General Leafs Talk

[Zee]

First set - excellent
7-2-1

Second set
4-5-1

Third set
5-4-1

Fourth set
4-4-2

Fifth set
5-4-1

Next 10
Pittsburgh W
@Ottawa W
Edmonton W
@Winnipeg L
@Philadelphia
Montreal
@Calgary
@Edmonton
@Vancouver
New Jersey

3-1 so far in the 6th set of 10 games.  A win on Thursday will go a long way into making our dream a reality.

 

[proteus2000]

Thursday is a huge game. Win and they'll be 3 points back of 4th place Phily and potentially 1 point behind Pitts/NJ. It's nicer to try to stay with that group of teams then lose and potentially be up only 1 point on 9th place Florida who would have 2 games in hand. The Leafs are obviously playing well, haven't lost by more than a goal in 8 games (3-1 L to Mtl) but they are far from guaranteed a spot in the playoffs.

 

[Zee]

Could it be that we are finally on our way to respectability? I think we just might be!

see I told ya all so..

Never again can you tell us "I told you so...". This team is like Jeckyl and Hyde no consistency at all.

 

[Ronco]

I'm sittin here on a Sunday aft watching the Caps play the Rangers, and i can't help but draw a comparison to the Leafs last game. How can a team flatline when playing a division rival?
Watching this game is like watching a no holds barred battle for the last puck game.
Last night's game was "Give me some warm milk and tuck me into bed" kinda game.

What the hell is the matter with these guys?
3 game losing streak soon to be 5-6 and the death spiral begins, or does it?

 

[Zee]

I'm sittin here on a Sunday aft watching the Caps play the Rangers, and i can't help but draw a comparison to the Leafs last game. How can a team flatline when playing a division rival?
Watching this game is like watching a no holds barred battle for the last puck game.
Last night's game was "Give me some warm milk and tuck me into bed" kinda game.

What the hell is the matter with these guys?
3 game losing streak soon to be 5-6 and the death spiral begins, or does it?

At least the Caps were playing the #1 team who are usually hard to beat, the Leafs were playing the Habs.

 

[Deebo]

Caps down 2 late in the 3rd and the habs lose tonight.

 

[Redleaf]

Caps down 2 late in the 3rd and the habs lose tonight.

If there was ever a time to find their winning ways again it should be on this western trip. Tonight's results were a tonic for a team that needs to work harder and pull away from the teams doing the chasing right now.

 

[Zee]

It was nice of the Caps to blow both their games in hand over the Leafs and get 0 points. Leafs need to win now.

 

[Zee]

First set - excellent
7-2-1

Second set
4-5-1

Third set
5-4-1

Fourth set
4-4-2

Fifth set
5-4-1

Next 10
Pittsburgh W
@Ottawa W
Edmonton W
@Winnipeg L
@Philadelphia L
Montreal L
@Calgary
@Edmonton
@Vancouver
New Jersey

Been putting off updating this cause I hate putting in those "L"s.  3-3, need to get on a roll NOW. My dream of 6-3-1 this set of 10 is starting to fade.

 

[groundskeeper willie]

I'm curious to see what everybody thinks the plan for the team's third line should be. At the moment, it is basically just the leftover players, who, while not bad players individually, don't mesh and the line as a whole has no identity.

The second line is currently being used as a scoring line and the shut down line. When they play well they are quite effective at it. The role of the first line is obvious, and the fourth line is a decent option for a secondary shut down line when playing teams that have two quality scoring lines, but cant be relied on to play the minutes required of a proper third line.

So where does that leave the third line? Should they be moulded in an offensive fashion, defensive, or a combination? Should that line be used to ease rookies into the lineup? Or should it emphasize size to wear down the opponent?

The misfits on that line now seem to just be going out there to kill time while not hurting the team, but they play too many minutes to not have a defined role. The other three lines have obvious chemistry, which makes it difficult to improve the team, as bringing in a better player wont necessarily improve the sum of the parts. The third line is the obvious one to upgrade fairly easily, but what should the goal be when looking to acquire players?

 

[Erndog]

That's funny, I was thinking of that 3rd line and what to do with it this morning.  Like you said, right now it's just the misfists.  It's basically Ron Wilson throwing whatever is left in the garage together, and trying to come up with something that might work.

I really don't know.  The problem is that most of them (all?), aren't in the Leafs plans long term. 

I envision a Kadri-Colborne-Frattin unit for next year.  Young, fast, some size, some strength and certainly some skill.  That's the ideal situation but I'm not comfortable banking on it. 

Right now?  I don't mind what Ron did at practice yesterday (moving Connolly up and Kulemin down) but I just feel like we won't get any production out of that 3rd line either way.  We're not a good enough team on the top 2 lines to make the 3rd line a strict checking line.  We need them to produce offensively as well and they haven't.

Hopefully we can shed a forward or two at the deadline and call up Frattin/Kadri and change the dynamics of that line into a more offensive one. 

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

I don't know how you're going to rely on Kadri/Frattin for more offense than any of the 3rd line options we are currently using, and I would guess we'd be sacrificing some defensive responsibility in the process.

 

[Erndog]

I don't know how you're going to rely on Kadri/Frattin for more offense than any of the 3rd line options we are currently using, and I would guess we'd be sacrificing some defensive responsibility in the process.

I guess I'm looking more towards the future.  Like I said, in a perfect world, Kadri-Colborne-Frattin could become the 3rd line next year but I doubt it's going to shake down like that.

I also much prefer Frattins game than Crabbs (or even Lombardi's) but I do get your point.

 

[groundskeeper willie]

I don't know how you're going to rely on Kadri/Frattin for more offense than any of the 3rd line options we are currently using, and I would guess we'd be sacrificing some defensive responsibility in the process.

I agree, if the only changes to the team next year is to bring up those three to be the third line then I don't see the team taking any steps forward.

Personally, I would try to create another line on par with the Grabovski line, but preferably with more size, even if it comes at the expense of a little less offense (but not much less).

This talk of bringing in a top line player that costs $6-7 million per year worries me a bit. Replacing Bozak with Getzlaf or MacArthur with Nash looks good on paper, but chemistry is an incredibly tricky thing. As strange as it sounds, Lupul-Getzlaf-Kessel might not actually be better than the current line. People are upset with Connelly making 4.75 mil on the third line, how would they feel about Getzlaf falling down there?

Adding a pair of $4 million players on the third line might make more sense. The trouble of course is that if those players dont mesh you are in the same place as the team is now.

 

[Zee]

I don't know how you're going to rely on Kadri/Frattin for more offense than any of the 3rd line options we are currently using, and I would guess we'd be sacrificing some defensive responsibility in the process.

I guess I'm looking more towards the future.  Like I said, in a perfect world, Kadri-Colborne-Frattin could become the 3rd line next year but I doubt it's going to shake down like that.

I also much prefer Frattins game than Crabbs (or even Lombardi's) but I do get your point.

I really think 2 of Kadri, Frattin and Colborne should be up and playing right now.  I can't imagine them giving less to the lineup than Connolly or Crabb (or I-always-sit Rosehill)

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

I don't know how you're going to rely on Kadri/Frattin for more offense than any of the 3rd line options we are currently using, and I would guess we'd be sacrificing some defensive responsibility in the process.

I guess I'm looking more towards the future.  Like I said, in a perfect world, Kadri-Colborne-Frattin could become the 3rd line next year but I doubt it's going to shake down like that.

I also much prefer Frattins game than Crabbs (or even Lombardi's) but I do get your point.

I really think 2 of Kadri, Frattin and Colborne should be up and playing right now.  I can't imagine them giving less to the lineup than Connolly or Crabb (or I-always-sit Rosehill)

Again, that is assuming with the PK time that Connolly and Crabb play, that they are contributing nothing to the PK effectiveness in 2012, or that Kadri/Frattin/someone else on the team can step in and fill their PK spot effectively.  It's been much better in 2012 obviously (and I won't pretend to be any kind of expert on who individually contributes more to it), but I'd be hesitant to take guys off of that.

 

[Zee]

Leafs are doing their best to dig themselves in deep, deep trouble. We lose to the Oilers and might as well pack it in.

 

[Zee]

First set - excellent
7-2-1

Second set
4-5-1

Third set
5-4-1

Fourth set
4-4-2

Fifth set
5-4-1

Next 10
Pittsburgh W
@Ottawa W
Edmonton W
@Winnipeg L
@Philadelphia L
Montreal L
@Calgary L
@Edmonton
@Vancouver
New Jersey

3-4!  In the words of Wilson, "let's go!!"

Man, looking at that list, there isn't a 10 game stretch during the season after the first 10 games where the Leafs DIDN'T lose at least 4 games out of 10.  We've already lost 4, it could be worse with 3 left.

 

[L K]

Phaneuf - 4 points in his last 16 games -6 +/-
Crabb - 5 points in his last 19 games (none in 9 where he is -4)
Armstrong - 1 point in 14 games this year
Boyce - 2 points in 13 games this year
Brown - 3 points in 35 games this year
Komisarek - 4 points in 28 games
Steckel - 8 points but 2 points in his last 24 games
Connolly - 1 goal in 27 games (9 points in those 27 games)
Lombardi - 1 assist in his last 9 games
Franson - 2 points in his last 9 games (bumped from 1st PP unit)
Kulemin - 1 goal in his last 20 games
Liles - 0 points in 7 games since returning from injury  (PP goes downhill when he comes back- not saying its his fault as he had it clicking early in the year but the chance is certainly at least an interesting coincidence)

Just too many guys being bystanders on this team outside of our top 5 forwards.

 

[Stronger Than All]

Leafs are doing their best to dig themselves in deep, deep trouble. We lose to the Oilers and might as well pack it in.

Must win for sure, even though I said that about the Habs and Flames games.

I do remember hoping for 2 out of 3 in this trip and worst case scenario win 1 out of 3 and get back to business.  So that makes tonight the must win game.

Unbelievable that we lost 4 in a row all in regulation and are still in 8th.  Imagine if we kept winning where we'd be.