Stuart Posted December 10, 2017 Share Posted December 10, 2017 How humiliating; with all our talent and creativity, to have to listen to Don Cherry’s sermon about “The Leafs would never win without Anderson’ after last nights game with Pittsburgh. My heart yearns for those Leafs that started the year; offensive, creative, high scoring (a recent clip on TSN talked about how the Leafs have become a “dump and chase” team, dramatically cutting down neutral zone turnovers instead of the team that carried the puck in). After last nights game in Pittsburgh (which I felt the Leafs were actually controlling for the most part despite Cherry’s insult), I see where Nylander had 8 minutes; Marner 11minutes, I even saw Leo Komarov on the power play! Mostly, I again observed a mostly ineffective Matthews again (when will Babcock see the light and put Nylander back?) Lucky? Not at all! Hyper coached perhaps (Babcock defended the embarrassment of neutering Nylander, Matthews, Marner in the name of line matching). Is this the sad new reality? For now, because we win, and because of Babcock’s pedigree, this is what we can expect, But we are not lucky, when I say I felt the Leafs were mostly in control last night (despite the media’s obsession with shot count, and Anderson the saviour), it is because of the very hyper coaching , “dump and chase” system now in place (and no disrespect to Anderson as he has been incredible). The ice will be tilted toward the Leaf goal on many a night to come, but I still expect us to win. But I will miss the charismatic, free-wheeling team of earlier. Why can’t we be treated to a power play with Nylander, Matthews, Marner, Rielly, Etc.? Pittsburgh certainly threw out Malkin, Crosby, Kessel, Letang? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobie Posted December 10, 2017 Share Posted December 10, 2017 I didn't think the Leafs were in control during the 2nd and 3rd periods and I do feel the shot clock is usually a pretty accurate indication of what happened on the ice. For me my eye test saw Pitts. in TO's end for the greatest portion of the game. TO has an enviable collection of offensively capable players that could/has put on a very entertaining games while winning but Babs has admitted that at the beginning of the year he knew/wanted(?) TO to stop winning so he could enforce TO to become more in line with how he envisions a winner to be. He wants low event error free safe hockey definitely not entertaining hockey. Babs feels winning is all that matters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hf101 Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 18 hours ago, Stuart said: How humiliating; with all our talent and creativity, to have to listen to Don Cherry’s sermon about “The Leafs would never win without Anderson’ after last nights game with Pittsburgh. My heart yearns for those Leafs that started the year; offensive, creative, high scoring (a recent clip on TSN talked about how the Leafs have become a “dump and chase” team, dramatically cutting down neutral zone turnovers instead of the team that carried the puck in). After last nights game in Pittsburgh (which I felt the Leafs were actually controlling for the most part despite Cherry’s insult), I see where Nylander had 8 minutes; Marner 11minutes, I even saw Leo Komarov on the power play! Mostly, I again observed a mostly ineffective Matthews again (when will Babcock see the light and put Nylander back?) Lucky? Not at all! Hyper coached perhaps (Babcock defended the embarrassment of neutering Nylander, Matthews, Marner in the name of line matching). Is this the sad new reality? For now, because we win, and because of Babcock’s pedigree, this is what we can expect, But we are not lucky, when I say I felt the Leafs were mostly in control last night (despite the media’s obsession with shot count, and Anderson the saviour), it is because of the very hyper coaching , “dump and chase” system now in place (and no disrespect to Anderson as he has been incredible). The ice will be tilted toward the Leaf goal on many a night to come, but I still expect us to win. But I will miss the charismatic, free-wheeling team of earlier. Why can’t we be treated to a power play with Nylander, Matthews, Marner, Rielly, Etc.? Pittsburgh certainly threw out Malkin, Crosby, Kessel, Letang? Welcome to the site. I'm not sure what is going on with Babcock and Nylander but I'll guess it is to elevate Nylander's game by having to work harder to put points on the scoreboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluPuk Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 Cherry has been read the riot act for sure (or succumbed to a 'gift' ) . He has become just another puppet of the Big Bettman Hyperbole Machine. Shame on you, Don. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Posted December 11, 2017 Author Share Posted December 11, 2017 It seems strange to be complaining about the coaching when the team is 20-10-1, especially given the years of suffering as a Leaf fan. If you google “Editor in Leaf.com”; Andrew Boehmer writes good stuff, no punches. His recent article “Babcocks performance Questionable” sums it up well. For me, I have to trust Babcock, he does win. I just hope I can watch some games where we aren’t outshot 40-25; where most of the game is in our end, and our saving grace isn’t just goaltending. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobie Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 Let's just hope Babs is doing the right things, I always felt TO sorta screwed up Kadri's development or more precisely delayed it. Detroit the bastion of player development didn't really develop their players in the NHL, they were supposedly developed prior to making the NHL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Posted December 11, 2017 Author Share Posted December 11, 2017 He is known as a top tactician, I hope he is skillfully managing Nylander, Marner and Matthews from kids to men, he certainly has surrounded them with veterans like Marleau and Moore. Same for Rielly with Hainsey. Let’s hope it’s the right combination of freedom and creativity and mature discipline, defensive duty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobie Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 We've seen Babs exclude Rielly from the PP for 2 years using him basically defensively and on the PK. This year Rielly is rarely used on the PK(?) while being used on the 1st PP unit. Does the change mean Babs is happy with Rielly's defensive progress or is he happy having Hainsey as his defensive backup? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Posted December 12, 2017 Author Share Posted December 12, 2017 Not sure I follow you here? did you see the top 3 minutes by leaf forwards? Komarov and Hyman and Kadri. Does that mean forget any semblance of offence, just concentrate on McDavid and his 24 minutes? Once again, it isn’t too exciting but we won Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobie Posted December 12, 2017 Share Posted December 12, 2017 I'm really curious as to where TO will end up this year, Babs has unfathomable means to an end and I'm curious if the ends so far are where he wanted to end up. Many have agreed with Babs' method of using Rielly in defensive situations to help him improve defensively, which might make sense. However has his method resulted in a better defensive Rielly or has being paired with Hainsey appear to make Rielly better. Is the obvious change in TO's game plan going to result in a better defensive TO, safe-low event, going to make for a better team or is it square peg in round hole type of thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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