[Herman] A multi-year effort with every decision made in pursuit of a “tough to play against” aesthetic culminating in the team missing the playoffs and then standing around doing nothing when their best player is cheapshotted.

31 comments

1. Leafs are the only team in the NHL that would watch their player take a dirty hit and do nothing about it. They are not a team, a team sticks up for each other. This roster is a bunch of guy’s playing for themselves and personal stats.

2. Gudas: taker of knees, the olympic captain decimater

3. Trainer is whispering in his ear “don’t worry we have a table of hamburgers waiting for ya in the dressing room!”

4. Gudas was mad that Czechia was full of bums so he could actually achieve something in his forgettable career

5. This team better not put out that little fire Cowan has. Freaking stoke it.

   If he is jumping guys, it (hopefully) will pull the bigger guys into things. For years they’ve brought in big guys who get fed up essentially for always being the guy to defend, or they’re on the bench when these things happen. Stars need to learn to jump guys. If Cowan is doing it, maybe it pulls Knies and other guys into it. We saw Nylander lay a hit, I’m not expecting him to jump someone, but maybe he sees you don’t need to actually really fight when you jump them, just grapple.

6. Radko PooedAss

7. Blow it up, if it hasn’t been obvious the past decade this team has a rotten culture . Need start fresh

8. I guess you guys missed when Morgan said he was very very very sorry about this

9. Truuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

10. No one likes Matthews. If you don’t stand up for your teammate there is obvious hate there between the team. Ship the guy off and start the rebuild.

11. Well they did try the fast and skilled group for years too. That didn’t work as well. Many fans cried and whined for change. They got it they just don’t like it. 

    Let’s be honest about something though. Prior to chief the team played well above their status. Whether it was goal tending or pucks going in routinely. They were never as good as they seemed going back to 2017. Never. The unfortunate thing is management didn’t see it that way. They sent all their picks and prospects away with the weight on a few 22 year olds shoulders. Just imagine if they had their picks from the last 8 years. They’d have a group of younger players that would’ve been hitting the league 2 years ago and today. Team would be greatly different. 

12. Pretty much sums it up.

13. Already sick of this storyline we’re going to be hearing about forever. Play happened quickly. Dirty but at fast speed first glance, I can see how some of the players weren’t really sure what happened until the replay.

14. Yeah, that was gross. Not the hit, but the simp response from the entire team.

15. The commentators said something like its hard to find an angle and speed of replay that Gudas’s knee on knoee doesnt look malicious. My immediate thought was the DOPs already has one.

16. Gudas collecting captains knees like infinity stones.

    

17. Reilly and Nylander saying they didn’t see it and that they should have done something is laughable. Do you think the Lightning, Panthers, or Bruins players care if they see the full play if any of their players are lying on the ice? Let alone the captain of the team

18. Bruins fan in peace I’m sorry about Matthew’s that shit was ridiculous and to not have at least one player flatten Gudas is infuriating. It lets teams know they can go in on your captain with no recourse.

19. 88 and 44 on the ice at the time.

    Your true problems. Always have been

20. Man the last 48 hours has been crazy as a toronto sports fan this same sentiment is being said about the raptors too about the shead incident

21. The leafs are a gutless team.

22. MLSE and their sanitized product on the ice where they don’t want anything remotely close to controversial. Can’t be looking like goons on the ice. Can’t say anything in the media that resembles having a personality. Can’t call anybody out. Gotta keep that boardroom mentality on the ice.

23. “Tough to play against” aesthetic? What is he talking about? This team has always been built around skill metrics. The criticism for 10 years is that they are soft.

24. I said this before and got downvoted to hell. There’s zero heart on this team and everyone’s been checked out. The guys who did give a shit we’re traded because it’s a shit atmosphere to play in and each player prospered as soon as they left

    This was your mute captain btw who got destroyed and walked off the ice while your rookie 20 year old tried to fight. You can bet Matthew’s is gone as well off this team as soon as he can. Who would have thought having a shit company like rogers who also owns the media that crucifies players and a corporate goon culture makes it a miserable place to play ?

    Pathetic

25. If this doesnt prove it, i dont know what else will. This is purely a CULTURE problem. For years they kept getting “tough” guys to round out the roster, hoping that it will make them hard to play against. The reason this has never worked is because they dont enforce that culture to any of the other players.

    Look at Boston, you can have the smallest forward in the NHL and they will still go into scrums and muck it up because thats the culture of the team. They play for each other and are not afraid of getting into it. It seems like with this team, its an afterthought

26. What an embarrassing franchise from the very top all the way to the bottom. Just rotten and pathetic.

27. I’m glad we added Domi and re-signed him. He’s been so good…

    

28. To be honest I’m not sure you should be making someone your captain that doesn’t lead by example and in this instance they all seemed to be following his example. Last player the Leafs had with some skill that would actually retaliate for his teammates was Kadri and he was traded for well, a dubious return at best. Getting tough guys past their best before date was never going to work, I think the last guy with any upside that way was the Russian they gave to Philly along with a first rounder. Maybe having Pronger on board might help with a culture change, Treliving and Pelley not so much

29. Circle March 30th on the calendar better be some AHL call-ups

30. Brad Treliving is the least deserving GM in the history of hockey. He is the textbook definition of a Nepo baby playing politics in the corporate world.

    Everyone who works for the Leafs right now is a failure, from video coaches to scouts to execs.

31. Leafs & Raptors players failing to standup for their teammate….been a rough week