Sportsnet: (Hockey Central) Marc Savard: "Connor Carrick could go the way of the waivers"

Guy Boucher

Registered User
Oct 22, 2008
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This is what Babcock is using in his NHL squad practice unit:

Rielly-Hainsey
Gardiner-Zaitsev
Rosen-Ozhiganov
Dermott-Holl

Which I think is the top-8 he has in his mind, and I can't disagree. Carrick isn't cutting it right now, and Borgman is both waiver exempt and left-handed, which are both working against him.

(Also for the record I think Ozi is getting over-hyped and that we need to see more of him before declaring him a solution, but I'm ok with him getting some NHL games for him to be properly evaluated).
 
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DarkKnight

Professional Amateur
Jan 17, 2017
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Carrick into camp in the shape of his life, best on the team. Strange that doesn't translate onto the ice, where's the desperation?
 

Leafs87

Mr. Steal Your Job
Aug 10, 2010
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Carick will probably stay as a reserve/rotation player for a while anyways. I’m not a huge fan of his
 

therealkoho

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Jul 10, 2009
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Hockey Central @ Noon - Sportsnet.ca

A lot of Leaf content at the beginning of the show. This is only speculation. This is not Marc Savard saying that he is an insider or has sources.

Most impressed with: Borgman and Holl. And not so impressed with Carrick: "Could go the way of the waivers. Which is the way it goes."

He also felt that Hainsey was a step back.

Do you agree? What do you think?

I'd be a lot more comfortable if Hainsey were to be scaled back to around 17mins including 1st PK duties, it does create a new set of problems though
 
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The Hanging Jowl

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Apr 2, 2017
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Good person,seems intelligent,apparently very well conditioned physically...why isn't he better? Confidence issues maybe ? ,Babs telling him not to do too much? I don't know,but others have looked like they 're more into the game than him! Borgman and Rosen both bring more to the table. Holl has shown he can be offensive, Oz is likely gonna be the best of the bunch in time as an al-l rounder!
Pre- season can be misleading, even Babs said that after a month of the regular season .,you realize sometimes that you didn't get it right!

I think there's intelligence then there's intelligence. I've always thought people's perception of time and space differs. A guy like Gretzky had all the time in the world to make a play but for someone like me it just feels like the opposition is on top of you immediately.
 
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Mikeyg

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Dec 26, 2011
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Carrick sucks ass, call it what it is, he has a superman body and no toolbox. Gtfo.
 
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Damisoph

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Jun 29, 2010
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Remember when Lou called him a "A prospect"?

Too bad, the kid has the tools, just has a shitty motomaster toolbox.
 

hector morrison

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Apr 1, 2018
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I think there's intelligence then there's intelligence. I've always thought people's perception of time and space differs. A guy like Gretzky had all the time in the world to make a play but for someone like me it just feels like the opposition is on top of you immediately.
Gretzky knew how to limit a checkers options and had the ability to keep them guessing. Lateral movement is not something a lot of players can do well. He was awesome at handling the puck as well!
Time? Yes,he was ridiculously good at seeing what would happen next! Once the opposition knows it is risky(might get embarrassed) to rush you,then you have more time.
I don't see Carrick possessing any of this ability,at all!
 

TML1967

Registered User
Jul 20, 2010
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Carrick hasn't been good, but if you just signed a guy for 1.3, you obviously believe in him enough to give him a chance beyond the first 2 preseason games at least.

Wonder if the 1.3 is to scare other teams from claiming him in case he needs to be sent down.
the 300k+ against the cap is gonna be an issue for some teams who are contenders down the line, and for other internal cap teams spending 1.3m for an AHL guy is just too much.
 

56 Years No Cup

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Nov 12, 2007
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Gretzky had some PSI ability. It explains a lot.
Gretzky knew how to limit a checkers options and had the ability to keep them guessing. Lateral movement is not something a lot of players can do well. He was awesome at handling the puck as well!
Time? Yes,he was ridiculously good at seeing what would happen next! Once the opposition knows it is risky(might get embarrassed) to rush you,then you have more time.
I don't see Carrick possessing any of this ability,at all!

I remember reading a book around 30-40 years ago. I think it was even before Gretzky. I think Ken Dryden wrote it but I might be wrong. Anyway, the word he used to describe the attribute that all great players have was "anticipation". They could anticipate where the other players would be on the ice depending on what move they made with the puck or when they didn't have the puck.

Anyway it was an awesome read.
 

Field of Dreams

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Oct 10, 2011
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Carrick into camp in the shape of his life, best on the team. Strange that doesn't translate onto the ice, where's the desperation?

This is why he wont be waived (right away atleast). Send the message to the dressing room that guys who have real gud pro offseasons are given more leeway.
 

Incetardis

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Sep 17, 2013
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I can't see them waiving Carrick. Dubas has always been really high on him and they just extended him. Carrick will be the 7th dman to start the year and get some looks early on to see if he can turn it around.
 

ottomaddox

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Oct 31, 2017
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I can't see them waiving Carrick. Dubas has always been really high on him and they just extended him. Carrick will be the 7th dman to start the year and get some looks early on to see if he can turn it around.

With all due respect, I don't care for posts like this.

You can post all you like (including quotes) about how a GM "feels" about a certain player, but the nature of the business goes against these statements. It's great for fans and media, but it's safe.

Carrick was awarded a contract for several reasons:

1. The AHL graduates might not be ready
2. The regular NHL roster players could be injured
3. Players like Ozhiganov might need more time to get used to the NHL game/surface.

He's insurance. If all goes well he will be a healthy scratch. If all goes even better Carrick is put on waivers.

So Dubas might only be "high" on the insurance Carrick brings.
 

BodaciousBeefBazooka

Go Leafs Go
Apr 4, 2013
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Bubble player. I dont have high expectations for him anyways. I wish him obviously the best as a leaf fan but he doesn't bring anything new, exciting or any intangibles to the table to warrant him a spot.
 

Havoc

Registered User
Jul 25, 2009
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Let me preface my message by acknowledging just how bad Carrick has been in pre-season this year, but I'm not willing to give up on him yet.

Here is a list of every partner Carrick has played with for more than 50 minutes of 5v5 play the last 3 years combined.

PartnerTOI (5v5)rel.CF%
Jake Gardiner996 minutes+3.14
Morgan Rielly244 minutes+3.8
Andreas Borgman215 minutes-0.08
Travis Dermott184 minutes+7.46
Martin Marincin116 minutes-3.63
[TBODY] [/TBODY]
To me there are three things that stand out:

#1. He's able to handle top-4 minutes very well. When he's played (imo) over his head and played in the higher comp/harder zone start minutes, he's shown the ability to be a great partner for either one of our top-2 defenseman.

#2. Carrick and Marincin DO NOT work together. We saw this in the pre-season this year, and it's been proven in their 116 5v5 minutes together that they should not be a pair.

#3. He and Travis Dermott together is a god-like 3rd pairing. When together, these two guys just dominate shot shares (+14.72 rel.xGF% LOL). If Travis Dermott is on the third pairing next season (he really should be in the Top-4) and they can duplicate what they did last season, we're laughing.

---

"He's terrible defensively and too small to get anything done"

Well Babcock loves to shelter his third pairing anyway, and of all 213 defenseman that played over 500 minutes last season here is where the bottom pair guys (Polak, Dermott, Borgman, and Carrick) rank in ToIQoC (1st would be easiest comp):

Borgman - 3rd
Carrick - 11th
Dermott - 12th
Polak - 20th

These guys get very very easy comp, but to be fair Polak (ugh) did get some really ****ty zone starts in comparison to the other 3.

Over the last 3 years, there have been 9 Leafs defenseman to have played over 1000 minutes. On that list, Carrick has played the 8th easiest comp. During that comp, he's put up the 2nd best rel.CF% and the best rel.xGF% - which shows he's absolutely not a liability out there by any means.

The only defenseman to give up less shot attempts per 60 minutes? Marincin (it's one of the main reason's why I'm a fan of his too).

The only two defenseman to be on the ice for more than his shot attempts for? Rielly and Phaneuf.

--

Here's are the shots allowed when he's on the ice:

carrico94


He plays RD, obviously. This show's he's actually very good at suppressing HD chances.

In comparison, here's Morgan Rielly:

riellmo94


Much harder minutes, much better defenseman, but you can still see how beat up Rielly get's in the slot in comparison to a guy like Carrick.

I know nobody will read this, and I'm sure people are going to be all like "Carrick sux because two preseason games, small, dur dur dur", but we'd be giving up on a guy who's been better than Zaitsev two years running, has more than handled top-4 duties, and has blasted bottom-pair duties with Dermott. If we let him go, I'm confident (if he get's another chance, **** this league man) he'd make us regret it.

Fineeeeeee. I wanted him gone but this post persuaded me to have some faith.
 

Hotel Mario

Registered User
Feb 4, 2013
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Thunder Bay
Carrick reminds me of Joe Colborne. Promise was there, but after many chances the puzzle pieces haven't been put together. One would expect Babcock to be raving about how Carrick works out like a gud pro, very telling that this isn't the case. Time to give others (Oz) an opportunity.
 

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