Maple Leafs 2018 - 19
- Thread starter Insidious Von
- Start date
It seems to me that Matthews has now become an open target for the other teams "head hunters", I use that term loosely as it's not necessary his head they're after, but his well being has become a growing concern.
When playing with Matt Martin on the team, the biggest hit he ever took was from his teammate Rielly. With the team being the softest in the league, he has twice been smashed hard. Luckily he was ok, at least seemingly after the Kronwall hit which imo was dirty and dangerous and the end result could have been a lot worse than the Trouba hit.
I know a lot of you will say I'm overreacting again and policeman is a thing of the past. I hope I'm wrong but unlike Nylander, Marner, Gardiner, or Rielly, he goes to the dirty areas a lot more and as big,skilled and sleek as he is, he's much more vulnerable to dirty hits as the only retaliation the Leafs can come up with, as Babcock says, " take all the penalties
you want, we have the best power play".
The power play is a good deterrent, but only in close games, and against divisional rivals like Detroit and Boston, I'm sure they'll gladly give you a power play if they can knock out your franchise player for a month or longer.
Kyle Dubas with his forward thinking is trying to set a new trend in building a team with purely skill and speed, with 0 toughness and 0 grit. Even their grittiest player Kadri seems to have been told to mellow and hasn't been quite as effective in getting under the skin of other teams' star players.
Again, I hope I'm wrong and the team will become the softest team to ever win a championship, and hopefully it'll happen before our franchise players suffer any career threatening injuries.
When playing with Matt Martin on the team, the biggest hit he ever took was from his teammate Rielly. With the team being the softest in the league, he has twice been smashed hard. Luckily he was ok, at least seemingly after the Kronwall hit which imo was dirty and dangerous and the end result could have been a lot worse than the Trouba hit.
I know a lot of you will say I'm overreacting again and policeman is a thing of the past. I hope I'm wrong but unlike Nylander, Marner, Gardiner, or Rielly, he goes to the dirty areas a lot more and as big,skilled and sleek as he is, he's much more vulnerable to dirty hits as the only retaliation the Leafs can come up with, as Babcock says, " take all the penalties
you want, we have the best power play".
The power play is a good deterrent, but only in close games, and against divisional rivals like Detroit and Boston, I'm sure they'll gladly give you a power play if they can knock out your franchise player for a month or longer.
Kyle Dubas with his forward thinking is trying to set a new trend in building a team with purely skill and speed, with 0 toughness and 0 grit. Even their grittiest player Kadri seems to have been told to mellow and hasn't been quite as effective in getting under the skin of other teams' star players.
Again, I hope I'm wrong and the team will become the softest team to ever win a championship, and hopefully it'll happen before our franchise players suffer any career threatening injuries.
I'm very curious to know why you thought that was a dangerous or dirty hit?
I'm not trying to be antagonistic, but I didn't think it met any of the criteria for a boarding call.
- Player A and Player B were both moving to compete for a loose puck
- they were moving together in the same direction at least 5 to 6 feet away from the boards
- Player A made shoulder-to-shoulder contact with player B, the hit being in the 'clean zone' above the waist and below the neck, so no penalty on that count
- they had an equal right to the puck and Player B was not, in any way, in a defenceless position so no penalty on that count
I haven't heard any analysts refer to the hit as dirty or illegal, they only commented on the result: that Player B lost his feet, slid 6 feet into the boards and by his own account was briefly winded. It appears a penalty was called because of the result and not because of the hit, which is kind of how things often work in hockey.
I'm not trying to be antagonistic, but I didn't think it met any of the criteria for a boarding call.
- Player A and Player B were both moving to compete for a loose puck
- they were moving together in the same direction at least 5 to 6 feet away from the boards
- Player A made shoulder-to-shoulder contact with player B, the hit being in the 'clean zone' above the waist and below the neck, so no penalty on that count
- they had an equal right to the puck and Player B was not, in any way, in a defenceless position so no penalty on that count
I haven't heard any analysts refer to the hit as dirty or illegal, they only commented on the result: that Player B lost his feet, slid 6 feet into the boards and by his own account was briefly winded. It appears a penalty was called because of the result and not because of the hit, which is kind of how things often work in hockey.
Well said. We don't need enforcers but why not shove Kronwall or make him smell your glove for doing that? Nothing serious, just bother and annoy the fuck out of anybody who takes liberties.
Here's a quote from Dave Feschuk of the Stars :
" And there was no further accounting for the incident. In other words, Kronwall threatened the well-being of Toronto’s best player with an undeniably dirty play and nobody in a blue and white sweater so much as feigned retaliation "
You're not wrong in regards to not a lot have been made of the hit. It seems almost a politically incorrect thing to say about retaliation these days. Kronwall knew darn well how vulnerable Matthews was when he hit him. There's no point in arguing if it's dirty or not as it's either you think it is or its not; only Kronwall knows for sure if he meant to really hurt Matthews badly or not. IMO he did.
Why does Toronto always suck versus Boston and Buffalo? And the jays suck in Tampa?
Shouldn’t regression to the mean make a difference?
Shouldn’t regression to the mean make a difference?
Even Babs knows it wasn't a dirty hit. Matthews reached out for the puck. Once he does that he has no way to protect himself. So bad decision there. If it were Gardner you would wish he would make such plays and use some body contact rather than play like a pansy. No one is targeting Matthews. NHL Hockey is a contact sport. It's not women's hockey. Can't believe anyone is advocating for Matt Martin to be on the team.
Did Babs tell you that in a private conversation ?
Here's his response when asked if the hit was dirty :
“I just think you look at our personnel and you look (at) what we got,” Babcock said. “We are what we are. Our toughness is our power play. Take all the penalties you want.”
And was I wrong in pointing out the two hardest hits Matthews got came after Martin was traded ?
The Bruins went after the Leafs physically from the start and the Leafs couldn't cope with it The only guys who pushed back were Kadri and Hyman. It's one embarrassing loss that exposed the team's weaknesses.Teams that can play this style will give the Leafs a lot of troubles.
Over the years I have definitely become less of a fan of fighting and goonery in hockey and am happy to see more emphasis nowadays on speed and skill. However, I did not mind at all the fights in tonight's game as they were of the old-fashioned kind. Nothing premeditated or a form of intimidation. They just occurred in the heat of the moment in a physical game with two divisional teams who see each other lots in regular season and have some recent playoff history and have a good hate on going.
Fighting like that, I do not mind. I would not be surprised if we see more of this in the future between these two. But I just hope that they are spontaneous and not staged.
Fighting like that, I do not mind. I would not be surprised if we see more of this in the future between these two. But I just hope that they are spontaneous and not staged.
