Qualifier Game 5: Blue Jackets @ Leafs - Aug. 9th, 8:00pm - SN, TSN 1050

[berserker]

Yes they need a power forward.

 

[Andy007]

Yes they need a power forward.

Kasperi Kapanen for Josh Anderson anyone? 

 

[Frank E]

Yes they need a power forward.

Kasperi Kapanen for Josh Anderson anyone?

I smell Clarkson on him.

 

[herman]

Yes they need a power forward.

Kasperi Kapanen for Josh Anderson anyone?

I smell Clarkson on him.

Same agent as Marner

 

[ZBBM]

So basically a playoff team is one that cheats consistently enough that it's normalized.

Nah.

I think Keefe should have sent Clifford out there with Marner and Matthews in the third and told him to create havoc in front of Korpisalo.

They played on the perimeter when it clearly wasn't working.

I think that was the one element they were missing - not Clifford per say, but a Patrick Hornqvist type.  Someone with hands and can play, but is willing to muck it up in front of the net.

The problem is, those types of players are hard to come by and highly coveted.  And for every Patrick Hornqvist, there's a few Lucic/Clarkson/Malone-types whose bodies break down as they get older and become a cap anchor.  You've got to either draft 'em, or get them somehow before their prime.

That would be Hyman, as in Good Hyman not Boaty McBoatface Hyman.

 

[Andy007]

Yes they need a power forward.

Kasperi Kapanen for Josh Anderson anyone?

I smell Clarkson on him.

I think the advanced numbers track better with Anderson though. He's only 26, nearly scored 30 with an average shooting %/moderate PP time and, more importantly, doesn't skate directly in a straight line, put on the brakes, and wildly scramble to issue a low percentage pass 100% of the time.

 

[Andy007]

Yes they need a power forward.

Kasperi Kapanen for Josh Anderson anyone?

I smell Clarkson on him.

Same agent as Marner

But unlike Marner, isn't Anderson a good ole local boy who surely would sign a hometown discount with his boyhood dream team? 

 

[Stebro]

The leafs should listen to offers for Marner imo. That contract was a bigger mistake than Nylander's in my opinion. It will be easier to trade Nylander though. The leafs are not one or two d-men away from being a contender, we have bigger issues than that. Most leafs don't have a winner mentality. I'd keep Matthews, Hyman and Muzzin, I honestly don't care if they trade someone else. The leafs need forwards who can play different type of games. Marner, Nylander etc are close to useless if they get shut down, then they just quit. That's why Hyman is so useful. The leafs should target two wingers with a more complete game and preferably with more experience.

 

[Highlander]

Hey Stebro,  I was just thinking of you. How are things in Sweden, your country may be the model for how to handle Covid?  What is your current thinking, you can post back on Coronavirus thread if you wish.

 

[Chris]

The leafs should listen to offers for Marner imo. That contract was a bigger mistake than Nylander's in my opinion. It will be easier to trade Nylander though. The leafs are not one or two d-men away from being a contender, we have bigger issues than that. Most leafs don't have a winner mentality. I'd keep Matthews, Hyman and Muzzin, I honestly don't care if they trade someone else. The leafs need forwards who can play different type of games. Marner, Nylander etc are close to useless if they get shut down, then they just quit. That's why Hyman is so useful. The leafs should target two wingers with a more complete game and preferably with more experience.

I go back and forth comparing Marner and Nylander.

Marner is a good PK (and not a bad goalie either). Both he and Nylander are similar in their abilities to carry the puck for zone entries (Nylander is better I think). Neither are particularly physical though Marner seems to use the body slightly more. Nylander is much more of a goal scorer, much better shot. He tends to look like he's floating at times especially in the dzone, and is prone to stick-waving fly-bys when "forechecking."

Marner sometimes looks absolutely amazing like he has the puck on a string, often makes passes that you think aren't possible. But also often throws the puck right to the other team.

When you boil it all down, I can't convince myself that Marner is worth the extra $4 million in cap hit so I'd be open to moving him. But if you can get a much better deal for Nylander (because of the cap hit) I could see sticking with Marner.

Win the lottery and I'm definitely looking to move one of them.

 

[Kin]

You guys this kind of just hit me. Hockey's kind of a stupid sport. It depends WAY TOO MUCH on luck. You look at those BJ goals and it's just throw it at the net and maybe we get lucky and it sneaks in. So often in hockey the less skilled team wins. Why? Because it's a crap shoot of pucks bouncing off people, sticks, skates.

Oh yeah also the Leafs never get powerplays. That would be a way to make sure skill wins. When the less talented team is constantly hacking, slashing, holding but the refs are never willing to call it.

On a whole I've become a little disillusioned with the sport.

I feel like I've been saying this for years but the closer two teams are in skill and the relative importance of an individual goal, it makes it much more likely that luck is going to play a huge role in a series. Or just a bad result because of a funky matchup. A lot of weird things happened in these play-in series and I don't know how much we should take away from any of it.

 

[LuncheonMeat]

You guys this kind of just hit me. Hockey's kind of a stupid sport. It depends WAY TOO MUCH on luck. You look at those BJ goals and it's just throw it at the net and maybe we get lucky and it sneaks in. So often in hockey the less skilled team wins. Why? Because it's a crap shoot of pucks bouncing off people, sticks, skates.

Oh yeah also the Leafs never get powerplays. That would be a way to make sure skill wins. When the less talented team is constantly hacking, slashing, holding but the refs are never willing to call it.

On a whole I've become a little disillusioned with the sport.

I feel like I've been saying this for years but the closer two teams are in skill and the relative importance of an individual goal, it makes it much more likely that luck is going to play a huge role in a series. Or just a bad result because of a funky matchup. A lot of weird things happened in these play-in series and I don't know how much we should take away from any of it.

Yeah, it sucks, but that's just the way it goes sometimes. How many posts and crossbars did the Leafs hit in this series? Things could have easily gone the other way.

 

[Phileas Fogg]

You guys this kind of just hit me. Hockey's kind of a stupid sport. It depends WAY TOO MUCH on luck. You look at those BJ goals and it's just throw it at the net and maybe we get lucky and it sneaks in. So often in hockey the less skilled team wins. Why? Because it's a crap shoot of pucks bouncing off people, sticks, skates.

Oh yeah also the Leafs never get powerplays. That would be a way to make sure skill wins. When the less talented team is constantly hacking, slashing, holding but the refs are never willing to call it.

On a whole I've become a little disillusioned with the sport.

I feel like I've been saying this for years but the closer two teams are in skill and the relative importance of an individual goal, it makes it much more likely that luck is going to play a huge role in a series. Or just a bad result because of a funky matchup. A lot of weird things happened in these play-in series and I don't know how much we should take away from any of it.

Yeah, it sucks, but that's just the way it goes sometimes. How many posts and crossbars did the Leafs hit in this series? Things could have easily gone the other way.

I agree that there's very little in the play-in that should be acted upon in isolation; the regular season provided lots of feedback that the team wasn't constructed optimally. Looking positively, perhaps losing the play-in was better in order to address the shortcomings rather than paper over them with a round of success at this mini tournament.

 

[ZBBM]

You guys are pissing me off with all your reasonableness.

 

[Guilt Trip]

You guys are pissing me off with all your reasonableness.

Haha. I think people here realize we have a very good team here that needs some more tweaking, especially on the back end. Maybe Mikko Lehtonen will be a great pick up. My hope is with the Leafs signing him, Barabanov and the emergence of Robertson it may give them some flexibility to shore up the D without sacrificing too much up front, even though there's plenty of firepower up there. I'm interested to see what Dubas does.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

You guys this kind of just hit me. Hockey's kind of a stupid sport. It depends WAY TOO MUCH on luck. You look at those BJ goals and it's just throw it at the net and maybe we get lucky and it sneaks in. So often in hockey the less skilled team wins. Why? Because it's a crap shoot of pucks bouncing off people, sticks, skates.

Oh yeah also the Leafs never get powerplays. That would be a way to make sure skill wins. When the less talented team is constantly hacking, slashing, holding but the refs are never willing to call it.

On a whole I've become a little disillusioned with the sport.

I feel like I've been saying this for years but the closer two teams are in skill and the relative importance of an individual goal, it makes it much more likely that luck is going to play a huge role in a series. Or just a bad result because of a funky matchup. A lot of weird things happened in these play-in series and I don't know how much we should take away from any of it.

Yeah, it sucks, but that's just the way it goes sometimes. How many posts and crossbars did the Leafs hit in this series? Things could have easily gone the other way.

No kidding. Other than game 1 and the last half of game 3, the Leafs were the better team for the most part this series. In game 5, they hit two bars and the Jacket goal was all luck. Could have been 2-0 Leafs going into the 2nd period. We know that "could have's" are only there to make us feel better...but, whatever works.

I've strangely gotten over this loss fairly quickly. I don't generally dwell on a pro sports team's losses, but a playoff loss is a punch in the gut usually. This one kind of disappeared the next morning when I woke up.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I've strangely gotten over this loss fairly quickly. I don't generally dwell on a pro sports team's losses, but a playoff loss is a punch in the gut usually. This one kind of disappeared the next morning when I woke up.

I was looking forward to seeing what a first round against not-Boston would be like, but yeah a couple days later I'm already pretty over this. The conditions these playoffs are being played under probably plays a role in that too.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

I've strangely gotten over this loss fairly quickly. I don't generally dwell on a pro sports team's losses, but a playoff loss is a punch in the gut usually. This one kind of disappeared the next morning when I woke up.

I was looking forward to seeing what a first round against not-Boston would be like, but yeah a couple days later I'm already pretty over this. The conditions these playoffs are being played under probably plays a role in that too.

Definitely.
The only one that really hurt was the blown 3-0 lead. But it's also the loss that kind of made my give a care disappear.

 

[Frank E]

I think the issue that's being lost on some here is that the Leafs were in 13th place in W% at the 70 game mark.  This is a team that was capped out, traded the most recent 2 1st round picks, and had Barrie and Clifford at 50% salary retained by the Avs.

So for me, this isn't about losing to CLB in a play-in round as much as it's about them just not being a good enough team.  They were average.  They went backwards this season from 18-19 when they finished 7th in the league.

Matthews has 4 years left on his deal, then he's a UFA.

 

[Highlander]

Gotta remember (yes its part of the game) that we help score 2 of their goals,  Barrie deflected one in as did Marner.  OK Ceci got one back on his deflection off Jones. 

So lets wave goodbye to Ceci, Barrie and I would trade Marner for Jones in a minute.