Pre-Game Talk: GAME #13: LEAFS vs STARS | Thu, Nov 1 @ 7PM EST | Scotiabank Arena

[Cor]

Kapanen on neither pp unit, I’m not sure about you but I take Kapanen all day over hyman in an offensive situation

Of course, but Hyman isn't replacing Kapanen, he is replacing Marleau as the net front guy on PP2, because Marleau is replacing Tavares as the net front guy on PP1, because Tavares is replacing Kapanen as the side-board guy on PP1.

Kapanen should easily be on the PP2 instead of either Ennis or Leivo though.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Kappy didn't work the powerplay today, just the penalty kill. Tavares moved from the net to the sideboards (where Kappy was) Marleau got moved from PP2 to PP1 as the net front guy, and then Hyman replaced Marleau as the net front guy on PP2.

I'm not sure why Ennis and Leivo are staples on PP2. Not sure why Kapanen is either PP1 or not on the powerplay at all.

I'd remove Ennis or Leivo and plug in Kapanen

Leivo makes sense on the PP. Ennis not so sure, but I guess he's useless otherwise.

 

[Walshy7]

Of course, but Hyman isn't replacing Kapanen, he is replacing Marleau as the net front guy on PP2, because Marleau is replacing Tavares as the net front guy on PP1, because Tavares is replacing Kapanen as the side-board guy on PP1.

Kapanen should easily be on the PP2 instead of either Ennis or Leivo though.

Doesn’t really matter ennis, leivo, brown or Hyman I take Kapanen over every single one of them easily.

How brown has pulled one over on babcock I’ll never know. With pp time this guy is a 30 point guy. Even defensively he isn’t that great babcock chose him as a pet and will force him into all situations to make sure he is proven “right”

 

[Muston Atthews]

Way to reward Kapanen being our best player

 

[Liminality]

Doesn’t really matter ennis, leivo, brown or Hyman I take Kapanen over every single one of them easily.

How brown has pulled one over on babcock I’ll never know. With pp time this guy is a 30 point guy. Even defensively he isn’t that great babcock chose him as a pet and will force him into all situations to make sure he is proven “right”

But it does. Our PP has a structure and it uses a net front presence guy. Marleau and Hyman fill those roles.
Kap had his spot on the wall but Tavares is going there. He should be on the 2nd unit over one of the other guys on the wall.

Different roles matter.

 

[Thissiteisgarbage]

Way to reward Kapanen being our best player

Yeah, Kappy must be enthralled with his treatment by Babcock so far - languishing on the 4th line for years while guys like Hyman and Brown are gifted 'get out of jail free' cards handed to them by Babcock 'cause they try hard.

 

[Cor]

Doesn’t really matter ennis, leivo, brown or Hyman I take Kapanen over every single one of them easily.

How brown has pulled one over on babcock I’ll never know. With pp time this guy is a 30 point guy. Even defensively he isn’t that great babcock chose him as a pet and will force him into all situations to make sure he is proven “right”

Connor Brown isn't on the powerplay. He's played 3rd or 4th line minutes and PK minutes the past two seasons.

It's where he should be. He's a 30ish point guy.

At 5v5 this year and last year, he's above 50 in both CF% and xGF%. He was essentially a babysitter for JVR and Bozak last season.

This season?

3rd among our forwards for CF%
8th among our forwards for xGF%
11th among our forwards in PDO (at 95.88 - he's suffering from a low shooting percentage, he'll start burying chances)
10th among our forwards in ZSR - Only Par Lindholm and Josh Leivo start in the offensive zone less than Brown
7th among our forwards in CF QOC
8th among our forwards in CF QOT

He's a 3rd line winger playing on our 3rd line. He's getting good results this year. Obviously we want to see him capitalize more on his chances, but judging by his PDO, he's likely to do so.

 

[Walshy7]

But it does. Our PP has a structure and it uses a net front presence guy. Marleau and Hyman fill those roles.
Kap had his spot on the wall but Tavares is going there. He should be on the 2nd unit over one of the other guys on the wall.

Different roles matter.

Right which is why it doesn’t really matter in terms of hymans role because Kapanen should be replacing brown or Leivo (more so brown) in the position that is more his role

 

[Leafs at Knight]

Marleau on the first PP is really funny.. Kapanen not on either is really sad..

 

[I Believe]

Why did I think this game was on tonight?

Would've been nice to have a game to watch while giving out candy. Ah well

 

[HamiltonNHL]

We need a poll to guess the number of wins / points this year.

Not sure we do better than last year.

 

[Walshy7]

Connor Brown isn't on the powerplay. He's played 3rd or 4th line minutes and PK minutes the past two seasons.

It's where he should be. He's a 30ish point guy.

At 5v5 this year and last year, he's above 50 in both CF% and xGF%. He was essentially a babysitter for JVR and Bozak last season.

This season?

3rd among our forwards for CF%
8th among our forwards for xGF%
11th among our forwards in PDO (at 95.88 - he's suffering from a low shooting percentage, he'll start burying chances)
10th among our forwards in ZSR - Only Par Lindholm and Josh Leivo start in the offensive zone less than Brown
7th among our forwards in CF QOC
8th among our forwards in CF QOT

He's a 3rd line winger playing on our 3rd line. He's getting good results this year. Obviously we want to see him capitalize more on his chances, but judging by his PDO, he's likely to do so.

Brown was on the pp my bad I didn’t notice babs removed him he was on it for as long as ennis wasn’t plying and games ennis did play. Good for babs though taking him off it colour me surprised by that

 

[HamiltonNHL]

We've had more goals against than Buffalo.

 

[frizzer1]

Possession is key on the power play......if you get the puck you must be able to handle it and move it or it's going back down the ice.
So our idiot coach puts Hyman there..

 

[ShaneFalco]

 

[Once]

Similar to Kapanen, one of these depth guys that our fanbase has been pumping up (e.g. AJ, Leivo) needs to take this opportunity and run with it.

 

[Once]

Kapanen on neither pp unit, I’m not sure about you but I take Kapanen all day over hyman in an offensive situation

I'm not sure why Babs opts to mold Kapanen into a Hyman-type player. Whenever he's called upon to discuss Kappy Babs insists that Kapanen "brings it everyday" and follows it up with "play more like Hyman". Or my new favourite, "We don't need him on the PP, we need him to PK".

Maybe he is giving Kapanen the Rielly treatment in a forward fashion. I have always seen Kapanen as an offensively gifted player, and while I think its FANTASTIC that he can pk and defend, why does it seem the coach is consciously suppressing Kapanen's offensive abilities?

 

[Cleetus]

Apparently Johnsson hasn't earned enough playing 7 minutes a night with 4th liners to get a chance with actually talented players

lol yea I agree, I think if you put him on 1 of the 2 top lines, he will break out, come on Babs!

 

[Nithoniniel]

Marleau on the first PP is really funny.. Kapanen not on either is really sad..

If you look at the tweet closely, you'll see is what they are doing is moving Tavares away from the net front. So he's the one stealing Kapanen's spot, and they likely don't feel like Kapanen is the right guy to have in front of the net. As for the alternatives, none of them seem like options that might provide some value down there other than as a mobile screen, so Marleau is fine.

What I don't get is how Kapanen can't get a spot on the second unit. Ennis is getting his spot there, and I'd much rather have Kapanen on the ice for that. Hyman as net front is meh in the same vein as Marleau. It's not like I'm thrilled with him there, but I don't quite see a lot of good options either.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

If you look at the tweet closely, you'll see is what they are doing is moving Tavares away from the net front. So he's the one stealing Kapanen's spot, and they likely don't feel like Kapanen is the right guy to have in front of the net. As for the alternatives, none of them seem like options that might provide some value down there other than as a mobile screen, so Marleau is fine.

What I don't get is how Kapanen can't get a spot on the second unit. Ennis is getting his spot there, and I'd much rather have Kapanen on the ice for that. Hyman as net front is meh in the same vein as Marleau. It's not like I'm thrilled with him there, but I don't quite see a lot of good options either.

Marleau doesn't deserve a promotion on the powerplay. he's been terrible this year. it's no surprise that Kapanen was wrongly kicked off the powerplay though, as Babcock said he's a PKer who's supposed to be the next Hyman. Obviously he doesn't appreciate Kapanen's skill very much for whatever reason

 

[Nithoniniel]

Marleau doesn't deserve a promotion on the powerplay. he's been terrible this year. it's no surprise that Kapanen was wrongly kicked off the powerplay though, as Babcock said he's a PKer who's supposed to be the next Hyman. Obviously he doesn't appreciate Kapanen's skill very much for whatever reason

I have been talking about Marleau all year, but I don't agree with this. You can't really just collect names on the PP, you need to put them in the right kind of roles, and what players deserve shouldn't enter into it.

Right now we have an elite talent who is barely utilized on the PP, and we are moving him off the net front spot. That means he'll take Kapanen's spot. So the question is what to do with the net front spot? I don't see how putting Kapanen there is using him to his strengths, so I'm fine with him being off the top unit. Like I said though, he should have a spot on the second unit over Ennis.

Another interesting thing they could do would be to move Kadri closer to the net. That would open up for having both Kapanen and Tavares on that unit.

I also disagree with how present what Babcock said. I don't read that quote as him saying that Kapanen should become Hyman. It's more that he wants Kapanen to work on always being engaged (like Hyman is,) because that'll bring out the most out of his skill game as well.

 

[Mr Hockey]

If you look at the tweet closely, you'll see is what they are doing is moving Tavares away from the net front. So he's the one stealing Kapanen's spot, and they likely don't feel like Kapanen is the right guy to have in front of the net. As for the alternatives, none of them seem like options that might provide some value down there other than as a mobile screen, so Marleau is fine.

What I don't get is how Kapanen can't get a spot on the second unit. Ennis is getting his spot there, and I'd much rather have Kapanen on the ice for that. Hyman as net front is meh in the same vein as Marleau. It's not like I'm thrilled with him there, but I don't quite see a lot of good options either.

most in this group do not understand Babcock PP structure and the different role each position plays, I have gone down this road in the past, good luck trying to educate them.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

I have been talking about Marleau all year, but I don't agree with this. You can't really just collect names on the PP, you need to put them in the right kind of roles, and what players deserve shouldn't enter into it.

Right now we have an elite talent who is barely utilized on the PP, and we are moving him off the net front spot. That means he'll take Kapanen's spot. So the question is what to do with the net front spot? I don't see how putting Kapanen there is using him to his strengths, so I'm fine with him being off the top unit. Like I said though, he should have a spot on the second unit over Ennis.

Another interesting thing they could do would be to move Kadri closer to the net. That would open up for having both Kapanen and Tavares on that unit.

I also disagree with how present what Babcock said. I don't read that quote as him saying that Kapanen should become Hyman. It's more that he wants Kapanen to work on always being engaged (like Hyman is,) because that'll bring out the most out of his skill game as well.

I realize that he wants a net front presence on both units and Kapanen isn't suited to that role, but that's no excuse to not use him on the PP at all. I think we can agree on that. I think the quote where Babcock said that Kapanen's role is to be on the PK does sum up how he feels about him, and I think that's unfair. Kapanen is too skilled to be shoehorned into that role

 

[Nithoniniel]

I realize that he wants a net front presence on both units and Kapanen isn't suited to that role, but that's no excuse to not use him on the PP at all. I think we can agree on that. I think the quote where Babcock said that Kapanen's role is to be on the PK does sum up how he feels about him, and I think that's unfair. Kapanen is too skilled to be shoehorned into that role

We must be talking about two different quotes. I thought you meant the one where he said he needs to play like Hyman? Anyway, we definitely agree that Kapanen should be on the PP. Our list of actually skilled players is too short to not utilize one of them.

 

[Kamiccolo]

View attachment 150945

We've had more goals against than Buffalo.

That Sparks start in his first game inflated these. Since the first two games (I know taking out the bad parts) but the team has been pretty decent.