MR4
Registered User
- Oct 20, 2014
- 6,270
- 2,253
A DFD has been on many Leafs fans' wish lists, and we have one in Marincin, the DFD version of Gardiner. Puts up good Corsi rel and GF% rel, and really all that matters is whether you score more than the other team, not whether you look pretty doing it, right?
Marincin-Zaitsev has had very limited minutes as a pair in the past but has shown to be an awesome pair, and I've come around enough to think this would be a beastly bottom pair. Why? Zaitsev was initially an offense focused D when he was brought in showing a higher level of play in his first season than what he's become playing with a more offense focused, more risky D partner in Gardiner that has forced Zaitsev to become something he's not. Zaitsev playing on the bottom pair would be a great spot for him to regain his confidence as an OFD, and would likely start to show signs he can significantly drive play.
So why is Marincin a good fit for Zaitsev's left? Well, that's because one of Zaitsev's worst skills is denying zone entries, when Marincin is elite at it. Just take a look at this article if you disagree: Chad Bradford, Martin Marincin, and the Imperfection of the Human Mind It brings up a good criticism of our judgements that we focus too much on the big mistake and not the many less noticeable good plays, and that defines the criticism of both Gardiner and Marincin.
The only issue I'd see with this pair is Zaitsev wasn't great at getting the puck out of the zone and Marincin hasn't ever had that as his strong point, but Zaitsev never had this extensive a problem with it until this year so I think he can reshape his game to being confident enough in his passing zone exits instead of flipping the puck out, if he gets a chance at easy bottom pair minutes, to be good enough at it to carry Marincin on that issue.
This pair would also set up the rest of the dcore nicely by having our 3rd pair be our 1st PK unit with Marincin being a beastly PKer, and then gives us more minutes of Rielly on PP/ES instead of PK. It also allows the ES pairs to shape up as Rielly-Dermott (who was our 3rd best D and needs a bigger role than bottom pair) and then a proven to work pair of Gardiner-Hainsey.
I can definitely see Dubas forcing Babcock to give Marincin another shot. What would your bottom pair be next season? And if anyone knows where the stats are that show Marincin-Zaitsev worked great as a D-pair it would be great if you linked it in here.
Marincin-Zaitsev has had very limited minutes as a pair in the past but has shown to be an awesome pair, and I've come around enough to think this would be a beastly bottom pair. Why? Zaitsev was initially an offense focused D when he was brought in showing a higher level of play in his first season than what he's become playing with a more offense focused, more risky D partner in Gardiner that has forced Zaitsev to become something he's not. Zaitsev playing on the bottom pair would be a great spot for him to regain his confidence as an OFD, and would likely start to show signs he can significantly drive play.
So why is Marincin a good fit for Zaitsev's left? Well, that's because one of Zaitsev's worst skills is denying zone entries, when Marincin is elite at it. Just take a look at this article if you disagree: Chad Bradford, Martin Marincin, and the Imperfection of the Human Mind It brings up a good criticism of our judgements that we focus too much on the big mistake and not the many less noticeable good plays, and that defines the criticism of both Gardiner and Marincin.
The only issue I'd see with this pair is Zaitsev wasn't great at getting the puck out of the zone and Marincin hasn't ever had that as his strong point, but Zaitsev never had this extensive a problem with it until this year so I think he can reshape his game to being confident enough in his passing zone exits instead of flipping the puck out, if he gets a chance at easy bottom pair minutes, to be good enough at it to carry Marincin on that issue.
This pair would also set up the rest of the dcore nicely by having our 3rd pair be our 1st PK unit with Marincin being a beastly PKer, and then gives us more minutes of Rielly on PP/ES instead of PK. It also allows the ES pairs to shape up as Rielly-Dermott (who was our 3rd best D and needs a bigger role than bottom pair) and then a proven to work pair of Gardiner-Hainsey.
I can definitely see Dubas forcing Babcock to give Marincin another shot. What would your bottom pair be next season? And if anyone knows where the stats are that show Marincin-Zaitsev worked great as a D-pair it would be great if you linked it in here.