OT: Leafs/NHL Thread

[LoveMyRaps]

Garbage game but this was always going 7 games.

Fortunately, we got home ice advantage.

We'll win this. Don't fret.

[Raps in 4]

Garbage game but this was always going 7 games.

Fortunately, we got home ice advantage.

We'll win this. Don't fret.

Raps win the lottery. Leafs win the Stanley Cup. Jays fire Shatkins. LFG.

[NinjaBro]

The last Leafs game I watched was when we traded Wendell Clark.

[Reeko]

I watched like 6 minutes of the 2nd period. Probably the most hockey I've watched in almost 2 decades.

[Dr Positivity]

Matthews and Marner didn't look that good to me even when Leafs were up 2-0 in 2nd round.

[Appostis]

Leafs and Raptors...proud tradition of getting ****ed by the Refs.

They played bad but the four pps in the first period... absolute ****.

[MoneyBall]

Kinda hard to win a game when you score zero goals.

[Westside Gunn]

This team always breaks your heart, what do Leafs fans actually get out of this team?

It gives something people to watch and do in the Winter. They are a great regular season team like the Casey/DeRozan/Lowry era but playoffs are always a disappointment.

[ciueli]

This team always breaks your heart, what do Leafs fans actually get out of this team?

It gives something people to watch and do in the Winter. They are a great regular season team like the Casey/DeRozan/Lowry era but playoffs are always a disappointment.

It amazes me that fans willingly invest themselves in a "sport" where one team is allowed to intentionally injure players on the opposing team with no repercussions. And the Panthers just keep doing it, first it was Stolarz, then they tried to injure Woll, now Marner in the last game. If anyone did this kind of thing out on the street in front of the police they'd be sent to jail for assault, but when it's live on television that's just entertainment?

[MEDIC]

The last Leafs game I watched was when we traded Wendell Clark.

That's funny.

That was the last era of me being a die-hard Leafs fan. Watching every game.

Doug Gilmore, Wendel Clark, Dave Andreychuk, Glen Anderson, Felix Potvin, Mike Gartner, Dave Ellet, Nikolai Borschevsky, plus many others. That was a championship level team and a super exciting time.

After they traded for Sundin, my passion slowly faded over the years. Wendel was kind of like Lowry. All heart and toughness. So was Gilmore. Sundin was kind of like Bosh......he lacked a toughness that I like in an athlete.

Domi coming over & Wendel coming back was exciting for a bit, but then the Raps started & there was a new toy to play with.

Early 90's was the best time to be a Toronto sports fan though. Jay's & Leafs were legit playoff contenders and of course the Jay's win 2 championships.

Since then, it's been just a crazy ride of ups and downs being a Raptors fan.

I hope this team can make it to the final. Championship level hockey has been missing in Toronto for far too long.

[MEDIC]

This team always breaks your heart, what do Leafs fans actually get out of this team?

It gives something people to watch and do in the Winter. They are a great regular season team like the Casey/DeRozan/Lowry era but playoffs are always a disappointment.

It amazes me that fans willingly invest themselves in a "sport" where one team is allowed to intentionally injure players on the opposing team with no repercussions. And the Panthers just keep doing it, first it was Stolarz, then they tried to injure Woll, now Marner in the last game. If anyone did this kind of thing out on the street in front of the police they'd be sent to jail for assault, but when it's live on television that's just entertainment?

Well.......there's MMA......and boxing.

Hockey for Canadians is basically what football (NFL) is for Americans. Full contact, aggressive, gladiator style sport.

Better to serve those primal urges watching on television I guess.

[ciueli]

It gives something people to watch and do in the Winter. They are a great regular season team like the Casey/DeRozan/Lowry era but playoffs are always a disappointment.

It amazes me that fans willingly invest themselves in a "sport" where one team is allowed to intentionally injure players on the opposing team with no repercussions. And the Panthers just keep doing it, first it was Stolarz, then they tried to injure Woll, now Marner in the last game. If anyone did this kind of thing out on the street in front of the police they'd be sent to jail for assault, but when it's live on television that's just entertainment?

Well.......there's MMA......and boxing.

Hockey for Canadians is basically what football (NFL) is for Americans. Full contact, aggressive, gladiator style sport.

Better to serve those primal urges watching on television I guess.

Would you watch any of those "sports" if one of the participants had to fight with one arm tied behind their back? Or if one of the UFC fighters were allowed to bring a baseball bat? It's telling that even a heavy contact sport like football doesn't have the near issues that hockey does in this regard.

Even the comparison to fighting sports is misleading, hockey is supposed to be a skill sport about scoring goals and dominating time of possession, not beating your opponent into submission. Instead this series is turning into a game of who can injure the other team's star players without getting caught, again I can't imagine anyone actually wants hockey to become that except for maybe Panther fans because they know they can't win any other way.

[Clay Davis]

Watch on YouTube

It is the 6ixth anniversary of The Shot! The most high rizz play in the history of the entire sport!! We got that!!!!

[Tha Cynic]

It's actually crazy how Flordia is intentionally headhunting and the refs and NHL are allowing them to. We've kind of seen this before against the Leafs in past playoffs - American team with connections with NHL personnel gets away with elbows and cheap shots to the head that to uncalled. Leafs retaliate and they get called or suspended. Meanwhile if you turn the other cheek, the American team simply continues their tactics knowing they will get away with it.


I honestly don't know what the answer is, but Matthews and Marner need to do something these playoffs or the Leafs have to move either one or both of them. At this point it doesn't matter if they succeed somewhere else. They are not succeeding here.

[Raps in 4]

It amazes me that fans willingly invest themselves in a "sport" where one team is allowed to intentionally injure players on the opposing team with no repercussions. And the Panthers just keep doing it, first it was Stolarz, then they tried to injure Woll, now Marner in the last game. If anyone did this kind of thing out on the street in front of the police they'd be sent to jail for assault, but when it's live on television that's just entertainment?

Well.......there's MMA......and boxing.

Hockey for Canadians is basically what football (NFL) is for Americans. Full contact, aggressive, gladiator style sport.

Better to serve those primal urges watching on television I guess.

Would you watch any of those "sports" if one of the participants had to fight with one arm tied behind their back? Or if one of the UFC fighters were allowed to bring a baseball bat? It's telling that even a heavy contact sport like football doesn't have the near issues that hockey does in this regard.

Even the comparison to fighting sports is misleading, hockey is supposed to be a skill sport about scoring goals and dominating time of possession, not beating your opponent into submission. Instead this series is turning into a game of who can injure the other team's star players without getting caught, again I can't imagine anyone actually wants hockey to become that except for maybe Panther fans because they know they can't win any other way.

There are loads of dirty teams in the NFL, and dirty fighters in MMA/boxing. You just have to deal with it, or play dirty yourself.

hockey is supposed to be a skill sport about scoring goals

Hockey is a contact sport. Hitting is part of the game.

[ciueli]

Well.......there's MMA......and boxing.

Hockey for Canadians is basically what football (NFL) is for Americans. Full contact, aggressive, gladiator style sport.

Better to serve those primal urges watching on television I guess.

Would you watch any of those "sports" if one of the participants had to fight with one arm tied behind their back? Or if one of the UFC fighters were allowed to bring a baseball bat? It's telling that even a heavy contact sport like football doesn't have the near issues that hockey does in this regard.

Even the comparison to fighting sports is misleading, hockey is supposed to be a skill sport about scoring goals and dominating time of possession, not beating your opponent into submission. Instead this series is turning into a game of who can injure the other team's star players without getting caught, again I can't imagine anyone actually wants hockey to become that except for maybe Panther fans because they know they can't win any other way.

There are loads of dirty teams in the NFL, and dirty fighters in MMA/boxing. You just have to deal with it, or play dirty yourself.

hockey is supposed to be a skill sport about scoring goals

Hockey is a contact sport. Hitting is part of the game.

Checking is part of the game. Punching someone in the back of the head to the point of them getting a dangerous concussion isn't. And then repeating it over and over with other players isn't either.

Hockey is the weird sport that pretends to be like other major North American sports but somehow condones full on fighting between teams which isn't even a actual component of the game in any way the way it is in MMA/boxing, there is no comparison there, those sports are specifically fighting sports with clear guidelines to keep is safe and even weight classes to even the playing field.

With respect to football, I don't recall Tom Brady getting drilled in the head by a defensive lineman every time they get a sack, I don't recall the top stars of football being targeted this way, it's exactly the opposite, there's a culture that you can't touch quarterbacks and players are extremely careful to avoid dangerous tackles when they do run with the ball. Exact opposite of hockey in terms of how the sport has moved away from violence with less and less contact being legal as time has passed.

[wegotthabeet]

The last Leafs game I watched was when we traded Wendell Clark.

For Sundin? That was one of the best trades any Toronto sports team has ever made.

[M3tro]

The last Leafs game I watched was when we traded Wendell Clark.

For Sundin? That was one of the best trades any Toronto sports team has ever made.

It was definitely a steal.

Sundin is criminally underrated in Toronto circles because he was "soft" and never won anything.

The reality is that the Leafs FO never gave him a proper winger to play with. An old Gary Roberts and Mogilny were probably his best two options during his Leafs tenure.

[Westside Gunn]

Sundin had awesome players with him and the potential for top linemates I remember Pat Quinn used to juggle quite a bit.
Fredrick Modin, Steve Thomas, Darcy Tucker etc. Modin blew up after he left, but Stumpy was effing amazing. Not only they got Roberts, but they were pretty stacked, getting Corson, Mogilny, Kristich (Bust after arriving), Niewendyk, got Owen Nolan who was a major bust. Stumpy was the most consistent

Problem was a lot of players the leafs management got were achievers, but they were all using Toronto in their sunset years to eventually settle down in their cottages in Ontario - as Bob McCowan precisely put it. It was funny. Nobody wanted to come to Toronto until their later years.

I just dont know what it is with this core. Its the best you could get, and we are nearing almost 10 years with them with no material success.

[MiamiSPX]

I honestly don't know what the answer is, but Matthews and Marner need to do something these playoffs or the Leafs have to move either one or both of them. At this point it doesn't matter if they succeed somewhere else. They are not succeeding here.

You know it's bad when people are trying to defend the multiple 60+ goal scorer, 2nd highest paid player in the league, by pointing out how well he's playing defensively and how he's dominating at faceoffs lol. 3 goals in his last 20 playoff games...