can I give you one more really leafy St for 2023 is it that Michael bunting scored no is it that Seth Jarvis the other guy who scored for the Hurricanes was drafted with the pick the Leafs gave the Hurricanes for Marlo well it wasn't for Marlo it was to take Marlo and no hit me with the stat it better be leafy the Leafs and the hurricane scored the same amount of goals against the goalie tonight and the leaf still found a way to lose in regulation yeah yeah I knew that tickled him I knew he'd li
ke that one let's go good we all feel good never gets Rusty in my kitchen producer Drew can you fix all this and when it comes to the Tron beles you can crumple crumple saw that going differently with you wherever you are welcome to LFR Lea lose 3 to2 to the Carolina Hurricanes they had to give them hope they had to give them hope at the end this is the last LFR of 2023 which I suppose is the good news the bad news is the first two lfrs of 2024 which means the first two Leaf games of 2024 are a
back-to-back on the road in California the first half of the back toback starts at 10:30 at night and the next night they play at 9: so they're going to play a National Hockey League game and then 20 hours later or something they're going to play another one good luck boys guess you should have won at home man how do you talk about this game you know this room is full of all sorts of stuff not all of it is stuff you get to see like one day like I still I I keep promising a tour I have to give yo
u a tour well there's just all sorts of I'm looking at it right now there's all sorts of thought starters and I got to admit this season I haven't needed them nearly as much because there's always so much to talk about like it feels every game is a story right I mean every game is a story but like there's meat on the bone this year there's things at stake but right now it almost feels like there's too much to talk about and I got to like compartmentalize it and be like what are we taking too ser
iously what aren't we taking seriously enough what is a problem what isn't a problem is the current problem longterm is the long-term problem current the answer to all of them appears to be maybe so let's try to figure it out this game in a vacuum was it that bad no the Leafs and the Hurricanes played a regular season game it was relatively chippy it was relatively competitive the Leafs had the home ICE Advantage but they were on the second half of a back to back you know and what happened what
really happened the Leafs let Michael bunting sneak by them he Taps one in for his first against his former team but that's the free space we knew that was coming right the second goal is on the power play for the Hurricanes you maybe shouldn't give the Hurricanes the power play all right that's nothing to write home about Max doy sets up Timothy lilligren for a rip I had no idea lren had a rer like that I would like him to use it more if it's going to be like that AO gets the empty net oh nuts
and Robertson scores what was nearly a save of the Year candidate with about 9 seconds to go 10 seconds seconds to go it's 3-2 Leafs only lose by one both teams score two against the goalie and the Hurricanes got the empty net oh shck was it a particularly poor defensive performance no was it a particularly poor offensive performance no was it a particularly poor goal tending performance no he allowed two goals so what's there to be mad about well that is why we don't always look at things in a
vacuum yes there are 82 games that's so many games but it's because there are so many games that this one particular game while not being that bad feels quite bad now I'll tell you a group of people who are probably disappointed the group of people who think that the only reason the Leafs ever lose a game is because of Elia samsonov I know that group is very very small but it turns out it's not true they're not going to score four five six goals every night you're not even going to score three g
oals every night apparently but you cannot just score at will and pulling the goalie is not an automatic license to print goals but what happened before the game Sheldon Keefe announces that David Camp who has played something like over 300 consecutive games is a healthy scratch now In fairness to Sheldon Keefe I don't mind a shakeup to the lineup I don't mind a hey get your head out of your butt I don't mind trying to wake the team up especially after David Camp had something to do with the fou
rth Columbus goal the night before when he is the team's shut down Center I don't mind that but Kevin be as it turns out nailed it before the game wouldn't it have meant more to scratch someone else someone who maybe has a higher salary on the team and hasn't been playing the best basically uh Twitter took that as Mitch Marner and I think the online community is probably right you could maybe put Willie in that spot you're not scratching Matthews and you're not scratching the captain so it's dow
n to Willie or Mitch good thing both of those guys make League mint wait they don't then what do they make what since when and then what happens hurricanes go up one nothing because bunting scores and it's early on and everyone throws up their arms and they go of course but it's a symptom of a bigger problem because I know a lot of leaf fans don't really love the decor and they want to see it upgraded but if you ask a leaf fan like hey what don't you like about this Decor like who's been playing
poorly a lot of the people I talk to don't really have a name like this guy is a drag on the team like kingberg early in the season like clearly did not have the body to play well to play at an NHL level all these guys Riley was magnificent in this game I thought Brody uh McKay benois has been pretty good I think uh who was the third pair I mean lilligren scored jordano had his moments that weren't so great I don't know about playing a 40-year-old on both halves of a back to back when he's comi
ng off of injury I don't know about that but is he a drag and I mean this is only a second game back is he a drag a lot of the Leaf's defensive problems to me are forwards blowing assignments and look at this Michael bunting just not even Elmer fuing because Elmer fud would say be very very quiet I'm hunting rabbits this guy just goes lero J like look at this bunting doesn't do anything subtly he just cruises down the middle and before Noah Gregor the fastest man alive realizes it he's all alone
and it's too late so even though I think that was a symptom of a bigger problem that's not what set people off what set people off is the Hurricanes got a power play and they scored almost immediately and who should have been out there on the penalty kill David K and I know it's the penalty kill and you're outnumbered anyway but the leaf closest to the guy who ended up scoring the goal is Mitch Marner cool cool and dude all throughout the game it looked like he was fighting it he took a late pe
nalty and then with the game 2-1 he's out there with the extra attacker and he makes a mystifying pass that William neander tries to make the best of he ends up coughing it up AO scores at the other end and Mitch is upset about it and he takes a shot at the end of the game uh when him and Willie got crossed up and couldn't even stay on side so what should Sheldon Keef have done because this is a very dangerous thing it's interesting last game it's like he took the onus off of himself by making s
ome of the comments subtle not so subtle about El samsonov and I'm sure TR living is going to go out there and try to get us some help but then the next night he takes a risk if he scratches David Camp the team plays a perfect defensive game and they beat the Carolina Hurricanes heading into New Year's Eve that's what everyone talks about at the parties tomorrow and we all have a Happy New Year if the Leafs lose and it's because of the penalty kill at least in part it's Sheldon it's Sheldon's fa
ult and he lost that risk so it shouldn't have been camp right it shouldn't have been Kamp it should have been Marner right they should have scratched Marner so let's talk about that I agree that it would have been far more impactful to scratch uh Austin Matthews setup man um I don't think they can do that but you take David camp out of the lineup second half of a backtack and you pick up a win like that is a far more likely scenario than taking Mitch Marner out of the lineup who kills penalties
plays on the power play plays with Austin Matthews he plays when the net is empty he plays in all situations he plays like 20 minutes a night it's unlikely that you're going to pick up the win there and if you lose that game what's the lesson like oh yeah that'll show you we lost we need you you can't scratch the core guys because they're too important to this team they have too big of a cap hit on this team you cannot simply replace them with the other guys in the organization because they're
not good enough they don't make as much the team does not have enough cap space to recruit enough good players around these guys how many times we have had this conversation and you know what that'll be the tease we're going to have that conversation after Marley minute we're going to do that because new forwards are getting opportunities apparently homberg getting in over Camp I don't think he'll be the last this team is trying to send a message they're going to give other guys an opportunity o
ne of the hottest guys on the Marley's right now doesn't have an NHL contract in fact he doesn't even have an AHL contract here's Nick Bon on kefir Bellows who's been RedHot and a positive update on Rooney honin one of the Leaf's best forward prospects there's any player to talk about this week with the Toronto Marley's it's Keir Bellows the former first round picks signed a PTO with the Marley's in late October and since has scored 11 goals and nine assists in 20 games making him a point perame
player in the AHL this season season bow attributes his success to two things skating better and making smarter decisions but the 25-year-old also says that he still has more room to grow Marley's said coach John gr told me that there was a stint of games where Bellow didn't have that same success that he was having earlier in the season and the coaching staff talked to him and since then he has found his game again and he's playing really really strong hockey with bell being on an AHL PTO he's
only allowed to play 25 AHL games with the Marley's and then the Marley have the choice of whether to sign him or to not sign him and that remains to be seen but to me Bellos has done everything he can to stick around and remain with this team for the rest of the season one injury update I'd like to include is on roony hervonen who took a stick to the eye on October 15th against the udaka comet and hasn't played a game since before the Marley's practice on Friday hervonen was on the ice wearing
a full face shield taking shots with several of the Marley's players and although he didn't take a full practice with the team it's still a positive sign as he continues to recover from his injury thank you very much for that Nick much needed good news I'm very interested to see what they do with kefir Bellows I think this goalie situation actually screws him a little because I'm kind of convinced this team is interested in offering him an NHL deal but what if you need one of those contract slo
ts to sign a goalie at the time I'm shooting this video we don't even know who the Leafs are going to bring with them to California so let's have the conversation with our first question I think this is a good one from Tanya has marner's play this season warranted putting some feelers out to see if there is a good trade partner no I don't think uh you put trade feelers out there I think you put trade Bear Hugs out there you try to get people on the phone but I folks this ship is goodby bye you'r
e not even a speck on the shore it is long gone hello they can't hear you anymore no one on the deck they can't even see you you're like a grain of sand the Lea organization from the top on down made the decision to fire their general manager who had an expiring contract five weeks before the draft and free agency they made that decision and with that decision came the consequence of The New Guy Brad living has a month to make a franchise earthquak move of trading one of their core four or simpl
y not do that now here's the problem with not doing that Mitch Marner had no trade protection heading into July 1 none trade them wherever you want the moment the Clock Struck midnight on July 1st Boom full no move Clause now you can trade players with a full no move they just need to agree to it so all they got to do is find a trade partner who can take on a nearly 11 million contract this year and next and it's got to be from a pool of teams that he exclusively wants to go to listen there are
some guys in this league that don't try hard enough there are other guys in this league who try too hard and I think when Mitch is struggling he's one of those guys who tries too hard he's fighting it he's doing too many low percentage passes with ridiculous spinning stuff it's got to stop if you got to sit him for a game or two fine but that is not to ostracize him that is to get him to put his head on straight and get him to play his best hockey the other thing i' do you're not with Austin any
more nope nope nope on the power play yes five on five no because what happens is you put them together and every now and then every couple games you could even do it like once every week week and a half they go off on a team like they just they catch a team on a day and I don't know what it is or maybe they're just clicking and they both put up three points and we go why would you ever play them separate meanwhile neander is getting a point like almost every night he's getting a point like almo
st every night what was wrong with n Austin Willie what was wrong with it like I thought it needed a kick in the pants and you put Marner up there for a bit and then you you go back you go back but Austin's going off why would you separate they're losing games that's why I would separate them they're losing games anyway to sort of put a bow on all that I I've gotten a lot out there a lot to consider but um thesis you don't need to trade Mitch I don't think it's worth your time and effort I think
it's basically impossible to win that deal you just got to optimize the player and if that's making him take a seat if that's changing up his line demoting him even you had no problem doing it to David Camp who is a leader on this team who has a high defensive burden just like Mitch who has played a number of consecutive games well respected if you can do that to Camp you can do that to anybody on the team and at this point if youve committed to doing it who cares if it's one of your core guys
take the L also next week you're playing against the sharks who have been struggling even though I'm a shark truther and the ducks come on ah you know what I think we'll end it there I didn't expect to have that long of an answer to that question lost than all that Martin Jones was pretty good eh team played pretty well in front of him generally he made some good saves didn't ever really have to make spectacular ones cuz he was always in the net I like that we'll see which two goalies the Leafs
bring to California I feel like we've had so many ultimatums again next week you got a backtack San Jose and Anaheim if you're gonna give Sammy one more game it's that and that's it if he blows those if whichever one you start him in if he blows one of those that's it that is it it's that or you call up the kid and say hey here are two of the weakest teams in the NHL and we're going to play against one of them and hopefully you do well and we win the game folks that is it for this one thank you
very much for watching click like if you like this video click subscribe if you really liked it tell all your friends subscribe to sdpn gosh darn it we're so close to 100K we still have more holiday content stuff going up uh Christmas Eve Christmas Eve New Year's we did have stuff Christmas Eve New Year's Eve uh New Year's Day uh and more because we're still not recording new episodes just yet there's all sorts of news and and I hope you have a safe and happy New Year do not drink and drive ever
ever ever and I love you
Comments
CORRECTION: The schedule is LA/ANA, then the Sharks. My bad.
i might be biased because im a frenchy but goodness me, Simon Benoit is doing a freaking amazing job. He defends well, lays out big hits, isn't afraid to get into a scrum....all positives for me.
First the Pistons beating the Raptors and ending their 28 game losing streak and now this
It's actually heartbreaking 💔 how it seems like everyone desperately wants the leafs to win except for the players.
It wasn’t a bad effort from the Leaf players in tonight’s game, they just got plain checked right into the ice by the Hurricanes. They couldn’t get an inch of space and a second of time to execute. When a team has you pegged, like the Canes had the Leafs tonight, in my estimation the only way to compete is either with jet engine speed and maybe some great stretch passes to blow the doors off the defenders, or to play physical as hell against the close checking to cause hesitation (like Domi’s hit in the O-zone corner midway through the third, a bunch more of that would have created space in there). The Leafs aren’t that physical team ever, and they couldn’t muster the speed to break free in this game. They have traded away many of their fastest guns over the last many years, … Kasperi Kapanen, Ilya Mikheyev, Sam Lafferty, Michael Bunting etc. From where I sit it appears as though most teams in the league have worked out the Leafs skill MO, and thus employ an very affective ‘in your face’ close checking with ‘zero time to execute’ or ‘space to breath’ game plan.
I look at a team like the Canucks. They were a terrible team for most of last year. But Alvin orchestrated a series of trades that resulted in Hronek coming to the Canucks and the team Captain Bo Horvat getting traded to the Islanders. Yeah it takes courage to make franchise changing decisions and the Canucks GM stepped up and delivered for the fans.
Demote Marner to the third line to play with Domi and Robertson. Marner and Domi played together with eachother on the Knights so theres already chemistry there and Robertson has been playing well the last few games. Good opportunity for Mitch to get his game back without giving him too minutes
Thanks for another entertaining year Steve. Have a Happy New Year
At this point David Ayres son is learning to be a Zamboni driver.
You're watching the wheels come off the train from not enough attention paid to defense. This was going to happen at some point, I'm just surprised it happened this fast.
What Sheldon needs to do is, wait for it, be a coach! That includes doing what Shanny has said since day 1 , make players accountable! Accountability seems to have taken a backseat, especially to the fans. This also includes management !!! What happened to ACCOUNTABILITY when did it become ok to lose?
Just commenting to say Steve crushed that high note at 12:11 and I don't want it to go unrecognized
Just wanted to say as a die hard Habs fan Steve, love you and the content. Happy New Years to you and your family!
As much as I love this team, I've really enjoyed my own expectation of only watching the first period this season. I've definitely missed some comebacks and a few nasty goals, but I record all of the games for that reason. I can usually tell how the team is feeling after the first. If they aren't dialed in, I tune out for the rest and watch LFR the next morning. I admit, I feel a little disconnected this year; but WAY less stressed out.
Steve said the problem at 8:45. They cannot scratch a core player. That seems to be THE problem. TEAM game.
This was not a bad game by the Leafs but a great game by the Canes. One team relies on offense and the other solid team defense.
Happy New Year Steve to you and your family! Look forward to the videos of 2024 🎉
Auston started to score and the leafs were winning games with Willy on line 1. They decided to reward Matthews by letting him play with Marner again.... They're not winning anymore, it doesn't work anymore, Willy needs to be the guy on that line
Happy new years Steve Dangle and Family. Hope 2024 gives your channel everything you wish for and more .Cheers from Hamilton
Steve - if Keefe can't even say something that is remotely critical of MM without having to apologize and walk it back the next day, what makes you think that he has the cajones to scratch him?