I'm coming around to the idea that after the Leafs were practically gifted with three of their best offensive talents in the history of the organization at the same time, the overarching plan was to build a team that strove to strangle the life out of every playoff game they play.
It's failed.
It's failed.
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I come up with John Tavares.
Thornton.
Bertuzzi.
Domi.
Marleau was before they got going and he Thornton and Spezza were all more leadership guys. But only Thornton really failed so perhaps.
I still consider Domi a "hopes of pass offense" but fine, I should include him.
Galch and Malgin were extremely hopeful.
The issue is the big 3 all generate offense sort of similarly. They are the same sort of skill player.
The key with Knies is he is *different*.
Toronto has been on a long stretch of adding those defensively responsible guys, hard to play against guys.
The only time they could was when they had Matthews & Nylander together in years 1 - 3.
I see a lot of "but they changed the coach" but how much has actually changed with the play?
That tracks.
Rielly 43 pts in 62 playoff gp which is 0.694 pts/gp.
Rielly's +/- across 82 playoff gp would be +17.
Hedman 118 pts in 169 playoff gp which is 0.698 pts/gp.
Hedman's +/- across 82 playoff gp would be +10.
Which, fair play to the Oilers for getting that one right.