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Post by CentreHice on Jan 1, 2017 20:32:10 GMT -5
Golden Boy wins it for the Leafs. 5th consecutive W. Let the playoff hype begin. Hey, the closer they get, the better imo. Anything to avoid another top 3 pick. Montreal screwed up with the success they had in the lock out year, and missed out on anyone of MacKinnon, Barkov, Drouin or Jones. The Leafs finishing just outside, or even in, the post season means they miss out on the likes of Nolan Patrick. Patrick would give them another large dynamic center, a right shot for face offs on the other side of the ice, and a one-two punch to potentially rival the best. Patrick would allow them to trade Kadri and improve their defense - which is their weak link imo. So, go ahead Leafs. Make the post season. True. But I was referring to having to stomach the vibe. I don't mind the Leafs...it's the fans and media, by and large. Every pro team's fans and media does the same thing, I know...but there's just something about Toronto. It's the combo of the "Canada's Team" nonsense, and Cherry's orchestrated and smug favouritism. |
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Post by blny on Jan 1, 2017 23:14:54 GMT -5
Hey, the closer they get, the better imo. Anything to avoid another top 3 pick. Montreal screwed up with the success they had in the lock out year, and missed out on anyone of MacKinnon, Barkov, Drouin or Jones. The Leafs finishing just outside, or even in, the post season means they miss out on the likes of Nolan Patrick. Patrick would give them another large dynamic center, a right shot for face offs on the other side of the ice, and a one-two punch to potentially rival the best. Patrick would allow them to trade Kadri and improve their defense - which is their weak link imo. So, go ahead Leafs. Make the post season. True. But I was referring to having to stomach the vibe. I don't mind the Leafs...it's the fans and media, by and large. Every pro team's fans and media does the same thing, I know...but there's just something about Toronto. It's the combo of the "Canada's Team" nonsense, and Cherry's orchestrated and smug favouritism. Yeah. It would have been interesting to be able to drown out the commentary to hear the game and the crowd. The latter was into all game and singing songs etc. Very much like the TFC games. I liked the uniforms both sported as well. |
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Post by jkr on Jan 2, 2017 15:09:40 GMT -5
I still find it annoying when they win even if it hurts the "rebuild". Blowing a 3 goal lead in the 3rd & still winning really ticks me off.
Watching the Blues /Hawks outdoor game. Some nice retro uniforms on display.
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Post by jkr on Jan 2, 2017 15:11:32 GMT -5
I had to laugh when Simpson called Andersen's record in December some silly adjective like amazing. His GAA and % are #1, but he's 5-2-3. Sorry, Craig, but that's 5 wins and 5 losses anyway you slice it. And they made excuses for him on Mantha's 1st goal. They blamed it on the time of day & lighting conditions.  |
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Post by CentreHice on Jan 3, 2017 22:11:08 GMT -5
Leafs blow 4-2 and 5-4 leads in the third in Washington.
Ovie wins it in OT.
Leafs with another collapse...and another point.
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Post by CentreHice on Jan 5, 2017 23:26:10 GMT -5
WORLD JR.'s FINAL:
Don't want to start a new thread....
Amazing how neither Gord Miller nor Ray Ferraro said that Roy flubbed Canada's final shoot-out attempt.
Roy will have nightmares about that for quite a while. MUST score to prolong the shoot-out, and you lose control on a feeble-looking deke.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Jan 5, 2017 23:33:25 GMT -5
Dubois will have nightmares for that missed open net in OT.
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Post by blny on Jan 6, 2017 6:33:36 GMT -5
Dubois will have nightmares for that missed open net in OT. I thought that was in the third. Did he miss a second open net? Juulsen and Barzal made mistakes that lead directly to the two third period goals. Noah's mistake was at least during an attempt to make the correct play. Barzal, surrounded to his front by US players elects to try and play the puck forward to the middle of the ice when he could have simply backhanded the puck behind himself to get it the 4-6 feet out of his end. There were a few other careless plays in the third - Gauthier playing one handed in his own end and trying to skate around/through his check when he had options to pass to team mates or chip it out sticks out in my mind. It didn't lead to a goal, but it was the trend. I didn't have the energy to stay up for the OT and eventual shootout. I just went to bed thinking that if it went to the latter, the US had a distinct advantage. |
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Post by jkr on Jan 6, 2017 8:32:56 GMT -5
That open net miss was in the 3rd.
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Post by blny on Jan 6, 2017 11:50:50 GMT -5
Caps put a great post on twitter after ending the Jackets' streak last night lol.
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Post by seventeen on Jan 6, 2017 13:34:36 GMT -5
Does that mean the emperor has no clothes?
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Post by blny on Jan 6, 2017 13:48:57 GMT -5
Does that mean the emperor has no clothes? Perhaps.  |
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Post by Skilly on Jan 6, 2017 17:20:05 GMT -5
That open net miss was in the 3rd. The open net miss, in my opinion, was not on Dubois. If it's the play I'm remember, Barzal had the puck, a clear attempt to shoot, never even considered shooting and instead decided to thread the needle with a pass between two US players, one of which was sliding, and the puck deflected off the sliding players glove just enough to go to the heel of Dubois' stick instead of the middle of the blade. That's on Barzal. Shoot! You had two defefenders out of the play and a guy ready to pounce on the rebound ... They were constantly passing too much with the last pass being off the mark. Frustrating to watch. I described this game today to co-workers as one of the biggest chokes in WJ Canadian hockey. Yes, a choke. They had two 2 goal leads, one they build up in the third and let the US back. Two nights earlier, the Maple Leafs had a 2 goal third period lead and let it slip away, losing eventually in OT/SO. The headlines weren't "TML plays great, hard way to lose" ... They were "TML chokes /loses again in third (for seventh time this year)" They got complacent, and played kitty bar the door, and let the US come at them in waves ...TWICE! |
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Post by blny on Jan 7, 2017 17:04:56 GMT -5
Laine got tattooed by a clean open ice hit from McCabe. Skated right into a wall.
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Post by CentreHice on Jan 7, 2017 17:07:08 GMT -5
Darn near a suicide pass.
Love to see Weber or Emelin deliver something like that tonight!
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Post by blny on Jan 7, 2017 22:08:38 GMT -5
Darn near a suicide pass. Love to see Weber or Emelin deliver something like that tonight! That's likely why Schiefele jumped in like he did as much as anything. He left his team mate out to dry. To McCabe's credit, he couldn't hit Laine any cleaner. Hands were down, didn't make direct contact to the head. In taking the gif frame by frame, McCabe hit center of the crest and Laine may have bumped his head against McCabe's. It's definitely a hit of the year candidate. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2017 19:53:46 GMT -5
A TSN video with the headline: "Why it's hard for Toronto fans to accept how good Matthews is"
...what?
The entire conversation was nuts. They said things like they were too timid to label Matthews a top player (even though they've been hyping him up), then there was an even more confusing remark where one of the hosts commented that because so much of the media is in Toronto, that they feel the need to detach themselves from the Leafs but they can't do that anymore because of Matthews.
Again...what?
They can't possibly think that there's no difference in coverage between Canadian teams. Admittedly, TSN is better at it than the other broadcaster, but that entire video was painful to watch.
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Post by seventeen on Jan 12, 2017 23:20:46 GMT -5
Matt, you actually read that? I'm disappointed, young man. You need an itchier "delete" finger.  |
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Post by CentreHice on Jan 19, 2017 11:16:57 GMT -5
Leafs are 8-1-1 in their last 10....and only 10 points behind the Habs.....only 2 behind the 2nd place Bruins.
Lots of hockey left to play....
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Post by jkr on Jan 19, 2017 11:52:55 GMT -5
A TSN video with the headline: "Why it's hard for Toronto fans to accept how good Matthews is" ...what? The entire conversation was nuts. They said things like they were too timid to label Matthews a top player (even though they've been hyping him up), then there was an even more confusing remark where one of the hosts commented that because so much of the media is in Toronto, that they feel the need to detach themselves from the Leafs but they can't do that anymore because of Matthews. Again...what? They can't possibly think that there's no difference in coverage between Canadian teams. Admittedly, TSN is better at it than the other broadcaster, but that entire video was painful to watch. I saw a conversation on TSN a couple of weeks ago that was equally confusing. Dave Naylor was actually trying to say that playing in a pro league in Switzerland was a disadvantage to Matthews because it wasn't a hockey mad environment. What?  He's a year older than his draft class & he played in a pro league against men, some of them ex NHL players. How could that be anything but an advantage over his peers. Laine is 18, had no pro experience and until his injury was scoring at the same pace. Yet it's all Matthews, all the time.  |
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Post by seventeen on Jan 19, 2017 17:47:25 GMT -5
Leafs are 8-1-1 in their last 10....and only 10 points behind the Habs.....only 2 behind the 2nd place Bruins. Lots of hockey left to play.... Still 10 points behind Habs but Leafs have 4 games on hand. Win 2 and the spread is 6 points. Eeeek. |
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Post by seventeen on Jan 22, 2017 17:18:39 GMT -5
Penguins blowing open the game vs Bruins. Does Julien get fired tomorrow? Big opportunity for Bergevin, which will be ignored, of course.
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Post by blny on Jan 22, 2017 17:24:08 GMT -5
The leash is short. I'm not interested in going from one retread to another.
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Post by jkr on Jan 22, 2017 17:53:02 GMT -5
Who is out there to replace CJ?
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Post by blny on Jan 22, 2017 19:22:31 GMT -5
Who is out there to replace CJ? Their farm team in Providence has a rookie head coach, so I doubt it's him. CJ's been there ten years. There's a fairly vocal camp that's been calling for his head for a few years. He hasn't exactly been given a deep team. They're in transition. The Seguin trade still hurts them. Backes doesn't really replace Eriksson's offensive output. Bergeron and Chara aren't getting any younger. By many accounts, Rask has had a strong year. Carlo has been better than expected. Pastrnak and Marchand stir the offensive drink. The latter has 45 points this year. I don't think it's a case where CJ's message has worn thin. For me, it's just too many deficiencies. Here's a link from last Spring. www.thehockeynews.com/news/article/five-intriguing-free-agent-coaches-not-named-bruce-boudreauSince its publication, Boucher has found a job and Crawford is assisting. Dineen and Green are definitely on the radar of a number of teams. Dineen got on the map by leading the women's national team in 2014. He came in and rited the ship. He's in Chicago right now. Green's been biding his time in the AHL. |
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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Jan 22, 2017 20:06:29 GMT -5
People were asking why Claude Julien wasn't fired last year ... I remember Don Sweeney saying that he'd have to provide Julien with some better players ... now I'm reading that he won't rule out firing Julien ... we've seen this kind of bad drama before in Montreal and it kills the team ... Cheers. |
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Post by blny on Jan 22, 2017 20:21:02 GMT -5
People were asking why Claude Julien wasn't fired last year ... I remember Don Sweeney saying that he'd have to provide Julien with some better players ... now I'm reading that he won't rule out firing Julien ... we've seen this kind of bad drama before in Montreal and it kills the team ... Cheers. Ownership didn't give CJ a ringing endorsement either. When asked, they said that those decisions are up to Neely and Sweeney. |
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Post by seventeen on Jan 22, 2017 21:08:31 GMT -5
The leash is short. I'm not interested in going from one retread to another. Retread #1 - MT - Won a Memorial Cup in 1996 with Granby. Since then = zero championships. Wasn't able to win big with Crosby and Malkin and Letang. Retread #2, Claude Julien - Memorial Cup with Hull (Gatineau) in 1997. Stanley Cup in 2011 with (ugh) the Bruins. Julien was let go twice for very odd reasons. Gainey fired him despite a 19-16-6 record with Theodore stinking the joint out. Then Lamoriello fired him in 2007 after leading the Devils to a 47-24-8 record (.646). Both firings were unwarranted IMO. Lamoriello's factual reason? - "Julien didn't have the Devils ready for the playoffs". Julien has also been an assistant coach on the 2014 Canadian Olympic team and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey team. Not too shabby a resume. He's quite a different coach from Therrien. The Bruins have basically destroyed a pretty good team in the last 3 years and he's done a lot to keep them competitive. Not that there's any chance Bergevin will hire him, but I would. |
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Post by blny on Jan 22, 2017 21:27:01 GMT -5
I'm not saying their resumes are the same. I just don't want to go down that path again. If Therrien goes, I want new blood. Of course, that likely means Berg is gone too.
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Post by PTH on Jan 22, 2017 22:12:38 GMT -5
The leash is short. I'm not interested in going from one retread to another. Retread #1 - MT - Won a Memorial Cup in 1996 with Granby. Since then = zero championships. Wasn't able to win big with Crosby and Malkin and Letang. Retread #2, Claude Julien - Memorial Cup with Hull (Gatineau) in 1997. Stanley Cup in 2011 with (ugh) the Bruins. Julien was let go twice for very odd reasons. Gainey fired him despite a 19-16-6 record with Theodore stinking the joint out. Then Lamoriello fired him in 2007 after leading the Devils to a 47-24-8 record (.646). Both firings were unwarranted IMO. Lamoriello's factual reason? - "Julien didn't have the Devils ready for the playoffs". Julien has also been an assistant coach on the 2014 Canadian Olympic team and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey team. Not too shabby a resume. He's quite a different coach from Therrien. The Bruins have basically destroyed a pretty good team in the last 3 years and he's done a lot to keep them competitive. Not that there's any chance Bergevin will hire him, but I would. As I recall, Gainey was annoyed at CJ's goalie usage - I think CJ wanted to go with the backup while Theo was in a funk, and Gainey wanted to go as far (or as not far) as Theo could take us. |
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