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Panthers @ Maple Leafs - Mar. 13th, 7:00pm - TSN, Fan 590

I've been trying really hard not to be critical of the deadline moves, after initially being happy on deadline day.

Both acquisitions seem like moves made to address issues with the lineup that should have been made in the before the season, not moves that make the team "better" for a postseason run.

Laughton isn't a difference maker. He fills a hole in the lineup. The move also reminds me of the Leafs trading for Nick Foligno, giving up a 1st round pick when Taylor Hall went for less, just like Brad Marchand went for less this year.

I like the Carlo trade more, but again, early returns he doesn't look like a difference maker to me.

Combined that with all the draft and prospect capital that went the other way to acquire them, not great.

I understand that prices were high this trade deadline but I'd say that's just an result of poor management.

I’m in broad agreement and would say that it’s potentially the right players but the wrong time?

Hopefully as alluded to in my last post they just kind of got shunted into existing spots cos there wasn’t much training time.

Now they’ve had time maybe Berube will see options to move away from the 2 line team thing. It’s been one of the things about his coaching that has disappointed, but, maybe he hasn’t had the pieces to do much more so I’ll give him a bit of leeway for a few games here.
 
Two games, one of which they arrived on the day having never even met the team.

I actually dunno why they got put into that game. Should have flown out and trained with the team on the road trip or possibly even to Toronto and had tonight as their first game.

Seems to be a hockey thing.

Learn by doing (and failing a bit)! There is also some cap constraints that don’t leave them with enough extra bodies.

I think it just helps to not think, and then it also gives them video data and experience when they do the sit down sessions to really learn the system, triggers, and start developing chemistry. Starting with pure theory for a game played on instinct is suboptimal, in my estimation.

 
FLA_light.svg
TOR_light.svg
Florida Panthers
40-22-3, 83 pts
@
Toronto Maple Leafs
39-22-3, 81 pts
Projected Line-ups
Verhaeghe-Barkov-Reinhart
Samoskevich-Bennett-Rodrigues
Luostarinen-Lundell-Boqvist
Greer-Sturm-Nosek

Forsling-Jones
Mikkola-Kulikov
Balinskis-Schmidt

Bobrovsky​
Knies-Matthews-Marner
Jarnkrok-Tavares-Nylander
McMann-Laughton-Domi
Holmberg-Kampf-Lorentz

Rielly-Carlo
McCabe-OEL
Benoit-Myers

Stolarz
Scratches
Jonah Gadjovich​
Nick Robertson
Injuries
Brad Marchand - Upper Body - Injured Reserve
Matthew Tkachuk - Groin - Injured Reserve
Aaron Ekblad - PED - Suspension​
Chris Tanev - Upper Body - Injured Reserve
Max Pacioretty - Undisclosed - Injured Reserve
Jani Hakanpaa - Knee - Injured Reserve
Game Notes
FLA
-Sergei Bobrovsky (27-14-2, 2.63 GAA, .907 Sv%) will likely start for the Panthers
-Florida is coming off a tough 3-2 loss on Tuesday against Boston that saw them blow a 2-0 lead with the Bruins scoring 3 unanswered goals in the 3rd period
TOR
-Anthony Stolarz (13-6-3, 2.33 GAA, .921 Sv%) will start for the Leafs
-Chris Tanev continues to be stuck in the day to day phase of his injury. He once again practiced as the 7D on Wednesday so unless he feels much better in the morning it's expected he'll miss his 7th straight game with an upper body injury
Really. Why do we keep putting Holmberg on the ice. The guy is useless
 
Saw this article earlier today on the topic. I agree with the premise...it (2 line team) hasn't worked before so why not experiment a bit. And I don't mean just in the third period when the game is out of hand. Come up with something that might work and give it a reasonable trial.


As for Laughton, its only 2 games but he has looked pretty mediocre. I hope there is more to his game than what we've seen.
Same shit another year. The forward roster is pretty jacked, how is it possible we cannot come up with 3 lines that work? This article does a good job showing that the core 4 over 2 lines should not be considered untouchable to change. I have been begging for the core 4 over 3 lines all season.
 
Wow. This is a tough bunch.

Carlo and Laughton, first time they have ever been traded in their NHL careers.

Get traded Friday afternoon. Fly from Boston/Philly to Denver. Play 4pm Denver time the next day with a new team. No practice. No morning skate.
 
Laughton isn't a difference maker. He fills a hole in the lineup. The move also reminds me of the Leafs trading for Nick Foligno, giving up a 1st round pick when Taylor Hall went for less, just like Brad Marchand went for less this year.
Marchand went cheap because he’s damaged goods. He might not play before the end of the regular season, and, if not, that opens up the possibility he doesn’t play at the beginning of the playoffs either. I certainly wouldn’t be happy if the Leafs gave up assets for that. Laughton needs some time to adjust and he’s also signed for another season. He cost more because the Leafs will get more games out of him without needing a new contract.

Marchand might be more of the Foligno in this comparison.
 
I see the comparison that Marchand is hurt (and Foligno ended up being hurt with the Leafs) but it sucks the Leafs couldn't have got the better player with less asset cost.

It was reported part of the lower return for Marchand was that he only wanted to go to Florida.
 
I see the comparison that Marchand is hurt (and Foligno ended up being hurt with the Leafs) but it sucks the Leafs couldn't have got the better player with less asset cost.

It was reported part of the lower return for Marchand was that he only wanted to go to Florida.
And if he doesn’t end up playing more than a handful of games? He’s only a better addition if he plays a good chunk of the time he’s on the roster. Otherwise, it’s throwing an asset down the drain.

Can you imagine the vitriol if the Leafs made that trade and Marchand only gets into 2 or 3 games before they get eliminated? No thanks.
 
Learn by doing (and failing a bit)! There is also some cap constraints that don’t leave them with enough extra bodies.

I think it just helps to not think, and then it also gives them video data and experience when they do the sit down sessions to really learn the system, triggers, and start developing chemistry. Starting with pure theory for a game played on instinct is suboptimal, in my estimation.

I guess in an 82 game season in a way it doesn’t *matter* to have one or two game of players basically winging it.

I just think of the football (soccer) example where a player is signed they usually don’t play the next day. Plenty of examples of them not playing for a week or two even while the coach works with them on the training pitch to get them up to speed on the teams systems etc. But they also only have 38 or so game seasons so maybe a bit of a shorter leash in terms of potential losses or dropped points.

Fair point on the cap constraints and active roster etc. That’s definitely something that hadn’t crossed my mind.
 
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