Honestly I would not mind bringing Benoit back as the #6 or 7 guy for this Dcore in 2024-2025

Hes earned it

A deal similar to Mayo wouldnt be a back breaker

guess what...there's gonna be bad plays by both teams in every game in the NHL.

it's like a lot of us have been saying for the past few weeks.....Sammy was not allowing this team to compete...if he was able to give us average goaltending we'd have won a lot more games in regulation.

Jones has been letting in fewer goals that our xGA....which means he's doing his job by putting this team in a position to win games....and if this keeps up...maybe it gives Treliving the confidence to spend an asset to acquire D help this year vs waiting for the off season.

Let's appreciate how much better the team has looked these last 2 games and home we get more consistent efforts like this

In general when goaltending and defense perform this is the expected results

When they help one another you get good things like this


Thats what we been missing for a good chunk of time and now that 2 of the guys are out of the way this team realized oh **** we got to act lul. As basically nobody to fall back on now if Jones cant do it your screwed

Other than the one giveaway by Liligren Dcore has been much better. Would I prefer Benoit not to be in the top 4 yes but hes been a nice surprise, McCabe's been good, Rielly and Brodie look better. And Gio-Liligren looks good to

Jones is creating a steady presence and the D have been helping him to. Its something we wish we would have seen with the other two guys lul

But anyways hope we dont overwork him

agreed....makes sense to keep a guy familiar with the system and potential d-pairings that you know can step in and generally not f* up back there

Sammy was playing like a QB who throws 2-3 pick 6's every game. Sometimes it doesn't matter how good everyone around him is playing, you gift the team a few scores you skewer your team's chance to compete.

Yep

Now I would not give him an Englund deal as wtf was that

950k x 3 years would be something to bet on. As then hes less likely to get claimed and we can see how he grows. May be pricy but meh I would risk it

Even before Sammy man the D would sometimes leave Woll out to dry and it resulted in him getting hurt in one of his best games. The way the D is playing rn has me like so why not for the other guys as the benefits be there

As man in that OTT game Woll was left to dry kind of like this game with Dostal. Made glorious saves but man the fact he got hurt almost was growing by the save as some of the stretches he made were nuts. Imagine if the D played like they did these past two games he may still be playing rn

But the sad thing is then we dont get to see more Jones lul

Oh well just happy to see them finally playing as a team top to bottom.

Don't blame the D for him getting hurt while trying to make a save. He's injury prone.

Team's play so much differently when you don't have the confidence of the guy in net. We could of had prime Pronger and Niedermeyer on the blueline and we'd still lose with Sammy in net letting those types of goals in.

I mean if we saw all the saves he had to make that game it was a wonder he lasted as long as he did

Like the amount of breakaways and stuff and stretch saves he had to make was enough to go so when we gonna help him

In general the defense and even the forwards (defensively) left him out to dry and eventually one could argue it led to him getting hurt. Sure also a freak accident but still when we look at those saves he was pushing his body to the limit and he could have got hurt on earlier plays. If the D helped him probs may have still been playing rn.

Anyways thats all in the past and glad we are finally seeing them play as a team with better defensive efforts to help the goalie when needed. If they can add to this Dcore to make it better and continue this play im one happy camper

I think that’s an absolutely silly take.

With that logic I could also claim that if you don’t allow enough shots on your goalie his muscles get cold and he can pull something more easily when he does get a shot.

As a goalie, the more shots you get the better you generally feel in net

True but at the same time also got to consider Woll's got a history of injuries while u want more shots u also dont want to risk injury

Giving Sens an overabundance of breakaways and stuff just yea not great. It was like what we saw with Dostal tonight except some of the saves were even crazier lul. Still remember that Joseph save.

Like man if u watch the highlights of that game the chances we were giving OTT just felt like nobody be trying. But hey kept us in and we got 4 goals. Wish we would have helped more defensively but meh what can u do. Least it helped to wake them up

In the end glad to see they finally learned and are playing like they should

Exactly. It’s just like Dotson tonight, playing behind a crap team and seeing 50 shots…and not getting injured because he’s a professional goaltender who is expected to be flexible and make saves.

Woll getting injured is not a byproduct of the leafs’ D

More so the defensive effort but yea it applied to everyone. That game it was not happening. But man these two Cali games couldnt be happier. Wish we could have helped the kid lul.

But anyways to late for that hopefully when he comes back they be playing like this in front

And then we cooking

One thing got to give credit to Brad for

Leafs went from 23rd in the NHL in terms of hits per game last year to 3rd

727 so far in 36 games

And this kind of style is great for the playoffs. Now to just improve the defense lul (20th rn)

Also forgot to say as was to busy trying to jinx Dostal

Adam Henrique would be such a good add for our third line. Heck even the top 6 via LW if you so choose

He can play C/LW good at both ends. And I think would fit well next to Domi and Jarnrkok

If ANA retains I would explore. Only he would then eat more than half of the money Klingberg left us lul

Went to sleep 0-1 woke up 2-1. Thank you Leafs

Keefe doesn't make good decisions. Hilldeby shouldn't spend 2-3 weeks in the big leagues only to practice. You need some game action. The leafs could have brought him up to start last night and then sent him back down and brought someone else in to ride the pine.

Let's also not forget one of those wins was an OT win vs Anaheim. It was a good game against LA but they have been on a skid as well. Still lots of work to do

But dropping from top 10 in GA to bottom 3rd makes that a nonsense stat

Yes...certainly not saying everything is fixed....but taking away Sammy's starts was a big step #1 for me.

But generally speaking, regardless of the score or outcome, I felt the Leafs dominated the play in both the last two games.

You have to wrap the whole front office into the stupidity then. Keefe doesn't make those decisions in a silo. Certainly not trying to defend him...but I also have no issues if Hildeby doesn't slot in until next weekend. I'd like to see him get one of these upcoming SJ games, personally...but I think we're all spending too much effort psychoanalyzing the impact 2 weeks is going to have

They looked good yup. I still have major concerns about the direction of this team. I have no faith in Keefe, Treliving or Shanahan. But no point in going to deep into that right now. Well I will anyways lol.

Keefe holds guys back for no apparent reason. His whole "I'm going to hold people accountable" idea and then benched Kampf is just such a Keefe move. Now Robertson gets scratched again. Brodie or McCabe will make some really bad plays and he'll keep scratching Liljegren or Timmins. He is successful in spite of his poor decision making and that's entirely because the team is so good.

You can make an argument that Saturday in SJ makes sense. Gives him another practice day where he can get more comfortable facing NHL shooters. Giving him a start in a smaller market vs a lottery team is an easy start and having a rookie in net will get the boys added motivation to finish off the road trip strong.

I can't help but think back to last year when he called out Matthews/Marner in a post game press conference and then immediately walked it back the next day. The power dynamic is off....I do wonder how much of it is Keefe unwilling to bench one of the core guys vs upper management telling him to treat them with kid gloves on....but it's pathetic either way

I am not sure but it certainly isn't the right way to handle things. Like JT, Matthews and Nylander can all handle tough love but Marner certainly can't. He's the most fragile guy on the team next to Sammy. I am not saying a star should be benched but accountability is paramount. Anyone blows their coverage then sit them for a shift or two but that's not what Keefe does. He benches Robertson, Timmins and Kampf.

And if Treliving adds Tanev for example, who is getting benched? Without a doubt it's going to be Liljegren. Brodie will never be held accountable, or McCabe. Young guys just don't get any rope from Keefe. He needs to go