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Leafs @ Canucks - Mar. 6th, 7:00pm - CBC, TSN 1050

In the words of Jeff O'Neill regarding Mitch. You don't have to prove you're a 10 Mill player every shift, play. Just play the game.
 
I still don?t understand how anyone can take Jeff O?Neill?s opinion seriously when it comes to comments on things like effort. He may have been the laziest player I?d ever seen play for the leafs. Dude clearly didn?t practice what he preaches.
 
Joe S. said:
I still don?t understand how anyone can take Jeff O?Neill?s opinion seriously when it comes to comments on things like effort. He may have been the laziest player I?d ever seen play for the leafs. Dude clearly didn?t practice what he preaches.

He asked to be traded to Toronto after his brother died in car accident in the summer of 2005, played in Toronto for pennies on the dollar...pretty sure that was kind of the end for him.  Retired at 31

 
Jeff O'Neill has a severe flying phobia, hence the trade to Toronto and eventual retirement. I remember his first goal as a Leaf that he very clearly dedicated to his recently passed brother; it was a cathartic and touching moment.
 
Joe S. said:
I still don?t understand how anyone can take Jeff O?Neill?s opinion seriously when it comes to comments on things like effort. He may have been the laziest player I?d ever seen play for the leafs. Dude clearly didn?t practice what he preaches.
He wasn't preaching when he played. As for taking him seriously, he played 821 games with 496 points in the best league in the world so he knows what it takes.
 
Bender said:
OldTimeHockey said:
I can't believe that after that subpar effort by the Leafs that Andersen's name even gets mentioned as needing to be better.

Yes Demko played great(ish) but that doesn't mean Andersen played poor. Toronto couldn't get the puck out of their own zone. And when they actually had the puck into Vancouver's zone, it was usually a turnover at the top of the circles. Especially with the top line.

The bottom 6 can't score all your goals for you. The top line has been off for a couple games. They will be back soon. I consider the last two games as the let down after playing 3 playoff type games in Edmonton. So much emotion and then they relax for Vancouver and can't put it back in gear.
I don't understand how his name doesn't get mentioned honestly. He hasn't been good most of this year.

The previous 6 games he played, he had something like a .945 sv% and a 1.15 GAA (or something around there. I can't remember what they said in the broadcast).

No, he hasn't been the best for a good chunk of the year. That doesn't mean that for every loss, he is at fault. Sometimes, like the game against Vancouver, he had nothing to do with the loss other than being the one who has it on his record.
 
Take out his first two starts of the season, and his Sv% is .914 - not elite or anything, but more than good enough for a starting goalie. He'd 16th in the league among goalies who have started at least 8 games, so, basically average. He may not be helping the team a ton, but he's definitely not hurting them much either.
 
bustaheims said:
Take out his first two starts of the season, and his Sv% is .914 - not elite or anything, but more than good enough for a starting goalie. He'd 16th in the league among goalies who have started at least 8 games, so, basically average. He may not be helping the team a ton, but he's definitely not hurting them much either.

I agree.

I can't think of too many games that have fallen squarely on the shoulders of the goalie. There's been games where they've been part of the problem. But not the sole problem. Some of the other boards out there would have you believe otherwise.

With that, I was a firm believer that you don't let Andersen go this season. But, I would give Campbell a half dozen games in a row or something and see how he handles it. If he gets it done, you move Andersen. If he doesn't, you know that you're keeping Andersen for the year and maybe shopping in the summer..If there's an option out there.
 
OldTimeHockey said:
With that, I was a firm believer that you don't let Andersen go this season. But, I would give Campbell a half dozen games in a row or something and see how he handles it. If he gets it done, you move Andersen. If he doesn't, you know that you're keeping Andersen for the year and maybe shopping in the summer..If there's an option out there.

I suspect this is Andersen's last season with the Leafs, but I don't think the team can make a move there until the off-season. With injuries, quarantine, etc., even if he loses the starting job, they'll need the depth. The return for moving him in-season is unlikely to outweigh the risk trading him comes with.

Obviously, things will change between now and the off-season, but there could be some interesting options as UFAs this summer. Binnington, Rask, Raanta, Grubauer, and some other quality platoon options (Driedger, Ullmark, Rittich, etc.) are all on expiring deals.
 
bustaheims said:
OldTimeHockey said:
With that, I was a firm believer that you don't let Andersen go this season. But, I would give Campbell a half dozen games in a row or something and see how he handles it. If he gets it done, you move Andersen. If he doesn't, you know that you're keeping Andersen for the year and maybe shopping in the summer..If there's an option out there.

I suspect this is Andersen's last season with the Leafs, but I don't think the team can make a move there until the off-season. With injuries, quarantine, etc., even if he loses the starting job, they'll need the depth. The return for moving him in-season is unlikely to outweigh the risk trading him comes with.

Obviously, things will change between now and the off-season, but there could be some interesting options as UFAs this summer. Binnington, Rask, Raanta, Grubauer, and some other quality platoon options (Driedger, Ullmark, Rittich, etc.) are all on expiring deals.

Andersen needs to be part of at least one playoff series win this year.  If they get bounced again in the first round, he'll almost certainly be gone.
 
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
Andersen needs to be part of at least one playoff series win this year.  If they get bounced again in the first round, he'll almost certainly be gone.

That's probably accurate, even if it's not necessarily a fair judgment. We obviously can't have game 7 Andersen showing up, but, outside of that, he's actually been quite solid in the playoffs. The team in front of him has largely not been helpful enough, though.
 
bustaheims said:
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
Andersen needs to be part of at least one playoff series win this year.  If they get bounced again in the first round, he'll almost certainly be gone.

That's probably accurate, even if it's not necessarily a fair judgment. We obviously can't have game 7 Andersen showing up, but, outside of that, he's actually been quite solid in the playoffs. The team in front of him has largely not been helpful enough, though.

I agree, it's not been his fault outside of G7 ... which of course is a huge problem.  What really needs to happen is the team D we saw in EDM needs to happen.  If they do that I like their chances to win at least a round or two.

That said, the only way I see him staying if they lose in the first round is if he plays absolutely lights out and loses to an even hotter goalie. 
 

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