You are probably right with the super risk averse approach dubas has taken so far...
It's clear though leafs need a better 2nd line lw and a proper 3c and a decent backup goalie.
If leafs fall in 1st/2nd round this year 'fans' will blame babcock but it is obvious that dubas is too conservative and needs to make a trade involving one or 2 of kapanen johnsson kerfoot nylander to address at least 2 of those three gaps.
- MaximusAurelius

Right now Boyle would be a far better 4th line centre than what they have in terms of need. Big, nasty sandpaper is needed come playoff time, and even towards the end of the year last year the club lacked toughness.

Could they nab him with the cap situation right now? Then they would have better depth and he Kerfoot and Spezza can all play wing if necessary.

In my opinion, Babcock is a very good coach. I don't agree with every decision, but in my view, coaching has only a minor impact on the outcome of hockey games.
- winsix

I don't agree, I think coaching has a lot more to do with it. It's about how and when you use your players.. Down in the 3rd and giving more time to guys like Brown, Marleau and even Gauthier doesn't help.. Then blaming Matthews taking shorter shifts..

one thing that makes a big difference though - and something that can make / break players, is icetime.
players that get more icetime (and i'm not saying 20mins vs 17.30mins, but 12mins vs 6mins) tend to look better, and definitely will get more points.
it's very tough to make a difference when only playing 6-8mins a night.
so coaching makes a difference for guys that are anything between fringe 2nd liners and 4th liners - a coach that believes in them can make their career by giving them more time, opportunities to make a mistake and learn from them without directly being 'punished'.
I think Babcock does that part quite well - the only players he was/is harder on were/are the guys that are top end talent (marner/nylander/matthews).
- MaximusAurelius

Everyone on St. Louis played at least 10 mins a night except Fabri, but he only played 17 games.

5v5 the leafs were the better team, 5 on 5. The bruins powerplay won that series which isn't hard to see.

And no they don't, there are plenty of games where the better team doesn't win or is that just not true either in your world?
- harps43

James Tanner! Didn't know you had an new alt!

You still gonna use Adam French from time to time?

True Wedgie Story time!

My poop men's team was playing some other poop team.

Late in the third, some guy on their team drives the net. Shoving in front, our goalie goes down, screaming in pain. Dislocated shoulder.

Our entire team is incredibly pissed. Our goalie is a professional musician - some dirtbag running the goalie in a meaningless game has just caused our goalie career problems.

Guy gets kicked out. It takes about 5 minutes to get our goalie up, off the ice, into the dressing room.

I storm off the ice - the convenor is watching. I'm screaming at the convenor that the franking guy needs to be thrown out of the league. The guy is screaming back at me to frank off, he never touched our goalie, I need to go frank myself.

The goalie waiting for the next game graciously offers to fill in for us for the remainder of the third.

So it's bad blood between the two teams, which is pretty franking hilarious, because we are two poop teams playing some poop meaningless summer hockey game.

Back to the game: the final buzzer goes just as one of their players skates over our blueline with the puck. As he hears the buzzer, he kinda throws it at the net. Along the ice, it goes wide by about a foot, but you just don't do that.

The loaner goalie's team is all standing behind the glass, and they bang on the glass and give the ol' WTF??? signs.

So one of our defencemen dutifully skates over to the shooter and gives him a bit of a shove - just let him know that's not cool.

Guy drops his gloves and tries to fight. Our defenceman knows his way around a hockey rink - just basically grabs him and doesn't let him swing and pushes him over to the boards.

Both teams mill around, stupid shoving, nobody is actually going to do anything.

Ref tries to get between my defenceman and the guy on the other team. Guy on the other team goes ballistic, throws a punch at the ref. Big mistake.

Ref really knows his way around a rink. Grabs the guy, sorta drags him along the boards (in a very, very rough fashion) to our bench, where he bends the guy over the boards and gives him about 100 punches to the face. He really franking works the guy over.

Other ref tells our team to leave the ice - we happily comply.

We go into the dressing room, where our goalie is getting ready to be taken to the hospital.

I tell him, "Don't worry, Goalchie - I'll make sure that the douchebag who hit you never plays in this franking league again!!!"

Goalchie replies, "He never touched me, Wedge. That's my bad shoulder. I reached out for the puck and it just popped out."

Oh frank.

I found the guy and apologized to him - he was cool about it.

And I was talking to the convenor a few weeks later about the ref-player fight. He says the ref really did not want any paper trail about him punching out the player, so the entire thing was dropped.

Good times.
- Atomic Wedgie

I love true Wedgie stories

So many guys in beer league think they are getting the Stanley Cup at the end of game. Lolol

Also, WFT Taylor Hall... You are killing me, and your little sidekick Hischler. (spelling)
- bixll

I have Hughes and Hischier in a pool.
My other stellar picks include Gostisbehere, who actually is a ghost apparently.


ugh

Game 2 was a franking joke.

The NHL officiating is a franking joke - but it's not the refs' fault.

The league wants games called a certain way.

As a result, we are the only sport in the world where an infraction is dependent upon what the score is, how much time is left in the game, how many penalties have already been called on each team, and if the defenceman is over 6'4" (Chara, Pronger, etc.).

I'd prefer NBA style, where at least it is consistent: superstars can do whatever they want, whenever they want, with no call.
- Atomic Wedgie

Worst officiating in all of major league sports.

Worst officiating in all of major league sports.
- JohnFergusonJr

they are only allowed to call fouls when they're Chinese overlords allow them to.

Credit should go where its due, if a team wins a series, they were the better team. Officiating, coaching, luck, bad ice conditions are meaningless. Champions overcome. St. Louis was a giant pile for the first half but they were the best team, not Tampa. plain and simple, the rest is fantasy.
- winsix

I'm gonna have to disagree with that.

Awful officiating won San Jose 2 series last playoffs.