Maple Leafs

[chakhae1]

lol what is happening? civil war? i put part of the blame on the leafs d. yes, they have been playing terrible for the past couple of months but campbell's rebound control has been terrible for the past month or so and that's on him. mrazek just isn't that good of a goalie. can campbell restore his form of early this year and all of last year? it's all about confidence for any nhl player and especially goalies so well see. campbell seemed to have a good practice so hopefully that's a step in the right direction.

[jameslacarte]

If the Leafs could get back to playing D like we did in the first 30 games of the Season we would be "the scary team to play".
Last nights game started very well but after Columbus tied the game a 3's the Leafs didnt roll over & give Columbus the game. They kept fighting & Kerfoot saved our butts!!
I keep hearing Max Domi's name coming up in trade talks. I would like to have him on our team. He may not be as tough as his dad but he's a gamer & will stick up for his team mates & he's a way better scorer too. He may just fit in fine with Nylander & Tavares & Kerfoot can stay on his 3rd line center duties where he has been very good this year.
I'm hoping Campbell can get his swagger back before the Playoffs. Our D is hanging him out to dry & you can clearly see that its affecting his confidence. Like you said, even his rebound control is off. He will most likely get the next start in Net vs the Kraken, a good team to help get his confidence back.
All i know is that if the Leafs Management doesnt fix this Defence we are not going anywhere in the Playoffs & if they go out in the 1st round again Dubas should get fired, (better get fired).
I am also wondering if Sheldon Keefe needs to go too!!

[chakhae1]

Can;t blame Keefe at all with the team's d struggles. He is trying new combinations and the team has gotten worse. I suggest he go back to Brodie and Rielly so in that case the team would have at least one competent D pair. No more Sandin and Lilijgren either. Put Sandin with Lebooshkin and Lili with Holl who is a good a stay at home d man we have. Sad I know. That leaves Dermott as the odd man out who I really like b/c he is pretty consistent and in this convo of how bad our D is, his name doesn't show up. He is not spectaculr, but he tries and digs hard and I think he should get more ice time and Holl should be riding the pine more since he only plays decent with Muzzin.

[jameslacarte]

I think Dermott should be ahead of both Sandin & Liljegren on the depth chart. He is easily the more reliable guy. Liljegren had an awful night again last night & that Penalty he took with 3 minutes left put the Leafs in a bad spot. I know they didnt score on the Power Play with him in the box but 10 seconds or so after he got out they did. Columbus had been all over us before that too. Even our 2nd line has been bad in the d zone lately. I just seen that Tavares is a -3 but Nylander is a -9. You would think that with the amount of goals that line has scored they wouldnt be minus players!!
Leafs play back to back & play the Kraken tonight. Soup should get the start.
It would be nice to see the Leafs play a full 60 minute game like they played in the 1st period against Columbus!! Or just get back to playing like we were during the first half of the Season. Its no wonder i have Ulcers lol, thanks Toronto.

[chakhae1]

This team is starting to be hard to watch. It's one thing to let a good team come back from 2 and 3 goal deficits but the Kraken? Come on! This past stretch of hockey has been horrendous and is being driven by one line. Tavares seems to be out of his funk and I think there has to be a team meeting with the leadership group to get out of this funk. Winning is one thing, but the way they are playing now will lead to another swift playoff exit with the east as top heavy as it is.

[jameslacarte]

I turned the game off when the Kraken scored the Shorty to tie up the game!! The Wife & I are binge watching all seasons of The Walking Dead so we went & watched that instead, its a lot less aggravating. I see that we won & Matthews got the Hatty but we are horrible right now!!
I have lost all faith in Dubas & Shanny!! Shanny most of all though. He played for how many Stanley Cups in Detroit? 3 to be exact. Look at the D-Core they had with Lidstrom, Chelios, Konstantinov. We have 1 guy like that, Rielly.
I thought i was being a bit hard on Liljegren but did you see in the 2nd intermission where Ray Ferarro broke down his play. He is Brutal!!
Nice giveaway by Nylander too on the short handed break away goal!! I have never been a Fan of this guy!! He is overrated!! 6.5 Million for 20-25 Goals? I would trade him for 1 Solid D-Man, maybe 2. A guy like Pietrangelo or Seth Jones or someone like that.
Every Leaf Fan knows what are problem is & has been, its too bad our Professionals that run the Team cant see this!!
At least we are not the Worst team in the League lol!! It could be worse!!

[jameslacarte]

Matthews is on Fire!!! I always thought he would lead the League in Goals this year even when he was down by quite a few but i didnt think he had a chance to catch McDavid & Draisaitl in Points but here we are!! He is only 4 Pts behind now & they have both played more games than Matthews has. He is also in the Lead now by 5 Goals. I was hoping he would set the Leafs Record for most Goals in a Season (54 by Vaive) but now i am hoping he hits 60 & if he stays healthy for the rest of the Season i think he gets there.

I also have to say i didnt know much about Michael Bunting when the Leafs signed him but i sure know who he is now!! Heck of a Pick up there!! Makes us almost forget about losing Zack Hyman.

Marner too has been on fire!! Nice to see him shooting more this year & racking up the Goals!! He wasnt even in the Top 50 in scoring a month ago & now he's Top 16 & has played 8-10 games less than most players on that Top 20 List.

How many Goals could Mikheyev score if he worked on his shot? Every game he gets 5-6 shots on net & at least 1 breakaway or Semi Breakaway!! His shot needs some work to get to NHL Caliber but fortunately that is something you can learn & work on. I think he could hit 30 plus if he worked on his shot & dekes & can manage to stay healthy for an entire Season.

[chakhae1]

Mikheyev is where he is bc that's where he belongs. He could be a 30 goal scorer on another team, but he doesn't deserve to be anything but a 3rd liner here playing in a checking role. Maybe the Leafs could somewhere in the future trade or acquire a better two way centre that Engvall who frustrates me more than any other forward on this team. All the speed and size to be a central force, but he never hits anyone. Boggles my mind.

Willy's brain cramps have been a lot less the past couple of seasons but when they happen they are pretty terrible. That giveaway last game was as bad as the one Galchenyuk did in the playoffs and even he's in the league somehow still.

[jameslacarte]

Campbell out at least 2 weeks with an injured Rib. Would be nice to see Woll get called up so we can see what we have there. he's off to a 3-1 NHL start & looked good in at least 2 of those games.
Yeah, Engvall is 6'5 & around 220 lbs & hits no one!! I've seen him shy away from contact from guys much smaller than him. A damn shame!!

We play Phoenix tonight. Not sure what to expect after the last time we played them a few weeks back. We got embarrassed 6-2 if i remember correctly.
Not sure if we will win but im betting Matthews will score tonight. We need these 2 points!!

I cant wait til this coming Sunday. we play Buffalo in an Outdoor Game. That should be fun..
Go Leafs Go!!

[chakhae1]

This injury could be the best thing for Campbell right now. He needs time to look at his game and what to improve and it obviously also explains why he has been struggling so much since December or so. Woll looked really good and he will get called up and should get his fair share of time between the pipes too. He can't be any worse than what Mrazek and Campbell have been so let's hope he takes advantage of his opportunity!

Heritage classic should be fun and I want to know how to get the cards lol. Doubt Tim's will make another set, but hopefully they become available somewhere. Engvall is a damn mosquito lol.