A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Coronation

[ZBBM]

This is a thread to discuss bedazzled oddsmakers, Achilles' heels, glaring blueline holes resolutely left unaddressed, Norse piggies, the invisibility of certain superstars in the playoffs, bipolar goalie performances, 18-wheelers on cliff edges, and anything else that might keep our favorite team from realizing the hype that has been heaped upon it.

And yes, the opening 2 games are a bit of a warning.

My take on all this inevitability chatter is that they shouldn't be talked of as contenders until they manage to, you know, win a playoff round.  There is not a whole lot of NHL playoff success in the Leafs lineup, Tavares definitely included.  In fact, Hainsey & Marleau are pretty much it, are they not?  And Marleau of course hasn't made it to the top of the mountain.

It'll be interesting to see how Babcock manages things this year -- the first to really come with serious expectations.

 

[Bender]

Sorry, how is this different from the general Leafs thread?

Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk

 

[Highlander]

Yes it is funny as I think many of us expected to cake walk all over our opposition, outscoring them in each and every game.  My comments so far:  Hainsey is done for all intents and purposes, think Dermott has been best D Man, so the D gets reconstructed as Rielly/Gardner
Dermott/Ozhi
Zaitzev/Hainsey or Holl or Borgman or (just about any warm body)

I think Brown is expendable, we have one great digger in Hyman although lack of offensive acumen is my trouble spot with both Brown and Hyman.
Longer boats are coming to Ennis or should come for him.  Works hard but he is no Nylander and hate to say it after two games, but I do hope they resolve this sooner than later.  As Mr. Powers needs him on the wing, sort of like Astaire and Rogers.
Said it before will say it again.  Why is Kadri saddled with the Brown and Leivo when he could be flying with Johnsson and Kapi on his wings.  So here goes.

Marleau-Matthews-Nylander(as soon as possible)
Leivo-Tavares-Marner
Johsson-Kadri-Kapi
Hyman-Lindholm-Brown/Ennis. Engvall (Lurking on the Marlies)

 

[CarltonTheBear]

One bad game and Andersen is garbage, I see.

:-\

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Putting aside the fact that it's been two games (one of which we won and the other we appeared to dominate but lost), I'm genuinely not even sure who this thread is directed to. Most of us here don't seem to expect the Leafs to win the Cup this season, and I don't think very many in the media think that either. These staff predictions from NHL.com mostly have the Leafs finishing 2nd in the Atlantic and Tampa still coming out of the East.

So it seems like generally speaking most people are waiting for the Leafs to win a playoff round before talking about them as the top contender.

 

[Kin]

I seem to remember lots of people talking about this team as having defensive issues this summer.

 

[mr grieves]

Marleau-Matthews-Nylander(as soon as possible)
Leivo-Tavares-Marner
Johsson-Kadri-Kapi
Hyman-Lindholm-Brown/Ennis. Engvall (Lurking on the Marlies)

I like some of this. I'd like to track down the micro-stats to see for sure, but from what I see Leivo's better than Hyman at winning puck battles, even if he's worse at getting to them. That Tavares and Marner line shouldn't be dumping chasing but getting in the zone with control and starting the cycle -- Hyman's speed would be better deployed on a checking line that's just supposed to get it deep and keep it there; Leivo's ability to sustain the cycle and make a play would be better used with Tavares-Marner.

 

[Zee]

I mean it's 2 games in and so far it's about the same every October. Team needs some time to gel together, Andersen needs time to get going after his typical slow start. There's been quite a few changes in the lineup from last season. Typically what a team does in October has no bearing as to where they are in April, tons of changes can happen as players get used to the systems, others that aren't even on the team yet may join later.

Look at the Jets last season, they stumbled out of the gate getting hammered by the Leafs 7-2 first game and then I believe losing another early fairly badly, until they got it together and had a nice playoffs.


Edit : just checked Jets started 0-2 last year losing 7-2 and 6-3.

 

[ZBBM]

Marleau-Matthews-Nylander(as soon as possible)
Leivo-Tavares-Marner
Johsson-Kadri-Kapi
Hyman-Lindholm-Brown/Ennis. Engvall (Lurking on the Marlies)

I like some of this. I'd like to track down the micro-stats to see for sure, but from what I see Leivo's better than Hyman at winning puck battles, even if he's worse at getting to them. That Tavares and Marner line shouldn't be dumping chasing but getting in the zone with control and starting the cycle -- Hyman's speed would be better deployed on a checking line that's just supposed to get it deep and keep it there; Leivo's ability to sustain the cycle and make a play would be better used with Tavares-Marner.

To me the critical lineup decisions will be the defense pairings.  I don't think any of them are settled.

 

[Highlander]

I think Gardner has been playing like sh..t.  With Reilly he would probably be Ok, so a small change to the thinking:

Rielly/Gardner
Dermott/Ozhi
Borgman/Zaitzev

Borgman is getting very good game reviews with the Marlies, yes only two games but I liked what I saw him at the beginning of last season and saw him up close in the AZ game in Glendale last year.  Hainsey and Gardner both look bad defensively

 

[ZBBM]

Last night's game only adds fuel to the criticism that low-defense, high-scoring teams rarely make it all the way.