News Article: Do these Toronto Maple Leafs look familiar? That’s because little has changed

[varano]

The bottom 6 of the leafs is completely different.

The Defense is restructured.

I dont understand how many moves people want the leafs to make
in a salary cap world

 

[ShaneFalco]

This.
Please.
PLEASE.
No accelerated rebuilds.
No overpaying people like Phaneuf, Clarkson, etc.

It has to stop.

Thankfully the Leafs didn't make any major acquisition mistakes this off season.

One more Clarkson and Nonis is out of a job.

Could have been Bolland. But luckily Florida took him

But anyway, should be a different looking team with a new approach. I just don't get why RC was kept around

 

[Mess]

The bottom 6 of the leafs is completely different.

The Defense is restructured.

I dont understand how many moves people want the leafs to make
in a salary cap world

I think Leaf Nation in general was looking for quality in the moves rather than quantity.

Minor moves tinkering with the fringe/depth players is something you would expect a cup competitive team to make to fine tune their chances of success. A team that generally finishes near the bottom of the league is one viewed as one that needs real help.

 

[ACC1224]

I think Leaf Nation in general was looking for quality in the moves rather than quantity.

Minor moves tinkering with the fringe/depth players is something you would expect a cup competitive team to make to fine tune their chances of success. A team that generally finishes near the bottom of the league is one viewed as one that needs real help.

Perhaps strengthening the weak links is the 1st step.

 

[Paladin2799]

I think Leaf Nation in general was looking for quality in the moves rather than quantity.

Minor moves tinkering with the fringe/depth players is something you would expect a cup competitive team to make to fine tune their chances of success. A team that generally finishes near the bottom of the league is one viewed as one that needs real help.

While I agree with you, I think the reason we failed is IMHO what we fixed.

Our top6 was fine, our goaltending was fine, and we had decent youth on our defense.

What we needed was real grit and defense out of our bottom 6, and more stability and defense out of our defensemen. IMHO the move of gunnar for polak is going to pay off quite well, and the moves weve made in our bottom 6 will change the dynamic of the team.

 

[Mess]

While I agree with you, I think the reason we failed is IMHO what we fixed.

Our top6 was fine, our goaltending was fine, and we had decent youth on our defense.

What we needed was real grit and defense out of our bottom 6, and more stability and defense out of our defensemen. IMHO the move of gunnar for polak is going to pay off quite well, and the moves weve made in our bottom 6 will change the dynamic of the team.

We should be less skilled but be more blue collar hard working team. Hopefully that has the desired effects that management was going for.

However the departing players Kulemin, Bolland, McClement and Gunnarsson were also known for being hard working and defense oriented.

 

[Daisy Jane]

Someone posted this on twitter:

to me it looks a good chunk changed.

 

[egd27]

I think Leaf Nation in general was looking for quality in the moves rather than quantity.

Minor moves tinkering with the fringe/depth players is something you would expect a cup competitive team to make to fine tune their chances of success. A team that generally finishes near the bottom of the league is one viewed as one that needs real help.

I wouldn't expect a cup competitive team to replace +/- 30% of it's roster.

 

[Mess]

Perhaps strengthening the weak links is the 1st step.

The Leafs problem was a high goals against and weak team defense.

The Leafs top two lines are the weak ones as ~75% of the teams goals against come when they're on the ice.

Therefore the team didn't strengthen the weak ones by the off-season moves. What they did do was hope to play the bottom 2 lines more now in an effort to keep the 2 weakest defensive lines off the ice more. If the top 2 lines are not on the ice they can't be scored on as often.

Its an addition by subtraction belief by reducing the ice time of the top offensive players in an effort to increase team defense.

 

[Rielly4Captain]

The Leafs problem was a high goals against and weak team defense.

The Leafs top two lines are the weak ones as ~75% of the teams goals against come when they're on the ice.

Therefore the team didn't strengthen the weak ones by the off-season moves. What they did do was hope to play the bottom 2 lines more now in an effort to keep the 2 weakest defensive lines off the ice more. If the top 2 lines are not on the ice they can't be scored on as often.

Its an addition by subtraction belief by reducing the ice time of the top offensive players in an effort to increase team defense.

I would say, now that lines 3/4 can play more, lines 1/2 will be less tired. Less icetime with more energy doesn't mean less goal production... from personal experience, i score more goals when we have more lines because i'm less tired. I would argue the same could be had for the pros.

 

[ACC1224]

I would say, now that lines 3/4 can play more, lines 1/2 will be less tired. Less icetime with more energy doesn't mean less goal production... from personal experience, i score more goals when we have more lines because i'm less tired. I would argue the same could be had for the pros.

This is the reasonable view of it and why they have attempted the strengthen the weak links.

Robidas and Polak will help as well.

 

[SprDaVE]

The bottom 6 of the leafs is completely different.

The Defense is restructured.

I dont understand how many moves people want the leafs to make
in a salary cap world

Most of the key players though are still around, which makes it seem like it hasn't changed, especially from the point of view of a casual fan or even a rival fan. Same head coach, same GM as well.

I'm not sure the defense is restructured much though. We basically only added Robidas, who should help a bit. Swapping Gunnarsson with Polak isn't going to be that much different. The growth of Rielly and Gardiner will be very important for our defense to not look like Pejorative Slured again. The restructuring needs to happen at the coaching level.

Hopefully the mentality and structure of the team makes a difference. Rolling 4 lines with purpose should make a world of a difference. Assistant coaches that can hopefully slap Carlyle upside the head for playing a player like McClement over 15 minutes game would be welcome.

No idea which Maple Leaf team will see this season. It does make it a bit exciting to tell you the truth.

 

[Kubus]

The fact that posters lump Phaneuf with Clarkson, makes me sad but makes me laugh at the same time.

It makes me scared. Some of those people must live close to me.

 

[Mess]

Hopefully the mentality and structure of the team makes a difference. Rolling 4 lines with purpose should make a world of a difference. Assistant coaches that can hopefully slap Carlyle upside the head for playing a player like McClement over 15 minutes game would be welcome..

The reason that Carlyle played McClement as often as he did was because he was Leafs best face-off man and winning the draw is mission critical to gaining possession in both the offensive and defensive zones. He was also Leafs top PK player playing more TOI/g than all NHL forwards in a shorthanded position. Leafs weakness at center is well known and well documented.

2013-14 F0%

Jay McClement ... TOR - 676W .. 584L .. 1260 Total = 53.6%
Tyler Bozak .......... TOR - 681W .. 718L ... 1399 Total = 48.7%
Peter Holland ....... TOR - 170W .. 194L ..... 364 Total = 46.7 %
Nazem Kadri ........ TOR - 510W .. 617L .... 1127 Total = 45.2 %

Leafs plan on playing the 3rd and 4th lines more now in the future increasing the ice time of the depth players.

 

[Pholus]

Someone posted this on twitter:

to me it looks a good chunk changed.

Interesting that we basically paid half as much to replace those players as they are going to be paid next season.

 

[Mess]

I would say, now that lines 3/4 can play more, lines 1/2 will be less tired. Less icetime with more energy doesn't mean less goal production... from personal experience, i score more goals when we have more lines because i'm less tired. I would argue the same could be had for the pros.

Your talking goals for and I'm talking goals against benefit by playing the weakest players less and the stronger defensive players more.

Offense isn't the teams weakness, but rather team defense is.

 

[FlareKnight]

In the end comes down to how it all looks on the ice. On the surface plenty has changed, lot of bodies moved around.

Of course at the same time the core remains the same and the coach remains the same. Thus plenty of potential to be able to say not much has really changed.

Will see how it goes.

 

[Joey Hoser]

Yeah I can't even remember the last time we needed offensive improvement. Even when Stajan and Ponikarovsky were leading the way on the first line, we still scored enough by committee.

 

[Mess]

Yeah I can't even remember the last time we needed offensive improvement. Even when Stajan and Ponikarovsky were leading the way on the first line, we still scored enough by committee.

In fact the 2008-09 (Fletcher clearing the slate team) scored 250 goals by committee and that was the team post Sundin and pre Kessel that recorded that total without a star player on it.

The last year of Sundin (2007-08) the Leafs scored 231 GF and last season (2013-14) the Leafs scored 231.

Offense is not a Leaf weakness but a strength, the team however struggles yearly to keep the puck out of the net. The changes made were intended to improve team defense and its expected to be done by playing lines 3 and 4 more and 1 and 2 less.

 

[Morbo]

Umm...we were 14th in goals per game last year. To suggest the team doesn't need offensive improvement would be incorrect.

And the idea behind playing the top 2 lines less is to keep them fresher, especially Kessel's line. they were gassed post-Olympics from Randy having to overplay them because nobody else could score.

 

[Deebo]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=457687

That sounds like a trade being worked on.

It sounded more like Shanahan was just dodging the question.

 

[cack]

There is a completely new bottom six and half of the defensemen are new. Little has changed?

 

[Morbo]

There is a completely new bottom six and half of the defensemen are new. Little has changed?

I'd agree, with the caveat that if you look at it from a talent-in talent-out perspective it's difficult to argue a lot has changed other than names.

Leafs will be counting on advancement from their young players and that their bottom two lines, if not more talented, will at least be more competent and reliable when compared to what other teams have. That's going to take guys like Komarov, Santorelli, Booth and Kontiola to play some tangible good minutes for us.

 

[Mess]

Umm...we were 14th in goals per game last year. To suggest the team doesn't need offensive improvement would be incorrect.

And the idea behind playing the top 2 lines less is to keep them fresher, especially Kessel's line. they were gassed post-Olympics from Randy having to overplay them because nobody else could score.

Currently the top line plays between 20 - 21 TOI/g on average

Kessel @ 20:39 TOI/g = PPG so Kessel @ ~18:00 TOI/g = ?

Are you expecting the top line to score more with less TOI/g?.

Or is the added offense expected to come from the support players in the bottom 6 with the increased ice time that lines 3 and 4 are now going to get?

 

[Morbo]

Currently the top line plays between 20 - 21 TOI/g on average

Kessel @ 20:39 TOI/g = PPG so Kessel @ ~18:00 TOI/g = ?

Are you expecting the top line to score more with less TOI/g?.

Or is the added offense expected to come from the support players in the bottom 6 with the increased ice time that lines 3 and 4 are now going to get?

yes. Not having Orr or McLaren anywhere near the lineup, for example, and replacing them with guys who can actually play more than 4 minutes a game alone should help that.

It's also not just about simple TOI. When all the opponent has to do is key on Kessel and JVR, and at the same time one of our lines basically does nothing whatsoever and can't even be played, their job gets a lot easier with their other 3 lines. We need to change that.