ECQF: Boston Bruins [ATL2] vs Toronto Maple Leafs [ATL3] - Boston wins 4-3

[Zary's-Mustache]

I remember having a conversation with a Leafs buddy about how Marner kills penalties which means he was so much more valuable than Gaudreau while Gaudreau was a Flame and coming off 115 points.

My reply to that was just because a player kills penalties doesn't mean he is good at it. I researched the PK numbers while marner was on the ice and they were below average. So he didn't effect the PK in a positive way.

Then you had the media drooling all over themselves when Marner filled in as a defenceman for a period or two like he was some sort of defensive god.

Truth is if he wasn't playing with Mathews, Nylander or Tavares and in Toronto, he'd be more known as a player like Jeff Skinner.

[Ped]

I don't think Marner is equal to Jeff Skinner. He's an elite playmaker and offensive talent. He just appears to be immature and not able to find another gear. It doesn't mean he never will.


Players are losers who can't win - until they do. Ryan O'Reilly was looked at as a loser until he won. Alex Ovechkin. Steve Yzerman, going back, was an offensive guy who didn't do what it takes. The list goes on.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by butterfly

Give up Weegar to get out of the Huberdeau disaster, get Marner, and probably get a 1st at the deadline? The rebuild would be over and we'd be on the upswing.

Rebuild over? Good grief.

You make Toronto better, get a winger who underperforms in the POs, and deal him supposedly for a late first round pick. Huberdeau probably gets 80 assists dishing to Matthews and playing on their power play. The pick you get for Marner leads to a Pelletier level player.

How is your rebuild over?

[cKy]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Rebuild over? Good grief.

You make Toronto better, get a winger who underperforms in the POs, and deal him supposedly for a late first round pick. Huberdeau probably gets 80 assists dishing to Matthews and playing on their power play. The pick you get for Marner leads to a Pelletier level player.

How is your rebuild over?

Not to mention we're down to 2 quality NHL Defensemen. We'd score ourselves to last place!

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by cKy

Not to mention we're down to 2 quality NHL Defensemen. We'd score ourselves to last place!

2? I think Kylington is still a work in progress.

[Enoch Root]

Our defense would be:

Kylington - Andersson
Pachal - Miromanov
and any 2 of: Okhotiuk, Hanley, Grushnikov, Solovyov, Kuznetsov, Poirier or Brzustewicz

That D group doesn't win 30 games - even with the defensive prowess of Marner to help them out

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by Zary's-Mustache

Then you had the media drooling all over themselves when Marner filled in as a defenceman for a period or two like he was some sort of defensive god.

This never happened as far as I'm aware of...

[Ped]

Might a be a tad bit hyperbolic, but there was some praise:


https://www.thestar.com/sports/leafs...c1b28f748.html

“That’s how smart (Marner) is,” Matt Knies said, “He can play any position, really. You can put him in anywhere, and he’ll dominate and make plays.

Marner has been pressed into service as a defenceman at various points over his career, a testament to his hockey IQ.

“He has the ability to go out and do it,” Keefe said. “I thought he gave us a ton in that second period in terms of his ability to pass and keep plays alive and get us going a little bit offensively.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Ped

Might a be a tad bit hyperbolic, but there was some praise:


https://www.thestar.com/sports/leafs...c1b28f748.html

At this point Keefe knows his players and if he takes the anger or critique route, he'll lose his kids club. He's not levied a critique against his team this playoffs. Shows how fragile they are when it comes to certain egos.

[Canada 02]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1785436820232171949

[Ped]

Originally Posted by bluejays

At this point Keefe knows his players and if he takes the anger or critique route, he'll lose his kids club. He's not levied a critique against his team this playoffs. Shows how fragile they are when it comes to certain egos.

Didn't he criticize them last season and he was pretty much forced to walk it back? At this point someone has to go just to change the culture, much when the "Muskoka Five" was there.

[OldSam]

And on HNIC, they interviewed Pasta and Ron's first question was about Leon Draisatl. What an embarrassment.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Ped

Didn't he criticize them last season and he was pretty much forced to walk it back? At this point someone has to go just to change the culture, much when the "Muskoka Five" was there.

yeah - forgot about that but I think it may have been early last season. So embarrassing. I'm telling you, you look back on indications and it's a little boys club between Marner and Matthews. Complete speculation but in the past if I recall there's been murmurs of the young guys having their own culture and running things being the chosen ones, and this is showing for years. They've always had potential and shown great regular season performances. This is the breaking point.

[Rhett44]

Hockey players don't usually get ill for this long, and definitely don't sit out of elimination games.

There has to be something more going on. There just has to.

[butterfly]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Rebuild over? Good grief.

You make Toronto better, get a winger who underperforms in the POs, and deal him supposedly for a late first round pick. Huberdeau probably gets 80 assists dishing to Matthews and playing on their power play. The pick you get for Marner leads to a Pelletier level player.

How is your rebuild over?

Who cares about making Toronto better? They're in the other conference.

We would have 6 firsts in the next 3 years, plus the one we were promised Markstrom would bring. Kadri is the only contract anyone could possibly argue is bad and we dump two retirement deals. Of course this is the reason the Leafs would never agree to it, even without Marner's NTC and the Tre aspect.

"A Pelletier level player", welp, guess we should just call off the draft after 10 or 15 picks then, right? The time is now to build a powerhouse team for the new arena era.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by butterfly

Who cares about making Toronto better? They're in the other conference.

We would have 6 firsts in the next 3 years, plus the one we were promised Markstrom would bring. Kadri is the only contract anyone could possibly argue is bad and we dump two retirement deals. Of course this is the reason the Leafs would never agree to it, even without Marner's NTC and the Tre aspect.

"A Pelletier level player", welp, guess we should just call off the draft after 10 or 15 picks then, right? The time is now to build a powerhouse team for the new arena era.

A Pelletier player is just fine at that spot. I'm saying there's no way getting a late first rounder is "rebuild over". The team has almost no proven D, and the ones in the pipeline are no locks. You are also putting huge faith in Wolf.

They might have more picks but right now their highest pick is 9th and the rest, depending on next year will be at that late first level, Vancouver and Vegas. If they trade a Marner or Markstrom, those are more late firsts (or maybe a second for Markstrom). That's fine for depth.

The contracts? They don't even matter at this point anyway, nor will they at any point in the next 4 years.

Rebuild is only over if they (a) hit on a really good player this year at 9OA and if they go 10OA or lower in 2025 and hit on that one too.

[Zary's-Mustache]

How isn't Gio cracking the lineup? Especially with how bad the Leafs top 6 is.

[activeStick]

Love the guy, but he's been pretty bad all year. Very slow now. Could he be a better number 6? Maybe, but not for sure... I feel bad saying that as I love the guy.

[butterfly]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

A Pelletier player is just fine at that spot. I'm saying there's no way getting a late first rounder is "rebuild over". The team has almost no proven D, and the ones in the pipeline are no locks. You are also putting huge faith in Wolf.

They might have more picks but right now their highest pick is 9th and the rest, depending on next year will be at that late first level, Vancouver and Vegas. If they trade a Marner or Markstrom, those are more late firsts (or maybe a second for Markstrom). That's fine for depth.

The contracts? They don't even matter at this point anyway, nor will they at any point in the next 4 years.

Rebuild is only over if they (a) hit on a really good player this year at 9OA and if they go 10OA or lower in 2025 and hit on that one too.

The Las Vegas one is in two years.

Yeah, the contracts don't matter in the sense that I wouldn't pay anything to get rid of them, but if someone wants to take them on without us sending anything, be my guest.

Hopefully with these five 1st round picks plus whatever Markstrom brings we get a solid core with a star or two.

[Manhattanboy]

Refs doing everything to keep the Leafs in it.