2018-19 Toronto Maple Leafs - General Discussion

[cabber24]

https://twitter.com/kristen_shilton/status/1085568648599752705

Hyman back with Matthews and Nylander for (I believe) the first time this season.

I reaaaalllly thought they might juggle the 2nd and 3rd defence pairings though. Safe to say nothing can change those at this point.

I like those lines. It's time to get some mojo back.

 

[Zee]

https://twitter.com/kristen_shilton/status/1085568648599752705

Hyman back with Matthews and Nylander for (I believe) the first time this season.

I reaaaalllly thought they might juggle the 2nd and 3rd defence pairings though. Safe to say nothing can change those at this point.

I like those lines. It's time to get some mojo back.

I like the look of the top 2 lines.  Hopefully Matthews/Nylander get their mojo back.  I'm not worried about the Tavares line at all, you can put anyone with Tavares/Marner and it'll work and Johnsson is better than just a plug and hopefully they can find some chemistry together.  Kadri and Marleau with Kapanen also looks like a solid line if Marleau isn't done.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I like the look of the top 2 lines.  Hopefully Matthews/Nylander get their mojo back.  I'm not worried about the Tavares line at all, you can put anyone with Tavares/Marner and it'll work and Johnsson is better than just a plug and hopefully they can find some chemistry together.  Kadri and Marleau with Kapanen also looks like a solid line if Marleau isn't done.

It wasn't for a super long time but the Johnsson-Tavares-Marner trio has been together before and looked good I thought. 55.3% CF and 75% GF in about 75 minutes. Marleau-Kadri-Kapanen has also played together a little this season and that was probably the best Marleau's looked. So yeah this could very well be the best use of our top-9 forwards

 

[Guilt Trip]

I think the whole thing here is to get Kadri going. I'd put Marner with him and Marleau for a game or so to try and do that. Put JT with Kappy and Hyman and Matthews with Nylander and Johnsson.
For the D pairings...
Zaitsev Reilly
Hainsey/Oz Gardiner
Dermott Holl

 

[ZBBM]

I like the look of the top 2 lines.  Hopefully Matthews/Nylander get their mojo back.  I'm not worried about the Tavares line at all, you can put anyone with Tavares/Marner and it'll work and Johnsson is better than just a plug and hopefully they can find some chemistry together.  Kadri and Marleau with Kapanen also looks like a solid line if Marleau isn't done.

It wasn't for a super long time but the Johnsson-Tavares-Marner trio has been together before and looked good I thought. 55.3% CF and 75% GF in about 75 minutes. Marleau-Kadri-Kapanen has also played together a little this season and that was probably the best Marleau's looked. So yeah this could very well be the best use of our top-9 forwards

I agree except I think Marleau won't be helping Kardi break out of his slump.  In truth Patty ought to be on the 4th line but I guess you really can't have 3 lefties there so that means he would have to switch with Lindholm ... or:

Moore-Kadri-Kapanen
Marleau-Lindholm-Brown

It's time for Gauthier to observe games from above and get Lindholm back to center where he belongs.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I agree except I think Marleau won't be helping Kardi break out of his slump.  In truth Patty ought to be on the 4th line but I guess you really can't have 3 lefties there so that means he would have to switch with Lindholm ... or:

Moore-Kadri-Kapanen
Marleau-Lindholm-Brown

It's time for Gauthier to observe games from above and get Lindholm back to center where he belongs.

I would actually agree with this too. I meant best use of our top-9 using the current guys on the roster.

 

[ZBBM]

I agree except I think Marleau won't be helping Kardi break out of his slump.  In truth Patty ought to be on the 4th line but I guess you really can't have 3 lefties there so that means he would have to switch with Lindholm ... or:

Moore-Kadri-Kapanen
Marleau-Lindholm-Brown

It's time for Gauthier to observe games from above and get Lindholm back to center where he belongs.

I would actually agree with this too. I meant best use of our top-9 using the current guys on the roster.

10-4.

I doubt whether Babcock would ever put Patty down there but who knows if things get desperate in the 1st round maybe he does.  I like Marleau but he simply isn't contributing enough now to get more than 4th line minutes.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Leafs working on their defensive coverage at practice today:

https://twitter.com/mapleleafs/status/1085594627917471744

 

[cabber24]

In the last 10 games:

Leafs have scored 31, scorers: MM=8, JT=6, KK=3, AJ=3, everyone else=11

Somehow Marleau manages to be a -12, next closest forwards at -5.

 

[Highlander]

Patty is a nice guy with great eyebrows, but time to raise his kidz and be a stay at home Dad. Please Patty Man

 

[hockeyfan1]

https://twitter.com/kristen_shilton/status/1085568648599752705

Hyman back with Matthews and Nylander for (I believe) the first time this season.

I reaaaalllly thought they might juggle the 2nd and 3rd defence pairings though. Safe to say nothing can change those at this point.

I like those lines. It's time to get some mojo back.

Good that Hyman - Matthews - Nylander are back together.  Finally  they can get some of their magic back.  Looking forward to this union again.  It's been too long in waiting.

 

[hockeyfan1]

For want of a lack of effort, poor mental focus, and imprecise positional play...all of which are applied to Babcock's interpretation of what it means to play "heavy".

Another glaring example is using the body, or physicality, the way Hyman utilizes his physical play (forechecking style/ in-play positioning in order to effect the play action, etc.). That is why Hyman is onvsidered  one of the best F1 forecheckers in the league.

This is why coaches in the regular season love Zach Hyman, Andreas Johnsson, Connor Brown, even guys like Par Lindholm... here?s a two-on-two battle in the offensive corner here, and Lindholm isn?t trying to get open in hopes one of his guys comes out with it and he can get a chance.

The playoffs are coming soon and the team needs to level up:

In the playoffs...plenty of players are willing to sacrifice personal numbers to not be the guy who cost his team the game, so they worry more about low-risk positioning and not losing battles. You rarely see players on Cup-winning teams flying the zone while reaching for a puck and hoping.

[tweet]1085278473625554944[/tweet]

 

[hockeyfan1]

Woo-hoo!

[tweet]1086069818644586500[/tweet]

 

[Zee]

I know a lot of it was due to Andersen being injured, but the Leafs have gotten 15 games out of the backup position already this season, last year total there was only 19 games (18 for McBackup and 1 for Pickard).  Well on their way to getting 20+ games for the backup and more rest for Freddie.

Edit: 14 decisions, 8-5-1 with non Freddie goalies.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I know a lot of it was due to Andersen being injured, but the Leafs have gotten 15 games out of the backup position already this season, last year total there was only 19 games (18 for McBackup and 1 for Pickard).  Well on their way to getting 20+ games for the backup and more rest for Freddie.

Edit: 14 decisions, 8-5-1 with non Freddie goalies.

Including tonight's game, there's only 7 more B2B starts on the schedule for Sparks. If Andersen starts every other game he'll still end up with 61 starts. Hopefully Babcock reconsiders Sparks' starting schedule in the second half (which he has talked about potentially doing) but Andersen will still likely have a very heavy workload.

 

[Zee]

I know a lot of it was due to Andersen being injured, but the Leafs have gotten 15 games out of the backup position already this season, last year total there was only 19 games (18 for McBackup and 1 for Pickard).  Well on their way to getting 20+ games for the backup and more rest for Freddie.

Edit: 14 decisions, 8-5-1 with non Freddie goalies.

Including tonight's game, there's only 7 more B2B starts on the schedule for Sparks. If Andersen starts every other game he'll still end up with 61 starts. Hopefully Babcock reconsiders Sparks' starting schedule in the second half (which he has talked about potentially doing) but Andersen will still likely have a very heavy workload.

Ideally you'd like to see backup starts get into the mid 20s so Andersen only plays 55-57 games.  We'll see.

 

[Zee]

Just for fun I looked up the Leafs from 2015/2016 the year Leafs finished dead last and won the lottery. Parenteau led the team in goals with 20, Kadri led in points with 45.

Marner already has 60 points this season in 46 games. 

Holy crap were the Leafs ever bad, how did we watch that team?

 

[AvroArrow]

If like to see Marner with Matthews and Nylander with Tavares.  Try to get both those guys ( Matthews and Nylander) going.

 

[Guilt Trip]

Just for fun I looked up the Leafs from 2015/2016 the year Leafs finished dead last and won the lottery. Parenteau led the team in goals with 20, Kadri led in points with 45.

Marner already has 60 points this season in 46 games. 

Holy crap were the Leafs ever bad, how did we watch that team?

And when we crap the bed the Leafs are terrible. People forget how bad this team really was.

 

[Bullfrog]

I know a lot of it was due to Andersen being injured, but the Leafs have gotten 15 games out of the backup position already this season, last year total there was only 19 games (18 for McBackup and 1 for Pickard).  Well on their way to getting 20+ games for the backup and more rest for Freddie.

Edit: 14 decisions, 8-5-1 with non Freddie goalies.

Including tonight's game, there's only 7 more B2B starts on the schedule for Sparks. If Andersen starts every other game he'll still end up with 61 starts. Hopefully Babcock reconsiders Sparks' starting schedule in the second half (which he has talked about potentially doing) but Andersen will still likely have a very heavy workload.

Ideally you'd like to see backup starts get into the mid 20s so Andersen only plays 55-57 games.  We'll see.

I hear a lot of talk such as this, but is there anything to back this up?