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Wild @ Maple Leafs - Jan. 29th, 7:00pm - SN, Fan 590

ZBBM said:
Reading Berube's post game comments and yeah he's got one style and one style only. Unfortunately his style is unwatchable unless it's working to a tee.

As that great hockey analyst BB King said, the thrill is gone.
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It's unfortunate - part of me knows that this is what hockey looks like in the playoffs, so I tempted to wait and see how it translates then.

But considering that the season is 82 games (that's so many games!), it does make for a lot more boring hockey during the regular season. This year has certainly been more boring that years past.

That said, they go on a run in the playoffs - do I care? Probably not, but we have to wait until April before we find out.
 
louisstamos said:
It's unfortunate - part of me knows that this is what hockey looks like in the playoffs, so I tempted to wait and see how it translates then.

But considering that the season is 82 games (that's so many games!), it does make for a lot more boring hockey during the regular season. This year has certainly been more boring that years past.

That said, they go on a run in the playoffs - do I care? Probably not, but we have to wait until April before we find out.
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And for that I blame the league, not Berube. I get that checking is tighter and more shots are blocked postseason but if they insisted that the games get called the same way then you wouldn't have to play playoff style hockey to succeed.
 
ZBBM said:
Berubehockey is beginning to get under my skin.
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The one thing the Leafs had going for them was the ability to overwhelm teams with offence.

I get that it hadn't worked (as yet) but who's to say it wasn't going to work at some point.

So actively choosing to suppress that one good trait is certainly a choice.

And the Leafs are a dire team to watch now too. In fact the goalies are the most fun thing to watch.

If you'd put these 2 goalies on any of the last few years teams I reckon they'd have gone pretty deep, actually. And been more fun to watch all year.
 
ZBBM said:
And for that I blame the league, not Berube. I get that checking is tighter and more shots are blocked postseason but if they insisted that the games get called the same way then you wouldn't have to play playoff style hockey to succeed.
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I wrote my previous post before I read this one. I fully agree with this. Why should you have to have different styles of play for the same sport. Call the penalties that are penalties.

It's like we updated and modernised regular season hockey by eradicating the clutch and grab awfulness but decided to leave the playoffs in the late 90s early 00s.
 
Theyre clearly really missing JT and Knies. Unfortunately #34 &16 haven't stepped up during this time and filled the opposing net.

Also if Domi doesn't go on an absolute tear offensively here soon, he can go someplace else
 
The Leafs outshot them, out hit them, only took one penalty, and Woll put up a .917, and the deserve to win o meter had the Leafs ahead by a couple of percentage points.

Gustavsson put up a .969.
 
Th team can't score and we continue to dress plugs.

.565 PT% with Reaves in the lineup. .684 PT% without him. Again, he's not the reason we lose games but dressing a guy who doesn't change the flow of the game but also doesn't provide anything else is baffling.

He doesn't kill penalties. He's fought once. Matthews gets crosschecked with him in the lineup. Nick Cousins tried to ruin Jacob Quillan's career while he was in the lineup. You need to have a role on a team. His role seems to be vibes (and they aren't winning games with his vibes in the lineup) and rub out hits.

Stephen Lorentz does that and kills penalties. It's time for this to stop
 
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Ryan Reaves played less than 5 minutes last night.....So..the idea is...to make an injury-plagued team more shorthanded? I honestly can't believe he's still playing...
 
Also, I thought Robertson had a good game, why is Paccioretty out in the 6 on 5 situation. Robertson's shot seems to find a way to at least get to the net. I'm perfectly fine moving on from Robertson if a more reliable upgrade was available but with the current lineup we seem to put substandard players out on the ice in key situations. Yet he played 10:55 last night so obviously Berube didn't think so.

I know that Domi has been disappointing all year but why aren't we trying him back up with Matthews to see if we can get him going. Why are we calling up guys like Grebenkin to sit in the press box. Why are we not calling up the leading scorer on the Marlies. Three straight games with 1 goal. 4 games in our last 8 with 1 goal. 5 of our last 8 with 1 or less.

Paccioretty - 1 goal in his last 17 games. He's scored in 2 of the last 29 games (3 goals total)
Reaves - 0 goals in 32 games
Kampf - 1 goal in his last 13 games.
Holmberg - 2 goals in 39 games. 0 in his last 13
Lorentz - 1 goal in his last 13 games.
Domi - 0 goals in 18 games.

Rielly has been dreadful but when the puck touches Benoit's stick it dies. He makes bad decisions with the puck often, and when he shoots the puck its veering into Cody Cecil territory for being nowhere near the net.

I get that all our cap money is tied up in the core 4 and when Knies and Tavares are out that takes a bite. Matthews hasn't been good enough. Marner hasn't been good enough the last few games. Nylander hasn't been good enough (although has hit what, 15 posts on breakaways in the last 4-5 games). But even cheap players should be able to score more than once in a blue moon. Our entire bottom 6 can't score at all. Our defence can't score at all and our one offensive defensemen is having his worst season of his career.
 
Frank E said:
The Leafs outshot them, out hit them, only took one penalty, and Woll put up a .917, and the deserve to win o meter had the Leafs ahead by a couple of percentage points.

Gustavsson put up a .969.
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Which, like I stated last night during the game is completely bizarre. They looked mostly like crap. I don't know. Maybe it was the last five years of watching Keefe hockey that watching this brand of hockey makes it look like a gong show.

Brandon Saad ($4.5) has 2 less points than Domi ($3.75) and got waived for purpose of buyout.
 
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1884792505289375808

Leafs are clearly going through injury problems right now that are somewhat contributing to this but what's tough to see if that it feels like the coaching staff doesn't want to adjust anything to try to make up for those injuries. Like oh Tavares is out, yeah just plug Holmberg into his spot and expect the same results. Knies is out yeah just move everyone up a spot in the line-up obviously. Tavares, Knies, and Pacioretty were out, well that's an entire 2nd line so let's basically just play with 3 lines instead.

We're missing a ton of offence right now and we're still trying to "load up" our top line and not call up anyone from the Marlies who might be able to score a goal.
 
Yeah of course this is the usual losing-skid grousing but Berube is apparently just as bull-headed as Keefe, except for his bullheadedness results in the offense being murdered.

There are valid non-hockey reasons for Reaves to be on the roster, but no valid hockey reasons at this point. Treliving and Berube need to face that fact jointly and scratch him regularly.

And Tre needs to make some moves in the bottom 6. Domi needs to go. Robertson needs to go; Berube will never play him properly. Dewar can go. None of this moves the needle much but the bottom 6 is just a bucketful of sludge at this point.
 
ZBBM said:
Robertson needs to go; Berube will never play him properly.
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I agree but I don't want him gone. I'd actually like to see him get a chance. He's never been tried on PP1 no matter who is out. Never given a shot in the top 6. Never on during a 6 on 5. Knies goes out and they put Holmberg as 2LW and saddle 89 with Lorentz or Dewar as a linemate.
I think he would do well if given the chance but that will probably be with another team.
 
There are a few things that have me shaking my head about Berube (and maybe Treliving to a degree). One of them is the usage of Robertson. The guy has a non-stop motor and makes things happen out there. He's very creative and a better passer/playmaker than most give him credit for. And of course he has the great shot that as Herman (I think) often notes, goalies have trouble handling. Yes he can be an adventure in his own end but the Matthews line often gets hemmed in for long stretches and no one complains about that.

Maybe more on the Treliving side, and I mentioned this before (as have others) - why is Steeves still in the minors when this team needs depth scoring.

I also agree with the assessment of McMann's fit on line 1. I know it's only temporary until Knies gets back, but to me Matthews and McMann are stylistically the same player. Both are volume shooters, and neither one seems to particularly relish battling for the puck along the boards (though physically both are more than capable). Domi doesn't have the size but he seems more willing to play that role. Would someone like Brandon Saad be a fit? I have to admit I haven't seen him play much recently, but what if they could get him on a decent contract...whatever that might be.
 
Chris said:
Maybe more on the Treliving side, and I mentioned this before (as have others) - why is Steeves still in the minors when this team needs depth scoring.
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I don't get this at all. He's 2nd in pts/gm and leading in goals in the AHL. When they brought him up earlier they played him on the 4th line. He's not a 4th line player. He's not going to put up offence playing with Lorentz, Dewar, Holmberg, Kampf. Put players in a position to succeed using their strengths.
 
Guilt Trip said:
After 51 games last year(Feb 14th) the Leafs had 62pts and were 3rd pts% in the division. This year after 51 they have 62pts and are 2nd in the division. They scored 25 more goals last season, and allowed 16 more. Not to bad overall I guess.
Leafs have 31 games left and only 11 at home. They're going to have to pick it up on their road record if they want to stay near the top of the division.
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Let's revisit this after the next 4 games and then the break for the 4 Nations. They will have played 55 games and at that point last year had a 10 point gap between them and the 3rd place wild card. With the schedule getting pretty tough and a lot of road games going to be interesting.
 
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