if it helps it looks like my panthers are in a competition with you guys to see who wants to win 2nd place in the division because neither team wants to take a significant lead for 1st place
Knies looks like he's playing with post-concussion symptoms ever since that injury/hit from Whitecloud. He seems timid and hurt, they might have to rest him a few games.
You mean that “clean hit” (according to the league) that almost took Knies’ head off. Totally clean hit … Whitecloud only left his feet because that was following through on the hit… nudge nudge wink wink. If Whitecloud did that as a Leaf, he’d be suspending for at least 5 games.
Playing one of the best teams on a second half of a back-to-back is never easy, and even though they allowed 5 goals against, I really liked the effort from team Latvia.
Caps fan here, that was one hell of a fun game. Not just because of the result, although to me and the caps fans it helped, was played at breakneck speed at times, and we got lucky LT was a brick wall at times. You could see Ovi was a bit slow and not back up to full game speed yet. But praise to the leafs for not just rolling over even if the score would have you think otherwise. GL with the rest of your season!
Yup! It’s been concerning. A week of bad hockey but still getting points is acceptable. A month of bad hockey is not. And now the losses are starting to come. Hope Burube can get them back on track.
What I absolutely don’t understand is why we decided to play Woll against the Wings and Murray against the Caps. First two goals, Woll probably could have saved. Murray just doesn’t have the reaction time for the NHL level.
Leafs style of play makes them banged up and tired. And this is even worse during this stretch of the year with soo many games. I think the coach was thinking this game was not winnable and decided not to risk Woll's confidence
The Leafs need to take a page out of the VGK’s handbook and shut Austin Matthews down and make sure he’s 1000% ready for the playoffs!! It worked with Vegas GK’s Mark Stone and he won a cup! Then they can spend AM34’s $15M and get a bonafide 3rd line Center and a couple top Dmen!! The magic initials are LTIR!!
I feel so bad for Willy this game man, yeah his line gott cavef in, but he solo generated offensive pressure for his line that just cant score somehow.
I know Leafs are doing okay in the standings, but I wipe away everything they did well and look at what they have done lately. And whatever it is, it’s not a team that can win a round of playoffs.
Rasmus Sandin had an excellent game last night. He has been excellent all season. Toronto really could use someone like him on their blue line. It sure would be nice to have Rasmus Sandin on your team now, wouldn't it?
@user-jj8is1rt8x ...but that was two years ago, maybe Morgan has lost a step. Right now he's not worth $7.5 million per year and unless he improves he should he traded, maybe to his home in Vancouver.
I recently bought new wax melts so that the house would smell good, didn't realize one of the scents I bought was another first round exit, but I can certainly smell it.
That’s the next game and last game in 2024 and Hildeby or Murray as backups ain’t working! They will plunge in the standings, they are only 4 points out of 4th. Stolarz is a long time away from coming back. And Auston M ??? Could be back and all is well but then again maybe a lost season 😮
That does seem like it would be logical. Note that they send Murray down if there's any chance he'd have to play 2 games in a row (due to injury relief) so I wonder if the AHL schedule is why they didn't. Maybe Hildeby couldn't be available for last game or something. I like that they aren't risking Murray's health so soon after he's back but when it costs points it's much harder to swallow.
As a lightning fan, i REALLY miss Yanni. BUT, Connor Geekie has won me over. You can tell by watching him on the ice that he's got 'it' in him. Such as great shots, getting to the puck, he's so close, but only 10 points is not showing enough his effort on ice, and you just love to see it
I was at this game. It was my first leafs game. Even though they lost, I’m still happy though. One of the security guards gave me a puck for free and it’s one of the special ones worth a couple hundred bucks! (I’m also rooting for Ovi so I’m happy he scored) but yeah sloppy game for the leafs.
Pretty sure Matthews has been injured since last March/April and still hasn't fully recovered. Dude needs to sit on LTIR and the Leafs can use that cap to pull a Vegas going into the playoffs.
Crazy that the Caps are so good. I've been waiting for them to fall off, especially after Ovi got hurt. But hats off to them. I'm happy for Dylan Strome. Dude is good.
My dad read somewhere and then told me that Knies possibly turned down 2 offers already. Could that be a performance thing?? Not sure how true it is, but still curious
Something is major going on with Matthews. Missed most of last years playoffs. Missed most of start of season. Mathews out again. Wouldn't be surprised if end if season or next season says retiring due to injury. Something is very very wrong. Reminds me of the end of Mike Bossy with the back problems.
Bold of you to assume I don't still have halloween candy in my house Steve. 😂😂 Love your videos! My fiance and I watch them every morning after a leafs game! Happy new year from Texas!!!
The teams seemed evenly matched, it came down to goaltending, I think. Murray didn't have a BAD game, he just missed a couple he probably should have had, while Thompson was performing miracles at the other end. My biggest complaint was that the referees seemed not to be watching the game.
Not that I want to make this bad of a correlation but... Christian McCaffrey of the San Francisco 49ers started this season off day to day... went to Europe after 4 weeks came back played like 3 and a half games and was then placed on IR for the rest of the season. I think Steve has every right to be VERY worried about Matthews right now.
Logan Thompson is the best goalie from Canada. But after the Kakko trade, the Capitals are the only NHL team without a representative in the four nations faceoff. Which is pretty strange because they're one of the best teams in the NHL.
@@gabrielrockman I'm greatful as a caps fan, you don't wish injuries on anyone but in a tournament like that I could see a few happening. It's not going to be like an all star game
15:36 i gotta comment here, honestly yes that where I’m placing the bar for this team this season, I think this team in the context of them here at the end of December that I think they have what it takes to win the first round again this season . I’ll take that for now
Want to what the solution to finding Morgan Rielly a defense partner and finding a decent LW? Try Morgan Rielly on the LW. I think he would thrive on the wing and he can be defensively competent as a forward. Remember Wendel Clark? He was a d-man and the Leafs put him on the wing (technically, it happened first on the world juniors first).
Steve I attended the open house coach session on Saturday. We got to watch the morning skates and to our shock, Matthews was out for the Leafs when we expected no one otherwise; Hakanpää, Timmins and Reeves were also out, the latter two in black jerseys while AM & JH were in grey. Two goalies also came out, one looked like Woll, the other I'm not sure (it wasn't Murray, Stolarz, or any of the Marlie goalies). Anyways, when Matthews was moving and doing stuff, he looked great. But every time there was a pause or a break, you could see he was in discomfort; he was leaning over putting his stick on his thighs every chance he got. He skated well and shot well otherwise. This leads me to believe it's either respiratory (or along the endurance of his breathing) or something with his back. Now we've heard lower body (which would make sense with back), upper body (would make sense with respiratory or back), and all kinds of "mystery" answers when it comes to what's wrong with him. This leads people to think it may be back, which he's had issues with before, and it likely got aggravated by the uncalled cross checks he constantly gets (thanks NHL). Or potentially something with his hips, but he wasn't favouring one side so I don't think it's explicitly either hip. Based on how he was acting, I'm concerned its his psoas muscle. Having injured that myself before, his behaviour on the ice reminded me of how I felt when it happened and I tried playing hockey. For those unaware, you wouldn't be faulted because the psoas muscle is not commonly known. The psoas is a long ribbon-shaped muscle that connects basically the lower part of your body to your upper body. In English: it's a muscle that connects your hip bones to your spin. It's considered a deep muscle, layered under everything else and it plays a vital role in your core strength, for back stability and posture - it's somewhat connected to lower back (and thus lower back pain). When you tear it, it's not easy to fix and you definitely don't want to have to operate (that would be really invasive). Steve I know you've had your fair share of back problems, the psoas can feel like a back issue but in some ways worse because no position makes you feel comfortable: it hurts to stand, it hurts to sit, it hurts to lie down - any twist or movement is a "no bueno". Even water / weightless treatments tend to be less effective for psoas issues VS back. The only real solution is to stretch out the muscle and work it to strengthen it. This is mostly because psoas issues are uncommon outside of specific sports issues and posture challenges. I don't know for sure but that would be my guess, a high side tear of psoas (so closer to the back and then the hips / groin). So how does one injure this? You basically have to be put in a position where your hip rotations are contorted in way that is: out of line of your core, and inconsistent with the range your back will allow. I did it with a combination of playing rugby front row (prop) and hockey (crosschecks, extended hip movements). While your psoas is an incredibly strong muscle, because the back muscles are larger in size, when this action takes place, the back muscle tends to pull on the psoas causing it to give (possibly tear). But you have to experience a ton of pressure for that to happen in the first place; our bodies, especially our core muscles, are incredibly resilient. I would say that cross-check in the Buffalo game likely aggravated it: off-balance (posture) stance by Matthews getting crosschecked in the hip / lower back (contorted motion) and straining the muscles to twist / pull away from the bone or in the wrong direction = not a fun time. I don't know for sure, but seeing him work through the situation live in an optional practice setting, that's my best guess. Per S.I.M. level 8 (Smrt Insider Man)
IIRC, he still did the autograph session. He should be Canada's starting goalie, not being selected at all doesn't reflect well on the team Canada's braintrust.
Me: Steve can't be that upset, back to back, Murray has hardly played hockey, Caps are one of the best teams in the league Steve: Shut your mouth! Play the intro! Me: OH! Okay!
The ups and downs of being a Matt Murray fan. ever since he came to Toronto I’ve been on the Murray bandwagon, even through the injuries. The waters looked calm for a while
Willy is deserving of praise for sure this year, but what the actual hell was he doing on that 3rd goal against? Man flies the zone so fast this year and the rest of his line was nowhere close to actually getting the puck out. By the time the caps put it in, he was just getting back over the blue line.
The same mistake Vegas made trading him to the Caps! If Thompson keeps up these type of numbers he's putting up, he might end in Vezina running at the end of the season.
@dmonsef Other than Hellebuyck, no big name goalie is having a great season. I can see Gus and LT being nominees, but right now Hellebuyck is the big favorite.
The Dallas management wasn't being hyperbolic when they said they were surprised at the Hakanpaa signing. If they thought he would realistically play more than a handful of games again they would have resigned him. I wouldn't count on him playing more than maybe 8 games total. Leafs need to find another right side option to play with Riley.
As a Tampa bay fan , any team to have Yanni on any line is getting a upgrade! He scores and drives the other teams absolutely crazy like a fly on poo he doesn’t go away lol
Matthews record breaking season, how did that work out for his body & health? Playing when injured & unwell in a desperate attempt to reach 70 goals! BTW you just lost to a PL Dubois team in Toronto, lucky the seats are such good value?
Just the culture of the sport. All of the teams unanimously don't want more information released about injuries. It's something team ownership and players agree on so it's unlikely to change
Opposing team point men are wide open in the Leaf’s zone. The Leaf’s point men rarely get a shot on net & have started trying to bank it off the end boards.
then take a break. If you play..and play like shit...you deserve shit. This isn't house-legue participation trophy nonsense. It's the NHL. Perform..or you're gonna hear about it.
I'm sorry I haven't followed the leafs recently but why are we freaking out steve.... your tied for 1st in your division and your best player has been out for a decent amount of time this year so far.... and we're losing our minds why?????
With great goal tending they mask the issues that have plagued this team since Austin arrived. The forwards do not cover their lanes in their own end leading to way too many shots from the point. They cannot flip the puck out of their own end. It's correctable but they need to work on it constantly. Long way to go Leaf fans Berube can only do so much. Thanks Steve.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Leafs struggle to make the playoffs. As constituted, the Leafs can play CB hockey, but they can’t sustain it & stay healthy. They just aren’t built that way.
@dmonsef not that it was entirely his fault his fault but after his first game he looked really shakey, bad positionally and letting clean shots when squared to the shooter. The defense infront of him played absolutely horrendously, but he needs more games. And Murray has that NHL experience even if it's been a long time. He was playing very well in the minors. Hildeby needs games, and unfortunately the position they're in, he would just be riding the pine and that's not good for him
Hildeby was already trialed this season again, he's just not ready. He's not been great in the AHL either, but it seems to be mental. He's extremely quick for his size. Good crossing the crease and has a quick glove. But he was getting scored on clean when squared up. There's no reason to let a kid get shelled when you have a vet ready to go. It's unclear why Woll took the start of the back to back though. I wonder if it's because Hildeby was busy tonight and they didn't want to activate him as the backup for Woll. Last game would have been Murray starting with Woll as backup. Which would have meant tonight was Woll starting with Murray as backup, but they don't want Murray to have any chance of being forced into a back to back when he's so freshly back and not 100%, so they would have needed to send him down and activate Hildeby. My guess is they don't want to further disrupt Hildeby's development at all, even if it means non-optimal use of goalies.
I think you went a couple of notches high on this one being a game in the middle of a holiday season in a back-to-back. You were at like 7 or 8 when you should have been at like 5 or a 6
It feels like the Leafs rely too heavily on their star shooters capitalizing on openings, instead of *making* plays to create openings. I only started watching Hockey this season, so I know I might be completely wrong, but I've seen the Leafs concede so many goals because the other team manages to pick apart the defense with good passing, and they rarely reciprocate. I watched a lot of soccer growing up-a sport in which effective passing is essential to create opportunities, so I might also be biased in how effective I think such passing plays might be. If I'm correct, then this might be the missing ingredient that is hindering the Leafs' success.
Give Mathews the rest of the season off, put him on LTIR, take that 13.25 million, and go big game hunting, bag a centre , and a top four defenseman, their addition to the team, with a healthy Mathews, equals playoff success.
Seriously the leafs schedule really isn't that terrible. Ottawa is currently on a nine game road trip that includes 3 back to backs (obviously with travel) and those back to backs are back to back to back. I.e. games 3 and 4 of the trip is a back to back, then games 5/6 are a back to back and finally games 7/8 are a back to back. And it's a Western road trip so the teams aren't close together. Van/Edm then WPG/MIN then Dal/STL.
As a Leaf and Stade Toulousain (rugby) fan, I wonder if the following could apply to a hockey team... Stade Toulousain is being dominant both in french and european competitions for years now (23 championship titles, 6 european cups ; 6 titles in the last 5 years) They had a low period in the 2000s because their best players had too many games (national, continental and international) the "star' players were exhausted when the big games arrived. So they did something different: they included ALL junior players in the elite practice. They had training sessions sometimes with more than 50 players! it took a few years to find how to work it out efficiently but they stuck to this idea ...they played more and more juniors in elite games regardless of the results and it worked! Now, it is said that they have 3 teams who can play more or less at the same level. When come the finals they put the big names on the roster and they all have fresh legs! Last year they won both championship and european cup ! the number of players who participated in these victories ? 58! The score of the french final? Stade Toulousain: 59 - UBB : 3 (note: UBB is not a bad team, they have half of the French national team ...but exhausted talents are worth nothing when they meet fresh talents!)
IIRC for the NHL training doesn't allow for you to do this, but even if it does it's just generally logistically difficult. There's so much traveling in the sport. But yeah, as far as I know players that are on the Marlies roster can't train in Scotiabank if they aren't activated for the Leafs. Not sure how it works for rinks that have NHL and AHL teams sharing a building. If I'm mistaken and that doesn't apply to training them it's definitely just not done for logistical reasons. I couldn't really find a clear cut answer from google searches but maybe someone knows the league rules for training.
@@gormros thanks! NHL seems to have very complex regulation concerning players contracts I don't understand much of it! cap space, waivers, one way, two ways etc... everything sounds a bit odd for a french guy like me! haha
I watched this at least 3 times. Well I was listening to it while playing Civ V and kept stopping it and replaying it because I was missing stuff and it was too good to miss anything. I 100% agree that the Leafs had no shot at winning this game. It was obvious. The Caps are one of the top teams in the league this year and the Leafs couldn't compete with them in this one. Yup we need a 3rd line center who can win us a game in the playoffs. Gourde could definitely be the guy. Brad has 2 months to get us that guy...
i've had this thought manyyyyyyyyy times over the past 4-5 months: why wasn't martin jones re-signed to be the third again. he earned it, unless he wanted an obese amount of money but god dammit...we went from the #1 goalie in the league to a guy on georgio level. i can't wait to see who the starter will be game 3 vs boston '25.
It seems very likely he just didn't want to continue playing. He's a free agent right now and presumably would have been picked up by someone. If his performance from last year was any indication he wouldn't be even close to the worst goalie in the league if he was still playing. There's no way he wouldn't get offers if his agent was accepting them.
Vegas trading Logan Thompson for 2 third rounders(while he’s at an autograph signing) is Vegas drunkenly stubbling through a house party while breaking everything in sight and somehow not getting stuck with the bill. That team is Teflon, bad things do not stick to them it’s ridiculous
Washington is a heavy team. Washington plays heavy Hockey. Heavy Hockey wears down an opponent. If you play Washington be prepared to dish out heavy. Because heavy is what you’re gonna get…
2 points, an Ovi goal, and an LFR meltdown... That's a hell of a night of entertainment. 😂
Thanks, Steve! 😊
Remember that 5 minutes we had the best goalie tandem in the league? Yeah, that sure was a cool 5 minutes...
Especially rough when the starter is someone you don't want to give a bunch of games in short succession to because he's injury prone.
if it helps it looks like my panthers are in a competition with you guys to see who wants to win 2nd place in the division because neither team wants to take a significant lead for 1st place
Woll still gucci
@@idawg7332 it doesn’t help go away
Stole this from someone else but how does it feel having Ovechkin’s week to week be shorter than Matthews’ day to day
Short answer, RMNB.
I wonder if it is still nothing to worry about, that "pointless" trip to Germany lol
TRADE MATHEWS. ITS A BUSINESS.
But Ovechkin's injury was only a broken leg.
Flipping fantastic.
Oh I should add I'm a Caps fan lol
Ovechkin scoring his first night back against the leafs is somehow the leafiest thing ever
Everything is the leafiest thing ever…….
He scored an empty netter and was largely invisible. What are you talking about. goofy
People just say that to say it at this point.
Didn't watch the game. Knew deep down he would pot one
Oh it was an empty better that makes more sense lol
Knies looks like he's playing with post-concussion symptoms ever since that injury/hit from Whitecloud. He seems timid and hurt, they might have to rest him a few games.
You mean that “clean hit” (according to the league) that almost took Knies’ head off. Totally clean hit … Whitecloud only left his feet because that was following through on the hit… nudge nudge wink wink.
If Whitecloud did that as a Leaf, he’d be suspending for at least 5 games.
@@profdave2861Powerplay for Vegas too on that play
Look who is on the board of player safety. Of course he is anti-leafs @profdave2861
True I almost forgot about that., that’s a good point
He playing scared now
please apologize to hat guy in the next lfr
Hat guy will need a hug
Hat guy needs to drag steve to the parking lot and slap him silly
Playing one of the best teams on a second half of a back-to-back is never easy, and even though they allowed 5 goals against, I really liked the effort from team Latvia.
Caps fan here, that was one hell of a fun game. Not just because of the result, although to me and the caps fans it helped, was played at breakneck speed at times, and we got lucky LT was a brick wall at times. You could see Ovi was a bit slow and not back up to full game speed yet. But praise to the leafs for not just rolling over even if the score would have you think otherwise. GL with the rest of your season!
Goaltending aside we’ve been soundly outplayed in almost every game for a month.
Most don’t want to admit this lol I keep being told “they won that’s all they ask “
Yup! It’s been concerning. A week of bad hockey but still getting points is acceptable. A month of bad hockey is not. And now the losses are starting to come. Hope Burube can get them back on track.
I feel like Steve's been waiting on that intro idea for a while but the Leafs just weren't losing enough for him to use it.
Unfortunately Knies hasn't looked the same since his concussion 😔
really worrying. he could be having symptoms still.
What I absolutely don’t understand is why we decided to play Woll against the Wings and Murray against the Caps. First two goals, Woll probably could have saved. Murray just doesn’t have the reaction time for the NHL level.
Caps have never beaten Woll. I guess because the Wings are a division rival. I would have had Murray play against the Wings and Woll against the Caps.
Leafs style of play makes them banged up and tired. And this is even worse during this stretch of the year with soo many games. I think the coach was thinking this game was not winnable and decided not to risk Woll's confidence
I agree. I went to the Wings game and was expecting Murray maybe Hildeby but shocked Woll played.
Warning to everyone: Don't ever watch this on your phone at 3am. in the morning when you're half asleep.😂
The Leafs need to take a page out of the VGK’s handbook and shut Austin Matthews down and make sure he’s 1000% ready for the playoffs!! It worked with Vegas GK’s Mark Stone and he won a cup! Then they can spend AM34’s $15M and get a bonafide 3rd line Center and a couple top Dmen!! The magic initials are LTIR!!
Issue is will they even make the playoffs without matthews, they've been brutal last 12 games
Nice to see Steve back AT FULL VOLUME! Those quiet LFR VIDEOS WERE WEIRD.
I picked a good LFR to be the first to watch on my new 65-inch smart TV. Steve is larger than life-size.
Nothing like a good LFR on a saturday night!
I feel so bad for Willy this game man, yeah his line gott cavef in, but he solo generated offensive pressure for his line that just cant score somehow.
I don't understand why Leafs didn't play Murray vs Wings and Woll vs Caps .
The Leafs came out strong and then deflated once that first goal went in against them, when they realized the spirit of giving was still at play.
I know Leafs are doing okay in the standings, but I wipe away everything they did well and look at what they have done lately. And whatever it is, it’s not a team that can win a round of playoffs.
This is what the Leafs look like when they are preparing for the playoffs
Any mention of TJ Brodie this season should be a punishable offense
I legit had to check to make sure I didn't have my play speed on 1.25x
Rasmus Sandin had an excellent game last night. He has been excellent all season. Toronto really could use someone like him on their blue line. It sure would be nice to have Rasmus Sandin on your team now, wouldn't it?
The 'find a partner for Rielly' thing has become the new find a center for Kessel thing which at the time was the new find a winger for Sundin thing.
HOPEFULLY REILLY FINDS ANOTHER TEAM. HE IS USELESS. HOLDOVER FROM THE BURKE ERA.
@user-jj8is1rt8x I wouldn't say useless, he was valuable during the playoff series win against Tampa two years ago.
@user-jj8is1rt8x ...but that was two years ago, maybe Morgan has lost a step. Right now he's not worth $7.5 million per year and unless he improves he should he traded, maybe to his home in Vancouver.
I recently bought new wax melts so that the house would smell good, didn't realize one of the scents I bought was another first round exit, but I can certainly smell it.
At least you didn’t lose 6-3 to the ISLANDERS
Every team drops a steamer now and then
We have a back to back with travel against them
That’s the next game and last game in 2024 and Hildeby or Murray as backups ain’t working! They will plunge in the standings, they are only 4 points out of 4th. Stolarz is a long time away from coming back. And Auston M ??? Could be back and all is well but then again maybe a lost season 😮
We did actually. Ours just happened last week instead of tonight
The caps have lost to the sharks and Blackhawks this year 😂. Every team even some of the better ones 💩 the bed from time to time
We should've had Murray in net yesterday and had Woll in net tonight. Might've saved us.
That does seem like it would be logical. Note that they send Murray down if there's any chance he'd have to play 2 games in a row (due to injury relief) so I wonder if the AHL schedule is why they didn't. Maybe Hildeby couldn't be available for last game or something. I like that they aren't risking Murray's health so soon after he's back but when it costs points it's much harder to swallow.
exactly
As a lightning fan, i REALLY miss Yanni. BUT, Connor Geekie has won me over. You can tell by watching him on the ice that he's got 'it' in him. Such as great shots, getting to the puck, he's so close, but only 10 points is not showing enough his effort on ice, and you just love to see it
I was at this game. It was my first leafs game. Even though they lost, I’m still happy though. One of the security guards gave me a puck for free and it’s one of the special ones worth a couple hundred bucks! (I’m also rooting for Ovi so I’m happy he scored) but yeah sloppy game for the leafs.
Pretty sure Matthews has been injured since last March/April and still hasn't fully recovered. Dude needs to sit on LTIR and the Leafs can use that cap to pull a Vegas going into the playoffs.
So, who would you put on the team: Samsonov or Murray? 😆
The Caps are absolutely cooking baby I love it. Vibes are unbelievably high.
I love how being "optimists" involves Haakenpaa NOT coming back...
Don’t let this distract you from the fact that Nic Dowd has now scored in 4-5 games straight in Toronto.
Crazy that the Caps are so good. I've been waiting for them to fall off, especially after Ovi got hurt. But hats off to them. I'm happy for Dylan Strome. Dude is good.
My dad read somewhere and then told me that Knies possibly turned down 2 offers already. Could that be a performance thing?? Not sure how true it is, but still curious
Something is major going on with Matthews. Missed most of last years playoffs. Missed most of start of season. Mathews out again. Wouldn't be surprised if end if season or next season says retiring due to injury. Something is very very wrong. Reminds me of the end of Mike Bossy with the back problems.
Caps fan here again. Love to see this video when we are on the winning side. Still love the videos Steve
You do realize Leafs were playing against a team with the best road win % in the NHL.
Bold of you to assume I don't still have halloween candy in my house Steve. 😂😂
Love your videos! My fiance and I watch them every morning after a leafs game! Happy new year from Texas!!!
The teams seemed evenly matched, it came down to goaltending, I think. Murray didn't have a BAD game, he just missed a couple he probably should have had, while Thompson was performing miracles at the other end. My biggest complaint was that the referees seemed not to be watching the game.
Not that I want to make this bad of a correlation but... Christian McCaffrey of the San Francisco 49ers started this season off day to day... went to Europe after 4 weeks came back played like 3 and a half games and was then placed on IR for the rest of the season. I think Steve has every right to be VERY worried about Matthews right now.
Logan Thompson is the best goalie from Canada.
But after the Kakko trade, the Capitals are the only NHL team without a representative in the four nations faceoff. Which is pretty strange because they're one of the best teams in the NHL.
@@gabrielrockman I'm greatful as a caps fan, you don't wish injuries on anyone but in a tournament like that I could see a few happening. It's not going to be like an all star game
It’s not a real tournament, but Logan definitely deserved to make the team.
Logan should be there.
He should be the starting goalie.
15:36 i gotta comment here, honestly yes that where I’m placing the bar for this team this season, I think this team in the context of them here at the end of December that I think they have what it takes to win the first round again this season . I’ll take that for now
Want to what the solution to finding Morgan Rielly a defense partner and finding a decent LW? Try Morgan Rielly on the LW. I think he would thrive on the wing and he can be defensively competent as a forward. Remember Wendel Clark? He was a d-man and the Leafs put him on the wing (technically, it happened first on the world juniors first).
That's about where the comparison ends. Morgan ain't no Wendel.
@@ghostspectre1861 never said he was but I do think he'd make a better winger than a d-man.
How can we make a Gourde trade happen? Also, how can we make an Andersson trade happen?
This is a wild card team if the goalies are playing average.
Steve I attended the open house coach session on Saturday. We got to watch the morning skates and to our shock, Matthews was out for the Leafs when we expected no one otherwise; Hakanpää, Timmins and Reeves were also out, the latter two in black jerseys while AM & JH were in grey. Two goalies also came out, one looked like Woll, the other I'm not sure (it wasn't Murray, Stolarz, or any of the Marlie goalies). Anyways, when Matthews was moving and doing stuff, he looked great. But every time there was a pause or a break, you could see he was in discomfort; he was leaning over putting his stick on his thighs every chance he got. He skated well and shot well otherwise.
This leads me to believe it's either respiratory (or along the endurance of his breathing) or something with his back. Now we've heard lower body (which would make sense with back), upper body (would make sense with respiratory or back), and all kinds of "mystery" answers when it comes to what's wrong with him. This leads people to think it may be back, which he's had issues with before, and it likely got aggravated by the uncalled cross checks he constantly gets (thanks NHL). Or potentially something with his hips, but he wasn't favouring one side so I don't think it's explicitly either hip. Based on how he was acting, I'm concerned its his psoas muscle. Having injured that myself before, his behaviour on the ice reminded me of how I felt when it happened and I tried playing hockey.
For those unaware, you wouldn't be faulted because the psoas muscle is not commonly known. The psoas is a long ribbon-shaped muscle that connects basically the lower part of your body to your upper body. In English: it's a muscle that connects your hip bones to your spin. It's considered a deep muscle, layered under everything else and it plays a vital role in your core strength, for back stability and posture - it's somewhat connected to lower back (and thus lower back pain). When you tear it, it's not easy to fix and you definitely don't want to have to operate (that would be really invasive). Steve I know you've had your fair share of back problems, the psoas can feel like a back issue but in some ways worse because no position makes you feel comfortable: it hurts to stand, it hurts to sit, it hurts to lie down - any twist or movement is a "no bueno". Even water / weightless treatments tend to be less effective for psoas issues VS back. The only real solution is to stretch out the muscle and work it to strengthen it. This is mostly because psoas issues are uncommon outside of specific sports issues and posture challenges.
I don't know for sure but that would be my guess, a high side tear of psoas (so closer to the back and then the hips / groin).
So how does one injure this? You basically have to be put in a position where your hip rotations are contorted in way that is: out of line of your core, and inconsistent with the range your back will allow. I did it with a combination of playing rugby front row (prop) and hockey (crosschecks, extended hip movements). While your psoas is an incredibly strong muscle, because the back muscles are larger in size, when this action takes place, the back muscle tends to pull on the psoas causing it to give (possibly tear). But you have to experience a ton of pressure for that to happen in the first place; our bodies, especially our core muscles, are incredibly resilient. I would say that cross-check in the Buffalo game likely aggravated it: off-balance (posture) stance by Matthews getting crosschecked in the hip / lower back (contorted motion) and straining the muscles to twist / pull away from the bone or in the wrong direction = not a fun time.
I don't know for sure, but seeing him work through the situation live in an optional practice setting, that's my best guess.
Per S.I.M. level 8 (Smrt Insider Man)
Fun Logan Thompson fact: he got traded a few minutes before an autograph session
IIRC, he still did the autograph session. He should be Canada's starting goalie, not being selected at all doesn't reflect well on the team Canada's braintrust.
Finger flick. Idk where it’s from but it always sticks out to me in the intro and I love it.
Me: Steve can't be that upset, back to back, Murray has hardly played hockey, Caps are one of the best teams in the league
Steve: Shut your mouth! Play the intro!
Me: OH! Okay!
Did my man just say like poop on Velcro? Someone check on Steve, he’s not doing ok
He's got two small kids, I just assume his kids onesies are Velcro and not Zippers or snaps and this analogy is from experience
It’s one of his like 5 phrases he uses.
The ups and downs of being a Matt Murray fan. ever since he came to Toronto I’ve been on the Murray bandwagon, even through the injuries. The waters looked calm for a while
Genuine question at what point with Reilly, your supposedly no.1 defenseman, do you just say “dude figure it out”?
Steve, how do you feel about the fact that the Capitals have a better record when the other team scores first than when they do?
Everybody: Talking about this game
Me: Shocked Holl didn't score against us in the Wings game.
Willy is deserving of praise for sure this year, but what the actual hell was he doing on that 3rd goal against? Man flies the zone so fast this year and the rest of his line was nowhere close to actually getting the puck out. By the time the caps put it in, he was just getting back over the blue line.
Why is Logan Thompson not team Canada’s starter for the 4-nations???
I'm glad he isn't as a British caps fan, none of them playing for any of the teams is best for us but I understand you guys wanting that
The same mistake Vegas made trading him to the Caps! If Thompson keeps up these type of numbers he's putting up, he might end in Vezina running at the end of the season.
@dmonsef Other than Hellebuyck, no big name goalie is having a great season. I can see Gus and LT being nominees, but right now Hellebuyck is the big favorite.
@J.B.Ram1 Calvin Pickard or Adin Hill?
The Dallas management wasn't being hyperbolic when they said they were surprised at the Hakanpaa signing. If they thought he would realistically play more than a handful of games again they would have resigned him. I wouldn't count on him playing more than maybe 8 games total. Leafs need to find another right side option to play with Riley.
for the continents thing, does klingberg qualify?
As a Tampa bay fan , any team to have Yanni on any line is getting a upgrade! He scores and drives the other teams absolutely crazy like a fly on poo he doesn’t go away lol
knies hasn't been good since that hit so i assume would be concussion related
Matthews record breaking season, how did that work out for his body & health? Playing when injured & unwell in a desperate attempt to reach 70 goals! BTW you just lost to a PL Dubois team in Toronto, lucky the seats are such good value?
Forgot about haaknapa. What is it with team and broken dallas stars defencemen
Why do NHL teams refuse to disclose player injuries? No other sport does this and its always confused me.
Just the culture of the sport. All of the teams unanimously don't want more information released about injuries. It's something team ownership and players agree on so it's unlikely to change
Also to prevent targeting of injuries by players to remove high impact players come playoff time.
@@gormros @CanadianBigMek Thanks for the info guys!
Opposing team point men are wide open in the Leaf’s zone. The Leaf’s point men rarely get a shot on net & have started trying to bank it off the end boards.
Fans not handling the lack of control around the Matthews injury is wild. He will be back when he's back.
Can we cool it with knies? I think he’s still recovering from his 2nd concussion within 2 years.
ages the first one was the organisation's fault.
then take a break. If you play..and play like shit...you deserve shit. This isn't house-legue participation trophy nonsense. It's the NHL. Perform..or you're gonna hear about it.
I'm sorry I haven't followed the leafs recently but why are we freaking out steve.... your tied for 1st in your division and your best player has been out for a decent amount of time this year so far.... and we're losing our minds why?????
With great goal tending they mask the issues that have plagued this team since Austin arrived. The forwards do not cover their lanes in their own end leading to way too many shots from the point. They cannot flip the puck out of their own end. It's correctable but they need to work on it constantly. Long way to go Leaf fans Berube can only do so much. Thanks Steve.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Leafs struggle to make the playoffs. As constituted, the Leafs can play CB hockey, but they can’t sustain it & stay healthy. They just aren’t built that way.
I know this is minor but look at the Leafs record on Hockey Night in Canada this season 4-6-1
I dont wanna say it…no i dont i dont wanna say…but i have to…we need ilya lyubushkin again lmao😂😂😂
Just a question, being a Caps fan, why you guys used Matt Murray to backup Woll instead of Hildeby?
Hildeby hasn't been very good. He still needs development and he needs to play in the AHL for that
@@flaugmoss318 What happened with him? When he was last called up, he was good.
@dmonsef not that it was entirely his fault his fault but after his first game he looked really shakey, bad positionally and letting clean shots when squared to the shooter. The defense infront of him played absolutely horrendously, but he needs more games. And Murray has that NHL experience even if it's been a long time. He was playing very well in the minors. Hildeby needs games, and unfortunately the position they're in, he would just be riding the pine and that's not good for him
I don’t think that’s the question. I don’t know why we didn’t play Woll tonight instead of last night.
Hildeby was already trialed this season again, he's just not ready. He's not been great in the AHL either, but it seems to be mental. He's extremely quick for his size. Good crossing the crease and has a quick glove. But he was getting scored on clean when squared up. There's no reason to let a kid get shelled when you have a vet ready to go. It's unclear why Woll took the start of the back to back though. I wonder if it's because Hildeby was busy tonight and they didn't want to activate him as the backup for Woll. Last game would have been Murray starting with Woll as backup. Which would have meant tonight was Woll starting with Murray as backup, but they don't want Murray to have any chance of being forced into a back to back when he's so freshly back and not 100%, so they would have needed to send him down and activate Hildeby. My guess is they don't want to further disrupt Hildeby's development at all, even if it means non-optimal use of goalies.
without Anthony Stolarz, its becoming very apparent the leafs can't keep the puck out of their own net
I think you went a couple of notches high on this one being a game in the middle of a holiday season in a back-to-back. You were at like 7 or 8 when you should have been at like 5 or a 6
Logan Thompson was mental in this game. There it goes. Onto the next game please.
What's a amulet
It feels like the Leafs rely too heavily on their star shooters capitalizing on openings, instead of *making* plays to create openings.
I only started watching Hockey this season, so I know I might be completely wrong, but I've seen the Leafs concede so many goals because the other team manages to pick apart the defense with good passing, and they rarely reciprocate. I watched a lot of soccer growing up-a sport in which effective passing is essential to create opportunities, so I might also be biased in how effective I think such passing plays might be. If I'm correct, then this might be the missing ingredient that is hindering the Leafs' success.
Give Mathews the rest of the season off, put him on LTIR, take that 13.25 million, and go big game hunting, bag a centre , and a top four defenseman, their addition to the team, with a healthy Mathews, equals playoff success.
Both the caps goalies are right catching, that has to be a first... right? Is there even another one in the league right now?
Shouldn’t have never traded Luke Schenn.
We better hope Matthews doesn’t go to four Nations
By playoff time, Reilly's new baby will be sleeping nights and there will be a new 3rd line centre. The Cup is at least half full.
Seriously the leafs schedule really isn't that terrible. Ottawa is currently on a nine game road trip that includes 3 back to backs (obviously with travel) and those back to backs are back to back to back. I.e. games 3 and 4 of the trip is a back to back, then games 5/6 are a back to back and finally games 7/8 are a back to back. And it's a Western road trip so the teams aren't close together. Van/Edm then WPG/MIN then Dal/STL.
Trade captain for Captain?
As a Leaf and Stade Toulousain (rugby) fan, I wonder if the following could apply to a hockey team... Stade Toulousain is being dominant both in french and european competitions for years now (23 championship titles, 6 european cups ; 6 titles in the last 5 years)
They had a low period in the 2000s because their best players had too many games (national, continental and international) the "star' players were exhausted when the big games arrived. So they did something different: they included ALL junior players in the elite practice.
They had training sessions sometimes with more than 50 players! it took a few years to find how to work it out efficiently but they stuck to this idea ...they played more and more juniors in elite games regardless of the results and it worked!
Now, it is said that they have 3 teams who can play more or less at the same level. When come the finals they put the big names on the roster and they all have fresh legs!
Last year they won both championship and european cup ! the number of players who participated in these victories ? 58!
The score of the french final? Stade Toulousain: 59 - UBB : 3 (note: UBB is not a bad team, they have half of the French national team ...but exhausted talents are worth nothing when they meet fresh talents!)
IIRC for the NHL training doesn't allow for you to do this, but even if it does it's just generally logistically difficult. There's so much traveling in the sport. But yeah, as far as I know players that are on the Marlies roster can't train in Scotiabank if they aren't activated for the Leafs. Not sure how it works for rinks that have NHL and AHL teams sharing a building. If I'm mistaken and that doesn't apply to training them it's definitely just not done for logistical reasons. I couldn't really find a clear cut answer from google searches but maybe someone knows the league rules for training.
@@gormros thanks! NHL seems to have very complex regulation concerning players contracts I don't understand much of it! cap space, waivers, one way, two ways etc... everything sounds a bit odd for a french guy like me! haha
I gotta ask.... was Sheldon Keefe really the problem?
I watched this at least 3 times. Well I was listening to it while playing Civ V and kept stopping it and replaying it because I was missing stuff and it was too good to miss anything. I 100% agree that the Leafs had no shot at winning this game. It was obvious. The Caps are one of the top teams in the league this year and the Leafs couldn't compete with them in this one. Yup we need a 3rd line center who can win us a game in the playoffs. Gourde could definitely be the guy. Brad has 2 months to get us that guy...
This game was decided by goaltending.
Real Steve is back!
Random question, is Calle Jarnkrok still alive?
alive yes but wont be back this season most likely
Just an honest question, does any die hard Leafs fan know what is Matthews injury?
i've had this thought manyyyyyyyyy times over the past 4-5 months: why wasn't martin jones re-signed to be the third again. he earned it, unless he wanted an obese amount of money but god dammit...we went from the #1 goalie in the league to a guy on georgio level. i can't wait to see who the starter will be game 3 vs boston '25.
It seems very likely he just didn't want to continue playing. He's a free agent right now and presumably would have been picked up by someone. If his performance from last year was any indication he wouldn't be even close to the worst goalie in the league if he was still playing. There's no way he wouldn't get offers if his agent was accepting them.
Gourde, Tanev and Luke Schenn..... heck add brayden schenn too with matthews on LTIR until the playoffs and we can have a super fun team!
Vegas trading Logan Thompson for 2 third rounders(while he’s at an autograph signing) is Vegas drunkenly stubbling through a house party while breaking everything in sight and somehow not getting stuck with the bill.
That team is Teflon, bad things do not stick to them it’s ridiculous
Hemmed like a pair of long jeans. That’s a new one🎉
Washington is a heavy team. Washington plays heavy Hockey. Heavy Hockey wears down an opponent. If you play Washington be prepared to dish out heavy. Because heavy is what you’re gonna get…
Can we interest you in a slightly-used Nazem Kadri?