Arena I'm Not Wearing Hockey Pads! (NHL Discussion, Stadium Series Season!)

But the Leafs don't have a good team and the Oilers run was not the example you should be looking at.

 

Jesus Christ now you're starting to sound like a Leafs fan. The type of Leafs fan that just wants to point out every single flaw in the team, which is quite common around these parts. A team that is 7-3, they're best start after 10 games in God knows how many years. Now, have they been playing like a 7-3 team? Probably not but the fact they could get there while not playing their best hockey is pretty damn impressive if you ask me.

Is Kessel one-dimensional? Probably, but so is Malkin, Ovechkin, etc. I think it's perfectly okay for a team to have one guy who's just gonna get you goals. If the entire top 6 forward group on the Leafs were Phil Kessels then yes there would be a huge problem but that's not the case. Does Phaneuf lack defensive capabilities? Again he probably does but he's not completely worthless and he's also in a contract year so maybe they won't bring him back.

You say we need a new GM and coach? That was already done this year. New players? This team wasn't in the playoffs for almost 10 years and every single component of that tenure is no longer with the organization: coach, GM, players, and heck even some of the ownership. The dismantling of the team from the bottom up you keep talking about started in 2008 ...you can't just flip around a team in an instant. It takes years to do that and for their work they freakin made the playoffs last year and are now off to one of their better starts in recent memory.

The thing the Leafs have been missing for years is goaltending and maybe, just maaaaaaybe, they finally have an answer to it in Bernier. Yes it's too early to judge but I remain cautiously optimistic and I've already said myself Bozak is not, and probably never will be, a #1 centre so there's still a hole to fill there. Yeah us Leaf fans have been suffering for years but to say it needs to be blown up all over again, just when we're starting to see signs of a team that can be good, is ludicrous.

 

Kessel isn't one dimensional, he used to be, but now he is a playmaker, and is the 2nd best American Forward in the NHL right behind Patrick Kane

 

I wouldn't say I'm a fan but I do want them to win the East and meet my Hawks in the Finals. That would be the best looking SCF ever with the two best sweaters.

I don't think he lacks capability. I think he lacks drive or focus or both.

I don't know that blowing up the team is the right way. I just think that there's something(s) wrong or missing that affects the whole team and it's potential. Whether that is people at the top not understanding what it takes to win it all in the nhl these days or coaches that don't bring a good defensive system or don't get the team to buy in or players that aren't fast enough, strong enough, smart enough and want it more. I think it's unclear from my perspective(a few regular games, last season's playoff series and one game live) which of these is the problem(s) except that the players and coaching right now isn't good enough.

Is Carlyle not the coach of last years team?

 

He is but he's also the one that got them to the playoffs. Theyre a very young team, people forget. We are going to have problems like last years epic fail. But we got to game 7 with Boston when people were counting us out and saying we were gone in 4. They have fight.

In last game they were terrible until Carlyle benched the top line on the power play. Message received and what do we get? 4 goals in a row and a win.

 

For the first time in years the Leaf's seem fine to me. Carlyle is a great coach, give him a chance.

You should hear the radio in Winnipeg. Jets are 4-5-1 and everyone is calling for Claude Noel's head and wanting to trade everyone The radio announcers are asking when we(The Jets) are going to be like Pittsburg because they are tired of the mediocrity

I'd suggest if Atlanta had gotten to draft Sidney Crosby the Jets would be a lot better today as well

 

Doesn't Winnipeg have Antropov? I'd trade him but I'm pretty sure no one wants him.

 

JVR - Bozak - Kessel
Lupul - Kadri - Clarkson
Raymond - Bolland - Kulemin
McLaren - McClement - Orr

Phaneuf - Gunnarsson
Reilly - Franson
Gardiner - Ranger
Fraser

Reimer/Bernier

That is a healthy Leafs lineup, and if you think that isn't a very good team, then you have problems, Leafs have one of the best Top 6 in the NHL, they have the 2nd best American forward in the NHL, they have 3 of the best Defensive Forwards in the NHL with Kulemin, McClement and Bolland, they have one of the best PP and PK in the league and they have one of the best goaltending duo in the league, and they have a great coach

So, Frank you are a blind hater who has no idea what you are talking about

 

Being a Leafs fan:

Leafs lose: fire the coach, fire the GM, Kessel sucks, what was Phaneuf doing out there, WHY WAS REIMER DOING THAT. TRADE THEM ALL WE SUCK.

Leafs win: STANLEY CUP BABY, PLAN THE PARADE. YONGE STREET YEAH!

Repeat 82 times.

 

Mostly all fans do that

 

Backes, Brown, Kesler, Parise, Pavelski, Callahan, Ryan and I could go on. You don't watch much hockey. Highlights and box scores don't count. All that other stuff you said is wrong too.

 

Most fans would disagree with you

And LOL @ Tampa's own goal

 

Most fans are casual fans.

What is your criteria for best forward? Goals.?

 

That is mostly what makes a good forward, someone who score, make passes, and have the ability be a playmaker which is what Kessel is, the same as Crosby, Ovie. etc......

Plus Kessel isn't one dimensional anymore, hasn't been for a couple of years

 

Crosby and Ovi are the most overrated players of this generation. Stamkos and Kessel too. They lose because they don't play both sides of the puck responsibly. A good team d can shut these guys down and then they're worthless to their team.

BTW Mess was better than Gretz.

 

Uh what? Gretzky was the hockey player in the world, followed by Mario Lem followed by Crosby

I agree about Ovi being overrated

 

This.... this right here....

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I cannot see Kessel as the #2. Top 10 maybe.
He still has skill, he can still play well... He's just not the best.

 

Dan Boyle might have the equivalent level of forgiveness that a mob boss has for a guy who turned into an FBI informant, but at least he's skating again. I'm happy about that because after seeing that hit I seriously didn't know when that was going to happen again.

Oh and hi Volshe. You keep popping up whenever I stray outside of the RPF. Which is not often.

 

Shanahan must really have it out for the Sharks. First he let Lapierre off with only 5 games and now Chara doesn't even get a phone call, let alone the well deserved suspension, after not one but two late hits to the head last night. In the first period he delivered a late hit to the head of Tommy Wingles and received no penalty. Wingles did not return to the game. Then later, he cross-checked Hertl in the mouth after the whistle. Again, no penalty. It's bad enough losing a game with .8 seconds left when you should have had two PPs against a team without their top D-man but for there to be no supplemental discipline either is literally adding insult to injury. Bruins come to SJ on Jan 11. I've got that game circled on my calendar for sure.

 

Cups for Gretzky without Messier= zero,none,0

Cups for Mess w/o Gretz= 2,two

That's the simplest argument. There are others.

 

Yes. It is a team sport. Jagr would trade all his goals for another Cup.

 

Lol its like Im back in third grade. "Who's better, Orr or Gretzky" "Orr sux man Gretzky all the way" "no ur crazie Orr is better" "Nuh uh" "ya huh"