#nhl #hockey #torontomapleleafs
The Leafs & Auston Matthews have drawn criticism in the past for being soft. We break down why it’s important to protect your stars and what it means for your team.
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43 Comments
leafs are the worst combo, dirty and soft
Semenco and McSorely would crack your skull if you even looked at Gretzky the wrong way, let alone touched him
Safest team
Toughness needed to make it past first round. Leafs should have signed Kane. Not Oilers
Anyone would wish for byuflign. I think jets opposing teams still have ptsd. But a seriously good example. He clearly watched out for morrisey and laine
Bring Krzysztof Oliwa from retirement to protect Matthews. He lives in Canada.
Ideally the refs would call those slashings (in this example)
I fucking love Bunting man
That's how you protect a pansy like Austin Matthews.
Matthews is such a coward. That Konecny play is just pathetic; has to have dinosaur Giordano defend him against someone he has half a foot and 30-40 lbs on?
So let Mathews stand up for himself. Kovalchuk was a star finesse player but when it needed to be done he dropped the gloves and beat the ever living shit of someone.
The League has done their best to get rid of enforcers, this pansy ass retaliation is sad. Drop the mitts and bust some chiclets.
Its a good thing for most that Matthews isnt a ruffian as he could SMOKE most of the hackers out there!!
This team will never make it to a cup final period. Might 1 day get outta the 1st round. Reason 1, it's been '67 since to present and track their record speaks for itself. 2, season play means jack 💩! Put up all the individual/ team stats up every year. It'll never be remembered. 3, this team has yet been built for playoff hockey ie bottom 6 forwards and goaltending to carry a team. Yes no different as to the Oilers for instance. 4, they'll never be a tough team period. I don't care what anyone says. Season play to playoffs is a whole different beast. There's hardly anyone on that pathetic team that'll step for 4 solid rounds. Never alone protect their star players. Most players today are paycheck players and the prestige of the cup looks to be meaningless. Just saying….
This would never happen to any star player if teams still have Domis, Proberts, Grimsons, Laraques, Boogaards, Twists in their line-up.. I can guarantee you that!
Yeah, Leafs are still soft but so is the league, so their relative softness isn't as detrimental. Statistically speaking it's not an X factor. What does show is not so much a lack of protection from the team but how lame and amateurish they look when they try to protect.
Of course the Leafs are a soft team. They are starting to show a better mental killer instinct but they still lack that gangland spit and vinegar that can make the opponent hesitate to take cheap shots. They all need more training in heart and mental controlled nastiness.
Leafs are soft like a pile of leafs.
Leafs 10 ply toilet paper.
I say with with sadness too
Oilers pathetic definitely not the true Oilers of the Gretzky era with his 3 bodyguards Semenko, McSorley and Messier.
Yes!
Flyers had every right to go after him! Slashing people all night!! Matthew's is a punk and wont fight!
Bob Probert wouldn't stand for any of that.
Back in the day they had a player specifically to protect the stars.. & everybody knew it. Dudes couldn't score, some barely skate, but they'll beat your face to shit if you hit Gretzky. I miss those enforcer days lol
Gretzky had McSorley and I'm sure many others watching his back.
Gretzky could freewheel and play at the top of his game with the Oilers because he had Semenko and Messier and a cast of others year after year that would rip your head off if you ran him. And Sather was a big part of instilling those important values. I can't stand it when your best players get worked over and no one steps up. Betman and the League are to blame for this as well. Good video.
If the current leafs want to make the leap from being a regular season team to being a playoff team, this is the first important step.
If the star player is the one starting shit he should have to defend himself. If hes constancy starting shit and others keep coming to his defense that's bullshit. I would bring up a goon and teach him a lesson.
You mean "how to protect the weak children that are too afraid to drop the gloves".
Stars use to protect themselves.
This year not so much but year..as a leafs fan they are soft. Bunting is by far my favorite player on the team lol. A pit bull out there
No problem for protecting your big juicy steak of the club. BUT a BIG BUT is the number 34 of Toronto he’s starting nasty hits on others and smile in their face because a goon will dance for him…..
How about NHL referees being a little more consistent with penalty calls?
Leafs have been soft for many decades.
Matthews is a punk though. He starts crap with other players on his own and then when they push back he backs off and let's his team step in. And then laughs about it
Definitely good to see the leafs toughening up. All the old narratives about the leafs (soft, bad at defending, bad goalies) are slowly going away. I can only hope they add choking to that list of old, outdated narratives come playoff time.
To be fair, the fact Matthews will pull some greasy hits and plays and then hide behind his teammates is a pretty big b*tch move. That’s why I have no respect for him. Superstar or not..a coward is a coward
The leafs problems are and always have been the front office, and they will never amount to shit as long as the front office is raking in the cash. I am shocked no one on the oilers responded to a McDavid it, people only tried that once with 99 and cement head would take them out!
Memorable examples: Randy Gregg protecting Gretzky, Bobbie Probert and McCarthy protecting Yzerman
Well said
They’re fucking 10 ply bud ! 🪶🧻
Wayne Gretzky started many times without Semenko he wouldn't have been able to be as successful and had less injuries
Grown up babies..
Matthews himself is soft. He instigates and runs away. I miss late 90s hockey. Not quite the goon squads of the 70s and 80s, but not as soft what it has turned into here in 2020s.