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The Leafs Defense

L K

L K

Active member
Something has to give at this point.

Dion Phaneuf, Morgan Rielly, Jake Gardiner, Roman Polak, Stephane Robidas and Matt Hunwick have NHL experience and contracts.
Martin Marincin is an RFA and has been qualified.
Stuart Percy, Scott Harrington and Petter Granberg are RFA's next year and banging on the door of being NHL players.

10 players fighting for 7 spots so far. 
 
With injuries (and post-deadline trades for picks) 10 guys isn't too many.  As long as some of the younger ones can be stashed in the minors until they are needed without going through waivers, we are fine.
 
Granberg is probably another year off with that injury but yeah, I imagine there are more trades coming.
 
If he's not dealt I'd like to see them somehow work Phaneuf into more of an offensive defenseman rather than what they've been trying to do for a few seasons now with him.  Think if they do that his value skyrockets as well as he's always been a high-event offensive d-man, or at least he was until he was saddled with poor possession teammates and brutal zone starts.
 
Interesting article on analyzing defenders:
http://www.tsn.ca/you-don-t-have-to-be-chara-to-be-an-effective-nhl-defenceman-1.358467

[You] don?t have to possess Zdeno Chara?s skill set and physical attributes to get the job done. There?s more than one way to protect a lead late. Offensive defencemen, for example, may be able to deter attacking forwards from those sweet spots on the ice by simply preserving possession of the puck. If your team is in the offensive zone and in control of the play, it?s impossible to concede a shot and goal.

Analyzing competency in this area is difficult for this very reason. We often observe the punishing hits dished out by guys like Chara, who has more than earned his reputation as one of the league?s best defenders. But we often fail to observe the steady offensive-minded defenders? contributions in the same capacity. This type of player may not be mercilessly separating an attacking forward from the puck as he crosses into the neutral zone, but that?s because he doesn't have to ? his team has the puck, and they?re in the attacking end.
Click to expand...

w1vPc7P.png


Look how Gardiner (and to a lesser degree Rielly) is on the sexy side (bottom left) of the graph. Look at all the Leafs and former Leaf defensemen in the uggo top right bad side.
 
Anyone else see Robidas falling out of favor? He got hit a lot last year & isn't getting any younger.

I can see maybe a guy like Percy or maybe Harrington taking a spot from him.
 
Mike1 said:
Anyone else see Robidas falling out of favor? He got hit a lot last year & isn't getting any younger.

I can see maybe a guy like Percy or maybe Harrington taking a spot from him.
Click to expand...

Even without a kid taking his spot I think he'll be hard pressed to get consistent playing time. Phaneuf, Gardiner, Rielly, Polak, Marincin, and Hunwick are all better options than him, so right there he's already the #7 guy.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Mike1 said:
Anyone else see Robidas falling out of favor? He got hit a lot last year & isn't getting any younger.

I can see maybe a guy like Percy or maybe Harrington taking a spot from him.
Click to expand...

Even without a kid taking his spot I think he'll be hard pressed to get consistent playing time. Phaneuf, Gardiner, Rielly, Polak, Marincin, and Hunwick are all better options than him, so right there he's already the #7 guy.
Click to expand...

That sort of strikes me as Burke/Nonis-esque "We're going after that 8 seed" thinking rather than proper tank thinking. To me, the depth chart right now is probably

1. Phaneuf
2. Rielly
3. Gardiner
4. Polak
5. Robidas
6. Marincin
7. Hunwick

Then Hunwick, and one of the Marlies call-ups, gets rotated in as injuries/trades/benchings happen. I think it's a log jam that gets cleared up sooner rather than later as I'd be surprised to see Polak actually last until the trade deadline.
 
Nik the Trik said:
CarltonTheBear said:
Mike1 said:
Anyone else see Robidas falling out of favor? He got hit a lot last year & isn't getting any younger.

I can see maybe a guy like Percy or maybe Harrington taking a spot from him.
Click to expand...

Even without a kid taking his spot I think he'll be hard pressed to get consistent playing time. Phaneuf, Gardiner, Rielly, Polak, Marincin, and Hunwick are all better options than him, so right there he's already the #7 guy.
Click to expand...

That sort of strikes me as Burke/Nonis-esque "We're going after that 8 seed" thinking rather than proper tank thinking.
Click to expand...

Haha!

Barring training camp trades, I think they'll roll out Robidas nightly until he breaks down to injury or requests time off to rest, out of respect for his experience/leadership role and to give him an opportunity to play is way into a trade to a contender.
 
what I would hope is that they could suggest to Robidas is to retire and keep him as a coach at the same rate of pay for the two remaining years. Why not? 
 
While I was against his signing at the time, I don't really see it as a problem. They can simply bench him if they want another option on the playing roster. I don't think his presence here is going to negatively impact a younger player or restrict them from playing time significantly.
 
Boston Leaf said:
what about Matt Finn? Is off the radar?
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Finn had a pretty disappointing 1st professional season last year, so while it'd be silly to give up on him at this point he's likely pretty far down the depth chart in terms of whose getting the first call-up. Percy and Harrington are definitely above him. Brennan too maybe, although he's not a prospect. Loov and Nilsson both had better rookie seasons so they've likely slid in front of him as well. The Leafs will likely want a full season out of Finn in the AHL before they look to promote him.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Boston Leaf said:
what about Matt Finn? Is off the radar?
Click to expand...

Finn had a pretty disappointing 1st professional season last year, so while it'd be silly to give up on him at this point he's likely pretty far down the depth chart in terms of whose getting the first call-up. Percy and Harrington are definitely above him. Brennan too maybe, although he's not a prospect. Loov and Nilsson both had better rookie seasons so they've likely slid in front of him as well. The Leafs will likely want a full season out of Finn in the AHL before they look to promote him.
Click to expand...

Yeah. There were definitely higher hopes for Finn prior to last season. Although he was hurt during the season. I think he was outplayed in the rookie tournament by a few players including Dermot, who is a year behind him in the cycle.
 
Potvin29 said:
If he's not dealt I'd like to see them somehow work Phaneuf into more of an offensive defenseman rather than what they've been trying to do for a few seasons now with him.  Think if they do that his value skyrockets as well as he's always been a high-event offensive d-man, or at least he was until he was saddled with poor possession teammates and brutal zone starts.
Click to expand...

I agree that the best thing for the Leafs is to try to maximize Dion's trade value.

He did play virtually every power play last year, however.  I don't know how much more the Leafs could do to maximize his offensive game.  Moreover, arguably Reilly and Gardiner should be the top two defencemen on the power play this year, but that is why Babcock gets paid the big bucks to make that assessment.

3 goals last year?  It is really not acceptable by anyone's standards, given the time that he spent on the ice last year.

And I was talking to guy who was an ex-pro defencemen a while ago who said that the problem with Dion is that he makes the other players on defence worse.  By contrast, Keith really is a fine player who makes the others on the blueline play better.  But of course Dion can't skate like Keith, nor will he ever be fast, IMHO, notwithstanding Babcock's plan for him.
 
caveman said:
I see Mark Fraser's name on the training camp roster...when did he get the invite ?
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Yeah that's a little out of left field. Lou had previously said that they might add one more player on a PTO the other day, but nobody knew who. Fraser played 34 games with the Devils last season, and 18 for their AHL affiliate. I'd be amazed if he earned a NHL deal out of this though.
 
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