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Opening Forward Lines

bustaheims said:
Potvin29 said:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/leafs-beat/kadri-dropped-from-power-play-as-leafs-get-healthy/article21761810/

Well, that's certainly not going to help all the handwringing about his production. Not sure why Lupul is replacing Kadri on the second unit. He should be replacing Clarkson.

Also those lines are interesting.  If that holds, Panik sits and the 4th line is Booth - Smith - Lupul.
 
Potvin29 said:
Also those lines are interesting.  If that holds, Panik sits and the 4th line is Booth - Smith - Lupul.

Yeah. Not a huge fan of them, either, but, I doubt that's what we'll actually see tomorrow night.
 
Potvin29 said:
bustaheims said:
Potvin29 said:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/leafs-beat/kadri-dropped-from-power-play-as-leafs-get-healthy/article21761810/

Well, that's certainly not going to help all the handwringing about his production. Not sure why Lupul is replacing Kadri on the second unit. He should be replacing Clarkson.

Also those lines are interesting.  If that holds, Panik sits and the 4th line is Booth - Smith - Lupul.

Those were just the lines at practice today. They could just be easing Booth and Lupul back into the fold, and not breaking up what's working above. I'd argue that Clarkson is not really working, but if Holland and Winnik can really get him going, I'm not going to complain about it.

I agree Clarkson needs to come off the PP entirely. Kadri, Holland, Lupul is pretty dangerous, but I think they're looking for Clarkson to be the net presence (JvR 2.0).
 
herman said:
I agree Clarkson needs to come off the PP entirely. Kadri, Holland, Lupul is pretty dangerous, but I think they're looking for Clarkson to be the net presence (JvR 2.0).

I've suggested using Clarkson in a Holmstrom-esque role in the past, but, at this point, I feel like we've seen enough to say that he's not a good fit for that role with the rest of the guys he's been on the ice with. He's been better this season, but he's not working on on the PP. Time to put more skilled offensive players out there in his place.
 
bustaheims said:
herman said:
I agree Clarkson needs to come off the PP entirely. Kadri, Holland, Lupul is pretty dangerous, but I think they're looking for Clarkson to be the net presence (JvR 2.0).

I've suggested using Clarkson in a Holmstrom-esque role in the past, but, at this point, I feel like we've seen enough to say that he's not a good fit for that role with the rest of the guys he's been on the ice with. He's been better this season, but he's not working on on the PP. Time to put more skilled offensive players out there in his place.

This.

It's time to hand Kadri a bigger role and more TOI and see what he does with it.  He's been solid this year IMO but we need to see whether he can take that final step to become a dynamic offensive player with good d responsibility.  If he can't, then it may be time to package him.  But I'd like to see them give him a frontline role for the rest of this season, or at least until the deadline, to see what we've really got.
 
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
bustaheims said:
herman said:
I agree Clarkson needs to come off the PP entirely. Kadri, Holland, Lupul is pretty dangerous, but I think they're looking for Clarkson to be the net presence (JvR 2.0).

I've suggested using Clarkson in a Holmstrom-esque role in the past, but, at this point, I feel like we've seen enough to say that he's not a good fit for that role with the rest of the guys he's been on the ice with. He's been better this season, but he's not working on on the PP. Time to put more skilled offensive players out there in his place.

This.

It's time to hand Kadri a bigger role and more TOI and see what he does with it.  He's been solid this year IMO but we need to see whether he can take that final step to become a dynamic offensive player with good d responsibility.  If he can't, then it may be time to package him.  But I'd like to see them give him a frontline role for the rest of this season, or at least until the deadline, to see what we've really got.

I don't get why he's held to this standard or dealt while Bozak isn't.
 
bustaheims said:
Potvin29 said:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/leafs-beat/kadri-dropped-from-power-play-as-leafs-get-healthy/article21761810/

Well, that's certainly not going to help all the handwringing about his production. Not sure why Lupul is replacing Kadri on the second unit. He should be replacing Clarkson.

To be fair, the logic behind this is Carlyle.  So I don't think there is much question as to why.  Carlyle makes excuses for a lack of production by a guy like Clarkson and then points fingers when its a guy like Kadri.
 
Potvin29 said:
I don't get why he's held to this standard or dealt while Bozak isn't.

Because Kadri has more trade value than Bozak? That's really the only way it makes sense. I'm with you, though. If Kadri was getting Bozak's PP time and was paired with Kessel more or less permanently at even strength, I'm confident that he'd put up better numbers than Bozak, while Bozak would struggle to produce as much as Kadri with Kadri's current usage.
 
L K said:
bustaheims said:
Potvin29 said:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/leafs-beat/kadri-dropped-from-power-play-as-leafs-get-healthy/article21761810/

Well, that's certainly not going to help all the handwringing about his production. Not sure why Lupul is replacing Kadri on the second unit. He should be replacing Clarkson.

To be fair, the logic behind this is Carlyle.  So I don't think there is much question as to why.  Carlyle makes excuses for a lack of production by a guy like Clarkson and then points fingers when its a guy like Kadri.

My theory would be that Clarkson works best when he's feeling confident and getting chances; he was also apparently signed for characteristics other than scoring points (haha). Kadri has a bottomless well of self-confidence and needs to play with a chip on his shoulder and a burr in his saddle, proving to the naysayers what he's capable of.
 
Herman agains makes very valid points. Kadri needs to be on the 4th line to prove he belongs on line 1.  In 5 games he will score 10 goals with 8 minutes of ice time per. Instant promotion to be the best centre in hockey
 
bustaheims said:
Potvin29 said:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/leafs-beat/kadri-dropped-from-power-play-as-leafs-get-healthy/article21761810/

Well, that's certainly not going to help all the handwringing about his production. Not sure why Lupul is replacing Kadri on the second unit. He should be replacing Clarkson.

I mean just when you think they can't sink any lower, they pull this BS.

The dude should be on PP1.
 
Patrick said:
The dude should be on PP1.

He probably should be, yeah, but, to be fair, they're producing well and I can get behind the logic of wanting to spread the high-end offensive skill around a little. There's absolutely no reason he should be off the PP entirely, though.
 
Potvin29 said:
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
bustaheims said:
herman said:
I agree Clarkson needs to come off the PP entirely. Kadri, Holland, Lupul is pretty dangerous, but I think they're looking for Clarkson to be the net presence (JvR 2.0).

I've suggested using Clarkson in a Holmstrom-esque role in the past, but, at this point, I feel like we've seen enough to say that he's not a good fit for that role with the rest of the guys he's been on the ice with. He's been better this season, but he's not working on on the PP. Time to put more skilled offensive players out there in his place.

This.

It's time to hand Kadri a bigger role and more TOI and see what he does with it.  He's been solid this year IMO but we need to see whether he can take that final step to become a dynamic offensive player with good d responsibility.  If he can't, then it may be time to package him.  But I'd like to see them give him a frontline role for the rest of this season, or at least until the deadline, to see what we've really got.

I don't get why he's held to this standard or dealt while Bozak isn't.

There are people saying we should hang on to Bozak no matter what? 
 
bustaheims said:
Potvin29 said:
I don't get why he's held to this standard or dealt while Bozak isn't.

Because Kadri has more trade value than Bozak? That's really the only way it makes sense. I'm with you, though. If Kadri was getting Bozak's PP time and was paired with Kessel more or less permanently at even strength, I'm confident that he'd put up better numbers than Bozak, while Bozak would struggle to produce as much as Kadri with Kadri's current usage.

While I admit I am not fan of Kadri, (I don't like players who flop to draw penalties. This is just me) If you look at the points Bozak has gotten. At least half are with players other then Kessel. I don't know why Bozak would struggle to produce as much as Kadri has. IMO
 
freer said:
While I admit I am not fan of Kadri, (I don't like players who flop to draw penalties. This is just me) If you look at the points Bozak has gotten. At least half are with players other then Kessel. I don't know why Bozak would struggle to produce as much as Kadri has. IMO

Well, you'll notice I didn't say much about Kessel, but, really, outside of SH points and points from EN goals, Bozak has very few points to his name when Kessel wasn't on the ice with him - even if Kessel didn't contribute directly to the goal. Even less without JvR. If Bozak was playing with only the likes of Lupul/Clarkson/Winnik/etc full-time, do you honestly believe he'd produce at the same level? History says otherwise. Bozak's production drops significantly when he's not with Kessel and/or JvR. Kadri, on the other hand, has produced pretty well without them. At even strength, there isn't a huge difference between the way the two have produced this season, and one has clearly had more time with the superior wingers.
 
Potvin29 said:
Not saying you're wrong but where did you read that?

It's true. These are the situations Bozak scored his points in and whether Kessel was involved in the scoring play (most recent at the top):

SH
EN
EV
EN
EV KES
PP
PP
PP
PP KES
PP KES
EV
EV
EV KES
EV KES
EV KES
PP KES
EV KES
PP
PP
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Potvin29 said:
Not saying you're wrong but where did you read that?

It's true. These are the situations Bozak scored his points in and whether Kessel was involved in the scoring play (most recent at the top):

SH
EN
EV
EN
EV KES
PP
PP
PP
PP KES
PP KES
EV
EV
EV KES
EV KES
EV KES
PP KES
EV KES
PP
PP

Involved as in got a point?  Because if that's what was meant then yeah I wouldn't doubt he hasn't had points on that high of a percentage.
 

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