Post-Game Talk: Leafs beat Blues 4-1. Bern-yay!
- Thread starter HEAVY DUTY
- Start date
Clark4Ever
What we do in hockey echoes in eternity...
As mentioned, take away all the abysmal goaltending performances, and this is easily a playoff team in the current standings.
Considering our patchwork lineup, that is a true testament to Babcock. Add some more talent to the roster and this team can develop into a perennial playoff team in much less time than 3-5 years.
Considering our patchwork lineup, that is a true testament to Babcock. Add some more talent to the roster and this team can develop into a perennial playoff team in much less time than 3-5 years.
Le Cobra
Rent A Goalie
Not that it's the only or best example but look at Dylan Larkin.
I think we're in that 'bottoming out' feeding frenzy, 'it's the only way to go, why are they winning?' Well, I sympathize, but they didn't get Babcock to lose, and the season isn't over yet. If the Leafs sell off at the deadline, which is very likely, fret not, the pain is coming.
It's great to watch them give a crap and play a system for once in a decade.
I believe Mgmt plan was
Teach and see who was going to be our players going forward ( Morgan, JVR, Gardner, Kadri and so on ).
Leave our prospects in the Ahl for the season.
Give the fans something to cheer about up to the deadline.
Then trade off assets for picks and prospects.
I think we are going to get solid offers for Bozak, Kadri, Hunwick, JVR, Riemer, Bernier and Polak.
If we trade two of these players we will slide back to a bottom 5 team.
Note : I don't think mgnt thought that we would be as close to a playoff spot as we are.
But I don't think it changes their plans.
Teach and see who was going to be our players going forward ( Morgan, JVR, Gardner, Kadri and so on ).
Leave our prospects in the Ahl for the season.
Give the fans something to cheer about up to the deadline.
Then trade off assets for picks and prospects.
I think we are going to get solid offers for Bozak, Kadri, Hunwick, JVR, Riemer, Bernier and Polak.
If we trade two of these players we will slide back to a bottom 5 team.
Note : I don't think mgnt thought that we would be as close to a playoff spot as we are.
But I don't think it changes their plans.
cookie
Fresh From The Oven
We might slide into a bottom 5 team but we might not either. The replacements after the trades go through will be from the Marlies, a team that is near or at the top of the AHL. Polak can easily be upgraded with Harrington or even Marincin and a similar thing can be said about guys like Grabner and Boyes.
You'd have to have less suits in the arena to make that happen. Unfortunately, Toronto has to be doling out the welfare checks to the struggling american franchises, so dollars are being valued more than people that actually want to cheer on the team in person.
Nithoniniel
Registered User
The goal and requirements are the same wherever we end up in the standings. The only difference is that the higher we end up in the draft order, the easier the job gets for our scouts. It's not about us getting better prospects, it's about how tough job it'll be to find the best prospects available. Instead of getting another Marner, we might have to scour the pool to find a Larkin.
Winning without the cost of dealing future assets should be preferable for us fans of the team. That means that the veterans on the current roster will have some perceived worth. And the young players aren't playing their first taste of NHL hockey for a total disaster.
Indeed.
I think Leo should be part of this team for a few years to come, man has grit and work ethic - the team needs this type of player going forward with the young kids coming. Just look at where Edmonton has been without a few guys like this.
johnny_rudeboy
Registered User
Yeah, the plan was never to bottoming out but to change the culture and the way we as an organisation approach things.
We want to draft naturally skilled players, hoping to shape them into solid, physically ready pro-players. After the first Hunter draft we are on our way.
We dont want a veteran heavy Marlies team but want our own prospects playing key roles down there and we want them to stay down there until they are ready. We have now fixed that.
We want there to be competition for ice time and not give any one anything for free. And we want the system and the team be more important then any player.
With Babcock here and Kessel gone that is now fixed.
And this is the blue print, the big plan.
Win, lose, we will stick to it. When we lose it will be tempting to shake things up, perhaps promote some youngsters or even trade some for veteran help. And when we eventually start winning things it might be tempting to trade large chunks of the future to get a better team for the short term. The way we used to do it in the past. But we will stick to the blue print we have laid out.
We want to draft naturally skilled players, hoping to shape them into solid, physically ready pro-players. After the first Hunter draft we are on our way.
We dont want a veteran heavy Marlies team but want our own prospects playing key roles down there and we want them to stay down there until they are ready. We have now fixed that.
We want there to be competition for ice time and not give any one anything for free. And we want the system and the team be more important then any player.
With Babcock here and Kessel gone that is now fixed.
And this is the blue print, the big plan.
Win, lose, we will stick to it. When we lose it will be tempting to shake things up, perhaps promote some youngsters or even trade some for veteran help. And when we eventually start winning things it might be tempting to trade large chunks of the future to get a better team for the short term. The way we used to do it in the past. But we will stick to the blue print we have laid out.
Take out all the stellar performances of goaltending and we're dead last. You can't just take out the performances you don't like.
We have a .913 SV% this year. That's tied for 15th in the league, perfectly average. If you take out the abysmal goaltending performances, then sure, we're a playoff team. But so is everyone with top 5 goaltending.
Clark4Ever
What we do in hockey echoes in eternity...
Let's be realistic. Measure the number of stellar goaltending performances against the sub par performances, and it's not even close. The number of standout (not average) performances we've had from all of our goaltenders combined can be counted on one hand. How many games have they stolen?
The number of below average performances is easily in double figures, due in large part to Bernier.
I dislike the way the NHL shows their standings. It masks the nature of a team's season. To me overtime losses are losses, overtime wins are wins, shootout wins and losses are ties. The NHL makes teams' records look better than they actually are.
Leafs' record at NHL.com:
15-15-7 with a 4-4 SO record
How I think it should be shown:
11-18-8 with 7 bonus points from Shootout and OT losses.
Leafs' record at NHL.com:
15-15-7 with a 4-4 SO record
How I think it should be shown:
11-18-8 with 7 bonus points from Shootout and OT losses.
SeaOfBlue
The Passion That Unites Us All
- Aug 1, 2013
- 35,591
- 16,773
I went to the game yesterday. Pretty good overall. All the good things people are saying about the players are true. A couple of turnovers here and there from the defense, and it took a little bit of time for the offense to get rolling (1st period was pretty boring IMO), but we were in control the entire game. Bernier was outstanding, Allen was not. Arcobello and Marincin were surprisingly really good. Arcobello won pretty much every face off and generated a ton of opportunities with Matthias and Boyes. Marincin looks a lot better in person than he does on TV. He and Polak are much better offensively than it looks, and both can skate extremely well. They aren't going to out skate fast guys, but they are fast enough to close gaps.
Good game. Good to get a win, but also kind of sucks getting a win. Not as bad as winning against Pittsburgh though; we need to lose and they need to win.
Good game. Good to get a win, but also kind of sucks getting a win. Not as bad as winning against Pittsburgh though; we need to lose and they need to win.
Good post. I am in full agreement. And its not just in person, Marincin and Arcobello and Polak all treed yesterday, in other words, played out of their minds. Boyes stood out as well, like he has for me anyways, many times, when given ice time. That man still has some elite skills left.
ULF_55
Moderator
I agree.
I think shoot-out points should only be used as a tie breaker.
Wins-Losses-Ties and tiebreaker the skills competition points.
Leafs won the 3rd. period where they had 14 shots and Blues had 18. Why does that ring a bell, outshot but outscore?
Wave goodbye to a top 5 pick!
Here are my thoughts on the game:
I thought that the Blues looked like a good team. Especially near the start of the game. We seemed to be almost matching their effort, but they had a lot of skill and looked better. I was really happy to see the Leafs make a push and move the momentum in our direction.
I think we had some good power plays... and drawing those penalties were keys to the game. Holland looked good all game and has a great shot from the half boards on the PP.
Arcobello is a huge upgrade over Froese and having 4 lines that were all effective was really good. Marincin looked solid to me, so we had no weak spots on defense.
Grabner is the only guy who I think is out of place on the team. He's barely good enough to play on the 3rd or 4th line, let alone on the top line. But I thought even Grabner had a pretty good game anyways. I would probably put Lupul on the top line, move Matthias to the 3rd line, and bring up Panik or Leivo... or just keep Grabner and put him on the 4th line.
But now that we've got a full squad without any real glaring weak spots, I think we'll do well.
Obviously Bernier was very good, and it will probably be goal tending that ultimately decides our fate this year. But I like how the team is playing overall. I think we have a real chance at the playoffs this year.
I thought that the Blues looked like a good team. Especially near the start of the game. We seemed to be almost matching their effort, but they had a lot of skill and looked better. I was really happy to see the Leafs make a push and move the momentum in our direction.
I think we had some good power plays... and drawing those penalties were keys to the game. Holland looked good all game and has a great shot from the half boards on the PP.
Arcobello is a huge upgrade over Froese and having 4 lines that were all effective was really good. Marincin looked solid to me, so we had no weak spots on defense.
Grabner is the only guy who I think is out of place on the team. He's barely good enough to play on the 3rd or 4th line, let alone on the top line. But I thought even Grabner had a pretty good game anyways. I would probably put Lupul on the top line, move Matthias to the 3rd line, and bring up Panik or Leivo... or just keep Grabner and put him on the 4th line.
But now that we've got a full squad without any real glaring weak spots, I think we'll do well.
Obviously Bernier was very good, and it will probably be goal tending that ultimately decides our fate this year. But I like how the team is playing overall. I think we have a real chance at the playoffs this year.
but what are u saying, leaf prospects will end up just as good if not better than the oiler first picks ?
Maybe I'm having a stroke but that doesn't sound remotely like anything I said.
zeke
The Dube Abides
- Mar 14, 2005
- 66,937
- 36,957
i don't get the Marincin hate myself.
for me, he's the best #6D we've had in eons.
big, mobile, good hands with a good first pass, never takes any risks and makes very few bad mistakes. and it's not like polak is the easiest guy to play with, what with his running around all over the ice and his hand grenade passes.
I am pretty damn happy that for once our #6D is a cheap and talented no fuss kid instead of some overpaid hack and chop physical vet.
that is good management.
I think he's just improving. He wasn't great at the start of the year. But as a team, we weren't great either. Marincin I think has been doing a lot better lately.
Marincin was very positively noticeable out there. If that is a sixth D, we are doing pretty well.
