Very true. I'd add ice time distribution though, and the Komarov usage is very questionable by itself.
Do you mean Komarov shouldn't be in the line-up at all? I think he is still a good choice for the 4th line - he still PKs, and as long as there's some speed elsewhere on the line I think he would be good.
In Nylander and Marner's case, their ice time has been down some games, but there are other games they start on the fourth line and end up playing 17 minutes. There's some tough love there, but it's because they are worth the effort to develop right. I do agree that the tough love phase has gone on long enough, and now it's time to just throw them back into primary roles and let them work themselves out of a funk. But it's not like Babcock hasn't been mixing up lines lately trying to give them opportunities, and Matthews being out complicates things as well. (Personally, I am confident Nylander will be back with Matthews when he's healthy, but I've been wrong before.)
Think you're really simplifying it. As Nith said, ice time distribution is big, and I'd argue that if Babcock was truly giving minutes based only on merit, none of Martin/Komarov/Polak would be playing, while Leivo/Kapanen/Carrick would be in, and Nylander wouldn't be yo-yo'd in the line up and would be a mainstay in the top 9.
I don't disagree with your line-up suggestions. I don't know why Martin is in the lineup every night (I admit I forgot about him.) I was amazed that Kapanen hadn't earned himself a spot after last year's playoff performance and his training camp this year. And if Nylander's going to drop to the fourth line, I would at least like to see him get some minutes at centre - I mean Moore probably is better at d-zone coverage for now, but Nylander can work on that given the chance, and already does lots of other things better making him the better overall choice at centre.
But we're talking about this year's delta for a team that
already has inserted tons of youth into the lineup. The version of Babcock that has been invented by this board is practically a skill-hating, vet-loving Don Cherry, which is ridiculous.
To touch your points directly:
Martin - I forgot about him in my earlier post. I don't quite understand what he accomplishes, although there's been a couple of games lately where he's started to look like an actual NHL hockey player.
Komarov - Pretty invisible most of the time, probably the one vet I would agree is still in his role based on reputation.
Polak - he has actually stayed in the lineup entirely on merit. T his guy didn't get any free pass this year - pretty clearly wasn't even really in management's plans. He might have got his training camp 10-day contract as a reward for being a good soldier, but that sure didn't get him into the lineup. He eventually got signed as a 7th D, and got into the lineup because Carrick was struggling. The number one thing people criticized him for was his icing and hand-grenading the puck. At the risk of looking stupid if he has a terrible game, count how many times the Leafs ice it in a game, and how often it's Polak icing it. He also defers to Borgman pretty often and lets him move it. In his very limited role as a sheltered third-pair dman/PK specialist, Polak is actually doing a good job. so if you want to talk about being in the lineup based on merit, I would argue that he actually does deserve to be in the lineup on merit. (And just to clarify: I'm about as Gardiner on the Gardiner-Polak spectrum as you'll find someone.)
Nylander's usage - Nylander (and Marner) have been given some tough love this year. Are there times when Bozak and JVR are more worthy of being demoted to the fourth line? For sure. But where does that leave us? With Nylander on the sheltered scoring line. Is that our long term plan for Nylander? To make him the sheltered scorer? I firmly believe the long-term plan for this team is to have nine (if not twelve) all-situation forwards that will eliminate the need to hard-line match. That means in the short term, Nylander plays nine minutes against Edmonton because the message being sent is that if he wants to play in specific situation, then he has to prove to the coach that he is the best player to play
in that situation, not because he's Nylander.
