of that, so fans themselves are more involved in creating the atmosphere that Leafs players have to deal with. And I sure wouldn't call that atmosphere "friendly". Scary is a better word for it.

Who has "trashed" the core the past 5 years?

 

[Guided by Veseys]

Probably EvilHomer. Bailing on the team by deleting account right before game 7. Team realized they were frauds right there and had nothing to give.

 

[Tak7]

I honestly don’t think the media has ever asked a tough question since Shaky Hunt retired, and he wasn’t tough by any means.
Nobody can cite an example of the media being unfair or the fans being anything but passionate. Both are guilty of over hyping the team, and maybe the Panthers are just trolling.

I wanted to revisit this comment *after* locker clear out day, to really reinforce what you were saying - Steve Simmons asked Marner if he ever took a big step back during his time here to think about why all these highly skilled players could never get over the hump.

That, to my ear, was the ONLY slightly difficult/awkward/uncomfortable question asked of anyone today.

Instead, we got a ton of softball questions - including someone asking Berube what it was like coaching Matthews this year (???).

This isnt a tough media market. It hasnt been for ages.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

I wanted to revisit this comment *after* locker clear out day, to really reinforce what you were saying - Steve Simmons asked Marner if he ever took a big step back during his time here to think about why all these highly skilled players could never get over the hump.

That, to my ear, was the ONLY slightly difficult/awkward/uncomfortable question asked of anyone today.

Instead, we got a ton of softball questions - including someone asking Berube what it was like coaching Matthews this year (???).

This isnt a tough media market. It hasnt been for ages.

All they care about is keeping their access. I get it, it's job preservation, but they often have the arrogance to claim they are still objective.

 

[sxvnert]

The responsibility lays on ownership who sat idle for almost a decade while this train wreck continued.

 

[LeafEgo]

If C Matty wasn't at 50% for whatever reason and A Mitchy was an 11M superstar our shot was as good as it gets.

If we're looking forward, keeping the program alive all rests on the desert dude.

 

[647Hockey]

Blame to go around.

- Bosses offering bad contracts ($$$ and no trade/movement clauses)
- Players not living up to the contracts bailing ship late in every series. They seem to do fine in reg season and games 1-4 but fuk the dog the final games

Someone will say... "dont blame the players, you'd take the deal too".

Yes and no. Yes, anyone would take a juicy contract. But there's expectations. Reason why you got a giant contract is because you do well in the reg season racking up pts and wins, so how about try to do something similar in the playoffs. Nobody is expecting the core 4 to be Gretzkys and Lemieuxs, or even McDavid/Dry.

Just kind of do what you do in reg season like how other all stars can replicate and that's all people ask for. And if that happens, there would be more wins.

Funny thing is in general the leafs goaltending has been ok during these 9 playoff years. Not perfect. But WAY BETTER than whomever Oilers have in net every year which is a roll of the dice whether the guy lets in 1 goal or 6. But they can still put in the effort and score even when down by 2 goals in the third or losing a series.

Difference is McDavid, Dry, MacKinnon and all those high pt players can put the team on their shoulders and lead the team even if the team is down. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose. But they definitely dont lose like how the core 4 disappear. And Edm and Avs can even have shakier goaltending than Leafs in most playoff years where you might think some bad goals means automatic team morale deflation. When it looks like the core 4 think they are trending down or shut down, they basically give up. All 4 of them. Other star players still try and come back.

 

[Nineteen67]

I wanted to revisit this comment *after* locker clear out day, to really reinforce what you were saying - Steve Simmons asked Marner if he ever took a big step back during his time here to think about why all these highly skilled players could never get over the hump.

That, to my ear, was the ONLY slightly difficult/awkward/uncomfortable question asked of anyone today.

Instead, we got a ton of softball questions - including someone asking Berube what it was like coaching Matthews this year (???).

This isnt a tough media market. It hasnt been for ages.

Softball questions and zero follow up. It’s a very easy market to play in if you’re willing to play hard.

 

[Nineteen67]

Blame to go around.

- Bosses offering bad contracts ($$$ and no trade/movement clauses)
- Players not living up to the contracts bailing ship late in every series. They seem to do fine in reg season and games 1-4 but fuk the dog the final games

Someone will say... "dont blame the players, you'd take the deal too".

Yes and no. Yes, anyone would take a juicy contract. But there's expectations. Reason why you got a giant contract is because you do well in the reg season racking up pts and wins, so how about try to do something similar in the playoffs. Nobody is expecting the core 4 to be Gretzkys and Lemieuxs, or even McDavid/Dry.

Just kind of do what you do in reg season like how other all stars can replicate and that's all people ask for. And if that happens, there would be more wins.

Funny thing is in general the leafs goaltending has been ok during these 9 playoff years. Not perfect. But WAY BETTER than whomever Oilers have in net every year which is a roll of the dice whether the guy lets in 1 goal or 6. But they can still put in the effort and score even when down by 2 goals in the third or losing a series.

Difference is McDavid, Dry, MacKinnon and all those high pt players can put the team on their shoulders and lead the team even if the team is down. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose. But they definitely dont lose like how the core 4 disappear. And Edm and Avs can even have shakier goaltending than Leafs in most playoff years where you might think some bad goals means automatic team morale deflation. When it looks like the core 4 think they are trending down or shut down, they basically give up. All 4 of them. Other star players still try and come back.

Matthews said it best when he said there are too many passengers. When the games get extremely hard and the opposition is playing with max effort, chasing down pucks, winning battles, etc. there is very little they can do about it. He’s 100% right they’re all passengers and all they can do is watch.
They need some bus drivers at the top of the lineup to help out Knies.

 

[thewave]

Softball questions and zero follow up. It’s a very easy market to play in if you’re willing to play hard.

Players come here and have it made. Once it sinks in they become complacent and try to take advantage.

It's a Muskoka team, not Toronto.

 

[Trapper]

Matthews said it best when he said there are too many passengers. When the games get extremely hard and the opposition is playing with max effort, chasing down pucks, winning battles, etc. there is very little they can do about it. He’s 100% right they’re all passengers and all they can do is watch.
They need some bus drivers at the top of the lineup to help out Knies.

Trouble is management let this go on for so long, it’s not going to be fixed in a season. You aren’t getting a new Marner (who plays like a Tkachuk) when he leaves.

Florida didn’t just trade for Tkachuk and they became a force. They were making moves before that. Reinhart,Bennett,Forsling,etc. Drafting,trading,UFA takes a few seasons.

It will probably take 2/3 seasons to actually fix this. Matthews is probably gone in 3 anyway.

 

[Confucius]

Matthews said it best when he said there are too many passengers. When the games get extremely hard and the opposition is playing with max effort, chasing down pucks, winning battles, etc. there is very little they can do about it. He’s 100% right they’re all passengers and all they can do is watch.
They need some bus drivers at the top of the lineup to help out Knies.

Playoff Knies also had zero goals zero assists and was a minus 5 in the last 4 games.

Mathews should be traded after his too many passengers comment. Reminds me when I was a kid. After a preseason loss while in the locker room I stated we make a couple of trades we’ll be alright. Well I was the guy traded the next week. Coach was correct.

 

[Nineteen67]

Trouble is management let this go on for so long, it’s not going to be fixed in a season. You aren’t getting a new Marner (who plays like a Tkachuk) when he leaves.

Florida didn’t just trade for Tkachuk and they became a force. They were making moves before that. Reinhart,Bennett,Forsling,etc. Drafting,trading,UFA takes a few seasons.

It will probably take 2/3 seasons to actually fix this. Matthews is probably gone in 3 anyway.

I wanted the Leafs to get Bennett back then.

They’ll ice a team, but I don’t know if they’ll ever be able to fix it enough to be Cup contenders with the limited resources they have and the way the contracts line up.

 

[thewave]

I wanted the Leafs to get Bennett back then.

They’ll ice a team, but I don’t know if they’ll ever be able to fix it enough to be Cup contenders with the limited resources they have and the way the contracts line up.

Gotta focus on young players not Bennet. Keeping JT alone for another 3 isn't without risks.

 

[Nineteen67]

Gotta focus on young players not Bennet. Keeping JT alone for another 3 isn't without risks.

They don’t need Bennett now, but it would have great to get him before he went to Florida. I think he was instrumental in recruiting Tkachuk to Florida.