What has become clear in the last 3 months is that this organization has no plan or direction.
They are slow to assess, slow to react and unable to make tough decisions.
It has probably been this way for a long time and was masked by dumb luck.
madax-gambar
We’re a fluky team. The shooting % to me shows if the leafs can get a good look they can bury it, but as far as setting that up…they can’t. far too slow, and outside of nylander and knies who else provides much offensive upside? matthews’ game has become more defensive but clearly at the cost of his offense. bérubé is using him as a shutdown guy. and iirc the U.S. largely used him in a similar role.
the biggest mistake to me was not building out or getting puck moving defensemen early in the matthews era, after 16-17 they tried to go all in rather than build upon the good foundation.
and i totally agree that keefe’s style and game was better for this team. they play struggle hockey under craig and it sucks.
learningman33
This is a long time in the making on a bunch of small mistakes:
In 2016-2017-2018 -we peaked early but Babcock wanted to win, so in the playoffs he didn’t play Matthews, Marner and Nylander enough, those guys should have all been playing 20+ minutes a night and in every situation, in game 7 and all should have been learning to play in the high pressured situation.
Marleau UFA.
The team was already stacked at forward and then we went ahead and got another one JT and eating valuable cap space and not getting the number 1 D we always needed or a better goalie than Anderson. Alex Petriangelo was a UFA in 2019.
Dubas getting taken into town on those contracts, Matthews was bad, but the Marner one was just brutal, in comparison to the RFA Class of 2019 but not only overpaid but then also handed the no trade clause. No clue what Shanahan was thinking.
2020- Covid – Columbus loss – there was signs this team has major flaws in their buildup
2021- Habs collapse -horrible trade for Foligno – Media and fans start to turn on Marner for his poor play – he was checked out – this was the time break up the core 4
2022 – Dubas overpays for goalies in each year, with Murray being a horrible trade eating cap space and didn’t get Ottawa to send draft capital to take on the bad contract
in those 10 years, they somehow did not draft a single D men that could fit in even a good number 2 or 3 guy. Both Sandin and Lilly were decent but never could make it up
2023 – Shanny firing Dubas with no plans what so ever is exactly why the team is here and not trading Marner before his NMC kicked in.
4 Comments
Still not reading that wall of text.
What has become clear in the last 3 months is that this organization has no plan or direction.
They are slow to assess, slow to react and unable to make tough decisions.
It has probably been this way for a long time and was masked by dumb luck.
We’re a fluky team. The shooting % to me shows if the leafs can get a good look they can bury it, but as far as setting that up…they can’t. far too slow, and outside of nylander and knies who else provides much offensive upside? matthews’ game has become more defensive but clearly at the cost of his offense. bérubé is using him as a shutdown guy. and iirc the U.S. largely used him in a similar role.
the biggest mistake to me was not building out or getting puck moving defensemen early in the matthews era, after 16-17 they tried to go all in rather than build upon the good foundation.
and i totally agree that keefe’s style and game was better for this team. they play struggle hockey under craig and it sucks.
This is a long time in the making on a bunch of small mistakes:
In 2016-2017-2018 -we peaked early but Babcock wanted to win, so in the playoffs he didn’t play Matthews, Marner and Nylander enough, those guys should have all been playing 20+ minutes a night and in every situation, in game 7 and all should have been learning to play in the high pressured situation.
Marleau UFA.
The team was already stacked at forward and then we went ahead and got another one JT and eating valuable cap space and not getting the number 1 D we always needed or a better goalie than Anderson. Alex Petriangelo was a UFA in 2019.
Dubas getting taken into town on those contracts, Matthews was bad, but the Marner one was just brutal, in comparison to the RFA Class of 2019 but not only overpaid but then also handed the no trade clause. No clue what Shanahan was thinking.
2020- Covid – Columbus loss – there was signs this team has major flaws in their buildup
2021- Habs collapse -horrible trade for Foligno – Media and fans start to turn on Marner for his poor play – he was checked out – this was the time break up the core 4
2022 – Dubas overpays for goalies in each year, with Murray being a horrible trade eating cap space and didn’t get Ottawa to send draft capital to take on the bad contract
in those 10 years, they somehow did not draft a single D men that could fit in even a good number 2 or 3 guy. Both Sandin and Lilly were decent but never could make it up
2023 – Shanny firing Dubas with no plans what so ever is exactly why the team is here and not trading Marner before his NMC kicked in.