Joffrey Lupul

[Diatomic]

If Lupul were on Team Canada, could he buy into the team concept of defence first approach? This is the question Nonis may have to answer. I am not so sure.

I doubt it. After Carlyle and his players watched the Gold Medal game he said he hopes the players understand Defense wins championships. I guess the players ignored him.

 

[Trapper]

^ I've never loved Lupul, but that's just wrong. It's a fair contract for a good player.

He's a great 2nd line winger, who has had to do a lot of out of the ordinary things this season with injuries. Playing the right side really threw his game off, but he also has been very inconsistent from shift to shift, which concerns me. Hopefully the Olympic break does him some good.

That 2nd line has played better and better since moving Lupul to the left and shifting Raymond down. Now I'm hoping that Clarkson and Lupul can find that chemistry and start producing. The good thing with Clarkson is that Lupul won't be expected to do so much physical work, like he was expected to do with Raymond on his line.

My biggest issue with Lupul this season has been that on too many occasions he's tried to do it all himself. It's worked like once (Carolina last season) ? and the rest of the time it hurts his line mates. Hoping he can fix that before the season is over.

It's a fair contract no doubt when compared to others in the league. With that being said, I'd rather use the 5.25 million on 2 players that score 15 goals/year and play solid 2 way in all situations. Money well spent.

 

[leafs in five]

I doubt it. After Carlyle and his players watched the Gold Medal game he said he hopes the players understand Defense wins championships. I guess the players ignored him.

dominating hockey games wins championships.

 

[Bomber0104]

as if the thing that made Canada dominate the medal round of that tournament was a collective commitment to a "defense-first approach"

forget the fact that the team was better, to a man, than any of the teams it faced.

Canada spent like 2/3rds of the time in the opponents' end.

That's what good defensive teams do.

 

[leafs in five]

Canada spent like 2/3rds of the time in the opponents' end.

That's what good defensive teams do.

it is what good (incredible in Canada's case) teams do. the idea that it was the product of a philosophy is just so silly. to hear people like Carlyle describe it's as if they just staked out space in their own zone and cleared away any potential scoring chances.

Finland/Latvia/Switzerland played "defense-first" hockey. Canada just owned the play all over the ice.

 

[Bomber0104]

it is what good (incredible in Canada's case) teams do. the idea that it was the product of a philosophy is just so silly. to hear people like Carlyle describe it's as if they just staked out space in their own zone and cleared away any potential scoring chances.

Finland/Latvia/Switzerland played "defense-first" hockey. Canada just owned the play all over the ice.

You don't think hockey coaches devise strategies to prevent other teams from playing in their zone?

 

[leafs in five]

You don't think hockey coaches devise strategies to prevent other teams from playing in their zone?

yup this is exactly what i said.

 

[leafstilldeath*]

Lupul has started to piss me off. I guess now that the contract is in place no need for him to bring it every night. Pathetic!

If he keeps this crap up strip him of the "A". Doesnt deserve it on his jersey. Leader my ass.

Bring it Lupul or get shipped into never-land.

 

[Quares27]

When he isn't contributing offensively, he is completely useless

Exhibit A: Tonight

What are you guys talking about? he was one of our best players last night. The guy was unstoppable protecting the puck on the cycle. Clarkson should be taking note.

 

[Ari91]

What are you guys talking about? he was one of our best players last night. The guy was unstoppable protecting the puck on the cycle. Clarkson should be taking note.

Defense is required in three zones of the ice, not one. He coughed up the puck at least twice by doing the same stupid mistake - trying to skate through two defenders when he could have taken the puck up the boards. Last night was turnovers galore for both teams but a lot of that was due to the puck hopping or deflecting off sticks that resulted in turnovers. Lupul had at least two occasions where he gave the puck away solely off of poor decision making in the defensive and neutral zone.

 

[darrylsittler27]

If he hadn't hit the post...

I wouldn't have noticed him last night and for the most part this season. He seems slower this year like he is playing with a groin pull.I like Lupul be he just doesn't look the same these days.

 

[Stephen]

Lupul looked like he was really pressing the offense and trying to score after he hit that post in the first period. Give him credit for trying to create something out there, but when you're going at 100% up the ice and 50% coming back that creates a lot of problems.

 

[jimmycarter]

he cares more about fashion than playing hockey it seems.

 

[Marr]

he cares more about fashion than playing hockey it seems.

You gotta play to your strengths.

 

[FreeBird]

Lupul looked like he was really pressing the offense and trying to score after he hit that post in the first period. Give him credit for trying to create something out there, but when you're going at 100% up the ice and 50% coming back that creates a lot of problems.

That's been Lupul's pedigree for ever, but he's fooled them for two years in Toronto.

 

[Kyle Doobas*]

Lupul looked like he was really pressing the offense and trying to score after he hit that post in the first period. Give him credit for trying to create something out there, but when you're going at 100% up the ice and 50% coming back that creates a lot of problems.

That's about as good a description of his play as I've heard, but I have even more of a problem with his braincramps in his own zone than his lack of effort on the backcheck.

The Islanders' tying goal the other night wasn't directly a result of what Lupul did, but the puck may have been easily cleared out of the zone before the Isles ever even got that chance if Lupul had stayed in position. My dead dog could've figured out when Clarkson took the puck to the quiet area behind the net that he was going to put it up the boards, so why Lupul drifted away from the hash marks towards the point, only to loop back through the middle and leave his entire side of the ice open, I really can't wrap my head around.

I mean, sometimes when a guy makes a mistake, you can at least re-watch what happened and understand why he might've misread it that way, but Lupul has this annoying propensity for inexcusable 'wtf?' plays in his own end.

 

[Dugath]

This seems to be the norm for "some" Leaf fans.
Someone does not play like an All Star and he is no good and should be traded. I would put out examples but I would have to write out half the team players names.
Lupul has what.. 18 goals and something like 42 points? I am too lazy to look it up.
So.. if he ends up with 25 Goals and say 55-65 points people will still complain.

With the year long rotation of wingers and centers he plays with I am surprised he is producing as much as he is.

Seems people want their 2nd line winger to score 30+ have 70+ points and be a stud defender too.

Sorry if I seemed a bit hard but I have no complaints about his play and I am sure it would be better if the line he played on did not have a revolving door on it (due to injuries or just players being inserted and taken out).

 

[Kyle Doobas*]

Seems people want their 2nd line winger to score 30+ have 70+ points and be a stud defender too.

To some extent, he's a victim of playing on a poor defensive team. If we could insulate him with better two-way players, he'd probably stick out less, but as it stands now he's arguably our worst defensive forward outside of Kessel - the difference being that Kessel tends to get away with it because he's one of the league's top scorers.

 

[Ari91]

This seems to be the norm for "some" Leaf fans.
Someone does not play like an All Star and he is no good and should be traded. I would put out examples but I would have to write out half the team players names.
Lupul has what.. 18 goals and something like 42 points? I am too lazy to look it up.
So.. if he ends up with 25 Goals and say 55-65 points people will still complain.

With the year long rotation of wingers and centers he plays with I am surprised he is producing as much as he is.

Seems people want their 2nd line winger to score 30+ have 70+ points and be a stud defender too.

Sorry if I seemed a bit hard but I have no complaints about his play and I am sure it would be better if the line he played on did not have a revolving door on it (due to injuries or just players being inserted and taken out).

Really? Do you see anyone here saying he needs to be a 70 point version of Bergeron? No, people just want him to be at least mediocre defensively...he's not even that right now. I believe for the past 3 years, the stats show that relative to ice time and production, he's the biggest liability of any forward on the Leafs roster in the past 3 years. He doesn't have a bunch of two way players to insulate his style of game and so his deficiencies become more apparent. He's not on the level of Kessel and he gets called out for his defensive game more than Lupul does.

 

[achtungbaby]

I doubt it. After Carlyle and his players watched the Gold Medal game he said he hopes the players understand Defense wins championships. I guess the players ignored him.

That had to be slightly awkward. Can't even imagine what it felt like in Washington or in Tampa.

 

[Stephen]

This seems to be the norm for "some" Leaf fans.
Someone does not play like an All Star and he is no good and should be traded. I would put out examples but I would have to write out half the team players names.
Lupul has what.. 18 goals and something like 42 points? I am too lazy to look it up.
So.. if he ends up with 25 Goals and say 55-65 points people will still complain.

With the year long rotation of wingers and centers he plays with I am surprised he is producing as much as he is.

Seems people want their 2nd line winger to score 30+ have 70+ points and be a stud defender too.

Sorry if I seemed a bit hard but I have no complaints about his play and I am sure it would be better if the line he played on did not have a revolving door on it (due to injuries or just players being inserted and taken out).

Couple of issues:

Lupul seems to have been embraced like a key building block the last couple of years he's played based on being a scoring star. But he's kind of worn down for his age and might be a bit of a Kessel product. Coupled with pressing for offense and being kind of lost defensively, he's more in the category a MacArthur and Raymond than an actual key piece.

There's always room for improvement, so maybe the fact that you have no complaints means you're happy with mediocrity.

 

[613Leafer]

He's just really bad defensively. Our team is among the worst in the league for team defence, and the blueline is only part of the problem. Our top 6 is a very weak group defensively overall, with Lupul being one of the primary culprits.

 

[Warden of the North]

I dont understand the trend of dislike for Lupul. Hes going to score around 22-25 goals and 22-25 assists. Thats 2nd line production. He plays on the 2nd line. So hes not the best defensively, hes hardly the only winger in the league who isnt.

Take him for what he is, a top 6 offensive forward and leader on our team.

 

[leafs in five]

once our players start to understand that defense wins championships were are going to have a pretty good defensive team that's how it works right

 

[Dugath]

Guess I just do not get it.
As there is no "I" in team how it can all be Lupul's fault, there are 4 other players on the ice at the same time as Lupul not including the goalie.

He might not be the best but he is far from the worst.

Just seems strange the amount of people wanting to trade a 20+ goal scorer. If the Line had some stability and once Kadri gets more experience you would see less defensive gaffs and even more production.