Pucking Lamplighter
Well-known member
Exactly. I wonder which game/period the betting line goes with?
Jim
2024-25 NHL Misc. Thread
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Jim
Fayettenamcanesfan
Well-known member
Leafs stay on the ice to thank the crowd and they get booed. I get it, but damn
perfectstormhits
Well-known member
Punzil
Well-known member
I'd give the Maroons back to Montreal before I'd ever give Atlanta a third chance at an NHL franchise.
But yeah, considering the last time the Leafs went to the SCF was also the last time they won the Cup... It makes one question if it's better to be the Leafs, who haven't been to a Final since '67 or the Flyers, who been to the finals and lost 5 times since '75?
Look, there's a reason that Leafs fans are the way they are. A lot of them actually.
OK, despite the fact that I'm sure I'll be corrected at some point, here's the post mortem on the Leafs. I did one for everybody else so I'm pot committed
Maple Leafs ...
Look. At least they tried it a slightly different way. They hired Berube to install some sort of system, which was a good idea because Sheldon Keefe remains an idiot but is now somebody else's problem. They got bigger around the core group. They got vastly more competent in the D group. And while I'm pretty sure they never really clicked all the way, they won the Atlantic fairly easily in the end. Good season, right? Yeah, no. The only thing anybody is gonna remember is getting horse whipped 6-1 by the Panthers at home in Game 7. Fair enough.
So where do they go from here? Marner and Tavares are out of contract and the $26 million they have in Cap space isn't really enough to bring them both back. Which means a shakeup in the core forward group seems pragmatic as well as absolutely bloody required to keep their fans from burning down a building or something. Plus, at this point Marner and Toronto's fan base really shouldn't share a postal code for the sake of everyone's mental health. Not sure what they'll do about Tavares, who had a bounce back season but either way they've got to free up enough room to extend Knies and to cobble together the depth group. Whether that means just Marner leaving or both Marner and Tavares, God knows. But you'd have to think one of them goes to give them some room to maneuver. The next big Cap window for changes really doesn't kick in until 2028 and the pipeline is pretty much a straw. This looks like an inflection point.
OK, despite the fact that I'm sure I'll be corrected at some point, here's the post mortem on the Leafs. I did one for everybody else so I'm pot committed
Maple Leafs ...
Look. At least they tried it a slightly different way. They hired Berube to install some sort of system, which was a good idea because Sheldon Keefe remains an idiot but is now somebody else's problem. They got bigger around the core group. They got vastly more competent in the D group. And while I'm pretty sure they never really clicked all the way, they won the Atlantic fairly easily in the end. Good season, right? Yeah, no. The only thing anybody is gonna remember is getting horse whipped 6-1 by the Panthers at home in Game 7. Fair enough.
So where do they go from here? Marner and Tavares are out of contract and the $26 million they have in Cap space isn't really enough to bring them both back. Which means a shakeup in the core forward group seems pragmatic as well as absolutely bloody required to keep their fans from burning down a building or something. Plus, at this point Marner and Toronto's fan base really shouldn't share a postal code for the sake of everyone's mental health. Not sure what they'll do about Tavares, who had a bounce back season but either way they've got to free up enough room to extend Knies and to cobble together the depth group. Whether that means just Marner leaving or both Marner and Tavares, God knows. But you'd have to think one of them goes to give them some room to maneuver. The next big Cap window for changes really doesn't kick in until 2028 and the pipeline is pretty much a straw. This looks like an inflection point.
CanadaCanes
Well-known member
For any of you hoping and wishing for Mitch Marner to end up here in Carolina, be careful what you wish for. Regular season Mitch will get you some regular season wins and lots of assists and points...but he does not move the needle when you need it most in the playoffs. If you think the Canes need another smallish, perimeter player that is dynamic in the regular season, then knock yourself out, but there are much better ways to spend $14 million dollars...
As for the Leafs, it has to be blown up now, there is no run it back, there is no "we were one game away from beating the Cup Champs" nonsense...there is no running it back narrative once and for all, and for that I am thankful, the charade must end for that core, it's rotten and it's decaying and it stinks like bad garbage. How that Core 5 cannot be held accountable for 8-9 years of that kind of playoff failure and Game 7 no shows is beyond me.
As for the Leafs, it has to be blown up now, there is no run it back, there is no "we were one game away from beating the Cup Champs" nonsense...there is no running it back narrative once and for all, and for that I am thankful, the charade must end for that core, it's rotten and it's decaying and it stinks like bad garbage. How that Core 5 cannot be held accountable for 8-9 years of that kind of playoff failure and Game 7 no shows is beyond me.
LJG
Well-known member
I didn't really know what to text back to my cousin last night.
Leafs may as well have stayed home last night.
CanadaCanes
Well-known member
He was not...but I look back and wonder how any organization that storied in NHL hockey history could give the car keys to some boy wonder kid with no NHL experience to make all the most important decisions when it mattered most...looking back, Dubas was the clown that decided to hitch his wagon to all those top heavy core 4 contracts and throw everything off, he was the same clown that traded away almost every prospect and early round draft pick, the same guy to convince them to run it back 3 years ago when it needed to be changed so bad.
NoMich
Well-known member
I'd take Marner in a second. Sign him now!*
*For no more than $6 million per season.
CanadaCanes
Well-known member
HurryCanes
Well-known member
To me, Marner=Aho and having two of them at big bucks might be too much
Yes and no, if we're being realistic. There were times his play was an issue for the Leafs and times when the team in front of him let him down. And he struggled with health similarly to how he's struggled during his time in Raleigh. I 100% understand SOME of the bad feelings Leafs fans have for him, but a lot of that is sort of ridiculously overblown. Just like some of the crap they're hanging on Marner is overblown ... but not all of it.
On the subject of Marner, you guys know where I stand. He's an elite playmaking wing and Carolina is not exactly overloaded with playmakers ... much less elite forwards. They have exactly none of those. Plus, he's a guy who has proven willing to work to improve his defensive game, which is pretty rare in his talent class. Is he perfect? God no. Do you take a swing at him anyway? Probably so, if you get the chance.
Fayettenamcanesfan
Well-known member
I’d take Marner no doubt. Just because he wasn’t great in the playoffs for Toronto doesn’t mean he’ll be that way here in a totally different system and organization.