WordsOfWisdom

I'm all hockied out for now. Enjoy your summer! See you in the fall.

Look at it this way: he can't do any worse than the GMs that came before him. The only good GMs I can think of with the Leafs are Pat Quinn and Lou Lam(ah hell I'm not spelling that). During Quinn's tenure, the Leafs spent money and had some of the biggest names in hockey. They didn't win the big prize, but at least they were in the game. Under Lou/Shanahan, the team has seen a resurgence.

Worse kept secret in hockey. Everyone knew this was coming years ago.

LOL. Jets, Golden Knights, and Capitals in the conference finals. Has the league broke yet? NHL.exe has stopped. Abort. Retry. Fail.

If you look at their all-time record, they have the 2nd best record in NHL history behind only Montreal. I think the Flyers are #3. (If I recall correctly. I may have that mixed up.) So when you talk about teams that win ALL THE TIME (and therefore make the playoffs ALL THE TIME), the Boston Bruins are one of those franchises I am sick and tired of. The Leafs are a .500 team (or below .500) all-time. To put things in perspective, Toronto could have 25+ years where they have a better W-L record than the Bruins and they still wouldn't have the same winning percentage that the Bruins have. The battle of the blue and whites.

Let's not kid ourselves. I'm old enough to remember a time when half the players on this Leafs roster wouldn't crack an NHL lineup. We have expansion to thank for that. NHL teams today have two good forward lines and a bunch of filler on the bottom six. Toronto could dump Bozak at any time. We don't need to be wasting big money on 3rd and 4th line players.

What are your thoughts on Matthews not getting much power play time? I imagine that's what started the rift between Matthews and Babcock. When your #1 scorer isn't playing on the power play, that would probably cause most star players to leave the team. ie: Imagine Crosby NOT being on the Penguins PP. Or imagine Ovie NOT being on Washington's PP. It would be unthinkable.

I agreed with most of what you said in your post... except this part. I don't think Toronto can possibly get any more depth for its forwards unless they shrink the NHL back to six teams (or abolish the salary cap). I'm torn between which option I prefer more.

Yay. The beginning of a rift between the head coach and the #1 player on the team. This should end well. There are going to be a lot of questions about what kind of future Auston Matthews has in the NHL and what kind of player he will become. Is he really a franchise player? Will he become a sulking star that can only put up impressive numbers if all the stars and planets align for him perfectly? Will he ever learn the defensive side of the game or simply be a one-dimensional player that goes long stretches without contributing anything? For year 3, I think it's time for Matthews to be the highest ice time forward on the team, and I think it's time that the team played him in ALL situations: penalty killing, power play, everything. It's time to see whether Matthews really is the total package (franchise player) or whether he will be a complementary player on this team that is being led by someone else (ie: Marner).

Agreed. I'm also bored with Boston acting like world beaters in the first round against Toronto only to lay a turd in the second round. But hey, they'll be back next year. They're ALWAYS in the playoffs. If Nashville can pull off their comeback, I'll have two of the final four teams correct in my bracket, even though its been a rough playoff.

I'm guessing he was hurt, but it's also possible that Boston's defence was too much for him. He never had any open space to work with. It's a learning curve when it comes to playoff hockey. Piling up goals against weak teams during the regular season isn't the same as scoring against the top teams.

For those that were wondering, I keyed in the complete defensive errors stats for the series. Here you go: We can analyze the smouldering wreckage that was this series. Players are sorted by defensive percentage. This stat takes into consideration time on ice. The most horrendous player in this series defensively was Jake Gardiner. Auston Matthews on the other hand, wasn't as bad as his +/- indicated. Toronto's best overall player was Mitch Marner. Andersen gave up an average of 1 defensive error per game.

Andersen didn't have a good game no doubt, but the problem all year long has been the defence. I've been saying they need an upgrade defensively for years now. At the trade deadline I said they should have acquired a defenceman. There were a few big names available. Instead, the Leafs grabbed Plekanec (a bottom six forward) while Boston and Tampa loaded up with stars.

If the team doesn't do something to address the defence, then I'll know for sure that the fix is in. This group isn't good enough, and I think we've seen all that we're ever going to see from Gardiner, Hainsey, and Polak for sure, with Rielly fast approaching his ceiling as well. There's no room for improvement with this defensive group. WYSIWYG. The Leafs Stanley Cup aspirations begin and end with a true #1 defenceman. That means someone who has either: won a Norris trophy been a Norris trophy finalist played on team Canada, team USA, team Sweden, or team Russia at the World Cup/Olympics of hockey etc. Team toughness could use an upgrade as well. Kadri and Komarov are the only Leafs with any toughness. It's sorely lacking on the blue line. The Leafs need a defenceman that hammers opposing players. Everyone back there is soft with the exception of maybe Polak. Someone who can win faceoffs would be nice too. I'd be looking to sign someone this summer to address the team's needs: More size. More toughness. More experience. More defensive capability. The Leafs can afford to lose some offensive players to shore up other more pressing areas.

I have no complaints about the refs in game 7. It was a perfect game officiating wise. No chintsy calls. No favouritism. The Leafs lost fair and square. What bothers me is HOW they lost. They had the lead going into the 3rd period of game 7. They can't close the show. This was a collapse, just like in 2013. When your guy scores a SHG, that should light a fire under your arse. The Leafs should have exploded forward from that point and buried the Bruins. They just can't finish. Call it what you will. Lack of a killer instinct. Lack of finish. Lack of mental toughness. Whatever it is, they can't win the big one and they can't hold leads. They're still a fragile team in big games.