Line Combos: Grabovski on the wing?

[Anthrax442]

Grabo is not a #1C on this team, Kadri in only his first full season is already better than Grabo was as at #2C, and he was a colossal failure as the #3 shutdown C.

Really the only spot he would excel at is #4C and Mcclement has him covered there too.

The guy has no intangibles to speak of, he is so well thought of defensively, JVR, Kule, Bozak, and Komarov are all used before him on the #2 PK in the NHL last year. He is the 3rd choice for face-offs last year to Bozak and Mcclement.

Yeah the more I write about him the more awful he truly is.

Then stop writing!

 

[LEAFSIN4]

Lupul Kadri Kessel
JVR Lecavalier Grabovski reminiscent of the Malone/Lecavalier/St.Louis line
Kulemin Bolland Clarkson
McLaren McClemment Orr
Bolborne

Grabs was misused on the 3rd line the same way Carlyle misused Lupul in Anaheim. He is a top 6 scorer who was crashing Chara in the playoffs, he can definitely play wing. He just never had the opportunity to because we never had capable centers for him to play with.

The more I think about it, the more I think that line would be really successful. Those lines are pretty good and I'd love to start the season like that.

 

[Anthrax442]

Considering the complete meltdown Kadri had on the dot against the Bruins was Eakins right to play him on the wing?

Over an entire season Grabovski was far and wide better at center than Kadri.

Perhaps Kadri should be used like Cammalleri has for most of his career, as a playmaking winger.
.

Grabovski will be fine. Hopefully Bolland trade will take the defensive responsibilities off him. Kadri is more suited for the wing than Grabovski.

 

[Diatomic]

I'm fine with having Grabo as our #2C come next season, but if we can get a better player there to ease the burden on Kadri then please do.

 

[ULF_55]

I'm fine with having Grabo as our #2C come next season, but if we can get a better player there to ease the burden on Kadri then please do.

Playoffs Ice Time shows how often Carlyle wanted him out there.

Bolland is going to be very important if they don't re-sign Bozak.

1 Tyler Bozak 21:43
2 James van Riemsdyk 19:41
3 Mikhail Grabovski 19:06
4 Joffrey Lupul 18:59
5 Phil Kessel 18:28
6 Nikolai Kulemin 18:10
7 Jay McClement 14:43
8 Matt Frattin 13:46
9 Nazem Kadri 13:34
10 Joe Colborne 13:28
11 Clarke MacArthur 12:21
12 Leo Komarov 9:12
13 Ryan Hamilton 8:08
14 Frazer McLaren 7:46

 

[cup67]

jvr-bozak-kessel
lupul- kadri- Clarkson
grabo-bolland-kulemin
mclearn-mclement-orr

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Then stop writing!

Better yet, stop reading.

I post how badly Grabo has been since RC has been his coach despite the usual excuses. Ie. shutdown role, playing against tougher, give Grabo another year....ext.

Here are the key debunking facts you have not addressed except, stop writing. One suspects you can't argue them, this is why you want me to stop reiterating them.

Again, QOC on the Leafs this year.

Kulemin 3.38
Mcclement 2.53
Grabo 2.50
Komarov 2.34
Bozak 2.29
JVR 2.27

Grabo stats under Carlyle is:

73GP, 28 points, -26

All for 5.5M per, under a reducing cap. Care to discuss hockey or cheerlead?

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Grabovski will be fine. Hopefully Bolland trade will take the defensive responsibilities off him. Kadri is more suited for the wing than Grabovski.

How do you know? He has been anything but fine since RC became our coach. Kadri is more suited for the wing? I would say that is partially correct, Kadri is better suited for the wing and at Center than Grabo because he has shown to be a far superior player. Bottom line.

 

[MakeTheIronSing]

Better yet, stop reading.

I post how badly Grabo has been since RC has been his coach despite the usual excuses. Ie. shutdown role, playing against tougher, give Grabo another year....ext.

Here are the key debunking facts you have not addressed except, stop writing. One suspects you can't argue them, this is why you want me to stop reiterating them.

Again, QOC on the Leafs this year.

Kulemin 3.38
Mcclement 2.53
Grabo 2.50
Komarov 2.34
Bozak 2.29
JVR 2.27

Grabo stats under Carlyle is:

73GP, 28 points, -26

All for 5.5M per, under a reducing cap. Care to discuss hockey or cheerlead?

Your stats are kind of loaded...

The sample size of Grabo under Carlyle is a reduced season and a train wreck end to the previous one, not to mention a different roster than the current one.

If Grabo is playing on the second line next year with either Lupul or JvR+ Kulemin or a UFA like Clarkson or Horton than Grabo is a completely different player with different expentations and different skills.

You cannot tell me that a lineup of

JvR Kadri Kessel
Lupul Grabovski Kulemin/Clarkson/Horton/MacArthur

will not afford more offensive opportunity to a lockout year excluded back to back 50 point player?

Its premature and shortsighted to be honest.

 

[agropop]

Better yet, stop reading.

I post how badly Grabo has been since RC has been his coach despite the usual excuses. Ie. shutdown role, playing against tougher, give Grabo another year....ext.

Here are the key debunking facts you have not addressed except, stop writing. One suspects you can't argue them, this is why you want me to stop reiterating them.

Again, QOC on the Leafs this year.

Kulemin 3.38
Mcclement 2.53
Grabo 2.50
Komarov 2.34
Bozak 2.29
JVR 2.27

Grabo stats under Carlyle is:

73GP, 28 points, -26

All for 5.5M per, under a reducing cap. Care to discuss hockey or cheerlead?

You can't use QoC and completely disregard Corsi scores. One is a derivative of the other. If you're going to include both QoC and Corsi, you might as well include zone starts and finishes, TOI, quality of team mates, PPTOI, etc. When you're done doing that you can find other players on other teams with comparable usage charts and Corsi, QoC, and other metrics and see for yourself that Grabo is and always has been a quality player.

Cherry picking statistics is lame, either have the entire conversation or don't have it at all.

 

[The_Chosen_One]

I noticed that some are proposing we acquire Horton. He'd be an interesting individual to slot into the middle. If we could acquire him, throwing him in the middle could produce interesting results. Say...

JVR - Horton - Kessel

Both wingers can finish and distribute the puck. Horton wouldn't be expected to solely anchor the line, but would at least not look out of place either.

JVR - Bolland - Horton
JVR - Bolland/Grabs - Kulemin
Colborne - Grabovski - Horton

We could essentially field a variety of shut down lines. Horton has been used very effectively against top lines and was involved in shutting down either Crosby/ Malkin. During the playoffs, he was the main reason why the Bruin forecheck was so deadly. I'd argue he was pretty decent in the regular season, but the Bruins were depending on their mediocre checking line.

It would be possible for us to shut down two productive lines and offer much better puck support as well due to size. I'm not really sure if Clarkson could be utilized in this manner, because we need defensively reliable plays that can use their body. After all, we can't just slot in Orr into this role. A legitimate PWF is ideal, but not critical.

 

[DD03]

Horton doesn't play centre..

 

[The_Chosen_One]

Horton doesn't play centre..

He's done it before in Florida. We just need someone who can offer both two-way play and energy/ physicality down the middle. It'd be a lot more easier to increase Kessel's usage if he had two strong forwards on his line.

 

[Mindrust]

I think we need to resign Bozak (or find an equivalent) to be our 2c, and place Grabovski somewhere on the wing in the second or third line. Grabovski isn't much of a playmaker anyways, so it won't matter too much. He hasn't been that great at center in the last two years. If he's gonna be a part of this team moving forward, or wants another shot at proving himself, he needs a fresh start. And what better way than to play on the wing and see if that gets him going.

Kadri, Bozak/equivalent, Bolland, McClement