Does new Leafs lines mean Bunting remains in Keefe’s doghouse? | OverDrive
Mark Roe, Jeff O’Neill and Dave Feschuk discuss the Maple Leafs deciding to go 11 and 7 against the Oilers and what does Michael Bunting and Justin Holl’s positioning in the lineup mean in the big picture.
I don't really like picking on Bunting like this. It's not like Matthews hasn't done things to lose a key moment at the end of a 3rd period or during an OT – he has many times and Sheldon knows that. It's not like Matthews or Rielly haven't had a ridiculous amount of -3 games, but it always seems to be guys like Holl and Bunting who get the stick. In Holl's case, he's actually been far more reliable than Rielly this season – it's not even close – and we hear nothing. Holl was like +3 over the last 9 games while Matthews was -1 and Rielly was probably even worse than that. It's just bizarre to me.
This kind of unfair treatment from a coach can really cause discord in the dressing room. It makes them not trust you and can really affect morale. I don't like it. Coaches need to be stern but fair and I don't see that sense of fairness this season.
Keefe needs to learn to not have favorites and bench players or put them on lower lines. Justin holl plays the most minutes and is useless plays horrible and Keefe won't bench him or demote him to less minutes
Wow – Reilly is finally not seen as a Top Pairing D – man now & coach put the forwards thru the blender? Really interesting – this Leaf team is in the middle of another strong regular season. Leaf fans should be grateful for that.
Here’s the thing Keefe was a similar player to Holl that’s why he uses him so much. Coach is clueless in which reality does Kerfoot belong on line 1!???? And How is Reilly not on the third pairing lol
Literally everyone yells at the refs? Why is bunting getting called out for it sure he’s more animated which makes it stand out but I’m 110% sure that he’s not the only one yelling at the refs, it’s a loud stadium wtf do you expect a little whisper in the ear? He’s being spoken down on, for doing what he has to do, for doing what nobody else on the leafs are doing, y’all were saying the leafs don’t have that sand paper feel to them, bunting gives them that, before the new guys all we had was Bunting so it made him stand out all season, but watch it with the new guys if you’re going to call 1 person out for it why isn’t anyone else called out? If 1 person shouldn’t be yelling at the official, shouldn’t nobody be yelling at the officials? Makes no fkkn sense, and quite a few of the new guys have it too so Bunting should stop standing out so much with his grit, which is what we needed. I think he should chill w the refs but it’s his and keefes decision, if keefe wants to punish him for his discipline or making bad plays or whatever, and Bunting wants to take it so what, it’s his career, plus he wouldn’t be putting up barely any numbers without the grit he does bring to his game, he scores a those gross, dirty rebound goals from the point or high slot, and he’s a big body presence to have infront of the net to win puck battles, there’s more to Bunting than yelling at the officials but yelling at the refs over really, really bad and inconsistent calls? Literally everyone does that. I know y’all watch a fk ton of hockey on the panel I’m sure it’s not solely Michael Bunting screaming at the officials I see many many players, many many times screaming at them, and for good reason, the officiating fkking sucks a$$ in the league, is ruining the game to sh!t and the players can’t even talk about how horrible it is to work there because they’ll get fined for it, just for talking about the horrible officiating, bringing it to anyone’s awareness who didn’t know but if you’re consistently watching games, you know how inconsistent and horrible it’s been, they deserve everything they have coming at em, do your job or go tf home. They aren’t getting paid to sit there and not call anything the first 2 periods and make 10 calls in the 3rd to make up for the several missed calls in the first 2, or whatever the situation is, it’s typically absolute sh!t, and the NHL ruined standing up for your teammates because you can’t stand up for your teammate at all without getting an aggressor penalty, even if the other player accepts with 0 issue, I understand if 1 drops the gloves and the other doesn’t, but most of the time it’s 2 guys, fired up ready to go, there is nothing wrong with it, it has always been in hockey and the dumba$$ extra penalty they give is bullish, if both players accept who is the aggressor? If 1 person rejects and the other still goes at it, obviously there is an aggressor, but how is the other person getting an “aggressor” penalty when they both drop em at the same time, fk last time I watched hockey a few years ago it wasn’t like this at all, I could watch any game I wanted without having to pay $200 and still have regional blackout when the $200 package was supposed to by-pass those blackouts, thanks Sportsnet your streams are sh!trier than the officiating y’all money and power hungry y’all going to lose all your money and power going the direction y’all are going it, nobody is happy at all with any of the services put out, about half the people just pirate the games anyways and watch for free but y’all didn’t think of that when you decided to black out people from hockey games on services they pay $200 for, but back to the horrible officiating, every ref deserves the sh!t they get for screwing up their calls, “Oh tHeY aRe jUsT hUmAn” yes, they’re humans there to do a job, getting paid decent money for a ref, and they can’t even fkkn do it right, it should be a fkkn embarrassment for the league, yet the just ignore it like any other problem they have hoping it goes away, but this one won’t go away it’ll only keep getting worse if they don’t screen the person who is officiating, it’s like they’re taking whack jobs from an asylum and throwing them on the ice in official uniform, seriously, it’s a fkkn circus out there, a fkkn clown show put on by the refs. Fk why’d I have to grow up watching this piece of sh!t game when I could’ve been doing productive sh!t, now I’m just another fkkn meathead hockey fan like the rest of them. I swear every game watched is 5,000 brain cells gone, unable to be replenished, and soon I will be too if god has any sort of fkkn mercy.
This notion that Bunting is in the doghouse is stupid. Marner isn't in the doghouse on the second line. We want everyone to excel. Bunting killed it on line 4. Whatever works best should be what we pursue. Kudos to the staff for trying new things.
Good to see Leafs Coach & or GM recognize that Leafs have been playing without Top Pairing NHL D – men by moving Reilly down the D – men pairings. This is good. To fix a problem it first needs to be identified. As for the forwards, it looks like a placeholder is being used for the new injured centre likely. So when he returns – the forwards just can stay & Tavares moves over to the wing.
They brought in so many players, all these sports media outlets making such a big deal of a player who probably should’ve never even been on the first line being changed to a different line.
I actually like Bunting as a depth piece. No way we tied up that game against Jersey if Bunting was on the 1st line. O'Dog has the worst takes in all of the media.
28 Comments
He puts himself before the team. I wouldn't play him at all.
I don't really like picking on Bunting like this. It's not like Matthews hasn't done things to lose a key moment at the end of a 3rd period or during an OT – he has many times and Sheldon knows that. It's not like Matthews or Rielly haven't had a ridiculous amount of -3 games, but it always seems to be guys like Holl and Bunting who get the stick. In Holl's case, he's actually been far more reliable than Rielly this season – it's not even close – and we hear nothing. Holl was like +3 over the last 9 games while Matthews was -1 and Rielly was probably even worse than that. It's just bizarre to me.
This kind of unfair treatment from a coach can really cause discord in the dressing room. It makes them not trust you and can really affect morale. I don't like it. Coaches need to be stern but fair and I don't see that sense of fairness this season.
Keefe needs to learn to not have favorites and bench players or put them on lower lines. Justin holl plays the most minutes and is useless plays horrible and Keefe won't bench him or demote him to less minutes
Keefe should have been fired after the Habs series. He’s a garbage AHL coach at best
Call up Pontus Holmberg the kid has 5 goals & 8 assist in 37 games
Wow – Reilly is finally not seen as a Top Pairing D – man now & coach put the forwards thru the blender? Really interesting – this Leaf team is in the middle of another strong regular season. Leaf fans should be grateful for that.
Who cares 🤷
Lol @ Toronto media
who's Bunteen?
I highly doubt Gustafsson will have a regular shift in a playoff game. Justin Holl for better or worse, will be the guy.
Here’s the thing Keefe was a similar player to Holl that’s why he uses him so much. Coach is clueless in which reality does Kerfoot belong on line 1!???? And How is Reilly not on the third pairing lol
That's my guy
Put Morgan Reilly on the doghouse to see if it gets him going. Cause Bunting scored the game-tying goal vs NJD.
Does it seem like they do this to players who are due to get paid. They did it to Kapanen, Andreas and other guys I thought were dynamite lol.
You need chemistry before the playoff…7 D and 11 F is not solution for playoff.
4 lines and 3 pairs in playoff
Yup your the guys who coached them to 4t h place overall.
call up holmberg is right sit Reilly ..
Literally everyone yells at the refs? Why is bunting getting called out for it sure he’s more animated which makes it stand out but I’m 110% sure that he’s not the only one yelling at the refs, it’s a loud stadium wtf do you expect a little whisper in the ear? He’s being spoken down on, for doing what he has to do, for doing what nobody else on the leafs are doing, y’all were saying the leafs don’t have that sand paper feel to them, bunting gives them that, before the new guys all we had was Bunting so it made him stand out all season, but watch it with the new guys if you’re going to call 1 person out for it why isn’t anyone else called out? If 1 person shouldn’t be yelling at the official, shouldn’t nobody be yelling at the officials? Makes no fkkn sense, and quite a few of the new guys have it too so Bunting should stop standing out so much with his grit, which is what we needed. I think he should chill w the refs but it’s his and keefes decision, if keefe wants to punish him for his discipline or making bad plays or whatever, and Bunting wants to take it so what, it’s his career, plus he wouldn’t be putting up barely any numbers without the grit he does bring to his game, he scores a those gross, dirty rebound goals from the point or high slot, and he’s a big body presence to have infront of the net to win puck battles, there’s more to Bunting than yelling at the officials but yelling at the refs over really, really bad and inconsistent calls? Literally everyone does that. I know y’all watch a fk ton of hockey on the panel I’m sure it’s not solely Michael Bunting screaming at the officials I see many many players, many many times screaming at them, and for good reason, the officiating fkking sucks a$$ in the league, is ruining the game to sh!t and the players can’t even talk about how horrible it is to work there because they’ll get fined for it, just for talking about the horrible officiating, bringing it to anyone’s awareness who didn’t know but if you’re consistently watching games, you know how inconsistent and horrible it’s been, they deserve everything they have coming at em, do your job or go tf home. They aren’t getting paid to sit there and not call anything the first 2 periods and make 10 calls in the 3rd to make up for the several missed calls in the first 2, or whatever the situation is, it’s typically absolute sh!t, and the NHL ruined standing up for your teammates because you can’t stand up for your teammate at all without getting an aggressor penalty, even if the other player accepts with 0 issue, I understand if 1 drops the gloves and the other doesn’t, but most of the time it’s 2 guys, fired up ready to go, there is nothing wrong with it, it has always been in hockey and the dumba$$ extra penalty they give is bullish, if both players accept who is the aggressor? If 1 person rejects and the other still goes at it, obviously there is an aggressor, but how is the other person getting an “aggressor” penalty when they both drop em at the same time, fk last time I watched hockey a few years ago it wasn’t like this at all, I could watch any game I wanted without having to pay $200 and still have regional blackout when the $200 package was supposed to by-pass those blackouts, thanks Sportsnet your streams are sh!trier than the officiating y’all money and power hungry y’all going to lose all your money and power going the direction y’all are going it, nobody is happy at all with any of the services put out, about half the people just pirate the games anyways and watch for free but y’all didn’t think of that when you decided to black out people from hockey games on services they pay $200 for, but back to the horrible officiating, every ref deserves the sh!t they get for screwing up their calls, “Oh tHeY aRe jUsT hUmAn” yes, they’re humans there to do a job, getting paid decent money for a ref, and they can’t even fkkn do it right, it should be a fkkn embarrassment for the league, yet the just ignore it like any other problem they have hoping it goes away, but this one won’t go away it’ll only keep getting worse if they don’t screen the person who is officiating, it’s like they’re taking whack jobs from an asylum and throwing them on the ice in official uniform, seriously, it’s a fkkn circus out there, a fkkn clown show put on by the refs. Fk why’d I have to grow up watching this piece of sh!t game when I could’ve been doing productive sh!t, now I’m just another fkkn meathead hockey fan like the rest of them. I swear every game watched is 5,000 brain cells gone, unable to be replenished, and soon I will be too if god has any sort of fkkn mercy.
He got 20 goals?
Keefe is slowly becoming more and more like Babcock.
I believe the Leafs are playing games with Bunting in regards to contract negotiations.
This notion that Bunting is in the doghouse is stupid. Marner isn't in the doghouse on the second line. We want everyone to excel. Bunting killed it on line 4. Whatever works best should be what we pursue. Kudos to the staff for trying new things.
Everyone's talking about the Leafs players…How about the coach? I'd trade him.
Good to see Leafs Coach & or GM recognize that Leafs have been playing without Top Pairing NHL D – men by moving Reilly down the D – men pairings. This is good. To fix a problem it first needs to be identified. As for the forwards, it looks like a placeholder is being used for the new injured centre likely. So when he returns – the forwards just can stay & Tavares moves over to the wing.
I think it might mean Matthews and Marner meet your new teammate and line mate in a few weeks Mr. Matthew Knies
They brought in so many players, all these sports media outlets making such a big deal of a player who probably should’ve never even been on the first line being changed to a different line.
I actually like Bunting as a depth piece. No way we tied up that game against Jersey if Bunting was on the 1st line. O'Dog has the worst takes in all of the media.
I actually hate keefes coaching… not rocket science but this guys has single handedly made it so.
Why have there been 200 line combinations???????
They should definitely keep Bunting off that first line. The guy is just chasing stats in a contract year.