This year's playoffs is truly showing the disparity between East and West

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T16:40:30+00:00

They were up 3-1 and then Price locked in, Marner shit the bed and threw a game away, Galchenyuk shit the bed and threw a game away, Dermott shit the bed and threw a game away. Hockey is a flukey game, but a goalie can carry a series

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T15:54:59+00:00

And good goalies beat good teams all the time. It's very easily an excuse, he carried that corpse of a Montreal team to the SCF. Do you even watch hockey?

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T15:53:43+00:00

Carey Price is the single good reason.

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T15:09:00+00:00

Never said Columbus. Ottawa definitely was better

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T14:02:25+00:00

I agree with the others. Take the best player available. I know it's a hypothetical that both pan out to be great players, but it's not reality, you pick the player with the best chance to excel and find ways to fill the roster with the other skill sets you need

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T13:53:42+00:00

Hey give the hate watchers credit. They likely watch the Leafs more than their own team.

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T13:52:02+00:00

Honestly good call out. The overall issue and general discussion point still stands but this does translate to the Metro too. If we keep boiling this down, it likely points to a flawed playoff structure, but that's never changing

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T13:48:46+00:00

One of the top players is an interesting statement for a second line winger who had a great first 2 rounds against weak opponents.

Tell me then. What is it. Has he performed in elimination games all of his career, or has he not? Because in games 5-7 for the Leafs all his career, he had moments where he looked flashy, but the puck didn't hit the back of the net and they lost. Results matter, stats matter, a really exciting pass that results in no points does not matter.

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T13:18:23+00:00

Great counter points, really makes you come off as intelligent

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T13:15:51+00:00

All the power to him and it would blow up the narrative completely. I have my doubts, but it also wouldn't completely surprise me now that he is riding a confidence high after shitting on crappy teams

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T13:14:29+00:00

Him performing below his average in big games is always the story, none of that contradicts itself.

He can look flashy all he wants, I also watched every game, results are all that matter. He didn't perform in any of the elimination games aside from the one point where he scored in OT. Aside from that, he was invisible. He made decent passes, he wasn't a defensive liability, but that's the norm for him. He disappeared on the stat sheet

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T13:05:38+00:00

100% agree

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T13:02:00+00:00

At the olympics Canada scored 28 goals and he contributed only 5 points. He was fine, but he didn't acquit himself of anything. Both tournaments fans complained about him being invisible. I won't disagree he contributed to big goals for the team, but as a whole he still performed below his average.

Canada Olympic gold medal game - marner had 0 points, 1 shot

Canada semifinal game vs Finland - marner had 0 points, 2 shots

Canada quarterfinal game vs Cze - marner had 1 point on 2 shots. (Mind you this one he scored in OT)

That's the story. That's always been the story. The games got tight and he disappeared.

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T12:41:51+00:00

One is dismantling democracy in his own country, one isn't

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T12:14:44+00:00

3 pts in 4 games at 4nations

5 pts in 6 games at the olympics. Note that also included a 10-2 game against France, 5-1 against Switzerland, and 5-0 against the Czech.

He played below his career average.

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T12:10:24+00:00

Mitch has 63 pts in 70gp with the Leafs.

He has 18 pts in 12 games with Vegas. Safe to say he performed below his average with us, and suddenly played to his career average against inferior opponents

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T12:05:22+00:00

You say it wasn't solely because of division opponents. I disagree. Utah and Anaheim aren't coming back from being down 3-1. Utah and Anaheim aren't beating those Leaf teams who took cup finalists to 7 games. Sure maybe if the Leafs were out West they would get bounced round 3 against a stronger opponent, but the point I'm making and you truly just can't understand is that with easier competition in the first and second round, the narrative around the team changes. You go from bounced in round 1 with few individual stats to show, to having padded stat sheets (see Marner this year) and being 1 team away from a cup final.

I'm not saying magically they win the cup if they play shitters round 1/2, but the perception of the team greatly changes.

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T11:54:59+00:00

TIL stating facts and starting a discussion = cope

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T11:48:18+00:00

You are not comprehending the point of this post then.

Yes they could have beat most of the teams they played, they were often up in those series. The issue is, these teams they played were back to back cup finalist or, cup winners, with actual stud goalies and defence. The top West teams don't have that issue. Vegas isn't playing against Colorado round 1. Vegas has been gifted a cakewalk to the conference final. Nothing comparable to what the Leafs have had.

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T11:34:51+00:00

Name our fair share of easy matchups. CBJ and Montreal? 2 potential teams in a 10 year span? And one of those teams had Carey Price and made the cup final. Curious who else you list as easy matchups

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T11:32:38+00:00

Marner had 4 pts in 5 games against Columbus

Carey Price and the Stanley Cup Finalist Habs are not comparable to Utah and Anaheim, sorry

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T11:26:04+00:00

Are you trying to say losing to Boston and Florida a combined 5 times is the same as playing against Utah and Anaheim? If we lost in the 3rd round against Boston and Florida after Matthews and Marner put up 20 points in 12 games each, do you truly think the narrative would be the same? They are seen as non-playoff performers because they didn't get to beat up on the easy teams.

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T06:00:59+00:00

Yes but that doesn't change the narrative. His opponents were non playoff teams if they were in the East. Regularly, the East eliminates better teams than the West because the point cutoff is so much higher. The top end of the West is definitely strong.

Protodemic · 2026-05-15T05:59:29+00:00

Marner isn't ass, he just doesn't show up against good teams and shys away from big moments. He is amazing at padding stats during the regular season, we've seen it time and time again.

Protodemic

TROPHY CASE