Komarov worst forward for offense? (PP discussion)

[MR4]

Note: this doesn't include Martin even though I think even Marty is better at offense than Komarov.

But what the f*** is Babcock doing playing our worst OZ option on the powerplay? The obvious replacement should be Kapanen since he's got chemistry with Nylander, has a great shot.... and is offensively skilled. But Plekanec, Moore, Hyman.. I'd take them all on the PP before Komarov.

So yeah, vent about Komarov getting put on our trash PP2 that's 1 for its last 57 that Babs has no idea how to fix. So ready to stack 1 PP line with net options of Kadri/Matthews, wall options of Nylander/Marner, and Rielly at the top. Go 3F-2D with the 2nd line of Gardiner/Dermott/Kapanen/Marleau/Brown

Click to read more...

 

[thewave]

He looks turtle slow right now.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Yeah, not a good move on Babcock's part. If Kapanen is 4th line at ES, then he could easily play both special teams.

 

[shaner8989]

Absolute loser. Get rid of the loser

 

[moon111]

Note: this doesn't include Martin even though I think even Marty is better at offense than Komarov.

You do realize Martin is in the top 10 for points per minute on Toronto right?

 

[ponder]

He is. Still like him on the PK, but he should be confined to heavy PK minutes, light 4th line ES minutes, and obviously no PP time.

Babs loves him though, and has been playing him way too heavily all season. He’s an effective 4th liner, but for some reason is 6th in TOI/GP among Leafs forwards, ahead of Marner, JvR, Bozak, Brown and Kapanen. That’s nuts.

 

[Menzinger]

He’s been one of the worst forwards offensively all season - especially since a lot of folks consider him to be in the top 9.

 

[MR4]

You do realize Martin is in the top 10 for points per minute on Toronto right?

Yes.. hence me saying he's better than Komarov at offense..

 

[dubplatepressure]

I just don't understand why with all the talent we have are we icing Komarov on the PP. The guy can't finish a dang thing. He's got stone hands. He's slow. He's a 4th liner. There is no reason why he should get PP time over any other forward including Moore.

 

[Willchel Marlynder]

unbelievable.... how is that not a penalty?

 

[DopeyFish]

unbelievable.... how is that not a penalty?

seriously

how dare he suggest martin having offensive talent

 

[Discordia]

Don't blame the player for the coaches bad decisions.

 

[firstemperor]

Komarov has a P/60 of 0.59 this season.

He's in the bottom 5 for P/60 for any forward in the league with >500 minutes of ice-time.

The worst P/60 forward in the league, with >~630 minutes of ice-time.

Statistically, he is the worst offensive forward in the league at his usage (i.e. >650 minutes of accumulated ice-time).

Basically, it's no overstatement to say he's been the worst offensive forward in the league this year.

 

[Nithoniniel]

As I see it, our PP2 is a huge issue. Nothing is done to address it, which is absolutely perplexing. Brown, Marleau and Komarov have done themselves no favors there all year. Teams know that they need to take away the shot from our half-board guys and the golden road pass, and the PP is dead. Somehow, despite them focusing solely on these two things, our other forwards are never a dangerous option.

The whole unit needs to be rethought. I would probably go with:

Brown
Kapanen Matthews Nylander
Gardiner

Brown in front of the net, Nylander as the QB. Options for him: 1) Go back to Gardiner 2) Shoot himself 3) Go down low to Brown who can tap back to Matthews 4) Shoot for a Matthews redirection 5) Go across to Kapanen 6) Go around, let Kapanen slide in central and Matthews go for far past.

EDIT: I don't quite know how I ended up talking about the PP2 unit in a Komarov thread, but there it is.

 

[Willy Stylez]

Its Babcock.

 

[PuckMagi]

Komarov and Hyman should both be on the 4th line... playing maybe 6 - 8 minutes of 5vs5 ... and then saving them for the PK.

Playing them limited minutes keeps them fresh for the PK. It allows them to skate hard, hit, fore-check, and give 110% effort for their shifts because they will have a longer recovery time. Then we can start giving Matthews over 20 minutes a game.

 

[Pookie]

Another pile on thread? Can never have too many of those.

 

[ottomaddox]

I voted no because he's saving it for the playoffs.

 

[Damisoph]

Absolute loser. Get rid of the loser

I don't get comments like this, does it make you feel better to call a pro athlete a loser? Honestly.

Leo has lost a step or five, seems very unsure with the puck and has hands of stone. He's a decent to good PKer but we've got cheaper, internal options. I'd say he's our worst offensive forward at the moment, even over Dom Moore. Time to move on.

 

[ottomaddox]

My only other comment is that he was loved here and it seemed like almost yesterday.

One thing he did was play a big man's game in a smaller frame. Once that drops off (and it has), it's hard to be that big man.

I think those that are dog piling him now are unfair. They either thought he was a 20 goal scorer or they want to see skilled wingers in his place (NHL '18 style).

If this thread is about Kapanen then I'll be angry.

 

[Pookie]

My only other comment is that he was loved here and it seemed like almost yesterday.

One thing he did was play a big man's game in a smaller frame. Once that drops off (and it has), it's hard to be that big man.

I think those that are dog piling him now are unfair. They either thought he was a 20 goal scorer or they want to see skilled wingers in his place (NHL '18 style).

If this thread is about Kapanen then I'll be angry.

The fan turn is interesting. I don’t know what specific issue it was but objectively speaking, his play wasn’t an issue at the beginning of the season.

The line was clicking with the two of them at least and there were articles in the paper about how they (Kadri and Leo) feed off each other.

Marleau was the odd one out.

Then we had a massive slump that lasted a quarter of a season. Not really impacting Marleau who was scoring at his current pace. And not really impacting Leo who was also scoring at his seasons’ pace. The other member of the line was impacted significantly and we needed that line to get going.

So the focus of some fans went on Leo. Missing some chances didn’t help his cause but again he was producing at the same rate as when fans were loving it earlier in the season.

Frustration with Babcock probably put more of spotlight on him too. Curious decisions, games that didn’t end well... all of that. He became the poster boy for a team that doesn’t have much going wrong with it.

Put Leo in the middle of 2 contentious issues in the fan base, Kadri and Babcock, and you have a perfect focal point.

 

[IBeL34f]

Komarov has a P/60 of 0.59 this season.

He's in the bottom 5 for P/60 for any forward in the league with >500 minutes of ice-time.

The worst P/60 forward in the league, with >~630 minutes of ice-time.

Statistically, he is the worst offensive forward in the league at his usage (i.e. >650 minutes of accumulated ice-time).

Basically, it's no overstatement to say he's been the worst offensive forward in the league this year.

P/60 includes his SH TOI, does it not? That's a huge amount of time that no player should be expected to be scoring, and guys like Hyman (or Granlund or Watson) see that stat take a huge hit as a result as well. Not saying Leo is necessarily some offensive dynamo who's simply having their stats misinterpreted, but that particular stat is definitely going to paint an uglier picture than it should.

And for the record, your statistics are incorrect, and your rankings are inaccurate - His P/60 is 0.89 (NHL.com - Stats), and is higher than Paajarvi's, Watson's, Granlund's, Girgensons', J. Larsson's, Richardson's... All of whom fit your criteria of >650 minutes of TOI this season (NHL.com - Stats), and all of whom play less SH TOI/G than Komarov does (NHL.com - Stats). Where are you getting your numbers from?

Also, isn't Jim Hiller our Powerplay coach? I don't know how much that means he controls the PP entirely, or how much Babs still has a say, or how exactly that works... Regardless, I do agree that throwing Leo out with the extra man isn't exactly the best way to try and solidify that goal.

Edit: Leo's played ~898 EV/PP minutes this year, equaling almost exactly 15 games. His 15 EVP/PPP give him an EV/PP P/60 of exactly 1.00 - Not a wild jump, but you can see how easily a straight-up P/60 value can lack a lot of context.

 

[Menzinger]

Another pile on thread? Can never have too many of those.

Analyzing a current roster player is a perfectly legitimate topic. He’s a professional, and should be open to fair criticism.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Komarov sucks and our pp sucks. Amazingly, putting Komarov on the pp doesn't fix things

 

[Pookie]

Analyzing a current roster player is a perfectly legitimate topic. He’s a professional, and should be open to fair criticism.

This is the first thread to offer criticism? And apparently using the wrong stats and expectations to do so (Leo is expected to be an offensive forward is he?)