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General Leafs Talk v2.0

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BlueWhiteBlood said:
Yeah, Gardiner was not the problem last night. Fraser is skating like he is in quick sand. He cleared Chara out the best he could, which is better than anyone else on the Leafs do, but his skating is in bad need of some Underhill.

It's his second game back from injury. His skating was lacking to start with. How you expect him to come back suddenly skating better than before is beyond me.
 
OldTimeHockey said:
BlueWhiteBlood said:
Yeah, Gardiner was not the problem last night. Fraser is skating like he is in quick sand. He cleared Chara out the best he could, which is better than anyone else on the Leafs do, but his skating is in bad need of some Underhill.

It's his second game back from injury. His skating was lacking to start with. How you expect him to come back suddenly skating better than before is beyond me.

I agree.  Like Gardiner, Fraser wasn't the problem last night, at least after the 1st period, when the whole D and lack of forward support was the problem.
 
Move Kadri back between JVR and Kessel.  That line looked the best to me and a vision towards the future.  Please end this JVR at centre experiment, he was having a fantastic start to this season playing the wing where ultimately he will be so don't mess with it.  You can't deny the success they were having this season with Kessel and JVR at wing, the chemistry was incredible. 

I think the best temporary fix at centre is Kulemin, always the second guy in when the centre is waived off and has take a fair amount of draws in his career and done ok.  He is big and defensively sound,  in need of a spark to his game, I put him between Lupul and Clarkson. Raymond, McClement and Ashton as your shutdown line. Bodie, Smithson, Orr/McLaren to fulfill the RC tingle for fisticuffs and toughness.  Once Bozak is back you reevaluate.
 
Potvin29 said:
Leafs now shooting 8.7% on the season at 5v5. Still slightly above average but well below last season.

Still top-10 in shooting and save percentage. If they can stay there all season playoffs shouldn't be a problem. If they aren't elite in those categories though the season won't end well.

edit: and they're just barely clinging to a top-10 spot in shooting percentage at the moment.
 
Sudafederov said:
Steckel on waivers. Any takers Armchair GMs?

Maybe, if Smithson had more offense to his game, but Steckel would just be the same as what we currently have in Smithson in my opinion.

However, Carlyle likes him though, no? So maybe he tells Nonis to grab him.
 
BlueWhiteBlood said:
However, Carlyle likes him though, no? So maybe he tells Nonis to grab him.

I don't know if Carlyle likes him or not. He didn't really use him much when they were both here.
 
Bullfrog said:
He seemed to get more use with Wilson, even saw powerplay time on occasion (for faceoffs I'm assuming.)

Yeah, maybe it was Wilson and not Carlyle. I remember one of them playing Steckel a lot. Either way, I don't think it's a move for the Leafs, unless they just want a center to fill a temporary hole.
 
BlueWhiteBlood said:
Bullfrog said:
He seemed to get more use with Wilson, even saw powerplay time on occasion (for faceoffs I'm assuming.)

Yeah, maybe it was Wilson and not Carlyle. I remember one of them playing Steckel a lot. Either way, I don't think it's a move for the Leafs, unless they just want a center to fill a temporary hole.

It was Wilson. He loved Steckel.
 
bustaheims said:
BlueWhiteBlood said:
However, Carlyle likes him though, no? So maybe he tells Nonis to grab him.

I don't know if Carlyle likes him or not. He didn't really use him much when they were both here.

Carlyle seemed to use him a bit more the year he replaced Wilson, but after that it dropped quite a lot.  I recall him getting a lot of 3rd line time and RC talking about it being an opportunity for him.  But the next season he was on the 4th line and I think a healthy scratch a fair bit as well.
 
Corn Flake said:
BlueWhiteBlood said:
Bullfrog said:
He seemed to get more use with Wilson, even saw powerplay time on occasion (for faceoffs I'm assuming.)

Yeah, maybe it was Wilson and not Carlyle. I remember one of them playing Steckel a lot. Either way, I don't think it's a move for the Leafs, unless they just want a center to fill a temporary hole.

It was Wilson. He loved Steckel.

In March after being hired, Carlyle played Steckel a tonne, but that didn't translate to the following season with the addition of McLement to the roster.
In that March stretch Steckel played 14+ minutes in all but 3 of 15 games, and in most his was playing 15-22 minutes a night. 
 
I think Phaneuf, Gardiner, Reilly have all been playing conservatively, but for good reason, as the team is getting slaughtered 5-on-5. 

The main problem I see is all the Leaf's centers have about the same amount of assists as Montreal's P.K. Subban.  It's embarrassing.  Besides Kadri, there's no one who can make a difference with their play-making.  Hopefully when Bozak comes back, he actually plays like a #1 center.
 
Yes, are we pining for the days of Kaberle and Macabe???  Or Ian Turnbull and Salming?
Of course we need a lot more offense from our defensemen, its time to bring up Brennan and start getting some boomers from the point. That goes double for Franson, as Phaneuf has been pretty good so far
 
Potvin29 said:
Since there were a few stories on it yesterday, are we at all concerned about the lack of offensive output by the defense?

At even-strength? Not really. I think that's sort of a byproduct of our offensive system. But zero powerplay goals is definitely a problem. Especially now that the PP is starting to go cold.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Potvin29 said:
Since there were a few stories on it yesterday, are we at all concerned about the lack of offensive output by the defense?

At even-strength? Not really. I think that's sort of a byproduct of our offensive system. But zero powerplay goals is definitely a problem. Especially now that the PP is starting to go cold.

Switch Phaneuf/Franson around on the point for the love of gosh.  So many one-timer opportunities are wasted and turned into zero shots.
 
Potvin29 said:
CarltonTheBear said:
Potvin29 said:
Since there were a few stories on it yesterday, are we at all concerned about the lack of offensive output by the defense?

At even-strength? Not really. I think that's sort of a byproduct of our offensive system. But zero powerplay goals is definitely a problem. Especially now that the PP is starting to go cold.

Switch Phaneuf/Franson around on the point for the love of gosh.  So many one-timer opportunities are wasted and turned into zero shots.

Agreed.  They've both got cannons. 
 
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