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News Article: Babcock: Matthews “should be right around the 19 minute mark”

Suntouchable13

Suntouchable13

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Dec 20, 2003
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I think that's fine, but in big games a coach should load up the minutes of his top guys. I don't care if he plays 18 minutes in a game in mid Feb. I care if he plays a lot in a big playoff game in April/May/June. Your horses have to play lots of minutes in big games. Depth gets you through an 82 game schedule, your stars win you the cup. If your stars play like 18-19 minutes in a game 7, the same as they would in some game in the middle of the season, that doesn't make any sense.
 
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justafan22

justafan22

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Jun 22, 2014
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Suntouchable13 said:
I think that's fine, but in big games a coach should load up the minutes of his top guys. I don't care if he plays 18 minutes in a game in mid Feb. I care if he plays a lot in a big playoff game in April/May/June. Your horses have to play lots of minutes in big games. Depth gets you through an 82 game schedule, your stars win you the cup. If your stars play like 18-19 minutes in a game 7, the same as they would in some game in the middle of the season, that doesn't make any sense.
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People don't realize that in game 7, there were no other great options than Marleau due to Kadri's suspension.
 
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MyBudJT

MyBudJT

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I think people are forgetting that hockey players are human, and 20 minutes a night for forwards in such a highly competitive hockey puts a LOT of wear and tear on the body. 19 minutes is about where they should be at, with 20-21 minutes in the playoffs.
 
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Suntouchable13

Suntouchable13

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Toronto, ON
justafan22 said:
People don't realize that in game 7, there were no other great options than Marleau due to Kadri's suspension.
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Ok, so load up on your stars then. It's obvious that Marleau doesn't have it anymore. You have young stars in their early 20s that are hungry to win, why are you playing a 40 year old Marleau so much? What is he going to do? What is he trying to teach them in a game 7?
 
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Superstar

Superstar

"Be water, my friend."
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MyBudJT said:
I think people are forgetting that hockey players are human, and 20 minutes a night for forwards in such a highly competitive hockey puts a LOT of wear and tear on the body. 19 minutes is about where they should be at, with 20-21 minutes in the playoffs.
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The game is much faster now and played at a very high tempo...lactic acid builds up quicker, then your muscles have to shed it before the next game.
 
Melo Meds

Melo Meds

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Muston Atthews said:
We better hope Spezza isn’t completely washed up because he’ll probably be taking those minutes.

(It’s still so weird that Spezza is a leafs)
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I just hope he's referring to limiting those minutes in the regular season and using his best horses in the playoffs so I'm going to keep my fingers and toes crossed for now.
 
Superstar

Superstar

"Be water, my friend."
Jun 25, 2008
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Guy Boucher said:
This is the real win of the offseason.
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:sarcasm:

upload_2019-8-6_19-9-43.jpeg
 
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justafan22

justafan22

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Jun 22, 2014
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Suntouchable13 said:
Ok, so load up on your stars then. It's obvious that Marleau doesn't have it anymore. You have young stars in their early 20s that are hungry to win, why are you playing a 40 year old Marleau so much? What is he going to do? What is he trying to teach them in a game 7?
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Who else was going to play? Matthews/Tavares can't play 25 minutes.

Ennis? Gauthier?
 
justafan22

justafan22

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From April on pensionplanpuppets

I’m upset. So, instead of just nodding along at this PLAY MATTHEWS! stuff, let’s look at that.
Gauthier got out there for three shifts. I don’t remember them all, but faceoffs likely played a role. Ennis and to a lesser extent Moore played with some other centre for a hell of a lot of minutes, relative to their average over the series.
Nylander and Matthews played about the same number of shifts, and I know Nylander played a lot of wing, so some of that was together, and it had to be, because look at Kapanen. And Kapanen, frankly, sucked in this game, so fair enough.
Marleau played barely any more than the fourth liners/Kapanen. So to review, we have FOUR wingers playing a very few shifts. That means one line played a hell of a lot, which was Tavares, and is that odd? Isn’t that what everyone is screaming for? But that only leaves one other group, not two lines, one with Matthews and one with Nylander. And you do have to roll your lines out in short shifts to keep up the pace.
I guess if you decide it’s bad in advance, therefore whatever is there is bad. Therefore Matthews should have played more. But is Matthews effective against the Bruins "defend and do nothing else players?" Or is Tavares? Or do you throw out the Scrappy Doo line who got near the net a lot, but maybe don’t inspire such vigorous defence? Do you hope they get lucky, since Matthews hasn’t been getting there at all?
Whatever worked was right, and what didn’t was wrong, and knowing in advance is the mark of a good plan.
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Mr Hockey

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May 11, 2017
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I'm pretty sure Babcock is unsure of his lines at this point and time and he is just giving a safe answer, but haters gotta hate no matter what :laugh:
 
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