Prepare for another first round exit this team is soft as hell

LOl a rangers fan is talking

stop arguing both ur teams r soft

Dude we’ve got Kreider, Lemieux, Zibanejad and a few others who bring energy, grit and work ethic to the team you know nothing about the NYR

Lol you mean that? I meant your team sucks but ok

We were literally better that the Leafs for the past months but ok

I forgot you were in a playoff sp... oops never mind. I just realize that you were in a wild ca... Oh I see your team is better than us

You really use the standings excuse? Ok so I guess Tamppa was better than Columbus last season, that Nashville was better than Dallas and that Washington was better than Carolina too?

1-we have 1 more regulation win than you
2-we did that with the youngest team in the league
3-we worked our butts off every single night to win where as the Leafs expect their talent to carry them in the postseason
4-our defense is already better at, you know, defending that yours, even if it's younger

Yeah and the leafs never lost to a ZAMBONI Dr... No Wait they did lose to a ZAMBONI DRIVER after a 4-0 Win over the pens

You have more regulation wins and more regulations loses It means nothing. Your team is young so What? In 2017 our team was as young as yours and we got 105 points. I don't know what u mean by "our teams works our butt of to win" even though every team does. Lmao why are u talking we have way more cups than u. You have the least amount of ups out of all the originals.

Yes the canes have one of the best defense in the league. Nobody cares that your organization is the biggest your team sucks. And the only 3 Things everyone days is "zamboni drver" first round and 1967 like shut up do u have any other roast

Dude you really say that TOR WORKS????? LOL I don't know how many times I've screamed at my TV because TOR wasn't working in the corner and wasn't doing ANYTHING to stop the other team... how can you say that EVERY team (including the Leafs) works?? TOR doesn't work and that's why they aren't legit contenders.

Have you seen the 2016-17 Atlantic division?? BOS and OTT were mediocre during the regular season, MTL was average for 4/5 of the regular season, BUF was awful, DET started struggling, the whole Bolts team was injured and Florida was doing f**kall where as the metro had the pens and the Caps who were the Pens and the Caps, Philly had good stretches, we were great, Columbus broke out of the basement, basically the metro was elite and the atlantic was average. Not comparable at all.

Bro when your mom yells at you do you get this mad at her? Every teams works. If Toronto didn't work we wouldn't be in a playoff spot.
I really don't care about this. Your points make no sense but ok your team is good blah blah blah
I hope you can sleep now

it is amazing how people think this is even a top 10 reason why the Leafs haven't made it past the 1st round.

OK so a team that's 18-12-1 (37 pts) since the beginning of 2020 isn't good but a team that's 14-11-4 (32 pts) is great?

Everything clicked for us after our comeback against Montreal at the end of november. And since mid january or so, we were in the top 10 in the league while TOR wasn't even top 15? Why? Because TOR's defense sucks, Barrie's awful at defensing, Holl has sucked big time since his extension, almost no forward cares about defending and Andersen has been bad since the beginning of the year.

TOR didn't even bother to show up for 3 games in 2018 and for game 7 last year. Why does Boston wins with players who are starting to age like Rask, Krecji and Bergeron in there core but TOR can't with young, fast, skilled forwards, because it seems it's all it takes to win according to most Leaf fans who want to get a top pairing d-man but won't give up any big prospects or top 6 forwards? Why? Because they bother to show up, they grind, they work their way out of a 7 game series, they DEFEND, basically 3 things TOR has been/ is struggling/is awful at.

Toronto, a supposed 'soft' team pushed Boston, a supposed 'super grit mega team' to 7 games twice and Washington another team that is apparently full of that good gritty try hardiness to 6 games.
I am calling a truck load of BS on this "they dont show up" crap because it's not true. Did they have bad games? sure, but literally every team has bad games. They also got terrible goaltending at key moments, crushed by injuries and lost a key player to suspension.
If the Leafs were half as soft as you and other people pretend they wouldnt have made the playoffs, let alone not get swept by these teams that are apparently some model of doing it right

-as for BOS, that's what I said. I said the Leafs didn't bother to show up for game 7. They were good/great for 6 games but game 7 was their worst one of the series, bar none
-as for the WSH in 2017, two things:
1-this was the pre-2018 Washington Capitals. They didn't work, they were cocky and they definitely played good hockey, but not great hockey.
2-TOR had Brown, Komarov, Boyle, Hyman and a few others who worked a lot, now three of the four I listed are gone, replaced by what? By talented players which the Leafs already have a lot of.

Look, the Leafs have the good fortune of having A LOT OF talented players. I can guarantee you that there are many, many teams out there (Dallas for instance) who would kill for more skills. They now need to add work ethic and grit. They would need two other Zach Hymans, two other guy who aren't afraid to go out there at every single opportunity they have. If they added that along with defense, they'd become an immediate not only cup contender, but favorite. And rightly so.

As Ovi said, Toronto needs to change the way they play (like WSH did in 2018). When they do that, I can guarantee you that they'll make a run. They might not win it all the first year they do it and that's perfectly fine, but they'll get there eventually. Until they do that, forget it. Again, take it from the guy who plays for a team that choked for a DECADE before finally winning the team. I think he knows more than you and I and every Leafs fans out there know about it

and what does that have to do with them being soft?

The Caps choked for a decade because they didn't have what the Pens have. Greatness. Why did a guy like Sheary who's nothing more than a normal bottom 6 forwards have such a great time in Pittburgh? Because he played in a great system, for a great coached who coached an underrated defensive team. When I look at the Pens, they work, work and work again, when they won two straight cups a few years ago, they had an insanely talented top 3 at forward (Sid, Geno and Phil). Yet they surround these with Shearys, Cullen, Bonino, Hagelin and so many others who play a non flashy game, but an effective one.

To come back to the Caps, they obviously has to shed talent during the 2017 offseason (lost Schmidt to Vegas, lost Shattenkirk (even though he was a flop there), lost Johansson...). They now had a mission. They had to find players who would play an effective hockey game. DSP became a hero in the 2018 final, Beagle played great, Chiasson looked better than the previous seasons and d-man like Kempny and Orpik played an essential, gritty, physical, shutdown style. THAT, RIGHT THERE, was what they needed. They needed to play as a team, to stop being all out offense, they needed to create an effective hockey system.

That's what the Leafs need to do in order to win multiple playoff rounds. They need Kempnys, Beagles, DSPs, etc. I think Gauthier (6 foot 5, 235 pounds) can be your Beagle (6 foot 3, 210). I think Gaudas can be your Kempny. I want Gudas so bad in TOR, he brings everything TOR desperately needs: physicality, grit, toughness and he's a RD-man. That's like the only case in which they could keep their big 4 along with Kappy and a few others, because Gudas will not cost a lot.


In WSH's case, they needed to play together, to persevere, to have better character and they did it. As NYR fan I've always hated the Caps yet they gained my respect and even love during those playoffs.
In TOR's case, they have the talent, if Freddy bounces back, they have the goalie, with Reilly and Muzzin, they have their top 2 at defense (like Carlson and Orlov or Niskanen), they have the playmaker (Marner), the goal scorer (Matthews), the center who can do a lot of things (Tavares), the perfect number 3 forward in Nylander. What they need right now is to change their team, to add grit, toughness and defense. When they do that, they'll win a cup. And when that day comes, I'll cheer with you, cause I like a lot the Leafs. But I am a realist. I know that they need to change things within their organization. And again, when they'll do, they'll win.

except none of that makes sense because for all those years that the pens and the caps were bad they had lots of tough and gritty guys on the roster. They were never missing that aspect from their teams, and giving credit to "surrounding the skill with guys like that" to "guys like that" instead of Crosby et all is kinda disingenuous at best. The cups came for 3 main reasons, the same reasons every single team wins.
Skill, luck and goaltending. you need all three to win and everything else is just shades of narrative.
You need to be able to score (ie, skill) you need your goalie to get hot at the right time and you need the bounces. The Leafs have the skill, but they have gotten **** in regards to both luck and a good bit of goaltending when the time came. Surrounding the kids with bottom 6ers who play that good ol canadian kid hockey would not have made them cup contenders.
I mean, they also need defence, but they dont need it to be a josh Manson type, a Spurgeon, Ellis, Pietro type is the most ideal. A Savard type or Petry type even. Someone who can move the puck out of the leafs zone would be endlessly more helpful than someone who is gonna stand around and smash dudes without getting the puck out

No, I compred the Leafs to the Caps. The former need what I mention. What the Caps needed was, as I said, to play as a team, they needed Ovi to be clutch, and thoser things happen. They also needed players who would play a certain style of hockey.

As for luck, you can't wait for that to happen. Good (I'd even say great) teams make their own luck.

As for defense, they needs someone who can stay behind while Reilly joins the rush. That's why a guy like Petry wouldn't be a fit.

Freddy makes the first save, Gudas clears the rebound, gives it to Reilly and boom the rush starts. You can't expect Reilly or even Petry to play that game cause they are offensive d-men in their very nature which isn't bad you need those, but you also need a guy who can clear the puck from the crease/slut, give it to the guy who then passes the puck to forwards who'll take care of the rest.

Cause you also need to have good players on the PK. Reilly can't play there, not good enough, with Muzzin you have one, Sandin, two, Gudas, 3 and Holl, 4, you're fine. But as it stands, TOR only has 3 true penalty killers on the back end (Holl, Muzzin and Sandin).


Last thing: defense. wins. championships. Attacking is easier than defending (you get tired at a much slower rate, it's faster to do...). Creating a proper defensive structure that works is a pain in the ass and TOR has yet to have that

But that's the thing, the Caps had guys like Oshie and Williams and WIlson and Orpik and Laich and Beagle and Niskanen and so on and so on for YEARS before they won the cup. They didnt just add a bunch of try hards and then win. In fact The caps are a wonderful example of "dont change the course if you hit a rough patch, keep adding good players and hold on to your great players".

As far as making your own luck, well that only goes so far. Did the Blues make their own luck that they didnt have to play the regular season Bolts who decided to pack it in in the 1st round? How about the Hurricanes got lucky when the Oilers lost Roloson to injury in time for the finals? Stuff like that plays a huge part in a cup win. It can be as simple as a major injury (or suspension) or more complext, like a team's shooting luck completely drying up etc etc.

and we're back on the defence with the same thing. The guy(s) they bring in does not need to be a gritty guy to make them "not soft" he just needs to be good. Gudas would be fine, though i wouldnt give him term or too much money as his defensive impacts have been slowly declining the past few years despite playing on better teams.

1-https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/1700420

2-saying that good teams make their own luck is simply saying that if you are good than chances are that you'll also have luck along the way.

3-as for the Caps, yeah, they had great players, but it seems they had too many. They won the cup when they weren't supposed to, after they lost mister game seven, Johansson etc. And that offseason they didn't add great players they just added guys who could play relatively sheltered minutes on the bottom 6. But I get your point to an extant.

Canes decline