When You Are The LAUGHING STOCK Of The NHL

When You Are The LAUGHING STOCK Of The NHL

It’s not the end of the world or anything, but things are definitely starting to spiral a bit for Toronto. The Maple Leafs have now dropped five games in a row, and because Toronto has such a passionate fan base, their less than ideal start has definitely been magnified. And this rough start has really started to raise some questions about what’s actually going wrong for this team. Is it a lack of effort? People have been talking about that for a while. Is it the system that they’re playing in? It worked last year, but has it run its course? Or perhaps it’s all the changes that they’ve made to this lineup, sending out big-time players, bringing in more defensive-minded guys to try and reshape this team into a better playoff contender. Well, today we’re going to look at all of these options and break down this tough start for the Toronto Maple Leafs to see if they can somehow turn things around or if this is the team that we are going to be seeing all season long. So, to start this video off, we’re going to highlight the fact that they’ve been on this five-game losing streak. And coach Buru actually spoke about this with a quote that I think kind of summarizes his frustrations with the team at the moment. Quote, I have to motivate them the best way I can. Maybe it’s a kick in the ass, but maybe it is positive reinforcement, too. End quote. These comments were made after the Leaf’s 3-2 loss against the Chicago Blackhawks this past Friday. And shortly after, reports started to leak about the Leafs having a very serious team meeting where Buru had players watching footage back and forth, even singling out certain guys in the meeting for their lack of effort. This unfortunately has been a story for Toronto for what feels like not just this season, but a long time now. media narratives are always suggesting that there’s a lack of effort with their star players or just their best players, saying that they’re more interested in Flash and their own individual stats than they are in actually winning a championship. And while typically I will just ignore these because I do think it’s played up a bit in Toronto, I have to say the amount of slumps that they get into and how often this is brought up, it’s starting to make me feel like some of these reports hold at least a little bit of merit. But we could talk about media reports and leaks from within the locker room all day long and really we’re going to get nowhere. So let’s look at the underlying stats from the Maple Leafs this season to see if we can determine the biggest weakness right now for the team. Now something that’s worth noting before we do get into these stats is the amount of injuries that Toronto has been dealing with. Players like Austin Matthews and Chris Tanv’s very big pieces to this lineup are out right now. Their goalending has been unstable with Wool and Stolars alternating on the injury report. Lton is missing and now Brandon Carlo is dayto-day with an injury. It’s definitely been a tough stretch for the team. So, it’s worth noting that they’re not fully healthy like some other teams in the league right now. But with that being said, their underlying stats right now, they’re sort of up and down depending on where you look. Goals for per game, Toronto ranks fourth in the league at the time of this recording, averaging 3.53. power play. The Leafs, unlike their goal production at 5v5, has practically been anemic, ranking 26 in the league, only scoring at a 16% success rate. But what’s weird about their 5v5 offense is that when you look at their 5v5 goals four percentage, they rank pretty low compared to their goals for per game. Right now, they are 23rd in the league at 48%. Now looking at individual players and where the offense is coming from, John Diver took a significant pay cut in the offseason, but still has been unreal for the team. 24 points in 19 games played with 11 goals. William Knander has 26 points in 16 games played. And from the back end, both Riley and Oel have been really solid on the offensive side of the puck to give the least that additional layer to their system. Here’s where the problem lies, though. Offensively, they look decent, but defensively they have been underwhelming. And that’s mainly the first thing I want to pick apart today. Lack of effort has always been associated with the Leafs, but specifically on the defensive end, this is where they get criticized the most. Getting back to play on defense, backing, forchecking, and apparently at times we’re determining their amount of effort based on the sweat that’s on their head. I can’t make this stuff up. These are all things that fans like to criticize whenever the Leafs get into slumps or ultimately when they come up short in the playoffs. Now, do I think every player in this lineup doesn’t care about winning or losing? Of course not. I think that fans were so quick to always blame Mitch Mner when he was with the team and now that blame has just shifted to other star players. And I think that everyone wants to talk about Toronto being this like over dramatic place when I see that happening everywhere. I live in Boston. I see people talking about players on the Bruins and how they’re not trying all the time. Or when I listen to other teams radio shows like the Chicago Blackhawks, I hear them criticize single players for their lack of effort, too. I just think we’re all so quick to jump on the Toronto hat train that when we hear anybody criticize this team, it just gets blown up because they’re in such a big market. I will say there are moments where I do see some players not giving it their all. Sometimes I see William Knander just kind of gliding along the ice or maybe Morgan Riley get picked apart as a guy who’s making so much money, but that happens everywhere. I just think in Toronto it’s just constantly magnified. So when they go on these losing streaks, we all just immediately hit the panic button. Now, this video isn’t meant to just defend the Toronto Maple Leafs, so I’m going to play devil’s advocate here and side with the fans by looking at two examples from their game against the Blackhawks the other night. This starts out with a simple defensive play. 5v5 and Chicago has possession in Toronto’s end. Chicago cycles the puck along the blue line and boards with Felino drawing attention from both Mabe and Benois in front. And this of course means that there’s a bit of miscommunication because there’s no reason for two guys to be covering one offensive player and definitely no reason why anyone should be left open in front of the net like this. So Lev with too much ease just walks along the blue line and right into their zone past multiple defenders and makes a simple pass across where Green just tucks it home with zero resistance. This next goal is the perfect example of what Leafs fans would call lack of hustle. Chicago heads up the ice off a quick outlet pass where Meyer is completely out hustled by Nazar. Nazar gets around the body, sends the puck back to Turbo, who has a step against John Tiveres and one man to beat, you guessed it, the Leaf’s best defender, Morgan Riley. This is where Turbo just completely dances around him, gets in close, and tucks the game tire again, without really having to do much here. Morgan Riley just needed to play the body. He doesn’t need to play the puck. That’s not how you play a situation like this. And for a guy making that much money, this is where you need to call him out and say, “This is a mistake that we can’t be seeing from you. got as our best defender. So, let’s expand on that a bit more. Let’s talk about culture because I’ve been seeing a lot of reports about captaincy and coaching now. And I I think that this is something that we need to address a bit. Now, remember about a year and some months ago, a lot of people were happy when Toronto swapped John Tiveres for Austin Matthews as captain. Then Tiveres took that team friendly contract and all of the sudden it seems like people have switched immediately wanting John Tiveres back as captain and just criticizing Matthews for everything that happens with this team. This feels a bit nuts to me and this is where I kind of want to defend Toronto a little bit again and flip back away from the fan base. Austin Matthews just led this team to their best playoff run in years. And just a couple of months ago, you guys were all saying that he was the right guy for the job. And now everyone’s flipped and said that he doesn’t have the leadership qualities or the heart to lead this team. That’s when things become a little bit too polarizing for me. And I just don’t know how to feel about the entire situation that’s happening with this team. Now, I just want to say as a combination, I personally believe in Burubet and Matthews and I think they’re doing a relatively good job with this group. And in the end, I also think that it’s just more going to come down to the buyin from the players and their ability to block out the noise and just focus on winning because playing in a market like Toronto, it’s definitely hard. And building a culture that’s even harder and takes a long time to establish. Now, I believe when coaches first take over that that first year is the easiest because you’re a new voice in the locker room, new ideas, new materials, and guys, they tend to just believe in that. Years two and three is where things start to change because you’re no longer that new voice. And when you go through slumps, you aren’t Mr. Nice Guy anymore. You have to call players out, single them out in meetings, and really drive your points home. And if the players don’t receive your message well or want to respond, well, that’s when the problems start to arise in your culture, it starts to sort of fall apart. Now, I believe that Buru is the kind of guy that players want to actually play for. And I think that a lot of the guys in that locker room respect Austin Matthews, which is why I like this duo to build this culture in Toronto right now. But this has been an issue with this group for a long time. Whether it’s new players, old players, they they believe in their coach to start. They put up good records and then as time goes along, they get worse and worse and ultimately Toronto just comes up short of their ultimate goal. So before we start saying that Bub’s on the hot seat or that Matthews needs to be out as captain, let’s give them a couple of years, see if they can go through the challenging times and bounce back from it all. Lastly, let’s talk about goalending because I do think that this has been a pretty big issue for them this year. Last year they ranked top 10 in the league in a lot of their stats and right now their goalending ranks 31st in goals against average and their save percentage has been putrid ranking 25th in the NHL. Now Toronto was very fortunate last year to have everything pan out perfectly tandeming Stallars and Wool. But this year with both guys missing time you can see that that extra workload is just too much for a guy like Stolars to carry. He was top five in save percentage, I believe, the past two years, playing as a backup in Florida and then being a semi-starter for Toronto. And this year, being a full-time guy, it just hasn’t really worked out for him at all. Now, this is another thing that unfortunately is just going to require a little bit of patience from fans when healthy. I think that this is a top tandem in the league, especially when the defense is all on the ice alongside. So, injury again does play a big part in this. So, it’s not all surprising that things haven’t been great in the crease given what’s happened to begin the year. But I do expect this to turn around if the Leafs can somehow get their goalending to be healthy. But if they don’t, I think this could end up being actually a big problem for them as the year progresses. So after 20 games, what’s my assessment of Toronto? Well, they’re about where I expected, but not for the reasons I expected. I expected their offense to take a step back after losing Mitch Mner, but it seems like they’re actually doing really well in that department with Matthew Nye stepping up big time, John Diver putting up good numbers, and William Knander. Obviously, the injury to Austin Matthews is a big blow, but it seems like they’re staying afloat in that department. Whereas, the problems are now coming from their defense and goalending, the health back there, and of course, just not making the right plays at the right times. Do I think that all this can turn around? I really do believe that it will. I don’t know how they’re going to perform in the playoffs, but as a regular season team, I do think Toronto is going to find a way to win some more games. The only problem is is the division in the league is just a lot more competitive this year than I think anyone really expected. So Toronto’s got to find a way to not dig a hole with all of these injuries and just stay afloat until they can get fully healthy. That way they can compete for one of those top spots because it will be challenging if you find yourself back 8 to 10 points and now you have to claw your way into a playoff spot. That’s not going to be easy this year and it’s not a position that I think Toronto is going to be able to overcome. So that’s all I got on the Leafs today. That’s my opinion on their current situation. The sky isn’t falling, but there are some things to be worried about. And hey, let me know what you’re worried about with this team. Let me know what you’re feeling good about. Drop all your thoughts in the comments below. And if you’ve been enjoying the videos lately, be sure to toss this one a thumbs up and subscribe now. I also have a few other videos for you to check out. Some recaps, some other breakdowns. All of that will be right here on the screen. And again, thank you guys so much for watching this video and supporting the channel. I will see you in the next upload.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are off to a pretty disastrous start following and have now lost 5 straight games. injuries, lack of effort, culture, you name it and Maple Leafs have been accused of not having it. So today let’s talk about this rough start for the Maple Leafs to determine what is actually going wrong in Toronto, and whether or not the Leafs will be able to turn it around before it’s too late. Subscribe to Jimmy Hockey for more NHL News and Breakdowns.

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