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Green Backpack wrote:Hard not to cheer for the Canucks right now. Tough times in Leaf Land and the Jets are really struggling after finishing the season on a hot streak

Winnipeg shouldn’t be playing Colorado in the 1st round anyways. It’s the #2 vs #4 seed in the west but hockey is dumb like that.

C_Money wrote:

Green Backpack wrote:Hard not to cheer for the Canucks right now. Tough times in Leaf Land and the Jets are really struggling after finishing the season on a hot streak

Winnipeg shouldn’t be playing Colorado in the 1st round anyways. It’s the #2 vs #4 seed in the west but hockey is dumb like that.

Yep, the new structure is horrible. Winnipeg got screwed this year. Leafs were in a similar situation when they had to play TB in the first round back in '21-'22.

Green Backpack wrote:

C_Money wrote:

Green Backpack wrote:Hard not to cheer for the Canucks right now. Tough times in Leaf Land and the Jets are really struggling after finishing the season on a hot streak

Winnipeg shouldn’t be playing Colorado in the 1st round anyways. It’s the #2 vs #4 seed in the west but hockey is dumb like that.

Yep, the new structure is horrible. Winnipeg got screwed this year. Leafs were in a similar situation when they had to play TB in the first round back in '21-'22.

It's not even new is it? They been doing this setup several years, supposedly to build divisional/regional rivalries. It's so stupid, the NBA does it right. The variety of a different matchup each year would be so much better than Leafs vs Boston every year.

Not looking good

https://hockey.realgm.com/wiretap/18051/Auston-Matthews-Still-Feeling-Effects-Of-Illness

WaltFrazier wrote:Not looking good

https://hockey.realgm.com/wiretap/18051/Auston-Matthews-Still-Feeling-Effects-Of-Illness

Ahh the ol' playoffitis acting up again.

WaltFrazier wrote:Not looking good

https://hockey.realgm.com/wiretap/18051/Auston-Matthews-Still-Feeling-Effects-Of-Illness

no, this is good. They need to lose in 5. This organization is a joke and they need massive changes across the board. Getting to a game 7 (although unlikely) gives them a chance to give more excuses.

Shanny shoulda been out on his ass long time ago

Raps in 4 wrote:At what point do Shanahan and Shapiro get fired? They've been running the Leafs and Jays into the ground for a decade now.

I get why Masai is given a longer leash, he's actually won something, but those two are absolute clowns. Shapiro has been failing miserably as an executive since 2001.

Fans need to stop attending games. Ownership doesn't care about winning. They care about revenue. My friends and I made a pledge to boycott the Jays this year and we're sticking to it. I wish more people did this. It's not like the product on the field/ice is even entertaining. It's torturous.

Has the Ben Shapiro and Shatkins duo been the longest serving management besides Beeston? Its really time for them to go as its been a pretty bad stint post Anthobopolous

Shanahan actually did EVERYTHING right. Hired a great coach (in hindsight). Building a stacked squad with Marner, Matthews, Nylander all panning out. Tavares being a good signing. These players do everything right during the season but disappear in the playoffs.

Watching a Leaf score nearly 70 goals should be something to remember, but some Leaf fans like myself were so indifferent to it because of 0 playoff success of this team.

Masai really screwed up with firing Nurse after building a flawed roster. Got nothing for Siakam. The only thing that really kept me interested was Quickley and Barrett. I still think Masai should stay long term though.

Masai and Shanny were both Lieweke finds.

WuTang_OG wrote:

WaltFrazier wrote:Not looking good

https://hockey.realgm.com/wiretap/18051/Auston-Matthews-Still-Feeling-Effects-Of-Illness

no, this is good. They need to lose in 5. This organization is a joke and they need massive changes across the board. Getting to a game 7 (although unlikely) gives them a chance to give more excuses.

Shanny shoulda been out on his ass long time ago

"We would have won if Auston played. We have to run it back."

Shanahan actually convinced Larry T to tank, which landed them Matthews. No other pres/GM had been able to pull that off. He's president, not in charge of personnel. They have someone new to evaluate talent, so let that person do their job and enjoy two of the greatest Leafs of all time.

When your 4 top forwards who hog up 50%+ of the cap on a 20 man roster are mostly finesse type forwards, you need to get specific players around them or trade one of them. Given Shanahan's style in his playing career, he should know better than anyone. Yet, the status quo remained. He needs to be fired first. In hockey, its practical to draft for talent, trade for need. Much easier than NBA. Also, he wanted to re-sign Dubas. Just shows these guys are too comfortable.

ATLTimekeeper wrote:Shanahan actually convinced Larry T to tank, which landed them Matthews. No other pres/GM had been able to pull that off. He's president, not in charge of personnel. They have someone new to evaluate talent, so let that person do their job and enjoy two of the greatest Leafs of all time.

It's so clearly evident the Leafs have a cultural problem - this is led by Shanahan. Leafs are run like a business corporation rather than a hockey team. It's already been reported he's been nixing player personel decisions and has been hesitant to break up his core as he thinks they have the same path as Detroit who eventually broke through in their early 30's. But ultamately these players are entitled and don't play playoff hockey which is odd as Shahanan was one of the best playoff performers. Complete failure after 9 years to only have 1 series win.

The Leafs will always have a culture problem inherent in the market and ownership. Doesn't matter who is here it will be some version of the Muskoka 5 or whatever. What is fact is that the core is really good, better than anything they've had as long as I've been alive. This year there appears to be health issues. They've played 2 periods with Matthews and Nylander. I'd rather wait on Minten and Cowan, and to see Kneis continue to grow while keeping Matthews, Nylander and Marner.

I don't really care if Shanahan blocked Dubas attempts to build an NHL team full of Soo Greyhounds and 165 pound 3rd/4th liners. Dubas was really bad at trades, and doesn't have a great draft record, either.

Not only do the Leafs have a major cultural problem but they severely took a wrong left into signing 4 guys who carry the majority of the cap in a hard cap league. This has caused significant issues in building out the rest of their roster (goalie, defense, depth) - all 3 highly amplified in the playoffs - another reason for their constant failures.

ATLTimekeeper wrote:Shanahan actually convinced Larry T to tank, which landed them Matthews. No other pres/GM had been able to pull that off. He's president, not in charge of personnel. They have someone new to evaluate talent, so let that person do their job and enjoy two of the greatest Leafs of all time.

Noob here who's the other one?

ontnut wrote:

WaltFrazier wrote:Not looking good

https://hockey.realgm.com/wiretap/18051/Auston-Matthews-Still-Feeling-Effects-Of-Illness

Ahh the ol' playoffitis acting up again.

Yes, getting called out by your coach during the 2nd period apparently aggravated is illness (lack of heart).

WuTang_OG wrote:Not only do the Leafs have a major cultural problem but they severely took a wrong left into signing 4 guys who carry the majority of the cap in a hard cap league. This has caused significant issues in building out the rest of their roster (goalie, defense, depth) - all 3 highly amplified in the playoffs - another reason for their constant failures.

Matthews asking to be traded this summer, might be the best thing for the organization.

WaltFrazier wrote:

Green Backpack wrote:

C_Money wrote:
Winnipeg shouldn’t be playing Colorado in the 1st round anyways. It’s the #2 vs #4 seed in the west but hockey is dumb like that.

Yep, the new structure is horrible. Winnipeg got screwed this year. Leafs were in a similar situation when they had to play TB in the first round back in '21-'22.

It's not even new is it? They been doing this setup several years, supposedly to build divisional/regional rivalries. It's so stupid, the NBA does it right. The variety of a different matchup each year would be so much better than Leafs vs Boston every year.

The play-in is dumb as hell in the NBA (single game elimination is highly luck-dependant), but the old 1-8 seed structure was perfect.

Raps in 4 wrote:

WaltFrazier wrote:

Green Backpack wrote:
Yep, the new structure is horrible. Winnipeg got screwed this year. Leafs were in a similar situation when they had to play TB in the first round back in '21-'22.

It's not even new is it? They been doing this setup several years, supposedly to build divisional/regional rivalries. It's so stupid, the NBA does it right. The variety of a different matchup each year would be so much better than Leafs vs Boston every year.

The play-in is dumb as hell in the NBA (single game elimination is highly luck-dependant), but the old 1-8 seed structure was perfect.

There is not really any single game elimination luck. The 7/8 seeds have 2 chances to win once, and the 9/10 seeds have to win B2B games.

If as a 7th/8th seed you lose back to back games (with at least 1 at home) you don't deserve the playoffs anyways.

WuTang_OG wrote:

WaltFrazier wrote:Not looking good

https://hockey.realgm.com/wiretap/18051/Auston-Matthews-Still-Feeling-Effects-Of-Illness

no, this is good. They need to lose in 5. This organization is a joke and they need massive changes across the board. Getting to a game 7 (although unlikely) gives them a chance to give more excuses.

Shanny shoulda been out on his ass long time ago

I don't know. They held out this long with same core again and again for years and same issues and failures. Who's to say, they won't find one more excuse to chug along? Not sure what their problem is. I don't really know much about hockey but just simple common sense and logic would dictate that at some point in time, you can't bring along same core for years that keeps failing and expect different results.

kalel123 wrote:

WuTang_OG wrote:

WaltFrazier wrote:Not looking good

https://hockey.realgm.com/wiretap/18051/Auston-Matthews-Still-Feeling-Effects-Of-Illness

no, this is good. They need to lose in 5. This organization is a joke and they need massive changes across the board. Getting to a game 7 (although unlikely) gives them a chance to give more excuses.

Shanny shoulda been out on his ass long time ago

I don't know. They held out this long with same core again and again for years and same issues and failures. Who's to say, they won't find one more excuse to chug along? Not sure what their problem is. I don't really know much about hockey but just simple common sense and logic would dictate that at some point in time, you can't bring along same core for years that keeps failing and expect different results.

This one is over. Theres no coming back from this one.