Pablo El Perro
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- Oct 10, 2007
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They can get better, depending on what they are, but it's more changing lifestyle kind of stuff which wouldn't be easy for a hockey player.
There is nothing wrong with Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares.
- Thread starter awegrzyn
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Fatass
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- Apr 17, 2017
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Especially with all the cross checks players take in the back as just a normal course of the game. Add to that the natural forward lean of skating and bad backs are bad news for hockey players.
If stolarz wasn't injured would the result have been differnt. I think yes.
Tie Domi Esquire
The Passengers That Unite Us All
- Oct 18, 2010
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He's a bum and coasts even when it's a long change. First round vs. Ottawa he did it a bunch. They've paid this guy more than Pastrnak for their entire careers.
And if Marner is gone, his leadership position gains more power.
Fatass
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Woll stole game six. Chances in game 7 were 75 to 21 for Florida.
Game 3 might have had a differnt outcome. Stolarz is better with the puck. Florida injures key players.. That's their plan and the league allows it. Imagine a leaf doing the same. Out for the entire playoffs.
Goaltending isn't why the Leafs lost yet again. Matthews and his 3 friends are why.
I will post this here to show everything wrong with this core.
The drop in core four scoring from regular season to playoffs
Posting this fully in part to sharpen it.
Difference between reg season points per game and playoffs points per game from the core five between 2016 and now:
Matthews -0.28
Marner -0.23
Nylander -0.07
Tavares -0.32
**What does this mean exactly?**
-0.1 is very typical
-0.2 is underwhelming
-0.3 is historically bad
90% of all NHL players ever are -0.1
Many notable NHLers are at -0.2 like:
Mario Lemieux, Yzerman, Jagr, Lafontaine, Gartner, Joe Mullen, Nieuwendyk, Shanahan funny enough, Datsyuk, Lanny McDonald, Joe Thornton
Some notable NHLers at -0.3 or more are:
Dionne, Robitaille, likely some more
(inherently factoring in age decline all told)
Seems perfectly fitting given that the massive pressure they're facing, but maybe other factors also. Crumbling under expectations. Also worth mentioning they've faced better goalies than most playoff teams do so far, a significant element.
Holtby, Rask, KORPISALO ON STEROIDS, Price, Vasilevskiy, Swaymark, Bobrovsky
So. Yeah. A fascinating situation.
HabzSauce
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How this still isn't clear to some blows my mind.
Toronto will never win with those pansies. Maybe with Willy they can but only if they can replace Matthews and Marner with actual winners that bleed hockey
Cup Or Bust
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- Oct 17, 2017
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The Leafs will just have to make some solid changes to their core this offsesson. In my opinion, they should have 3 or 4 seasons ago.
“The core isn’t the issue at all, it’s all these other things, not the obvious one!”
- Dec 17, 2018
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Matthews bleeds Versace, does that count?
Patrick Roy isn’t winning those two 6-1 games in Toronto.
If the big 4 had shown up the result may have been different. Woll was fine. The series was not lost because of goaltending.
Everything’s been changed except the core. They’re the main problem.
SharksFan1992
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Facing perennial Cup contending teams didn't stop the Kings, Blackhawks, Pens, Blues, Bolts, Avs, and Panthers. Leafs kept losing to Boston and only one of those years Boston made the Finals (and lost). The fact is the Leafs weren't and still aren't good enough. If you can't beat the team you're matched up against, you can't be considered the best team the league lifting the Stanley Cup.
SharksFan1992
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Stolarz was going to magically score them more goals. Their issue was offense. They scored a wopping 4 goals from Games 5-7.
HofT
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He probably would have won game 3 which would have the leafs up 3-0. Series would be over in Game 6.
Toronto has a weak supporting case because the core is so expensive.
Dallas and Carolina have no players making 10m. Florida has one player making exactly 10m. And Edmonton has one player making over 10m.
Toronto has 4. If you lumped them in with the 4 SF teams, they have the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5h most expensive players. So it's not some unknowable mystery why their supporting cast suck. Their supporting cast always sucks.
The two UFAs can either walk or take significant haircuts to stay. With the money that they will then have free, they can go and build good depth.
Dallas and Carolina have no players making 10m. Florida has one player making exactly 10m. And Edmonton has one player making over 10m.
Toronto has 4. If you lumped them in with the 4 SF teams, they have the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5h most expensive players. So it's not some unknowable mystery why their supporting cast suck. Their supporting cast always sucks.
The two UFAs can either walk or take significant haircuts to stay. With the money that they will then have free, they can go and build good depth.
Yes, you do.
Florida Panthers, won the Stanley Cup last year. How many 100 point scorers? 0. Vegas Golden Knights in 2023, didn't have a single PPG player. The highest scoring player had 66 points. There were 11 guys with 100+ points that season and 60 with 70+. This year there were 6 players with 100+ points, 12 with 90+. 2 of them are left at the SF stage, they're on the same team, and that team is down 1-0.
The correlation between 100 point players and Stanley Cups is at best weak, and possibly inverse. Yeah, if you could have an 100 point player for 6 million would you take it? Sure. But not many 100 point players are agreeing to play for 6 million. With the salary that you pay this 100 point player, you could get 3 role players who are going to play huge minutes at different positions in different situations for a cup contending team. That gives you a lot more value than 100 points.
You cant say that, because you dont know what the score is of a Game 3 with Stolarz in net rather than Woll. You are assuming that Stolarz is in the game with a 3-1 lead, which would not be the case if we are switching goalies.
Its the same as me saying, we would have still come back in Game 3, and win in 7.
MoneyManny
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- Jun 28, 2021
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If depth really was the problem, the top 4 would still be entirely responsible as there's no way to add good depth when you pay such a gigantic chunk of the cap to these 4 losers.
We never heard Tom Brady complain about depth when he was throwing to Amendola and Edelman. Losers find ways to lose, winners find ways to win.
We never heard Tom Brady complain about depth when he was throwing to Amendola and Edelman. Losers find ways to lose, winners find ways to win.
HofT
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Everyone here is assuming. Woll did not have a good game 3 - he let in a couple softies - I can definitely speculate that if Stolarz was in net then the Leafs would probably win.
sr edler
gold is not reality
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Toronto's problem was always (and still is) that all their star forwards are way too similar, or almost identical. You need a good mix of players. You want 1 or 2 of those puck skill phantoms, but then you need to have strong two-way dawgs as well, and/or good physicality, to round it out.
Imagine Chicago if instead of Toews, Kane and Hossa they had Kane, Kane and Kane. That team would have been much easier to bully and/or match up against.
Imagine Washington in 2018 if instead of Kuznetsov, Wilson, Bäcks and Ovi they had Ovi, Ovi, Ovi, Ovi (this is post-peak Ovi who didn't zone-enter himself). That team would have had massive problems even getting the puck into the o-zone with sustained pressure.
Or even Vancouver if instead of Sedin, Sedin, Kesler, Burrows had Sedin, Sedin, Sedin, Sedin.
You can't build your team as if it's a video game roster.
Imagine Chicago if instead of Toews, Kane and Hossa they had Kane, Kane and Kane. That team would have been much easier to bully and/or match up against.
Imagine Washington in 2018 if instead of Kuznetsov, Wilson, Bäcks and Ovi they had Ovi, Ovi, Ovi, Ovi (this is post-peak Ovi who didn't zone-enter himself). That team would have had massive problems even getting the puck into the o-zone with sustained pressure.
Or even Vancouver if instead of Sedin, Sedin, Kesler, Burrows had Sedin, Sedin, Sedin, Sedin.
You can't build your team as if it's a video game roster.
GrandmaCookie
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- Feb 10, 2019
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