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No Excuses No Limits! The mother fucking goddamn season thread

The Toronto Maple Leafs, as the kids say, are mid.

Zeke will say they’re better than that, citing their 98-point pace and plus-12 goal differential — both better than most teams.

Some will say they’re worse, citing their laughable inability to win in regulation and treasure trove of loser points — both worse than most teams.

But mid seems apt for a team that has won exactly 21 games and lost exactly 21 games.
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With any of the Core Four on the ice this season the Leafs have scored 54.2 percent of the goals and earned 52.8 percent of the expected goals. That’s solid for any group of four that isn’t taking up half the salary cap, but unfortunately, this one is, which makes the figure much harder to accept. Over the previous two seasons, they were at 57 percent in both categories — good for seven extra goals this season.
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Without the Core Four on the ice in the previous two seasons, the Leafs earned a little under 51 percent of the expected and actual goals. That’s a really good mark and is what helped make them a top team year in and year out. This year they’ve earned just 45 percent of the expected goals and scored 47.5 percent of the actual goals without the top guys on.
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Looking at his tracked data from Corey Sznajder helps illuminate why. Last season [Brodie] was one of the league’s absolute best at defending the blue line. This year he’s been one of the worst, allowing a chance on 5.8 entries per 60 — a bottom-10 mark in the league. Last season he was also one of the league’s most dependable puck-movers. This year he has one of the league’s highest botched retrieval rates and isn’t getting the puck out with possession anymore either.

Considering how often he plays with the team’s top forwards, it’s possible his sudden decline with and without the puck has played a major role in the Core Four’s weaker numbers. The Leafs need to find a better option for their top pair.
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theathletic.com

16 Stats: Middling Maple Leafs, injured Golden Knights and anemic Sabres

Plus, how the Canucks and Jets are exceeding their expected goals totals and the Oilers' ice cold power play.
theathletic.com theathletic.com
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mbow30 said:
wasn’t that toews interview after a bunch of 7-0 losses?
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Maybe, I don't know. But they need a player that is a nut job that hates losing and holds teammates accountable.

Our guys are always like "its a learning experience" or "we played pretty good".

They've played below their expectations all season, and no one on the team other than Keefe shows that they care.
 
Marner should be hidden from the press after any stretch of losses.

He seems to have a wild combination of.

Not being able to read a room
Not having an ounce of sincerity
Desperate to tell the media what he thinks they want to hear ( combined with traits one and two, not good)
 
leafman101 said:
Maybe, I don't know. But they need a player that is a nut job that hates losing and holds teammates accountable.

Our guys are always like "its a learning experience" or "we played pretty good".

They've played below their expectations all season, and no one on the team other than Keefe shows that they care.
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At this point though, we've rolled over 80% of the roster two or three times over now and Matthews-Marner-Nylander were kids for a lot of that. The psychology of the team isn't just on them. There's room for lunatics but we just aren't adding them for whatever reason.
 
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