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Bill_Berg said:A side yet related thought. The Leafs have lost to Boston two years in a row in the first round. Both those years saw the final games of the regular season be mostly unimportant. I don't really care what happens in the regular season this year, other than making the playoffs. I've watched way less this season than I normally do because of that.
CarltonTheBear said:Zee said:Marner might be hurt now too
Babcock said he's fine. And that Rielly will play tomorrow.
Nik Bethune said:Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:Well, for me none of that is it. I just don't cotton up to the superstars I guess. I respect Tavares, but he's kind of hard to get, you know, excited abot -- er, I mean, "about."
You may have missed my ironing, Malvolio.
That first year was exciting. They overachieved and made us believe there was greatness on the horizon, possibly including a Cup. Now, though, they seem to have settled into a rut marked by long periods of lazy/indifferent play, too much time in the defensive zone, over-reliance on Andersen. Dare I say, the play often looks like it did during the Carlyle era (I'm sure I'll get flak for that comment, but that's how things look to me). I mentioned on the GDT thread that I sometimes feel like I'm still watching Kessel and JVR float around out there, waving their sticks as opponents skate by them. I'm holding out hope that at some point it clicks and there is still plenty of time. Perhaps it will require another first round loss and a coaching change to light a fire under these guys.Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:To judge by the lack of discussion around here compared to previous seasons, I'm sensing a shortfall of enthusiasm for this team. Maybe it's just me though.
It's funny, you wait for years for the club to be good, to have some real skill, and now they do. Yet I just don't feel a strong connection to the Big 4. Maybe it's because outside of Tavares it appears they are content to coast too often.
Marner especially has gone from enthusiastic energizer to just another overpaid athlete.
I really enjoyed the first season of Matthews/Nylander/Marner together. Since then ... it's been meh more than wow.
azzurri63 said:I know I get a lot of flack on here as I come across harsh and constantly complaining about the coach, the system, the effort on a nightly basis, the lack of grit and intensity and I could go on.
Truth of the matter is it's true.
Which is kind of funny since the new players (Kerfoot, Mikheyev, Timashov in particular) have looked great.azzurri63 said:Some have stated we have new players and may need some time to gel.
I think Hyman will be a welcome shot in the arm but it might take him a while to get up to speed. Dermott, not so sure about him. He looked impressive when he first came up but seems to have stagnated a bit. Maybe it's the system (or lack thereof), maybe he needs more responsibility. We'll see I guess.azzurri63 said:Some say when we get Dermott and Hyman back then things will change.
Nik Bethune said:azzurri63 said:I know I get a lot of flack on here as I come across harsh and constantly complaining about the coach, the system, the effort on a nightly basis, the lack of grit and intensity and I could go on.
Truth of the matter is it's true.
Really? The things you say over and over and over and over and over no matter what happens on the ice are things you think are true? Well, my goodness, that is a gamechanger.
Chris said:Which is kind of funny since the new players (Kerfoot, Mikheyev, Timashov in particular) have looked great.azzurri63 said:Some have stated we have new players and may need some time to gel.
I think Hyman will be a welcome shot in the arm but it might take him a while to get up to speed. Dermott, not so sure about him. He looked impressive when he first came up but seems to have stagnated a bit. Maybe it's the system (or lack thereof), maybe he needs more responsibility. We'll see I guess.azzurri63 said:Some say when we get Dermott and Hyman back then things will change.
azzurri63 said:So what's your take on this team?
CarltonTheBear said:Bill_Berg said:A side yet related thought. The Leafs have lost to Boston two years in a row in the first round. Both those years saw the final games of the regular season be mostly unimportant. I don't really care what happens in the regular season this year, other than making the playoffs. I've watched way less this season than I normally do because of that.
Fan version of load management.
Bender said:Bill_Berg said:Nik Bethune said:Last year, the theme coming out of the off-season was that the Leafs had just signed one of the biggest UFA deals of all time. This year, the Leafs didn't do that and had an off-season dominated by supposed Leafs fans running down and taking whatever opportunity they could to call the team's talented young players selfish, overpaid and overrated.
So, yeah, there may be less enthusiasm for the team.
A side yet related thought. The Leafs have lost to Boston two years in a row in the first round. Both those years saw the final games of the regular season be mostly unimportant. I don't really care what happens in the regular season this year, other than making the playoffs. I've watched way less this season than I normally do because of that.
So it's the destination and not the journey?
CarltonTheBear said:Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:To judge by the lack of discussion around here compared to previous seasons, I'm sensing a shortfall of enthusiasm for this team.
Just to satisfy my own curiosity, I wanted to see if there was any way to double-check this.
Last year the first 11 GDTs had a total of 1468 replies, which equals an average of 133 per game. The busiest thread had 219 replies and the slowest one had just 83.
This year the first 11 GDTS had a total of 2224 replies, which equals an average of 202 per game. The busiest thread had 332 replies and the slowest had 132.
Last years "General Discussion" thread had 83 posts from Oct 1st to Oct. 23rd. This years "General Discussion" thread had 141.
Guilt Trip said:I knew Marner's 5 v 5 points totals weren't good but 2 in 11 games is horrible and sums up why his line, no matter who he plays with, is struggling.
Nik Bethune said:Guilt Trip said:I knew Marner's 5 v 5 points totals weren't good but 2 in 11 games is horrible and sums up why his line, no matter who he plays with, is struggling.
A low 5v5 point total absolutely tells us that his line is struggling. I don't see that it tells us anything about why it's struggling.
Don't waste the energy. They will get it together eventually, hopefully lol. This team isn't a Hyman or Dermott away from getting their crap together. They will help tho.sickbeast said:The leafs are losing 5-2 to the habs right now. I'm starting to get a wee bit concerned. Not sure where to point the blame but they need to start figuring things out and plugging whatever hole the team has.
When are Dermott and Hyman coming back? Maybe that will help.