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Maurice shuffles deck chairs

DAVID SHOALTS

Globe and Mail Update

Latest comment posted at 11:50 AM EST 14/01/08

In the wake of his club's latest loss, Leafs' coach rearranges lines in the hope of stemming the losing tide ...Read the full article

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  1. Patrick G from Calgary, Canada writes: I'd like to think I'm one of the more rational Leafs fans, so please have mercy on me. We're in the minority for sure, but we're not the automotons some would have us pegged out to be.

    This game scares me. How much worse can it get? Try a loss to the worst team in the NHL against a backup former Leaf in net. The recipe is already there, it just has to be cooked now...just like the Leafs' season.

    I sometimes wonder, actually quite often now, if there actually is a threshold of emabrassment and humiliation that will make MLSE ever do the right thing, but I just don't see it in my lifetime and I'm only 35.

    Go Kings Go, let the Stamkos sweepstakes begin.
  2. Allan Martel from Canada writes: Patrick G

    I believe that you have it about right.

    Maurice says"No player is allowed to throw up his hands and just quit". Well OK Paul, they may not have moved their hands, but many of them have already quit.

    They have quit listening to their coach; the have quit hoping for a turnaround; they have quit playing as a team; they have quit having any confidence in Raycroft.

    This whole attitude is typified by Wellwood - overweight, not in shape, laxidasical in his play and clearly not giving a tinkers damn about his own performance.

    When a player reaches that state (as many have on this year's edition of the Leafs) no coach in the world can help.

    It's time for some public humiliation; time to send the non-performers to the Marlies and bring up half a dozen or more Marlies to replace them until the overpaid castoffs demonstrate their intensity and their desire to win.
  3. Rick Flair from shwa', Canada writes: It is so hard lately to keep watching these games. They win one, looking great and then lose 3 looking like dogs. I don't know who to blame anymore. Does Maurice have the minds and attention of his players? Are the players just not able to click? To be a fly on the wall in the Leafs dressing room these days would be a treat to say the least. I know if I was on that team I would give Jason Blake the a$$ kicking of a lifetime. This guy is one of the worst team players on a team that needs to find a way to come together. The guy constantly bit.ches and complains, but does nothing to gain the respect of his fellow teamates or the fans. We all know he loved playing in NY, but he has to realize that he now plays in T.O. Maybe the next time someone goes after him, no one will be there....again. Hopefully that will straighten him out. It is hard to say such negative things about a guy who has overcome such personal adversity throughout his career, but this guy is a plague to team morale. So, that being said, Maurice needs to find a way to get these guys together as a team. This may entail making an example of one of their "superstars" who isn't acting like a teamate.
  4. S H from Windsor, Canada writes: Shuffled the deck chairs? Haven't all the chairs fall'in off the boat? This ship is sinking Paul....better send the distress call....not that anyone would listen!
  5. Super Troll from Canada writes: Who's left to call up? Carlton the Bear
  6. Billy Biroux from Polar Bear Pit, Nunavet, Canada writes: I like how Mr. Shoalts says that the Leafs have "underachievers" on the team.
    If you ask me, these players aren't underachieving. They're playing to the best of their abilities. Which just ain't good enough.
  7. dan vanman from vancouver, Canada writes: Just wondering...given JFJ's propensity for giving away the future, do the Laffs actually have their first round pick next year? That Stamkos looks pretty good, maybe they could chase that title, of worst team in the league.

    Given the way the league and parity exist though, they could actually play very very well and sneak into that 8th spot.

    But I doubt it...
  8. joe cormorant from Canada writes: If the Leafs lose the next two, Maurice will be gone by Monday. Too bad though since JFJ is the real problem. No coach could make winners out of this bunch of losers and Maurice was JFJ's man. But to make it look like the management cares, they will do the one thing that will have absolutely zero effect on the team and fire the coach. Big deal. The ACC will be full again next home game with idiots chanting "were number 1". Suckers.
  9. Scot Loucks from Pickering, Canada writes: Allan Martel; Agree almost totally with your synopsis.....

    Except the part about "No coach can help".

    It's the only thing that could possibly help..... and I am a Maurice fan.

    Fire the coach.
  10. Allan Martel from Canada writes: Hi Scot

    The reason Maurice should stay and JF Jr go is that Maurice has direct experience coaching the Marlies.

    If the Leafs do demote the "underachievers" en masse, then the promoted kids will be like deer in headlamps until they settle down and believe that they belong.

    This is where Maurice can help, at least in the short term.

    The only reason to fire Maurice is because the demotion candidates are no longer listening to him. Get rid of the dead wood and bring in young legs with small egos and Maurice has a chance again.

    The demotions require the firing of JF Jr.

    Sens have already won tonight and I believe that the Leafs are about to lose to the team at the bottom of the NHL.

    Notice I didn't say worst team in the NHL - that moniker is now reserved for the Buds.
  11. joe cormorant from Canada writes: Allan you are correct. LA plays west coast teams which are much stronger than the east coast teams that the Leafs play night after night. This west coast swing will prove that. The Leafs will give LA the shot in the arm they need. A visit by the Leafs is just what every slumping team needs. They blow them out and get their confidence back. Scot knows hockey so well he picked the Leafs to finish 6th in the East this year.
  12. Billy Biroux from Polar Bear Pit, Nunavet, Canada writes: Leafs are getting beat 3-0 by LA in the first period.
    If they don't rally, I predict Maurice will be fired before the Leafs next game.
  13. joe cormorant from Canada writes: Three goals in the first period. Awesome. Maurice, stay in LA and go to the beach and relax. Forget trying to make this team win, you will just get an ulcer. Why bother, management doesn't care, JFJ doesn't care, why should you. Go LA Go! Awesome! LA scores their 4th as I type this! First period. When will you Leaf fans wake up.
  14. Mark Brown from Toronto, Canada writes: It's 4-0 at the end of the first period to the LA Kings. It's not even worth it to get angry or frustrated anymore...

    The Leafs don't deserve to win a cup for another 50 years.

    To the whole entire Maple Leafs organization: Go screw yourselves. You SUCK.
  15. Another Canadian Voice from Ottawa, Canada writes: Yup 4-0... and apparently I don't pay attention to the Western teams enough... who is Dustin Brown and why does he have 22 goals this season LOL

    Leaf fans... I hope they can blow this team up... I would say what they should do, but there are so many armchair GMs already... I just hope they make drastic changes...
  16. Michael Slavitch from Canada writes: Dear god, I am now actually sorry for Leafs fans.
  17. Another Canadian Voice from Ottawa, Canada writes: 5-0... my word... the wrong Blake scored!
  18. Emmanuel Chan from Toronto, Canada writes: This is beautiful...LOL!! The Leafs are hilarious...can't wait to see the fallout from this beauty of a game.
  19. Allan Martel from Canada writes: Another Canadian Voice writes:

    "5-0... my word... the wrong Blake scored!"

    Fabulous line - best of 2008 by far.

    I had predicted double digits in San Jose but maybe it'll happen sooner than I thought.

    Is Raycroft still in the Leafs net?
  20. dan vanman from vancouver, Canada writes: 5-1...Antropov got a rare goal. T.O on the power play...but lets not get our hopes up.

    The shots are almost identical, with 2 minutes to go in the second. Obviously tonight, the goaltending isn't.
  21. Scot Loucks from Pickering, Canada writes: Fire the coach
  22. joe cormorant from Canada writes: Fire the fans.
  23. nick belton from owen sound, Canada writes: joe....fire the fans? what are you...an ottawa fan? where does one draw the line between a loyal fan vs a sucker?
  24. Anthony Sandler from Toronto, Canada writes: "Shuffle the deck chairs"! am I the only person who is not baffled by the constant line changes. Maurice needs to go . Hwo can any line get anywhere when they are not together the next shift. It is one thing to move players in between games, but Maurice is sending them out in a different order every single shift. It is ridiculous. Fire the coach. Fire the GM. Trade everyone and rebuild. Find a way to do it Peddie. Hamilton Thrashers are going to have some great fans bequeathed by this awful franchise.

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