John Tavares

[Lansdown]

Like a lot of people here I watch a ton of other sports, especially soccer, and no league is as topsy-turvy and unpredictable as the NHL. Chemistry and combinations in pro hockey seems to count for a lot more than in other sports. I'm surprised but not surprised that being minus one Tavares somehow helped make the Islanders a better team.

 

[ULF_55]

Kind of disappointed in his impact on the team.

Certainly, Tavares - Marner is a good combination, but so was Kadri - Marner.

Leafs had 2 scoring lines last year, and looks kind of similar this year.

I don't blame Tavares, but 6th. place last year to 6th. place this year.

 

[LeafFever]

Kind of disappointed in his impact on the team.

Certainly, Tavares - Marner is a good combination, but so was Kadri - Marner.

Leafs had 2 scoring lines last year, and looks kind of similar this year.

I don't blame Tavares, but 6th. place last year to 6th. place this year.

I blame it squarely on coaching this year.

 

[GBLeaf]

Like a lot of people here I watch a ton of other sports, especially soccer, and no league is as topsy-turvy and unpredictable as the NHL. Chemistry and combinations in pro hockey seems to count for a lot more than in other sports. I'm surprised but not surprised that being minus one Tavares somehow helped make the Islanders a better team.

You get it quite a bit in soccer. Sometimes teams have a star player and everything goes through them. Other players often 'submit' to the star and it affects their output. The star leaves and the team as a whole benefit from it.

It's the coaches job to ensure that whilst having a star, he is there to provide key moments, not be relied upon for all the moments, so others will still step up.

re: leagues as crazy as this one. There's not many as crazy as the Championship in soccer. That is a crazy, crazy and unpredictable league. Far more interesting and exciting than the Premier League.

 

[Matthews34]

I blame it squarely on coaching this year.

Toronto and Buffalo were both bottom feeder teams chasing Babcock. Babcock ultimately chose Toronto and Toronto is a playoff. Buffalo hasn't made the playoffs since and actually finished dead last in 2017-2018. This season doesn't look good for Buffalo either. It could be complete nonsense to say Babcock wouldn't have changed the fortunes of Buffalo or maybe he's a really intelligent hockey mind and saw the deficiencies in Buffalo's organization and it's the reason he didn't choose them?

 

[LeafFever]

Toronto and Buffalo were both bottom feeder teams chancing Babcock. Babcock ultimately chose Toronto and Toronto is a playoff. Buffalo hasn't made the playoffs since and actually finished dead last in 2017-2018. This season doesn't look good for Buffalo either. It could be complete nonsense to say Babcock wouldn't have changed the fortunes of Buffalo or maybe he's a really intelligent hockey mind and saw the deficiencies in Buffalo's organization and it's the reason he didn't choose them?

Buffalo has been a very badly run organization. Babcock has has a lot of help.

 

[Durrr]

Kind of disappointed in his impact on the team.

Certainly, Tavares - Marner is a good combination, but so was Kadri - Marner.

Leafs had 2 scoring lines last year, and looks kind of similar this year.

I don't blame Tavares, but 6th. place last year to 6th. place this year.

2nd in the league in goals > Disappointed in his impact on the team. I know you explained your point and that you don't blame him, but how you can possibly derive that his impact on this team is low, seems insane.

Blame coaching and the line up if anything, but crazy to blame 1 player who's having a career year.

 

[LeafFever]

The PP is 100% on coaching. And someone needs to explain to me why one of the leaders in 5 on 5 scoring since late November in the entire NHL is on the 4th line.
Babcock's player usages is insane.

Get Marleau off the top 2 lines. Get Matthews better wingers and 2+ more minutes per game. Stop line-matching and playing the 4th line when you are down a goal in the 3rd when you have Tavares/Matthews/Kadri as your 3 centres.

 

[Matthews34]

Buffalo has been a very badly run organization. Babcock has has a lot of help.

I'm not sure if you're agreeing with me or disagreeing with me?

 

[PaulD]

what drastically improved was their goaltending and coaching. not their talent level.

also, Lou wanted badly to keep Tavares so let's not pretend anything else.

who cares what he "wanted". I was referring to what his team has accomplished after losing him.

Every GM in the league has reasone his team is doing better than the year before. Montreal got Shea Weber back and Price started playing great again. But MB still gets credit for what he has added around that good fortune.

Lou is a candidate is all Im saying.

 

[PaulD]

The PP is 100% on coaching. And someone needs to explain to me why one of the leaders in 5 on 5 scoring since late November in the entire NHL is on the 4th line.
Babcock's player usages is insane.

Get Marleau off the top 2 lines. Get Matthews better wingers and 2+ more minutes per game. Stop line-matching and playing the 4th line when you are down a goal in the 3rd when you have Tavares/Matthews/Kadri as your 3 centres.

Dont know who's job you should have. Lamarellos or Babcocks.

 

[LeafFever]

Dont know who's job you should have. Lamarellos or Babcocks.

A blind squirrel would see Johnsson needs to play more.

 

[PaulD]

Like a lot of people here I watch a ton of other sports, especially soccer, and no league is as topsy-turvy and unpredictable as the NHL. Chemistry and combinations in pro hockey seems to count for a lot more than in other sports. I'm surprised but not surprised that being minus one Tavares somehow helped make the Islanders a better team.

"It amazing what can be accomplished when it does not matter who gets the credit"

Rangers missed the play offs 5 years in a row with Messier on the team. Dropped him and made play offs.

 

[janesy12]

Treliving put a heck of a lot more effort into his moves and his team is 2nd overall.

Lou gave a ton of $ to a coach looking for a huge payday. I'd argue, Bergervin did a better job than Lou. He had a terrific summer.

He should be given more credit for the Lindholm/Hanafin trade. Hell of a deal.

 

[LeafFever]

He should be given more credit for the Lindholm/Hanafin trade. Hell of a deal.

Brilliant trade. He just spent his summer bending Carolina over.

 

[PaulD]

A blind squirrel would see Johnsson needs to play more.

And he will.

When you have that much talent it sometimes takes time to take the ice away from a (vet, 6 million dollar player player, coaches favorite, all of the above. A blind squirrel may have caught Johnsons play of late, yet knows nothing about organizational politics.

Johnson on the 3 rd or 4th line is a good problem to have.

btw. Im not a huge Babcock fan. I think he is over rated. Over paid. Full of himself. Has won one play off round in 8 years.

 

[LeafFever]

And he will.

When you have that much talent it sometimes takes time to take the ice away from a (vet, 6 million dollar player player, coaches favorite, all of the above. A blind squirrel may have caught Johnsons play of late, yet knows nothing about organizational politics.

Johnson on the 3 rd or 4th line is a good problem to have.

btw. Im not a huge Babcock fan. I think he is over rated. Over paid. Full of himself. Has won one play off round in 8 years.

Babcock likes his vets way too much and gives them way too much rope.

We aren't scoring enough, so I am not sure if we have as much depth as people think,

 

[janesy12]

Kind of disappointed in his impact on the team.

Certainly, Tavares - Marner is a good combination, but so was Kadri - Marner.

Leafs had 2 scoring lines last year, and looks kind of similar this year.

I don't blame Tavares, but 6th. place last year to 6th. place this year.

Babcock's refusal to change anything is the problem here. His stubbornness hurts this team IMO.
Almost all of Leafs nation, and members of the media were begging to try Marner with Matthews to give the team a boost he finally did that.
In his first interview with the media he acknowledged the change, and being his own stubborn, proud self he stated it probably wouldn't last long. Maybe not even after warm-ups.

Johnsson is on fire and in his last 4 games he's played 11:51, 9:31, 13:01, and 13:40 with 4 goals and 3 assists.
Meanwhile Marleau seems to have AM anchored down and he refuses to change the line.
Marleau in his last 4 games has played 16:11, 14:24, 16:03 and 16:14 with 1 assist. It's stubbornness, and pride that's hurting this team.

 

[LeafFever]

Babcock's refusal to change anything is the problem here. His stubbornness hurts this team IMO.
Almost all of Leafs nation, and members of the media were begging to try Marner with Matthews to give the team a boost he finally did that.
In his first interview with the media he acknowledged the change, and being his own stubborn, proud self he stated it probably wouldn't last long. Maybe not even after warm-ups.

Johnsson is on fire and in his last 4 games he's played 11:51, 9:31, 13:01, and 13:40.
Meanwhile Marleau seems to have AM anchored down and he refuses to change the line. It's stubbornness, and pride.

Yup. Huge problem. It's on coaching.

Patrick Marleau is REALLY bad this year.

 

[janesy12]

Yup. Huge problem. It's on coaching.

Patrick Marleau is REALLY bad this year.

Johnsson is on fire and in his last 4 games he's played 11:51, 9:31, 13:01, and 13:40 with 4 goals and 3 assists.
Marleau in his last 4 games has played 16:11, 14:24, 16:03 and 16:14 with 1 assist.

Marleau is hurting AM's production IMO. Try Johnsson and Kapanen with AM.

 

[LeafFever]

Johnsson is on fire and in his last 4 games he's played 11:51, 9:31, 13:01, and 13:40 with 4 goals and 3 assists.
Marleau in his last 4 games has played 16:11, 14:24, 16:03 and 16:14 with 1 assist.

Marleau is hurting AM's production IMO. Try Johnsson and Kapanen with AM.

I really want to vomit when I hear people rave about Marleau's leadership. If you are getting 6.3 million, you need to play far better on the ice.
He's lost a big step since last season.

 

[janesy12]

I like Marleau, but for $6.3 million he has to provide more than leadership. When a player is playing as bad as he has been, most coaches would drop him down the lineup and limit his minutes.
Babcock affixes him to Matthews wing.

 

[LeafFever]

Drop Marleau down to a bottom 6 forward, bring Johnsson up and you are a better team right there.

 

[Throw More Waffles]

Kind of disappointed in his impact on the team.

Certainly, Tavares - Marner is a good combination, but so was Kadri - Marner.

Leafs had 2 scoring lines last year, and looks kind of similar this year.

I don't blame Tavares, but 6th. place last year to 6th. place this year.

It wasn't supposed to be Tavares replacing Kadri. It was supposed to give us a ridiculous 1-2-3 punch at centre.

Who would have thought Kadri would have such a horrible year, and that Matthews would be so inconsistent?

The way I see it... the leafs overachieved last year. And if not for Tavares (our most consistent player this season) the leafs would currently be clinging to a wild-card position.

 

[Havoc]

How can this thread exist when Islanders fans already want his head.

You guys have no damn loyalty to this team.