NHL 2017 -Official Discussion Thread

[StCapps]

You just found an oasis in the desert. You used to be hyper critical of the Leafs, now you got a few hot prospects and great coach and you've lost your touch. Just because you had a good season and have a great forward group doesn't make you anywhere near one of the best teams in the league. The bar has just been so low, for so long, that you don't know how to properly measure success anymore. Talk to me when you have a defense, and a goaltender who doesn't suck, until then you are jumping the gun, believing your own press releases. The hockey media loves a good story and want to pretend that the Leafs are better than they are to pander to such delusions, that way people pay more attention to their leaf talk which they make their living off of, always oversell.

You used to better than to fall for that shit, but now you're slipping after one good season. It's a good start, there is no need to oversell it, defense is requirement that the leafs are lacking, it's that simple.

[Smitty-48]

you don't know how to properly measure success.

No, I think its the opposite, I don't think you have an analysis, your "analysis" is all kind of fluff, "this guy's a choker", "that team was floating", "these guys are bums" etcetera, etcetera, I don't think you're a student of the game who actually analyzes play with any sort of grounding, you're more of a televised hockey fan, but you don't actually know the game that well.

I mean, if you can't tell the Leafs were actually playing great defence against a Caps who were having serious troubles getting anything done against them, then you obviously can't analyze anything that was going on there.

To go from a last place team, to making the playoffs the next year, taking the President's Trophy Winner Stanley Cup favorites to six games, all one goal games, is success, by any objective measure, in the context of where the Leafs are in the process.

[StCapps]

I mean, if you can't tell the Leafs were actually playing great defence against a Caps who were having serious troubles getting anything done against them, then you obviously can't analyze anything that was going on there.

That's exactly what I think. I just think the Caps were having issues for other reasons than "the Leafs are so great!", and the defense was punching above their weight temporarily because of good coaching. Your wishful thinking about the Caps being on their best game against the Leafs and barely pulling it out, is you wanting the Leafs to be better than they are.

The Caps are chokes, The Sharks are chokes, no analysis is required, it's what they do, it's plain for anyone with a set of eyes to see. The team who nearly beat the Pens in 7 were playing far better than they did against the Leafs, they still found a way to lose, like they always do, even when outplaying the Pens for most of the series. The Caps stepped their game up in the second round, big time, if they played like they did against the Leafs they would have gotten swept against the Pens.

Smitty your team still sucks. Wishful thinking is leading you to silly conclusions. Maybe in year or two, they'll be one of the best teams in the league, but this isn't the future.

[Smitty-48]

Again, the Leafs don't "suck", by any objective measure, 251 goals for, is foruth in the league, power play was top two, number one for most of the season, penalty kill was top three, they had 95 points and made the playoffs, they gave President's Trophy winners fits and were within striking distance of upsetting them, nobody does that in the NHL, when they "suck", anybody who would assert that, is, objectively mind you, not only incorrect, but actually an idiot.

If the Leafs actually sucked, I would say so, when the Leafs actuallt sucked, I said so, but as of this season, the Leafs don't actually suck anymore, and only somebody who had no clue what they were talking about would deny it.

[StCapps]

Again, the Leafs don't "suck", by any objective measure, 251 goals for, is foruth in the league, power play was top two, number one for most of the season, penalty kill was top three, they had 95 points and made the playoffs, they gave President's Trophy winners fits and were within striking distance of upsetting them, nobody does that in the NHL, when they "suck", anybody who would assert that, is, objectively mind you, not only incorrect, but actually an idiot.

President trophy winners have been known to have shaky starts to the playoffs against eight seeds who aren't even that good, they lose sometimes too. Are you new to hockey or something? Maybe because you don't watch the playoffs much after the Leafs are out of the running, you must have missed example after example over the years. This shit happens all the time, it's not that uncommon at all.

Nashville is a way better eight seen than the Leafs and it's not even close. The Presidents Trophy means fuck all, making a President Trophy winner sweat in the first round is nothing special, especially if that first seed are notorious playoff chokers.

[Smitty-48]

President trophy winners have been known to have shaky starts to the playoffs against eight seeds who aren't even that good. Are you new to hockey or something?

Washington wasn't actually shaky, they were just having problems with the Leafs speed, the top nine attack, and special teams, they were getting driven back, by Matthews, Nylander, and Kadri, it wasn't anything Washington wasn't doing, it was what the Leafs were doing to Washington, I mean, Kadri practically knocked Ovechkin out of the playoffs, now it comes out that he was hurt the whole time after, the Leafs were taking it to them from the drop, in the end, the Leafs couldn't keep up the pace, you could see them running out of gas and Washington starting to get their heavy play going, but it was not that much of a mismatch, and the Leafs certainly did not "suck", nor were the Caps "coasting".

You've clearly watched hockey on TV for awhile, but again, you don't seem capable of actually analyzing what is going on in a game, so it's not that you're "new", so much as you're one of these fans, who is only a fan, without being a student of the game.

[StCapps]

Fuck I remember when Cujo and the eight seed Oilers knocked off the President Trophy winning Detroit Red Wings in 1996. The Avs of course went on to win the Cup. Before the Red Wings went on to win 3 Cups in 6 years immediately following that humiliating defeat the year they were favored to win the Cup.

Shit happens, doesn't mean the Leafs are one of the best teams in the league because they put a scare in a President Trophy winner playing like shit. They had trouble had trouble with the Leafs speed because they refused to get physical and slow them down, when they did against the Pens, they had no problems dealing with speed. Leafs suck, you're delusional.

[Smitty-48]

Again, you have no objective analysis, it's all fluff with you; "chokers", "bums", "sucks", "shit" etcetera, you're the classic "never played the game knows nothing about the game but shoots his mouth off about it anyways" fan.

[StCapps]

Again, you have no objective analysis, it's all fluff with you; "chokers", "bums", "sucks", etcetera, you're the classic "never played the game knows nothing about the game but shoots his mouth off about it anyways" fan.

I played the game for years. Shows what you know. Your argument just sucks and you are lashing out pretending that I have no analysis because I'm not quoting how many points you had in a regular season or how good your special teams were for one year, or how good your top 9 is. None of that makes you one of the best teams in league, your defense needs tons of work, and Freddie Anderson can't stop a beachball, you even say so yourself when you aren't trolling.

Those are massive holes on a team, defense and goaltending, that's not one of the best teams in the league. The best teams in the league aren't so one-dimensional. You're on the verge of being great, but you aren't great yet, it's a nice start, you are nowhere near the finish line.

[Smitty-48]

No, you just don't analyze the play, based on your prattling, it's all "sucks", "chokers", "bums", blah-blah-blah, objectively, you're not analyzing the Leafs, you clearly have no idea whay you're talking about, you're just hurling random insults at them, which bear no resemblance to the team nor how they played.