Quote:Originally posted by Maxy@May 8 2014, 11:25 PM

If I'm not mistaken didn't the Leafs come back from a 3-1 deficit in that series and have a hefty lead in the third? You need gritty players like Orr and McLaren against a team like the Bruins or else it never makes it to 7 because your stars are gonna get beat to shit.

Do you know why the Leafs came back in that series and led in game 7 with 10 minutes to go? Because Orr and McClaren were benched in favour of guys like MacArthur. Gardiner was given an opportunity to create havoc on the blue line. Carlyle was forced by injuries to use his most talented players over his grittiest/toughest players, and the result was a far more dangerous, faster, and talented Leafs squad.

"Grit" and "enforcers" are bullshit. The Leafs were much better when they had talent, and when they put in the best players they won.

You know why Orr/McClaren are irrelevant in the playoffs? Because teams don't fight in the playoffs. Phil Kessel took down Chara on his own in that series. The players did a very good job of standing up for each other without Orr and McClaren.

The Leafs were a faster team than the Bruins, which was their one advantage. When the Leafs played their best roster, and not their "toughest roster", they went toe to toe with Boston. They didn't win, but in the end they were a much better and far more dangerous team with Orr/McClaren on the bench and MacArthur/Gardiner given a larger role.

Also, this season teams stopped fighting Orr/McClaren, because they realized it was easier to beat the Leafs with them on the ice. Ignore them, don't fight them, and you can skate around them and keep the puck in Toronto's zone because Orr/McClaren and friends didn't have enough talent to get the puck out of the zone. And maybe they didn't get scored on that shift, but forcing the goalie to hold the puck in the D zone leading to a defensive end faceoff often resulted in a goal or multiple shots for the opposing team.

And just for fun - "grit" and "toughness" is the reason Clarkson got signed, and the reason why he got a 10 game suspension this season. I'm going to take talent over "grit" every single time.