I'll say it again, in hopes the Leafs Brass listen once in awhile, we need sandpaper on the backend

[ottomaddox]

Competent Dmen is the most important item. Gee, the Leafs had sandpaper Polak last year, and he was OK at best.

So getting sandpaper won't smooth out all the problems on the Leafs defence (that's suppose to be funny).

I almost missed this. Kudos!

 

[Slyfox]

We just need to push Hainsey down. Carrick played with Gardiner a couple years ago and was excellent. Dermott can easily do the same. Push Zaitsev to the top pairing or have Gardiner and Rielly together. There's plenty of options that should have been tested in the preseason.

 

[diceman934]

Zaitsev looked solid and dependable to me last and definitely better than Jake, who made a few of his patented Jake stupid decisions. Interesting to see how different people have different perceptions. Carlo on the radio this morning thought OZ looked bad, and I thought aside from a slow start he looked solid as well.

Oz looked lost for most of the game. It was his first game and their forwards are fast. Zaitsev was horrible he can not make a simple pass. Time after time he fail to pass to his puck support option when they were wide open and he was standing still looking for a pass when he should be moving his feet and looking. He could not process the game at the speed the Habs forwards played at. It is going to be a long season for him if he can not find his support player even before he gets the puck. Gardiner was more then fine. Zaitsev is among the hardest D man to play with in the league as he plays like an independent contractor he runs around chasing players with out thought to rotations and systems.

 

[Morbo]

Sandpaper on the backend sounds very painful and unpleasant.

It's also a meme that desperately has to die. Toughness isn't our problem, making a good pass out of our zone is our problem.

 

[93WrapAround]

Oz looked lost for most of the game. It was his first game and their forwards are fast. Zaitsev was horrible he can not make a simple pass. Time after time he fail to pass to his puck support option when they were wide open and he was standing still looking for a pass when he should be moving his feet and looking. He could not process the game at the speed the Habs forwards played at. It is going to be a long season for him if he can not find his support player even before he gets the puck. Gardiner was more then fine. Zaitsev is among the hardest D man to play with in the league as he plays like an independent contractor he runs around chasing players with out thought to rotations and systems.

Yeah we'll have to just agree to disagree on most of that..

 

[56 Years No Cup]

Gardiner was fine as long as he wasn't giving tape to tape passes to Paul Byron and the rest of the Habs.

 

[Eb]

Adam Mcquaid, Erik Gudbranson, Marc Staal, Polak. All guys you want come playoff time. I would like any of these guys in addition to adding one of the guys in the above post via Nylander trade.

Leafs need 2 guys no doubt about it. Leafs D is complete and utter trash and Nylander is a luxury player.

Lmao, I picture Poulin saying this and it fits so well.

 

[Tak7]

Sandpaper on the backend sounds very painful and unpleasant.

It's also a meme that desperately has to die. Toughness isn't our problem, making a good pass out of our zone is our problem.

The Leafs are soft, especially on the blueline.

As soon as they get a sniff of pressure, the puck turns into a grenade.

Our inability to make a pass, is directly tied to how soft we are. We aren't a team that is capable of absorbing pressure/forecheck/hits.

The tiny MOntreal Canadiens proved this.

 

[IPS]

The Leafs are soft, especially on the blueline.

As soon as they get a sniff of pressure, the puck turns into a grenade.

Our inability to make a pass, is directly tied to how soft we are. We aren't a team that is capable of absorbing pressure/forecheck/hits.

The tiny MOntreal Canadiens proved this.

It's a mixture of several things, but yes - our D is soft as tissue paper.

Rielly - weak on the boards and in front of the net.

Gardiner - dear god where to start. Caves under pressure forecheck, weak on the boards/in front of the net, literally AVOIDS physical contact when the going gets tough.

Hainsey - this guy can and does play physical but he can't skate or pass the puck.

Zaitsev - the other guy in our top-4 who doesn't play like a chickenshit but he's got his own set of problems regarding his hockey IQ.

 

[Stephen]

Hainsey will lose his job by the end of the season. We need Ozhiganov to have established himself, or an acqusition, or internal promotion by Game 82.

 

[Tak7]

Oz looked lost for most of the game. It was his first game and their forwards are fast. Zaitsev was horrible he can not make a simple pass. Time after time he fail to pass to his puck support option when they were wide open and he was standing still looking for a pass when he should be moving his feet and looking. He could not process the game at the speed the Habs forwards played at. It is going to be a long season for him if he can not find his support player even before he gets the puck. Gardiner was more then fine. Zaitsev is among the hardest D man to play with in the league as he plays like an independent contractor he runs around chasing players with out thought to rotations and systems.

Thought Ozhiganov had a really steady, positive night, personally.

I counted at least 2 occasions where he got his head up and made a smart breakout pass leading to a controlled zone exit.

On a night where the Leafs struggled to get out of their zone, he stood out.

 

[Spirit of 67]

Thank you for your time.

And you need to give them time too.

Only 2 seasons have passed since we finished dead last. Where did you think we'd be at this point?

 

[Spirit of 67]

Thought Ozhiganov had a really steady, positive night, personally.

I counted at least 2 occasions where he got his head up and made a smart breakout pass leading to a controlled zone exit.

On a night where the Leafs struggled to get out of their zone, he stood out.

My only real beef with him was a very ill advised cross d zone pass, very late in the 2nd period which lead to his penalty.
He will learn that, at that time of the game, simply chip it up the boards and live to fight another day. If he gets the puck out, the period ends with the puck in neutral ice.

 

[diceman934]

Thought Ozhiganov had a really steady, positive night, personally.

I counted at least 2 occasions where he got his head up and made a smart breakout pass leading to a controlled zone exit.

On a night where the Leafs struggled to get out of their zone, he stood out.

He looked lost most of the time. It was his first game and he did make some good plays but when the Habs has the puck in our zone he was hesitant and or confused. Haisney played worse which to me is a bigger concern. I like Oz thus far but he will need to make quicker reads and not miss so many rotations. I like that he is good at boxing out as well as protecting the ice behind him on the rush. I am hopeful that he is going to stick.

 

[Terrible GM]

I agree with OP.

I thought Oziganov was gonna provide some of that SandPaper on the back end...but the dude is playing softer than Jake Gardiner right now.

Whats the deal with Jake Dotchin? Is he really not in shape to come back at all? He was solid for TB last year

Reilly-Zaitsev
Gardiner-Oziganov
Dermott-Dotchin
Hainsey

Did we watch the same game yesterday? I thought Oz was very physical in front of the net, along with Dermott. I'm not looking for huge open ice hits that take the D man out of play or dropping the gloves, but what they both did last night with constant cross checks to a Montreal player in front of the net was pretty awesome to watch, and not take a penalty for it was pretty awesome. Dermott was more physical along the boards for sure, but Oz was not soft last night.

 

[hector morrison]

If you want sandpaper on the backend, just wait for Borgman to develop.



Though really, any stable top four defenseman would do, "tough guy" or otherwise. Wish Borgman was a righty.

He makes mistakes ,but so do the others! Yet ,he brings an element the others do not! I like him,he can/will get better...gotta play him!

 

[LeafSteel]

McQuaid would have been an upgrade on 3rd pairing.

Manson would be the pipe dream......

Watching Marchand’s bulls#it last night makes me want someone who can wipe the ice with him somewhere in our lineup.

 

[Joey Hoser]

I know some in Leafs management figure, "We can just emulate what the Pens did when they won their Cups".

How do you know that?

 

[member 262271]

I wonder when we'll be able to ice a team perfect enough for people on here. Dubas is dooooooomed.

 

[ICECOLDBEER]

Gonna agree with people here. Don't need sandpaper. Need people who can get the puck back and make a pass. Hainsey last night couldn't do that. Near the end of the third he got the puck with absolutely no pressure from MTL and he struggled to make a pass to Matthews who was wide open.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

I don't think it is about sandpaper players but a couple big nasty dmen who play on the edge with lots of speed/skill would help. Like a Buff type who scares opposing forwards from attempting an attack on Jets net.

Gards again last night with his 3 totally brain dead giveaways in each period which created over 4 minutes of Habs pressure on our net. It is not just his giveaways but he and the entire d core have zero ability to get the puck back from the opposing team after these screw ups.

Now Hainsey has fallen off the cliff due to age. He is now 3 to 4 steps behind and he cant keep up to the play. It is over for him. He needs to retire ASAP.

Only solid player on our backend is Dermot and he is a kid.

Rielly has not looked himself from start of camp but i believe this is due almost entirely to hainsey. Hainsey is getting puck to him slower and in wrong spots/angles and Rielly is getting intercepted more than i have ever seen before.

Thank god we have a couple kids now in system who will be serious nhl dmen. In 2 years we should have 4 decent guys on back end. Add a couple big nasty defenders with speed and we are good to go for Cup run in 2021.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Rielly is our best right side D man so anyone playing with Rielly should be on the left side. Dermott played well last night and we will need to get Haisney off the top pair and on his left side preferably on the 3rd pair.

Dermott was good last year on his offside....someone did a break down of Rielly on the right side vs left side, left side was significantly better.

 

[Duffman955]

We need better defensemen period.

We also need sandpaper throughout the lineup. I don't want to see Matthews getting crosschecked in the head with no retaliation again.

 

[Tak7]

It's a mixture of several things, but yes - our D is soft as tissue paper.

Rielly - weak on the boards and in front of the net.

Gardiner - dear god where to start. Caves under pressure forecheck, weak on the boards/in front of the net, literally AVOIDS physical contact when the going gets tough.

Hainsey - this guy can and does play physical but he can't skate or pass the puck.

Zaitsev - the other guy in our top-4 who doesn't play like a chicken**** but he's got his own set of problems regarding his hockey IQ.

Yep.

I think, on paper, Dubas/Babcock are hoping that having a puck mover on each pairing alleviates the situation (Rielly / Gardiner / Dermott), but so far, it hasn't.

I'm still more inclined to see what Dermott becomes, and whether you can work Borgmann into this lineup down the line, than I am trying to make a trade for a "bonified top 4" that I don't think will really help this team.

 

[IPS]

Yep.

I think, on paper, Dubas/Babcock are hoping that having a puck mover on each pairing alleviates the situation (Rielly / Gardiner / Dermott), but so far, it hasn't.

I'm still more inclined to see what Dermott becomes, and whether you can work Borgmann into this lineup down the line, than I am trying to make a trade for a "bonified top 4" that I don't think will really help this team.

We really do lack adequate partners for Rielly and Gardiner.

People love to talk about how amazing Keith was. His partner Seabrook worked amazing for him. Keith was in a great spot to work his magic with his puck moving, zone exits and timely pinches. Seabrook was always there to do the brute work in front of the net and down low and always cover his pinches which let Keith flourish in a massive way.