Did we forget about Josh Leivo?

[moon111]

Has the new flavor of the week turned into Andreas Johnsson? I thought the demands were that Leivo was suppose to be our #1 LW, Hyman goes to the fourth line and Komarov gets a job sharpening skates in the KHL? Or did fans just finally give up beating a dead horse?

Click to read more...

 

[stickty111]

If we actually want to win, Komarov shouldnt be playing. Its not a surprise Kadri started playing better once Komarov got off his line. Komarov has had maybe 2 good games without Kadri as his centre.
While Kadri has been good against playoff teams with Komarov off his line.

 

[al secord]

We're on the verge of our greatest regular season in history. Josh Leivo is what's on your mind?

 

[stickty111]

Delete

 

[stickty111]

We're on the verge of our greatest regular season in history. Josh Leivo is what's on your mind?

Seems like he feels pleasure when players he doesnt like even when they are better then others dont play.

 

[Tak7]

Has Leivo been forgotten?

Yes. Hasn't cracked the lineup, and has had several Marlies come through and pass him on the depth chart.

Could it be that he's not that good?

 

[zeke]

yes, the cries for Leivo to be in the lineup are much less now that kappy is a regular and johnsson is right there too, obviously.

much different than when we had Martin-Moore in the lineup every game.

 

[PuckMagi]

I'm a big Leivo fan. I thought he looked good when he got a chance to play. He has produced relatively well given that he has mostly been given limited minutes on the 4th line.

He's certainly better than Komarov and Hyman. Hopefully there will be room for him next year without JVR and Komarov (and Martin).

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

playing Leivo over Komarov is still a good choice. Playing him over Kapanen or Johnsson isn't really a big deal though

 

[rent free]

I'm a big Leivo fan. I thought he looked good when he got a chance to play. He has produced relatively well given that he has mostly been given limited minutes on the 4th line.

He's certainly better than Komarov and Hyman. Hopefully there will be room for him next year without JVR and Komarov (and Martin).

im hoping he gets 2nd line minutes with jvr gone

 

[Boutette]

Has Leivo been forgotten?

Yes. Hasn't cracked the lineup, and has had several Marlies come through and pass him on the depth chart.

Could it be that he's not that good?

The Marlies who've played over him have played because they are PKers and are replacing PKers or Martin or need to show something that Leivo has already had the opportunity to show. The team knows what they have in Leivo. They didn't know so much in Kapanen or Johnsson, and both of them are PKers and new, so have been given the time to show their stuff. Thus far neither have shown offensive abilities that eclipse what Leivo has already shown. If Marleau or JvR or Nylander or Marner had gotten injured as opposed to Matthews and Komaraov, then he'd be more likely have been slotted in.

 

[Buds17]

He's got a contract for next season, so he'll be a Leaf unless he's traded, extent of role unknown but facing tough competition. I like Johnsson's overall skillset, so I'd place him ahead over the long haul, and though a bit younger, could be ahead now too.

There's offseason potential for some moving parts - particularly on LW - so we'll have to see who is in competition for what. Don't see all four listed in the OP comprising our regular LW depth chart though with Marleau in tow. Don't see how Hyman and Johnsson aren't in there as well unless there's a change of side.

 

[ShaneFalco]

I'm not sure Babcock will ever play him regularly

 

[Tak7]

The Marlies who've played over him have played because they are PKers and are replacing PKers or Martin or need to show something that Leivo has already had the opportunity to show. The team knows what they have in Leivo. They didn't know so much in Kapanen or Johnsson, and both of them are PKers and new, so have been given the time to show their stuff. Thus far neither have shown offensive abilities that eclipse what Leivo has already shown. If Marleau or JvR or Nylander or Marner had gotten injured as opposed to Matthews and Komaraov, then he'd be more likely have been slotted in.

Kapanen hasn't shown offensive abilities that eclipse what Leivo has already shown?

Lol. Stop.

Leivo isn't that good. He's been passed by many Marlies who are better players.

 

[ACC1224]

Forgotten long ago....nothing memorable there.

 

[Leafidelity]

He's just not that good

 

[Rare Jewel]

Well it seems pretty obvious that Babs likes Johnsson more - so that puts Hyman, Marleau and Johnsson ahead of him right now on LW going into next season. RW even if Willy moves to center the best he can could do is the 4th line if everyone is healthy.

They should probably just move him on. Get a 3rd if you can - it'll make losing the 2nd for Plekanec a bit better.

 

[Liminality]

He was fighting with Kap for the spot and now he's fighting both Johnsson and Kap. He's the 3rd best out of those guys imo.

If Leivo does stay around for next year maybe he'll get a chance on the 3rd or 4th line?

Hyman-Matthews-Kapanen
Marleau-Kadri-Marner
Johnsson-Nylander-Brown
Leivo-_____-Martin?

 

[member 147413]

Johnsson and Kapanen have outworked him.

Martin and Komarov are more versatile than him.

 

[Menzinger]

I think folks are being a bit harsh on Leivo.

On less deep teams he’d easily slid into a top 9 scoring role, but he’s having a harder time with the Leafs due to the large amount of skilled young competition.

I wonder what management will do with him, since they seemed to shut down any trade rumours earlier on.

 

[ShaneFalco]

Johnsson and Kapanen have outworked him.

Martin and Komarov are more versatile than him.

Martin is more versatile?

Makes you wonder if they had played some guys earlier if the trade deadline would have looked a bit different

 

[Boutette]

The team doesn't have anyone to replace JvRs size whose ready to step in. Now, I'm excited at how well Engvall has been playing for the Marlies, and guys like Korshkov and Marchment are in the pipeline, but right now the leafs have no one to slot in that niche. They might pick up a UFA like they did last year with Marleau (Kovachuk appears to be many's wet dream). If so he's never going to get the chance to prove himself here, but if the leafs has a ready replacement then that doesn't really matter. I'll just as happily accept one of these others I've mentioned if they either continue their impressive development or live up to their billing without screwing up what the team is building towards.

 

[I am Canadian]

I'm still a little bitter that he never got a shot. He really should have spent the summer learning how to PK. Babcock wasn't going to play him in the lineup over a role player/pker

 

[Martin Skoula]

I mean we've known he wasn't going to get in the lineup unless JVR got injured from day 1, he doesn't PK like we need from our bottom-6. Johnsson and Kapanen didn't pass him on skill, they passed him on versatility.

 

[htpwn]

I see him as I always did: I think he'd be effective as a depth scoring winger for most teams in the NHL. He just got squeezed by both (A) a numbers game, and (B) a coach who doesn't like his style of play/prefers the higher energy game of Kapanen and Johnsson.

I'd guess why many (not all) fans are so negative on him now is that they set the bar too high throughout the first half of the season and are disappointed that he was never the player they imagined he would be.