Having slept on the game last night, while I do think the Leafs were a no-show, it's made me think there are fundamental issues with the system we're playing right now.
1) Hyman and Martin consistently leak out too far for the stretch pass and it's a personnel and systemic issue. Personnel- They aren't capable of that type of usage nor should they be put in that position. That type of stretch pass is a dead play when your passing it to them. Why are two of our most offensively incapable players leaking out for the stretch pass the most?
Systemic- Why are they always the first to leak out and exit the zone.
I always bought into the Martin "least of all evils" argument that what he provides is a necessity (and still can accept it), but he's been a fundamentally terrible player offensively and defensively. His awareness in terms of reading plays in our own end or even covering the points is on a plane similar to JVR. Except he's the only player on the ice that I consistently see taking too long of a shift- which I've noticed we often let slide because of how little he actually plays, nonetheless.
2) We could use a defender like McNabb. And I never though I'd say this, but even a guy like Engelland- because the gap between what Babcock perceives Polak can/or is- between the former two is massive. And I'm only speaking from the framework of "we need a big guy down the line in our back-end if we want to peak in the playoffs"
Polak has one of the worst sticks for a bigger defender I've ever seen and that takes away actual positives he can provide on the ice (I mean, geniuinely, watching other teams- big defenders with a long stick tend to be massive disruptions in passing/shooting lanes, or even on the entry- save Polak)- given he provides nothing offensively in terms of driving the play already.
3) I don't know what to say about Gardiner at this point. He's decided to stop being a PMD completely. He has no will to skate with the puck anymore. Without any idea of what's going on behind the scenes, it's impossible to know exactly why but on the rare occasion, you see him rush the puck up ice, sometimes with his deceptive 3-5'o clock skating style while picking up speed. It's a shame because those flashes have been far and few between. He's not a prospect anymore. And if it hasn't been made abundantly clear with Zaits gone, there is now no question that Gardiner- at the very least, was sinking that pairing on his part.
I haven't seen a game this year (Leaf games that is, Tampa is another ridiculously good transition team) and this is a testament to Gallant and Vegas where a team consistently made such nice, smooth short transition passes entering our end of the ice. Skating it in with a lot of speed, short quick passes and if they were cut off- dumping it in and entering the fore-check with even more speed. Not only did we get out-worked tonight, it looked like Gallant has been severely out-coaching Babcock all year with the system he's been running......and we got skate to the ground last night. Vegas was easily the more faster team.
