Player Discussion Josh Leivo

[Tables of Stats]

Hey Flames fans, I'm a Canucks fan coming in peace to ask about a player we were sad to lose this offseason. I haven't watched any Flames games outside of the ones against my team of choice but looking at Leivo's counting stats he's on pace for his worse season in a couple of years. Is this a case of him being slower or softer after coming back from a nasty injury or is he just not getting deployed above the 4th line and getting less offense because of that?

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[DomBarr]

tell your GM to offer up a 2nd and I am sure the Flames will send him back...

 

[Tables of Stats]

tell your GM to offer up a 2nd and I am sure the Flames will send him back...

I'll offer whatever this year's equivalent to Micheal Carcone is if you're also willing to do a Roussel for Bennet swap.

 

[Mazatt]

Leivo started off the season strong but was snakebitten for a large portion of it. Cycled between lines 2-4 and the press box and couldn't get anything beyond good advanced stats going. now he's on the 4th line but that doesn't mean he isn't getting opportunity, since Sutter loves his bottom 6. He won a game against Montreal for us, but hasn't been super impactful since. Hard to get an angle on what is up with him, but when he's battling and on his game it's very noticeable. Not super fast, not evasive, but is great along the boards and has a big shot.

Biggest thing is that he's been inconsistent and he needs to consistently produce chances. Otherwise I don't see anything wrong with him.

 

[DFF]

Leivo is like Bennett

not good enough to help the offense

and not good enough to make a difference on defense

basically a plug

it’s ok to have one in the lineup

problem is the flames have too many of them

 

[Tables of Stats]

It's strange to see anybody call him a plug. He wasn't the hardest or nastiest guy to play against in Vancouver but he was effective anywhere in the bottom six and surprisingly productive for us.

However, if the issue is his footspeed I could see his knee injury last year as a major source of his lost effectiveness. He's simply not skilled enough to get by without being first into a corner and if he's lost a step that would make him much worse.

 

[Body Checker]

He would probably be good on a team like St Louis or Washington.

 

[Mobiandi]

I was a massive fan of his prior to coming here. Wanted him when he was available in Toronto and was kind of choked that Vancouver got him for pennies as a favour to Leivo. That said, I think his injury has limited a lot of his effectiveness. He might be better in a less toxic team environment but I don't see a lot here that makes me think he's an NHL regular in his current form

 

[Ace Rimmer]

It's strange to see anybody call him a plug. He wasn't the hardest or nastiest guy to play against in Vancouver but he was effective anywhere in the bottom six and surprisingly productive for us.

However, if the issue is his footspeed I could see his knee injury last year as a major source of his lost effectiveness. He's simply not skilled enough to get by without being first into a corner and if he's lost a step that would make him much worse.

He calls everyone a plug lol

Leivo doesn't seem to have the same speed or confidence that he had with Vancouver. The injury is likely the culprit and is greatly affecting his play so far, will be interesting to see if he can play his way through it. Now that there's a veteran coach behind the bench, he might have help getting into the right headspace.

Great game the other night though.

 

[Tables of Stats]

Thanks, for the insight. As much as we're in a fierce battle to try to climb into the final playoff spot I can't help but cheer for the players who went over to your team this offseason. I even hope Marky can turn his game around and be at least a .910 goalie for you but I have to wonder if he can do it while playing as many games as he has been.

 

[TheHudlinator]

I don't think he is 100% recovered from his knee injury, his cycle game is still very effective but he doesn't seem to have any confidence carrying the puck and I can't help but think that's in part to not being confident with his knee. I was shocked he tried coming back this year and I'm not sure what anyone expected from him because of how hard of a recovery he had. With Sutter here I hope we re-sign him next year as I think he will be a more impactful player then.

 

[Khrox]

As others said, the injury may have hampered him a bit. But there was a good while where he was absolutely dominant, but couldn't score a goal or get an assist to save his life (like his xGF was something stupidly high like 70%, after like a 10 game stretch, and he had 1 assist out of it). He's a likeable enough player, when he's on, he's super noticable. When he's off, he seems kind of invisible, but not in a bad way (when he's invisible, at least he doesn't hurt you defensively. Maybe not "shut down" type thing, but definitely not hurting you either)