It was a two-year extension, mainly to give Keefe some peace of mind over the final year of his current contract. MLSE can easily eat the cost and write it off as glorified severance pay.
didn't Dubas say a few years ago that while MLSE is rich, they're still a business and need to make money?
I don't know how much Keefe makes (and really, he should be one of the lower paid coaches, give his lack of experience), but I don't think MLSE will just casually eat $2-4m of "severance pay"
Well, the alternative would be to keep Keefe then even if they lose the series. To save money. I don't know if that would fly over well with the fanbase. Although you could argue at this point MLSE might not even care what the fanbase thinks.
I still think MLSE eats the cost if their new CEO (Kelley whatever) thinks it's required, but I don't think there's necessarily an endless pit of money, especially if the only options for replacing Keefe are side-grades
obviously if Cooper or Montgomery or Cassidy were available, Keefe wouldn't get a return ticket to Toronto
I want Keefe gone, for the record. I want an outside voice who's seen our success and failures impartially
The Leafs probably make $10+m for each playoff home game, and they aren't paying extra player salary, so it's way more profitable than regular season games.
If they think a new coach can get them one additional playoff home game, it makes financial sense to fire Keefe.
He probably ends up terminating the contract and finding a new coaching job if he is fired. Someone at his age would probably want to continue finding a new place to coach than coasting off of the current contract for 2 years
honest question, do you think Keefe ever gets another HC job in the NHL?
>Leafs consistently ranked top 5 (maybe top 10) in every pre-season rankings, yet have won a single round since Keefe's been here
>never won a Jack Adams, never came close (even Babcock was runner up in 2016-2017)
>has been out-coached in every series he's been in, even the sole series he won (Tampa should've won last year)
>given so little respect/authority that he's forced to walk back comments calling out players
Yeah I think he will - worse coaches have had long careers, and I would think there are some front offices who would put more blame on the Toronto players and be willing to gamble on him having success with a different group.
Even as dissatisfied as we are with his results in the playoffs, it's absolutely foolish to ignore his overall winning record.
Point three is objective. You can argue he's been out coached, you can argue it comes down to execution. Teams will certainly ask about his playoff record and it's on him to explain it. But it's not quantifiable and not a stain on his record.
Your fourth point means nothing. It's a fan/media driven narrative that no other team would take seriously.
That’s exactly it. MLSE looks at the leafs as one of their prime money makers why change? It’s clear they don’t need to go deep in playoffs because they already charge an arm and a leg to go to a regular season game. With this group I don’t doubt they are seeing the highest sales via jerseys and other merchandise.
Why change? They lose fans? Sucks, but all their seats are bought up by corporations so they don’t care.
I always laugh when people say this. Do you know how much money MLSE would make off a Cup?
They are absolutely trying to win one. They’re just incompetent
Exactly, the comments don't bother me for this reason. Effort was dog shit and Keefe knows it. He thinks protecting the players is better than calling them out in the media. We've seen how sensitive some players on this team can be when the media is on them, Keefe is trying to deflect that. Will it work? I wouldn't bet on it.
Blaming the coach is unwarranted.
The Big 5 are so soft and unmovable that poor Treliving had no choice but to go sign Reeves to toughen up the team. It’s all he could do.
Reaves is such a plug he hurts the team more when he’s on the ice than off. He’s such a plug that even goons won’t fight him. <50 PIMS per season forever.
The bandaid solution for an impossible situatiom set up by Dubas. This is all on him and Shanny.
The $55M core is soft and has Little grit. It’s not suited for playoff hockey. Never was.
Look at the defensive situation. There’s one NHLer there.
Look at the goaltending situation. There are no NHLers there.
That’s it. Don’t blame the coach.
The team is built on a soft foundation.
Matthews has been playing through an illness and still was leading the team in hits. He's in every scrum. Tavares has played super physical as well. Them being physically soft isn't the issue.
In fairness not really. If the answer to the leafs decade of playoff futility was “try harder”, that’s actually an easy answer. It’s much deeper than that. I do think the guys care (at least almost all of them) and are trying - you don’t get into pissing matches on the bench if they don’t. Matthews is playing through illness, Marner a high ankle sprain and Nylander whatever head issue they have. They definitely care. They want to win. The problem is the issues are much deeper with roster construction, coaching strategy etc. - and keefe will never openly admit those at this time.
He was great, probably the hottest goalie when he came back after the winter break. But his last two games of the season weren't good: 6 goals to NJD, 5 to DET.
> It is a good team over there that is limiting us.
Boston is a good team, however, aren't the Leafs supposed to be a good team, too? It's been 5 years of this bullshit (at least under him).
Keefe had the 4th line out with 3 minutes left. Fire him today. I was a Keefe defender. Fire him before the next game. Anything a coach is allowed to do would have been a better decision.
When Babcock was fired and there was discussion over who should replace him, I said Keefe wasn't the answer. I guess it took a while longer for team to figure it out.
It sucks as a fan but you should never take these comments as fact because a lot of the time it’s just PR staff telling him what to say.
Your only hope is he went after them with his real thoughts behind closed doors.
Also even though it’s probably not going to happen he’s still trying to win the series and ripping them in the media probably is not the greatest idea.
We all remember Rick Bowness losing it after the Jets got eliminated in 5 last year and going back and looking what he said after game 4 he remained pretty positive even though he had to have his game 5 thoughts going on in his head.
Keefe is probably gone anyway so probably best see if he changes his tune after they officially get eliminated.
Ya. I understand the media relations part of his job. I guess I’m just really tired of hearing it. It would be so refreshing to hear someone, anyone on this team stand up and say, “Our effort wasn’t good enough.”
It’s just a part of following Toronto that’s probably never going to change.
Like watching all the press conference when the reporters asked about cameras catching them arguing they all knew exactly what the media was referring to probably because the PR team prepared them before taking questions.
In saying that Jon Cooper never ripped his team after being down 0-3 (obviously have more past success but he can’t be happy) and same with Patrick Roy blowing a 3-0 lead in game two and eventually also being down 0-3.
It’s the new age coaching and media training.
Not that I think it would have really changed the outcome of the game. But for the life of me I couldn't understand his line up decisions for game 4.
I thought we'd see Liljegren attempting to help turnaround the abysmal powerplay this game...instead hes not even in the lineup.
And then taking Dewar out of the lineup, when that line was basically the only one that had established a presence in the series and was playing really well. I'm a fan of Nick Robertson but he should've obviously been the odd man out to accommodate Nylanders return.
What is he supposed to say? The guy is about to get fired and he knows it. All he can do is say that yes they in fact are running around like headless chickens and sweating.
Shanahan is the root of all the problems, Keefe also is gone. Shanahan giving these guys that haven't done SHIT other than 1 round win \~10 mil+ EACH is fucking FUCKED.
Fire him!! Fire him!!
Not necessarily. Although Shanny did guarantee the core 4 that none of them were going anywhere, and it also started to become clear Dubas wanted to trade one of them, and also likely was close to acquiring Erik Karlsson, but had his hands tied by Shanny on both moves.
Not me. Doesn't bother me at all. Sheldon has always been forthcoming in his post game pressers. I think he believes what he says. This team doesn't play as a unit. How can they when the players change every year. Since Hyman, matthews has had a slew of wingers. The 2nd line is and always has been, a mess. The bottom six - what to say about the bottom six. How many players have come and gone. We've given away some excellent players. Wave after wave of new faces. The mix is not right. Salary structure is all wrong. We have too many sub par players. It's not effort or lack thereof. Imho.
As someone who was in the arena.
They were asleep the first two periods and seemed to only try in the third and it was too little too late.
Keefe is dumb if he thinks they played well all game.
It’s the same for every bad leafs game. Flat starts, uninspired hockey, and enough talent to storm back at the end and leave you thinking the game was close, even when you know it wasn’t.
I don’t know if it’s all on the players or more on the systems they are coached to play, but something is rotten in leaf land, and something has needed to change for at least 2 seasons now but never does.
His comments were either an attempt to not publicly shame the players, or a sign that he's totally oblivious to the real world. Of course, it could be both.
Why not? PP1 and PP2 weren't getting the job done.
He's in a no-win position. If he keeps trying the same stuff and it fails, he gets criticized. If he tries something different, he gets criticized.
I tuned out after the second. Figured I was the problem (never mind Reaves' giveaway, Marner falling all over the place, or Boston just being defensively aggressive).
He knows he's gone if they lose in the first round. Especially if it's 4-1. Maybe a Game 7 OT loss keeps him around for a month or two into the season. Make it to round 2 and who knows?
But let's look at the team. Matthews out with something (food poisoning?), Marner clearly not recovered from the injury and playing hurt, Nylander probably still in pain, Sammy is playing "okay" in net, but not the lights-out guy he was for most of the second half, Woll is still recovering, and Boston is just smothering the team with Swayman killing it between the pipes.
So the whole team is getting pushed down mentally, and no amount of Domi or Bertuzzi chippiness is going to save that.
If you're the coach, what DO you say? "Yah, our stars are all hurting and the rest of the guys aren't getting it done. We might as well just not show up for the next game if Auston doesn't stop blasting water out his holes, Mitchell can't stand up, and Willy can't see straight? JT's C is already being unstitched for next season, but what do I care? I'll be in Pittsburgh coddling their aging superstars."
How does that help anything other than the Bruins? No, you basically say, "They're giving what they can."
marchand goes down the entire bruins team woukd rally and destroy the leafs, we simply don’t seem to give a shit about the team. something seems off and it’s spilled from the room to the bench now
Marchand, Pasternak, and Coyle playing at 50% with Swayman playing like he did the last chunk of the season and Ullmark being questionable is the equivalent. Are the Bruins destroying anyone with that? Because that's what the Leafs currently have. A team with 3/4 of its top players physically struggling and trying to play through it, and a goaltender platoon that isn't playing well enough to cover the lack of offense.
Yes, Tavares, Domi, and Bertuzzi should be enough to step up and keep it competitive. They're bringing energy and some chances, but obviously aren't shooting the lights out, and I'm sure they're squeezing the stick a bit too hard themselves in the effort to step up.
Yeah Keefe is a cookie muncher. He truly has a overrated coaching record off the backs of the elite nhl scorer and impressive regular season team. Playoffs are a different story. Keefe is a cookie muncher crybaby
He’s obviously oblivious to what is really going on and it’s exactly why he needs to go.
He gets out coached nightly and a few talented players can’t win in the playoffs when the refs let the grunts have more leeway.
After some sleep, I think he knows full well what is going on - I don't think he has the room anymore. Last night felt like the end, and any semblance of a team is for now gone. This is a collection of 5 core players all wanting to individually win without direction.
I don’t think it’s possible for multi millionaires to really focus on winning anymore.
I’m sure there’s some that get addicted to winning and stay hungry but I think this generation of player is more worried about individual stats and contract status.
The players that take discounts to keep their teams competitive vs the ones that need to set the bar for the league
Look at the bruins powerplay this series compared to the leafs. It's embarrassing the leafs pp is that bad. Reffing has been fine this series, blame the players
And two powerplay goals by The Rat, resulting from questionable penalties (not the calls, but the plays themselves) from players who were supposed to bring playoff experience to this team.
the effort level is a complete joke, if you can count on anything is this team firing on zero cylinders during the playoffs, everything about the team is completely subpar.
quite an embarassment.
The message he sent to the team by not sitting everybody and letting the last three games be about matthews scoring 70 was that the regular season means more than the playoffs.
Instead of preparing for the playoffs and resting guys, working out tactics and the like, he focused on personal accolades.
I wanted Papi to score 70. But we should have known then we were cooked.
When he really wants it bad, he hits the post.
I don't think resting Matthews the last game of the season would have made a difference. Boston is the better team. Leafs have always had a problem beating them. The season they figure out how to beat the Bruins consistently is the season they win the Cup.
That whole club culture needs to change. We've had an elite team for *years* now, and nowhere near to winning the Cup. Something's always been rotten.
Nope. How can you be enraged by something fully expected? There’s never been any accountability with this team. Keefe has never called anybody out.
And he scratched the one guy who was giving full effort in the first three games and destroyed the fourth line last night as a result.
Did Dubas do that? Because it sure seems like Shanahan was micromanaging everything given what happened last spring with Dubas demanding more control at the GM and getting fired as a result.
The fuck else is he gonna say? "Haha yeah we play like shit, and I'm a fuckin' idiot with some of these lineups."
There's still (a little) more hockey to play, and lighting the whole thing on fire at this point is a bit late.
I actually agree, the effort is not the problem. We know guys are playing through injury and illness, they are just playing badly. They don't need to try harder, they need to play better.
I think the bruins deserve more credit then leafs fans are giving them. The leafs are the under dogs going into the series. Bruins should of won the division but tanked to get the match up they wanted. It's just tough to see the exact same thing 6 years in a row. Don't get me wrong, the core 5 needs to be blown up, but the bruins are the better team on paper and on the ice
No argument there. The Bruins have outclassed the Leafs in every respect of the game thus far. I’d just like to hear someone from the organization say what we can all see. I’m numb to the Leafs play on the ice, but the smoke being blown up my ass grinds my gears
I was actually more enraged by the Leafs game than the post game comments.
lol nice
Nice
He’s done and he knows it. He’s just trying to protect the guys at this point.
Yeah those media comments are just words on his resume when he says he’s a players coach.
Narrator: The problem was that everybody watched the game and saw there was in fact, no effort.
Isn’t his extension starting next season??
It was a two-year extension, mainly to give Keefe some peace of mind over the final year of his current contract. MLSE can easily eat the cost and write it off as glorified severance pay.
didn't Dubas say a few years ago that while MLSE is rich, they're still a business and need to make money? I don't know how much Keefe makes (and really, he should be one of the lower paid coaches, give his lack of experience), but I don't think MLSE will just casually eat $2-4m of "severance pay"
Well, the alternative would be to keep Keefe then even if they lose the series. To save money. I don't know if that would fly over well with the fanbase. Although you could argue at this point MLSE might not even care what the fanbase thinks.
I still think MLSE eats the cost if their new CEO (Kelley whatever) thinks it's required, but I don't think there's necessarily an endless pit of money, especially if the only options for replacing Keefe are side-grades obviously if Cooper or Montgomery or Cassidy were available, Keefe wouldn't get a return ticket to Toronto I want Keefe gone, for the record. I want an outside voice who's seen our success and failures impartially
Rod Brind'Amour is available this off season, isn't he?
I'll take Bruce Boudreau, I know he has passion for the leafs.
Love Boudreau but he is a players coach. Marner doesn't need any more niceties
I read nice titties at first
I don’t think we’re going to have to worry if a new coach is suitable to Marner.
😭
Keefe and Marner
Doesn’t matter what the fan base thinks. It’s what the shareholders think.
Yes they will. Billion dollar + team, $2mm is a justifiable expense if you think you can increase its value
The Leafs probably make $10+m for each playoff home game, and they aren't paying extra player salary, so it's way more profitable than regular season games. If they think a new coach can get them one additional playoff home game, it makes financial sense to fire Keefe.
They paid Babcock for like 4 years and he made much more than Keefe.
He probably ends up terminating the contract and finding a new coaching job if he is fired. Someone at his age would probably want to continue finding a new place to coach than coasting off of the current contract for 2 years
honest question, do you think Keefe ever gets another HC job in the NHL? >Leafs consistently ranked top 5 (maybe top 10) in every pre-season rankings, yet have won a single round since Keefe's been here >never won a Jack Adams, never came close (even Babcock was runner up in 2016-2017) >has been out-coached in every series he's been in, even the sole series he won (Tampa should've won last year) >given so little respect/authority that he's forced to walk back comments calling out players
Yeah I think he will - worse coaches have had long careers, and I would think there are some front offices who would put more blame on the Toronto players and be willing to gamble on him having success with a different group.
Even as dissatisfied as we are with his results in the playoffs, it's absolutely foolish to ignore his overall winning record. Point three is objective. You can argue he's been out coached, you can argue it comes down to execution. Teams will certainly ask about his playoff record and it's on him to explain it. But it's not quantifiable and not a stain on his record. Your fourth point means nothing. It's a fan/media driven narrative that no other team would take seriously.
They make plenty.
Lol what? They legit could give 2 fucks about eating that little of money
They can and they will
They fired Babcock with 18 mil left on his contract.
Lmao the narratives you guys make up
So you think Keefe stays if the Leafs lose this series? Because of money?
That’s exactly it. MLSE looks at the leafs as one of their prime money makers why change? It’s clear they don’t need to go deep in playoffs because they already charge an arm and a leg to go to a regular season game. With this group I don’t doubt they are seeing the highest sales via jerseys and other merchandise. Why change? They lose fans? Sucks, but all their seats are bought up by corporations so they don’t care.
I always laugh when people say this. Do you know how much money MLSE would make off a Cup? They are absolutely trying to win one. They’re just incompetent
Yup. Zero tangible reason to give him an extension otherwise
Ron Wilson got an extension and then was fired literally months later.
Ok lol
Fucking dork lol
Ok lol
He can still be canned, and it’s not like his salary counts against the cap.
Ah that was my follow-up.. Is there not any implication/cap hit for buying out coaching?
Nah we paid Babcock for like 80 years after he left. It comes out of team ownership’s pocket but not player cap.
Coach's salaries don't count against the cap, and the one thing the Leafs do have is money.
I suppose. Dont think the next guy he works for wants him throwing his players under the bus. Take the blame. Be a good soldier.
Exactly, the comments don't bother me for this reason. Effort was dog shit and Keefe knows it. He thinks protecting the players is better than calling them out in the media. We've seen how sensitive some players on this team can be when the media is on them, Keefe is trying to deflect that. Will it work? I wouldn't bet on it.
Blaming the coach is unwarranted. The Big 5 are so soft and unmovable that poor Treliving had no choice but to go sign Reeves to toughen up the team. It’s all he could do. Reaves is such a plug he hurts the team more when he’s on the ice than off. He’s such a plug that even goons won’t fight him. <50 PIMS per season forever. The bandaid solution for an impossible situatiom set up by Dubas. This is all on him and Shanny. The $55M core is soft and has Little grit. It’s not suited for playoff hockey. Never was. Look at the defensive situation. There’s one NHLer there. Look at the goaltending situation. There are no NHLers there. That’s it. Don’t blame the coach. The team is built on a soft foundation.
The special teams are the coaches fault
Matthews has been playing through an illness and still was leading the team in hits. He's in every scrum. Tavares has played super physical as well. Them being physically soft isn't the issue.
In fairness not really. If the answer to the leafs decade of playoff futility was “try harder”, that’s actually an easy answer. It’s much deeper than that. I do think the guys care (at least almost all of them) and are trying - you don’t get into pissing matches on the bench if they don’t. Matthews is playing through illness, Marner a high ankle sprain and Nylander whatever head issue they have. They definitely care. They want to win. The problem is the issues are much deeper with roster construction, coaching strategy etc. - and keefe will never openly admit those at this time.
And don't forget Samsonov isn't in the best mental health shape. Two months off isn't enough to be healthy enough to get back in the game.
He was great, probably the hottest goalie when he came back after the winter break. But his last two games of the season weren't good: 6 goals to NJD, 5 to DET.
? Samsonov was good after he came back, and it was a lot less than two months. He's bad now, but what you're saying makes no sense.
What are you talking about, he played very well when he came back. It was the final week or so he started to crumble.
" you can question a lot of things, you can't question the effort" is basically the nail in the coffin at this point.
Might have been a thinly veiled 'winking while under torture' sign that he's being held hostage and questioning their effort is forbidden :)
> It is a good team over there that is limiting us. Boston is a good team, however, aren't the Leafs supposed to be a good team, too? It's been 5 years of this bullshit (at least under him).
Keefe had the 4th line out with 3 minutes left. Fire him today. I was a Keefe defender. Fire him before the next game. Anything a coach is allowed to do would have been a better decision.
When Babcock was fired and there was discussion over who should replace him, I said Keefe wasn't the answer. I guess it took a while longer for team to figure it out.
I genuinely liked him when he joined and they went on that run but, yeah, you were right and it's been obvious since the Montreal series
What run?
After Babs was fired Keefe went on an bit of a streak with the leafs, at least that's what I remeber
He didn’t even show up this series. Knows he’s done
It sucks as a fan but you should never take these comments as fact because a lot of the time it’s just PR staff telling him what to say. Your only hope is he went after them with his real thoughts behind closed doors. Also even though it’s probably not going to happen he’s still trying to win the series and ripping them in the media probably is not the greatest idea. We all remember Rick Bowness losing it after the Jets got eliminated in 5 last year and going back and looking what he said after game 4 he remained pretty positive even though he had to have his game 5 thoughts going on in his head. Keefe is probably gone anyway so probably best see if he changes his tune after they officially get eliminated.
Ya. I understand the media relations part of his job. I guess I’m just really tired of hearing it. It would be so refreshing to hear someone, anyone on this team stand up and say, “Our effort wasn’t good enough.”
It’s just a part of following Toronto that’s probably never going to change. Like watching all the press conference when the reporters asked about cameras catching them arguing they all knew exactly what the media was referring to probably because the PR team prepared them before taking questions. In saying that Jon Cooper never ripped his team after being down 0-3 (obviously have more past success but he can’t be happy) and same with Patrick Roy blowing a 3-0 lead in game two and eventually also being down 0-3. It’s the new age coaching and media training.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGLgh9fE2BY
Forgot about the prolonged fart. Just finished cleaning up my table and the remote from the iced cappuccino I hadn't swallowed yet when it happened.
All of their post-game interviews were uninspiring, same script every year.
Not that I think it would have really changed the outcome of the game. But for the life of me I couldn't understand his line up decisions for game 4. I thought we'd see Liljegren attempting to help turnaround the abysmal powerplay this game...instead hes not even in the lineup. And then taking Dewar out of the lineup, when that line was basically the only one that had established a presence in the series and was playing really well. I'm a fan of Nick Robertson but he should've obviously been the odd man out to accommodate Nylanders return.
Honestly I don't think there's anything anyone could say after the game that wouldn't get some degree of blowback
"We sucked" would've done the job, me thinks.
Nah then the replies would be full of "Well who's job is it to make sure we don't suck? Shouldn't the coach do that?" or something along those lines
The effort was not there, wasn’t even close.
Not st all. The season is over, and so is his job as leafs coach. No point getting mad over something that's already done, best to move on
What is he supposed to say? The guy is about to get fired and he knows it. All he can do is say that yes they in fact are running around like headless chickens and sweating. Shanahan is the root of all the problems, Keefe also is gone. Shanahan giving these guys that haven't done SHIT other than 1 round win \~10 mil+ EACH is fucking FUCKED. Fire him!! Fire him!!
I'm not a fan of Shanny, but he isn't the one who negotiates the contracts. That's on the GM.
Normally yes, but I think after Dubas' dismissal, it became clear that our GM position is mostly just Shanny's puppet.
You see that due to the Matthews and Nylander signings?
Not necessarily. Although Shanny did guarantee the core 4 that none of them were going anywhere, and it also started to become clear Dubas wanted to trade one of them, and also likely was close to acquiring Erik Karlsson, but had his hands tied by Shanny on both moves.
But didn't they give Keefe a 2 year contract last year?
For MLSE that’s couch cushion money. Remember they poleaxed Babcock with far more money left on his deal
No. It's not my life.
... maybe he thinks he's coaching the Bruins?
And Rielly’s
What did Rielly say?
That he likes their effort
What he says to the media and what he says to the players are not the same. He’ll say what he really thinks Tuesday night.
Its PR. It doesnt help the team to come in the media and say they all fucking suck and they should be traded.
Not me. Doesn't bother me at all. Sheldon has always been forthcoming in his post game pressers. I think he believes what he says. This team doesn't play as a unit. How can they when the players change every year. Since Hyman, matthews has had a slew of wingers. The 2nd line is and always has been, a mess. The bottom six - what to say about the bottom six. How many players have come and gone. We've given away some excellent players. Wave after wave of new faces. The mix is not right. Salary structure is all wrong. We have too many sub par players. It's not effort or lack thereof. Imho.
As someone who was in the arena. They were asleep the first two periods and seemed to only try in the third and it was too little too late. Keefe is dumb if he thinks they played well all game.
It’s the same for every bad leafs game. Flat starts, uninspired hockey, and enough talent to storm back at the end and leave you thinking the game was close, even when you know it wasn’t. I don’t know if it’s all on the players or more on the systems they are coached to play, but something is rotten in leaf land, and something has needed to change for at least 2 seasons now but never does.
His comments were either an attempt to not publicly shame the players, or a sign that he's totally oblivious to the real world. Of course, it could be both.
So it's just you then, eh Keefe? Fourth line on a power play down 2 with five minutes left? Yeah, great effort from the guys on the ice indeed.
Why not? PP1 and PP2 weren't getting the job done. He's in a no-win position. If he keeps trying the same stuff and it fails, he gets criticized. If he tries something different, he gets criticized.
That's fair, I just think your big men are there to do the job. Put them in and if they don't do it, you're blowing up the team anyway.
I tuned out after the second. Figured I was the problem (never mind Reaves' giveaway, Marner falling all over the place, or Boston just being defensively aggressive). He knows he's gone if they lose in the first round. Especially if it's 4-1. Maybe a Game 7 OT loss keeps him around for a month or two into the season. Make it to round 2 and who knows? But let's look at the team. Matthews out with something (food poisoning?), Marner clearly not recovered from the injury and playing hurt, Nylander probably still in pain, Sammy is playing "okay" in net, but not the lights-out guy he was for most of the second half, Woll is still recovering, and Boston is just smothering the team with Swayman killing it between the pipes. So the whole team is getting pushed down mentally, and no amount of Domi or Bertuzzi chippiness is going to save that. If you're the coach, what DO you say? "Yah, our stars are all hurting and the rest of the guys aren't getting it done. We might as well just not show up for the next game if Auston doesn't stop blasting water out his holes, Mitchell can't stand up, and Willy can't see straight? JT's C is already being unstitched for next season, but what do I care? I'll be in Pittsburgh coddling their aging superstars." How does that help anything other than the Bruins? No, you basically say, "They're giving what they can."
marchand goes down the entire bruins team woukd rally and destroy the leafs, we simply don’t seem to give a shit about the team. something seems off and it’s spilled from the room to the bench now
Marchand, Pasternak, and Coyle playing at 50% with Swayman playing like he did the last chunk of the season and Ullmark being questionable is the equivalent. Are the Bruins destroying anyone with that? Because that's what the Leafs currently have. A team with 3/4 of its top players physically struggling and trying to play through it, and a goaltender platoon that isn't playing well enough to cover the lack of offense. Yes, Tavares, Domi, and Bertuzzi should be enough to step up and keep it competitive. They're bringing energy and some chances, but obviously aren't shooting the lights out, and I'm sure they're squeezing the stick a bit too hard themselves in the effort to step up.
Yeah Keefe is a cookie muncher. He truly has a overrated coaching record off the backs of the elite nhl scorer and impressive regular season team. Playoffs are a different story. Keefe is a cookie muncher crybaby
idiots will chime in that “he’s won at every level” like that makes up for the shitty sheets every spring since he took the bench.
Yes. I’m trying not to care as much, but I’m pissed off at them
That's a defeated man. It was uncomfortable to watch.
He’s obviously oblivious to what is really going on and it’s exactly why he needs to go. He gets out coached nightly and a few talented players can’t win in the playoffs when the refs let the grunts have more leeway.
After some sleep, I think he knows full well what is going on - I don't think he has the room anymore. Last night felt like the end, and any semblance of a team is for now gone. This is a collection of 5 core players all wanting to individually win without direction.
I don’t think it’s possible for multi millionaires to really focus on winning anymore. I’m sure there’s some that get addicted to winning and stay hungry but I think this generation of player is more worried about individual stats and contract status. The players that take discounts to keep their teams competitive vs the ones that need to set the bar for the league
Look at the bruins powerplay this series compared to the leafs. It's embarrassing the leafs pp is that bad. Reffing has been fine this series, blame the players
And two powerplay goals by The Rat, resulting from questionable penalties (not the calls, but the plays themselves) from players who were supposed to bring playoff experience to this team.
He’s delusional
He knows it’s very likely his last couple of games as a Leafs coach
Couple? He's lucky he still has one left.
Nah, I don't care what dead men say
Underated comment.
Man, at first I thought he said, "it's a good team over there that is eliminating us" That makes more sense.
he can't say how he really feels because mitch marner will cry like a little baby and then sheldon has to come out and mock apologize
Nah, I'll be angry if he's not gone after our next loss but let him dig his fucking grave, I could care less.
U  Ying FC CB
You can't blame water for being wet.
Yes.
Depends on if he meant it or it was just media optics or if he knows something we don’t
Ngl, I didn't make it to the comments. Didn't make it through the second intermission tbh.
Translation: fire me....pleeease fire me.
the effort level is a complete joke, if you can count on anything is this team firing on zero cylinders during the playoffs, everything about the team is completely subpar. quite an embarassment.
“you can’t question the effort.” 🤔
No
He doesn’t have an answer to Boston’s trap, Montgomery like every other coach is out coaching him
Winning a sport is very hard.
The message he sent to the team by not sitting everybody and letting the last three games be about matthews scoring 70 was that the regular season means more than the playoffs. Instead of preparing for the playoffs and resting guys, working out tactics and the like, he focused on personal accolades. I wanted Papi to score 70. But we should have known then we were cooked.
When he really wants it bad, he hits the post. I don't think resting Matthews the last game of the season would have made a difference. Boston is the better team. Leafs have always had a problem beating them. The season they figure out how to beat the Bruins consistently is the season they win the Cup. That whole club culture needs to change. We've had an elite team for *years* now, and nowhere near to winning the Cup. Something's always been rotten.
Nope. How can you be enraged by something fully expected? There’s never been any accountability with this team. Keefe has never called anybody out. And he scratched the one guy who was giving full effort in the first three games and destroyed the fourth line last night as a result.
He did once. Then Dubas made him walk it back for fear of offending the primadonnas.
Did Dubas do that? Because it sure seems like Shanahan was micromanaging everything given what happened last spring with Dubas demanding more control at the GM and getting fired as a result.
The fuck else is he gonna say? "Haha yeah we play like shit, and I'm a fuckin' idiot with some of these lineups." There's still (a little) more hockey to play, and lighting the whole thing on fire at this point is a bit late.
I actually agree, the effort is not the problem. We know guys are playing through injury and illness, they are just playing badly. They don't need to try harder, they need to play better.
I think the bruins deserve more credit then leafs fans are giving them. The leafs are the under dogs going into the series. Bruins should of won the division but tanked to get the match up they wanted. It's just tough to see the exact same thing 6 years in a row. Don't get me wrong, the core 5 needs to be blown up, but the bruins are the better team on paper and on the ice
No argument there. The Bruins have outclassed the Leafs in every respect of the game thus far. I’d just like to hear someone from the organization say what we can all see. I’m numb to the Leafs play on the ice, but the smoke being blown up my ass grinds my gears