House of Cards

[Brock Radunske]

Of course I'm thrilled with the wins we're racking up but we have some serious issues with this team. We're extremely opportunistic, which is awesome but we can't keep playing the way we're playing. As the season continues, teams are going to tighten up a lot more and we won't have as many mistakes to capitalize on.

Will Kulemin and Fraser coming back change that? Maybe a little.

What do the Leafs need to make us feel confident the whole game?
Better d-zone system?

Stud defensive defenseman on the top pair which pushes everyone else down? (If so, who and how do we get them?)

Click to read more...

 

[Daisy Jane]

with that logic - if teams are going to tighten up more - then in essence so should we.
I think its things like this that show how needed everyone was. we need Kulemin, and we need Fraser. they do a lot.

 

[Brock Radunske]

with that logic - if teams are going to tighten up more - then in essence so should we.
I think its things like this that show how needed everyone was. we need Kulemin, and we need Fraser. they do a lot.

What I meant by tightening up is that we capitalize on others mistakes....they just hem us in a take 40 shots. If they limit those mistakes, we lose (against a Boston, San Jose, Chicago, LA, etc.)

 

[Daisy Jane]

What I meant by tightening up is that we capitalize on others mistakes....they just hem us in a take 40 shots. If they limit those mistakes, we lose (against a Boston, San Jose, Chicago, LA, etc.)

i think - well yeah - I think that once we get everyone back - everyone will be where they need to be with - ie:

Franson will be with Fraser, ergo, FRASER will be the one who does all the "stay-at-homeness" because Franson quite frankly at this moment in time - sucks at it.

Kulemin will be able to do this thing.

i firmly believe we'll be fine

 

[seanlinden]

Fraser, Kulemin & Bozak will help, but as has been beaten to death, the Leafs need another shutdown defenceman. Who can log bigger minutes than Mark Fraser is capable of.

 

[Chandrashekhar Limit]

We have gotten out of that outplayed phase in the last 6 or so games. The Columbus game was an anamoly, and last night was on the tail end of a Western Canada b2b. On top of having to play 2 straight, we had to get adjusted to a major time difference. I'm not too worried about the direction this team is headed in.

Instead of thinking of it as a house of cards, think of it like this - good teams win games they shouldn't. We've been doing this for 2 years now, and as long as our goalies don't completely fall off from the face of the Earth, we will win most of our games.

 

[Morbo]

It's not a house of cards, because along with the goaltending we have excellent special teams.

The shots against are a concern though, because it seems like our opponent always gets 30-40 shots regardless of their talent level. That's for Carlyle and his staff to analyze and figure out how to change the playbook to compensate, at least in part...but really I think a major contributor to this is the glaring deficiency in faceoffs. That's a personnel problem.

 

[jmart21]

I was at the game last night and I don't think the leafs played bad at all. Yes they were outshot, but we really did keep the flames shooting from perimeter areas for most of the night and we certainly out chanced; and out scored them...two things that matter more than shot totals.

 

[BayStreetBullies*]

Not a house of cards, but the Fortress of Solitude.

 

[Glenn Isildur Healy]

i think - well yeah - I think that once we get everyone back - everyone will be where they need to be with - ie:

Franson will be with Fraser, ergo, FRASER will be the one who does all the "stay-at-homeness" because Franson quite frankly at this moment in time - sucks at it.

Kulemin will be able to do this thing.

i firmly believe we'll be fine

Every team has injuries throughout the season. Rarely does a team not have key injuries throughout the season

So if Rielly or Bolland got injured or someone even more important like Kessel or Phaneuf, do we continue saying, once we are healthy, everything will be fine?

 

[Brock Radunske]

It's not really the out shooting that bothers me but it's the utter domination that happens in our end once we sit back on a lead. I have a bad feeling the goalies are going to start going down with injuries because they're standing on their head and get crashed into during these scrambles.
And Clarkson shouldn't be on the ice in the last 5 minutes...I like him but he has the IQ of my big toe...

 

[Warden of the North]

Last night wasnt goid, but IMO we were a better team then the Penguins and at worst just as bad as the Oilers.

How many times did we outshoot and out possess the opposition in the Ron Wilson era? A lot. It got us all the way to 29th in the league. Ill take the wins, and hope we can tighten up like rest of the league does.

And its not always true that teams get better as the season goes on. Even powerhouse teams have the wheels fall off on occasion towards the playoffs.

 

[Brock Radunske]

Not a house of cards, but the Fortress of Solitude.

 

[Morguee]

On the bright side(other than the fact they have been winning) is a 5 day break between games and a fairly light(in terms of games) 2 weeks. Lots of time to actually practice and get everyone one board. Hopefully they will be able to practice with a full slate including Kulemin and Fraser. Off Sunday good practice Mon-Thur just what the coach ordered.

 

[JackJ]

Of course I'm thrilled with the wins we're racking up but we have some serious issues with this team. We're extremely opportunistic, which is awesome but we can't keep playing the way we're playing. As the season continues, teams are going to tighten up a lot more and we won't have as many mistakes to capitalize on.

Will Kulemin and Fraser coming back change that? Maybe a little.

What do the Leafs need to make us feel confident the whole game?
Better d-zone system?

Stud defensive defenseman on the top pair which pushes everyone else down? (If so, who and how do we get them?)

These stats prove this isn't a house of cards:

GF: 3.36 (3rd)
GA: 2.29 (6th)
PP: 25.5 (3rd)
PK: 86.8 (4th)

but the deficiencies are obvious. Adding a few more players who can maintain offensive zone pressure (Bolland, Clarkson) within the top six would certainly help.

 

[Avec Fromage*]

 

[oilphan]

No way. Oiler fan here. This is not a house of cards at all. Spectacular goaltending, and clutch scoring from everywhere in the lineup. Unless those things change, and I don't think they will, this team will continue to be successful.

 

[FlareKnight]

I don't buy this house of cards thing. We have two excellent goalie. The odds are good that one of them is going to be playing well. Especially since both have the pressure on them to be the #1 goalie. They have to keep trying to play their best to get that job.

Special teams should be fine. The PK was great last year and it's continuing this year. The PP is better than before, but no real reason to think it's going to fall apart here.

Have a good foundation on those things. The team just has to improve in other areas.

 

[pooleboy]

with that logic - if teams are going to tighten up more - then in essence so should we.
I think its things like this that show how needed everyone was. we need Kulemin, and we need Fraser. they do a lot.

NO this is Toronto only other teams get better and we stay the same! always panic... because we are finally winning need something to ***** about (o wait we have shots/possession STATS)

 

[Mr Scarface*]

Of course I'm thrilled with the wins we're racking up but we have some serious issues with this team. We're extremely opportunistic, which is awesome but we can't keep playing the way we're playing. As the season continues, teams are going to tighten up a lot more and we won't have as many mistakes to capitalize on.

Will Kulemin and Fraser coming back change that? Maybe a little.

What do the Leafs need to make us feel confident the whole game?
Better d-zone system?

Stud defensive defenseman on the top pair which pushes everyone else down? (If so, who and how do we get them?)

Randy laughing at these type of analyzis. We don't allow no goals at all. Our D is so solid, sharp and strong. We cut passing lanes off. Block some. Clear that puck and cut the middle. Pass that puck nicely. Our D-Game has almost never, ever been this great.

Love Carly's leafs. They play the BEST D-GAME EVER. Our whole game is been won by D-Game. We score good, so then we defend. That D-Game.

Carly thinks the defensive game all the time. That's all he wants. He knows we have no worries ever with this. His game book works.

 

[Silver91]

The way I look at it, yes we've been less than our best, but now we're finally getting to a point where we'll be icing our full line-up in about a weeks time, and hopefully everyone minus Bozak on Saturday.

As much as we want to laud our winger depth, going without even one of our main wingers isn't an ideal situation to have Colton Orr, Frazer McLaren and Troy Bodie all in the line-up at the same time, especially with Bozak out as well, having Lupul with McClemment and Orr just isn't that intimidating for other teams. Having JVR-Kessel, Lupul-Kulemin and Raymond-Clarkson as our winger pairs will give us a lot better depth.

Basically, just be happy that we're winning these games where we're not at our best, because at our best we'll be even harder to stop, but eventually there will be games where we question how we lost, so enjoy the "how did we win" ones while they last.

 

[mix1home]

No way. Oiler fan here. This is not a house of cards at all. Spectacular goaltending, and clutch scoring from everywhere in the lineup. Unless those things change, and I don't think they will, this team will continue to be successful.

Thanks, man. Not to say that this team has no room to grow (FO%, D pairs chemistry, getting healthy), but our wingers' set is absolutely the best in entire league, our D all young and still progressing and most can skate and also be physical - also rare find if you look around the league. No worries in G position [for a change] and even C with Kadri, Bolland and McClemment spells "stability" more than anything. Bozak is very good 2C that fills nicely our 1C spot, which I personally have no problem with.

If we to accept OP analogy to house of cards, then most of them shall be aces and jokers with some 7 + 7 + 7 for good luck.

 

[The Blue Devil]

If other teams "tighten up", then wouldn't that also mean that they'd have less offensive zone pressure because they'd be more focused on defending the breakout?

 

[Pi]

There is a coaching problem on this team. 10-4 is a nice start but lets face it, if not for our goaltending, It would be closer to .500.

Our breakouts are terrible, it's far too easy to pressure our D and get them to cough the puck, it is far too easy to get quality shots against our goaltenders, it is far too easy to cycle against them.

We HAVE to pay better attention in our own zone. Coaching is a problem.

Simple as that.

Love the clutch goalscoring and dependable goaltending though..

 

[IWD]

Of course I'm thrilled with the wins we're racking up but we have some serious issues with this team. We're extremely opportunistic, which is awesome but we can't keep playing the way we're playing. As the season continues, teams are going to tighten up a lot more and we won't have as many mistakes to capitalize on.

Will Kulemin and Fraser coming back change that? Maybe a little.

What do the Leafs need to make us feel confident the whole game?
Better d-zone system?

Stud defensive defenseman on the top pair which pushes everyone else down? (If so, who and how do we get them?)

I agree that adding a top-pairing defenseman is probably our main priority, but I don't think it's as dire as it appeared at the beginning of the season. I haven't looked at the stats, but my observation is that many of the shots against are low chance scoring opportunities.

We're opportunistic, but that's also a characteristic of us having one of the deepest and most talented wing groups in the NHL.