Confirmed with Link: Sheldon Keefe extended 2 years

[Zybalto]

in the only data that counts the eye test showed we were outscored in 4 of the 7 games

and if you want to throw players under the bus start with Campbell who shit the bed in the 3 close out game and Sandin who helped cost us 2 games

Exactly.

Hard to throw anyone under the bus when they do it so visibly.

Campbell after game 4
Sandin
Galchenyuk
Dermott
Injuries
Depth scoring
Carey Price
The PP

The key factors in the series loss. Arguing outside of these is secondary IMO.

Sandin can get away from the goat horns as he is so young. Dermott (who has never lived up to his promise) I'm still furious with as the Leafs (after that Keefe speech) were dummying the Habs who were folding badly and Dermott managed to provide the Habs with the blunder of his life. It's his career-defining moment to date. Personally, I'm good with dropping his azz with both so many promising D pushing to get a look in. When Campbell started to falter, it's not like we were going to play headcase Freddy or "No Save" Dave so I feel better having a guy like Mrazek there (provided he works out of course)

 

[zeke]

Can't disagree that WPG has been better than Minny but they laid a huge egg against the Habs while Minny gave Vegas a run for their money. The Avs caved due to the relentless Vegas attack. Hard to convince me that the Habs had a more difficult time getting out of their division as the Knights did theirs.

or maybe people just don't realize how weak the whole western conference has been the past few years, especially the pacific/west division teams , and don't realize that COL and VEG just aren't as good as they looked out there.

 

[Zybalto]

or maybe people just don't realize how weak the whole western conference has been the past few years, especially the pacific/west division teams , and don't realize that COL and VEG just aren't as good as they looked out there.

Just look at the West this year. Just awful.

The Pacific in particular is really weak.

Calgary
Seattle
Vegas
Anaheim
Vancouver
San Jose
LA
Edmonton

Which three teams make it?

Vegas, Edmonton and umm...Calgary?

 

[The CyNick]

As soon as I read the bolded, the first thing I thought was what did Edm, Winn, and Toronto have in common that MTL did not ?? Winnipeg and Edmonton had terrible D and the Leafs D did not play as well (Sandin did not help) while the Habs D clearly stepped up, even with Petry and Weber playing with hand injuries. Some Leaf fans refuse to give the Habs D credit but the proof was in the pudding as they shut down all comers except for the SC Champs.

Winnipeg was decimated on D, which was a position of strength. But even with that, I thought they were better suited to win because they play a heavier style. I wasn't shocked they beat the Oilers easily. But yeah Montreal has everything you need for a deep playoff run but may not excel in the regular season. Some people get confused by regular season success (especially early season success) compared to playoff success.

 

[The CyNick]

Is that viable explanation to us if we won Panthers and Lightning in the playoffs and then lose in the conference finals 0-4. Is it okay because we had tough first two rounds? I think this is rather stupid explanation, if Vegas was good hockey team and North was bad division, it should be easy to win 4th team of the bad division.

This is also one kind of spin. Adversity. If you're division is too easy there isn't adversity and lose because of it, if it's tough division there is too much adversity and you lose because of it.

Any of that is possible. However this is not uncommon in sports with playoffs. If you have a tough draw you can lose to an inferior opponent. Still makes it disappointing, but I would rather hang my hat on losing because of attrition vs losing because you got "goalied" or whatever lame excuses the Leafs come up with.

 

[The CyNick]

Toronto vs Colorado
Winnipeg vs Minnesota

Pretty similar.

Lol no.

 

[zeke]

Lol no.

lmao yes.

 

[Zybalto]

Points % over the last 3 years:

1. Colorado: .635
2. Toronto: .620

3. Winnipeg: .579
4. Minnesota: .568

 

[IPS]

And I wish I could take you up on that for a substantial amount of money. This post of yours is s sad joke.

He wouldn't take the bet.

You could pay him $1000 if they don't make it but he has to pay you $100 if they do make it and I still guarantee he doesn't take the bet.

 

[Gary Nylund]

He wouldn't take the bet.

You could pay him $1000 if they don't make it but he has to pay you $100 if they do make it and I still guarantee he doesn't take the bet.

Yup. A real life example of the old saying - money talks, BS walks. And the idea that the Leafs chances of making the playoffs are 50-50 is a huge stinky heap of BS.

 

[The CyNick]

Points % over the last 3 years:

1. Colorado: .635
2. Toronto: .620

3. Winnipeg: .579
4. Minnesota: .568

Who would you have picked in a series between Toronto and Colorado or Winnipeg and Minnesota?

 

[zeke]

Who would you have picked in a series between Toronto and Colorado or Winnipeg and Minnesota?

why are you pretending we haven't seen WPG and MIN up against each other every year in the same division, with WPG always coming out on top?

don't you realize you are exposing your own bias by thinking that Minnesota is better?

 

[Zybalto]

Who would you have picked in a series between Toronto and Colorado or Winnipeg and Minnesota?

Toronto/Colorado would be a great series between two of the best teams in the league. a pickem series really. They have split the last 4 games they played and would certainly be the most entertaining series of the two. While Minny has certainly improved the scoring end of their roster, their defensive end and goaltending have degraded as of late and would be their undoing against Helle and the high scoring Jets.

 

[The CyNick]

Toronto/Colorado would be a great series between two of the best teams in the league. a pickem series really. They have split the last 4 games they played and would certainly be the most entertaining series of the two. While Minny has certainly improved the scoring end of their roster, their defensive end and goaltending have degraded as of late and would be their undoing against Helle and the high scoring Jets.

I would have had Avs and Wild in 5. Neither series would be close.

 

[The CyNick]

why are you pretending we haven't seen WPG and MIN up against each other every year in the same division, with WPG always coming out on top?

don't you realize you are exposing your own bias by thinking that Minnesota is better?

Why dont you think teams change over time? 2-3 years ago Jets were a much different team. I would have picked those Jets over the one from last season.

 

[123offtheglass]

Toronto vs Colorado
Winnipeg vs Minnesota

Pretty similar.

I actually agree with this.

Although I did think Colorado > Toronto, Minnesota > Winnipeg , but it's close. That Pacific division was likely the weakest (all-round) & the Canadian Division was very underrated.

Habs, supposedly a joke going into the playoffs, got to the cup final going through Vegas. Reality is Habs were a good team that figured it out at the right time. Vegas was a very good team, so was Colorado who they beat, & so were the Leafs.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I would have had Avs and Wild in 5. Neither series would be close.

You also think the Leafs chances of making the playoffs are 50-50 and that there are only a handful of #1 Dmen in the NHL and the rest are "interchangeable".

Cliff notes - I doubt there's anyone left here who takes you seriously.

 

[The CyNick]

You also think the Leafs chances of making the playoffs are 50-50 and that there are only a handful of #1 Dmen in the NHL and the rest are "interchangeable".

Cliff notes - I doubt there's anyone left here who takes you seriously.

Thanks for reading all my posts. They come highly recommended.

 

[IPS]

Thanks for reading all my posts. They come highly recommended.

They are highly reccomended.

Rielly being a 3rd pairing D... where else would you find such entertaining stupidity?

 

[The CyNick]

They are highly reccomended.

Rielly being a 3rd pairing D... where else would you find such entertaining stupidity?

That was never the quote. The quote was that he would be most effective as a third pair. Given his continued struggles in a top four role, I stand by the concept.

 

[Zybalto]

I would have had Avs and Wild in 5. Neither series would be close.

Don't just willy nilly throw those up and not explain them. Why would the Avs stomp the Leafs and why would Minny take out the Jets that easily?

 

[IPS]

That was never the quote. The quote was that he would be most effective as a third pair. Given his continued struggles in a top four role, I stand by the concept.

You absolutely 100% said that Rielly is a 3rd pairing D. Deny it all you want.

You also called the signing of TJ Brodie stupid because he's left handed when in reality you had no clue he played almost his entire career on the right side.

 

[hamzarocks]

Points % over the last 3 years:

1. Colorado: .635
2. Toronto: .620

3. Winnipeg: .579
4. Minnesota: .568

For Toronto and the Leafs, the gap is closed due to the timeline selected, could have had Toronto be ahead if you went back to 2017-2018. It basically comes down to the Avs not becoming an elite team
until Makar arrived and they dealt Barrie.

In 18-19, the leafs had huge contender expectations while the Avs squeaked into the playoffs and got the Flames who were 2nd in the NHL and predicted favorites for that series (before their epic choke)

The Avs only have been contenders and an elite team for 2 straight seasons, which they have been better than the leafs pt% wise (19-20 is .657 vs .579 and 20-21 is .732 vs .688)

Leafs were the better team from 2017 to 2019 (i.e, Matthews 3 ELC years) with the Avs being horrific to plain mediocre during that span

Minny was also extremely mediocre in 2018-2019, leading to them selling off some established talents like Granlund, Coyle, Niederreiter who were all part of the old guard of core pieces for the team.

They have been considerably better since then once Fiala joined along with Kaprizov joining this season, while the Jets fell off after 2019, losing a bunch of their defense in the way of Buff, Myers, and Trouba who helped them post a .606 pt% in 2019 (good for 4th in the West). Since then, the Jets have been largely a mediocre team relying on excellent defense with very weak defensive play (they did add to that this off-season)

Jets posted a .563 and .563 in back-to-back years, while the Wild have posted a .558 and .670.

 

[Zybalto]

For Toronto and the Leafs, the gap is closed due to the timeline selected, could have had Toronto be ahead if you went back to 2017-2018. It basically comes down to the Avs not becoming an elite team
until Makar arrived and they dealt Barrie.

In 18-19, the leafs had huge contender expectations while the Avs squeaked into the playoffs and got the Flames who were 2nd in the NHL and predicted favorites for that series (before their epic choke)

The Avs only have been contenders and an elite team for 2 straight seasons, which they have been better than the leafs pt% wise (19-20 is .657 vs .579 and 20-21 is .732 vs .688)

Leafs were the better team from 2017 to 2019 (i.e, Matthews 3 ELC years) with the Avs being horrific to plain mediocre during that span

Minny was also extremely mediocre in 2018-2019, leading to them selling off some established talents like Granlund, Coyle, Niederreiter who were all part of the old guard of core pieces for the team.

They have been considerably better since then once Fiala joined along with Kaprizov joining this season, while the Jets fell off after 2019, losing a bunch of their defense in the way of Buff, Myers, and Trouba who helped them post a .606 pt% in 2019 (good for 4th in the West). Since then, the Jets have been largely a mediocre team relying on excellent defense with very weak defensive play (they did add to that this off-season)

Jets posted a .563 and .563 in back-to-back years, while the Wild have posted a .558 and .670.

...and all threw this their division and conference have also fell off a cliff in terms of quality making things easier for them to inflate their records, the Wild especially benefitting in the uber lopsided West last year (Does anyone really think they are as good as or better than Tampa, Boston, the Islanders, etc.)

Looking deeper at the Wild, that great record was almost completely built off dominating 4 of the worst teams in the league.

Record against Anaheim/SJ/LA/Arizona: 25-6-1

I don't think they will hold up quite the same when they have to play everyone this year and if their defensive and goaltending numbers continue to slip, how competitive will they really be? At least the Jets have one of the elite goalies in the world in net.

 

[colchar]

and if you want to throw players under the bus start with Campbell who shit the bed in the 3 close out game

Cut the guy some slack, that was his first ever NHL playoff series. Not every goalie is going to be Dryden.