New pod! @actingthefulemin.bsky.social and I chat about the start of the Leafs season, including what's gone well (not much), poorly (quite a lot), and worse than we could have imagined (a distressingly large number of things) soundcloud.com/back-to-exci...

Lotta nice things in that Leafs win, but my concern level over Matthews is not zero.

New pod! @actingthefulemin.bsky.social and I chat about teams from Philadelphia to Winnipeg, wrapping up our offseason recap podcasts! soundcloud.com/back-to-exci...

New pod! @actingthefulemin.bsky.social and I go from Edmonton to Ottawa and chat about another 10 teams offseasons. soundcloud.com/back-to-exci...

New pod! @actingthefulemin.bsky.social and I begin our annual survey of every NHL team's offseason. We begin with teams from Anaheim to Detroit: soundcloud.com/back-to-exci...

New pod! @actingthefulemin.bsky.social and I chat about the Leafs offseason so far: soundcloud.com/back-to-exci...

Goldin is an amazing economist who has done really important work, but I’m pretty unconvinced by this argument on its merits. Looking at attendance and viewership per player ignores a lot of other revenue streams (merchandise, differing ticket values, differing CPM in viewership).

New pod! @actingthefulemin.bsky.social and I discuss the Leafs loss to the Panthers, and the major questions facing Toronto in the offseason soundcloud.com/back-to-exci...

A couple weeks late, but the new Pup album is great

TNTs broadcast has such awful sound mixing. The crowds always sounds comatose, regardless of where the game is played

The Avs have long playoff runs in their back pocket, which dulls the pain, but losing to a team missing their best F and best D is nasty work.

New pod! @actingthefulemin.bsky.social and I chat about the Leafs beating the Sens, and preview the Panthers series soundcloud.com/back-to-exci...

Domi has been the worst Leaf in this series, and still factors in on 2 plays that might just win it for Toronto

I’m happy the Leafs have the lead, but that was not a period that inspired any confidence about this team being different. First line was invisible at 5v5, basically no net front offense, tons of fruitless dump and chase. The fact that they got a gift goal doesn’t change that.

That was a HIDEOUS goal from Ullmark to give up, Jesus Christ

Willie fucking Styles is on one

Holy fuck, Matthew Knies

I’ve criticized Berube a fair bit, so only fair to point out that I think he did a lot of good things in game 1 1. PP was fantastic, clearly focused on getting shots early and crashing 2. Kept the common sense matchups 3. Adjusted Domi usage once Leafs got a real lead

Absolutely nothing on the planet less credible than Sens fans complaining about supposed diving

New pod! @actingthefulemin.bsky.social and I preview the Leafs and Sens soundcloud.com/back-to-exci...

Unreal play by Marner on that ENG. He jumped that like a corner on an out route

Benoit is having an absolutely miserable year. His inability to make any plays with the puck (and making it harder for OEL to do the same) has cut short so many shifts with the Leafs’ stars this year.

I really hate this reversion to Domi at 3C, not because it's incapable of working at all, but because it's incapable of working against good (i.e. playoff) teams. Domi can survive there against the Calgary's of the world. If he plays against Tampa there, he will get eaten alive.

Marner is having the Matthews game (2 goals, best player on the ice) and Matthews is having the Marner game (don’t notice him a ton, but look down and see he has 3 assists)

25 seconds of dogged work by McCabe, Matthews, and Knies to keep the puck, it gets to Domi and he fires a no look backhand pass to the front of the net, immediate rush chance the other way.

The Leafs appear to be choosing between the following two options: 1. Do nothing 2. Pay an exorbitant price for mediocre players (Laughton/Schenn) Both are awful paths.

Robertson-Domi-McMann is a line that consistently looks great against awful teams, but I have no faith in them working in a playoff environment against a real team.

Comeback wins against the Bruins are nice, but if this is the version of Matthews the Leafs are getting here on out, this year is going nowhere. He's been brutal relative to his usual standards.

Domi is one of the most selfish passers I've seen in a long time. Dude just passes out of good shooting locations consistently for these hare-brained attempts to create empty nets, but isn't good enough to actually pull them off most of the time.

I think people are reacting too strongly to Canada losing a match that everyone thought was 50/50 pregame. These are clearly the two best teams in the tournament, USA has a goalie edge. If they meet in the final, USA is a small fave, mostly due to home ice. Don't think this game shifts things much.

The Leafs stars aren't really beating the allegations of not showing up in high pressure games in this tournament, are they? Feel like between the 3 of them, they've had 1.5 good games.

New pod! @actingthefulemin.bsky.social and I chat about the Leafs season so far, as well as some trade deadline targets soundcloud.com/back-to-exci...

Matthews and Marner just have to be way better than they have been recently. No way around it.

Pretty close to a perfect game for the Leafs tbh. Embarassed the Habs, who also made it obvious how silly it is to keep playing Reaves.

I'm a very proud Canadian, but rooting for them at the World Juniors is like rooting for the Empire in Star Wars

Leafs are a fine team, but I have very little faith in their ability to come back from deficits this year. Matthews hasn't been as good, the depth is just miserable offensively, and Berube's system seemingly produces less 5v5 offence than Keefe's (with other tradeoffs).

How much should the Leafs pay Mitch Marner on his next deal? (Hint: Not $14 million...) www.nytimes.com/athletic/598...

I know modern smartphones have peaked because I upgraded from a 2019 phone to a 2024 one, and I see no appreciable differences between them.

Watching the Leafs game on mute, and actually did a spit-take when I saw the Leafs on the PK after that Whitecloud hit