Josh Leivo

[ACC1224]

why is soshnikov in the lineup? Hes been useless.

4th line has been excellent since Boyle arrived, not surprised they would keep it intact.

 

[Randy Randerson]

I'd like to see him in the lineup but who do you remove when everyone is healthy?

agree that we're at a saturation point for wingers on the roster, I still think that the upside we're seeing from Leivo is worth playing over Komarov and Soshnikov. Really I think we need to trade Komarov...or, if Leivo gets enough playing time this year to show that his play isn't a mirage, he's a very viable JVR replacement so then we could deal JVR. At this point I might even be tempted to roll the dice that one of Leivo, Kapanen or Leipsic can fill a top 6 LW spot and send JVR out for futures that we can shop for a dman with

Though, I do like that Soshnikov is getting a chance to earn it after returning from injury. I don't think Babcock should be sending the message that if you get hurt, your roster spot is up for grabs. Don't want any players to be tentative going into corners/blocking shots/etc

 

[Mess]

Sosh, Leivo, and now Fehr are all in competition for that 12th forward spot on the 4th line with the losers of that battle designated as 13th and 14th forwards when there are no injuries.

Sosh is a best fit for that spot, and since Boyle has arrived that Leafs 4th line trio has been very effective.

Sosh's gain in Leivo's loss in this case.

Wouldn't be surprised if we might even see Fehr get a shot there eventually, and both Sosh and Leivo sit out.

 

[1specter]

I'd like to see him in the lineup but who do you remove when everyone is healthy?

Soshnikov or Brown. I know people will cry PK but the PK hasn't been all that great, plus we have lots of personnel on this team as it is, especially now with the Boyle acquisition. In general I haven't been very impressed with Brown recently, I think he needs to take a seat for a bit, because if he's not bringing offense his defense alone isn't good enough to carry him on this team, especially when they are having trouble scoring goals. Brown is good defensively but when you have Hyman and Komarov who are both even better defensively and are more physical but are also devoid of offense then there's a problem.

 

[BodaciousBeefBazooka]

Penalty Kill.

we have boyle now to substitute with that matter and replace soshnikov with leivo or fehr

 

[hotpaws]

You sound like his ex girlfriend.

kid is a nothing but a decent NHLer who's being made to look like a somewhat useful player because he is one (and that's being honest) because his coach(not his dad Stuart Hyman) has glued him to the next truly great 2 way centre. He has also helped Matthews get 30+ goals and become an elite player. Lets hope he keeps supporting him.

He can skate and he tries hard

-when you can be on the same line and giving Auston the puck than your doing well
he hasn't been getting him the puck much at all , that's why his lack of production

-when you carry the puck like your determined to make a good play
lol , wtf does this even mean ? are u talking about his go to move of dumping the puck softly into the corner to himself where he loses possession 90% of the time

-when your able to get a decent shot off when your near the net.
he's had like 3 decent shots all year and that's being generous

-when you bring little no physical presence like most of the team
the majority of the team brings much much much more skill than daddy's speacial little boy and hows saying everyone's soft a defense of Hyman ?


how does that make you anything more than a decent NHLer

Seems like he is doing a solid job to me. I can tell Matthews loves Hyman as a winger. His non dad Babcock has done that for a reason and its working out

yea AM loves playing with him so much he stopped feeding him the puck just like Nylander did earlier which is why daddy demoted Willie to the 4th line as punishment

he has 2 points in his last 13 games , an assist where he blindly threw it in front of the net and a goal from a shot deflecting off him , Dads only going to be able to shelter him from Shanny/LL for so long so you better tell your big bro to pick it up or he'll find himself sliding down the roster

Doesn't Matthews also play with Nylander on the wing? How many Nylander's do you need on the line?
People have issues if Hyman-Matthews-Nylander is the biggest concern.
How about some D, a backup goalie and some heavier wingers. I don't see where this line is sinking us.

There's more options than just Mathews with Nylander and another similar player like Nylander .

-AM with Nylannder and either Brown or Levio
-AM with Brown and Levio
-AM with Marner and either Brown or Levio
-AM with JVR and either Brown or Levio

the point being there are many combinations a struggling team can try other than to continually play AM with Hymcock .

 

[ACC1224]

Soshnikov or Brown. I know people will cry PK but the PK hasn't been all that great, plus we have lots of personnel on this team as it is, especially now with the Boyle acquisition. In general I haven't been very impressed with Brown recently, I think he needs to take a seat for a bit, because if he's not bringing offense his defense alone isn't good enough to carry him on this team, especially when they are having trouble scoring goals. Brown is good defensively but when you have Hyman and Komarov who are both even better defensively and are more physical but are also devoid of offense then there's a problem.

I agree on Brown, he seems to have taken a step back and maybe watching a game or two could help him.

It's tougher removing Soshnikov right now, the 4th line has been excellent since Boyle arrived.

I have a feeling that the issue they have with Leivo has more to do with practice and off ice stuff more so than what we see in the games. There is obviously something there that is keeping him down the depth chart than what we see as fans.

 

[Trapper]

I agree on Brown, he seems to have taken a step back and maybe watching a game or two could help him.

It's tougher removing Soshnikov right now, the 4th line has been excellent since Boyle arrived.

I have a feeling that the issue they have with Leivo has more to do with practice and off ice stuff more so than what we see in the games. There is obviously something there that is keeping him down the depth chart than what we see as fans.

Don't forget in terms of Hyman/Brown etc., this is really their 1st full 82 game NHL season. It's now game 64, it's understandable that they might hit a wall going full out.
Also I'm not sure what injury Leivo had but in reality he has only played 12 NHL games in contrast. He should be firing on a higher cylinder in that time. We need to be careful of short sample sizes, not saying it is, just saying.

 

[ACC1224]

Don't forget in terms of Hyman/Brown etc., this is really their 1st full 82 game NHL season. It's now game 64, it's understandable that they might hit a wall going full out.
Also I'm not sure what injury Leivo had but in reality he has only played 12 NHL games in contrast. He should be firing on a higher cylinder in that time. We need to be careful of short sample sizes, not saying it is, just saying.

Agree, "hitting the wall" for Brown is a better term than taking a step back.

 

[burpsalot]

Don't forget in terms of Hyman/Brown etc., this is really their 1st full 82 game NHL season. It's now game 64, it's understandable that they might hit a wall going full out.
Also I'm not sure what injury Leivo had but in reality he has only played 12 NHL games in contrast. He should be firing on a higher cylinder in that time. We need to be careful of short sample sizes, not saying it is, just saying.

He also played only 2 games in the first 50 ish. He must have been squeezing the stick pretty damn tight with his latest group of games. So he flourished & has been one of the top forwards since his return to games. He was also a top 2 forward in last years Marlies playoffs. He seems to excel under pressure.

Do you bury a guy like that or play him as much as possible to really see what you have?

 

[Trapper]

He also played only 2 games in the first 50 ish. He must have been squeezing the stick pretty damn tight with his latest group of games. So he flourished & has been one of the top forwards since his return to games. He was also a top 2 forward in last years Marlies playoffs. He seems to excel under pressure.

Do you bury a guy like that or play him as much as possible to really see what you have?

The thing is the coach has 12 forwards and has very specific functions for those forwards. Leivo is good but it seems he's a tweener for what the coach wants.
He doesn't have the speed of Sosh. So he's out.
He doesn't bring what the coach wants from Martin. So he's out.
He's not a center. 4 spots gone.
He doesn't kill penalties like Hyman. Nope.
I'm not saying it's right, I think if we move JVR in the summer he'd fit opposite Marner.
He's one of the few that can give us "heavy" and work with skill. It just might take a little longer to open the spot/role.

Right now it's like JVR or Komarov are in his spot.

 

[Suntouchable13]

The thing is the coach has 12 forwards and has very specific functions for those forwards. Leivo is good but it seems he's a tweener for what the coach wants.
He doesn't have the speed of Sosh. So he's out.
He doesn't bring what the coach wants from Martin. So he's out.
He's not a center. 4 spots gone.
He doesn't kill penalties like Hyman. Nope.
I'm not saying it's right, I think if we move JVR in the summer he'd fit opposite Marner.
He's one of the few that can give us "heavy" and work with skill. It just might take a little longer to open the spot/role.

Right now it's like JVR or Komarov are in his spot.

PK is not a skill. Is it? You can teach anyone to PK but you can't teach skill.

 

[Duke Silver]

PK is not a skill. Is it? You can teach anyone to PK but you can't teach skill.

Penalty killing is absolutely a skill. While there's parts of it that can be honed (positionally, strategically), a players' anticipation and instinct is huge for penalty killing. Plus it doesn't hurt to be fleet of foot and have a good wingspan.

 

[Ziggdiezan]

Soshnikov or Brown. I know people will cry PK but the PK hasn't been all that great, plus we have lots of personnel on this team as it is, especially now with the Boyle acquisition. In general I haven't been very impressed with Brown recently, I think he needs to take a seat for a bit, because if he's not bringing offense his defense alone isn't good enough to carry him on this team, especially when they are having trouble scoring goals. Brown is good defensively but when you have Hyman and Komarov who are both even better defensively and are more physical but are also devoid of offense then there's a problem.

Even when Brown isn't scoring Babcock gives him a **** ton of ice time which shows how much trust Babcock has in Brown's positive impact.
I would be very very surprised if he sits at all this season

 

[moon111]

I think if the Leafs could even play average defensively, Leivo would be in. As it is, you're taking away a position from some of the only players who seem to have some defensive end to their game. In a dream world, JVR would be traded for an equally valuable defenseman and Leivo would take his spot.

 

[Battle Lin]

leivo gotta wait his time, guys like brown, hyman, martin and komarov has played every game for us so far all 64...they battled for us all year, gives it for us every shift, you dont sit them...then every one else thats playing minus sosh is just plain better than leivo

 

[Lil Tuzzi Bert]

leivo gotta wait his time, guys like brown, hyman, martin and komarov has played every game for us so far all 64...they battled for us all year, gives it for us every shift, you dont sit them...then every one else thats playing minus sosh is just plain better than leivo

Disagree, on a couple points. First it wouldn't hurt Komarov to sit a game or two even to watch and develop a bigger want to play he seems to me to not be giving it his all at some points. Leivo can compliment Matthews in a way very few on our current roster can and I'd like to see him get a shot. Finally it's very debatable to determine who's better between josh and Leivo and I'd lean toward Leivo with his numbers size and board play. Their shots are almost a wash.

 

[Moncherry]

I think both Soshnikov and Leivo are better than Hyman.

 

[jaric1862]

I think both Soshnikov and Leivo are better than Hyman.

I think they are in every thing but puck retrieval, and thats why i think babcock plays him with Matthews.I think Bab's keeps Leivo out of the lineup because of his skating

 

[BigBlu]

why is soshnikov in the lineup? Hes been useless.

1 slap shot that got through a goalie...

 

[Randy Randerson]

leivo gotta wait his time, guys like brown, hyman, martin and komarov has played every game for us so far all 64...they battled for us all year, gives it for us every shift, you dont sit them...then every one else thats playing minus sosh is just plain better than leivo

Leivo's in his draft+6 year, he has put in his time

Leivo has also been a better player throughout his career than Sosh, Komarov, Martin, etc by a wide margin

If Leivo keeps playing how he has this year, he's a legitimate perennial allstar:

Leading the NHL in pts/60 for players with 100 mins played: http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/rat...ards&minutes=100&disp=1&sort=PCT&sortdir=DESC
Top 5 in shots for %, where his team mates without him have a 48% SF%: http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/rat...ards&minutes=100&disp=1&sort=PCT&sortdir=DESC
#1 in Shots For/60: http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/rat...100&teamid=0&type=shots&sort=F60&sortdir=DESC
#1 in SF%RelTM: http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/rat...eamid=0&type=shots&sort=PCTRelTM&sortdir=DESC

He's on a .75 ppg pace with less than 13 mins a game, a shooting percentage under 10% and a heavily D-zone biased deployment

It's not likely that he continues this pace, but in terms of earning a chance there's not a thing else he could do, he has been a star player for us in the time he's been up this year - that's the concern here, that we're sitting a guy that could turn into a very very impactful NHL'er to play guys who are very replaceable like Sosh and Komarov who are both NHL players but neither is a legitimate top 6 player

 

[yubbers]

Good diggin. And that's just it. What more can he do?

 

[Randy Randerson]

Good diggin. And that's just it. What more can he do?

digging up stats that paint him in a very positive light is not hard at all, finding ones that don't is much harder...I honestly don't know what else he could do to get the coaching staff's attention, very concerned that he gets taken in expansion and ends up being a James Neal type producer who's good both ways

 

[yubbers]

digging up stats that paint him in a very positive light is not hard at all, finding ones that don't is much harder...I honestly don't know what else he could do to get the coaching staff's attention, very concerned that he gets taken in expansion and ends up being a James Neal type producer who's good both ways

I've been a huge Josh fan for a while now. I was screaming last year when he wasn't getting played.

 

[diceman934]

I think both Soshnikov and Leivo are better than Hyman.

Hyman is the better of the 3 ....far more useful. This is his rookie year and he is playing very well and has 25 points.