Speculation: Dermott Ozhiganov second pair moving forward?

[Ziggdiezan]

The coaching staff playing them as the first pairing the last couple of games.

They probably undecided too. Hainsey has been that bad.

Ya the Gardiner Zaitsev pairing have seen closer to 40-35% offensive zone starts while the other pairings are in the 55-60% range.

I imagine they are the ES ice time leaders on the team too. Seems like Babcock only trust Z in the defensive zone to stop a cycle against top 6 opposition.

Dermott is doing great on the third pairing. However people need go realize he is playing sheltered third pairing usage

 

[Lauro]

They look like the 2nd pairing right now, but it's a little bit early for Oz.

I think it's time to free Zaitsev from Gardiner though, promote Dermott to the 2nd pairing.

 

[BodaciousBeefBazooka]

They've been very good so far.

Going forward they should be looked at as the second pairing. However, they need to settle in to their current roles and prove they can sustain this play forward 15-20 games. 7 games isn't a ton.

100%. I agree.

 

[Raym11]

Dermott almost always plays well. He just doesn't do anything to stick out offensively. He makes mistakes here and there but he also has the best 2nd effort on the team in that regard. The amount of times he makes solid recoveries.

If he was right handed he'd be playing with Rielly

 

[Spirit of 67]

These guy are looking really good together and getting more confident by the day.

Babcock played them 20 min tonight.

What do you think about this pair and the idea of them being our second pair next year?

Well Dermott is earmarked for 2nd pair next season. Or earlier if they move Jake.
Let's give Oz some time. Remember when Z looked this good?

 

[zeke]

Even Strength So Far

Rielly 17:39, A+ qoc, 50.7cf% (+0.6rel), 55.1xgf% (+6.7rel)
Hainsey 16:49, A+ qoc, 52.5cf% (+3.3rel), 59.4xgf% (+12.2rel)

Top pair really has been great against elite competition.

Gardiner 18:28, B+ qoc, 43.0cf% (-11.6rel), 42.1xgf% (-15.0rel)
Zaitsev 18:13, B qoc, 43.7cf% (-10.4rel), 39.5xgf% (18.3rel)

2nd pair is getting curbstomped against their secondary matchups.

Dermott 15:19, D+ qoc, 60.8cf% (+14.5rel), 62.6xgf% (+14.9rel)
Ozhiganov 14:56, D qoc, 59.9cf% (+10.5rel), 50.6xgf% (+1.5rel)

3rd pair is crushing the bottom line matchups.

If this keeps up babs is going to have to start giving the bottom pair tougher matchups.

 

[WTFMAN99]

I think the only thing that bugs me with Oz is how terrible he is on the point in the offensive zone...fumbles pucks a lot or can't get the puck close to the net when shooting it.

 

[Gallagbi]

It's accurate.

Unless you trust Hainsey at 37 years old and slower than Polak.

Speed was never Polak's issue.

 

[Zybalto]

Ya the Gardiner Zaitsev pairing have seen closer to 40-35% offensive zone starts while the other pairings are in the 55-60% range.

I imagine they are the ES ice time leaders on the team too. Seems like Babcock only trust Z in the defensive zone to stop a cycle against top 6 opposition.

Dermott is doing great on the third pairing. However people need go realize he is playing sheltered third pairing usage

Top 5v5 minutes in the entire NHL so far this year:

1: Gards: 127:19
2: Zaitsev: 126:45

Top minutes all situations:

1: Doughty 162:46
2: Karlsson 159:46
3: Zaitsev 155:04

We're through a really rough stretch of hockey for the team and the D held up fine. Gards has played through the worst of his troubles and is looking better than he did earlier in the year despite many trying to jump on him for the slightest mistake. Getting a couple of points last night is sure to boost his confidence. Zaitsev still has his detractors too of course despite his zone start usage and being the only player in the league in the top 10 for icetime for both 5v5 and PK (on a top 10 ranked PK).

I thought last night was another good example of why analytics fail to capture the game in certain ways. Hainsey and Reilly were both 25% and 27% corsi% but really didnt seem to give the Kings much in the way of dangerous chances. The team as a whole was great in that regard. The only goal the Kings got was basically a forced turnover on the Kings that took a bad hop off Matthews stick right to a sniper. The Kings are pretty much a one line team so lets check deployment against their main offensive engine:

Looking at 5v5 minutes against Kopitar last night, here was the breakdown:

Rielly/Hainsey: 9 minutes
Zaits/Gards: 5 minutes
Dermott/Oz: just over 2 minutes

The bottom 2 pairs actually had better numbers against him but the pairings play out pretty much the way you would expect them to. I'm actually liking the way the D is shaping up and we shouldnt start making hard judgments quite yet. Looking forward to see how we handle the home and home against Winnipeg.

 

[A1LeafNation]

Well Dermott is earmarked for 2nd pair next season. Or earlier if they move Jake.
Let's give Oz some time. Remember when Z looked this good?

To be fair to Z, he looked bad only when playing injured.

 

[razkaz]

I think the only thing that bugs me with Oz is how terrible he is on the point in the offensive zone...fumbles pucks a lot or can't get the puck close to the net when shooting it.

YES! Every game he throws the floater time shots on net that never get through. I think it was the Washington game where he started to actually shoot the puck with some force. I was hoping to see that this game but he reverted back to his floater shot types.
I think defense is fine right now. Would like to see:

Rielly - Zaitsev
Dermott - Hainsey
Gardiner - Ozzy

 

[Ziggdiezan]

Top 5v5 minutes in the entire NHL so far this year:

1: Gards: 127:19
2: Zaitsev: 126:45

Top minutes all situations:

1: Doughty 162:46
2: Karlsson 159:46
3: Zaitsev 155:04

We're through a really rough stretch of hockey for the team and the D held up fine. Gards has played through the worst of his troubles and is looking better than he did earlier in the year despite many trying to jump on him for the slightest mistake. Getting a couple of points last night is sure to boost his confidence. Zaitsev still has his detractors too of course despite his zone start usage and being the only player in the league in the top 10 for icetime for both 5v5 and PK (on a top 10 ranked PK).

I thought last night was another good example of why analytics fail to capture the game in certain ways. Hainsey and Reilly were both 25% and 27% corsi% but really didnt seem to give the Kings much in the way of dangerous chances. The team as a whole was great in that regard. The only goal the Kings got was basically a forced turnover on the Kings that took a bad hop off Matthews stick right to a sniper. The Kings are pretty much a one line team so lets check deployment against their main offensive engine:

Looking at 5v5 minutes against Kopitar last night, here was the breakdown:

Rielly/Hainsey: 9 minutes
Zaits/Gards: 5 minutes
Dermott/Oz: just over 2 minutes

The bottom 2 pairs actually had better numbers against him but the pairings play out pretty much the way you would expect them to. I'm actually liking the way the D is shaping up and we shouldnt start making hard judgments quite yet. Looking forward to see how we handle the home and home against Winnipeg.

Good read. I seem to remember Gardiner being in the top 5 for ES ice time last year as well.

If we let him walk that is a lot of ice time someone needs to take on... I've liked Z so far this year. Seems pretty physcial and isnt doing the thing where he blindly slings the puck around the boards only to get picked off by the other teams defenders.

Ya I feel like the kings certainly went for volume of shots. The HDSC must not have been that high, remember a lot of shots from out far or from wide positions.

Exiting times

 

[JT AM da real deal]

The best defense are the ones you never notice and never hear about. They go out and defend opposition from getting good chances night in night out. Last night I give the defense an A+.

 

[Pi]

Right now they are the second pair. Gardiner and Zaitsev are absolutely terrible at the moment.

 

[I am Canadian]

I think Dermott is too good to keep on the 3rd pair.

Which logically would mean the end on Gardiner in Toronto.

 

[67Cup]

It’s too small a sample at present to warrant promoting D and O to the second pairing. It is true that Gardiner seemed to be in a complete mental funk to start the season but he also seems to be coming out of it the last couple of games. I’m in the group that thinks Gardiner has been a high value Dman for the last few seasons, despie some spectacular brain cramps at bad moments.. That’s more significant than a few games, one way or the other.

I think Babcock is delighted at the emergence of what is starting to look like a reliable third pair. Gradually increase their responsibilities and don’t rush things would be my opinion.

 

[ironrhcp]

Dermott has legitimately been our best defender on our team. He makes great reads, and evades pressure seamlessly. He's been very good. The only qualm defensively is he can get over aggressive at times closing gaps 1/10 times.

He doesn't have Rielly or Gardiner's offensive potential, but he's also great walking the line as well.

Dermott is always out against the other teams 3rd and 4th line. People forget that. He couldn’t keep up against Boston’s 3rd/4th line in the playoffs. Got very sheltered mins and still was bad. Putting these 2 on the second pair might work, but on the 2nd pair they will be up against much better offensive lines from the opposing teams. Makes a big difference. Would you rather be on the ice against the goat or Matthews? That’s the difference between 1st and 4th liners

 

[Mr Hockey]

I think the only thing that bugs me with Oz is how terrible he is on the point in the offensive zone...fumbles pucks a lot or can't get the puck close to the net when shooting it.

I remember Zaitsev saying at the end of his first season, he had no idea what he was doing for the first 20'ish games and he speaks english well, Oz doesn't speak english... have patience he is learning

 

[Isaac Nootin]

Top 5v5 minutes in the entire NHL so far this year:

1: Gards: 127:19
2: Zaitsev: 126:45

Top minutes all situations:

1: Doughty 162:46
2: Karlsson 159:46
3: Zaitsev 155:04

We're through a really rough stretch of hockey for the team and the D held up fine. Gards has played through the worst of his troubles and is looking better than he did earlier in the year despite many trying to jump on him for the slightest mistake. Getting a couple of points last night is sure to boost his confidence. Zaitsev still has his detractors too of course despite his zone start usage and being the only player in the league in the top 10 for icetime for both 5v5 and PK (on a top 10 ranked PK).

I thought last night was another good example of why analytics fail to capture the game in certain ways. Hainsey and Reilly were both 25% and 27% corsi% but really didnt seem to give the Kings much in the way of dangerous chances. The team as a whole was great in that regard. The only goal the Kings got was basically a forced turnover on the Kings that took a bad hop off Matthews stick right to a sniper. The Kings are pretty much a one line team so lets check deployment against their main offensive engine:

Looking at 5v5 minutes against Kopitar last night, here was the breakdown:

Rielly/Hainsey: 9 minutes
Zaits/Gards: 5 minutes
Dermott/Oz: just over 2 minutes

The bottom 2 pairs actually had better numbers against him but the pairings play out pretty much the way you would expect them to. I'm actually liking the way the D is shaping up and we shouldnt start making hard judgments quite yet. Looking forward to see how we handle the home and home against Winnipeg.

Good breakdown, but its expected that Leaf players will be at the top in minutes played this early in the season. They've played more games than any team in the league so far.

 

[Mr Hockey]

Dermott is always out against the other teams 3rd and 4th line. People forget that. He couldn’t keep up against Boston’s 3rd/4th line in the playoffs. Got very sheltered mins and still was bad. Putting these 2 on the second pair might work, but on the 2nd pair they will be up against much better offensive lines from the opposing teams. Makes a big difference. Would you rather be on the ice against the goat or Matthews? That’s the difference between 1st and 4th liners

People on here dont understand QoC/zone starts/etc on here, its a lot harder to play against a Matthews or Tavares line with Rielly on the back end than it is the Goats line with Dermott on it. I tried to explain this stuff years ago on here when all these guys were posting hero charts everywhere lol, i gave up...

 

[Zybalto]

Good breakdown, but its expected that Leaf players will be at the top in minutes played this early in the season. They've played more games than any team in the league so far.

Yea, more a reflection on how much hockey they played in a short span of time at the start of the season when your legs might not be quite there yet. Their NHL rank 5v5 TOI/GP is actually in the 20s (which is still pretty high for a 2nd pairing)

 

[Sweet Leaf]

Even Strength So Far

Rielly 17:39, A+ qoc, 50.7cf% (+0.6rel), 55.1xgf% (+6.7rel)
Hainsey 16:49, A+ qoc, 52.5cf% (+3.3rel), 59.4xgf% (+12.2rel)

Top pair really has been great against elite competition.

Gardiner 18:28, B+ qoc, 43.0cf% (-11.6rel), 42.1xgf% (-15.0rel)
Zaitsev 18:13, B qoc, 43.7cf% (-10.4rel), 39.5xgf% (18.3rel)

2nd pair is getting curbstomped against their secondary matchups.

Dermott 15:19, D+ qoc, 60.8cf% (+14.5rel), 62.6xgf% (+14.9rel)
Ozhiganov 14:56, D qoc, 59.9cf% (+10.5rel), 50.6xgf% (+1.5rel)

3rd pair is crushing the bottom line matchups.

If this keeps up babs is going to have to start giving the bottom pair tougher matchups.

...or we move Dermott up to play with Zaits.

I think the staff will be reluctant to give Ozzy top 4 match ups at this point and they like NZ.

 

[Commander Clueless]

I hope so. See what they can do and re-evaluate in a few games.

Put Zaitsev with Rielly, Hainsey as PK specialist and Gardiner as the 3rd pairing surprise.

 

[ULF_55]

Leafs have 5 reasonable defenders, and then there's Hainsey and Marincin.

 

[lifelonghockeyfan]

These number of pairings is so meaningless. But Ozzy sure looks like can handle PK and even strength time....20 minutes a night would be great.
Leafs don't play Gardiner or the PK unless they are forced to, I don't know how he could be considered "top 4", thought he does play 22 minutes due to even strength and PP time.