That’s not how it sounded the first 3 games. Remember lots of posters calling out the 2nd lines success and that it only came vs “lesser” defensive units
Willy played a lot with JT this season. I'm not 100% familiar with the dynamic but I'm sure JT drove the lines at times. Willy needs to be given the keys 100% of the time for his line.
His dad never even had a 30-goal season, shows how much you know. He was more like….Marner, actually. Not as “good” on the PK though!
Doesn’t hate losing. He’s got great skill but zero heart or leadership. Since he had risen to the occasion more so than his teammates in prior playoff series, I was surprised how quickly he disappeared against the Panthers this year. The truth is he plays hard when it’s convenient for him and is afraid to engage physically. Can’t win with that from your highest paid players and leadership group. They need to bring in those type of players and continue to develop that with players like Knies because without it they’ll never beat a team like the Panthers.He seemed ok with how the season ended, they made a good step and have grown.
Tough to do that when more than 50% of their cap was tied up in four forwards. With Marner likely walking and a rising salary cap now will be the time to address the forward group.
It doesn’t matter. Marner isn’t signing for $11.5M in Toronto and I don’t want to watch playoff Marner again as a Leaf.
To be fair. He kinda disappeared. Line mates weren’t ideal but he got pushed out of the series just like his other highly paid teammates did.
Ok. But that’s just a hypothetical. Would he be less intimidated by the Panthers physical play ?
Nylander Sr. Could be frustratingly inconsistent but the dude topped out at 26 goals playing next to prime Jagr, so at no time was he ever a game breaker.
It’s hard to say. At this point, Knies isn’t Tom Wilson and probably will never be but he will likely be a better player and will be able to look after himself. I do think last year Matthews was more comfortable with physicality having Domi and Bertuzzi on his wings. I don’t like the fact that Berube was unwilling to change up the lines when things were obviously not going well. I would have liked to have seen McMann on the second line with Tavares and Nylander and maybe even give Domi some shifts there when Tavares was clearly having trouble keeping up.
