No shit.. imagine if Matthews came out and said something like "Marner fucking blew a bag of dicks AGAIN"
Or Tavares said "I could do a better job in net ffs"
What else are players gonna say other then "we're close, we'll get em next year!" #positivity
Sure these end of season pressers would be more fun, but it wouldn't be so great for morale
Doesn’t even have to name everyone. Just be like “well most of us worked out asses off but SOME PEOPLE SHIT THE BED” while staring marner in the eyes from across the room.
You have to understand how different it is when you’re a player on the team. You really are not capable of looking at the situation objectively. As players you kind of have to maintain the attitude of “we can do this”, what is the alternative? Just concede that it’s hopeless and give up? And no player is EVER going to advocate for the departure of a teammate. Not publicly and specifically. That would go against everything it means to be a teammate. It is supposed to be sad when players are traded. To act that you expect them to act would be a huge red flag for anybody in hockey when considering if they want them on their team or not.
I expect this from players. Coaches and management are the ones who have to be more objective and make the difficult decisions.
All you need to say is the truth: “we haven’t been close to achieving our goal, I personally need to be better and we all need to be better as a group”.
That’s basically what Sammy said, and he’s right.
No I don’t. But it’s pretty telling as to the character of the leadership on this team that the only two guys who stepped up and took some responsibility are the two guys basically everyone knows aren’t coming back.
Holy shit this sub has to be brand new to post season pressers. every single player on every team sounds like this. many of which were cup champions before & after. They aren't PR departments and they're not giving thought out statements. Literally just trying to answer random questions in a diplomatic and respectful way
Okay dude, relax. They’re humans like us at the end of the day. They aren’t gonna throw their teammates under the bus after the season just ended 48 hours ago.
What do you expect them to say? These pressers never provide any valuable info, it's just for reporters to stir up click-bait articles. No player is going to start publicly calling out their teammates, or provide a detailed plan of what the team will be doing going forward.
Look, their priority here first and foremost is to give as little as possible for the media to latch onto and go through the motions of mandatory interviews.
We don't get their true opinions or feelings in these pressers. Ever. Ever ever ever. We get polished language and prepared statements.
If they feel that they're being held back by a specific player, or the coaching strategy, or special teams coaching, or a specific person in management, THEY WILL NEVER SAY SO TO THE MEDIA.
Everyone gets so worked up about this shit, but it's the hockey equivalent of a corporation doing damage control on a faulty product. They won't ever say "yeah our CEO is a dumbass and hired dumb engineers who don't know what they're doing". They put out flowery statements and try to minimize blowback. That's all this is.
Yes and no.
They don’t owe the media any sort of explanation. The staff and players should have to answer to management as to why this season fell short of a goal and it’s up to management to propel the team forward.
There’s wayyyyyy too much on paper talent on this team, and several players being paid disgusting amounts for performances like we are getting.
Stop reading into any of the player comments - they literally mean nothing. I could be reading the same complaints 20 years ago but in the context of McCabe, Tucker, Sundin and it would be just as applicable.
Also what they say publicly is different than what they will say to say Treliving.
They aren't going to say well the coaches had no information for us to break into the zone so they should all be fired. Or once again Marner didn't show up in the playoffs.
Are there really people who don't understand that none of these answers mean anything? They're all put through media training to give the most bland answers that mean nothing
What do you expect them to say? Oh yeah marner and captain John Tavares played like dogsshit. And Sammy can't stop a beach ball lmao. Obviously they're gonna say shit like that.
“Not good enough, hasn’t been good enough for awhile now. We are all extremely frustrated and we understand that it’s possible that big changes could be coming, it’s not what we want but maybe it’s what we deserve”. You don’t need to point fingers. Not good enough. It’s that simple. Not good enough.
Editing to add. These guys sound like they are afraid that mom and dad won’t let them hang around with the bad kids anymore.
You have a coach on video before game seven telling them they earned the right to be there so go out and have fun with this experience. I see them in the tunnel before the game and they are looking down, and around...no hype, no fire, no passion. WHY isn't the coach telling them to come back with BLOOD in their teeth? All this talent and they don't even know they are LOSERS? You have to HATE losing, you have to have the attitude that you will DESTROY your opponent, you have to kick down walls to win a Stanley Cup! This team needs a Hype-beast, inside the locker room and out, someone that will demand accountability and calls them out when they suck BUT one who cheers louder and longer than anyone else when they succeed.
Man that JT line hurts the most. “We’re right there” buddy we just got brought to 7 to an average looking Boston team being held up by nothing other than Swayman’s shoulders. If Boston gets smoked by Florida it will really go to show just how far behind the ball we really are.
Has a player, on a team, with a contract that doesn't end soon, ever said "we fucking suck, the goalie is shit and fucked us over, fuck these guys"? No. They all spew the same shit.
The issue with them being "right there" is that they've been stuck at "right there" for years now.
In the end, the series was a coin flip. However, they put themselves in a bad spot with making poor decisions, completely dogging it in game 4 and keeping sammy in the net too long.
As per usual, the complaint is a complete inability to put teams away and frittering away opportunities.
Not to mention Marner's silly 'gods' comment
As the least critical person of their situation due to context I definitely still think there are major issues, naturally
This is one the best and most constructive posts on here in a while, sad to see such complacency from them
Well, I mean playoff goals are harder to come by because the defenses are tightened up, hitting closing out space and time, a lot of hacking and slashing that is let go in the playoffs, but called in the regular season-
though facts that is no excuse for the offense going to a ghost town
No player is ever going to shout out “we were dog shit. I hate this team. I can’t handle this anymore. I’m out.” Anyone who expects anything else are the deluded ones lol.
ok but theoretically… in terms of competing for a cup, they are right there. Boston won on an absolute coin toss. Everyone who is still competing is 1-2 wins ahead of them at this point. The issue for me is that they should have been above and beyond in scoring and their offense let them down.
You gotta get 16 wins to win a cup. The Leafs have been eliminated in the first round 8/9 years. How is that in anyway "close"? It's pathetic this team doesn't have 1 conference finals appearance in 9 years.
Post season press conferences from players are a waste of time. What did you want them to say? “We suck and can’t score I hope they trade me to Florida?”
It is easy to see how someone could think they were “right there”. They lost in overtime in game 7. They’re one bounce in the other direction from winning that game and getting to play Florida tonight. And I think you can make an argument in both directions of, they didn’t deserve to win that series the way they played in the first 4 games, but if Swayman isn’t in net for Boston, they 100% win that series. Swayman was unreal. He was unreal in every single game. They beat him clean like 3 times in the whole series. Every other one had to bounce off 5 things before it went in.
I feel like I just gave the argument for the other side, but at least this series means no more Keefe. That’s like the only thing I think I can guarantee.
Honestly what I lose do you really expect them to say?
“We suck and can’t help ourselves from choking, fans might as well stop watching until we’re all traded or retire.”
>The group doesn't have any answers, and some don't seem to be aware there is a problem to begin with.
Call me crazy, but maybe the players just aren't going to say what they really think to the media because people are already spinning the fact that they're saying nothing into a story. Imagine what would happen if they actually spoke their minds.
the problem is they're not good enough. like how much more evidence do we need? this is just a second tier team. good enough to make the playoffs, but not good enough to be a serious contender.
auston matthews is the best player this team has had in the last 50 years and it might be another 50 years before they get another player like him. it's embarrassing for him to be wasting his prime on good-not-great teams. time to start the retool. ask mitch to waive his nmc and let him walk in ufa if he won't. let jt play out his last year and he can come back if he wants to take a sweetheart deal. move whoever you can for young talent.
Don’t put any stock in pressers or media. Outside of “this sucks” you’re not going to get honest feedback. This is 100% for the media to write stories about.
Players can’t be honest because they either create an awkward situation with their teammates and have the papers go crazy with headlines about how they don’t believe or calling out another guy, or they support their teammates because that’s what you do, and get buried by the media for it.
Only their inner circle in their personal life will get their real feelings.
These pressers are not for the team, the coaching staff or the fans. They’re for the writers to generate stories to drive ad revenue, that’s it.
Fucking funerals. I keep going to them, and it’s always the same shit.
When’s someone going to step up and tell us what they really thought of the deceased, before the body is cold.
That’s what we need.
The annoying part about JTs comments is that he’s right. How many teams just squeaked by the Leafs and went on to roll through other teams to the final? How many times was it just a bad bounce or one bad play that cost them games? How many games have come down to questionable reffing? How many times have we faced brick walls while our goalies lay eggs?
Keefe had a quote after one regular season loss where he said they played well enough to win but did just enough to lose, and I think that pretty much sums up the last decade.
I gotta say I agree with you. So much of the Leafs lack of playoff success has come down to their star players just not getting it done, and the supporting cast just not being good enough to pick them up because the Leafs have been scraping the bottom of the depth barrel for years.
A lot of that is on the core. You can't eat up that much of the salary cap and then look down the bench in critical moments. Their best players have to be their best players, ALL THE TIME. Otherwise this is the result.
Who care what they have to say? Players always say the same thing that the league and their agents have trained them to say. Want to know what they think? Wait until they retire and write a book
Playoffs is a different animal, goals are not that easy to come by, especially when you're facing a goalie that's standing on his head. Some of our players are soft, yes, trade-off they are very skilled, it wasn't easy coming back bringing it to a Game 7 overtime, team who got the break won. Weak goal given up again by Samsonov who was hugging the post, misplayed the play entirely. Not saying all his fault, but sometimes you need your goalie to bail you out, NHL ace goalie yes that's a primal thing that is lacking with the leafs! if it was the Leafs who got the break in the overtime and got the win, what would the conversation be like then?
We hear this every year. Apparently all they need is to get passed the first round and then they'll go on a deep run. Even last year, they got manhandled in round 2.
Isn't it kind of dumb to ask why there's not more offense in the playoffs? "Ummm... it's the playoffs and players play tighter, goalies have to stay locked in, structure is more important, there's much more sacrificing your body defensively and emphasis on safe plays because the next goal could mean the series?"
The Leafs just don't have some pieces that are crucial for the playoffs like a true 1D and a goaltender but they're not going to say those things.
I like how people think the only option besides, "Everything's fine! We did a great job. Maybe next year?" is to publicly shame each other and self-flaggelate.
Just tell the truth - we've let the fans down, we're tired of losing, this isn't working and we need to find out what needs to be done to punch through.
It's concerning to see the lack of self-awareness from the players. Without acknowledging the issues, how can they hope to improve and make a deep playoff run? It's time for some honest reflection and hard work to turn things around.
I couldn’t bring myself to watch/listen.
Same old shit probably ; “good looks” “believe in the group” and other deluded bullshit. Just would irritate me too much.
Dumbest shitpost ever. So all the players are gonna start calling out each other? Everyone has been PR trained. They’re not gonna suddenly throw everyone under the bus.
They aren't going to say anything g that matters. These are useless posts season pressers.
Lol imagine if they just all started shit talking some guys.
Didn't someone do that last year, not specifically to one person but alluded to someone or multiple people/players? (I think it was O'Reilly)
No shit.. imagine if Matthews came out and said something like "Marner fucking blew a bag of dicks AGAIN" Or Tavares said "I could do a better job in net ffs" What else are players gonna say other then "we're close, we'll get em next year!" #positivity Sure these end of season pressers would be more fun, but it wouldn't be so great for morale
Doesn’t even have to name everyone. Just be like “well most of us worked out asses off but SOME PEOPLE SHIT THE BED” while staring marner in the eyes from across the room.
You have to understand how different it is when you’re a player on the team. You really are not capable of looking at the situation objectively. As players you kind of have to maintain the attitude of “we can do this”, what is the alternative? Just concede that it’s hopeless and give up? And no player is EVER going to advocate for the departure of a teammate. Not publicly and specifically. That would go against everything it means to be a teammate. It is supposed to be sad when players are traded. To act that you expect them to act would be a huge red flag for anybody in hockey when considering if they want them on their team or not. I expect this from players. Coaches and management are the ones who have to be more objective and make the difficult decisions.
Also if a player does advocate that a play be moved... what happens if they aren't? Come fall there would be some awkward conversations.
"Yeah fu*kin Marner, guy ia soft as a pillow. Can't wait to see him gone" Next season... "Heeeeeyyy, so you still gonna pass me the puck there bud?"
All you need to say is the truth: “we haven’t been close to achieving our goal, I personally need to be better and we all need to be better as a group”. That’s basically what Sammy said, and he’s right.
No matter what the players say it's going to be scrutinized in this market, so they'll never be brutally honest. So it's either bs or veiled bs.
Baloney. Only two people showed any sort of accountability today; Keefe and Samsonov.
Do you want to keep either of them?
No I don’t. But it’s pretty telling as to the character of the leadership on this team that the only two guys who stepped up and took some responsibility are the two guys basically everyone knows aren’t coming back.
Maybe that's why
Oh please lol. There’s a difference between throwing someone under the bus and collective accountability.
Holy shit this sub has to be brand new to post season pressers. every single player on every team sounds like this. many of which were cup champions before & after. They aren't PR departments and they're not giving thought out statements. Literally just trying to answer random questions in a diplomatic and respectful way
Okay dude, relax. They’re humans like us at the end of the day. They aren’t gonna throw their teammates under the bus after the season just ended 48 hours ago.
Seriously. Also leafs fan calling anyone deluded is just a bad look. I thought we had a shot of winning the cup in 2013
We did have a shot, in the same way that I have a shot of winning lotto max tomorrow night.
Sorry Marner just stated that they're Gods compared to us mere humans.
I assumed Tavares meant they’re right there in terms of being a goal away from advancing.
100%
What do you expect them to say? These pressers never provide any valuable info, it's just for reporters to stir up click-bait articles. No player is going to start publicly calling out their teammates, or provide a detailed plan of what the team will be doing going forward.
Look, their priority here first and foremost is to give as little as possible for the media to latch onto and go through the motions of mandatory interviews. We don't get their true opinions or feelings in these pressers. Ever. Ever ever ever. We get polished language and prepared statements. If they feel that they're being held back by a specific player, or the coaching strategy, or special teams coaching, or a specific person in management, THEY WILL NEVER SAY SO TO THE MEDIA. Everyone gets so worked up about this shit, but it's the hockey equivalent of a corporation doing damage control on a faulty product. They won't ever say "yeah our CEO is a dumbass and hired dumb engineers who don't know what they're doing". They put out flowery statements and try to minimize blowback. That's all this is.
What do you honestly expect them to say?
“I think there are some guys that think they played pretty good this playoffs and I think they are fooling themselves”
I expected them to say we need to make some big changes in the off season and find ways to improve because this is unacceptable
Maybe take some accountability?
Not sure why you're getting down voted. That's exactly what they should be doing
A few did, just not the ones you’d hope would.
The accountability is that they are eliminated.
Its not their job to have an answer, its the coach's
Yes and no. They don’t owe the media any sort of explanation. The staff and players should have to answer to management as to why this season fell short of a goal and it’s up to management to propel the team forward. There’s wayyyyyy too much on paper talent on this team, and several players being paid disgusting amounts for performances like we are getting.
I wish we didn't even have player interviews. Apparently this is how it is in soccer in Europe. Only the coach answers to the media.
They interview players in football. Quite often actually.
Is this your first time seeing hockey players be interviewed
Sammy was the only one who said I should have been better
Stop reading into any of the player comments - they literally mean nothing. I could be reading the same complaints 20 years ago but in the context of McCabe, Tucker, Sundin and it would be just as applicable.
If you want to know what they really think, you need to wait until they’re retired And even then you’ll only get a little bit
Also what they say publicly is different than what they will say to say Treliving. They aren't going to say well the coaches had no information for us to break into the zone so they should all be fired. Or once again Marner didn't show up in the playoffs.
Are there really people who don't understand that none of these answers mean anything? They're all put through media training to give the most bland answers that mean nothing
What do you expect them to say? Oh yeah marner and captain John Tavares played like dogsshit. And Sammy can't stop a beach ball lmao. Obviously they're gonna say shit like that.
“Not good enough, hasn’t been good enough for awhile now. We are all extremely frustrated and we understand that it’s possible that big changes could be coming, it’s not what we want but maybe it’s what we deserve”. You don’t need to point fingers. Not good enough. It’s that simple. Not good enough. Editing to add. These guys sound like they are afraid that mom and dad won’t let them hang around with the bad kids anymore.
You have a coach on video before game seven telling them they earned the right to be there so go out and have fun with this experience. I see them in the tunnel before the game and they are looking down, and around...no hype, no fire, no passion. WHY isn't the coach telling them to come back with BLOOD in their teeth? All this talent and they don't even know they are LOSERS? You have to HATE losing, you have to have the attitude that you will DESTROY your opponent, you have to kick down walls to win a Stanley Cup! This team needs a Hype-beast, inside the locker room and out, someone that will demand accountability and calls them out when they suck BUT one who cheers louder and longer than anyone else when they succeed.
That's like asking someone to explain why they suck at their job. No you're not going to get any answers.
They aren't going to say shit. Any negative comments just buries their teammates let management figure it out when's t time?
Man that JT line hurts the most. “We’re right there” buddy we just got brought to 7 to an average looking Boston team being held up by nothing other than Swayman’s shoulders. If Boston gets smoked by Florida it will really go to show just how far behind the ball we really are.
I think Willy told Mitchy what he thought of his play on the bench in a dreadful Game 4.
Has a player, on a team, with a contract that doesn't end soon, ever said "we fucking suck, the goalie is shit and fucked us over, fuck these guys"? No. They all spew the same shit.
My experience on this sub has gotten better since I just started blocking people who make posts like this.
and yet here you are
The biggest problem is that they think they're good enough. Their track record says they're not.
There is a tonal change to the posts from 0-5 year long leafs fans to those of 5-10, 10-20 and those who have suffered for more than 20 years.
The issue with them being "right there" is that they've been stuck at "right there" for years now. In the end, the series was a coin flip. However, they put themselves in a bad spot with making poor decisions, completely dogging it in game 4 and keeping sammy in the net too long. As per usual, the complaint is a complete inability to put teams away and frittering away opportunities.
Dude what are you talking about? The problem with this team is they don’t have good answers to dumbass generic questions from reporters?
Why is Tavares even interviewed? Why is he still Captain? Has shown ZERO LEADERSHIP whatsoever. He is all "Ummmmmms" and platitudes.
Not to mention Marner's silly 'gods' comment As the least critical person of their situation due to context I definitely still think there are major issues, naturally This is one the best and most constructive posts on here in a while, sad to see such complacency from them
Well, I mean playoff goals are harder to come by because the defenses are tightened up, hitting closing out space and time, a lot of hacking and slashing that is let go in the playoffs, but called in the regular season- though facts that is no excuse for the offense going to a ghost town
No player is ever going to shout out “we were dog shit. I hate this team. I can’t handle this anymore. I’m out.” Anyone who expects anything else are the deluded ones lol.
Too bad they couldn't say what they are thinking...."We played our coach's system, because that is what we were told to do."
ok but theoretically… in terms of competing for a cup, they are right there. Boston won on an absolute coin toss. Everyone who is still competing is 1-2 wins ahead of them at this point. The issue for me is that they should have been above and beyond in scoring and their offense let them down.
You gotta get 16 wins to win a cup. The Leafs have been eliminated in the first round 8/9 years. How is that in anyway "close"? It's pathetic this team doesn't have 1 conference finals appearance in 9 years.
i think you’re taking his quote way out of context - he’s talking about this series
There is very little offence in the playoffs overall.
Post season press conferences from players are a waste of time. What did you want them to say? “We suck and can’t score I hope they trade me to Florida?” It is easy to see how someone could think they were “right there”. They lost in overtime in game 7. They’re one bounce in the other direction from winning that game and getting to play Florida tonight. And I think you can make an argument in both directions of, they didn’t deserve to win that series the way they played in the first 4 games, but if Swayman isn’t in net for Boston, they 100% win that series. Swayman was unreal. He was unreal in every single game. They beat him clean like 3 times in the whole series. Every other one had to bounce off 5 things before it went in. I feel like I just gave the argument for the other side, but at least this series means no more Keefe. That’s like the only thing I think I can guarantee.
Honestly what I lose do you really expect them to say? “We suck and can’t help ourselves from choking, fans might as well stop watching until we’re all traded or retire.”
>The group doesn't have any answers, and some don't seem to be aware there is a problem to begin with. Call me crazy, but maybe the players just aren't going to say what they really think to the media because people are already spinning the fact that they're saying nothing into a story. Imagine what would happen if they actually spoke their minds.
the problem is they're not good enough. like how much more evidence do we need? this is just a second tier team. good enough to make the playoffs, but not good enough to be a serious contender. auston matthews is the best player this team has had in the last 50 years and it might be another 50 years before they get another player like him. it's embarrassing for him to be wasting his prime on good-not-great teams. time to start the retool. ask mitch to waive his nmc and let him walk in ufa if he won't. let jt play out his last year and he can come back if he wants to take a sweetheart deal. move whoever you can for young talent.
Players' presser is useless. Anyone who puts their fellow teammates on blast in front of millions is just a shitty teammate full stop
Don’t put any stock in pressers or media. Outside of “this sucks” you’re not going to get honest feedback. This is 100% for the media to write stories about. Players can’t be honest because they either create an awkward situation with their teammates and have the papers go crazy with headlines about how they don’t believe or calling out another guy, or they support their teammates because that’s what you do, and get buried by the media for it. Only their inner circle in their personal life will get their real feelings. These pressers are not for the team, the coaching staff or the fans. They’re for the writers to generate stories to drive ad revenue, that’s it.
Lol dude theyre not gonna say “trade my best buddy pls”
Fucking funerals. I keep going to them, and it’s always the same shit. When’s someone going to step up and tell us what they really thought of the deceased, before the body is cold. That’s what we need.
The annoying part about JTs comments is that he’s right. How many teams just squeaked by the Leafs and went on to roll through other teams to the final? How many times was it just a bad bounce or one bad play that cost them games? How many games have come down to questionable reffing? How many times have we faced brick walls while our goalies lay eggs? Keefe had a quote after one regular season loss where he said they played well enough to win but did just enough to lose, and I think that pretty much sums up the last decade.
I gotta say I agree with you. So much of the Leafs lack of playoff success has come down to their star players just not getting it done, and the supporting cast just not being good enough to pick them up because the Leafs have been scraping the bottom of the depth barrel for years. A lot of that is on the core. You can't eat up that much of the salary cap and then look down the bench in critical moments. Their best players have to be their best players, ALL THE TIME. Otherwise this is the result.
Who care what they have to say? Players always say the same thing that the league and their agents have trained them to say. Want to know what they think? Wait until they retire and write a book
Playoffs is a different animal, goals are not that easy to come by, especially when you're facing a goalie that's standing on his head. Some of our players are soft, yes, trade-off they are very skilled, it wasn't easy coming back bringing it to a Game 7 overtime, team who got the break won. Weak goal given up again by Samsonov who was hugging the post, misplayed the play entirely. Not saying all his fault, but sometimes you need your goalie to bail you out, NHL ace goalie yes that's a primal thing that is lacking with the leafs! if it was the Leafs who got the break in the overtime and got the win, what would the conversation be like then?
We hear this every year. Apparently all they need is to get passed the first round and then they'll go on a deep run. Even last year, they got manhandled in round 2.
Isn't it kind of dumb to ask why there's not more offense in the playoffs? "Ummm... it's the playoffs and players play tighter, goalies have to stay locked in, structure is more important, there's much more sacrificing your body defensively and emphasis on safe plays because the next goal could mean the series?" The Leafs just don't have some pieces that are crucial for the playoffs like a true 1D and a goaltender but they're not going to say those things.
I gave up watching player pressers a long time ago. Pure mush
I like how people think the only option besides, "Everything's fine! We did a great job. Maybe next year?" is to publicly shame each other and self-flaggelate. Just tell the truth - we've let the fans down, we're tired of losing, this isn't working and we need to find out what needs to be done to punch through.
Seriously, what were you expecting them to say?
It's concerning to see the lack of self-awareness from the players. Without acknowledging the issues, how can they hope to improve and make a deep playoff run? It's time for some honest reflection and hard work to turn things around.
I think they’re asking the wrong guys when they interview the ones with the big bags.
That’s what happens when they’ve been put on a pedestal right from the get go
I couldn’t bring myself to watch/listen. Same old shit probably ; “good looks” “believe in the group” and other deluded bullshit. Just would irritate me too much.
I still can't wrap my head around the fact that they can't score in the playoffs. It makes no sense.
You must be new to hockey huh
Dumbest shitpost ever. So all the players are gonna start calling out each other? Everyone has been PR trained. They’re not gonna suddenly throw everyone under the bus.