• Moderators, please send me a PM if you are unable to access mod permissions. Thanks, Habsy.

Around the League 2019-2026 Edition

MindzEye said:
I don't think the 3 organizations are that similar really. Sabres have been a tire fire. If the Leafs performance had been similar to the Sabres performance the last 3-4 years, I'd completely understand the rage.

The Oilers have been slightly better but overall pretty rough over the same time period. The Leafs have been consistently good (varying from somewhat good to very good) over the last 4 years. They're actually a good example of the "but they won a playoff round" banner that Zeke is railing against the usefulness of here. Edmonton won a playoff round 4 years ago and have been pretty trash since. The fact that we're being lumped in with them is kind of horseshit.
Click to expand...

was just a joke
 
MindzEye said:
But the same teams of that type very rarely repeat their results. Teams that don't play a "playoff" style of hockey often learn to as they develop though.

Congrats to the Islanders for making the ECF and all, but we've all seen this movie by now, haven't we? A bad Sens team was a game 7 OT away from the cup finals, a mediocre Sharks teams made a WCF run after most of their impact guys had gotten old (and they subsequently fell apart the year after if memory serves). That it's a different team "built for playoff hockey" that makes a bit of noise kind of dispels the notion that they're actually built for playoff hockey, doesn't it? If that was actually a better style of play in the playoffs, we would mediocre teams with meh skill go deep more regularly, no?
Click to expand...

which is why i mentioned luck (shooting/ save percent) and matchups

the larger picture i think the NHL playoffs with the stupid changes in rules (part of it) creates are far more interesting playoff than say....the NBA
 
There are also teams with skill that play a "playoff style" hockey and they win all the time (Boston, Tampa, Vegas, Blues).

Its not that people want the Leafs to play as consistently, and competitively as the Islanders so they are as good as the Islanders. They'd be as good as the best teams in the league.
 
leafman101 said:
There are also teams with skill that play a "playoff style" hockey and they win all the time (Boston, Tampa, Vegas, Blues).

Its not that people want the Leafs to play as consistently, and competitively as the Islanders so they are as good as the Islanders. They'd be as good as the best teams in the league.
Click to expand...

This is a critical point and one I was sort of pondering the other day.

We need to figure out what it is that we're missing. That element that prevents us from advancing. It's very easy and wrong to say that it's the goalie, case closed, because we've seen those teams advance with poor goaltending too. And we know we have at least as much skill and scoring as any of them. Is it that our forwards lack in grit or toughness? Our D is always subpur because we have a couple of dead bodies on it playing key roles? And just how much blame rightly belongs on the goaltending?
 
I think there are definitely personnel issues on the blueline that hurt.

But there is also a mentality thing. The same problems exist for this team in the regular season. Its not just the playoffs. The haven't achieved the level of consistency that the best teams have from game to game. They don't show up for some games, they blow 3rd period leads. Its the same reason they have been a 100 point team, and not up there with Tampa/Boston. You can't just expect to turn it on in the playoffs. You have to play with that commitment and determination all year to be ready to play like that in the playoffs.

When things are going good they feel great and when things start to fall apart they fall apart. The best teams ride the waves of a season, or series and just keep on playing the same way.

Its fine to admit that there are qualities in worse teams like the Islanders that this team would benefit from.

Babs couldn't get that consistency out of them and it cost him his job. Hopefully Keefe can with a full training camp. At the end of season presser he and Dubas talked a lot about focusing on developing the mentality of the team this offseason.
 
leafman101 said:
I think there are definitely personnel issues on the blueline that hurt.

But there is also a mentality thing. The same problems exist for this team in the regular season. Its not just the playoffs. The haven't achieved the level of consistency that the best teams have from game to game. They don't show up for some games, they blow 3rd period leads. Its the same reason they have been a 100 point team, and not up there with Tampa/Boston. You can't just expect to turn it on in the playoffs. You have to play with that commitment and determination all year to be ready to play like that in the playoffs.

When things are going good they feel great and when things start to fall apart they fall apart. The best teams ride the waves of a season, or series and just keep on playing the same way.

Its fine to admit that there are qualities in worse teams like the Islanders that this team would benefit from.

Babs couldn't get that consistency out of them and it cost him his job. Hopefully Keefe can with a full training camp. At the end of season presser he and Dubas talked a lot about focusing on developing the mentality of the team this offseason.
Click to expand...
Yeah and I mean.. It's great that we used advanced stats around here and all, but those stats aren't exactly the most kind to Toronto either. ~12th in xGF% isn't a ringing endorsement for a supposed elite team. And using the Keefe sample size is fine and all, but that was trending down as the season went on as they lost to zamboni drivers and whatnot (i.e. lack of consistency, as you said). Let's see what he could do in a full season before we assume they're super duper elite with him as a coach.

And when you're doing a series breakdown on xGF, the numbers are a bit skewed by the one game that Toronto absolutely decimated Columbus. Outside of that the games were fairly even (yes Toronto likely mostly outplayed them, but to a point where they had a 52-53% chance of winning.. That's not gonna eliminate Prestoluck from being a huge factor). It's a consistency thing that haunts them, no doubt. That's the next step for them.
 
leafman101 said:
There are also teams with skill that play a "playoff style" hockey and they win all the time (Boston, Tampa, Vegas, Blues).

Its not that people want the Leafs to play as consistently, and competitively as the Islanders so they are as good as the Islanders. They'd be as good as the best teams in the league.
Click to expand...

not sure if it is true
perhaps old people like habsy can weigh in

but i heard that the stacked with skill habs of the 70s dynasty were all aboot playing the trap at a time when it was not really common
 
MindzEye said:
I don't think the 3 organizations are that similar really. Sabres have been a tire fire. If the Leafs performance had been similar to the Sabres performance the last 3-4 years, I'd completely understand the rage.

The Oilers have been slightly better but overall pretty rough over the same time period. The Leafs have been consistently good (varying from somewhat good to very good) over the last 4 years. They're actually a good example of the "but they won a playoff round" banner that Zeke is railing against the usefulness of here. Edmonton won a playoff round 4 years ago and have been pretty trash since. The fact that we're being lumped in with them is kind of horseshit.
Click to expand...

slightly different.

from drafting McDavid, Eichel, Matthews (seasons from best to worst):

Pts% Rank

TOR: #7, #7, #13, #13 (#9 All Years)
EDM: #7, #12, #23, #25, #29 (#24 All Years)
BUF: #23, #25, #26, #27, #31 (#30 All Years)

Playoff Games Per Season

TOR: #13
EDM: #24
BUF: #31

xGF% Rank

TOR: #12 5v5, #7 All Strengths
EDM: #19 5v5, #21 All Strengths
BUF: #28 5v5, #28 All Strengths
 
Preston said:
And when you're doing a series breakdown on xGF, the numbers are a bit skewed by the one game that Toronto absolutely decimated Columbus. Outside of that the games were fairly even (yes Toronto likely mostly outplayed them, but to a point where they had a 52-53% chance of winning.. That's not gonna eliminate Prestoluck from being a huge factor).
Click to expand...

GAME 1
Game-1-deserve-to-win.png


GAME 2

Game-2-deserve-to-win.png


GAME 3

Game-3-deserve-to-win.png


GAME 4

Game-4-deserve-to-win.png


GAME 5

Game-5-deserve-to-win.png
 
There are too many games in there that weren't good enough. Game 1 they weren't ready. It's never ideal to start a series with your worst game, but it is even more costly n a best of 5.

Game 3 should have been the killer after they dominated Game 2, but they just blew it and stopped playing after going up 3-0. It should have been over at that point, but they didn't have the killer instinct to finish it off.

And they never really regained their footing after that. Game 4 they were lucky to not be eliminated. And Game 5, other than the super line, they weren't very good. In elimination games you need to have your best games, and they didn't in either. Same thing happened last year in game 6/7. They had two chances to put it away and had 2 of their worst games of the series.
 
leafman101 said:
There are too many games in there that weren't good enough. Game 1 they weren't ready. It's never ideal to start a series with your worst game, but it is even more costly n a best of 5.

Game 3 should have been the killer after they dominated Game 2, but they just blew it and stopped playing after going up 3-0. It should have been over at that point, but they didn't have the killer instinct to finish it off.

And they never really regained their footing after that. Game 4 they were lucky to not be eliminated. And Game 5, other than the super line, they weren't very good. In elimination games you need to have your best games, and they didn't in either. Same thing happened last year in game 6/7. They had two chances to put it away and had 2 of their worst games of the series.
Click to expand...
Of course. They didn't need to dominate like game 2 EVERY game but they didn't even come close to that level at any other point in the series. Not good enough.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top