Toronto collapses again, still suck.

[strombad]

Originally Posted by IamNotKenKing

Don't leave us hanging. PLEASE tell us why!!!

I think it's like one of those Facebook headlines.

"Canadian media didn't pick up a story by ESPN and You Won't Believe What Happens Next!!!"

[Resolute 14]

Uhh, yes, the Canadian media most certainly picked up on Cliff Fletcher going senile. But even if you want to believe that he meant to sign Finger, you can't explain away the fact that Toronto signed him for twice what Finger himself was expecting.

[chemgear]

http://deadspin.com/the-maple-leafs-...ity-1559848856

The Maple Leafs' Collapse Is A Victory For Rationality

Statistics, like any science, are functionally useless unless they can be tested. The 2013-14 Toronto Maple Leafs season may have been the single best test case so far for the first wave of hockey's advanced metrics—and it resulted in a rousing defeat for both the Leafs and those pundits stubbornly unwilling to look beyond the box scores.

Not even the most devoted traditionalist would dismiss the importance of controlling and shooting the puck, so giving the brush-off to metrics that measure just that is baffling.

Despite finishing fifth in the East in last year's lockout-shortened season, the Leafs had red flags everywhere. They finished at or near the bottom in all measures of possession. (I won't go into them here, but spend a little time with this explainer—possession metrics like Corsi and Fenwick pivot on your number of shots compared to your opponents'. If you don't have the puck, you can't shoot the puck. If you don't shoot the puck, you can't score goals. It really is that simple, and has a fantastic correlation with performance.) The Leafs also lead the league in PDO. (Another explainer, but essentially, a high shooting percentage—like a high BABIP in baseball—is unsustainable.)

All of which is to say that the stats—and not just the usual Chicken-Little pessimism of Leafs fans, honed by decades' worth of examples of the sky actually falling—indicated that Toronto got incredibly lucky last season, and unless drastic changes were made, that luck would not repeat and the Leafs would struggle. The changes that Leafs management made did not address the team's underlying issues. They sent possession players like Mikhail Grabovski and Clarke MacArthur packing, and brought in the likes of David Clarkson and Dave Bolland.

This doesn't mean the Leafs' collapse had to happen. They could have snatched a handful of bounces along the way and made it to the postseason. But statistics aren't strictly predictive, and don't claim to be. Nothing can tell you which team will win or lose in any given game or season. They can only tell you how something happened, why it happened, and what's likely to happen next. The Leafs won because of unbelievable luck. They lost because they're bad at NHL-level hockey. There's no real excuse for anyone running an actual hockey team not to know this.

[Anduril]

Originally Posted by @mirtle

Kadri: "If you look at us, it really sucks, because for 85 per cent of the year, we were one of the top 10 teams in the league."

Originally Posted by @mirtle

Carlyle remarked today that the staff was "mystified" that the Leafs penalty killing was so poor when they had such a good save percentage.

[sun]

Originally Posted by 19Yzerman19

No, it was Finger.

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=16043

http://www.sportingnews.com/nhl/stor...ong-defenseman

How have I never seen this before? So funny.

[savemedrzaius]

Originally Posted by 19Yzerman19

This post for me sums up how Leafs fans work. There is no basis for this statement and all evidence points the other way. Yet they will construct fantasy worlds to justify the completely awful, boneheaded decisions made by their management group. Which is why they continue to get away with running their team like a tire fire. You guys deserve what you get.

Yeah, one post from some guy on a forum is how ALL of us Leafs fans work... you're clearly bias against the Leafs and want to generalize all the fans as one type. I'm sure there are no stupid Flames fans out there who like to post on the internets.

I know a lot of Leaf fans who had Grabbo as their fav player. Last year I bought a jersey and it was a tossup between him or Kadri. But getting back to the Bozak thing, for whatever reason, Bozak works well with Kessel and JVR. When he was out this season and they tried Kadri on the first line, the offensive output of that line completely stopped. Look up the stats on that.

[bubbsy]

wow, that finger story is unreal. Almost a feaster-esque mishap (ROR issue).

[neo45]

I remember Kurt Sauer actually being pretty good

[the2bears]

I was very disappointed when Cliff Fletcher left Calgary for Toronto.

[Ped]

Originally Posted by neo45

I remember Kurt Sauer actually being pretty good

Very under-rated defenseman. Too bad concussion killed his career.

[19Yzerman19]

Originally Posted by savemedrzaius

Yeah, one post from some guy on a forum is how ALL of us Leafs fans work... you're clearly bias against the Leafs and want to generalize all the fans as one type. I'm sure there are no stupid Flames fans out there who like to post on the internets.

No, of course all fans of a particular team are not the exact same way. But you can still paint in broad strokes. It's funny how each individual fanbase has an identity in Canada, and has their own proprietary version of crazy. Flames fans are absolutely irrational and incapable of anything resembling an objective thought when it comes to the Oilers or the Canucks. Leafs fans are completely willing to have the wool pulled over their eyes and rationalize and defend their team's management repeatedly screwing them. Canucks fans are basically the opposite - no one can do any right, a couple of bad games and it's time to trade player X, constant panic and inferiority complex. Habs fans combine the persecution complex of Canucks fans with the self-righteous center of the hockey universe mentality of Toronto. Ottawa fans are so incredibly overjoyed when their team fields a contender that they completely overrate themselves to a point of hilarity, also combined with an inferiority complex.

Fanbases have personalities, that doesn't mean everyone fits neatly into that box.

[savemedrzaius]

Originally Posted by 19Yzerman19

No, of course all fans of a particular team are not the exact same way. But you can still paint in broad strokes. It's funny how each individual fanbase has an identity in Canada, and has their own proprietary version of crazy. Flames fans are absolutely irrational and incapable of anything resembling an objective thought when it comes to the Oilers or the Canucks. Leafs fans are completely willing to have the wool pulled over their eyes and rationalize and defend their team's management repeatedly screwing them. Canucks fans are basically the opposite - no one can do any right, a couple of bad games and it's time to trade player X, constant panic and inferiority complex. Habs fans combine the persecution complex of Canucks fans with the self-righteous center of the hockey universe mentality of Toronto. Ottawa fans are so incredibly overjoyed when their team fields a contender that they completely overrate themselves to a point of hilarity, also combined with an inferiority complex.

Fanbases have personalities, that doesn't mean everyone fits neatly into that box.

I don't know, maybe it's different in Calgary, but all the Leafs fans I know are now apathetic. We know management sucks. We know the coaching sucks. But basically what can you do. Most Leaf fans want Nonis and Carlyle fired. I'm sure there is a small percentage who think everything is great, but most know this team needs work. If you watch a lot of Leaf games like me, you can't help but see this team has problems.

[strombad]

Originally Posted by savemedrzaius

I don't know, maybe it's different in Calgary, but all the Leafs fans I know are now apathetic. We know management sucks. We know the coaching sucks. But basically what can you do. Most Leaf fans want Nonis and Carlyle fired. I'm sure there is a small percentage who think everything is great, but most know this team needs work. If you watch a lot of Leaf games like me, you can't help but see this team has problems.

You should have a chat with BigTuna, he needs the help of a good man to see him through these troubling times.

[Hockey_Ninja]

NSFW!

[Aarongavey]

Who cares about Bozek, if you want proof as to why the Leafs suck they signed Troy Bodie this summer a couple months after they appointed Tim Leiweke as team President and a month before Troy married Tim's daughter and a month later they trade Joe Colborne for a 4th and play Brodie all year. Says all you need to know about this sad pathetic franchise.

[savemedrzaius]

Originally Posted by Aarongavey

Who cares about Bozek, if you want proof as to why the Leafs suck they signed Troy Bodie this summer a couple months after they appointed Tim Leiweke as team President and a month before Troy married Tim's daughter and a month later they trade Joe Colborne for a 4th and play Brodie all year. Says all you need to know about this sad pathetic franchise.

Bodie has played in little more than half of the games this season. I wish he played all year, instead of Carlyle dressing Orr/McLaren. Bodie was pretty solid as a fourth line player, did a lot more than those two guys.

CP is great, but I think some people need to stop talking about the Leafs like you know what you are talking about, when you clearly don't. I don't act like I'm a Flames expert because I watch a Flames game once a week, but apparently everyone knows the book on the entire Leafs roster!

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by savemedrzaius

Bodie has played in little more than half of the games this season. I wish he played all year, instead of Carlyle dressing Orr/McLaren. Bodie was pretty solid as a fourth line player, did a lot more than those two guys.

CP is great, but I think some people need to stop talking about the Leafs like you know what you are talking about, when you clearly don't. I don't act like I'm a Flames expert because I watch a Flames game once a week, but apparently everyone knows the book on the entire Leafs roster!

It is not everyday that a guy who had not played in the NHL in 3 seasons makes such a great comeback at the age of 29, good on Brodie and the complete lack of a connection to his daddy in law.

[BigTuna]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Uhh, yes, the Canadian media most certainly picked up on Cliff Fletcher going senile. But even if you want to believe that he meant to sign Finger, you can't explain away the fact that Toronto signed him for twice what Finger himself was expecting.

The Canadian media, who reports on everything hockey did not pick-up this story that ESPN started because there was no truth to it.

[Erick Estrada]

Have to wonder if the Leafs consider buying out Clarkson. That contract was/is a disaster and I don't see things getting better in time.

[Tinordi]

Bonuses make it buyout-proof.