ZBBM
Well-known member
Quite the contrast between Sundin's and Tavares'. I feel bad for John. He had a crappy game and then this anti-climax.
Blue Jackets vs. Leafs - Oct. 29th, 7:30pm - SN1
- Thread starter CarltonTheBear
- Start date
Guilt Trip
Well-known member
They're tied with their worst start after 11 games (.500 pts win%) since 2016
GAA of 3.82 is 4th worst in the league.
Their PP is 4th worst in the league at 13.8%. Net PP% of 6.9 is the worst in the league
Matthews seems like a shell of himself.
Obviously, they don't look very good so lack of interest is understandable.
The troubling part is trying to visualize how they're going to turn it around.
It is still early ....
GAA of 3.82 is 4th worst in the league.
Their PP is 4th worst in the league at 13.8%. Net PP% of 6.9 is the worst in the league
Matthews seems like a shell of himself.
Obviously, they don't look very good so lack of interest is understandable.
The troubling part is trying to visualize how they're going to turn it around.
It is still early ....
L K
Well-known member
Having the Jays games close to hockey has helped me skip the last 3 games. Just looking over the stats it just looks like this is a team headed to be incredibly unlikable. Some of the highlights....Primeau is not an NHL goaltender....but at the same time, the odd man rushes back the other way. This team is bad defensively. We have a bunch of defensive first defensemen and half of our forwards are slow as molasses.
I just don't understand the logic of walking away from Marner (I get that, I'm not against moving on from him...and the reality is getting Roy for him was better than we deserved) but we replaced it with slow. This team is slow. It's a team that is being coached to play dump and chase hockey and they are too slow to chase. It's baffling. We did nothing to upgrade the blueline so once again we have two pseudo offensive defensemen in OEL and Rielly. Rielly is once again proving that he's atrocious defensively and doesn't provide the kind of dynamic offense to justify that. OEL is not a guy we should be banking on to have more than 30 points at the end of the year. The blueline can't move the puck up the ice quick enough and it means any time the Leafs start up in transition the defense has time to prepare for the inevitable dump in that just leads to a turnover.
I don't expect this franchise to win in the playoffs. Now I don't expect them to win in the regular season. If they aren't going to lose entertainingly, it's killing my interest in watching games.
I just don't understand the logic of walking away from Marner (I get that, I'm not against moving on from him...and the reality is getting Roy for him was better than we deserved) but we replaced it with slow. This team is slow. It's a team that is being coached to play dump and chase hockey and they are too slow to chase. It's baffling. We did nothing to upgrade the blueline so once again we have two pseudo offensive defensemen in OEL and Rielly. Rielly is once again proving that he's atrocious defensively and doesn't provide the kind of dynamic offense to justify that. OEL is not a guy we should be banking on to have more than 30 points at the end of the year. The blueline can't move the puck up the ice quick enough and it means any time the Leafs start up in transition the defense has time to prepare for the inevitable dump in that just leads to a turnover.
I don't expect this franchise to win in the playoffs. Now I don't expect them to win in the regular season. If they aren't going to lose entertainingly, it's killing my interest in watching games.
dappleganger
Well-known member
Guilt Trip
Well-known member
Yeah I have no issue with not celebrating it on the ice. Would have been silly.
ZBBM
Well-known member
MLHS:
– Of course, McMann might be able to collect some cheap points if his centerman was producing. Auston Matthews is on a three-game pointless streak; in a vacuum, those things will happen. More concerning is the way he’s playing. He has 13 shots on net over the three games, but it’s a deceiving number. He simply doesn’t look dangerous. He’s not taking shifts over, let alone games, let alone looking like the best player on the ice.
In other words, welcome to last season. If this holds, nothing else matters.
– Of course, McMann might be able to collect some cheap points if his centerman was producing. Auston Matthews is on a three-game pointless streak; in a vacuum, those things will happen. More concerning is the way he’s playing. He has 13 shots on net over the three games, but it’s a deceiving number. He simply doesn’t look dangerous. He’s not taking shifts over, let alone games, let alone looking like the best player on the ice.
In other words, welcome to last season. If this holds, nothing else matters.
dappleganger
Well-known member
McMann has been invisible the last couple games, especially playing alongside Matthews.
herman
Well-known member
McMann is almost always invisible unless he’s opposite Nylander. Doesn’t matter who the centre is; they were buzzing with Domi even.
Guilt Trip
Well-known member
And they were our best line. 34,74,89 gave up 1 shot last night and had some good chances. I thought 89 had a strong game overall. 74 was def the weak link. I would like to see Cowan with Robertson and 34 if Nylander can't go next game. If 88 is good, leave 89 on the left side but we all know it's doubtful Berube will do that.
McMann is like that guy who goes down to the hardware store, buys all the top end tools, the fancy tool belt, all the bells and whistles - but can't figure out how to change the light switch. Maybe one of these days it will click for real, but I think what you see is what you get.
Guilt Trip
Well-known member
He's a big body and a shooter. Not great away from the puck but his physicality is up from last year, which is a good thing.
He did pretty well with Tavares and Marner last year
He's 2nd on the team in hits so when he's not scoring he is helping that way.
His skating speed is 92 percentile in the league - one of the fastest on a slowish team.
His shot blocking has improved a bit.
He's still making a good effort in both ends of the ice.
Where he's confounding me is that speed, hitting and size is not resulting in better forechecking and turnovers. He should be stealing more pucks with those skills/abilities. His reads and skating lines have always seemed off to me - a little slow or uncertain - lacking in accurately predicting where the play is heading. He's been a finisher so some of it probably is some unfamiliarity with the role they're trying to use him in now at the NHL level. When you look at his path to the NHL, it is a little painful to see him just missing and not putting it all together. But it is not for a lack of effort.
As I mentioned, he wasn't invisible with Marner last year. Maybe there is a pattern: Nylander, McMann & Marner were the three fastest forwards last year. Domi is not far behind. Maybe having linemates with speed helps him.
dappleganger
Well-known member
Maybe they need some time to develop chemistry - as has been generally stated by Berube so many times this season.
The odd part about Robertson-Matthews-McMann is that they're all shooters first and they're all left handed
But they're all pretty good on their skates
I bet things like this don't help:
"Since February 1st, 2025, Matthews is 250th in the NHL in goals per 60 minutes at 5v5, tallying just six goals at 5v5 over that span"
We're seeing clues like that throughout his stats. It reinforces what we're seeing with our eyes. Matthews has not been the player he was for some time now.
