There is nothing wrong with Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares.

[Summer Rose]

Well, the teams without serious Cup objectives anyway.

I, for one, would love to get Marner signed in Utah, because he'd go a long way in helping us get to the playoffs, and I hold the position that part of building towards being a contender coming from a position of being out of the playoffs for several years, step one is just to start making the playoffs, and you can kick the can down the road and figure out how to win once you get there later.

I said basically the same thing about Connor Hellebuyck in the thread about him, but Utah's goaltending situation is fairly set regardless.

 

[sampollock]

ya there is something wrong. they suck

 

[RiverbottomChuck]

Matthews is just the goal scoring version of Joe Thornton.

 

[VivaLasVegas]

The guys in here blaming the depth is laughable. The problem is the core 4, not Max Pacioretty.

These guys are just way too soft. That's all there is to it. Look at the guys who have been top players on cup winning teams lately. Tkachuk, Barkov, Stone, MacKinnon, Kucherov. You think any of those guys are soft players?

Darcy Tucker said that you have to be a little crazy to play in Toronto. It's one of the biggest fan bases and it's a franchise that has not even come close to the cup in almost 60 years. There's way more pressure playing on that team than any other. Matthews, Marner, Nylander, and Tavares are not strong enough mentally to win in that market.

The only way Toronto will ever win a cup is if they do what the Rangers did with bringing in Messier. Bring in a veteran HOF level player who's already won a ton and knows how to block out noise and build around him. Problem is players like that are rarely available.

I've said for years that the Leafs' build makes no sense. The Leafs are built to ooh and aah the crowds during the regular season to keep the stadium filled, fans watching, and merch flying off the shelves -- as if that would be a problem in Toronto -- but completely wrong to make deep playoff runs.

Of all the teams, the Leafs' large and crazy loyal fanbase would still stick around even if the Leafs struggled in the regular season but then took off in the playoffs. So why not just build for the playoffs to begin with?

 

[Cloned]

Nylander is the only one of the group with a motor. Everyone else just plays complacent hockey.

 

[Fatass]

Nylander is the only one of the group with a motor. Everyone else just plays complacent hockey.

Nylander, whose only contribution is offence, had zero points in the last four games in that series vs Florida. He completely disappeared from high compete areas as the series got tougher.

 

[fasterthanlight]

Matthews is just the goal scoring version of Joe Thornton.

I am not sure the leafs core four is comparable to SJ... While I agree that neither thornton nor matthews' games (have) translated well to the playoffs, thornton and the choking sharks did win a *lot* of playoff series

 

[Summer Rose]

I've said for years that the Leafs' build makes no sense. The Leafs are built to ooh and aah the crowds during the regular season to keep the stadium filled, fans watching, and merch flying off the shelves -- as if that would be a problem in Toronto -- but completely wrong to make deep playoff runs.

Of all the teams, the Leafs' large and crazy loyal fanbase would still stick around even if the Leafs struggled in the regular season but then took off in the playoffs. So why not just build for the playoffs to begin with?

If you ask me, one of the main underlying issues is how handcuffed they are by the big contracts that Kyle Dubas gave out. Dubas is no longer with them, but through this season they were all in force, so the Kyle Dubas taint was still lingering. They have a good chance to make significant changes this summer with the contracts of John Tavares and Mitch Marner finally expiring. As for what they can possibly do to shake things up, I'm honestly not really interested in speculating on that topic since I'm not a Leafs fan.

 

[coooldude]

I am not sure the leafs core four is comparable to SJ... While I agree that neither thornton nor matthews' games (have) translated well to the playoffs, thornton and the choking sharks did win a *lot* of playoff series

Yeah, I think the current failures of the leafs far surpass the Sharks choking. Other than a few choke jobs to the Oilers and flames, Jumbo and co mostly couldn't get it done against great, cup winning teams like the Toews/Kane Hawks, the Doughty/Kopitar/Quick Kings, the Perry/Getzlaf ducks, Crosby's pens.

 

[Frosty415]

Matthews is a shut down forward/two way stud

People don’t know this because they don’t watch the maple leafs play (they just complain about them) and because they’ve never heard of a 70 goal scoring shutdown forward, 200ft player.

Matthews was supposed to be Anze Kopitar, but he matured into an Ovechkin+Barkov.

Also, yes … Tavares is a true net front presence IE Perry. He’s just maintained his level of production MUCH better than Perry has in his later career.

Marner is also a fantastic two-way shutdown forward, who runs the powerplay and can play defense IE Fedorov. How many of those exist in the NHL? Can you name another one now that I’ve named Federov?

Honestly, there just aren’t any comparables to many of Toronto’s core 4. There aren’t many (or any) players who really match up to what they actually bring to the ice.

I think if you wanted to question their killer instinct, or their heart I’m with you all day long. But it’s obvious you don’t watch this team play.

What a delusional post holy cow

 

[who_me?]

Keep the band together and with the cap rising, it should be easy to keep Marner and Tavares with contracts good for both sides.

Division champs this year, they get past the 1st round.

Their goals should be: Conference champs next year, to get past the 2nd round. Then the year after that, Presidents Trophy to get past the 3rd round.!

All doable with Matthews, Marner and Nylander still in their primes.

 

[Strangle]

What a delusional post holy cow

There is nothing wrong with what I said.

None of these players issues revolve around skill.

 

[Frosty415]

And after another complete no show from Matthews he throws his team under the bus

How do fans not call for his head?

Bbut he's better than barkov and koptiar!!! And marner is fedorov!!!11

With the amount of pass these players get, I'm glad they lost, their fans are absolutely delusional with some of their takes.

 

[behemolari]

I've said for years that the Leafs' build makes no sense. The Leafs are built to ooh and aah the crowds during the regular season to keep the stadium filled, fans watching, and merch flying off the shelves -- as if that would be a problem in Toronto -- but completely wrong to make deep playoff runs.

Of all the teams, the Leafs' large and crazy loyal fanbase would still stick around even if the Leafs struggled in the regular season but then took off in the playoffs. So why not just build for the playoffs to begin with?

because its only about money not about success

 

[Two4Fighting]

Toronto has the right coach but the wrong mix of players, A retooling is necessary, letting Tavares and Marner go, will help surround the other 2 players with the supporting cast money can buy.

 

[Lukin1978]

To everyone saying let Marner and Tavares go who replaces them?

 

[behemolari]

What a delusional post holy cow

kids, stay away from drugs

Matthews is a shut down forward/two way stud

People don’t know this because they don’t watch the maple leafs play (they just complain about them) and because they’ve never heard of a 70 goal scoring shutdown forward, 200ft player.

Matthews was supposed to be Anze Kopitar, but he matured into an Ovechkin+Barkov.

Also, yes … Tavares is a true net front presence IE Perry. He’s just maintained his level of production MUCH better than Perry has in his later career.

Marner is also a fantastic two-way shutdown forward, who runs the powerplay and can play defense IE Fedorov. How many of those exist in the NHL? Can you name another one now that I’ve named Federov?

Honestly, there just aren’t any comparables to many of Toronto’s core 4. There aren’t many (or any) players who really match up to what they actually bring to the ice.

I think if you wanted to question their killer instinct, or their heart I’m with you all day long. But it’s obvious you don’t watch this team play.

its very hard to match up that, you are correct

 

[BeranekAndNeck]

There is nothing wrong with what I said.

Except, like, all of it.

 

[LuGBuG]

Matthews is a shut down forward/two way stud

People don’t know this because they don’t watch the maple leafs play (they just complain about them) and because they’ve never heard of a 70 goal scoring shutdown forward, 200ft player.

Matthews was supposed to be Anze Kopitar, but he matured into an Ovechkin+Barkov.

Also, yes … Tavares is a true net front presence IE Perry. He’s just maintained his level of production MUCH better than Perry has in his later career.

Marner is also a fantastic two-way shutdown forward, who runs the powerplay and can play defense IE Fedorov. How many of those exist in the NHL? Can you name another one now that I’ve named Federov?

Honestly, there just aren’t any comparables to many of Toronto’s core 4. There aren’t many (or any) players who really match up to what they actually bring to the ice.

I think if you wanted to question their killer instinct, or their heart I’m with you all day long. But it’s obvious you don’t watch this team play.

He’s Ovechkin+Barkov….. yeah I don’t think I need to read much more of that post.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Matthews is a shut down forward/two way stud

He’s neither of these things actually

 

[CupsOverCash]

Go with the same guys again and see what happens.

 

[Cloned]

Nylander, whose only contribution is offence, had zero points in the last four games in that series vs Florida. He completely disappeared from high compete areas as the series got tougher.

He was also the only one generating dangerous chances with his speed.

 

[Fatass]

He was also the only one generating dangerous chances with his speed.

Nylander is great with puck on stick and lots of space to attack. That’s about 3% of his total time on ice. What does he contribute the other 97%?

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Nylander is great with puck on stick and lots of space to attack. That’s about 3% of his total time on ice. What does he contribute the other 97%?

You just described Phil Kessel. He seemed to do just fine when he was on a team that didn't have a bunch of superstar chokers.

Nylander might not be capable of being "the man" on a team, but of the core four he's by far the least of the issue considering he generally produces (more than the other three, at least).

 

[JFedol]

Don't know how a player like Marner doesn't make the decision to work on his shot or even decide to bulk up from 170-180lb ever since he got drafted in 2015