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gmurrayt

Membre depuis
29 janv. 2019
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Canadiens de Montréal
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Flames de Calgary
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Forum: Armchair-GM9 sept. 2023 à 9 h 30
Sujet: DEPTH AND DEADLY D
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Affectionate_Side_64</b></div><div>You're proving my point.. they showed they can score plenty of goals against the best goaltender in the world. If you run into a hot goalie you have play mistake free and wait for your bounces. Every game against Florida was a 1 goal game except the 4-2 loss in game one. Jake "Muzzin 2.0" McCabe was on the ice for 6 more GA than GF - the panthers scored 4 more goals than we did to win the series. We controlled most of the play in the series but you can point to egregious mistakes in every game that cost us. We had the better offense, they made fewer mistakes. It's literally been the same thing every year but some people can't seem to grasp that I guess.

If our excessive investment in the forward group hasn't resulted in enough scoring and our goalies have posted back to back years of sub .900%, both of whom we paid as our backups because the goalies we acquired to be our starters didn't play a single playoff game for us and ended up being cap dumps, why would we keep going back to that philosophy when we have nothing but failure to show for it? Matthews, Marner, Tavares, Nylander, ROR etc. can't solve Bobrovsky, or Vasi the year before, or Price, or Korpisalo, but the next 3rd liner we sign will be that difference?

We had to play our 7 million dollar forward Nylander on the 3rd line because he couldn't handle top 6 matchups and needed to be sheltered with offensive zone starts, yet he still got outscored more than any other forward on the team. That means the team was losing when Nylander was on the ice against the other team's 3rd lines, and we're going to pay him close to 10 mil until he's 36?

The strategy to beat the Leafs is pretty simple and has always been the same. Collapse around the net and keep the forwards to the outside. This might leave more space at the point but only Rielly is a threat to provide offense from there anyway. Then just wait until we inevitably make a mistake to create an odd-man rush the other way and bury your chance on a weaker goaltender.

I'm not even talking about shutdown D necessarily, though we definitely need a better shutdown pair than Brodie and McCabe. We also need defenseman who can create offense from the point when our forwards have no space in the offensive zone.

Your whole theory goes against all conventional wisdom and we have nothing but failure to show for it. Guess what? Spending assets to add two D-men to our top 4 at each of the last 2 deadlines, 2 of whom were bottom pairing D making close to league min that we played with our best D man (Lyubushkin and Schenn) and the other 2 who we had to pay extra for to get retention because we couldn't afford them at more than 2 mil (McCabe and Gio), while asking them to play higher in the lineup than they should, and acquiring guys like Mrazek and Murray to be your starters only to have them play zero playoff games before becoming cap dumps, or spending assets on rentals like ROR and Foligno because you're not deep enough at center, all because you invested half your cap in 4 forwards who as you've said haven't been able to give us the scoring we needed to overcome our goals against, HASN'T WORKED. Like, not even ****ing close.

Toronto is supposed to be the Mecca of hockey and our fans should be among the most knowledgeable in the league, but somehow Carolina, Vegas and Tampa fans seem to have figured out the absolute basics before most Leafs fans have.

Also, I've already explained that this roster would be better offensively than last year's as well as being better defensively. That's what can happen when you spread out your cap.

Thankfully Treliving has enough sense to see what needs to be done - take notes.</div></div>

I would thumbs up this post 100 times if I could. You have summed up the issues with Toronto very nicely. In particular you have analyzed why Nylander is one of the most over rated players by some Toronto posters. All they want to talk about is his points, but never want to look at the fact he is on the ice for almost as many goals against, all the while avoiding the other team's top checking lines. I won't even go into detail about how Nylander is not a team player, and doesn't sacrifice, and does not have the play off mentality. And the lack of balance between forwards and the back end is mind boggling, even after multiple years in a row of showing that this balance does not work in the play offs some posters just refuse to acknowledge how the lack of top end defenders are one of the reasons this team continuously fail. I nominate this reply as one of the top entries on this site.
Forum: Armchair-GM29 août 2023 à 11 h 57
Sujet: 1 Simple Move
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>dougford</b></div><div>You're trading a 20g-40pt defensively responsible 3rd line player and an unproven prospect for a borderline 4th line player who scored 9 goals last year. We can be cap compliant without him</div></div>

He has been in the league 9 full years, he has hit the 20 goal mark once (1 time) and has never scored 40 points. Also somehow this defensively responsible player forgets his strengths once the play offs hit. He will be 32 when the season starts and signed for 3 more years. He is easily replaceable with someone else. I have never seen some fans so determined to stick with the same recipe year after year despite the results conclusively showing that the make up of this team cannot get it done when it counts.
Forum: Armchair-GM25 août 2023 à 12 h 40
Sujet: Nylander Trade
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>PuzzledActuary</b></div><div>He's such a better player than Svech, it's not even close.

Everyone knows CAR's major problem is offense and scoring goals when the going gets tough. Most of the Nylander trades on here are pure nonsense, this is at least in the ballpark of realistic and beneficial to both sides.</div></div>
Nylander is not the answer to scoring goals when the going gets tough. He gets most of his play off points early in the series, or when the game have already been decided. And on top of that he is not committed to his own end of the ice, he tends to be on the ice for more goals scored against than for, which is the exact opposite type of team Carolina has. He certainly is dynamic offensively, but it comes at a cost in his own end, which is magnified in the later games of play off series when the checking and defense intensifies and teams take less chances because they don't want to give up that one crucial mistake. Nylander is a great addition for a team looking to win the Presidents cup, but the same cannot be said for the Stanley Cup.
Forum: Armchair-GM19 août 2023 à 9 h 25
Sujet: Leafs Flames
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Affectionate_Side_64</b></div><div>That's seriously your take? Because Peeke and Savard are both defensively minded they're worth the same?

Peeke just finished his 24 year old season and has a great toolset. Savard is clearly in a very different stage of his career. Nice try though I guess?</div></div>

Please show me where I said Peeke and Savard are worth the same. I am asking you to show me how Peeke is worth Lil and 2 draft picks, it was blatantly obvious in my post. Nice try, deflection so you can avoid answering the question. Regarding Savard, you are putting a higher value on defensive defenseman like Peeke than other posters, but do not extend the same value to Savard. If you think Peeke has added value because of these traits, than so does Savard. Add to that he plays a more valuable position, and is play off tested, and with your suggested retention is cheaper, than he is certainly worth more than a sub 6 ft winger who averages 12-15 goals a year and completely disappears as soon as the play offs start.
Forum: Armchair-GM19 août 2023 à 8 h 33
Sujet: Leafs Flames
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Affectionate_Side_64</b></div><div>Ah yes, my favourite narrative from people who are incapable of evaluating defensive defensemen. The vast majority of coaches in the NHL are so ignorant that they just so happen to place the worst defensive players in defensive situations more often than not. Almost as if that usage is a direct correlation to these statistics....

I'm not sure what you're trying to suggest by saying I'm fascinated by him, but having him at less than 2 mil for 3 years is great value. Do you not remember when the league leader in hits was our second best defenseman during these most recent playoffs?</div></div>

You use an argument about the value of defensive defenseman for Peeke, but can't figure out why the trade with Montreal is so lopsided in Toronto's favour? You contradict yourself in this thread.
Forum: Armchair-GM13 août 2023 à 10 h 47
Sujet: Reasonable Moves
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Affectionate_Side_64</b></div><div>People keep saying this like they don't realize we're always the team to have more cap invested in our forwards than our opponents. Put together a collection of elimination games from any playoff series and most will be low scoring affairs. That's why teams talk about building from the net out and being able to win those 2-1 games. The formula has been rubbed in our faces over and over again and yet we still continue to double down on this theory despite our failures.

How did we win our first elimination game in 19 years? We played a perfect defensive checking game and waited for our chance. How many goals did we need to win? Two, one in overtime. We probably would have won 1-0 if not for an egregious error by WIly as well.

As for your last point, this couldn't be further from the truth... Over that 7 game stretch Nylander had 2 goals, one a fluky bounce off the ref to leave him alone in front, the other a turnover he was able to skate on to and score what was a rare softie short-side on Bob. Over that 7 game stretch he had a -7 goal differential despite being sheltered from the top two matchups and often starting in the offensive zone.

Marner, Matthews and Rielly have all been better of the last 3 years, as were ROR and Knies in his short stint last year.

The Knights of Nylander are truly a loyal bunch...</div></div>

Someone who understands how to make the line up more "play off ready". I don't necessarily agree with the bottom 6 forward pick ups, but these can be replaced with different players, even players in the minors, without much difference. However, Toronto needs to have a better balance of forwards and defense. As stated, you win hockey games in the play offs by 1-0 and 2-1 scores quite a bit, especially as the series moves forward, you play lock down team defense and sacrifice your body and your game for the good of the team. Nylander does not do this very well. Part of the reason he has more points than the other star forwards is because he takes more risks, and will put himself and team mates in bad positions in order to get more scoring. If you take these risks, and create 4 extra points in a series, but also cause 5 more goals against, you are hurting the team more than you are helping, and the Nylander fan base refuses to acknowledge that. Also, a player like Nylander who plays a me first game creates bad team morale, as other players get frustrated and stop giving it their all. I suspect one of the reasons ROR didn't want to stick around is because of this type of team play.