Can’t say I’m in shock, as I’m a long time Leafs fan that knows no other feeling than disappointment. Save for a couple brief flashes in the pan in the early 90s and the early 2000s, this has been the same ol’ story. Next year, every year.
Nope, what we have here is a cultural problem. I mean how many GMs and Coaches and “superstar” players have we thrown at this now? Same results. If nothing else, the Leafs are ultra reliable at one thing, and that’s losing in the playoffs.
Just once before I die.
So where do the changes need to come? In my opinion, there needs to be a much larger focus on their conditioning staff and their strategies. Change nothing else but this, and I think the results here change a bit. Injuries plague this team like nobody’s business, and it always wreaks havoc in the playoffs.
Injuries + accountability changes for their results = results. That sort of change has to come from the top though. The very top. The fans need to hold them accountable, but that’s going to be really hard when there is such a focus on corporate level attendence at hockey games. When fans keep propelling the broadcasting numbers by continuing to watch. You want actual change here fans? Quit watching the games. Remember Rogers owns a large part of this team. They are already struggling with broadcasting numbers as it is. If you want a change here, force it.
I’m also going to contradict myself here a bit and say I would move on from Keefe (you have to). Dude is a minor league coach at best. But I remain unconvinced this is where the core of the problem lies.
I agree with you for the most part and think the same group of players under a different system and set of coaches could do better.
The one change I will say we definitely need is in net. I like Samsonov overall, but he is too inconsistent and I’m not sure that can be coached out of him. Woll has looked promising, but the guy has injured himself more than once now making/attempting to make saves that didn’t look like they should have been that bad.
It’ll be interesting on
ThursdayFriday.