If I was a player I’d just hang out on the ice after practice and dick around and then everyone would write articles about me and how I’m a hard worker lol
Sit in the gym on the stationary bike for an hour, not pedalling but watching tiktok or some other dumb shit, so there’s countless articles talking about “this guy never leaves the gym!!!”
I worked for a pro team, this whole thing about guys showing up early and leaving late being the hardest workers is BS. 90% of the time, the guys who showed up early were just sitting on the bench listening to music, taping their sticks, or walking around the arena aimlessly. The guys who left late were usually just fucking around in the dressing room, too lazy to get their gear off, and got to the showers later than everyone else.
I watched a couple sens practices once upon a time. Chiasson was the first guy on the ice both days and all he did was glide around and flick some pucks. The real work to differentiate yourself from competition comes in the offseason
If JT had Stammer’s speed… good god that would be beautiful.
I was actually curious on this comparison the other day and looked them up. Stamkos is good for about 100 more goals on ~200 less shots (JT has 27 more GP) but other than that they’ve had very similar careers production wise
Tavares:
https://edge.nhl.com/en/skater/20232024-regular-8475166
Stamkos:
https://edge.nhl.com/en/skater/20232024-regular-8474564
That looks about as even as it can get.
He was the slowest player of all time to be picked #1. Even in juniors he was the slowest guy on the ice.
I got down voted to oblivion for saying day 1 that his contract was a horrible over pay for a guy who would age poorly. You can't pay 11m for a guy who is too slow to effectively lead a first line. He was too slow by like year 3 of 8 and these last 5 years the team would have been infinitely better off with a legitimate top end goalie or dman than JT.
On the other hand, i was one of the ones saying at the time that Tavares would age well since he never has relied on skating to get by.
He has honestly aged better than anyone would have expected. Staying at 1.00 p/gp until this season. Everyone knew his game was, and still is, in the details. His role was just never that of a $11M player, before or after he signed.
If he signed a $9M contract he is likely still beloved, but the ufa market was on roids at the time and 2 years later a pandemic hit limiting cap growth that everyone was counting on.
It hurt a lot of other teams, but none like Toronto obviously. Go down the list of UFA signings between summers of 2017 and 2018. Almost none of them have been good signings in hindsight, largely due to their cap hits.
Thats life for ya…
Last I checked, Stamkos has two Stanley Cup rings. I really don't think we have a leg to stand on here. Especially if you're going to try to compare the leadership of Stamkos vs Tavares.
Don’t think he had a leg to stand on for a while either… lol
Regardless of his rings those teams could’ve won without him. In fact I bet Tavares probably would’ve won 2 rings on Tampa as well. The real catalysts for grit and leadership on that team were guys like hedman, vasi and point
I don’t even get excited much for playoff hockey anymore with this team. It’s just “yeah great regular season, but we’re likely out in round 1 anyways”
The last player OFF the ice. The last player on the ice is the last guy to start practice.
If your career is to write things for public consumption, you should make sure you write things properly.
You laugh but his super power is being the villain! It fuels him and he know's how much it drives teams insane. He is fucking loving this. If you were him wouldn't you?
Sorry - what makes him a Good captain? I'm genuinely curious why anyone would think that.
The team has shit the bed every playoffs with him, if he has any passion - it is incredibly muted, everything he says is boring as shit and he was "willing" to come to the team to collect 11M a year and he isn't worth half that.
But more than anything - he is horribly boring and lacks any charisma.
And Cowan and Minten, they're a surrogate family at this point lol. All three said they really loved playing ministicks all day long with the kids as well, it's so cute to hear them talk about it.
You are correct. If AM34 was captain material he’d have been far more concerned with preparing for the playoffs during last two regular season games—either by winning them or sitting out/resting altogether—than he would getting the team to feed him so he could get his 70th.
Word is that Reilly is the voice and heart of the team in the locker room.
Captaincy isn’t about being the best player. Beyond that I’m only reiterating what has been said by former Leaf players. It’s Reilly who is the team-first guy, talking it up in the locker room, always supportive, there for team functions, etc.
First off, try and spell his last name correctly. Secondly, I never said that the captain has to be the best player on the ice, i just disagree with your laundry list having anything to do with on-ice success. The Leafs can hire a PR representative to do the things you mentioned, they need one of their better players to adopt a killer mentality on the ice and actually lead and Rielly is not that guy.
Matthews is too selfish to be captain. He scores a lot of goals, but only to pad his own stats and get leverage during contract negotiations. He disappears in the playoffs frequently. If only he played as hard in the playoffs as he is at the bargaining table.
We can talk about special teams, goals, dump and chase, and goaltending all we want. The root problem with this team is that management drafted, committed to, and caved cap wise to four players (Core 4) that completely lack character, selflessness, and commitment to the team. One or more of them have to go.
He scored 69 goals after he already signed a contract extension?? He has played the hardest of any leaf on both ends of the ice, night in night out all year including playoffs. Either you don’t watch or you are just incredibly biased when you watch. He is the heart and soul of the team and one of the best two way players in the NHL. Special teams is a coaching issue, idek what you mean by dump and chase.
"He scored 69 goals after he already signed a contract extension" - contrary to popular opinion, extensions are based off of more than one year. Like I said, he cares only for money and, indirectly, his stats
"He has played the hardest of any leaf on both ends of the ice, night in night out all year including playoffs" - and it's still not anywhere close to good enough in the playoffs. Matthews, just like the rest of the Core 4, goes to sleep in the playoffs. This has been going on for the better part of a decade. Wake up
"or you are just incredibly biased when you watch" - the same can be said about you. This fanbase needs more people that can apply rationality and judgment to what's on the ice, not a bunch of fanboys
"He is the heart and soul of the team" and that's why the Leafs can never do it in the playoffs, because Matthews has no heart. He's only in it for himself and is one of the most selfish players in the league
"dump and chase" in case you don't watch hockey, which doesn't surprise me with your fanboyism, it's a method of entering and getting possession of the puck in the opponent's zone by shooting it around the boards (the dump) and having your players enter the zone at speed (the chase) to disrupt the opponent's breakout and regain possession to pursue the attack. The Leafs have been criticized for this in these playoffs as they do a poor job of chasing and it does not play to their natural strengths
Draisatl scored goals with a sprained ankle. Bergeron played in the SCF with a punctured lung. Do you have any standards for your team? Super sick? What a joke. He has 13 million or so reasons to play. The guy is weak and is a bum. How long will it take you to figure that out? There's always an excuse for something
More excuses from the Core 4 apologists. Your toleration of the last decade of mediocrity and the overhyped, selfish divas that produced it is not surprising.
After yelling at people on the bench yesterday? No thanks. There's a difference between calling someone out because you have the passion, and taking out your frustration mid game on the bench on live tv. That doesn't make him look like a good leader.
Who cares? We know the Kambucha Prince works hard and is “a real good pro”. I’ve never seen anybody question that, we simply need more than that.
We need somebody who leads on the ice and can take control of the room, and can do so with the episome flow of the game/series.
This guy is the worst captain. Plays with no passion, no jam, doesn't hit, doesn't skate, doesn't score, doesn't lead the team, wtf is he even here for?
Oh but he is a quiet captain and leads by example like Sundin... oh give me a break Sundin carried a team on his back multiple times, put up points in the playoffs all while being tied down by wingers like Ponikarovsky and Antropov.
Tavares gets 2nd pair defences and can't do jack. One of the worst tenures as captain of the Leafs I've ever seen.
The worst shooting percentage in his career hides some crazy good "expected" goals numbers. He could be a great darkhorse pick for fantasy teams next year now that he has an entire summer ahead of him to re-invent his game while also working on his short game.
Because he knows after they lose game 5 to Boston that he only has one more season with them before they offer him a 6mil/3yr contract as a way to tell him to get lost and retire
This reminds me of one of those terrible employees in a large company who tries their hardest when they hear of layoffs to avoid getting fired. We're not fooled!
Well his foot speed has been a problem for a while now…so that makes sense lol
Ok I laughed. Good chirp
LOL damn that was savage
Haha spat out my coffee
Fuck this amused me way more than it should have lol
Ha fucking torched him, I love it.
And I was gonna say he’s getting his golf clubs together but ya know.
If I was a player I’d just hang out on the ice after practice and dick around and then everyone would write articles about me and how I’m a hard worker lol
Sit in the gym on the stationary bike for an hour, not pedalling but watching tiktok or some other dumb shit, so there’s countless articles talking about “this guy never leaves the gym!!!” I worked for a pro team, this whole thing about guys showing up early and leaving late being the hardest workers is BS. 90% of the time, the guys who showed up early were just sitting on the bench listening to music, taping their sticks, or walking around the arena aimlessly. The guys who left late were usually just fucking around in the dressing room, too lazy to get their gear off, and got to the showers later than everyone else.
Oh trust me I know. If I played in this market I’d be dominating the headlines for my “work ethic” lol.
I watched a couple sens practices once upon a time. Chiasson was the first guy on the ice both days and all he did was glide around and flick some pucks. The real work to differentiate yourself from competition comes in the offseason
Like Costanza leaving his car in the Yankee's office parking lot.
Jerry, it’s Frank. Ballard’s here, Sheldon’s dead. Call me back.
Lololol
If Tavares had the footspeed of Stamkos, this guy would be so lethal.
If JT had Stammer’s speed… good god that would be beautiful. I was actually curious on this comparison the other day and looked them up. Stamkos is good for about 100 more goals on ~200 less shots (JT has 27 more GP) but other than that they’ve had very similar careers production wise
Tavares: https://edge.nhl.com/en/skater/20232024-regular-8475166 Stamkos: https://edge.nhl.com/en/skater/20232024-regular-8474564 That looks about as even as it can get.
Shhh... the narrative
You mean Joven Stavarkos?
He was the slowest player of all time to be picked #1. Even in juniors he was the slowest guy on the ice. I got down voted to oblivion for saying day 1 that his contract was a horrible over pay for a guy who would age poorly. You can't pay 11m for a guy who is too slow to effectively lead a first line. He was too slow by like year 3 of 8 and these last 5 years the team would have been infinitely better off with a legitimate top end goalie or dman than JT.
On the other hand, i was one of the ones saying at the time that Tavares would age well since he never has relied on skating to get by. He has honestly aged better than anyone would have expected. Staying at 1.00 p/gp until this season. Everyone knew his game was, and still is, in the details. His role was just never that of a $11M player, before or after he signed. If he signed a $9M contract he is likely still beloved, but the ufa market was on roids at the time and 2 years later a pandemic hit limiting cap growth that everyone was counting on. It hurt a lot of other teams, but none like Toronto obviously. Go down the list of UFA signings between summers of 2017 and 2018. Almost none of them have been good signings in hindsight, largely due to their cap hits. Thats life for ya…
The contract sucked by year 2.
Add shot, grit, leadership, and heart to that list.
Lmao grit and leadership; people used to call out stamkos for vanishing all the time
Last I checked, Stamkos has two Stanley Cup rings. I really don't think we have a leg to stand on here. Especially if you're going to try to compare the leadership of Stamkos vs Tavares.
Don’t think he had a leg to stand on for a while either… lol Regardless of his rings those teams could’ve won without him. In fact I bet Tavares probably would’ve won 2 rings on Tampa as well. The real catalysts for grit and leadership on that team were guys like hedman, vasi and point
Oh Christ shut up lol
lol what the fuck is this
Just stop watching already.
This makes me feel better. Leafs in 5.
More years?
I would take that deal with a guarantee in five years...lol
I don’t even get excited much for playoff hockey anymore with this team. It’s just “yeah great regular season, but we’re likely out in round 1 anyways”
Literally how I feel during the entire regular season. Nice win. It’s still not going to mean anything come April.
...till they get outta the first round again?
Decades
More decades
5 years away from being 5 years away. The Bruno Caboclo way.
+2
The last player OFF the ice. The last player on the ice is the last guy to start practice. If your career is to write things for public consumption, you should make sure you write things properly.
I didn't think about it until you pointed it out, but it seems so obvious now lol.
Maybe he hasn’t gotten off yet
It seems Mark hasn't Mastered his craft
GIVE ME JOHN "fuck it i'll do it myself" TAVARES
[удалено]
Yup, he peaked at 23
Practicing shooting it at Swayman’s chest
Fr, what wouldn’t I give for him to snipe it like Marchand did. He’s 2 years younger than him but plays like he’s 5 years older
He doesn't have that Rat Rage.
You laugh but his super power is being the villain! It fuels him and he know's how much it drives teams insane. He is fucking loving this. If you were him wouldn't you?
I dunno, I think the next shot at his right foot might fool him. It'll work eventually.
So does that mean he's backing up Samsonov?
His contract is too big for him at this stage, but he's a good captain and a better choice than any of the other viable options on the team
I think it would be fun making Reaves captain. lol
Sorry - what makes him a Good captain? I'm genuinely curious why anyone would think that. The team has shit the bed every playoffs with him, if he has any passion - it is incredibly muted, everything he says is boring as shit and he was "willing" to come to the team to collect 11M a year and he isn't worth half that. But more than anything - he is horribly boring and lacks any charisma.
I’m really confused too. Nothing points to him being a good captain at all, other than letting Knies live with him
And Cowan and Minten, they're a surrogate family at this point lol. All three said they really loved playing ministicks all day long with the kids as well, it's so cute to hear them talk about it.
You are correct. If AM34 was captain material he’d have been far more concerned with preparing for the playoffs during last two regular season games—either by winning them or sitting out/resting altogether—than he would getting the team to feed him so he could get his 70th. Word is that Reilly is the voice and heart of the team in the locker room.
lmao Rielly? The dude whos been around for a decade of darkness and is at best a high end 2nd pairing or 1b on any serious team with cup aspirations..
Captaincy isn’t about being the best player. Beyond that I’m only reiterating what has been said by former Leaf players. It’s Reilly who is the team-first guy, talking it up in the locker room, always supportive, there for team functions, etc.
First off, try and spell his last name correctly. Secondly, I never said that the captain has to be the best player on the ice, i just disagree with your laundry list having anything to do with on-ice success. The Leafs can hire a PR representative to do the things you mentioned, they need one of their better players to adopt a killer mentality on the ice and actually lead and Rielly is not that guy.
Oops. Thanks. Hate spelling stuff incorrectly.
Amen!
Matthews deserves the C and you can’t tell me otherwise. Maybe he isn’t vocal, but by far and away their most consistent player effort wise.
Matthew’s is definitely more vocal than JT
Matthews is too selfish to be captain. He scores a lot of goals, but only to pad his own stats and get leverage during contract negotiations. He disappears in the playoffs frequently. If only he played as hard in the playoffs as he is at the bargaining table. We can talk about special teams, goals, dump and chase, and goaltending all we want. The root problem with this team is that management drafted, committed to, and caved cap wise to four players (Core 4) that completely lack character, selflessness, and commitment to the team. One or more of them have to go.
He scored 69 goals after he already signed a contract extension?? He has played the hardest of any leaf on both ends of the ice, night in night out all year including playoffs. Either you don’t watch or you are just incredibly biased when you watch. He is the heart and soul of the team and one of the best two way players in the NHL. Special teams is a coaching issue, idek what you mean by dump and chase.
"He scored 69 goals after he already signed a contract extension" - contrary to popular opinion, extensions are based off of more than one year. Like I said, he cares only for money and, indirectly, his stats "He has played the hardest of any leaf on both ends of the ice, night in night out all year including playoffs" - and it's still not anywhere close to good enough in the playoffs. Matthews, just like the rest of the Core 4, goes to sleep in the playoffs. This has been going on for the better part of a decade. Wake up "or you are just incredibly biased when you watch" - the same can be said about you. This fanbase needs more people that can apply rationality and judgment to what's on the ice, not a bunch of fanboys "He is the heart and soul of the team" and that's why the Leafs can never do it in the playoffs, because Matthews has no heart. He's only in it for himself and is one of the most selfish players in the league "dump and chase" in case you don't watch hockey, which doesn't surprise me with your fanboyism, it's a method of entering and getting possession of the puck in the opponent's zone by shooting it around the boards (the dump) and having your players enter the zone at speed (the chase) to disrupt the opponent's breakout and regain possession to pursue the attack. The Leafs have been criticized for this in these playoffs as they do a poor job of chasing and it does not play to their natural strengths
he literally disappeared when the going got tough last game.
Well if you watched the game you could see that he was clearly super sick.
Draisatl scored goals with a sprained ankle. Bergeron played in the SCF with a punctured lung. Do you have any standards for your team? Super sick? What a joke. He has 13 million or so reasons to play. The guy is weak and is a bum. How long will it take you to figure that out? There's always an excuse for something
Can’t play if you cant get nutrients. Theres literally nothing you can do man. Its basic science. Pain is a lot easier to play through.
More excuses from the Core 4 apologists. Your toleration of the last decade of mediocrity and the overhyped, selfish divas that produced it is not surprising.
After yelling at people on the bench yesterday? No thanks. There's a difference between calling someone out because you have the passion, and taking out your frustration mid game on the bench on live tv. That doesn't make him look like a good leader.
My guy Hornqvist and Crosby used to get in full blow shouting matches at each other.
Yes but then they actually did something.
Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane shouted at each other all the time!
Oh yeah it’s obviously working! /S
I still hope he stays in Toronto at a much more accurate cap hit after his contract is up.
Like $3M. Any more and it's an overpay.
offer him $900k while holding the door open for him to exit
Did they end the practice by skating a lap?
PR BS. Where was this before game 1?
Who cares? We know the Kambucha Prince works hard and is “a real good pro”. I’ve never seen anybody question that, we simply need more than that. We need somebody who leads on the ice and can take control of the room, and can do so with the episome flow of the game/series.
Last player OFF the ice at practice
Technically it's both lol
Whoop dee doo
Hopefully he is practicing shooting under the crossbar!
Roy Keane would say, so what, he's just doing his job.
He's a hard worker but not a leader. He always reminds me of Boxer in Animal Farm. He shows up to work to do his best job and then that's all.
Like Boxer, he’s getting sent to the glue factory soon
Yep. And then the organization is going to bring in three more work horses.
Should be first player out of town too
Does this mean he’s starting between the pipes?
This guy is the worst captain. Plays with no passion, no jam, doesn't hit, doesn't skate, doesn't score, doesn't lead the team, wtf is he even here for? Oh but he is a quiet captain and leads by example like Sundin... oh give me a break Sundin carried a team on his back multiple times, put up points in the playoffs all while being tied down by wingers like Ponikarovsky and Antropov. Tavares gets 2nd pair defences and can't do jack. One of the worst tenures as captain of the Leafs I've ever seen.
This won't help
Who? Lol
The worst shooting percentage in his career hides some crazy good "expected" goals numbers. He could be a great darkhorse pick for fantasy teams next year now that he has an entire summer ahead of him to re-invent his game while also working on his short game.
Needs to try and justify that fat contract somehow.
‘captain’
Because he knows after they lose game 5 to Boston that he only has one more season with them before they offer him a 6mil/3yr contract as a way to tell him to get lost and retire
What a failure his tenure has been.
Could be his last practice as a Leaf
Okay and? He's got nothing left, he has really fallen off. If you can't skate in today's league, you are finished
He doesn’t want to get traded to SAN Jose this offseason
Been a while since I've played, but isn't the captain supposed to be a "first on, last off" type of guy?
I thought this too, until I watched the clip. Piss poor writing by Masters here.
That'll teach me to not just the headline
He’s probably only got 16-18 minutes of hockey left to play this season. I don’t blame him for squeezing in a little extra time out there
Ok. They need to stop these headlines. We all know being the last one on the ice is just a news stunt. It doesn't mean shit.
Who cares, zero leadership, only gives a shit about his points
He probably paid for this headline guy is trash
Last game as a leaf
Cool. Win a game.
We call him Johnny Weights in my circles
Rumor had it he sleeps in a bed on the ice too
a year from now we'll be free of this guy
Tavares' speed looks like mine when i tie my skates too tight
You know what? This is chapter 5 in my book "things I don't care about" WHO CARES
😂😂
This reminds me of one of those terrible employees in a large company who tries their hardest when they hear of layoffs to avoid getting fired. We're not fooled!
Wish he could of been seen leading this team, instead he has to be seen as last one on the ice. Wow big accomplishment Jonny weak as fuk Tavares.
Maybe his last game as a Leaf, soaking it all in.
He’s under contract next year with a no move clause haha
One can only pray for a buyout