BBB

@tozmoon911 @curtism19671 I think a system in which forwards come back can work. Posession does not equal Cup. What you can’t have is defensemen who cannot defend at all whatsoever and that’s what no contending teams have on their rosters and Leafs unfortunately have in Rielly.

@BringBackBabs @curtism19671 My argument is that the Fs helped the D and bailed in the 2nd half of that series. Which explains why they got shelled in some games including game 7. Yes, Reilly sucked but base line for a championship D pair is to move the puck out without having the forwards back in our zone.

The problem was never Marner, nor Matthews, nor the ‘core 4’. Berube wasn’t the problem, nor Treliving; hell, even Dubas and Keefe weren’t the problem, definitely not Shanny, Lou or Babs, Kadri or Hyman. The problem was always Morgan Rielly playing 20 + minutes per night.

@tozmoon911 @curtism19671 I thought you were talking about the year before…

@BringBackBabs @curtism19671 They all played against FLA in 2025 playoffs didn't they? They couldn't get he puck out of the zone. I don't even care at this point about a D like a Maker or what not. Just some D that can get the puck out during duress on the fly to a F. All 3 couldn't.

@JustinOilers The problem was Rielly being the 5th ‘core player’. 4 amazing offensive producers and behind them Morgan fucking Rielly - the worst d in the league posing as no. 1 on a contending team.

@BringBackBabs The problem was 40 million in 4 players

@cvtvb Leafs were overachieving under Babs. They worked their asses off and they were humble. At the time Dubas and Mitchy conspired to cancel his career he was literally the best coach in the game; all he did was win…

@BringBackBabs And never having great goaltending and you can't seriously think Babs wasn't a problem.

@SSAMAB9 It worked great for the team that won the last two Cups!

@BringBackBabs No, Berube's system was a huge problem. They got lucky and snuck buy in year 1 winning close games and 1 playoff round, but there was no margin for error and it showed in year 2. Dump and chase doesn't work in the puck possession era. Waste of skilled players' potential.

@tozmoon911 @curtism19671 I do remember that. That was before Tanev, Carlo and OEL. We finally had some good D. Unfortunately, they were hurt or Rielly was valued above them (as in the case of OEL being on PP2 all year behind Rielly).

@BringBackBabs @curtism19671 Could have won what cup? Don’t you remember FLA and BOS hemming our D in our zone and the Fs had to come back bail them out? The entire D core couldn’t get puck up to Fs on the fly. Exactly the opposite in Montreal, Canes and Vegas. Ironically Makar went down and so did COL.

@bigcolwell No. Rielly’s always been played as an offensive dive D. He is just that so bad that having him in the ice in any situation guarantees glorious chances and goals against.

@bigcolwell I do. And it is on everyone that signed him and played him. But that’s their only huge mistake.

@bigcolwell Marner fucked the Leafs. Sure, maybe if they were a better run org he wouldn’t want to leave but likely he’s just a greedy POS. Carlo and Laughton brought us to game 7 against ultimate champs. Carlo can defend and helped cover up a lot of Rielly’s issues. Laughton was 3C we need.

@BringBackBabs Their only? The Carlo trade and Laughton trades just recently were terrible. Marner was handled poorly. Come on this is not a well run organization, certainly not in recent years.

@curtism19671 Our top 2 D were injured, Tanev for the entire season. This was the team built with veterans who, if healthy, could have won the Cup. It was a gamble that didn’t work out.

@BringBackBabs D core is/was shambled

@victoriastewxrt He never got to play on the attack because he had his buddy Rielly giving up pucks and goals all night long every night.

As a Leafs fan, idgaf what Marner has done in Vegas He didn’t do that in Toronto, that’s all I care about

Matthews just had a surgery. Tanev’s been out all season. Carlo was clearly injured for most of the season. Knies was hurt. And now this. And we went ahead and tore down an organization that took Champs to 7 a season ago, replaced a GM who did that with a conman, fired the Coach

@feedthefish79 Babcock Berube Keefe

Babcock, Berube, Keefe.

@Berger_BYTES Losing Human, Kadri and Marner were such blunders. What did we get for them? We shouldn’t have let any of those players go. Mitch was like Dougie - a dog on the bone - a 100 point scorer! Stop the bleeding. Hold on to the good ones and get more good ones. Simple.

NEW TODAY: I was wrong about Keith Pelley, figuring that he would call the hockey shots at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. Instead, it was John Chayka and Mats Sundin that chose to fire Craig Berube. If that pattern continues, the #Leafs will improve. Story here... bit.ly/4nRLVV7 #LeafsForever #MLSE

@Berger_BYTES I disagree. I think we need to keep Matthews and Nylander in their prime. They need to be surrounded by young, big, defensively-aware, ready-to-contribute-offensively forwards. 2 need to be centres. And they need to get rid of Rielly. Draft the readiest player available.

@tddt_5115 @HockeyCrashTest Those are all good players!

Derek Clancey was Director of Player Personnel in Toronto, meaning he was essentially Trelivings right hand. He brought in: - Bertuzzi/Domi - Klingberg - Benoit - Edmundson/Lyubushkin - Myers - Tanev/OEL - Lorentz - Laughton/Carlo - Joshua/Roy Good fucking riddance.

@htrickkane9 It has the deep black hole Morgan Rielly on it.

An offseason which might propel Leafs to playoff contention - Tomas Hertl - Darren Raddysh - Jordan Eberle - Kevin Stenlund

@HockeyPatrol First overall?

The St. Louis Blues are putting Jordan Kyrou on the trade block and the Toronto Maple Leafs have everything they need to make a blockbuster deal. Jordan Kyrou is a three-time 30-goal scorer who is on the trade block according to Jeremy Rutherford. But his price won't be cheap, and it's going to cost GM John Chayka a king's ransom that will cost him Easton Cowan, Nick Robertson, and a first. He better hope things work out in the end. Do you do it?