When did you know it was over for this group?

[Dekes For Days]

@willmma I think you quoted the wrong person.

Am I missing the part where Nylander makes 8.76M/year and Ehlers makes 8M/year?

You're missing the part where Nylander signed for 8.76% of the cap, and Ehlers signed for 8%.

You are calling them cup contenders yet they haven't won a playoff round.

It's not just me that considers them cup contenders. Shows how irrelevant "past playoff rounds won" actually is, especially when you leave out all context.
We outplayed, outscored, and went to the very limit against the back-to-back Cup champs and Stanley Cup finalist with our goalie putting up below league average results, for the record.

 

[Americanadian]

@willmma I think you quoted the wrong person.

You're missing the part where Nylander signed for 8.76% of the cap, and Ehlers signed for 8%.

It's not just me that considers them cup contenders. Shows how irrelevant "past playoff rounds won" actually is, especially when you leave out all context.
We outplayed, outscored, and went to the very limit against the back-to-back Cup champs and Stanley Cup finalist with our goalie putting up below league average results, for the record.

I see you're shifting to cap % when both of their contracts started in the same season. If you're going to arbitrarily shift the goal posts we're going to go in circles.

If regular season success is what you enjoy then all the power to you. I'm at a point in my life where I appreciate people who win.

 

[Mess]

Winning the cup yes, but at least give us something in the postseason over the past 6 years. Instead they just find new embarrassing ways to lose

Against all odds

Leafs salary allocation is leading to unprecedented negative results.

 

[Dekes For Days]

I see you're shifting to cap % when both of their contracts started in the same season. If you're going to arbitrarily shift the goal posts we're going to go in circles.

I didn't shift the goalposts at all. There's no reason to talk about anything other than cap hit percentage.

If regular season success is what you enjoy then all the power to you. I'm at a point in my life where I appreciate people who win.

Acknowledging the information that you can get from the regular season, and appreciating your team winning, doesn't mean that you don't appreciate or want playoff success too.
Playing well, being competitive in, and ultimately losing past playoff series by the tiniest of margins (last year to the back-to-back Cup champs and eventual Cup finalist), primarily for reasons that aren't very relevant moving forward, isn't a reason to invalidate the contender status of a well-balanced, top-tier team on pace for 120 points.

 

[leafs in five]

I knew it was over for this group when they did a thing that according to a screenshot from the internet had only a 0.0036% chance of happening

 

[Dekes For Days]

Against all odds

You do realize that the main reason it's so rare is because you have to make the playoffs every year for 5 straight years and take every series to the limit first, right?

 

[willmma]

With the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs breaking their respective curses this century, the longest droughts in professional sports history has changed.

Which teams have the longest championship droughts?

Here are the teams with the longest-running droughts in the NFL, NBA, MLB, & NHL

NFL: Twelve NFL teams have never won a Super Bowl, but no team has gone longer without a championship than the Arizona Cardinals. The organization’s last title came in 1947, when there were only 10 teams in the NFL and the Cardinals were playing in Chicago.

NBA: The Sacramento Kings have a historic playoff drought to go along with their historic championship drought. The organization’s last championship came in 1951, when the team was the Rochester Royals. Since then, the team has used four different names and reached just two conference finals, losing both.

MLB: The longest World Series drought now belongs to the Cleveland Guardians. Cleveland has not won a title since 1948, but it has come close to winning one several times. The team lost the World Series four times over the last 73 seasons, most recently in 2016 when the Cubs snapped their unprecedented 108-year skid. Three more MLB teams have World Series droughts that extend 50-plus years: the Texas Rangers (61), Milwaukee Brewers (53) and San Diego Padres (53).

NHL: One of the NHL’s Original Six organizations has gone over five decades without lifting the Cup. The Toronto Maple Leafs have played 54 seasons since winning their last championship in the 1966-67 season. It’s been just as long since the team even reached the Stanley Cup Final, losing in five conference finals over that stretch. With a first-round exit in the 2022 playoffs, the Maple Leafs tied the record for longest Stanley Cup drought in NHL history, matching the New York Rangers’ mark from 1940 to 1994.

If the Leafs do not win the Stanley Cup this season they will set and hold the longest losing streak in NHL history all by themselves.

Yes, I knew it was over for this group ever since the leafs stopped winning cups. The Leafs suck and have sucked ever since 1967.

It's incredible, when Dubas signed Nylander he made us suck retroactively to 1967.
If only we signed Willy to $1M less, we would have won multiple cups in every decade the since the 70s.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

What's with all this talk of it being over for the group?

You do realize that until either:

A Kyle gets fired

Or

B Kyle makes core changes and no that doesn't mean depth pieces like Kerfoot, Kampf and Engvall.

Until 1 of those 2 things happen it's not over for this group

and really it's B because even if Kyle were fired it is possible a new guy could come in, bring in a new coach and keep the roster largly the same.

But seeing as coming into tonight the team is tied in points with NJ for #2 overall Kyle isn't going anywhere and so the core isn't going anywhere

 

[Maple Leaf]

They need one last chance after this it is over

 

[leafs in five]

emphatic regular season win over a cup pedigree team promises more postseason pain and failure I'm afraid

 

[leafs in five]

you know that brand of pond hockey where one team fails to register a shot for 10 minute stretches? good luck playing that way in the playoffs

 

[Martin Skoula]

5M is the difference between having Hyman and Hall instead of Kerfoot and Engvall. It would have allowed the Leafs to go after Niederreiter and Marino and move Kerfoot/Hall.

Am I missing the part where Nylander makes 8.76M/year and Ehlers makes 8M/year?

You are calling them cup contenders yet they haven't won a playoff round.

You can get that same 5 mil swapping Engvall Holl and Kerfoot with Steeves/Anderson, Holmberg, and Timmins/Benn. The biggest cap inefficiencies we have are guys making 3.5 mil for a job that can be done by someone making 850k, not guys making 11.6 for a job that can be done by someone making 9.5.

We also could have been easily in on Marino if we knew that Muzzin was going to be LTIRetired in the summer instead of waiting until game 4 to find out.

 

[WillyC]

Pretty quiet in here… not much from ‘the sky is falling’ crew.

Is it still over?… or are we in it to win it?

I’m impressed with this year’s team… I would think pretty much nobody, wants to face a healthy Leafs team, come playoffs.

Playoff Bunting will be fun.

 

[Confucius]

Don’t think it is over

 

[SeaOfBlue]

You can get that same 5 mil swapping Engvall Holl and Kerfoot with Steeves/Anderson, Holmberg, and Timmins/Benn. The biggest cap inefficiencies we have are guys making 3.5 mil for a job that can be done by someone making 850k, not guys making 11.6 for a job that can be done by someone making 9.5.

We also could have been easily in on Marino if we knew that Muzzin was going to be LTIRetired in the summer instead of waiting until game 4 to find out.

People keep saying that we have 850k guys who can do what Holl and Kerfoot can do and yet they don't.

Engvall may be able to be replaced by someone cheaper, but not for long because those guys will get their money soon and won't be cheaper.

 

[Martin Skoula]

People keep saying that we have 850k guys who can do what Holl and Kerfoot can do and yet they don't.

Engvall may be able to be replaced by someone cheaper, but not for long because those guys will get their money soon and won't be cheaper.

We don't have someone who can handle being a substitute #2 for a few weeks in case of injury like Holl but we can replace the 3rd pairing job he does when we're healthy for cheap. Same with Kerfoot, his value is that he can fill in anywhere in the top 6 for a few weeks without ruining chemistry but when we're healthy his 3rd line wing job isn't worth 3.5 mil.

By the time the mid-20s Marlies are prohibitively expensive, something would have had to go very wrong for us to not have a new wave of graduates ready and go 0-for-X on several years worth of undrafted/euro free agents.

 

[Maple Leaf]

Teg drwvyo


Regular season ok whatever

Playoffs is what matters

 

[Brobust]

The core's got another 10 years together.

 

[Mess]

you know that brand of pond hockey where one team fails to register a shot for 10 minute stretches? good luck playing that way in the playoffs

But that is the thing.

Leafs have tried to get away from pond hockey with last goal wins and trying to win every game 6-5 to one where they play more conservative and control the puck and the play and focus more on goal prevention then goal scoring. The TB game a great example of trying to nurse a 2-1 game to victory by limiting the oppositions shots and chances.

I agree 100% that Leafs former pond hockey regular season style was completely useless come playoff time, when they checking gets tighter come playoff time and Leafs stylistically are like a fish out of water with the nonsense of "offense wins championships" but their new attitude of insulating their goalie and playing a more "defense wins championships" approach has me second guessing things.

I still believe its very difficult to win come playoff time with 4 forwards eating up 1/2 your cap as poor cap management, however if you get those 4 forwards to buy in defensively and help a team win lower scoring tighter checking games then you might in fact be able to have some limited playoff success.,

 

[leafs in five]

Leafs salary allocation is leading to unprecedented negative results.

 

[TorMapleJays]

If only the Leafs would do something to reengage our fanbase eh....

 

[leafs in five]

They’re not even fun to watch lose because their boring style of play makes even that a chore. I really don’t see how they can ever recover. It’s no longer about moving one guy, they all need to go. The shitty losing culture has permeated into every crevice..

 

[al secord]

I'm glad I became a Jets fan

 

[leafs in five]

View attachment 700062

If only the Leafs would do something to reengage our fanbase eh....

lmao

 

[leafs in five]

Literally no one watches anymore and if the games on, it’s just background noise now.