Media Thread

[GhostofPotvin29]

And the fact that a month ago, the Leafs were closer to home ice than being eliminated. I don't buy this "stats catching up" argument that made the freefall inevitable... a healthy Bernier, a reversal of some bad luck, and its not hard to envision a seed above wildcard, despite all the convenient naysayers coming out of the woodwork.

Makes you wonder what the article would have been!

But that's the whole point I think - that the way the team was playing, they needed everything to break lucky for them to make it.  Bernier missed what - 5 games?  What bad luck did the team suffer?  I think the point is that the team had to have a high SH% to cover for the number of shots they gave up per game and the number of goals they gave up per game despite great goaltending.  It's not a matter of predicting an 8 game slide, it's a matter of predicting that this style of play will catch up to the team somehow - whether it is a stretch of the goaltending playing below .920 or the SH% dipping slightly, the way the team played could not cover for the random variances in the season of those sorts of things.

 

[Kin]

And the fact that a month ago, the Leafs were closer to home ice than being eliminated. I don't buy this "stats catching up" argument that made the freefall inevitable... a healthy Bernier, a reversal of some bad luck, and its not hard to envision a seed above wildcard, despite all the convenient naysayers coming out of the woodwork.

Makes you wonder what the article would have been!

Except would those things have fundamentally changed our perception of the team? We may want to say that there's a seismic difference between finishing 7th and finishing 10th but the reality is that in most cases there isn't.

The Leafs, on talent, were a team that realistically should have finished anywhere from 5th to, say, 12th. They'll finish somewhere in there on the low end. If things had broken a little more their way, fewer injuries at center and Bernier not wearing out/getting hurt at the worst possible moment, they'd have finished a little higher but they'd still be a pretty mediocre team.

So I don't know if there's a concrete lesson to take from any of that. Whatever contributed to the team's bad shot differential didn't prevent them from finishing where their talent would dictate.

 

[Optimus Reimer]

It's always fun when someone declares victory in a game where they make the rules.

And the fact that a month ago, the Leafs were closer to home ice than being eliminated. I don't buy this "stats catching up" argument that made the freefall inevitable... a healthy Bernier, a reversal of some bad luck, and its not hard to envision a seed above wildcard, despite all the convenient naysayers coming out of the woodwork.

Makes you wonder what the article would have been!

It really doesn't matter because no matter what, the media would have sensationalized something anyway.  It's their job to sell papers and to get attention/discussion to a topic.  How can the media say that the collapse was due to Bernier's injury and Reimer's bad play when Reimer was only in net for a few of those games.  If Bernier was that good, the Leafs would have won a few of those games he was in.  Not only that, but if the forwards had played better, got a few more goals and the defence played better defensively, then the collapse may not have happened.  What about giving up 2 short handed goals in the same game, on the same powerplay, or most of those short handed goals during the season? 

Not everything can be attributed to Reimer's play, it is a factor, but so are many other things which led to a collapse by the entire team and not just one player. 

 

[2badknees]

And the fact that a month ago, the Leafs were closer to home ice than being eliminated. I don't buy this "stats catching up" argument that made the freefall inevitable... a healthy Bernier, a reversal of some bad luck, and its not hard to envision a seed above wildcard, despite all the convenient naysayers coming out of the woodwork.

Makes you wonder what the article would have been!

Except would those things have fundamentally changed our perception of the team? We may want to say that there's a seismic difference between finishing 7th and finishing 10th but the reality is that in most cases there isn't.

The Leafs, on talent, were a team that realistically should have finished anywhere from 5th to, say, 12th. They'll finish somewhere in there on the low end. If things had broken a little more their way, fewer injuries at center and Bernier not wearing out/getting hurt at the worst possible moment, they'd have finished a little higher but they'd still be a pretty mediocre team.

So I don't know if there's a concrete lesson to take from any of that. Whatever contributed to the team's bad shot differential didn't prevent them from finishing where their talent would dictate.

Agreed. But the difference from 7th to 10th is the difference between reading a "I told you so" column, and enjoying your team in a round of post season play. It might also be the difference between a significant teardown and a retune in the offseason.

I think the fact that the leafs dropped so spectacularly in so short a time to me, at least, gives me the opinion that they found a way via playing style to minimize the significance of the corsi, rather than this deterministic attitude that the team was destined to miss the playoffs and be as awful as they've shown over the last 3-4 weeks. For the majority of the season, the Leafs found a way to play competitive hockey, at least on the scoresheet.

I choose to believe what I was programmed to believe.

 

[Bullfrog]

It's always fun when someone declares victory in a game where they make the rules.

It's like when my son gets to the top of the stairs and triumphantly yells "I won!" and I ignorantly hadn't realized we were in the middle of a get-to-the-top-death-race.

 

[Britishbulldog]

It's always fun when someone declares victory in a game where they make the rules.

It's like when my son gets to the top of the stairs and triumphantly yells "I won!" and I ignorantly hadn't realized we were in the middle of a get-to-the-top-death-race.

;D

Been in a few of those.

I think that if things are blown up then it will be much worse than the media could have projected the next few years.

 

[Highlander]

I think everyting is getting blown out of proportion. The team is not as bad as it is made out to be and was not as good as it's winning streaks indicated. I recall when Randy was hired to coach, I asked myself, why are we getting a guy who was run out of the West coast and only recently.
I felt it was a bad choice then and it has proven to be a horrible choice now.
I think we are only one first line centre and one shut down defenseman away from having a real decent team?.with one caveat?.the right coach for the toronto market.  So please stay away from old Loaf defensemen.  Perhaps one of the two of these players are in our system now, perhaps we could make 3 changes on defense and add Marlies and let Franson, Gleason and maybe trade Gunner in  part of a deal for a decent First Line centre. In any case we do not need to blow up this team, we need to amend it, add to it and finally rid ourselves of the dead wood, Orr, McClemment etc.

 

[hockeyfan1]

Mirtte's end-of-season Leafs report cards...

The coach

Randy Carlyle: F.
Give Carlyle credit for this much: He recognized there was a problem right from the start. Prior to the first game of the season, the veteran coach had told Bob McKenzie that he wanted his group to be more of a possession team. The problem was he was left saying it right until the end. The more Carlyle tried to correct the issue, the worse and worse in
their shot differentials, zone time and just about any other tangible area of defensive play possible became as the season wore on. One doesn?t have to look much further than
the Ducks, who have rebounded marvellously without Carlyle,
to see a longstanding problem, and there?s far too much of a
pattern here to chalk that all up to coincidence...


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/leafs-beat/mirtle-maple-leafs-get-their-end-of-season-report-cards/article17956533/

 

[Peter D.]

TSN announced it is expanded to five national channels come this fall.  Curious to see what programming they use to fill all these channels.

 

[mc]

time shift curling.

 

[bustaheims]

My guess is they'll use a lot of stuff that is really popular internationally that hasn't really found a place in the mainstream culture here. Things like rugby, cricket, etc.

 

[Kin]

I have to guess that a lot of the new channels will get things like ESPN stuff and B games from properties they already own the rights to.

 

[L K]

I have to guess that a lot of the new channels will get things like ESPN stuff and B games from properties they already own the rights to.

My hope is that they adjust to the fact that the Sportsnet has the NHL and they try and market to more NBA, soccer, football coverage rather than just picking up random hockey games, AHL or CHL games.

 

[Kin]

I have to guess that a lot of the new channels will get things like ESPN stuff and B games from properties they already own the rights to.

My hope is that they adjust to the fact that the Sportsnet has the NHL and they try and market to more NBA, soccer, football coverage rather than just picking up random hockey games, AHL or CHL games.

The problem there, I'd guess, is that with leagues like that they probably would have to negotiate expanded rights deals because the NBA in particular probably wants to limit supply to push die-hards towards the League Pass option. That strikes me as less of an issue with things like the CHL, CFL and Curling.

 

[Deebo]

http://www.tsn.ca/toronto/story/?id=451378

More Sports and More Choice

Key programming highlights that viewers can expect to see across TSN's suite of five channels include the following:

- More live game coverage ? spanning leagues including NBA, MLS, NCAA and more

- More choice of games and events taking place at the same time ? including multiple curling sheets from Season of Champions events, multiple matches from Barclays Premier League, every game from NCAA March Madness, multiple court feeds from Gland Slam tennis events, and more

- Expanded coverage of marquee live events ? including the World Juniors, Grey Cup, and FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015

- Effective scheduling of TSN news and studio shows ? including broadcasting SportsCentre, Canada's most-watched sports news show, to serve multiple time zones

- NHL hockey ? including 26 Toronto Maple Leafs games, 52 Ottawa Senators games, as well as pre-season games (available on a regional basis), plus local hockey programming generated by production expansion at TSN Radio stations in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Winnipeg and Edmonton

- ESPN programming ? featuring more of ESPN's vast package of college sports, plus ESPN news and studio shows

- New acquisitions and partnerships ? more marquee sports properties to be added to TSN's industry-leading lineup 

 

[Kin]

Someone needs to have a discussion with the people at TSN as to what the word "marquee" means.

 

[seahawk]

CHL games would not be an option as sportsnet has already extended their agreement through 2026.
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/juniors/sportsnet-maintains-chl-rights-until-2026/

This could be good for university sport as well possibly the AHL. Their Canadian TV deal is usually year to year.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

I don't know where it's worth posting to, but advanced stats guy Tyler Dellow (@mc79hockey) has been hired by the Oilers. Congratulations to him, and I hope he still puts out thoughts on his Twitter feed. 

 

[LittleHockeyFan]

LOL...... they announced there's gonna be a statue in front of the ACC representing Leafs from all eras... Sun comments are hysterical, the sort of thing I'd expect to read here:
"Modern day one will be an orange cone"
"The same orange cone we're currently paying 7 million a season?"
"Doesn't matter, it's still gonna be moving faster than any current Leaf"

 

[ZBBM]

THN Yearbook has all CDN teams missing playoffs this season, except Habs.  Hard to argue with that.