qwksndmonster

Somebody will take a shot on Bylsma, because pro sports franchises are run by stupid idiots.

Good god these commentators are thick.

Having not watched much of the Leafs this year, it's easy to see how he racked up 40. There we go.

Matthews is a world class garbage man.

Oh man Oshie has to finish that one. Sick play by Backstrom and Ovi to set that up. Backstrom is such a joy to watch. Smart dude.

The Leafs are so damned lucky. I'm not even mad about it anymore, it's just amazing. And yeah that finish by Matthews was siiiiick.

I think about this every year in the playoffs. Man the Caps are so loaded, they gotta do some damage this year. When they traded for shittenpoop I was more sure than ever that this would be their year. But then they come in and look like the Minnesota Wild every damn year. Like clockwork. Oh man that stretch pass to Backstrom was gorgeous. Somewhere, Bylsma just got real hard and he doesn't know why.

YYYYYEEEEESSSSSS

It sounds like you hate fun. I've enjoyed the playoffs a lot so far.

He seems kind of like a quiet guy. Not a loner, per se, but not necessarily a leader. This is pure conjecture.

Yeah, we already have the Okposo contract. He and Oshie would sink us in the not too distant future.

Hehehe late night drunkposts are the best.

He still sounds like GoDD's wet dream idea of a GM.

Cool stuff, 3putt. And Lombardi went to Elmira? That's weird. You'd think EC would never shut up about that.

Ottawa and Boston look like AHL teams compared to the Caps Leaves series.

Yup. But not not a slash.

Man the Caps look like garbage.

Leafs get another power play for no reason.

Surely you're capable of the slightest bit of nuance?

TM never struck me as tough guy snark. Just a straight shooter with self confidence.

I don't remember it like that at all. When Darcy started tanking it was with Pegula as owner. And he was tanking for the long haul, most definitely looking at McDavid.

We were already tanking in a big way when PLF was hired.

He's a very interesting dude. I'd love to have a drink with him.

Yeah that's a really fair read, too. For me, what it really comes down to is if Murray believed in Bylsma's system then he was never going to find a good coach without accidentally falling ass-backwards into one (like he almost did with Babcock). Somebody mentioned it upthread, Babcock might've chosen the Leafs because Murray failed his interview.

I agree, but I have this niggling feeling that Murray should have gotten a second chance at choosing a coach. I think it's reasonable to bet that FGMTM would have been able to improve his communication skills with a new coach and build a culture from the ground up. And to be fair to Murray, he is a first time GM. What's the point of taking a chance at a young, unproven GM if you're not going to give him time to learn from his mistakes and grow as a hockey exec? The Pegulas have needed to grow as sports owners. I'd personally bet on Tim Murray's learning curve as a gm being faster than theirs as owners. I stand by the moves that Tim Murray made. I think it was reasonable to go into this season with Kulikov and Bogosian in the top 4. I think a good coach would see that the way to make the most of our roster is to play aggressive possession hockey. Kulikov's strengths as a player are in transition. He's good on the rush. Pretty much the only thing Bogosian can do is skate hard and shoot. Yet we comitted to low event hockey, getting outshot most nights. And the narratives grew that Bogosian and Kulikov are useless players. They're certainly not ideal defensemen to have as your second pair, and McCabe is not the ideal #2, but that defense core can absolutely make the playoffs behind our good forwards. I don't think it's fair to say that Murray's not a good team builder. It could be true, but we didn't get a chance to find out. Murray wasn't icing the finished product this year. He tried to get more help on D last offseason, but didn't like the price. With the expansion draft coming up, it was a good idea to stand pat and pounce in the future. Not to mention that Kane regained his value in a big way, and is probably our sexiest trade chip. I was excited to see who Murray was gonna trade for to shore up the D, and I trusted his judgement. Murray was a good soldier, and never acted in desperation for his job. He only made moves with the franchise's best interests at heart. He took a big swing and a miss on Bylsma, and hung onto him way too long, but I'm not sure that alone is worth firing him.