Lets talk Patrick Marleau

[MR4]

imo marelau should be with bozak and brown

Bozak and Marner* with Brown playing on Kadri's line

 

[rent free]

Bozak and Marner* with Brown playing on Kadri's line

so where would jvr play

 

[Nalens Oga]

This for me is expected but disappointing....the fact that Babcock is gonna use him in all 82 games basically assuming he's healthy. The rebuild is not over yet, I really wish they'd rest a guy like Marleau here and there and use that roster spot to give a Kapanen or a Leivo a couple games here and there rather than waiting till injuries happen to call them up.

 

[egd27]

so where would jvr play

Anaheim?

 

[MR4]

so where would jvr play

LA, Montreal.. anywhere but Toronto

 

[Stephen]

This for me is expected but disappointing....the fact that Babcock is gonna use him in all 82 games basically assuming he's healthy. The rebuild is not over yet, I really wish they'd rest a guy like Marleau here and there and use that roster spot to give a Kapanen or a Leivo a couple games here and there rather than waiting till injuries happen to call them up.

You might be overthinking things. Guys like Kapanen and Leivo should go in once in a while in favour of Martin and maybe Komarov, but probably not Marleau, who is a workhorse.

 

[Willchel Marlynder]

If we plan to make a deep playoff run then we’ll be keeping JVR (unless a top 4 Dman is in play). We’ll probably let both him and Bozak walk at the end of the season.

I hope Bab’s Switch’s Marner and Komarov Soon. Love Komarov, but Marner is the future. Having him play with our “shutdown” line will be good for his development . Plus I think him and Marleau can build some great chemistry

 

[4evaBlue]

This for me is expected but disappointing....the fact that Babcock is gonna use him in all 82 games basically assuming he's healthy. The rebuild is not over yet, I really wish they'd rest a guy like Marleau here and there and use that roster spot to give a Kapanen or a Leivo a couple games here and there rather than waiting till injuries happen to call them up.

As callous as it may seem, I want the kids to be around this guy during games as much as they possibly can. To see how a future HoF'r conducts themselves on and off the ice will yield huge dividends over the long run. I don't know how much of his contract we'll see him around for, before he joins Lupul and Robidas. Until then, let him do what he was paid extremelhy well (considering the amount of games he's likely to play in the last year off contract) to do.

He's a very cerebral player, who despite his age, is still pretty swift. I don't see his declining considerably over the next couple of years. I don't believe it's purely luck that he hasn't missed a single game over the psst 8 seasons.

 

[CanadasTeam]

Very emotional tribute -- Sharks org pure class:

 

[orbiter11]

Thornton is much more valuable,would have preferred.

 

[MR4]

Thornton is much more valuable,would have preferred.

Or we could sign the short term LW/C instead of the short term C so Nylander can get to C next year without needing to trade away the new acquisition

Though if we traded Bozak away this offseason, would've loved Thornton on a 1 year deal

 

[rent free]

Thornton is much more valuable,would have preferred.

absolutely. he'd come at a higher price but he'd be a better fit on this team. question is where would bozak fit?

 

[DanM]

Very emotional tribute -- Sharks org pure class:

All class!

 

[FreeBird]

All class!

I'm sure he's sorry he didn't stay there after the dismal effort by his soft error prone teammates.

 

[zeke]

I was a bit worried about the signing, but man he's been excellent. The skating is still elite, he brings big body presence, is putting up positive possession against top competition every night, and chipping in at his usual ~25gl/50pt pace to boot.

If it turns out he can handle center - which I'm skeptical of - then this deal only gets better.

 

[DanM]

I'm sure he's sorry he didn't stay there after the dismal effort by his soft error prone teammates.

I was literally thinking the same thing watching that hahaha

 

[FreeBird]

Or we could sign the short term LW/C instead of the short term C so Nylander can get to C next year without needing to trade away the new acquisition

Though if we traded Bozak away this offseason, would've loved Thornton on a 1 year deal

They tried to get him but someone had to go either Jumbo's beard or Lou.

 

[Trapper]

I was a bit worried about the signing, but man he's been excellent. The skating is still elite, he brings big body presence, is putting up positive possession against top competition every night, and chipping in at his usual ~25gl/50pt pace to boot.

If it turns out he can handle center - which I'm skeptical of - then this deal only gets better.

I'm not sure how the man feels personally about playing center, if he'd rather be a winger at this point, but if he's good with it and can handle the job, maybe we found the 3C many of us have been looking for. You'll have to track his stats to see if this is a positive thing. Plus with Marleau moving to center it opens up a wing spot where we are stronger.

 

[PuckMagi]

Going with Matthews, Kadri, Marleau down the middle for this year and the next 2 years could work out well.

I've been very happy with Marleau, but I think he'll be even better when he finds his role on the team. I don't think Kadri is a good line mate for him. I would like to see Marleau play with our fast guys like Nylander and Kapanen.

I feel like it's been a long time since the Leafs have really had any speed. We had Kessel who was fast... but I never really considered us a fast team.

 

[thewave]

I thought the line was going to be...

JVR Marleau Nylander

I thought that Nylander would take over the C position after studying Marleau. I was wrong but Marleau has become a C for tonight only??? Should be a good game!

 

[Polaris1010]

If it turns out he can handle center - which I'm skeptical of - then this deal only gets better.

Marleau was a center at some points in his career. He does not have to be great, he just has to provide a better performance than what we have seen from the other centers on the team.

Marleau is a very crafty player, at both ends of the ice. Those small defensive plays, he always makes them. Babcock is right about him. He's good everywhere, in any situation.

The only place don't want to see him, is the penalty kill. Leave to Hyman, Brown, Kapenan and Komarov.

 

[Polaris1010]

I thought that Nylander would take over the C position after studying Marleau. I was wrong but Marleau has become a C for tonight only??? Should be a good game!

Long term, it's still Nylander at center.

Now they got the 38 year old there.

Makes. No. Sense. When. The. Logical. Thing. To. Do. Was. The. Obvious. Thing. To. Do.

That's the Leafs.

Go Leafs Go!
Go Leafs Go!
Go Leafs Go!

 

[Battle Lin]

man marleau is a big guy and he can still move around the ice very well for an old man, covers the ice pretty well at center, can he keep this up

 

[zeke]

smart quick breakout passes exactly what you wanto to see from him as a C. looked totally comfortable there, albeit not up against great players.

 

[Nithoniniel]

Looked very comfortable at center.

Going back and looking at the reports of how he didn't want to play center, it seems most of the issue was that he didn't want to play a checking role with depth wingers. Perhaps he won't mind playing center on a secondary scoring line, with quality wingers beside him?