They are obviously the worst team that has ever been in 1st place in their division.

I hate them.
- Atomic Wedgie

There's no point in ripping them now, I agree. The time will come in April for that if warranted.

Sit Riellys ass on the bench ffs. Why does he get to be hot diggity dog poop all night every night with zero accountability. 🤦

-15 now on a team where the next worst defenceman is a - 2. Not acceptable for the highest paid one.
- joel878

We say this often about Bruin's $9M D-man McAvoy. I'm shocked though that he's actually worked his way up to +2... But M. Lohrei has taken up the slack and is now a -14.

Sit Riellys ass on the bench ffs. Why does he get to be hot diggity dog poop all night every night with zero accountability. 🤦

-15 now on a team where the next worst defenceman is a - 2. Not acceptable for the highest paid one.
- joel878

plus minus is not great stat, Rielly is -4 at 5v5 (28-32)
but -9 with the leafs net empty (2-11)

makes no sense to dock a player a minus while the net has no goalie

also it makes sense the leafs have Rielly out down goals with goalie pulled trying to score

plus minus is not great stat, Rielly is -4 at 5v5 (28-32)
but -9 with the leafs net empty (2-11)

makes no sense to dock a player a minus while the net has no goalie

also it makes sense the leafs have Rielly out down goals with goalie pulled trying to score
- senstroll

So true, they give a GA to the goalie in the beer league hockey league I play in on our stats line.

And yes I know who really cares about stats in beer league but I play in a league where my younger brother is also a goalie so he loves to look at them and chirp me - little bastard is 13 years younger than me so he SHOULD be a MUCH better goalie than me. Sadly his team is top 2 in the league, mine is bottom 3. lol

plus minus is not great stat, Rielly is -4 at 5v5 (28-32)
but -9 with the leafs net empty (2-11)

makes no sense to dock a player a minus while the net has no goalie

also it makes sense the leafs have Rielly out down goals with goalie pulled trying to score
- senstroll

The Leafs, as a team, are poor with the goalie out. They are 2-13, which is a 13% success rate; 27th in the NHL. The GA/60 is 28th; the GF/60 is 26th. They do actually generate a large number of high danger and scoring chances, but just don't capitalize on them. It could be worse, I guess - both Utah and Montreal don't have a goal with the goalie pulled . . . but at -11, Toronto is tied with Nashville in futility.

Having watched them, we see the ill advised passes, weak puck movement and poor support that leads to this. I'm not sure I blame Rielly for it, but he's definitely a culprit when it comes to crappy passes.

The Leafs, as a team, are poor with the goalie out. They are 2-13, which is a 13% success rate; 27th in the NHL. The GA/60 is 28th; the GF/60 is 26th. They do actually generate a large number of high danger and scoring chances, but just don't capitalize on them. It could be worse, I guess - both Utah and Montreal don't have a goal with the goalie pulled . . . but at -11, Toronto is tied with Nashville in futility.

Having watched them, we see the ill advised passes, weak puck movement and poor support that leads to this. I'm not sure I blame Rielly for it, but he's definitely a culprit when it comes to crappy passes.
- Monkeypunk

I'm willing to go easy on the criticism on the bolded - you're down by a goal with a minute or less left - you really need to try to make high risk/reward passes.

The other things are fair criticisms, IMHO.

Only 94 sleeps (approx)until playoffs!!

The Leafs, as a team, are poor with the goalie out. They are 2-13, which is a 13% success rate; 27th in the NHL. The GA/60 is 28th; the GF/60 is 26th. They do actually generate a large number of high danger and scoring chances, but just don't capitalize on them. It could be worse, I guess - both Utah and Montreal don't have a goal with the goalie pulled . . . but at -11, Toronto is tied with Nashville in futility.

Having watched them, we see the ill advised passes, weak puck movement and poor support that leads to this. I'm not sure I blame Rielly for it, but he's definitely a culprit when it comes to crappy passes.
- Monkeypunk

I feel like they resort to the same thing with the goalie pulled as they do on the PP most times - try to find the beautiful tap in with a pass, except when the high risk pass gets picked off and the net is empty your screwed.

Simplify it - jam the front of the net, take away the goalies view and hammer shots at the net and hope to get one via a screen, tip or rebound. With the extra man you should be able to outnumber the opposition in front of their net and/or get time for the D man to sneak in a bit to get that shot off.

It seems so simple.

Greasy game winning goals get the girls!

Only 94 sleeps (approx)until playoffs!!

- Fakepartofme

Will we get a Leafs vs Habs matchup in the first round again?!?

Will we get a Leafs vs Habs matchup in the first round again?!?

- Scabeh

No. Habs are going to finish 9th, one point out of a playoff spot behind Ottawa.

Since you woke up and chose violence........

No. Habs are going to finish 9th, one point out of a playoff spot behind Ottawa.

Since you woke up and chose violence........

- Cush29

All Habs fans deserve to be punched in the face.

Saturday vs. Leafs: cheapest pair of tickets is $249.90 per ticket.

Sunday vs. Rangers: cheapest pair of tickets is $114.24 per ticket.

Will we get a Leafs vs Habs matchup in the first round again?!?

- Scabeh

They are following the Sabres blueprint. Fool your fans by finishing 1 point out of the playoffs then stink next year

We say this often about Bruin's $9M D-man McAvoy. I'm shocked though that he's actually worked his way up to +2... But M. Lohrei has taken up the slack and is now a -14.



- Nasty_Duck

Nylander for McAvoy…

Will we get a Leafs vs Habs matchup in the first round again?!?

- Scabeh

Nylander for Savard and the Habs 2025 1st rd pick.

I feel like they resort to the same thing with the goalie pulled as they do on the PP most times - try to find the beautiful tap in with a pass, except when the high risk pass gets picked off and the net is empty your screwed.

Simplify it - jam the front of the net, take away the goalies view and hammer shots at the net and hope to get one via a screen, tip or rebound. With the extra man you should be able to outnumber the opposition in front of their net and/or get time for the D man to sneak in a bit to get that shot off.

It seems so simple.

Greasy game winning goals get the girls!
- Cush29

They’re in a funk for sure.

When they’re on their game they score very few goals like that. But I do like the Pat Quinn style of hockey. To me their problem is that they’re not playing pissed off. They aren’t hitting, fighting, battling hard etc.. It’s been Disney on ice for the last 5-6 games.

Wtf Berube kick some more trash cans. Bag skate these jabronis.

They’re in a funk for sure.

When they’re on their game they score very few goals like that. But I do like the Pat Quinn style of hockey. To me their problem is that they’re not playing pissed off. They aren’t hitting, fighting, battling hard etc.. It’s been Disney on ice for the last 5-6 games.

Wtf Berube kick some more trash cans. Bag skate these jabronis.
- Arctic_AARDVARK

Feels like January hockey to me.

Usually the worst hockey of the season. Teams aren't playing as loose as they are tightening up but they still aren't gearing up for high energy playoffs.

Feels like January hockey to me.

Usually the worst hockey of the season. Teams aren't playing as loose as they are tightening up but they still aren't gearing up for high energy playoffs.
- Santo_44

Yep.

The lower tier teams are trying to catch up, but will likely burn themselves out, like MTL.

I think the Leafs will turn it back on soon. Just frustrating to watch knowing that they’re losing because they took their foot off the gas. Seems to me like that not a winning formula. At the very least keeping trying to get those dubs! Win the division ffs.

Whoa, guys, I think I got it for real..

Nylander, Rielly, Robertson, Cowan for Lafreniere, Zibanejad (bad contract) Schneider, 1st.

On an unrelated note, I saw Burkie last night at the game - he looked like he had one foot in the grave.

And I take no pleasure in saying this - he was a terrible Leafs GM, but I still love the guy.

On an unrelated note, I saw Burkie last night at the game - he looked like he had one foot in the grave.

And I take no pleasure in saying this - he was a terrible Leafs GM, but I still love the guy.
- Atomic Wedgie

Wrong guy at the wrong time in the wrong market. Does seem like a nice guy and fun dude. He's also kind of looked like he was about to part the glass to blarney for a decade now.

On an unrelated note, I saw Burkie last night at the game - he looked like he had one foot in the grave.

And I take no pleasure in saying this - he was a terrible Leafs GM, but I still love the guy.
- Atomic Wedgie

Took Bryan Murrays work to a cup win with Us... and as Leafs GM also gave us one of the best trades in our history...

Took Bryan Murrays work to a cup win with Us... and as Leafs GM also gave us one of the best trades in our history...
- dozerD10

Tyler Biggs was awesome.

Tavares injured at practice.. Looks like groin.

On an unrelated note, I saw Burkie last night at the game - he looked like he had one foot in the grave.

And I take no pleasure in saying this - he was a terrible Leafs GM, but I still love the guy.
- Atomic Wedgie

I like how upfront he was. I didn't like how much he loved himself. It led to him being unable to recognize the dire straits the Leafs were in as a team and instead of blowing it up - which he had carte blanche to do - he tried to make something out of nothing.

The Kessel deal doesn't even really rank in the top-5 worst deals for me . . .yeah, 8th overall and 2nd overall (and 32nd) . . . I have this feeling that if the Leafs hadn't have traded for Kessel they'd have used the #2 pick to take Gudbranson because 6'5 / 220lb top-5 defensemen don't grow on trees . . and they'd have probably used #32 on Brad Ross. The next year they'd have stunk worse than the #8 spot but would've probably taken Oleksiak at #3.

If there was one thing Burke really didn't go a great job of, it was drafting. He was a tireless self-promoter and a disproportionate number of his trades were actually pretty good.

But his timing just plain sucked - no matter what. Let's say we completely bottomed out and started the rebuild - and I've mentioned this here before - we would have been in competition with the Edmonton Oilers for some of the most overrated #1 picks in the past 20 years: Hall, Nugent-Hopkins, Yakupov . . . then you had MacKinnon, Ekblad, McDavid, Matthews . . . but our rebuild would have started on flimsier ground with those guys.

You could argue that Burke being an impatient idiot actually made the team better because they finally got to rebuild under Lou and got Matthews and Marner for it (Nylander, I'm pretty positive, was drafted by Nonis when he replaced Burke).

Tristan Jarry on waivers.

We could use a 7th goalie...