Line Combos: Andreas Johnsson on Tavares line.

[Clark4Ever]

Hyman-Matthews-Nylander
Mikheyev-Tavares-Marner
Johnsson-Kerfoot-Kapanen
Moore-Spezza-Timashov

Gauthier

 

[Teeder Keon]

4 players I would reAlly like to see called up from the Marlies are
Korsakov ?? Spelling
Brooks
Lily
Sandin again

here's how I would use them

Korsakov AM WN

ZH JT MM

AJ AK KK

soup Brooks Engvall

rotating in
Moore
Tima
Spezza


out
Goat
Petan
Shore

defence

MR Lily

Sandin Barrie


Dermott Holl


Out
CC
Muzz
MM

 

[Bluelines]

Before

Johnsson -- Matthews -- Nylander
Hyman --- Tavares ---- Marner
Mikheyev --- Kerfoot --- Kapanen

After

Johnsson -- Matthews -- Nylander
Hyman --- Tavares ---- Marner
Mikheyev --- Kerfoot --- Kapanen

The more things chance the more they stay the same.

The one thing I could see Keefe changing is flipping Johnsson and Mikheyev and use Leafs powerforwards in a more prominent roles to win more puck battles.

I like Johnnson but he makes too many glaring defensive blunders to get top two minutes, IMO he is a great 3rd liner.

Not sure who to put at center 3rd line or wing on the 4th but this would be my preferred lineup

IM-JT-MM
ZH-AM-WN
AJ-XX-KK
XX-FG-PE

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Wish Brown the best, but don't miss him tbh

Adding a right wing brown at 2.1 AAV is the last thing this team needs.


Connor Brown - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Matthews line is better with Johnsson, Tavares line is better with Hyman, just need Marner to get healthy then let them fly.

Last year was the first year Hyman had a noticably positive impact on a line, I would see if it works again this year.

Agree move Mik onto Matty's line and once Mitch gets back we got 2 very powerful lines that can do damage shift after shift

 

[Menzinger]

Last year many thought that Brown needed to be banished, where ever he played, whichever line offence ceased to exist.

This year people are endorsing Kappy and Johnsson, they have 13 and 12 points this year to date, Brown meanwhile has 14 points and his center is Pageau. I wouldn't consider Pageau anywhere close in talent level to JT or Matthews.

Well brown IS being used as a 1st line winger on that Ottawa team.

Im happy for him but his scoring rate wont last

 

[Menzinger]

Also, while i still dont mind AJ on thr Matthees Nylander line - beinging back Hyman would be fun - tbat unt was one of the best 5v5 lines in the league before it wss beoken up

 

[CelticDruid]

4 players I would reAlly like to see called up from the Marlies are
Korsakov ?? Spelling
Brooks
Lily
Sandin again

here's how I would use them

Korsakov AM WN

ZH JT MM

AJ AK KK

soup Brooks Engvall

rotating in
Moore
Tima
Spezza


out
Goat
Petan
Shore

defence

MR Lily

Sandin Barrie


Dermott Holl


Out
CC
Muzz
MM

Plus Korshkov kills penalties.

Soupy and Korshkov killing penalties together?

 

[The Iceman]

Hyman-Matthews-Nylander
Mikheyev-Tavares-Marner
Johnsson-Kerfoot-Kapanen
Moore-Spezza-Timashov

Gauthier

GOAT out...sign me up...I would prefer Engvall as our extra but I am not sure we have the cap space.

 

[KuleminFan41]

Last year many thought that Brown needed to be banished, where ever he played, whichever line offence ceased to exist.

This year people are endorsing Kappy and Johnsson, they have 13 and 12 points this year to date, Brown meanwhile has 14 points and his center is Pageau. I wouldn't consider Pageau anywhere close in talent level to JT or Matthews.

I was one of the few Brown fans on here but lets not pretend he's better than he is. He's at best a 3rd line player with decent offensive upside. If you really want to compare the 3, Brown has 2 goals while Johnsson and Kapanen both have 7 while averaging 4 more minutes of ice time than them . Kapanen and Johnsson are simply better offensive threats than Brown is, that's why he kept falling down the pecking order in Toronto. Brown has the most ice time in Ottawa because there aren't many better players but once they start bringing in more talented players, he'll be right down to the 3rd and 4th line minutes again . He's a good player in the right role, but he's not better than Kapanen or Johnsson.

 

[LeafingTheWay]

Imagine not even having Moore - Kerfoot - Marner in your lineup AND dominating this much.

Love the effort by everyone on this team. Mikheyev, Hyman, Engvall, Spezza, Petan, Kapanen have impressed me with their work.

I gotta say I was wrong on Spezza. He's turned out to be quite useful in a 3C role. Both Spezza and Petan are looking a lot better than Gauthier and Timashov in recent games. It's going to be a real tough decision when everyone's healthy, which three out of Spezza/Moore/Petan/Gauthier/Timashov/Engvall do you choose to keep up? For me I'd lock-in Engvall and Moore and rotate Spezza/Petan on a nightly basis. Put Gauthier/Timashov down to the AHL, hopefully clearing waivers.

 

[Battle Lin]

the only answer when healthy,

hyman - matthews - marner
mikheyev - tavares - nylander
johnsson - kerfoot - kapanen
engvall - spezza - moore

do it keefe, do what babs could never do

 

[Hustlr]

4 players I would reAlly like to see called up from the Marlies are
Korsakov ?? Spelling
Brooks
Lily
Sandin again

here's how I would use them

Korsakov AM WN

ZH JT MM

AJ AK KK

soup Brooks Engvall

rotating in
Moore
Tima
Spezza


out
Goat
Petan
Shore

defence

MR Lily

Sandin Barrie


Dermott Holl


Out
CC
Muzz
MM

Mmmm that D looks mighty... soft

Like the forward lines, but I’d probably try Mikheyev and Korshkov swapped there initially.

 

[Wafflewhipper]

2 years ago Babs and Matthews discussed Hy while Babs was visting Matthews in Pheonix, general knowledge is that Matthews doesn't/didn't want Hy on his line. There's no reason to think that Matthews has changed his mind, there's no reason to think that he should.

It is now believed that Matthews had an agreement with Babs that Kappy wouldn't be put on his line, another reasonable request.

Link???? Speculation/ rumour or whatever

 

[Hustlr]

Link???? Speculation/ rumour or whatever

Well he was off his line right after that visit and wasn’t for 2 year prior, pretty much exclusively.

 

[Havoc]

Nylander would work best with Tavares especially with Keefe here.

With Babcock gone we can finally get that Matthews-Marner super combo. Keefe can perhaps fix the disconnect those two have when together and get them firing.

Nylander looks like an absolute stud and is allowed to hold onto the puck and play his patient game. That goes well with how Tavares plays.

 

[Kiwi]

We're going to need to move some people up front

Mikheyev Tavares Marner
Hyman Matthews Nylander
Johnsson Kerfoot Kapanen
Engvall Spezza Moore

Extras are Gauthier, Timashov, Korshkov, Shore, Agostino, Petan and a multitude of Marlies

 

[TheScandal89]

Spezza is a better centre the Kerfoot in my opinion. Av's fans warned us Kerfoot was better suited for left wing, I think they were correct.

When Marner gets back is where it gets tricky though. One guy has gotta ride the 4th line and imo Spezza has been a solid 3rd centre under Keefe.

 

[Koolboss]

Imagine not even having Moore - Kerfoot - Marner in your lineup AND dominating this much.

Love the effort by everyone on this team. Mikheyev, Hyman, Engvall, Spezza, Petan, Kapanen have impressed me with their work.

I gotta say I was wrong on Spezza. He's turned out to be quite useful in a 3C role. Both Spezza and Petan are looking a lot better than Gauthier and Timashov in recent games. It's going to be a real tough decision when everyone's healthy, which three out of Spezza/Moore/Petan/Gauthier/Timashov/Engvall do you choose to keep up? For me I'd lock-in Engvall and Moore and rotate Spezza/Petan on a nightly basis. Put Gauthier/Timashov down to the AHL, hopefully clearing waivers.

Easy there, before the main boards start trolling us. It was a game against the worst and I mean THE WORST team in the league with hurt backup goalie in the net.

 

[apollo678]

When healthy...

Mikheyev Matthews Nylander (Mikheyev's job is to get the puck, break up the cycle against us)
Hyman Tavares Marner (see if they can recapture last year's form)
Johnsson Spezza Kapanen (give Spezza some talent to work with)
Engvall Kerfoot Moore (let Kerfoot work his way into the 3C role as we probably won't have Spezza next year)

 

[Oscar Peterson]

When healthy...

Mikheyev Matthews Nylander (Mikheyev's job is to get the puck, break up the cycle against us)
Hyman Tavares Marner (see if they can recapture last year's form)
Johnsson Spezza Kapanen (give Spezza some talent to work with)
Engvall Kerfoot Moore (let Kerfoot work his way into the 3C role as we probably won't have Spezza next year)

Haha I was just gonna post these exact lines in this thread, ya beat me to it

 

[Leaf Rocket]

When healthy...

Mikheyev Matthews Nylander (Mikheyev's job is to get the puck, break up the cycle against us)
Hyman Tavares Marner (see if they can recapture last year's form)
Johnsson Spezza Kapanen (give Spezza some talent to work with)
Engvall Kerfoot Moore (let Kerfoot work his way into the 3C role as we probably won't have Spezza next year)

i think Goat will also do well with this.

 

[LeafingTheWay]

Easy there, before the main boards start trolling us. It was a game against the worst and I mean THE WORST team in the league with hurt backup goalie in the net.

It's not about the opposing team. A Babcock-run team would not be dominating like this the past 3 games. Forget the goals, the possession and transition game has been dominating the past 3 games.

 

[Sypher04]

Nylander would work best with Tavares especially with Keefe here.

With Babcock gone we can finally get that Matthews-Marner super combo. Keefe can perhaps fix the disconnect those two have when together and get them firing.

Nylander looks like an absolute stud and is allowed to hold onto the puck and play his patient game. That goes well with how Tavares plays.

Based on what exactly? Matthews and Nylander have terrific chemistry. As do Tavares and Marner. I don't get why we have people here clamouring to re-invent the wheel when we already have two combinations that have proven to be among the league's upper echelon.

 

[kevsh]

When healthy...

Mikheyev Matthews Nylander (Mikheyev's job is to get the puck, break up the cycle against us)
Hyman Tavares Marner (see if they can recapture last year's form)
Johnsson Spezza Kapanen (give Spezza some talent to work with)
Engvall Kerfoot Moore (let Kerfoot work his way into the 3C role as we probably won't have Spezza next year)

Yes, glad someone else agrees Kerfoot should be on the 4th line. Spezza is outscoring him, takes less (bad) penalties and is a better playmaker to put with guys like Andreas and Kap.

I also think Mikheyev on the top line will help them defensively as Matthew's line continues to be terrible in their own end.