Comedy Platinum out of Toronto - "Canada's Team" quest for the Cup

[DragonfromTO]

Sounds like I missed a nightmare last night.

Marner has points in only 1 of his past 8 games. Marleau only in 2 of his last 7. Roast the defence all you want but they’re getting nothing offensively from anywhere other than the top line save Kadri, who is always great.

That re-formed 4th line was fucking dreadful last night.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

That re-formed 4th line was fucking dreadful last night.

Saw a lot of bad penalties taken and not a single shot attempt through two periods? That’s terrifying.

 

[BGDave]

Recorded the game, based on your comments, will just delete it.

 

[BGDave]

OK looking at old school stats after 12 games.

Particularly considering contract status, is there any reason to keep Bozak, JVR or Leo past Christmas?

Who do you play Marner with? Kadri and Marleau?

Would anyone be upset if Gardiner were traded?

Adds: still think they need defensively sound D men, and a backup goalie they trust to put out there. I believe Pickard >= McElhinney in that regard.

Those are the changes I would explore at this time.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

OK looking at old school stats after 12 games.

Particularly considering contract status, is there any reason to keep Bozak, JVR or Leo past Christmas?

Who do you play Marner with? Kadri and Marleau?

Would anyone be upset if Gardiner were traded?

Adds: still think they need defensively sound D men, and a backup goalie they trust to put out there. I believe Pickard >= McElhinney in that regard.

Those are the changes I would explore at this time.

-Removing 3, or even 2, veterans from a line up mid-season seems kinda bonkers. Also, the three of them combined for 149 points last season. They might be starting slow and Bozak in particular has been butt but where the hell are you replacing that production from?

-I would be extremely upset if the Leafs traded Gardiner, unless Subban or Pietrangelo or something were coming the other way. Subban or Pietrangelo aren't coming the other way.

-I couldn’t care less about the damn backup goalie. Mac is fine, Pickard is fine, re-animated Glenn Healy corpse is fine. Some teams are blessed with a great tandem, some teams traded away Tuukka Rask ten years ago and haven't had a competent starter since then and I'm just happy they seem to have that solved at least.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Man, this is horrifying.

 

[BGDave]

-Removing 3, or even 2, veterans from a line up mid-season seems kinda bonkers. Also, the three of them combined for 149 points last season. They might be starting slow and Bozak in particular has been butt but where the hell are you replacing that production from?

-I would be extremely upset if the Leafs traded Gardiner, unless Subban or Pietrangelo or something were coming the other way. Subban or Pietrangelo aren't coming the other way.

-I couldn’t care less about the damn backup goalie. Mac is fine, Pickard is fine, re-animated Glenn Healy corpse is fine. Some teams are blessed with a great tandem, some teams traded away Tuukka Rask ten years ago and haven't had a competent starter since then and I'm just happy they seem to have that solved at least.

So, then you are OK with the direction the team is heading?

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

So, then you are OK with the direction the team is heading?

I think the bad play of late was more a result of Babcock assigning lines based on punishing certain players by dropping them rather than forming units that can actually control play and get the puck back. The 48 hour turnaround from HNIC to Monday night game in San Jose didn’t help anything.

We can all sit here and bitch about lineup decisions but if Babcock can sit guys like Moore and Fehr and Leivo I don’t understand why he can’t sit Matt Martin. I don’t care if he’s on the roster but he doesn’t have to play every game and hasn’t deserved to.

The pending-UFA forwards starting slowly (although now that I look at it, JVR has 9 pts in 11 games so I don’t think anything’s wrong there other than his injury) isn’t anything to get worked up about either. Bozak’s always been streaky, and in his UFA year alongside the scoring talent he has next to him I’m guessing he’s going to wake up at some point. Leo is Leo. Babs wants him so he’ll stay. Nobody is giving you anything for Leo Komarov, anyway.

Since you mentioned Gardiner it’s worth pointing out that he’s getting wayyyyy fewer offensive zone starts this year as opposed to last. A result of being paired with Zaitsev, undoubtedly, but it’s not exactly utilizing him properly and speaks more to the fact the Leafs lack even 1 pairing that Babcock can rely on defensively. That shit’s not on Jake.

They need to get more pucks on goal and Andersen needs to put in more performances like his game in SJ on Monday but otherwise they’re pretty much what I expected them to be.

 

[KennyBanyeah]

Man, this is horrifying.

Yikes!! That's insane. Hopefully it looks worse than it is and fatality numbers stay at 2. Yeesh.

 

[dash]

^

Looks like a scene out of Mad Max - To reiterate Kenny's thoughts above, hopefully the death toll does not rise any higher.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Yikes!! That's insane. Hopefully it looks worse than it is and fatality numbers stay at 2. Yeesh.

At least 3 now but they're still working.

The road is not in very good condition, which is to be expected considering 2 fuel trucks exploded...

 

[BGDave]

3-0 LAK after 1. Should be 4.

Lovin' me some Jake. Guess we will just agree to disagree on this one. At least 2 brutal turnovers in the first, sure seems to be the norm for him lately. Not putting it all on him, but not seeing anything to change my earlier assessment.

Sure bench Martin, fine with me. But that won't fix the problem up front.

Andersen is showing signs of improvement so that's good

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

3-0 LAK after 1. Should be 4.

Lovin' me some Jake. Guess we will just agree to disagree on this one. At least 2 brutal turnovers in the first, sure seems to be the norm for him lately. Not putting it all on him, but not seeing anything to change my earlier assessment.

Sure bench Martin, fine with me. But that won't fix the problem up front.

Andersen is showing signs of improvement so that's good

He's on a bad run. He's also been their best defenceman for, what, 4 years now?

He's giving the puck away 1.7 times per game right now, which is much higher than his career average of .92 per game.

Also worth considering: Jake is skating with Zaitsev. Last season Rielly was the "sucks defensively" whipping boy, this season people seem to be in love with him. Wanna take a guess who Rielly skated all last season with?

 

[DragonfromTO]

He's on a bad run. He's also been their best defenceman for, what, 4 years now?

He's giving the puck away 1.7 times per game right now, which is much higher than his career average of .92 per game.

Also worth considering: Jake is skating with Zaitsev. Last season Rielly was the "sucks defensively" whipping boy, this season people seem to be in love with him. Wanna take a guess who Rielly skated all last season with?

What forwards was he with last night? Could be handling the puck/zone exits a lot more too which might not be helpful.

Also clearly had a problem on that one, so we can blame the ice for that

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

What forwards was he with last night? Could be handling the puck/zone exits a lot more too which might not be helpful.

Also clearly had a problem on that one, so we can blame the ice for that

I was out before the game even started so I haven't the slightest idea of anything that happened other than a nice Matthews pen.

 

[DragonfromTO]

My old man, he'll be throwing shade until the day he dies.

"You know, I think these guys are getting paid to talk about Matthews, every game it's all 'Matthews this and Matthews that' "

Uh yeah dad, that's what tends to happen when you're the best player on the ice almost every single game. I kind of wonder if he used to watch the tapes of my games in college that I sent him and wonder why the hell the 3rd and 4th liners weren't being talked about on the broadcast like I was.

 

[BGDave]

Well another game another defensive disaster

The team as currently constructed and trying to play a defensively sound game, is not a playoff team. Vegas is a better team by far, just to name one.

Either you believe they can turn it around, or, you make changes.

/edit Babcock, you arent earning your pay either. don't bother challenging that 6th goal. Great message to your team. And now it's 6-4

 

[DragonfromTO]

Well another game another defensive disaster

The team as currently constructed and trying to play a defensively sound game, is not a playoff team. Vegas is a better team by far, just to name one.

Either you believe they can turn it around, or, you make changes.

/edit Babcock, you arent earning your pay either. don't bother challenging that 6th goal. Great message to your team. And now it's 6-4

I believe that they'd already used their timeout. That being said, that non-challenge wasn't the only criticism I had of Babcock tonight anyway

 

[DragonfromTO]

And once again nothing but soft questions in the presser. No one wants the Olympic champion pissed off at them I guess, but it would nice to get some useful answers at some point.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

And once again nothing but soft questions in the presser. No one wants the Olympic champion pissed off at them I guess, but it would nice to get some useful answers at some point.

The kid gloves need to come off at some point. Everyone bar Auston is playing like ass, Babcock is clueless at the moment on how to fix it, and the schedule is relentless right now in terms of game frequency (play tonight not even 48 hours after finishing the road trip) and quality of competition (Vegas, Minny, home and home vs the Bruins by end of day Saturday).

This can get much worse before getting better.