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Just going by what's being intimated by people who have the access to know, coaching staff was working within the constraint of certain roles/responsibilities promised to certain players, and those players for whatever reason, didn't live up to their end of the bargain. Like an extreme pendulum swing away from the previous coach (balanced minutes vs stacked, rush vs possession).Perfectly normal to collaborate with your players (stars, especially) to build something together that they feel invested in, but it needs to come with accountability, and those players have to be willing to let other options onto the table when the situation calls for it. Otherwise you lose the room with the other players that are a) working hard(er) within those confines, and b) putting up the results.Success is going to come with finding that balance and adapting appropriately to what's happening in front of you. It's very easy to defend against a single strategy, and even easier to throw a wet blanket on one line of super stars with sheer gruntwork. Mix up the short and long plays, trying to solve problems the same way every time with no difference in result is insanity.
Quote from: Deebo on May 31, 2021, 10:50:56 PMEven last year was a toss up to me. Shorter series and CBJ/Toronto were very close in the standings for going on 2 years.This year was pathetic though IMO.Yeah, last year I was totally willing to shrug off the loss and say it was a coin flip and could have gone either way. But this year even if the Leafs managed to win game 7 my confidence in them would have just been completely destroyed and I wouldn't have expected them to win another series. Playoffs can always go either way but the Leafs had by far the easiest first round match-up in the league and are arguably the only team to completely blow it (Pittsburgh could be in that category, but at least from what I understand they played great and were just let down by Jarry).
Even last year was a toss up to me. Shorter series and CBJ/Toronto were very close in the standings for going on 2 years.This year was pathetic though IMO.
Quote from: herman on June 01, 2021, 10:48:55 AMJust going by what's being intimated by people who have the access to know, coaching staff was working within the constraint of certain roles/responsibilities promised to certain players, and those players for whatever reason, didn't live up to their end of the bargain. Like an extreme pendulum swing away from the previous coach (balanced minutes vs stacked, rush vs possession).Perfectly normal to collaborate with your players (stars, especially) to build something together that they feel invested in, but it needs to come with accountability, and those players have to be willing to let other options onto the table when the situation calls for it. Otherwise you lose the room with the other players that are a) working hard(er) within those confines, and b) putting up the results.Success is going to come with finding that balance and adapting appropriately to what's happening in front of you. It's very easy to defend against a single strategy, and even easier to throw a wet blanket on one line of super stars with sheer gruntwork. Mix up the short and long plays, trying to solve problems the same way every time with no difference in result is insanity.If that's the case, hopefully, those players can be approached, and the stance of "We tried it your way and it didn't work" can be taken.
Quote from: Guilt Trip on June 01, 2021, 11:03:07 AMQuote from: Significantly Insignificant on June 01, 2021, 10:44:45 AMQuote from: Guilt Trip on June 01, 2021, 10:40:21 AMToo many plays died on Hyman's stick. It was a big issue. He also wasn't getting the puck. He had 1 takeaway the whole series. He wasn't good. It's the same thing with the PP..Marner, Rielly aren't a threat to score..Hyman/Joe in front isn't either so let's cheat towards Matthews and we're gold..this isn't rocket science...yes you need a quarterback but everyone has to be a threat to shoot.But the corollary to that is that, other than the powerplay issues, things worked during the regular season. During the regular season, Hyman was quite effective on the Matthews line for large chunks of it. In fact, Hyman was the guy they were moving around to get a line going. So it's not like he can't do the job 5 on 5 on that type of line. It's that he couldn't get it done in the playoffs, and other than Nylander, there were a lot of guys who couldn't get it done offensively in the playoffs. Anybody and everybody worked with M&M during the regular season. It even worked with Thornton. Don't get me wrong here. Hyman works extremely hard but he's not talented enough to be on the top line. He just isn't and this is the second playoffs in a row he's been subpar when up against the tougher defence. Leafs will have to tread lightly when it comes to his salary for next year. I think he's a good player but not at the dollars some were suggesting.I guess my point is that if the line works during the regular season, then it should work in the playoffs as well. The playoffs don't require you to suddenly have to have more talent. I think the big thing that the playoffs require you to have as an athlete is the ability to check your emotions so that the stage doesn't get the better of you.
Quote from: Significantly Insignificant on June 01, 2021, 10:44:45 AMQuote from: Guilt Trip on June 01, 2021, 10:40:21 AMToo many plays died on Hyman's stick. It was a big issue. He also wasn't getting the puck. He had 1 takeaway the whole series. He wasn't good. It's the same thing with the PP..Marner, Rielly aren't a threat to score..Hyman/Joe in front isn't either so let's cheat towards Matthews and we're gold..this isn't rocket science...yes you need a quarterback but everyone has to be a threat to shoot.But the corollary to that is that, other than the powerplay issues, things worked during the regular season. During the regular season, Hyman was quite effective on the Matthews line for large chunks of it. In fact, Hyman was the guy they were moving around to get a line going. So it's not like he can't do the job 5 on 5 on that type of line. It's that he couldn't get it done in the playoffs, and other than Nylander, there were a lot of guys who couldn't get it done offensively in the playoffs. Anybody and everybody worked with M&M during the regular season. It even worked with Thornton. Don't get me wrong here. Hyman works extremely hard but he's not talented enough to be on the top line. He just isn't and this is the second playoffs in a row he's been subpar when up against the tougher defence. Leafs will have to tread lightly when it comes to his salary for next year. I think he's a good player but not at the dollars some were suggesting.
Quote from: Guilt Trip on June 01, 2021, 10:40:21 AMToo many plays died on Hyman's stick. It was a big issue. He also wasn't getting the puck. He had 1 takeaway the whole series. He wasn't good. It's the same thing with the PP..Marner, Rielly aren't a threat to score..Hyman/Joe in front isn't either so let's cheat towards Matthews and we're gold..this isn't rocket science...yes you need a quarterback but everyone has to be a threat to shoot.But the corollary to that is that, other than the powerplay issues, things worked during the regular season. During the regular season, Hyman was quite effective on the Matthews line for large chunks of it. In fact, Hyman was the guy they were moving around to get a line going. So it's not like he can't do the job 5 on 5 on that type of line. It's that he couldn't get it done in the playoffs, and other than Nylander, there were a lot of guys who couldn't get it done offensively in the playoffs.
Too many plays died on Hyman's stick. It was a big issue. He also wasn't getting the puck. He had 1 takeaway the whole series. He wasn't good. It's the same thing with the PP..Marner, Rielly aren't a threat to score..Hyman/Joe in front isn't either so let's cheat towards Matthews and we're gold..this isn't rocket science...yes you need a quarterback but everyone has to be a threat to shoot.
In retrospect I think the thing that kind of frustrates me is that despite everything we saw not working, there wasn't much of an effort to shake things up in response. This seems to be an ongoing issue. In the infamous loss to the Zamboni driver I said the same thing. No matter how many times the Leafs power play got stood up with the same tactic trying to skate into the zone, they never tried anything else. I don't want to be reductive but I can't help think some of this is on Dubas. I feel like a lot of the Analytic community arrives at what they think is best practices for a given situation and then won't be moved off it, even when it's obvious that the opponent knows it's coming and has game planned for it.
Don't agree with the Dubas part of it. The PP falls on Keefe ultimately for not changing the personal up. It was in the dumps for 30+ games.
Quote from: Nik on June 01, 2021, 11:43:05 AMIn retrospect I think the thing that kind of frustrates me is that despite everything we saw not working, there wasn't much of an effort to shake things up in response. This seems to be an ongoing issue. In the infamous loss to the Zamboni driver I said the same thing. No matter how many times the Leafs power play got stood up with the same tactic trying to skate into the zone, they never tried anything else. I don't want to be reductive but I can't help think some of this is on Dubas. I feel like a lot of the Analytic community arrives at what they think is best practices for a given situation and then won't be moved off it, even when it's obvious that the opponent knows it's coming and has game planned for it. Don't agree with the Dubas part of it. The PP falls on Keefe ultimately for not changing the personal up. It was in the dumps for 30+ games. At some point you need to change up the persoanl. If the Leafs PP was anything like it was early on, they win the series, easily and would be a threat.
I think in the Leafs organization though, they talk about these things as a group. They look at the numbers, and the numbers say that they *should* be scoring, so they don't want to change it up. The problem is the disconnect between *should* and *is*. This was my point before the series started, and as things started to go bad for them. The numbers all say the Leafs should have won. That's great, but in the end, they didn't, so I am not going to say that the numbers lied because that is not what numbers do, but at some point, if you keep pointing to the numbers and saying "We should have won", but you didn't, then maybe you are looking at the wrong thing.
Quote from: Significantly Insignificant on June 01, 2021, 11:14:11 AMIf that's the case, hopefully, those players can be approached, and the stance of "We tried it your way and it didn't work" can be taken.I'm torn a little bit. Last year Marner was 7th in the league in powerplay points/60 minutes so his opinion on things probably should hold some sway....but the thing was completely broken this year. I get trying it his way for a while but how much rope do you give to a player when you are 81st in the league (at least 10PP points) in point production. That's just not good enough when you are the primary puck possession player.
If that's the case, hopefully, those players can be approached, and the stance of "We tried it your way and it didn't work" can be taken.
Nick Robertson was on the verge of being cleared from a concussion to join the #Leafs' taxi squad when the team lost Game 7 to Montreal.— Terry Koshan 🇺🇦 (@koshtorontosun) June 4, 2021
Nick Robertson was on the verge of being cleared from a concussion to join the #Leafs' taxi squad when the team lost Game 7 to Montreal.