2021-22 Toronto Maple Leafs General Discussion

[L K]

NHLPA 2020-2021 player poll:

Best Goal Scorer - Auston Matthews 1st (46.7%)
Best Shot - Auston Matthews 2nd (28.78%)
Best Stick Handler - Auston Matthews 4th (2.52%)
Best Passer - Mitch Marner 5th (5.71%)
Most Fashionable - Auston Matthews 1st (21.16%)

Should Regional Divisions carry forward - 68.2% say no
Should series-style schedule carry forward - 66.3% say yes

 

[herman]

https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2021/06/18/toronto-maple-leafs-offseason-can-they-revamp-their-forward-depth-and-should-they-revise-their-ice-time-allocation/

This largely captures my read on the situation.

The top four likely returning doesn?t mean changes can?t be made to not only better support them but to actually help elevate their games ? in part by not gassing Marner and Matthews with such a massive workload.

This is now multiple years in a row where the opposition has been able to neutralize the Leafs? top weapons come playoff time ? and the coaching staff?s only solution was to play them more.

TL;DR: Play Nylander more, gosh.

 

[ZBBM]

https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2021/06/18/toronto-maple-leafs-offseason-can-they-revamp-their-forward-depth-and-should-they-revise-their-ice-time-allocation/

This largely captures my read on the situation.

The top four likely returning doesn?t mean changes can?t be made to not only better support them but to actually help elevate their games ? in part by not gassing Marner and Matthews with such a massive workload.

This is now multiple years in a row where the opposition has been able to neutralize the Leafs? top weapons come playoff time ? and the coaching staff?s only solution was to play them more.

TL;DR: Play Nylander more, gosh.

For years we complained that Babcock didn't play the stars enough.  Now they are playing too much. 

Got it.

 

[herman]

For years we complained that Babcock didn't play the stars enough.  Now they are playing too much. 

Got it.

34/16 getting 25+
91/88 getting 15

is not quite as sustainable as

34/16 getting 21
91/88 getting 19

 

[ZBBM]

For years we complained that Babcock didn't play the stars enough.  Now they are playing too much. 

Got it.

34/16 getting 25+
91/88 getting 15

is not quite as sustainable as

34/16 getting 21
91/88 getting 19

I'm not disagreeing that Nylander could have used more TOI.  But the idea he's selling that M&M were "gassed" is really dubious.  They got neutralized by the Habs (well, that and Marner decided to channel Mikheyev).

 

[Bullfrog]

I'm not disagreeing that Nylander could have used more TOI.  But the idea he's selling that M&M were "gassed" is really dubious.  They got neutralized by the Habs (well, that and Marner decided to channel Mikheyev).

I'm having troubles taking it seriously because of this quote:

As Albert Einstein famously said, ?Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.?

Might as well have said we only use 10% of our brain power.

 

[dappleganger]

For years we complained that Babcock didn't play the stars enough.  Now they are playing too much. 

Got it.

34/16 getting 25+
91/88 getting 15

is not quite as sustainable as

34/16 getting 21
91/88 getting 19

I like the bottom numbers better.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1406456288901480450

Friedman talked about the assistant coaches on Saturday's Headlines segment: "I understand there's a couple members of Toronto's staff (assistant coaches) that other teams have requested to speak to... if they don't get these particular opportunities it sounds like the coaching staff is coming back as a group."

 

[herman]

I am still excited for what Manny Malhotra can offer, but it can't be on the PP assignment anymore, please for the love of Nylander.

 

[L K]

I'm not against the idea of bringing them back given that if things don't work out next year it's like the entire coaching staff getting fired but whoo booy....making no changes when the coaching staff basically made no changes to an incompetent powerplay and made little to no adjustments to the style of play when we weren't winning games seems really concerning if we are also not touching the Big 4.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

The Leafs have 3 assistant coaches on the team: Dave Hakstol (defence/PK), Manny Malhotra (forwards/PP), and Paul MacLean (eye in the sky). Friedman's report very clearly stated that a "couple" of the assistants had interview requests elsewhere.

My sorta baseless speculation is that another team is interviewing MacLean for a behind-the-bench role and the Leafs want to keep and put him in that role so they're giving one of Hakstol or Malhotra a chance to interview elsewhere instead of simply just firing them (similar to what happened with Jim Hiller).

 

[Guilt Trip]

I think it's Hakstol or MacLean who's wanted. Hakstol was in charge of the Leafs D and turned them around from 26th to 6th best this past season. I don't see MacLean leaving though. From what I remember this is the kind of job he wanted. He doesn't always travel with the team and his son works for the Marlies.
Well if one leaves can we finally see Boudreau behind the bench? That would be nice.

 

[herman]

I think it's Hakstol or MacLean who's wanted. Hakstol was in charge of the Leafs D and turned them around from 26th to 6th best this past season. I don't see MacLean leaving though. From what I remember this is the kind of job he wanted. He doesn't always travel with the team and his son works for the Marlies.
Well if one leaves can we finally see Boudreau behind the bench? That would be nice.

To me, the defensive turnaround seemed to be largely personnel improvements (Brodie, Bogosian > Ceci, Barrie) and NZ forecheck structure commitment (1-1-3) that drove those positive changes. PK, where Hakstol's real fingerprints would show up, were... okay? Results were sewered at times by an injured Andersen, etc.

(similar to what happened with Jim Hiller).

Giving out glowing references and letting them land in a new spot (that they earned) is a very graceful way to change the mix. The tendency for the Leafs powerplay to go stale dates all the way back to that last Hiller season though, when Matthews was promoted to PP1 (naturally) and Marner went from keeping PKs guessing with 3 options to a singular focal point that produces 1 month of fire and could then be stymied for months/years thereafter.

 

[Kin]

I really do like the image of the Head Coach and General Manager watching a terrible power-play from the sidelines "Aw, man we put the wrong assistant coach in charge of the power play. I wish we could do something but, like, I guess we'll just have to wait for the off-season to fire him and try someone else."

Like, imagine a Head Coach in the NFL being like "What do you expect me to do about play-calling? That's the OC's job."

 

[herman]

Has any team ever fired an assistant coach midseason without it being part of a head coach removal?

 

[rdowdall]

Has any team ever fired an assistant coach midseason without it being part of a head coach removal?

I think it was more that the Head Coach could put his input in and also the GM as well as part of a discussion, so it doesn't all just fall on the assistant coach as the problem.  I think the only thing that may happen when you hire a new assistant is that they come in with some fresh ideas, but at the same time, this is the NHL, so you need to constantly be evolving throughout the year.

That's actually an area I hope they explore next season.  Split the big four up.  Put one on every line.  Just try it here and there, so that come playoff time, if the combinations aren't working you can throw out some different looks to hopefully confuse the opposition and allow the players a little creativity to try things, rather than just trying the same thing over and over again.

 

[Bender]

I really do like the image of the Head Coach and General Manager watching a terrible power-play from the sidelines "Aw, man we put the wrong assistant coach in charge of the power play. I wish we could do something but, like, I guess we'll just have to wait for the off-season to fire him and try someone else."

Like, imagine a Head Coach in the NFL being like "What do you expect me to do about play-calling? That's the OC's job."

Then... What's the point of the assistant whose job it is to run the pp? I mean I get what you're saying, and in a sense Keefe has to sign off on the PP rationale but if the idea is sold but ends up not being fruitful who is that on?

And is Kyle supposed to fire Malhotra midseason? I'm not entirely sure what you're implying.

 

[Kin]

Then... What's the point of the assistant whose job it is to run the pp? I mean I get what you're saying, and in a sense Keefe has to sign off on the PP rationale but if the idea is sold but ends up not being fruitful who is that on?

I think to some extent any assistant coach is there to execute a strategy that ultimately comes from the head coach. But even if not, even if putting an assistant coach in charge means he's running the PP without input from above the Head Coach is still the manager of the Assistant Coach and should be able to have conversations about the fact that it's not working, what strategies are being taken to address why it's not working and making sure those new things are followed up on. 

And is Kyle supposed to fire Malhotra midseason? I'm not entirely sure what you're implying.

As per above, just like Keefe is Malhotra's boss, Dubas is Keefe's boss. I don't think the implication is that Keefe or Dubas needs to fire Malhotra but that just because Malhotra is in charge of running the power play that doesn't mean Keefe or Dubas can say "Well, that's got nothing to do with us."

Those guys are running the team. If things are going wrong, and not improving, they have a responsibility to make sure efforts are being made to fix them. If those efforts aren't successful then, yes, that ultimately filters back up if nobody in the organization can come up with something that would fix the issue.

 

[ZBBM]

What Nik is saying.

Keefe is the head damn coach.  He's responsible for the stale loaf of a PP just like he's responsible for everything related to deployment.  It's just mind boggling that his staff couldn't get the PP fixed.  There were literally any number of internet pundits who had better ideas than they had.

Sent from my moto g(7) power using Tapatalk

 

[OldTimeHockey]

I really do like the image of the Head Coach and General Manager watching a terrible power-play from the sidelines "Aw, man we put the wrong assistant coach in charge of the power play. I wish we could do something but, like, I guess we'll just have to wait for the off-season to fire him and try someone else."

Like, imagine a Head Coach in the NFL being like "What do you expect me to do about play-calling? That's the OC's job."

Then... What's the point of the assistant whose job it is to run the pp? I mean I get what you're saying, and in a sense Keefe has to sign off on the PP rationale but if the idea is sold but ends up not being fruitful who is that on?

And is Kyle supposed to fire Malhotra midseason? I'm not entirely sure what you're implying.

Ultimately, it's the coach with the final call and ultimately it's his head that should be on the line for not making changes.