William Nylander - The execution meister.

[ObscureAlien]

needs to go in next shootout, but until that shot last night I don't think he has been that great in the shootouts. I can see why babcock was reluctant to use him but after last night he needs to be in first 3 shooters next shootout.

He hasn't really had many nhl shootout opportunities. 1 this year, 2 last year, 2 the year before. 1st time he scored on one though

 

[HamiltonNHL]

How long will the Leafs keep misusing Nylander? How long will the Leafs keep misusing Nylander?

Willie fanboys will like this.

 

[Walshy7]

Nylander is catching a lot of Flak from Babcock because of the same reason Leivo doesn't get more ICE. If you really focus on Nylander without the puck you quickly notice long stretches where he has piss poor body language. He will look lazy like he isn't holding his stick or ready to engage. I think Babcock is big on body language and the guys that look engaged (and probably are) become his favs. Even if that means just being in an aggressive stance when you don't have the puck.

I think Nylander could improve the coaches opinion of him by way of, acting pretty much. Though, there is also good reason to keep your stick on the ice and be ready to strike. If you look in position to shoot the puck, you actually are.

The coach needs a player to act now? Wow maybe Babcock is more simple than I though he was. There is a room full of stats guy who can show him why nylander is better up he lineup and gives us a better chance to win. But all nylander has to do is act, nylander always has the same body language whether he scores a hat trick or is -3 on the night. At this point the only reasoning is babcock personally doesn’t like him which is terrible for a grown man period but even worse when he is coaching a sports team

 

[Walshy7]

How long will the Leafs keep misusing Nylander? How long will the Leafs keep misusing Nylander?

Willie fanboys will like this.

Willie fanboys? You mean leaf fans who want the best possible lineup for the leafs to win?.

Currently babcocks decision making is being bailed out by a goalie putting up .950sv% over last 10~ games, if you think Andersen can sustain that not sure what to tell you

 

[Sam Spade]

Very confused by what is happening to Nylander right now. Whatever the reasoning for his lack of playing it really is affecting two players now.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

babcocks decision making is being bailed out by a goalie putting up .950sv%

Babcock decision making limiting quality chances.

With this record, with this defense, it's hard to criticize Babcock.

I trust Babcock to create a team and to teach the younger players what they need to do contribute to the team.

If that includes sitting Nylander in the third period. Excellent.

 

[Nithoniniel]

Very confused by what is happening to Nylander right now. Whatever the reasoning for his lack of playing it really is affecting two players now.

Against the Pens he flat out barely bothered to show up. That's on him, and him only. But last game? Nylander was our best player, and:
* Was stuck on the fourth line for half the game regardless.
* Went up to Matthews, and was demoted because of something completely unrelated to him or his position.
* Went down to Kadri and Marleau for two shifts, the best two shifts that line had that game, before being demoted again.
* Sat rest of the game.
* Sat almost all of OT, despite being our best forward on the night who is particularly dangerous at OT.
* Got praised by Babcock for being our best player in the game.

None of it makes sense. I'm all for using ice time and opportunity to teach young players, but what lessons are Nylander to draw from this?

 

[Walshy7]

Against the Pens he flat out barely bothered to show up. That's on him, and him only. But last game? Nylander was our best player, and:
* Was stuck on the fourth line for half the game regardless.
* Went up to Matthews, and was demoted because of something completely unrelated to him or his position.
* Went down to Kadri and Marleau for two shifts, the best two shifts that line had that game, before being demoted again.
* Sat rest of the game.
* Sat almost all of OT, despite being our best forward on the night who is particularly dangerous at OT.
* Got praised by Babcock for being our best player in the game.

None of it makes sense. I'm all for using ice time and opportunity to teach young players, but what lessons are Nylander to draw from this?

Learn how to turn Martin and Moore into 1st line players. That’s his lesson. Last night not sure what more he could have done they had 3 or 4 offensive zone dominating shifts a few of which nylander made passes that actual skill players could have turned into a scoring opportunity.

The most important thing is Matthews is struggling and brown and Hyman have been invisible. The have been ok defensible but hemmed in many times last night. That’s something that never gets attributed to nylander in terms of defensive play, he can get the puck and get it out of the zone something brown and Hyman can not do

 

[thewave]

The coach needs a player to act now? Wow maybe Babcock is more simple than I though he was. There is a room full of stats guy who can show him why nylander is better up he lineup and gives us a better chance to win. But all nylander has to do is act, nylander always has the same body language whether he scores a hat trick or is -3 on the night. At this point the only reasoning is babcock personally doesn’t like him which is terrible for a grown man period but even worse when he is coaching a sports team

You judge people on body language every day. If someone looks like they are sluggish or slouching... They probably are and opinions will be formed. Acting like you are engaged is not a bad idea because, even if acting, you are in proper body position to engage on the play.

Deceptiveness is the highest order of intelligence. Fake it until you make it etc. Marner does not mope around the ice, he cant make passes when slumping but still does the same stuff.

Nylander doesn't try and outskate teams now, he does not deceive players with varying his speed lately. His game is good but looks watered down.

 

[Walshy7]

You judge people on body language every day. If someone looks like they are sluggish or slouching... They probably are and opinions will be formed. Acting like you are engaged is not a bad idea because, even if acting, you are in proper body position to engage on the play.

Deceptiveness is the highest order of intelligence. Fake it until you make it etc. Marner does not mope around the ice, he cant make passes when slumping but still does the same stuff.

Nylander doesn't try and outskate teams now, he does not deceive players with varying his speed lately. His game is good but looks watered down.

Eh I think you are reading far too much into a situation you just made up completely. Nylander has done nothing wrong and should of been promoted over a week ago, body language or my he was our best player for 2 weeks straight now you can feel his confidence shrink again due to babcocks usage

 

[Nithoniniel]

If Babcock is benching a player based on sub-optimal body language, he deserves every bit of criticism he gets around here. That's flat out absurd.

 

[Walshy7]

If Babcock is benching a player based on sub-optimal body language, he deserves every bit of criticism he gets around here. That's flat out absurd.

Yep a player who up until recently was easily our best forward and maybe even skater (Andersen been best leaf for a while now) but Babcock kept in on the 4th line because body language

 

[thewave]

If Babcock is benching a player based on sub-optimal body language, he deserves every bit of criticism he gets around here. That's flat out absurd.

The thing is I don't see the same Nylander you see. You have been praising him and I see a player that is 70% of what he can be. He is a scorer that does not score. He is a winger that stops moving his feet and does not look engaged when he doesn't have the puck. He only looks interested with the puck. That's why he is on the 4th line.

If he looked more engaged fighting for the puck and less with it, he would be on the top line.

Babcock the hockey zen master explains it. "tell me why when you put a ball on the floor one kid always has it... He wants it more, simple as that".

 

[Nithoniniel]

The thing is I don't see the same Nylander you see. You have been praising him and I see a player that is 70% of what he can be. He is a scorer that does not score. He is a winger that stops moving his feet and does not look engaged when he doesn't have the puck. He only looks interested with the puck. That's why he is on the 4th line.

If he looked more engaged fighting for the puck and less with it, he would be on the top line.

Babcock the hockey zen master explains it. "tell me why when you put a ball on the floor one kid always has it... He wants it more, simple as that".

Sure. None of that is about body language.

 

[Walshy7]

The thing is I don't see the same Nylander you see. You have been praising him and I see a player that is 70% of what he can be. He is a scorer that does not score. He is a winger that stops moving his feet and does not look engaged when he doesn't have the puck. He only looks interested with the puck. That's why he is on the 4th line.

If he looked more engaged fighting for the puck and less with it, he would be on the top line.

Babcock the hockey zen master explains it. "tell me why when you put a ball on the floor one kid always has it... He wants it more, simple as that".

unbeliveable he cant score with a player who has a career high 19 points hes a bust. Moores best season in the last 10 years is 31 points. How dare a scorer not score.

you basically want him to reinvent the careers of Moore and martin

 

[Sam Spade]

I understand these guys are professional athletes and not delicate flowers but they are also young men and confidence is everything for them, everything.

This is such a critical time in Nylander's development and I guess Leaf fans have to trust the coaching staff know what they are doing.

I am not a Leaf fan but I really like Nylander and have been following his career for a long time. Hope he gets it figured out.

 

[thewave]

unbeliveable he cant score with a player who has a career high 19 points hes a bust. Moores best season in the last 10 years is 31 points. How dare a scorer not score.

you basically want him to reinvent the careers of Moore and martin

He wasn't scoring with Matthews or Kadri either.

 

[thewave]

Sure. None of that is about body language.

It absolutely is, he looks like he is not engaged in plays without the puck. He looks lazy and that's all on his body language. Look at Marner when he doesn't have the puck, he is scanning and ready to engage 100%. Maybe that's just optics or maybe it's reality.

Nylander needs to to be aggressive like Marner even if he makes errors because he is in a funk. He needs to work like Hyman or he will never get a line to call his own. Babcock C's work with and without the puck and if they don't, they aren't Babcock's players regardless of skill. We have a work ethic based coach Nithoniniel.

You have heard Babcocks philosophy a thousand times.. Play the right way, Start on time, Work hard and you will get rewarded win or lose. He believes that sometimes life doesn't go your way and you can play right but have poor results, but, if you keep playing right you end up winning regardless because that's just how it works.

 

[Menzinger]

Against the Pens he flat out barely bothered to show up. That's on him, and him only. But last game? Nylander was our best player, and:
* Was stuck on the fourth line for half the game regardless.
* Went up to Matthews, and was demoted because of something completely unrelated to him or his position.
* Went down to Kadri and Marleau for two shifts, the best two shifts that line had that game, before being demoted again.
* Sat rest of the game.
* Sat almost all of OT, despite being our best forward on the night who is particularly dangerous at OT.
* Got praised by Babcock for being our best player in the game.

None of it makes sense. I'm all for using ice time and opportunity to teach young players, but what lessons are Nylander to draw from this?

What gets me, is that if he did this with other players when they played poorly (ie Hyman hasn’t looked great for several games this year) it would be fine, but he doesn’t.

I just don’t understand.

 

[Menzinger]

unbeliveable he cant score with a player who has a career high 19 points hes a bust. Moores best season in the last 10 years is 31 points. How dare a scorer not score.

you basically want him to reinvent the careers of Moore and martin

It’s just strange...

It was confusing when he put Marner down there and it’s confusing with Nylander. That’s not a line/environment to help a young struggling player, it’s tying a couple of cinder blocks to his skates

 

[Walshy7]

It’s just strange...

It was confusing when he put Marner down there and it’s confusing with Nylander. That’s not a line/environment to help a young struggling player, it’s tying a couple of cinder blocks to his skates

yeah but even then he and marner made those cinder blocks look like marble blocks, but where as marner got rewarded nylander hasnt been

 

[Nithoniniel]

It absolutely is, he looks like he is not engaged in plays without the puck.

And that he is not engaged in plays without the puck is the problem. It wouldn't stop being a problem just because he looks like he wants to chew up the puck and spit it out.

Play the right way, Start on time, Work hard and you will get rewarded win or lose. He believes that sometimes life doesn't go your way and you can play right but have poor results, but, if you keep playing right you end up winning regardless because that's just how it works.

Yes, and all of those things have to do with what you need to do, not how you look while doing/not doing it.

Working hard is not body language. That's action.

 

[DarkKnight]

You judge people on body language every day. If someone looks like they are sluggish or slouching... They probably are and opinions will be formed. Acting like you are engaged is not a bad idea because, even if acting, you are in proper body position to engage on the play.

Deceptiveness is the highest order of intelligence. Fake it until you make it etc. Marner does not mope around the ice, he cant make passes when slumping but still does the same stuff.

Nylander doesn't try and outskate teams now, he does not deceive players with varying his speed lately. His game is good but looks watered down.

Man, what a load of gibberish.

 

[thewave]

Man, what a load of gibberish.

The Importance of Body Language in Hockey - BuiltforHockey.com
How coaches evaluate body language during a game

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01402398208437104 -
[URL='http://www.tandfonline.com/author/Handel%2C+Michael+I'] Michael I. Handel
Intelligence and deception
Pages 122-154 | Published online: 24 Jan 2008[/URL]

 

[thewave]

And that he is not engaged in plays without the puck is the problem. It wouldn't stop being a problem just because he looks like he wants to chew up the puck and spit it out.


Yes, and all of those things have to do with what you need to do, not how you look while doing/not doing it.

Working hard is not body language. That's action.

When things are not going well, you need to look the part because it shows you are trying and not defeated. Eventually you find your way back to success. Marner is actually a great example of how to play terrible but play the way he does and look like himself. He looked like a version of himself that could not execute but he was himself after Babcock tossed him on the 4th. A great lesson. Nylander is going in and out of phases of looking like himself or engaged and it shows. I believe Babcock reads these cues as the game goes on and the usage reflects what he sees.