Quote:Originally posted by Maxy@May 9 2014, 05:36 PM
Clarkson is a bum not grit, he's just awful. Grit is most definitely needed in the playoffs. Think back, when was the last time a team won the cup without one true gritty player as a piece of their roster.

Teams don't win because of "gritty players". They win because they have strong goaltending, good puck possession, and have two way players. The Leafs have one of those three. And Clarkson was brought in because he was a gritty and tough forward.

Quote: The reason the Leafs blow is because their roster is awful. They have one.of, if not the worst center core in the.league, three turnover machines on defense, and make the worst signings in the league. If you're blaming the coach for that then more power to ya. Carlyle is the least of the Leafs worries.

Carlyle has a fair amount of influence as to who joined this roster. So yes, he is responsible for that. As well as the fact that the Leafs got outshot like a 1990's expansion team because his "system" is a joke.

The problem with the Leafs roster is a lack of depth. JVR, Kessel, Bozak, Kadri, Lupul, Kulemin, Bolland are all guys that can play on any team's top 9. The problem is the Leafs don't have any capable third/fourth line type players, or anybody in the top 6 who can play a strong 2 way game. One reason for that, is because Carlyle refuses to play the quality Marlies players he has (D'Amigo, Holland). Another reason is because Carlyle has the face punchers on the fourth line, who don't actually do anything when a player gets hit (like, when Kadri had to fight Hedman earlier in the year and Orr stood around doing nothing). Another reason is because he only runs 3 lines, and doesn't really play his fourth line.

As far as the defence is concerned, Phaneuf is the only top 2 guy, and the team is desperate for another top pairing guy. If you push Carl G down to a second or even third pairing role, with Reilly/Gardner and some Marlies call ups, the defence would look pretty sharp. But because there's only one top guy, and a bunch of good but not great defenceman, they end up embarrassing themselves on the ice.

Or he does dumb things like giving McClement 15 minutes of ice time, or starting off an OT period with McClement/Kulemin. That strategy is "I have no faith in my forwards, Phil Kessel included, so instead of trying to win the game, I'm just going to try to delay this to a penalty shot where we might have a better shot at winning".

Carlyle isn't the guy running the show. As I've said before, Nonis is also to blame. But Carlyle did have a fair amount of influence in the offseason, and he got some of the players he wanted to sign to play his system. The team did worse.

He's not a good coach. The Leafs did about as well as they did with Wilson running the show, despite a vastly superior roster. Bernier in 2014 and Reimer last year were the best goalies the Leafs have had over the past 8 years. Kessel finally had a quality linemate in Lupul, and now JVR. The defence is much better with Reilly/Gardner/Phaneuf then it was with McCabe and Komisarek and Beauchemin.

And yet the team does worse, in 2013/2014, then it did under the Wilson era. They got outshot like crazy - yes, they had some bad players on the third pairing D and fourth line forwards - but they certainly are talented enough to not get outshot like an expansion team.

That happened because of the coach, his inability to figure out that possession is good, that McClement shouldn't get 15 minutes of ice time (or significant 5v5 time), or that a failing power play meant that maybe Phaneuf or Franson should be put on different sides or SOMETHING should have been attempted.

The fact that I can figure out what ails the Leafs in under 10 minutes of time and Carlyle thinks it's "mind boggling" tells you everything you need to know about how awful a coach he is. He is terrible at evaluating quality hockey players, his systems are a joke, and he's the reason why this club is underperforming in spite of a fairly talented core.