William Nylander - The execution meister.

[TIGERCOOL]

Now Willy and Matthews can exchange horror stories about centering Hyman and Brown. Should be a nice bonding experience.

I thought he looked good when he had a chance to. Limited ice and poor decision making from his wingers made this a rarity, unfortunately.

He is a center and he will thrive as one sooner than later.

 

[Willchel Marlynder]

It's because Nylander and Marner have the highest ceiling, you need to motivate them the most.

So accountability goes out the door for players with lower ceilings? That's a Great way to motivate players. Punish the stars when they do bad and give passes to the lower end players when they do.

 

[White Shadow]

So accountability goes out the door for players with lower ceilings? That's a Great way to motivate players. Punish the stars when they do bad and give passes to the lower end players when they do.

I'm assuming you are neither a parent, teacher or manager. You don't motivate everyone the same way, some need honey, some need spice.

 

[ponder]

Best game he has had in a while.

He’s been playing well for awhile, he’s just not getting rewarded by Babs, and has been playing low minutes with checkers. Even tonight he played just 13:25, lowest of any Leafs forward outside the 4th line. He’s got 7 point in his last 8 games, and has been playing strong puck possession hockey, but he’s played 8.5 to 14.5 mins in 6 of those 8 games.

For comparison, over the same span Komarov’s lowest minute game is 15 mins, and he’s hitting 17-21 mins most nights. Willie is doing as much as he can in the very limited time that Babs gives him.

 

[Willchel Marlynder]

I'm assuming you are neither a parent, teacher or manager. You don't motivate everyone the same way, some need honey, some need spice.

This isnt just about motivation, it's about accountability. I'm not a parent, teacher, or manager I'm a business student at university and have done quite a few case competitions. If I messed up on three important questions and my colleague missed 6 and I was taken out of rotation over him because i'm special or have a higher ceiling, that doesnt motivate me at all. That would actually make me angry and frustrated.

I'd be mad If I'm at work and I get relegated to a lower position for underperforming, while a colleague who is also underperforming doesn't receive the same treatment. Where the problem lies with your stance is that you're treating motivation and accountability as the same thing. Marner and Nylander aren't on the 4th line to be "motivated". Matthews has 1 even strength goal in how many games now? Why isnt he being "motivated" by playing on the fourth line?

 

[White Shadow]

You hold someone accountable for their mistakes with the hopes of seeing improvement. You motivate with the hopes of seeing improvement, one is positive re-enforcement and one is negative. But, not all players are at the same path of improvement, not all are going to be here long term and not all are malleable. Would you use tough love on JVR as often as you would Marner or Nylander? Absolutely not.

Marner and Nylander got the 4th line treatments for similar reasons. 1. To get them away from the opponents first line players and 2. To limit their 5 on 5 minutes due to the unreasonable amounts of defensive lapses they were making.

Babcock uses a grading stick that encompasses much more than EV goals. He rewards hard work and smart plays and he hates mental lapses and lack of effort. Matthews is making far less mistakes than Nylander is, actually, most of the forwards are.

 

[Menzinger]

I’m all for accountability, but there’s no denying that Matthews has had some pretty bad games this season. Not to mention Hyman has had a bunch yet no change in his usage

Leo Komarov is on PACE for just 19 points this season yet routinely gets more icetime than Nylander.

There’s logic, and then there’s wonky logic.

 

[White Shadow]

I’m all for accountability, but there’s no denying that Matthews has had some pretty bad games this season. Not to mention Hyman has had a bunch yet no change in his usage

Leo Komarov is on PACE for just 19 points this season yet routinely gets more icetime than Nylander.

There’s logic, and then there’s wonky logic.

Babcock grades his players on effort and mistakes.

Hyman and Matthews rarely, if ever, take a game off and blow very few defensive assignments. When you have the lead, which has been quite a lot lately, are you not playing your best defensive players more?

 

[Nithoniniel]

The thing is that people mention accountability, but what they actually talk about is punishment. Punishing a player for playing bad, for not scoring or something like that. Accountability is about being responsible for what you do given what you can do.

Komarov is no longer offensively skilled, everybody knows that. It's not within his abilities to put up points playing on a shutdown line against top opposition anymore, so he's not going to judged on that.

Nylander (and Marner) has periods where he is puck watching, where he is passive, and where he takes shortcuts to avoid tough situations. That's all things he is very much able to do better, and should do better. Failure to do so is what causes the reaction, to instill habits where keeping aware, keeping active, and doing the grunt work when called for is second nature for him as well.

To tie it back to school, since someone brought it up. You don't blame a kid for not getting good grades in Math when he has a rough time with numbers. But if you have a brilliant mind who is getting nowhere near the grades he should because he is skipping lessons and daydreaming when he should be learning, a reaction is called for.

 

[Faltorvo]

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.

Yup, you see what is happening correctly.

Lets not create a Kessel 2.0 here , Willi wants a phat contract, well go out and earn it and play the way the coach commands.

No more inmates running the asylum here and i love it.

 

[thewave]

Yup, you see what is happening correctly.

Lets not create a Kessel 2.0 here , Willi wants a phat contract, well go out and earn it and play the way the coach commands.

No more inmates running the asylum here and i love it.

It seemed to me when Babcock took him off C (Lets face it for no legit obvious reason to the public eye) that it just ripped everything out of his legs and that was about that. It just totaled him and tbh if this continues we won't have Nylander on the team very much longer. He just will not be one of our players getting jerked around like Kadri was under Wilson and Grabovski/CMac under Carlyle.

Seen this kind of song and dance before with coaches, we are beyond the lesson and if many fans are seeing this as personal between the two, it likely is at some level even if unspoken. Good luck in ______________ Nylander. Hope that's not the case but seems it.

 

[realgoodleafs]

I’m all for accountability, but there’s no denying that Matthews has had some pretty bad games this season. Not to mention Hyman has had a bunch yet no change in his usage

Leo Komarov is on PACE for just 19 points this season yet routinely gets more icetime than Nylander.

There’s logic, and then there’s wonky logic.

Matthews and Hyman's work ethic doesn't disappear for weeks at a time. They also engage in puck battles and backcheck as hard as possible.

Matthews has also been injured and sick.

 

[thewave]

Matthews and Hyman's work ethic doesn't disappear for weeks at a time. They also engage in puck battles and backcheck as hard as possible.

Matthews has also been injured and sick.

Babcock is the one showing he is unstable here. There is no consistency in his methods when it comes to Nylander specifically. Let's just be honest here, Marner has been screwing up plays left and right all season. He just had a stretch of 3 or so pretty tight games. I don't even know what last night was. Will it be fair tonight?

 

[Muston Atthews]

Yup, you see what is happening correctly.

Lets not create a Kessel 2.0 here , Willi wants a phat contract, well go out and earn it and play the way the coach commands.

No more inmates running the asylum here and i love it.

You love offensive flair being coached out of our young offensive star? Interesting

 

[Menzinger]

Matthews and Hyman's work ethic doesn't disappear for weeks at a time. They also engage in puck battles and backcheck as hard as possible.

Matthews has also been injured and sick.

Point still stands that certain players get to take nights off with zero repercussions. Marleau was awful last night but likely won’t even get a verbal citation from Babcock because he’s a “good pro”. Komarov literally doesn’t have a single primary point all season....

There’s a clear double standard.

 

[ImpartialNHLfan]

It's time to convert Willy to C. Just put Bozak in the press box or he can share 4th line duty's with Moore. I also feel Willy and Mitch together can work real well together and wish Babcock can at least try it for a few games to get them scoring more.

JVR - Matthews- Brown
Hyman - Nylander - Marner
- Kadri -
- Moore/Bozak -

 

[Willchel Marlynder]

Giving Willy props for the point saving play he made today. Babcock might brush it off but he's a ridiculous guy. It was a great play and Willy should get the props he deserve without being vilified by the head coach and sportnest (the worst sports channel in Canada).

Babcock for Cooper anyone??

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Don't know why he was taken off centre. He played good against Tampa minus the goal that was at least 90% Polak's fault.

 

[BigWilly]

So accountability goes out the door for players with lower ceilings? That's a Great way to motivate players. Punish the stars when they do bad and give passes to the lower end players when they do.

Isn't that leadership?

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

assist of the year. Babcock's take on this one is laughable

 

[Martin Skoula]

We have a huge point cushion to work with, keep throwing Willy out at C against the Barkovs/Bergerons of the league. Play him 18 minutes in those situations, he'll either take up the challenge or go back to wing and know what he has to work on to get back there. Fastest thing that's going to teach him is getting embarrassed by world class centers.

 

[Menzinger]

Giving Willy props for the point saving play he made today. Babcock might brush it off but he's a ridiculous guy. It was a great play and Willy should get the props he deserve without being vilified by the head coach and sportnest (the worst sports channel in Canada).

Babcock for Cooper anyone??

The Babcock quote regarding this play is undeniably ridiculous. I can only hope this is just part of Babcocks Sports Psychology 101 training of Nylander

 

[LeafsNation75]

We have a huge point cushion to work with, keep throwing Willy out at C against the Barkovs/Bergerons of the league. Play him 18 minutes in those situations, he'll either take up the challenge or go back to wing and know what he has to work on to get back there. Fastest thing that's going to teach him is getting embarrassed by world class centers.

I say it might be easier for Nylander to do that if it's a home game when Babcock has the last change. Now the Leafs next home is not until March 14th against Dallas, so maybe Matthews will be back by that time and Nylander won't be at Centre full time.

 

[Martin Skoula]

I say it might be easier for Nylander to do that if it's a home game when Babcock has the last change. Now the Leafs next home is not until March 14th against Dallas, so maybe Matthews will be back by that time and Nylander won't be at Centre full time.

Realistically though, this is the season to try it out if it's ever going to happen. Next year will be the first year of seriously contending IMO (bigger deadline buys, closing out the year with safe, proven line combos) where we'll be going for home ice, no one's going to risk playing him there unless an injury forces our hand. Figuring out if Willy can be an unsheltered C should be a huge factor in how we're doing the salary cap structure going forward.

 

[LeafsNation75]

Realistically though, this is the season to try it out if it's ever going to happen. Next year will be the first year of seriously contending IMO (bigger deadline buys, closing out the year with safe, proven line combos) where we'll be going for home ice, no one's going to risk playing him there unless an injury forces our hand. Figuring out if Willy can be an unsheltered C should be a huge factor in how we're doing the salary cap structure going forward.

Let's assume the Leafs don't end up signing John Tavares and Tyler Bozak leaves for another team as a UFA, who will replace him at Centre if they don't want Nylander doing that?