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For Borje - The Toronto Maple Leafs 2023 Stanley Cup Champions Thread

Preston said:
I do want to caution people on expecting the same Schenn against a quicker team, which they'll undoubtedly face in round 2. He did his job though. The trade was worth it just for that one series. Anything more moving forward is gravy.
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yeah I thought Tampa would eat Schenn alive because I knew Keefe was going to lean on him. but credit to the Eraser for handling what was asked of him with aplomb.
 
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I'm a little worried that we were marginally outplayed this series. And i think the eye test and nerdies agreed there. The nerdies think it was very close (only COL-SEA is closer so far), but still TB with the edge. Especially bothers me because we are better than last year and should have outplayed them by more.

A couple things make me feel better about it tho. First is that it sure seems like the forecheck strategy was deliberately changed by Keefe to be more conservative. I don't like it personally but if that's true then at least i can blame tactics more than performance. If it's true.

Second is that, really, Tampa's performance edge mostly came from the bottom of the roster, not the top. The Leafs top players outplayed the bolts significantly, while Tampa made up that difference with the worst players. Obviously winning the top players matchups is more important. And of course we can argue that Keefe played the shitty players way too much.

5v5

Matthews 17:11, 59.0xgf% --- Point 16:15, 48.5xgf%
Marner 16:30, 62.8xgf% --- Kucherov 16:01, 47.4xgf%
Nylander 14:34, 49.1xgf% --- Stamkos 14:49, 49.7xgf

O’Reilly 14:23, 44.1xgf% --- Cirelli 14:23, 49.3xgf%
Acciari 14:34, 46.0xgf% --- Hagel 15:50, 44.2xgf%
Knies 13:29, 57.2xgf% --- Killorn 14:44, 54.7xgf%

Tavares 13:18, 49.6xgf% --- Paul 14:14, 50.0xgf%
Bunting 11:31, 57.5xgf% --- Eyssimont 10:06, 60.0xgf%
Jarnkrok 12:43, 55.6xgf% --- Colton 12:04, 53.8xgf%

Kampf 11:42, 30.2xgf% --- Bellemare 8:48, 56.0xgf%
Kerfoot 12:08, 35.9xgf% --- Perry 9:24, 61.0xgf%
Lafferty 9:34, 37.0xgf% --- Maroon 9:49, 63.8xgf%
ZAR 9:20, 36.5xgf% --- Jeannot 13:04, 44.1xgf%


McCabe 20:39, 43.0xgf% --- Raddysh 22:04, 40.4xgf%
Brodie 19:57, 54.0xgf% --- Sergachev 21:19, 40.7xgf%

Rielly 19:44, 57.7xgf% --- Hedman 19:33, 63.1xgf%
Schenn 16:23, 64.5xgf% --- Perbix 18:12, 58.5xgf%

Giordano 14:17, 39.3xgf% --- Cole 14:29, 55.8xgf%
Holl 14:52, 33.6xgf% --- Bogosian 11:59, 57.0xgf%

Liljegren 9:01, 40.9xgf% --- Fleury 13:44, 15.4xgf%
Gustafsson 6:01, 44.4xgf% --- Cernak 8:26, 8.0xgf%
​
 
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Preston said:
I do want to caution people on expecting the same Schenn against a quicker team, which they'll undoubtedly face in round 2. He did his job though. The trade was worth it just for that one series. Anything more moving forward is gravy.
Click to expand...
I didn't find the lightning all that slow. What the lightning do also have are some slick entry plays that they execute well.
 
zeke said:
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I'm a little worried that we were marginally outplayed this series. And i think the eye test and nerdies agreed there. The nerdies think it was very close (only COL-SEA is closer so far), but still TB with the edge. Especially bothers me because we are better than last year and should have outplayed them by more.

A couple things make me feel better about it tho. First is that it sure seems like the forecheck strategy was deliberately changed by Keefe to be more conservative. I don't like it personally but if that's true then at least i can blame tactics more than performance. If it's true.

Second is that, really, Tampa's performance edge mostly came from the bottom of the roster, not the top. The Leafs top players outplayed the bolts significantly, while Tampa made up that difference with the worst players. Obviously winning the top players matchups is more important. And of course we can argue that Keefe played the shitty players way too much.

5v5

Matthews 17:11, 60.2xgf% --- Point 16:15, 51.5xgf%
Marner 16:30, 63.0xgf% --- Kucherov 16:01, 49.4xgf%
Nylander 14:34, 49.9xgf% --- Stamkos 14:49, 51.3xgf

O’Reilly 14:23, 42.4xgf% --- Cirelli 14:23, 48.3xgf%
Acciari 14:34, 44.5xgf% --- Hagel 15:50, 44.2xgf%
Knies 13:29, 58.0xgf% --- Killorn 14:44, 52.7xgf%

Tavares 13:18, 51.4xgf% --- Paul 14:14, 50.8xgf%
Bunting 11:31, 62.1xgf% --- Eyssimont 10:06, 64.7xgf%
Jarnkrok 12:43, 51.0xgf% --- Colton 12:04, 55.0xgf%

Kampf 11:42, 31.1xgf% --- Bellemare 8:48, 54.5xgf%
Kerfoot 12:08, 35.2xgf% --- Perry 9:24, 59.9xgf%
Lafferty 9:34, 33.5xgf% --- Maroon 9:49, 65.8xgf%
ZAR 9:20, 32.8xgf% --- Jeannot 13:04, 38.6xgf%


McCabe 20:39, 42.0xgf% --- Raddysh 22:04, 41.8xgf%
Brodie 19:57, 51.0xgf% --- Sergachev 21:19, 42.5xgf%

Rielly 19:44, 56.3xgf% --- Hedman 19:33, 60.0xgf%
Schenn 16:23, 60.3xgf% --- Perbix 18:12, 56.8xgf%

Giordano 14:17, 40.9xgf% --- Cole 14:29, 57.3xgf%
Holl 14:52, 35.6xgf% --- Bogosian 11:59, 61.7xgf%

Liljegren 9:01, 46.5xgf% --- Fleury 13:44, 24.7xgf%
Gustafsson 6:01, 55.9xgf% --- Cernak 8:26, 10.6xgf%
​
Click to expand...
All of this is close to last year when you lost so relax, these were two fairly evenly matched clubs and you pulled it out because you finally got a goalie that didn't piss himself in elimination games.
 
there is no question the Leafs chose a more defensive posture this series. they've chosen it all season.

This was exacerbated by Cooper's obvious realization the Leafs collective lack of puck skill among their defence can make them vulnerable at times to a heavy forecheck by skilled players.

but Tampa is just really damn good. It's not realistic to expect the Leafs to dominate a team like that consistently in a series.

Instead, take it as credit the Leafs were able to take it away from proven champion players.
 
Habsy said:
All of this is close to last year when you lost so relax, these were two fairly evenly matched clubs and you pulled it out because you finally got a goalie that didn't piss himself in elimination games.
Click to expand...

True about the goalie.

But based on regular season these two teams werent this close so hopefully that was about the bolts taking it easy during the season.
 
Volcanologist said:
This was exacerbated by Cooper's obvious realization the Leafs collective lack of puck skill among their defence can make them vulnerable at times to a heavy forecheck by skilled players.

but Tampa is just really damn good. It's not realistic to expect the Leafs to dominate a team like that consistently in a series.
Click to expand...
Cooper could not account for Rielly. Full marks to that guy in the series.
 
zeke said:
True about the goalie.

But based on regular season these two teams werent this close so hopefully that was about the bolts taking it easy during the season.
Click to expand...
They really do believe they can turn it on and off and maybe they can. They lost but your wins weren't easy for the most part.
 
Habsy said:
Cooper could not account for Rielly. Full marks to that guy in the series.
Click to expand...

yeah definitely. I have never been a fan of Rielly's but he deserves credit for his performance in this series.

and that underlines what adding another big-minute dman with puck skills would do to unlock more of the skill the Leaf forwards have.

Tampa would not have been able to keep the Leafs hemmed as well as they did if you take out a 1 zone player like a Holl or Gio and replace them with a 2 way 40-50 pt dman that can skate.

but that is a conversation for the offseason, which I'm hoping is a long way off here. finally.
 
zeke said:
​
I'm a little worried that we were marginally outplayed this series. And i think the eye test and nerdies agreed there. The nerdies think it was very close (only COL-SEA is closer so far), but still TB with the edge. Especially bothers me because we are better than last year and should have outplayed them by more.

A couple things make me feel better about it tho. First is that it sure seems like the forecheck strategy was deliberately changed by Keefe to be more conservative. I don't like it personally but if that's true then at least i can blame tactics more than performance. If it's true.

Second is that, really, Tampa's performance edge mostly came from the bottom of the roster, not the top. The Leafs top players outplayed the bolts significantly, while Tampa made up that difference with the worst players. Obviously winning the top players matchups is more important. And of course we can argue that Keefe played the shitty players way too much.

5v5

Matthews 17:11, 59.0xgf% --- Point 16:15, 48.5xgf%
Marner 16:30, 62.8xgf% --- Kucherov 16:01, 47.4xgf%
Nylander 14:34, 49.1xgf% --- Stamkos 14:49, 49.7xgf

O’Reilly 14:23, 44.1xgf% --- Cirelli 14:23, 49.3xgf%
Acciari 14:34, 46.0xgf% --- Hagel 15:50, 44.2xgf%
Knies 13:29, 57.2xgf% --- Killorn 14:44, 54.7xgf%

Tavares 13:18, 49.6xgf% --- Paul 14:14, 50.0xgf%
Bunting 11:31, 57.5xgf% --- Eyssimont 10:06, 60.0xgf%
Jarnkrok 12:43, 55.6xgf% --- Colton 12:04, 53.8xgf%

Kampf 11:42, 30.2xgf% --- Bellemare 8:48, 56.0xgf%
Kerfoot 12:08, 35.9xgf% --- Perry 9:24, 61.0xgf%
Lafferty 9:34, 37.0xgf% --- Maroon 9:49, 63.8xgf%
ZAR 9:20, 36.5xgf% --- Jeannot 13:04, 44.1xgf%


McCabe 20:39, 43.0xgf% --- Raddysh 22:04, 40.4xgf%
Brodie 19:57, 54.0xgf% --- Sergachev 21:19, 40.7xgf%

Rielly 19:44, 57.7xgf% --- Hedman 19:33, 63.1xgf%
Schenn 16:23, 64.5xgf% --- Perbix 18:12, 58.5xgf%

Giordano 14:17, 39.3xgf% --- Cole 14:29, 55.8xgf%
Holl 14:52, 33.6xgf% --- Bogosian 11:59, 57.0xgf%

Liljegren 9:01, 40.9xgf% --- Fleury 13:44, 15.4xgf%
Gustafsson 6:01, 44.4xgf% --- Cernak 8:26, 8.0xgf%
​
Click to expand...
The apples comparisons a bit tough based on keefes usage of his bottom 6. McCabe and brodie also got all sorts of dzone starts against kuch-point, yet all of them had negative xgf.

big thing for me was the lack of mistakes in transition and taking care of the puck.

in pat years they lost games giving the puck away in bad spots that led to odd man rushes (kerfoot, galy, sandin, dermott, rielly). Outside of holl and a few bad shifts from McCabe that jjst wasn’t the case in this series.
 
Volcanologist said:
yeah definitely. I have never been a fan of Rielly's but he deserves credit for his performance in this series.

and that underlines what adding another big-minute dman with puck skills would do to unlock more of the skill the Leaf forwards have.

Tampa would not have been able to keep the Leafs hemmed as well as they did if you take out a 1 zone player like a Holl or Gio and replace them with a 2 way 40-50 pt dman that can skate.

but that is a conversation for the offseason, which I'm hoping is a long way off here. finally.
Click to expand...
This is the problem in the cap world and why its designed as it is, every team needs that guy. The "if we just had a <insert position here> we would be even better".

But dang man, buckle up. You thought first round nerves were bad? Whoo boy just wait.
 
So now that the first round is safely over, and there's no longer any chance of him being the guy to single-handedly beat us in game seven---how fucking awful was that Tanner Jeannot trade for Tampa?

A former 1st round pick + 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th round picks in exchange for Jeannot, and this dude gave them one goal and four points in 20 regular-season games and zero points in three playoff games before being healthy scratched for the last couple games of the series.

Thank god Tampa didn't put that huge pile of assets towards a deadline acquisition that was actually good.
 
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