Babcock III (not starting on time)

[zeke]

Can you cite a defensive player that was underplayed?
Here is the list

		TOI	CF%
Morgan Rielly	D	24:37:00	41.3
Ron Hainsey	D	23:40	36.36
Jake Muzzin	D	22:00	70.73
Nikita Zaitsev	D	16:58	74.29
Justin Holl	D	13:34	44.44
Igor Ozhiganov	D	13:07	42.86

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Rielly, Muzzin.

both of whom should be up over 25mpg with our current injury situation.

 

[zeke]

Was dropping Muzzin to the second pairing a reactive move to Jake ailing at the time though?

Rielly/Muzzin may have been and still may be the plan but was derailed by Gards injury?

i dunno. he made the change long before the injury.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Muzzin-Rielly: 55.8cf%, 54.5scf%
Rielly-Hainsey: 49.8cf%, 50.3scf%

They are both left D

 

[ACC1224]

Was dropping Muzzin to the second pairing a reactive move to Jake ailing at the time though?

Rielly/Muzzin may have been and still may be the plan but was derailed by Gards injury?

I think they try and keep Muzzin off of the right side.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

They are both left D

so?

 

[Zybalto]

i dunno. he made the change long before the injury.

Just the fact they were so successful together and then it came to light that Jake had been dealing with back spasm here and there for a while until they realized it was more serious than was previously thought.

Im sure we dont know half the story on this.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

so?

NEITHER want to play Right D.
Rielly gets what he wants and I dont think Muzzin feels he can play Right D.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

@zeke - are there any stats that show how Left shot D play on the right ?
I know on average Right D make more money with worse overall stats than Left D.

 

[rumman]

Its Babcock who instructs the players to make the stretch pass & dump and chase vs carrying the puck/forcing the other team to chase & recover the puck from the leafs.

I also think his use of the stretch pass is ineffective, however whenever I see a "elite zone entry" the player simply stops curls and usually gives the puck away so the "forcing the other team to chase and recover" doesn't seem to be working either. Whatever's going on, it has to change.

 

[Notsince67]

Rielly, Muzzin.

both of whom should be up over 25mpg with our current injury situation.

Yet Rielly had the second worse possession stats on the team last game.

 

[Bomber0104]

so?

Maybe, just maybe, professional coaches like Sutter and Babcock understand something that CantLoseWithMatthews (of hfboards fame) doesn't and that handedness matters as a defenceman?

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Maybe, just maybe, professional coaches like Sutter and Babcock understand something that CantLoseWithMatthews (of hfboards fame) doesn't and that handedness matters as a defenceman?

Do you want to hear something amazing about the Rielly and Hainsey pairing?

 

[Whaleafs]

Muzzin is not a puck carrying/first break out pass defenceman and only does so now because the alternative is Zaitsev. It’s not ideal but the best way to use him is to have him with Rielly as the stay at home to get the puck first on the defensive zone dump ins, take the hit if need be and just get it to Rielly. The ripple down effect that pushed Hainsey down the line-up from this was the best option. Not that it’s relevant now with the injuries, or that Babcock wouldn’t run Hainsey into the ground again anyway.

 

[rumman]

I think they try and keep Muzzin off of the right side.

why was a LHD the target when a RHD is what this team really needed/needs???????

 

[Peasy]

@zeke - are there any stats that show how Left shot D play on the right ?
I know on average Right D make more money with worse overall stats than Left D.

There was an Athletic article that looked at this. To lazy to find it though, it was a few months ago. The results is that they perform fairly similar.

 

[Bomber0104]

why was a LHD the target when a RHD is what this team really needed/needs???????

Probably because the almighty spreadsheet told Dubas to do it.

 

[Bomber0104]

There was an Athletic article that looked at this. To lazy to find it though, it was a few months ago. The results is that they perform fairly similar.

Except each individual defenceman is unique, and just because some dweeb averaged out some numbers doesn't mean a defenceman is magically good or comfortable with playing his off-side..

"Muzzin, we're playing you on your off-side...because the Athletic says it doesn't matter."

 

[CDN24]

@zeke - are there any stats that show how Left shot D play on the right ?
I know on average Right D make more money with worse overall stats than Left D.

The issue is generally there are more LD than Right D. For this reason you get some left shooting D who learn to play the right side by necessity. Much rarer to find a right shot D who plays on the left.

 

[Zybalto]

and you guys wonder why Zaitsev is so interesting to me.......

Another monster game for him analytically.

Had the lowest OZF% of any dman on either team but dominated all the analytics last night, mostly spent shutting down the Nashville's top lines. No mention of him on twitter from the media, no praise around here.

Since October 17th, his stats are now:

CF% 50.25
SCF% 52.62
HDCF% 54.35

all while being arguably.....no wait, its now probably the least sheltered #4 in the league in terms of QoC and zone starts.

Call me crazy if you want but his numbers are starting to point to a player earning that salary everyone decries.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Much rarer to find a right shot D who plays on the left.

Are you aware of any ?

 

[Notsince67]

What was the issue with last night?
I thought they played very well defensively and had a chance to win.

One of the few sane posts that I have read on this thread. Well done.

 

[rumman]

Probably because the almighty spreadsheet told Dubas to do it.

most likely............

 

[CDN24]

Are you aware of any ?

Not offhand, I remember reading about it during the world juniors as Josh brook who shoots right was playing on the left side. Apparently he played quite a bit on the left in jr this year. Disclaimer- I am a hated habs fan. As a hated habs fan, I was interested in a Habs prospect who can play LD as we have the opposite problem of you guys. Our RD is okay with weber and petry but we have table scraps playing on the left side.

 

[ACC1224]

why was a LHD the target when a RHD is what this team really needed/needs???????

I'm not down on the Muzzin pickup, Dubas' best move.
Not adding additional defensive depth is one of his failures.

 

[ToMaLe]

All of the Leafs were driving in their own cars on this back highway to a sunday barbeque. Suddenly there was a big traffic jam, nothing was moving!

Finally a man knocks on Hyman’s window who was driving the car that was last in line, the 23rd car.

Hyman rolls down his window and asks the man “ what is going on?”

The man said terrorists have kidnapped Mike Babcock and they said if we dont give them 100 million dollars, they will douse him in gasoline and light him on fire. So we are going car to car asking for donations.

Hyman asks, well how much are all the other players donating on average?

The man said “ roughly a gallon “.