I mean - they didn't lose, but they came awfully close.
Blackhawks @ Leafs - Dec. 16th, 7:00pm - TSN4
- Thread starter CarltonTheBear
- Start date
Well, that was unexpected. Some scattered thoughts: Robertson had a great game. Stop splitting up the Joshua-Roy-McMann line. Time for Domi to sit again.
Guilt Trip
Well-known member
Absolutely bench Domi. Just brutal. Agree with 89. Best Leaf forward IMO.
Joe S.
Moderator
He's the worst since JFJ. I'd go that far. Fletcher 2.0 was brutal, but the tenure was super short.
Dave Nonis was my least favourite.
Joe S.
Moderator
JFJ was my least favorite
That was getting so ugly, I'm relieved for them. Always hoping for the best.
But the objective is to have a parade at the end of the season.
Anything can happen in sports.
I thought they were better than what they've shown.
Odds makers still give them a 1% chance to win it all.
I just can't see it.
I'd blow it up.
ZBBM
Well-known member
Oh for heaven's sake.
They pull one out of their donkeyhole after playing like that very orifice for the first 54 minutes (as you later said yourself). Against a crummy team without their best player. Yeah, everything is just fine.
Choose to skate? Waiting for someone to do something? What does that even mean?
Everything that's wrong with this team is summed up in Matthews' "I can't hear you" gesture after scoring. Yes, Auston, the crowd gets to boo your sorryass team when it lays another egg at home.
Burke??
ZBBM
Well-known member
Hardly.
Treliving's taken a team that emphasized the strengths of its best players, let the best all-round player get away for nothing, and now has turned it into an unwatchable, unlikable dog's breakfast that ekes out just enough wins to stay in the middle of the pack in a Conference of Mediocrity. Nope, he's worse than JFJ.
Somewhat related to this, I couldn't really believe Berube's comments on how the game went (courtsey of MLHS):
The first period sucked, the second period sucked, the first half of the 3rd period sucked, the top line sucked aside from 2 shifts. Don't get why you'd sugar-coat any of that.
Arn
Well-known member
I’ve been ready for several weeks. I’d start with the GM, and probably the coach.
Then I’d get a GM who is a little more progressive and modern and has a clear definable idea of the style they want their team to play, and a coach who coaches to the strengths of the roster built. Preferably more puck possession-y.
As for players, I’d keep one of Woll or Stolarz. I’d keep OEL and McCabe. I’d keep Knies, Cowan, Tavares and probably Matthews, maybe Robertson cos we’ve always said he’d be a good player on a rebuilding team and could build up value if he played enough to get 25 goals one season.
Every single other player is tradeable for assets or prospects.
L K
Well-known member
Blaming Treliving for Marner seems unfair. He tried to trade him multiple times and Marner said no. That one is on Shanahan. Expecting him to come in and trade one of the core in the week he had to make a move after Shanahan and Dubas had mutual meltdowns wasn't fair. I don't think he was hired with the control to do that.
The rest of it...yeah he gets full blame
The win was exciting and if this was the Leafs of a few years ago I would just accept that this is a good team that didn't need to play a full game to win because they had excess skill to win random December games. This team isn't good. It's ok. It's capable of being a playoff team. It's not capable of winning a Cup.
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GhostofPotvin29
Well-known member
Does he think we couldn’t see him screaming at the team about having 1 shot on goal?
herman
Well-known member
I'm not saying they're good; I'm just reiterating that I don't believe the issue is strategy (maybe some situational tactics).
The overall strategy of trying to control both slots, push play north, forecheck to force turnovers, and simply get pucks to the net with traffic is sound. There are some tactics that need polish and refinement (e.g. DZ forcing the centre to chase every corner battle so the D can stack the crease was not working) and they're certainly short on horses in some foundational areas (breakout facilitation, down Tanev and to a lesser degree Carlo).
The issue is passivity in the skater group. I get that the regular season is a marathon comprised of mini marathons (games) that are composed of dead sprints (shifts), so some pacing is required. Loved the way Hyman went full tilt every shift, but he was dead by Round 1 when he was with the Leafs, so that's probably not the best approach. On the outside, it looks like they've quit on the coaches. Coaching message to the media is focusing on the positives (where there aren't that many).
Keefe/Dubas system was great for the regular season because the skaters were encouraged to just hold the puck in uncontested ice and rely on super skilled passing and elite finish to make it count. It bore out over many seasons that trying to carry that method into the madness of playoff hockey is meaningless.
I thought this game was pretty stale from the Leaf side for most of the game; they had a couple of good pushes that hit the post (Joshua) or got stuffed (Knies, Robertson), but that's why teams are supposed to try to attack more frequently (shot share stats). They did not breakout the puck well, so they could not forecheck effectively, and generally just played on their flats and heels for most of the game. They were fortunate Chicago is not good and only made them pay a little bit.
A good faceoff play and Knies/Nylander dragging their checks to the slot opened up a goal for OEL and that went straight to everyone's legs. You could see them winning puck battles all over the ice again because they were on their toes and making the Hawks make mistakes. They generated offense per the strategy outlined above: Puck on net through traffic, Nylander heavy forecheck forced turnover, Stecher and Joshua combine for essentially a forced turnover by Knight.