Remember all the Matthews going home bull**** from leaf hating trolls and sceptics

Well its dead now, gone buried forgotten forever

As even after his 4 year deals done no more Arizona hockey team lul

Nothing stopping from making a save and at times he came up big other times questionable especially recently, others have said it to he's been shaky which = being rattled lul but thats a different matter entirely. But as of now the convo is over as @palhal put it should not even be a debate anymore lul

Again Sammy's the starter whether you like it or not and as fans we got to cheer for Sammy rather than be debbie doubter and wish he and the team fails by spouting nonsense. He won them a round vs. a team who went to SCF 3 times in a row when others like Freddie and Campbell couldnt and has been on a tear as of late going 18-3-1 since Jan 31 after a horrific start to the season.

In the end saying he's gonna fail and this and that and all these excuses before playoffs even start is the wrong way to go about it especially for a team whose fans and management want them to go on a run

As said a million times Woll's hopefully got a bright future but as of now he aint it and even next season I would not trust him to become the guy yet. He has not earned it or shown it consistently enough. Still has a lot of work to do

End of story, done.

It's immensely insane to call Woll inconsistent but give Sammy a pass. The only thing Sammy is 100% consistent at is giving up bad goals and sometimes floundering all together. Just look at his career playoff numbers. Even vs Tampa he had 2 really bad games. Vs Florida his numbers looked better but terrible goals killed him. He's not trust worthy. Never has been and this season is an exclamation point on that. It's nuts how everyone just ignores that.

Sammy didnt get a pass at the start of the year from Leafs nation and once it got to the breking point it lead him getting waived but then guess what happened he comes back up a week later and never looked back.

He's gone 18-3-1 since Jan 31. He hasnt needed a pass as he's barely lost lul

One goalie is trending in the right direction for playoffs (Sammy) and the other has not (Woll)

Woll meanwhile since Jan 31 is 4-5 with a 3.03 and a save percentage of .888. 3 of his last 5 starts allowed the first shot of the game to go in and lost. He's already got a pass as people know he's not the guy yet and so to let him be to grow and develop till one day he can seize the starting job. But rn he aint it

Its not about getting passes and this and that its been whose good rn heading into the playoffs. Sammy has earned the job as he has shown that once again he can be dependable, has stolen games for us (WPG being the big one), and ha made some mind blowing saves especially recently. Woll's hopefully got a bright future but again is not the guy yet

The team has faith in Sammy, most fans have faith in him, and the coaches have faith and him and that hopefully will lead to a long run. He was able to outduel Vasilesky last year lets hope he can do it again ras being debbie doubters wont get us anywhere

Yeah...my main point was Murray's playoff history and if the Leafs have to go someone other than their 2 tandem guys...might as well roll the dice and see if Murray can do something like he did in Pittsburgh.

I wish I could like this post 10 million times more.

Screw Gary Bettman and Bill Daly and all those old white men. Time to retire and let forward thinking people take the league and sport in a better direction than you morons ever could.

I was one of the first to call Sammy inconsistent but I'm also not blind to that either. Ride the hot hand until it's not hot. Woll has been inconsistent since his injury and no doubt he's the goalie of the future but game 1 starter is pretty clear.

Sure but having not played for a year is different for a player vs. a goalie. Goalies need reps and he hasnt really played much recently

Like Kucherov sitting out a season vs. Murray be a bit different

But who knows.

I'm no fan of Bettman and the NHL executive. But the facts are the NHL owners, hire Bettman and his cronies. The owners have to power to get another commish. The NHL owners are the ones vote to allow franchises to join the league. Unfortunately there are so many owners who got into the league because of Bettman, they are his allies. Plus NHL owners just love dividing up the expansion fees with no respect that failing franchises cost money eventually.

Owners like their guineapigs and allow said pig to have guys he likes around

Only till he starts losing them money or something serious happens do they yeet him out

But at the same time eventually they would have probs told him can we F-Off with ARI as its not profitable lul

A little bit of OHL news, Adam Valentini declared for the USHL. What are the odds he drops from 1st overall to 20th where London picks?
That would be a coup. Imagine Next year having Cowen next to guys like Barks, Valentini et al.

I realize that, it's just too bad these owners don't have long-term vision for success regarding franchises because if they did, they would make more money via fees, gate and TV revenue, nevermind the merchandise sales. It requires patience and vetting potential owners properly as opposed to what Bettman and company have done.

There's not just expansion failures. This commissioner can't even get inclusivity right which BTW would help bring in more revenue but hey, let's alienate groups of people based on how business has been conducted in the past.

A big eff you to that Arizona franchise.

By alienating groups of people, are you referring to Canadian hockey fans? I know a team in Hamilton or Quebec City would bring in a lot more revenue than Arizona and maybe other existing teams. As for "inclusivity", it depends on what you mean. If you're referring to the "Pride Nights", remember that they were a disaster last season and Provorov jerseys sold out after he stood up against it.

I can remember the WHA and the great support the Nordiques had in Quebec in both the WHA and NHL back in the 70s and 80s.. Quebec and area has a small population and not a great amount of businesses. I question if the a Quebec could constantly draw 14,000 paying fans at current NHL ticket prices. Hamilton? When the NHL expanded, and Ottawa and Tampa were accepted, Hamilton had the chance to enter. But there was NO owner for the Hamilton franchise. Hard to have a franchise when no one was willing to put 100m (or whatever it was) to be an NHL owner.

Too many of the awarded franchises, have been to owners who have based their ownership on a house of cards real estate, arena,. Lots of so called NHL owners, haven't had much interest in the NHL team but were trying to get their money from the other means surrounding the arena. I really don't see all the love for Salt Lake City. The population greater SSC is 500,000 and the population Utah is 3.3m. Sure they have an arena, but do they have revenue to substain an NHL franchise, year after year?

Admittedly, I don't have as much experience as you do. However, "Don Cherry's Hockey Greats & More" says otherwise. He goes through the whole situation of what happened in the '92 expansion on pages 59 and 60, and I would go into more detail here but I'm not sure how much I can share without violating copyright. In addition, didn't Jim Balsille make a bunch of different attempts to bring an NHL team to Hamilton?

Jim Balsille made an attempt to bring the Coyotes (or was it Nashville) to Hamilton much later than 1992...I'm guessing 2004. The city of Hamilton made a presentation in 1990 at the expansion meeting, but no owner, put up even 100,000 dollars to make a presentation. Hey I think a Hamilton team would have been successful, but obviously people with money.Ron Joyce of Tim Hortons. was a candidate didn't want to pony up the money.
As we saw with the Sens, and their expansion team, it was shell game, based upon the arena and real estate. Ottawa was lucky to hold onto their franchise the later owners bailed out the bankrupt Sens.
Even Tampa had financial problems with their initial owner. They were bailed out by the current owner too.

A former business associate, talked about bringing a team to Markham Ontario. He had the money for a franchise, (in the Seattle expansion) but wanted the city of Markham to give him the land for an arena, and to pay any operating deficients for the arena. The city said no.

Don Cherry? Don't know if relying facts in his book. Don is just is trying to portray his "blue collar image" of defending Canada and the people of Hamilton. The folks in Hamilton still blame Leafs ownership for whatever reason.

Good riddance to that Arizona franchise.
This has been long overdue.

I am a bit worried though, thought the process for land bid was at the end of month.


This is little early with signs pointing to this goung south

Tor should call VGK about Whitecloud as VGK are probs gonna move him this summer

Pride Nights, Canadian hockey fans, the handling of the presence of racism at various levels within the NHL.

These things are all encompassing and really very easy to address but instead we have players leading the charge on these issues where the league should be the one taking the charge, especially if NHL HQ really believes that the league and sport is globally for everyone.

Hamilton was an option for Balsile but if I'm remembering correctly, he actually wanted to move the team to Kitchener-Waterloo.

Remember NYI ownership issues before Charles Wong took over? Yeah disastrous.

Before Pittsburgh got Crosby/Malkin/the new arena there was talk of the Penguins leaving Pittsburgh.

Before Terry Pegula took over the Buffalo Sabres, they heading towards relocation too.

All under Gary Bettman. It's time...move on Gary.

This game is ridiculous, 5 goals in the first 9 minutes

Leafs vs. non playoff team in a nutshell

Got to love it

F for the goalie but for the scoresheet everyone will get a cookie

But in all seriousness Keefe's probs fuming and would have just had Jones play this one

As this is first NJ game all over lul

Team's gonna wing it for a point lul

If the game keeps going like this Matthews will hit 70 tonight

But in all seriousness man the PP issues are becoming a real concern rn

Sucks that it was called back, but Nick Robertson ladies and gentleman...