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2025-26 Toronto Maple Leafs General Discussion

4EVRLEAFAN said:
Yup, and some members here need to stop talking about you know who, the fact is we're 4th in goals scored per game but last ln goals against, D and goaltending need a big improvement.
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Forwards need to be part of that conversation to improving the OZ time, and mitigating the rush chances against. Some calibration or refinements to whatever their systems are is needed to get the F and D cohesively moving in both directions.
 
4EVRLEAFAN said:
Yup, and some members here need to stop talking about you know who, the fact is we're 4th in goals scored per game but last ln goals against, D and goaltending need a big improvement.
Click to expand...
You do realize that there's 3 other players on the ice that contribute to team defense? Do you know what leads to goals against? Give aways at the bluelines. Both bluelines. D-Zone Exits and O-Zone entries. Do you know who has the puck a good amount of the time when those two actions are occurring? The F's. Do you know what leads to odd person rushes? Poor O-Zone positioning by the Forwards.

The F's need to shoulder an equal share of the blame here.

The player you're opposed to mentioning isn't going to solve any of those items. He would help, but he wouldn't completely fix them.
But, if you read the game thread, I never said he would. What I did say is that clearly, there's something very off on this team. People's heads aren't right. As a hockey coach, the long stretches of no engagement is very concerning. The unwillingness to play the system is concerning. There's major alarms going off in the coach's office right now. And they should be. This isn't a simple "play better D, get better results" solution. Some better performances from Stolarz or the D core may help mask the real problem. But I'm sorry, these aren't just D and G problems. Teams don't disappear like that if that's all it is.

Which is why I said that a message should be sent to the leadership. Get your crap together or go watch from the pressbox.
 
OldTimeHockey said:
You do realize that there's 3 other players on the ice that contribute to team defense? Do you know what leads to goals against? Give aways at the bluelines. Both bluelines. D-Zone Exits and O-Zone entries. Do you know who has the puck a good amount of the time when those two actions are occurring? The F's. Do you know what leads to odd person rushes? Poor O-Zone positioning by the Forwards.

The F's need to shoulder an equal share of the blame here.

The player you're opposed to mentioning isn't going to solve any of those items. He would help, but he wouldn't completely fix them.
But, if you read the game thread, I never said he would. What I did say is that clearly, there's something very off on this team. People's heads aren't right. As a hockey coach, the long stretches of no engagement is very concerning. The unwillingness to play the system is concerning. There's major alarms going off in the coach's office right now. And they should be. This isn't a simple "play better D, get better results" solution. Some better performances from Stolarz or the D core may help mask the real problem. But I'm sorry, these aren't just D and G problems. Teams don't disappear like that if that's all it is.

Which is why I said that a message should be sent to the leadership. Get your crap together or go watch from the pressbox.
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Ok maybe I should have said defensive play instead of just D and I really don't think we've completely disappeared, we are scoring, lets see if Woll can give us a spark, sometimes that's all that's needed but who knows.
 
4EVRLEAFAN said:
Ok maybe I should have said defensive play instead of just D and I really don't think we've completely disappeared, we are scoring, lets see if Woll can give us a spark, sometimes that's all that's needed but who knows.
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There have not been a lot of soft goals allowed by Stolarz in my opinion. Too many are from close range where it either hits him or not.
To me, the skaters are the bigger issue - not just the dmen. We all know Benoit and Myers are the 6th-7th dman. The forwards need to come back to help them - for example.
Any team can score more goals by cheating on their defense. Their opponents light them up. The Leafs opponents have scored more goals than the Leafs have.
We're all seeing it. There is something wrong with how this team is playing. I do not think their results match the talent on the roster. We've seen them struggle before but this one feels different. They seem aimless making a lot of mistakes. I think they're a better team than that but it seems harder to see a solution.
 
cw said:
. We've seen them struggle before but this one feels different. They seem aimless making a lot of mistakes. I think they're a better team than that but it seems harder to see a solution.
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It has all the hallmarks of a situation where they’ve tuned out or aren’t buying what they’re being told to do. They’re playing like they don’t believe in the system/coach/direction/whatever it is.
 
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