Pre-Game Talk: Tampa Bay Lightning vs Toronto Maple Leafs Jan 02

[Bullseye]

We have lots of holes.
If Lou doesn't fix our D, I don't want him back. Get rid of him.

Not exactly Lou's fault and he's trying to build without sacrificing the future. Our drafting of d-men has to be very good going forward - it's the only pipeline that's within our "control" - still difficult.

 

[Suntouchable13]

Not exactly Lou's fault and he's trying to build without sacrificing the future. Our drafting of d-men has to be very good going forward - it's the only pipeline that's within our "control" - still difficult.

I am a little bit peeved that he decided to re-sign Polak. Shows 0 creativity. We wouldn't be any worse without him. Certainly we are not better with him.

 

[Daisy Jane]

Every team except powerhouses have holes in their lineups.

powerhouses have holes in their lineup.
there isn't a perfect team.

 

[Daisy Jane]

geeze. all this woe is us.

regardless of how bad the Leafs were, and how good Tampa was, we've always played each other relatively decently. most games has resulted in 1: Tampa smacking us, 1: Us Smacking Tampa, 1: close game, Tampa wins, 1: close game Leafs win, and then up in the air game.

i think the only time Tampa swept us was the year before Matthews, and i think even then none of those games were complete laughters.

it should be a relatively intriguing game. I would argue the leafs probably lose because the first game back after a road trip is usually not really good for any home team for the most part, but it wouldn't surprise me if we win

 

[Daisy Jane]

I am a little bit peeved that he decided to re-sign Polak. Shows 0 creativity. We wouldn't be any worse without him. Certainly we are not better with him.

there really isn't anything wrong with Polak. considering how much people were getting worked up how "bad" the Leafs were for treating older players etc, offering a contract to one who literally broke his leg playing for this team after playing pretty good hockey down the stretch for one. year. isn't as horrible as everyone is making it out to be. and down the stretch where i am assuming Lou is going to do something to shore up - it's good to have that veteran presence in your depth, especially when everyone last year was whining how much he sucked - and then it was "oh wait his leg is broken, oh my god, doom, doom what are we going to do."

it's not like he bypassed better options on the market to get to polak, either. and then at the end of the year he'll be gone, like out of all the things to stress over, why stress over someone who won't be here next year? My worry is that Jake is a grade A idiot on skates and we have him longer. and Carrick isn't any better. i'm more peeved that those aren't getting corrected for the long term vs. a guy who regardless of his shortcomings is literally here for depth and is gone for a year. apparently we're supposed to be building with Jake in our lineup.


(a lot of that is a general you, not you you. goodness knows you're not the only one who feels that way re: Polak).

 

[Mr Hockey]

I am a little bit peeved that he decided to re-sign Polak. Shows 0 creativity. We wouldn't be any worse without him. Certainly, we are not better with him.

Borgman is better with him for starters ... expand your view

 

[rent free]

they

geeze. all this woe is us.

regardless of how bad the Leafs were, and how good Tampa was, we've always played each other relatively decently. most games has resulted in 1: Tampa smacking us, 1: Us Smacking Tampa, 1: close game, Tampa wins, 1: close game Leafs win, and then up in the air game.

i think the only time Tampa swept us was the year before Matthews, and i think even then none of those games were complete laughters.

it should be a relatively intriguing game. I would argue the leafs probably lose because the first game back after a road trip is usually not really good for any home team for the most part, but it wouldn't surprise me if we win

smacked us when they were healthy, we had to take it to overtime to beat them when they were unhealthy. was never close and it wont be this time

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

there really isn't anything wrong with Polak. considering how much people were getting worked up how "bad" the Leafs were for treating older players etc, offering a contract to one who literally broke his leg playing for this team after playing pretty good hockey down the stretch for one. year. isn't as horrible as everyone is making it out to be. and down the stretch where i am assuming Lou is going to do something to shore up - it's good to have that veteran presence in your depth, especially when everyone last year was whining how much he sucked - and then it was "oh wait his leg is broken, oh my god, doom, doom what are we going to do."

it's not like he bypassed better options on the market to get to polak, either. and then at the end of the year he'll be gone, like out of all the things to stress over, why stress over someone who won't be here next year? My worry is that Jake is a grade A idiot on skates and we have him longer. and Carrick isn't any better. i'm more peeved that those aren't getting corrected for the long term vs. a guy who regardless of his shortcomings is literally here for depth and is gone for a year. apparently we're supposed to be building with Jake in our lineup.


(a lot of that is a general you, not you you. goodness knows you're not the only one who feels that way re: Polak).

When it comes to the current state of the Leafs, one year makes a significant difference. The team is ready to compete now, especially with a weakened Eastern Conference. Signing Polak for even one year does not improve the team by any means. I thought our goal was to take another step this year. Why are we recycling garbage?

On a legitimate cup contender like San Jose, Polak got absolutely torched in the playoffs. How does he improve our D if we were to go on a lengthy run?

 

[Daisy Jane]

When it comes to the current state of the Leafs, one year makes a significant difference. The team is ready to compete now, especially with a weakened Eastern Conference. Signing Polak for even one year does not improve the team by any means. I thought our goal was to take another step this year. Why are we recycling garbage?

On a legitimate cup contender like San Jose, Polak got absolutely torched in the playoffs. How does he improve our D if we were to go on a lengthy run?

okay. fair.
so who was available this summer up until basically 2nd week of october or so when we signed Polak, that we should have gotten instead?

 

[Warden of the North]

When it comes to the current state of the Leafs, one year makes a significant difference. The team is ready to compete now, especially with a weakened Eastern Conference. Signing Polak for even one year does not improve the team by any means. I thought our goal was to take another step this year. Why are we recycling garbage?

On a legitimate cup contender like San Jose, Polak got absolutely torched in the playoffs. How does he improve our D if we were to go on a lengthy run?

The east isnt weak. Tampa is arguably the best team the east has seen in years, if not the league. Washington is still a very strong team. Even Boston is sneaky good.

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

okay. fair.
so who was available this summer up until basically 2nd week of october or so when we signed Polak, that we should have gotten instead?

I am not certain if we were kicking tires on anyone in particular. However, I thought an internal promotion was in store for someone like Dermott, especially after a solid showing in camp. Or perhaps Valiev.

My guess is that given Babcock's (questionable) obsession with handedness, the aforementioned did not have much of a chance to play with the big club.

 

[BoredBrandonPridham]

okay. fair.
so who was available this summer up until basically 2nd week of october or so when we signed Polak, that we should have gotten instead?

Careful, he might say we should have gone big on Hamonic.

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

The east isnt weak. Tampa is arguably the best team the east has seen in years, if not the league. Washington is still a very strong team. Even Boston is sneaky good.

Just my opinion. I think that only Tampa is better, while everyone else is <= par. Not like the West where you have 5 teams in the upper echelon of the league

(Edit: quoted twice)

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

I am not certain if we were kicking tires on anyone in particular. However, I thought an internal promotion was in store for someone like Dermott, especially after a solid showing in camp. Or perhaps Valiev.

My guess is that given Babcock's (questionable) obsession with handedness, the aforementioned did not have much of a chance to play with the big club.

this makes me really question why he's playing Marincin with Gardiner rather than Carrick. He must absolutely despise Carrick if he won't even let him play to satisfy his handedness obsession

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

Careful, he might say we should have gone big on Hamonic.

Never liked Hamonic, especially at that cost.

 

[Daisy Jane]

I am not certain if we were kicking tires on anyone in particular. However, I thought an internal promotion was in store for someone like Dermott, especially after a solid showing in camp. Or perhaps Valiev.

My guess is that given Babcock's (questionable) obsession with handedness, the aforementioned did not have much of a chance to play with the big club.

well i hate the handedness thing too, so don't get me started.
but i think dead honest, if someone legitimately made the team out of camp with a little less politics aside (ie: entry level contracts, manipulations w/waiver wires etc), they'd make the team. we saw this.

I also feel, that we are ignoring some things like room dynamics and the fact that the Leafs right now are trying to be half pregnant. it can be irritating to no end and i'm not saying i like it all the time, but i think a part of this is is like let's bring in so and so to help support/experience (ie: Marleau) but at the same time, we still want to cultivate some things here. i figure weak or not the Leafs are still gonna have to beat 4 good teams. weak is really relative (imo). when we are good, we're better than most of them anyway.

 

[Daisy Jane]

Careful, he might say we should have gone big on Hamonic.

meh. he is having a bad year, i bet he'll be better next year

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

well i hate the handedness thing too, so don't get me started.
but i think dead honest, if someone legitimately made the team out of camp with a little less politics aside (ie: entry level contracts, manipulations w/waiver wires etc), they'd make the team. we saw this.

I also feel, that we are ignoring some things like room dynamics and the fact that the Leafs right now are trying to be half pregnant. it can be irritating to no end and i'm not saying i like it all the time, but i think a part of this is is like let's bring in so and so to help support/experience (ie: Marleau) but at the same time, we still want to cultivate some things here. i figure weak or not the Leafs are still gonna have to beat 4 good teams. weak is really relative (imo). when we are good, we're better than most of them anyway.

It took me a while to accept Matt Martin because I know that the young guys really look up to him. Hainsey and Marleau bring experience, but they are still really effective on the ice. I liked both signings.

I don't mind the intangible value of a player, but you need to be good at hockey as well lol

 

[DarkKnight]

The fact Marincin is back is a real wake up call. Every team in the league passed on him for free, he simply has critical holes in his game that aren't NHL caliber. What is instructive-instead of routinely saying what an idiot Babcock is- actually look at Carrick's play, then the fact Polak, and now Marincin, get consideration, becomes clearer. I mean it's easy to blame the coach, but Carrick can't play PK, he can't move a feather from the front of the net and he loses battles constantly on the wall. Sure he makes a nice pass, rush, here and there, but he's been absolutely god awful in our end and that's why we have AHL Marincin back in instead. The whole situation boils down to some pretty simple realities, Carrick isn't a 6th D man, nor are the other two, but here we sit. Nothing has changed, we need another D man. We have the room, the assets, Lou will get us a depth D, these guys understand what is happening.

As an aside, I'm starting to think we need a top 4 D, Gardiner is a mess a lot of the times, the maddening inconsistency on our top 4 is deadly. I'd consider moving beyond Jake at this point.

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

meh. he is having a bad year, i bet he'll be better next year

Plus, who knows how it would have played out here. His partner, TJ Brodie, is having a terrible season as well. Pretty similar to our second pair of Gardiner and Zaitsev.

 

[stickty111]

grit does have a place in the game, but you can't play someone who offers nothing besides grit. he's too useless overall.
The biggest problem with our defense is Gardiner. if he was as good as last year we could have 2 reliable defensive pairs, but he makes it so we can only trust Rielly-Hainsey. I really hope he's gone soon

Im willing to give Babcock the benefit of the doubt for now. However if say Dermott and Lilly are ready and called up, and Babcock still plays lesser players, then he should definitely be called out for his decisions.

 

[BoredBrandonPridham]

It took me a while to accept Matt Martin because I know that the young guys really look up to him. Hainsey and Marleau bring experience, but they are still really effective on the ice. I liked both signings.

I don't mind the intangible value of a player, but you need to be good at hockey as well lol

Have Colton Orr and Frazer McLaren been gone so long that we’ve forgotten what a useless enforcer looks like? Matt Martin isn’t that bad for the role he’s doing. He’s definitely not the most skilled guy out there or that we have on the Marlies, but he’s an NHL player for gods sake.

 

[Kiwi]

This one is going to be tough with Tampa as good as they, our injuries to key personel and us coming home after a tough road trip

If we're going to give ourselves a fighting chance we can't get into a hole early and we've got to show some intensity for the whole 60 minutes and stop taking stupid penalties

Gardiner needs to sort his **** out as well but we've got a chance if we compete

 

[BoredBrandonPridham]

Im willing to give Babcock the benefit of the doubt for now. However if say Dermott and Lilly are ready and called up, and Babcock still plays lesser players, then he should definitely be called out for his decisions.

To be fair, he indicated he would have brought up Dermott instead of Marincin if he wasn’t just back from injury.

 

[Ziggdiezan]

Rielly was pretty dreadful last night. Really really need him to have a big game.