Line Combos: Kadri as a winger ... Bolland takes over 2nd./3rd. line center

[ULF_55]

Considering the inability of Kadri to come close to winning half his face-offs should we look at using him as a winger similar to Cammalleri?

With Bolland the Leafs now have a 2nd./3rd. line center to man the shutdown line.

Grabovski can move into an offensive role.

Grabovski
Bolland
McClement
Colborne

Down the middle.

Colborne in limited face-offs was 51% regular season, but like Kadri got school badly by the Bruins.

Click to read more...

 

[Guy Boucher]

Hey you know that thing that didn't work? Let's try it again.

 

[SprDaVE]

I'd say Kadri did quite fine as a center in his first full year. Faceoffs is probably never going to be a key positive in his game but if he can keep it around the 45% as a low, that's pretty good for a pure offensive player.

Most teams do badly against Boston in the faceoff circle anyway, so I'm not one bit worried. Also, plenty of offensive centers are not that good in the faceoff department. Malkin, for example, has never been over 50% on faceoffs. Henrik Sedin is another that is below 50%. There are countless others.

Keep him as a center and keep developing. Leaf fans keep screaming patience and drafting but truth is, they barely have the patience for it. This thread shows it... no offense to you ULF.

 

[Revolt]

Definitely no. He can improve on his faceoffs much like several other young players.

 

[leafers]

Or maybe give him time and let him learn that craft.

He is at his best when playing center, not the best idea to put him on the wing because of his faceoff ability.

Let Kadri be where he is.

 

[I am Canadian]

Bolland is 46% at faceoffs.

Not so big of an improvement

 

[Grant]

Malkin's faceoff percentage over his career:
06/07 - 43.3
07/08 - 39.3
08/09 - 42.4
09/10 - 40.0
10/11 - 38.5
11/12 - 47.5
12/13 - 47.2

After all those years, Malkin is still a centerman. Some people are best suited for the center ice role, regardless of how they are on the dot. Give Kadri time, his faceoffs can improce.

 

[ULF_55]

I'd say Kadri did quite fine as a center in his first full year. Faceoffs is probably never going to be a key positive in his game but if he can keep it around the 45% as a low, that's pretty good for a pure offensive player.

Most teams do badly against Boston in the faceoff circle anyway, so I'm not one bit worried. Also, plenty of offensive centers are not that good in the faceoff department. Malkin, for example, has never been over 50% on faceoffs. Henrik Sedin is another that is below 50%. There are countless others.

Keep him as a center and keep developing. Leaf fans keep screaming patience and drafting but truth is, they barely have the patience for it. This thread shows it... no offense to you ULF.

No offense taken ...

As soon as Kadri produces like Malkin we can live with Malkin's crappy face-offs.

Kadri will be 23 before the season starts. We aren't talking about an 18 year old kid learning how to take face-offs here.

Cammalleri has a .75 PPG career. 60 points per year over an entire career isn't bad.

Weiss has a .60 PPG career and there seems to be a lot of love for that .60 PPG player.

 

[Stephen23]

I think Kadri needs to be a center to be most effective. This year proved how much better he was as a C than a W.

 

[Mess]

Because of Chicago's talent level and depth Bolland was a depth player in comparison.

However in Toronto with a real weakness down the middle I fully expect Bolland to play in a top 6 role (TOI/g & PP TOI/g) and wouldn't be surprised if he had his best statistical season of his career next season.

Either Grabovski or Kadri could move to the wing to precipitate Bolland playing as a top 6 center.. He might even get a try replacing Bozak on the top line and playing with Kessel. (Barring a top center brought in)

JVR ----- Bolland -- Kessel
Lupul --- Kadri ---- Clarkson
XXXX -- Grabovski -- Kulemin

 

[ACC1224]

As it stands, I expect Kadri to Center Kessel this year.

 

[SprDaVE]

No offense taken ...

As soon as Kadri produces like Malkin we can live with Malkin's crappy face-offs.

Kadri will be 23 before the season starts. We aren't talking about an 18 year old kid learning how to take face-offs here.

Cammalleri has a .75 PPG career. 60 points per year over an entire career isn't bad.

Weiss has a .60 PPG career and there seems to be a lot of love for that .60 PPG player.

Obviously Malkin more than makes up for it. The point was to show that some great centers are very average/poor on faceoffs.

Kadri was 44% on faceoffs this past season in his first "full" season. He was terrible at 31% in the playoffs, against the best faceoff team in the LEAGUE.

Definitely needs work and that's why you keep him there. Grabovski was also a ~45% faceoff man in his first full year as a 23-24 year old with the Leafs. He's now over 50% and was 45% against Boston this past playoffs.

You can keep improving even if you aren't 18-20 years old.

 

[ULF_55]

Obviously Malkin more than makes up for it. The point was to show that some great centers are very average/poor on faceoffs.

Kadri was 47% on faceoffs this past season in his first "full" season. He was terrible at 31% in the playoffs, against the best faceoff team in the LEAGUE.

Definitely needs work and that's why you keep him there. Grabovski was also a ~45% faceoff man in his first full year as a 23-24 year old with the Leafs. He's now over 50% and was 45% against Boston this past playoffs.

You can keep improving even if you aren't 18-20 years old.

Actually, according to NHL.com Kadri was 44.2 regular season.

1 Clarke MacArthur TOR L 40 5 1 0 0 0 0 2 1 66.7 3 0 100.0 5 1 6 83.3
2 Phil Kessel TOR R 48 4 3 0 0 1 0 2 1 66.7 3 2 60.0 5 3 8 62.5
3 Matt Frattin TOR R 25 3 3 2 0 0 0 2 3 40.0 3 0 100.0 5 3 8 62.5
4 James van Riemsdyk TOR L 48 12 10 11 5 1 4 12 8 60.0 12 11 52.2 24 19 43 55.8
5 Tyler Bozak TOR C 46 378 339 83 78 98 87 276 254 52.1 283 250 53.1 559 504 1063 52.6
6 Joe Colborne TOR C 5 15 14 0 0 0 0 7 4 63.6 8 10 44.4 15 14 29 51.7
7 Jay McClement TOR C 48 163 153 3 0 37 37 109 107 50.5 94 83 53.1 203 190 393 51.6
8 Leo Komarov TOR C 42 25 23 0 0 4 5 11 10 52.4 18 18 50.0 29 28 57 50.9
9 Mikhail Grabovski TOR C 48 296 274 26 41 1 0 164 154 51.6 159 161 49.7 323 315 638 50.6
10 Nikolai Kulemin TOR L 48 9 7 1 0 0 3 6 2 75.0 4 8 33.3 10 10 20 50.0
11 David Steckel TOR C 13 34 40 0 0 4 3 15 18 45.4 23 25 47.9 38 43 81 46.9
12 Nazem Kadri TOR C 48 235 292 14 22 1 1 133 177 42.9 117 138 45.9 250 315 565 44.2

 

[calcal798]

As it stands, I expect Kadri to Center Kessel this year.

And lets leave it that way.

 

[GordieHoweHatTrick]

Considering the inability of Kadri to come close to winning half his face-offs should we look at using him as a winger similar to Cammalleri?

Have you seen Bolland's face-off numbers?

I'm not too sure I like his addition. What kind of salary will he demand after his contract expires next season? He's ideally a bottom-6 player who will be in line to earn upwards of $4M on average because of the recent success he's had.

 

[Drew311]

Kadri is weak along the boards and would be wasted on the wing. Playing centre gives him much more space to handle the puck and be creative, thus playing to his greatest strength of distributing the puck.

I also don't think Kadri's faceoff ability should be judged by the Bruins series. They are the best faceoff team in the NHL and have the ability to own just about any team at the dot.

 

[The CyNick]

seems like a bad idea. he played really well at centre, why change? faceoff numbers often take years to improve on. 45% is a great starting point to build on.

and the whole premise was now that we have bolland, and he's not even a great faceoff guy.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

No, **** that. It was his first full season. Bergeron wasn't great at face offs when he first entered the league himself. I'm not saying Kadri is going to become Bergeron, but he will get better as time goes on. He'll never improve if never given the chance though.

 

[GordieHoweHatTrick]

Because of Chicago's talent level and depth Bolland was a depth player in comparison.

However in Toronto with a real weakness down he middle I fully expect Bolland to play in a top 6 role (TOI/g & PP TOI/g) and wouldn't be surprised if he had his best statistical season of his career next season.

Either Grabovski or Kadri could move to the wing to precipitate Bolland playing as a top 6 center.. He might even get a try replacing Bozak on the top line and playing with Kessel. (Barring a top center brought in)

JVR ----- Bolland -- Kessel
Lupul --- Kadri ---- Clarkson
XXXX -- Grabovski -- Kulemin

Bolland spent a considerable amount of time playing with Sharp and Kane. Seems like he and Handzus split 2nd line C duties according to DobberHockey and DailyFaceoff. Blackhawks fans even considered adding Grabovski to their roster because they didn't like the production they were getting from their 2nd line Cs. His defense better be real good to make up for his abysmal faceoff percentage and lack of production.

 

[blueberrie]

Why would we stunt Kadri's development in favour of Bolland? We tried Kadri as a wing, didn't work. His faceoffs will get better with time.

 

[SprDaVE]

Actually, according to NHL.com Kadri was 44.2 regular season.

Oops, I looked at the wrong line and mistakenly took Steckel's faceoff number instead.

My bad! I'll edit my response.

 

[theaub]

Bolland spent a considerable amount of time playing with Sharp and Kane. Seems like he and Handzus split 2nd line C duties according to DobberHockey and DailyFaceoff. Blackhawks fans even considered adding Grabovski to their roster because they didn't like the production they were getting from their 2nd line Cs. His defense better be real good to make up for his abysmal faceoff percentage and lack of production.

Pretty much this.

Bolland is extremely effective as a bottom six centre, but the fact that the Hawks picked up a guy who couldn't even dress for San Jose to play with Sharp/Kane instead of Bolland says more than enough about his ability to play in a scoring role.

 

[leafspring*]

Considering the inability of Kadri to come close to winning half his face-offs should we look at using him as a winger similar to Cammalleri?

With Bolland the Leafs now have a 2nd./3rd. line center to man the shutdown line.

Grabovski can move into an offensive role.

Grabovski
Bolland
McClement
Colborne

Down the middle.

Colborne in limited face-offs was 51% regular season, but like Kadri got school badly by the Bruins.

Just no ULF and he will get better at face offs.

 

[Mess]

As it stands, I expect Kadri to Center Kessel this year.

Putting Kadri in the face-off dot up against the top centers in the the league and gaining Leaf puck possession not a concern of yours?

 

[Liminality]

Putting Kadri in the face-off dot up against the top centers in the the league and gaining Leaf puck possession not a concern of yours?

That's the whole "play the kids and live with the consequences" thing isn't it?

Hopefully Kadri gets better with more experience in faceoffs and continues to learn.