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

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Nice milestone, got me thinking

This is what happens during the dog days of the midseason.

Is Johnny T a HOFer?

Related question: How many members of the Leafs current roster will end up in the HOF?

[to fans of other teams, shaddup. We have had so little to talk about for the past 40 years, just let us have our moment]

JT's milestone got me thinking. Looking at his career numbers, they are nice but surprisingly not overwhelming. Highest goal total in a season is 38. Highest points in one season is 86. Not exactly overwhelming. No playoff success, no shiny trophies. Starting to wonder why he got the contract he did.

My take: JT has a HOF chance if he can maintain his current year pace for about 5 years and can get the Leafs to some playoff success. Without that, I am surprisingly thinking no to a HOF.


for the rest of the team, way too early of course to predict but Marleau, Marner, Tavares, Matthews and Rielly all have a chance. So 5 HOFers possible. Wow.

If JT had ever had any playoff success on Long Island he's be Hall-bound but the fact the Isles were dogshit his entire time there leaves him needing a good second half to his career. Hope he gets it.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Can't believe this was 20 years ago. Don't think I'll ever get over the rest of the country laughing because we didn't want people to die.

An oral history of the time Toronto called in the army to deal with the snow

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Oh no, they have to keep an immensely talented player who's having a rough patch!

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Fitting that around this time last year is when Kypreos said that Marner would "never be a top 3 player on the Leafs". Marner finished the season as the team's top scorer. Nick didn't even need a month to be proven wrong on that one lol

 

[dash]

Kypreos has some good inside contacts and has broken some news (trades, signings etc.), but as far as insights are concerned, Nick is not your go-to guy.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Jake hearing it from the ACC crowd. Here’s why:

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Leafs haven't beaten a team in a playoff position since December 28 and tonight they gave up a hat trick to Carl Soderberg.

Not only are they now only two points up on Boston for 2nd in the division (and without the tiebreak to boot) but Buffalo is in 9th place and only 6 points back of the Leafs and if they hadn't been playing like shit as well the Leafs would likely be a loss or two away from being outside the playoff picture completely.

And for good measure, they'll be playing in Tampa on Thursday.

There should be way more alarm bells ringing than there seem to be.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

I'm also completely dumbfounded at how Nylander has only managed to put up points in two games in a month and a half. He's being outscored by Milan Lucic during that span. It might be time to put him in the box for a game.

 

[dash]

John Tavares -4 on the night - That's a great number at Augusta National.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

John Tavares -4 on the night - That's a great number at Augusta National.

That was his worst game in a Leaf uni.

Of course, I counted about ten times where the Matthews line was on the ice and Babs pulled them off after 15 seconds because the Avs threw on their top line.

I'm cool with line matching but there's a line where it just becomes stupid, particularly when it's throttling three of your most talented players' ice time and forcing a line that's having a bad night defensively to defend against the other team's top line.

 

[DragonfromTO]

Jake hearing it from the ACC crowd. Here’s why:

I mean, I'd put a different reason on the "why" but I understand what you're saying here

 

[BGDave]

I'm also completely dumbfounded at how Nylander has only managed to put up points in two games in a month and a half. He's being outscored by Milan Lucic during that span. It might be time to put him in the box for a game.

He is not the only one. Up and down the lineup the team has been in a funk for quite a while. Although I believe it to be coincidental, the timing is basically since Wily signed.

One positive. Dermott impressed me with his ability to get the puck out of his own zone with one clean pass. He is still young and not a "Top 4" yet but shows some signs.

Gardiner and Zaitsev though, oof. I am at the point now whee I cant watch with them in the D zone.

On the Soderberg goal though. Gardiner was ridiculously bad, but teams need their goalie to bail them out occasionally. Freddie was awful on that play and was showing his rust. A contender needs their goalie to steal a few and I just dont remember more than one or two games this year when I can say that about Andersen. If that was rust, he better shake it off quick or they will be on the wrong side of BUF in short order.

Matthews went soft as hell by the time the Avs got the empty netter.

Not sure I would agree. With about 5 minutes left I saw AM34 actually (gasp) bodycheck an opponent in the Leafs end. Been watching him and for several games now he is just holding the stick too tight. Thinking instead of doing what comes instinctively. That moment of hesitation before he is shooting is costing him time and time again. But that can be said of most the Leafs. A lot of stick tightening up and down the lineup.

You heard it during the broadcast ad nauseum and it is probably a better way to describe my complaint about this team. They lose the puck battles regularly. This has been going on for quite some time and as playoff teams start to clamp down and get ready, the Leafs' inability in this area is glaring. Combine that with some pretty weak D (see what I did there) in their own zone and you have a recipe for L. In this regard, Kadri sure seems to be lost out there.

I dont think it is a coaching issue, I believe it is a personnel issue. I suspect we will start to see benchings, but with this fragile team I think that will backfire. Trades are definitely needed. Gardiner and Zaitsev need to go.

On the bright side, the recent play will probably save them a few $$$ in the offseason.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

I mean, I'd put a different reason on the "why" but I understand what you're saying here

I suppose it's for the fact he's been here for 7 years and this is a regular occurrence for him. I got no problem with him getting booed.

Not sure I would agree. With about 5 minutes left I saw AM34 actually (gasp) bodycheck an opponent in the Leafs end. Been watching him and for several games now he is just holding the stick too tight. Thinking instead of doing what comes instinctively. That moment of hesitation before he is shooting is costing him time and time again. But that can be said of most the Leafs. A lot of stick tightening up and down the lineup.

Yeah I deleted that part because I didn't want it to seem like I wanted him to start being a wrecking ball lol. Just saw him kinda give up on the EN play and it was kinda indicative of how he was probably feeling.

 

[DragonfromTO]

I suppose it's for the fact he's been here for 7 years and this is a regular occurrence for him. I got no problem with him getting booed.


Yeah I deleted that part because I didn't want it to seem like I wanted him to start being a wrecking ball lol. Just saw him kinda give up on the EN play and it was kinda indicative of how he was probably feeling.

Can you believe that? He's been playing hockey professionally for 7 years (and god knows how many years in total) and there are still times when he makes mistakes and/or gets beaten? It's fucking crazy!

If it's a "regular occurrence" there must be a lot of other positive things happening to balance it out given that the overall package is not dogshit. Maybe I'm just ignoring all of the roaring cheers for those positive things.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Can you believe that? He's been playing hockey professionally for 7 years (and god knows how many years in total) and there are still times when he makes mistakes and/or gets beaten? It's fucking crazy!

If it's a "regular occurrence" there must be a lot of other positive things happening to balance it out given that the overall package is not dogshit. Maybe I'm just ignoring all of the roaring cheers for those positive things.

If you can take the roaring cheers you can take the boos.

His coach also nailed his ass to the bench for the rest of that period before those boos started coming so it's pretty clear he was hearing it from someone more important, too.

Jake's errors are usually more sporadic. This is at least the second time in a week he's done something pretty boneheaded that gave up a goal in a close game. He'd be booed for that anywhere with even half-hearted hockey fans.

 

[DragonfromTO]

If you can take the roaring cheers you can take the boos.

His coach also nailed his ass to the bench for the rest of that period before those boos started coming so it's pretty clear he was hearing it from someone more important, too.

Jake's errors are usually more sporadic. This is at least the second time in a week he's done something pretty boneheaded that gave up a goal in a close game. He'd be booed for that anywhere with even half-hearted hockey fans.

Are you using "if it's the right thing for his coach to do it's the right thing for us to do!"? Don't you think those two roles are different?

Using "regular occurence" to describe something "sporadic" sounds like a well-targeted overreaction. Which is all that the booing is too. It's understandable even if I don't like it or think it's "right".

Why was Gardiner chasing after the puck in the first place? No one mentions it and I never see it in the replay. Did someone mishandle the puck and lose it? It's probably just that that player is someone who has done lots of other positive things for the team and doesn't deserve to be booed loudly as a result of one mistake that led to a goal.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Are you using "if it's the right thing for his coach to do it's the right thing for us to do!"? Don't you think those two roles are different?

Using "regular occurence" to describe something "sporadic" sounds like a well-targeted overreaction. Which is all that the booing is too. It's understandable even if I don't like it or think it's "right".

Why was Gardiner chasing after the puck in the first place? No one mentions it and I never see it in the replay. Did someone mishandle the puck and lose it? It's probably just that that player is someone who has done lots of other positive things for the team and doesn't deserve to be booed loudly as a result of one mistake that led to a goal.

Fans aren’t allowed to agree with the coach?

Regular occurrence over his time here, sporadic over the season. You can count on him for some completely boneheaded moves every few games and that was fine when he was young but he’s a seasoned vet now.

Marner’s screwup doesn’t excuse Jake’s. Marner’s screwups, coming from a third year player who has already led his team in season scoring and is on pace for triple digits points, don’t come nearly as frequently or as devastatingly as Jake’s.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Still more palatable than seeing Gilmour in that fruity car rag of a jersey.

 

[dash]

^

The CH stands for ComHWave...

 

[DragonfromTO]

Fans aren’t allowed to agree with the coach?

Sure they are. Did you honestly think that's what I was talking about up there? I'm simply saying that the two roles simply aren't the same and it's kind of a "price of tea in China" type point. It's not appropriate for us to say some of the things that might be appropriate for the coaching staff to say and so I don't see why one's behaviour is justification for (or has anything to do with) the other's.

Regular occurrence over his time here, sporadic over the season. You can count on him for some completely boneheaded moves every few games and that was fine when he was young but he’s a seasoned vet now.

I guess it's time for him to be singled out and individually booed when the entire team turns in a shit performance over 60 minutes then. Seasoned vet and all.

Marner’s screwup doesn’t excuse Jake’s. Marner’s screwups, coming from a third year player who has already led his team in season scoring and is on pace for triple digits points, don’t come nearly as frequently or as devastatingly as Jake’s.

Of course Marner's "screw up" doesn't "excuse" Jake's. I'm not sure what else needs to be said about that. But I get what you're generally saying, Marner does enough good things to offset the bad things and so the overall is good enough that he doesn't "deserve" to be booed. And so I guess from that we have to conclude that Jake Gardiner is just the lowest guy on that list and that's why he's being singled out and booed and it's OK? His (positive play - negative play) is not just lower than Marner's but lower than everyone else on the team. But of course I know that you don't think that's the case, so I guess I'm still confused as to why it is OK that he was singled out like that. And of course in case it's not 100% clear I'm certainly not suggesting that Marner be singled out and booed.

As someone who is related to a negative asshole I actually think that some of the reason that Gardiner is a target is that he has been a Leaf for so long. If you're the type of person/fan who is constantly looking only for bad shit (my dad is 100% like this, when he describes a goal/game/anything the entire thing is about who is fucking up) it piles up over 8 seasons. My dad also "hated" Kaberle and I think I underestimated how much of a factor longevity/tenure was there as well. I think we underestimate just how negative some people are. Look at the pregame last night, it was all complaining. And my old man lapped it all up, pissing and moaning to me about the 4th line like it's the end of the world.