What happened to all those extra penalties we were supposed to have?
Back when the Leafs picked up Komi, XLB, Orr et al, Howard Berger and others whinged about how the team going to kill all the extra penalties the new leafs would rack up. I was even ridiculed at suggesting that there wouldn't be much of a difference at all.
What do we have, 15 games in? pretty much what I expected. the opposition has actually a few *more penalties* this season than the Leafs. Pretty much like last year.
How could this have possibly happened with all the truculence added to the Leafs roster
Back when the Leafs picked up Komi, XLB, Orr et al, Howard Berger and others whinged about how the team going to kill all the extra penalties the new leafs would rack up. I was even ridiculed at suggesting that there wouldn't be much of a difference at all.
What do we have, 15 games in? pretty much what I expected. the opposition has actually a few *more penalties* this season than the Leafs. Pretty much like last year.
How could this have possibly happened with all the truculence added to the Leafs roster
First few games of the year we took a LOT of dumb penalties. Since then it seems the boys have settled down and started to play smart hockey. People will hate it, but I think Wilson probably was a big part of stopping the dumb penalties.
First few games of the year we took a LOT of dumb penalties. Since then it seems the boys have settled down and started to play smart hockey. People will hate it, but I think Wilson probably was a big part of stopping the dumb penalties.
Komi was the worst for that. He's been playing ALOT better.
Back when the Leafs picked up Komi, XLB, Orr et al, Howard Berger and others whinged about how the team going to kill all the extra penalties the new leafs would rack up. I was even ridiculed at suggesting that there wouldn't be much of a difference at all.
What do we have, 15 games in? pretty much what I expected. the opposition has actually a few *more penalties* this season than the Leafs. Pretty much like last year.
How could this have possibly happened with all the truculence added to the Leafs roster
It was assumed we'd be a much tougher team to play against, but we're not. So you're right, not much has changed, but it was assumed that we would play a lot more physical brand of hockey, and take the penalties that tend to go with it. We've opted to do neither.
i was kind of embarrassed the first game against Montreal. the Habs had an answer for every bit of truculence the leafs showed. it was sort of a joke.
despite everything the Leafs are not getting beaten up anymore. kaberle can do his thing, and the other light european players are not getting their @sses kicked all over the place. when has Schenn had to fight this year?
Back when the Leafs picked up Komi, XLB, Orr et al, Howard Berger and others whinged about how the team going to kill all the extra penalties the new leafs would rack up. I was even ridiculed at suggesting that there wouldn't be much of a difference at all.
What do we have, 15 games in? pretty much what I expected. the opposition has actually a few *more penalties* this season than the Leafs. Pretty much like last year.
How could this have possibly happened with all the truculence added to the Leafs roster
What happened to them? We're making up for the start of the season.....
i was kind of embarrassed the first game against Montreal. the Habs had an answer for every bit of truculence the leafs showed. it was sort of a joke.
despite everything the Leafs are not getting beaten up anymore. kaberle can do his thing, and the other light european players are not getting their @sses kicked all over the place. when has Schenn had to fight this year?
I agree. I don't think BB's 'truculence' addition was necessarily added to beat the snot out of teams and making them submit to the Leafs' game plan. I don't think that really happens these days. It was done in effect to stop the skilled players from being beaten around the ice and having a 18/19 year old step in and fight for them. The Leafs can play without having those types of situations to worry about now.
I can see this thread going downhill very quickly once other fanbases spot it. Refs are biased towards Toronto, NHL is biased towards Toronto, etc.
The Leafs have definitely gotten better at staying out of penalty trouble lately though.
You also have to remember that the PK has been much improved, and penalties are a lot more noticeable when you're getting scored against on just about every one of them. (Not saying the numbers are lying, obviously they're not; it's just that the penalties wouldn't have been noticed as much even early on if the PK had been as good as it is now.)
Better penalty killing means the guys play more relaxed.
More relaxed play means smarter play.
Smarter play = less dumb penalties, which the thread creator should have noted were the type of penalties we were taking in the first 5-7 games of the season.
Less dumb penalties = discipline!
I still think there will be nights of head scratching when the parade to the box starts, we will see what happens.
Well, it naturally followed from assuming those players would play really tough and would be in the box more because of their aggressiveness. They haven't been, really, except the first few games when the new guys were obviously going out of their way to do so(ie Komi against Montreal, etc).
I can see this thread going downhill very quickly once other fanbases spot it. Refs are biased towards Toronto, NHL is biased towards Toronto, etc.
The Leafs have definitely gotten better at staying out of penalty trouble lately though.
You also have to remember that the PK has been much improved, and penalties are a lot more noticeable when you're getting scored against on just about every one of them. (Not saying the numbers are lying, obviously they're not; it's just that the penalties wouldn't have been noticed as much even early on if the PK had been as good as it is now.)
What really pisses me off is how we haven't allowed a powerplay goal in the last 3 games, going like 18/18 on the PK..something like that..But, we're STILL last in the league....haha, what a joke,.,,,
i was kind of embarrassed the first game against Montreal. the Habs had an answer for every bit of truculence the leafs showed. it was sort of a joke.
despite everything the Leafs are not getting beaten up anymore. kaberle can do his thing, and the other light european players are not getting their @sses kicked all over the place. when has Schenn had to fight this year?
The toughness of the Leafs is spread out over 82 games.
The Habs are getting thrown around now, their tougher guys like Latendresse and Lapierre are being publicly called out.
As for us: The forwards are being treated with normal levels of respect. Kaberle is lighting it up with additional space. Gustavsson only really got run by Malone to win that game in OT, other than that, he has room to operate.
So really, the Leafs may lose one game in the toughness battle here and there. I would really wager a guess that overall they will win many more than they lose.
The toughness of the Leafs is spread out over 82 games.
The Habs are getting thrown around now, their tougher guys like Latendresse and Lapierre are being publicly called out.
As for us: The forwards are being treated with normal levels of respect. Kaberle is lighting it up with additional space. Gustavsson only really got run by Malone to win that game in OT, other than that, he has room to operate.
I'm not seeing the toughness. Heck, our prize forward addition got his bell absolutely rung and we did nothing about it. We're not as terribly soft as we were last year, but we've yet to play very tough.
The toughness of the Leafs is spread out over 82 games.
The Habs are getting thrown around now, their tougher guys like Latendresse and Lapierre are being publicly called out.
As for us: The forwards are being treated with normal levels of respect. Kaberle is lighting it up with additional space. Gustavsson only really got run by Malone to win that game in OT, other than that, he has room to operate.
So really, the Leafs may lose one game in the toughness battle here and there. I would really wager a guess that overall they will win many more than they lose.
Off topic, but I don't think they're being called out because of their toughness.. they're being called out because they're sucking at everything lol.
Also, I liked how Komisarek makes CLEAN, hard hits. Not head hunting. Example would be that hit against Metropolit int he Habs game.. he could have removed his head if he really wanted to.. AND gotten away with it, as it would still be within the rules.
congrats on the not having as many penalties as people thought prediction
Congrats on a nearly complete sentence.
There is definitely a lot more team toughness being displayed, for those not seeing it, I'm not sure how you are missing it. Kaberle's play is all you really need to witness. Watch the after whistle scrums, guys just don't skate away this year. Even Hagman has dropped the gloves. What's nice to see though is that the 'truculence' theme spewed by Burke in the summer hasn't carried past the first few games of the year. Wilson has them reeled in a bit now. Team speed is why they have more PP opportunities than PK's.
I believe Kessel was stood up for, but no penalty resulted from it.
Secondly, Ohlund hit him clean, and PK came back.
It actually was the perfect hit. Hard but not injurious.
And why wasn't he injured? Luck. I don't blame Ohlund for taking the shot, and it was clean, but hits like that lead to concussions very easily, and Kessel is nothing but lucky that that hit didn't put him out for a while.
Have we already forgotten the Leafs that weren't big flapping vaginas? I remember Stajan got hit moderately hard and Domi dropped the gloves then and there with the guy stupid enough to do it. Name one forward on this squad who people are worried about getting hit by that is ever on the ice, e.g a Tucker, Roberts, heck even Domi.
Edit-- and I can't believe I'm saying this. Even a Mark fricken Bell!
