Pre-Game Talk: Leafs@Flyers Thursday Jan 18

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BertCorbeau

F*ck cancer - RIP Fugu and Buffaloed
Jan 6, 2012
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It will have been 3 weeks since the Leafs last win in regulation (or even OT for that matter) on Thursday. Yeah they had 5 days off, too, but it's felt like an eternity since then.

Tough to watch right now.
 

SprDaVE

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Sep 20, 2008
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It will have been 3 weeks since the Leafs last win in regulation (or even OT for that matter) on Thursday. Yeah they had 5 days off, too, but it's felt like an eternity since then.

Tough to watch right now.

The lack of adapting to a tough stretch has been very disappointing.
 

SprDaVE

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Sep 20, 2008
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How long before the Kadri line is dismantled?

Leafs need some offense from Kadri and Marleau, otherwise that's going to be one horrible signing.

Dismantling the Kadri line would mean demoting players and changing up other lines, something Babcock has refused to do despite plenty of signs that it isn't/wasn't working.

Marleau with Matthews and Nylander? Haha nope. Try out Marner with Matthews for more than a couple shifts? Wow... don't question Babgod. Komarov on the fourth line? How about 20 minutes instead?
 
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ULF_55

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Dismantling the Kadri line would mean demoting players and changing up other lines, something Babcock has refused to do despite plenty of signs that it isn't/wasn't working.

Marleau with Matthews and Nylander? Haha nope. Try out Marner with Matthews for more than a couple shifts? Wow... don't question Babgod. Komarov on the fourth line? How about 20 minutes instead?

van Riemsdyk-Kadri-Brown?

Honestly, how much worse could any combination be?
 

SprDaVE

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van Riemsdyk-Kadri-Brown?

Honestly, how much worse could any combination be?

Could work. I'd prefer Marner since he would add a skating element to the line.

Marleau - Matthews - Nylander
JVR - Kadri - Marner
Leivo - Bozak - Brown
Komarov - Gauthier - Hyman
Martin

Try it out a game or two. Give Martin a breather.
 

Albi34

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Feb 14, 2010
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Could work. I'd prefer Marner since he would add a skating element to the line.

Marleau - Matthews - Nylander
JVR - Kadri - Marner
Leivo - Bozak - Brown
Komarov - Gauthier - Hyman
Martin

Try it out a game or two. Give Martin a breather.

Man that would make me so excited to see. Only thing for personal preference is Kap over Leivo but regardless, would love to see this.
 

SprDaVE

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Sep 20, 2008
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Man that would make me so excited to see. Only thing for personal preference is Kap over Leivo but regardless, would love to see this.

I'd have Kapanen over quite a few players but I'll try to at least keep it realistic due to roster constraints.
 
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Cor

I am a bot
Jun 24, 2012
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Could work. I'd prefer Marner since he would add a skating element to the line.

Marleau - Matthews - Nylander
JVR - Kadri - Marner
Leivo - Bozak - Brown
Komarov - Gauthier - Hyman
Martin

Try it out a game or two. Give Martin a breather.

What line are you putting out as our shutdown line?
 

Cor

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The last one?

I'm more in line with the idea that it's ok to score goals.

Those last two lines are going to get shelled. Teams will use their top shutdown guys on Matthews line. So we better hope Kadri can handle the defensive duties for that entire line.

Really the only change needed is swapping Komarov and Brown. However swapping Marleau and JVR could work as well. Ideally Martin would begin to rotate with Leivo, though I’d rather Kapanen in that spot, so I’d look at trading Moore or Leivo (waiving Moore an option as well). I’d also consider making Komarov the 4C. Kadri line still runs as the ‘shutdown line’ and you keep the balence Babcock likes

JVR-Kadri-Brown
Hyman-Matthews-Nylander
Marleau-Bozak-Marner
Martin/Kappy-Gauthier-Komarov

Rielly-Hainsey
Gardiner-Dermott
Borgman-Carrick
 

hamzarocks

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Jul 22, 2012
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Pickering, Ontario
Win this game and win by outplaying the other team. Win by a blowout. Score goals, generate offense, stop dumping and chasing constantly when we don't have good retrieval players on the team. I was hoping to see one of marner/nylander/kadri healthy scratched today to send a message(the veterans won't ever be sent this message so it is time to stop coddling the young talent on this team and let them know that their play is unacceptable). Go Leafs Go.
 
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moon111

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Oct 18, 2014
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I think Kadri is fine. Players often will do what works. Kadri's puck-handling is miles better then his passing, offensive touch of his wingers, and his desire to use wingers. However, trying to puck-handle to score all the time results in him having some high turnover numbers. It's not a safe play. Granted he backs up the defense and the line has been built to accept this tactic, but it's still a risk move. Last year in the playoffs where games can be really close, Kadri had to shut it down. He could ill afford to be playing reckless. He uncharacteristically only turned over puck twice. And he only generated two points and managed to break even in the plus/minus. I think the Leafs could be intentionally playing and practicing to play hockey where someone like Kadri doesn't need to shut down his offense just because he can't afford to take the risk. If they work on dump and chase, passing, etc., it's different options. Makes it hard on opposing teams to know tendencies and how to counter them.
 

SprDaVE

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Sep 20, 2008
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Those last two lines are going to get shelled. Teams will use their top shutdown guys on Matthews line. So we better hope Kadri can handle the defensive duties for that entire line.

Really the only change needed is swapping Komarov and Brown. However swapping Marleau and JVR could work as well. Ideally Martin would begin to rotate with Leivo, though I’d rather Kapanen in that spot, so I’d look at trading Moore or Leivo (waiving Moore an option as well). I’d also consider making Komarov the 4C. Kadri line still runs as the ‘shutdown line’ and you keep the balence Babcock likes

JVR-Kadri-Brown
Hyman-Matthews-Nylander
Marleau-Bozak-Marner
Martin/Kappy-Gauthier-Komarov

Rielly-Hainsey
Gardiner-Dermott
Borgman-Carrick

The lines are getting shelled all ready outside of the Mattews line on most nights.

When I'm looking at our best line and one of them hardly has any even strength points and consistently misses offensive plays, you want to change that up.
 

Cor

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The lines are getting shelled all ready outside of the Mattews line on most nights.

When I'm looking at our best line and one of them hardly has any even strength points and consistently misses offensive plays, you want to change that up.

And who is that?
 

Cor

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Jun 24, 2012
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Hyman?

Can you imagine someone that can forecheck but also *gasp* show some form of skill?

The player with the 4th most 5v5 points on the team? And the 2nd most 5v5 primary points on the team?

Yup, clearly an issue offensively at 5v5
 

SprDaVE

Moderator
Sep 20, 2008
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The player with the 4th most 5v5 points on the team? And the 2nd most 5v5 primary points on the team?

Yup, clearly an issue offensively at 5v5

What about in the last month? We were also scoring well over 3 goals a game for the first 2 months, not so much any more.

Sometimes, it's ok to make an adjustment, like putting Marner and Nylander on the fourth line because of reasons... oh wait, that was done. Hyman as well right? oh...
 

X66

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Aug 18, 2008
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What line are you putting out as our shutdown line?

It's not even like our shutdown line now does anything. I doubt any of those lines would do worse.

Our shutdown line is actually garbage.
 
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