General Leafs Talk
- Thread starter armche123
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GhostofPotvin29
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L K said:
Love the anonymous sources that come out when the team is struggling. Also, to borrow some of the comments I've been reading about it, it's good to know none of the current Leafs are speaking anonymously to the media about it. Also good to know it's some anonymous source who may have some axe to grind, but of course we will never know.
Also enjoying ex-Leafs commenting on the current team's ability to win, because if you're an ex-Leaf you clearly knew how to win when here.
But Feschuk is being raked over the coals pretty good by some Leafs bloggers, so that's good. He's as weasely a journalist as there is covering the Leafs.
The Leafs are where they are right now because of talent issues.
Why is Feschuk even still writing Leafs articles? I thought he was a basketball guy with the Star and only wrote on hockey while the NBA was in it's mini-lockout or whatever.
hockeyfan1
New member
http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/46223-Campbell-Poor-management-sinks-Canadian-franchises.html
All anyone heard from Canada?s NHL teams prior to the lockout was that cost certainty and a Canadian dollar at or near par with the American dollar was what they needed to be consistently competitive.
Well, they?ve been given both of those. Not only that, but Canadian teams have emerged as the real financial titans of the league, filling buildings, attracting teams from south of the border and loading their coffers with profits on the backs of fans for whom the game actually has real meaning.
And how have the teams responded? They?ve failed miserably on the ice, a fact that is no more evident than it has been this season when just two Canadian teams qualified for the post-season. In fact, given Canada had seven teams in the league in 2011-12, you could make the argument this is the worst showing ever for Canadian franchises.
...since the lockout, when the supposed have-nots from Canada were put on an equal footing with their American counterparts, the franchises have been mediocre for the most part. Including the Winnipeg Jets this season, there have been a combined 43 seasons played by Canadian teams since the lockout and just 20, or 46.5 percent, of those teams have qualified for the playoffs. American teams have played a combined 167 seasons since the lockout, but have qualified 92 times for a much better showing of 55.1 percent.
The Toronto Maple Leafs, under both John Ferguson and Brian Burke, have been putrid and now have the ignominious distinction of being the only one of the NHL?s 30 franchises to have not made the playoffs once since the lockout.
It starts at the top, of course. Nowhere in the NHL have more people been paid so well for so few results than in Toronto, where the $3 million-a-year Burke and his massive band of highly paid lieutenants have delivered absolutely nothing more than bold proclamations.
Canadian fans are the most loyal and patient in the game and they?ve been rewarded for those traits with incompetence. When the Senators posted a franchise record of 113 points in 2002-03, the Canadian dollar was trading as low as 65 cents. When the Flames made their run to the Stanley Cup final the next season, they did so on a 73-cent dollar. When the Maple Leafs turned their franchise around and went to the Eastern Conference final in 1998-99, the loonie was trading at 68 cents.
And those accomplishments were all achieved in an era when the top teams in the league had the ability to spend as much as they wanted and cover up their mistakes with money. None of that applies now, which would lead you to believe cost certainty and the dollar have almost nothing to do with whether a team can be competitive.
As usual, it stems from making good decisions and running your franchises well. And for more than half a decade, the Canadian teams as a group have done a dismal job on that front.
All anyone heard from Canada?s NHL teams prior to the lockout was that cost certainty and a Canadian dollar at or near par with the American dollar was what they needed to be consistently competitive.
Well, they?ve been given both of those. Not only that, but Canadian teams have emerged as the real financial titans of the league, filling buildings, attracting teams from south of the border and loading their coffers with profits on the backs of fans for whom the game actually has real meaning.
And how have the teams responded? They?ve failed miserably on the ice, a fact that is no more evident than it has been this season when just two Canadian teams qualified for the post-season. In fact, given Canada had seven teams in the league in 2011-12, you could make the argument this is the worst showing ever for Canadian franchises.
...since the lockout, when the supposed have-nots from Canada were put on an equal footing with their American counterparts, the franchises have been mediocre for the most part. Including the Winnipeg Jets this season, there have been a combined 43 seasons played by Canadian teams since the lockout and just 20, or 46.5 percent, of those teams have qualified for the playoffs. American teams have played a combined 167 seasons since the lockout, but have qualified 92 times for a much better showing of 55.1 percent.
The Toronto Maple Leafs, under both John Ferguson and Brian Burke, have been putrid and now have the ignominious distinction of being the only one of the NHL?s 30 franchises to have not made the playoffs once since the lockout.
It starts at the top, of course. Nowhere in the NHL have more people been paid so well for so few results than in Toronto, where the $3 million-a-year Burke and his massive band of highly paid lieutenants have delivered absolutely nothing more than bold proclamations.
Canadian fans are the most loyal and patient in the game and they?ve been rewarded for those traits with incompetence. When the Senators posted a franchise record of 113 points in 2002-03, the Canadian dollar was trading as low as 65 cents. When the Flames made their run to the Stanley Cup final the next season, they did so on a 73-cent dollar. When the Maple Leafs turned their franchise around and went to the Eastern Conference final in 1998-99, the loonie was trading at 68 cents.
And those accomplishments were all achieved in an era when the top teams in the league had the ability to spend as much as they wanted and cover up their mistakes with money. None of that applies now, which would lead you to believe cost certainty and the dollar have almost nothing to do with whether a team can be competitive.
As usual, it stems from making good decisions and running your franchises well. And for more than half a decade, the Canadian teams as a group have done a dismal job on that front.
Zee
Active member
First set - excellent
7-2-1
Second set
4-5-1
Third set
5-4-1
Fourth set
4-4-2
Fifth set
5-4-1
Sixth set
4-5-1
Seventh set
1-8-1
Next 10
@Tampa Bay W
@Ottawa W
@Boston L
NY Islanders L
@New Jersey W
NY Rangers OTL
Carolina L
Philadelphia L
Buffalo W
@Buffalo OTL
4-4-2
Heh, not bad the last 10 actually. :-\
LAST TWO
Tampa
@Montreal
GOLFING!!!
7-2-1
Second set
4-5-1
Third set
5-4-1
Fourth set
4-4-2
Fifth set
5-4-1
Sixth set
4-5-1
Seventh set
1-8-1
Next 10
@Tampa Bay W
@Ottawa W
@Boston L
NY Islanders L
@New Jersey W
NY Rangers OTL
Carolina L
Philadelphia L
Buffalo W
@Buffalo OTL
4-4-2
Heh, not bad the last 10 actually. :-\
LAST TWO
Tampa
@Montreal
GOLFING!!!
louisstamos
Active member
That's really funny; outside of games 1-10 and 61-70, in each set they have pretty much been a .500 hockey team. They still could finish as such depending on how their final two games go..
...it's just at the 1-8-1 stretch came at the WORST possible time. They were in the playoff hunt up until that point :S
...it's just at the 1-8-1 stretch came at the WORST possible time. They were in the playoff hunt up until that point :S
L K
Active member
louisstamos said:
Games 11-60 (70-80) they played at an 82 point pace
So for 10 games they played at 123 point pace and for 10 games they played at 25 point pace but overall, they played like a team that wasn't good enough to make the playoffs. It's disappointing again because this isn't a young team in terms of NHL experience and quite frankly some of the veteran players are the worst ones on the team.
WhatIfGodWasALeaf
Active member
Phaneuf is going to play for Canada and Grabo for Belarus so far at the Worlds.
hockeyfan1
New member
First this...
http://mapleleafs.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=626910&navid=DL%7CTOR%7Chome
http://mapleleafs.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=626910&navid=DL%7CTOR%7Chome
;D 
Watching the playoff games last night made me sorry, yet again, to not be watching the Leafs. But, being hinest with myself I do not see how the Leafs team I saw could compete at all in these playoffs. That Philly/Pitts game was just head and shoulders above anything that the Leafs could muster up. Poor Leafs would just be pushed around all night by either team.
We have a long way to go............
We have a long way to go............
GhostofPotvin29
New member
It's hard to say, because (usually) all teams ramp it up for the playoffs so you hardly see blowouts. But I don't think we'd have the goaltending. Otherwise I think our team could compete, although obviously not if they were playing like they did in the last part of the season (then again, I don't see how they would make the playoffs if they were playing like that).
Kin
New member
I don't necessarily think it's a talent thing so much as it is a system/coaching/stylistic thing. I don't think there's a world of difference talent wise between the Panthers or the Senators and the Leafs but I think that those teams are able to play the sort of grind it out hockey that the Leafs had trouble with all year.
I refrained from voicing an opinion on the Leafs demise, but i'm not pissed off anymore.
The Leafs major problem is heart, and that Clark/Gilmour - type tenacity.
No one on this team has it.
Not one player.
This shows by their falling off the cliff act. No locker room cohesion there are problems personnel wise in the Leafs.
Just because you sign a Star player, or whatnot does not mean success.
Colby Armstrong what was he supposed to provide? Oh ya Toughness and Grit.
Didn't happen.
There's Burkes problem. Get a Centreman with some Grit.
The Toronto quotient is another issue.
You gotta have some boys who have some connection with the city.
It just helps adds another + to the intangibles.
My 2 Cents.
The Leafs major problem is heart, and that Clark/Gilmour - type tenacity.
No one on this team has it.
Not one player.
This shows by their falling off the cliff act. No locker room cohesion there are problems personnel wise in the Leafs.
Just because you sign a Star player, or whatnot does not mean success.
Colby Armstrong what was he supposed to provide? Oh ya Toughness and Grit.
Didn't happen.
There's Burkes problem. Get a Centreman with some Grit.
The Toronto quotient is another issue.
You gotta have some boys who have some connection with the city.
It just helps adds another + to the intangibles.
My 2 Cents.
GhostofPotvin29
New member
Ronco said:
Can you explain your formula for determining 'heart'? Does someone like, for instance, Jarome Iginla have heart?
GhostofPotvin29
New member
Can't get much clearer and easier to quantify than that.
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