Pre-Game Talk: Leafs @ Devils, Jan 10 - 7 pm

[Coachcorner]

Marleau has been playing alright I feel.

He does not play the game like the Europeans do on this team. Marleau is an old school winger now. Up and down the wing, go to the net.

Marleau is going to look better and better as the season wears on.

That is the Leafs problem right now. Marleau, Tavares, Hyman, Kadri, sometimes Brown ... ... those are the guys who stand in front of the net. Kadri tries but he's too small get pushed out of there easily. Therefore, the team only has 3 guys who stand in front of the net. Levio used to do that, but Dubas got rid of him.

Wonderful analyzis sire. Havin watched patty the pap playing since 96 with the sharks y'all have it correct. Exactly. He has changed his game during these years also and was softy at one point. A loser really, not anymore. Glad we have him. I know marleau like I knows my punjan

 

[LeafalCrusader]

Or we can stop putting the worst offensive black hole in the league with our star players.

 

[4StevieBlunder4]

Or we can stop putting the worst offensive black hole in the league with our star players.

I must have missed our trade for Lucic.

 

[ANDI P IS CUTE]

HOPE THEY keep losing, their pp sucks, half the team is not doing anything, they cant beat trap teams or good goalies, the lightning or the bruins either.

 

[Nooodles]

HOPE THEY keep losing, their pp sucks, half the team is not doing anything, they cant beat trap teams or good goalies, the lightning or the bruins either.

With 1-2 bad weeks we can easily find ourserlves out of the playoffs. I hope it's not gonna happen, but the league is way more tighter than people think. The under the line Isles are 6 point away and they have a game in hand.

 

[Apotheosis]

I must have missed our trade for Lucic.

Even Lucic has better underlying offensive numbers than Hyman.

 

[DarkKnight]

Marleau has been playing alright I feel.

He does not play the game like the Europeans do on this team. Marleau is an old school winger now. Up and down the wing, go to the net.

Marleau is going to look better and better as the season wears on.

That is the Leafs problem right now. Marleau, Tavares, Hyman, Kadri, sometimes Brown ... ... those are the guys who stand in front of the net. Kadri tries but he's too small get pushed out of there easily. Therefore, the team only has 3 guys who stand in front of the net. Levio used to do that, but Dubas got rid of him.

I'm not going out of my way to hate on Marleau, but he really looked bad with JT and Marner, his board play was awful and plays just died on his stick.

 

[razkaz]

They should just reunite Hyman Matthews Nylander and hope they can reignite their chemistry from the previous 2 years IMO. Get them going again and Johnsson-Marner-Tavares on another line and that's a pretty deadly 1-2 punch.

Where is this myth coming from that it was Hyman that made Matthews-Nylander a good line? It's almost the same myth with Hyman being good on the Tavares-Marner line...hate to break it to you guys but it's not Hyman who makes those lines click.

Johnsson-Matthews-Nylander have been playing well but since the Leafs are limited on skilled fast LW I'd rather see

Nylander-Matthews-Kapanen
Johnsson-Tavares-Marner
Marleau-Kadri-Hyman

At least for the next game and see how they do

 

[NoTouchIcing]

Nylander-Matthews-Kapanen
Johnsson-Tavares-Marner
Marleau-Kadri-Hyman

At least for the next game and see how they do

What kind of judgements are you going to make after a single game?

 

[Burnie97]

I think Leafs win the next 3. I think it's good teams are catching up in a way. It's good to deal with adversity. It puts a bit of pressure on some of these guys that need to learn how to win when the stakes are higher. Plus there is a ton of season left.

I'm not worried because of a few simple reasons.

Are we better than Buffalo... Yes
Are we better than Boston... Yes
Are we better than Montreal... Yes
Are we better than the f***ing Islanders.... Yes

Let's not all panic. We'll be fine.

The talent is there.... the work ethic is what isn't always there 100 % yet.

You can't teach talent.

Andy is probably back Thursday
.. and like him or not sounds like Hyman may be too. I'm glad he will be. You can't ever question his work ethic. . and I don't know about everyone else but work ethic is contagious. If the guy beside me is working hard you're damn right I will be too.

Looking forward to crushing Jersey. No reason we can't.

 

[razkaz]

What kind of judgements are you going to make after a single game?

We've seen Nylander-Matthews-Kapanen before and they looked great. We've also seen Johnsson on that line with Tavares and Marner and have looked stellar. The idea is moreso to see what a line of Marleau-Kadri-Hyman can do

 

[TheGroceryStick]

Hyman should start on the 3rd line.
An I'm a Hyman fan.

Hyman - Kadri - Kapanen brings energy

Brown is playing himself off this team. Need to show he can be relied on more than a PK chaser rabbit...

 

[Mugzy97]

Wonderful analyzis sire. Havin watched patty the pap playing since 96 with the sharks y'all have it correct. Exactly. He has changed his game during these years also and was softy at one point. A loser really, not anymore. Glad we have him. I know marleau like I knows my punjan

And this guy knows his punjan

 

[Nineteen67]

I think Leafs win the next 3. I think it's good teams are catching up in a way. It's good to deal with adversity. It puts a bit of pressure on some of these guys that need to learn how to win when the stakes are higher. Plus there is a ton of season left.

I'm not worried because of a few simple reasons.

Are we better than Buffalo... Yes
Are we better than Boston... Yes
Are we better than Montreal... Yes
Are we better than the ****ing Islanders.... Yes

Let's not all panic. We'll be fine.

The talent is there.... the work ethic is what isn't always there 100 % yet.

You can't teach talent.

Andy is probably back Thursday
.. and like him or not sounds like Hyman may be too. I'm glad he will be. You can't ever question his work ethic. . and I don't know about everyone else but work ethic is contagious. If the guy beside me is working hard you're damn right I will be too.

Looking forward to crushing Jersey. No reason we can't.

One could argue Boston’s top 5 players are more talented than the Leafs top 5 and their bottom half is a better than Leafs bottom half.

 

[Alamo Leafer]

On upcoming games: god forbid if we do lose to Jersey tomorrow, but on a positive side and no guarantee, the team may then come out on a mission against the Bruins on HNIC which would be awesome. Plus, again, we haven't lost 3 games in row yet when we face them.

On the goalie situation: we got 3 real tough games next week so I wouldn't mind having Andy rest couple more days till Saturday's game, if he is already healthy. I'm not worried with Hutch in the goal for tomorrow's game, as long as he gets those darn pads changed to Blue &White fcol.

On PP: that to me is the pressing matter that needs fixing asap. No excuse whatsoever with this talent on the ice. May be it is time to break up the A team, if the entire league has seen this movie over and over.

Overall: I hate to sound pessimistic, but this team hasn't shown they've got what it takes to beat teams like Tampa, Boston or Washington in the playoffs.
I agree with Babs, they need to play heavier, but that may not be in this crew's DNA, so pieces will need to be added if we are to go deeper than just 1 or 2 rounds in the POs.

Just my humble opinion of course.

 

[ShaneFalco]

I agree with Babs, they need to play heavier, but that may not be in this crew's DNA,

I don't think it is. And if they did play heavier they'd draw more penalties
There has to be a balance. This team can be way too easy to play against and getting hemmed in in their own zone seems to be a recurring problem

 

[Budsfan]

 

[Mugzy97]

One could argue Boston’s top 5 players are more talented than the Leafs top 5 and their bottom half is a better than Leafs bottom half.

One could also argue against that

 

[Nineteen67]

One could also argue against that

That’s how that works....otherwise it would be an agreement.

 

[Budsfan]

 

[Coachcorner]

Is this starting to look like Andersen plays tomorrow already? *surprised face* Thangs are gittin very interesthang. We mights totally destroy this other club with gunz high tomorrow. :fire: :alarm: :thang: :smoke: :leaf: :high: :did: :that: :yeah: :i: :did: :that:

 

[Burnie97]

One could argue Boston’s top 5 players are more talented than the Leafs top 5 and their bottom half is a better than Leafs bottom half.

No doubt. You could argue their top 5 are better but in my mind they aren't . It's still early in their careers to say forsure but I easily take the Leafs forward corps out of any team in the league. Yes even over Tampa. I think in the long run they're better.

Leafs problem is still their back end. I'm not saying it's terrible at all either. It just needs a couple upgrades which won't be easy to do. Also I like Babcock but I think their system could use a couple of tweaks.

 

[Nineteen67]

No doubt. You could argue their top 5 are better but in my mind they aren't . It's still early in their careers to say forsure but I easily take the Leafs forward corps out of any team in the league. Yes even over Tampa. I think in the long run they're better.

Leafs problem is still their back end. I'm not saying it's terrible at all either. It just needs a couple upgrades which won't be easy to do. Also I like Babcock but I think their system could use a couple of tweaks.

Right now, I’d take Bergeron over almost anyone on the Leafs.

 

[Fogelhund]

Kristen Shilton‏Verified account @kristen_shilton 13s14 seconds ago
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Different look on the power play units at #Leafs practice:
PP1: Marleau, Matthews, Nylander, Johnsson and Gardiner.
PK1: Hyman, Brown, Hainsey and Zaitsev

PP1a: Kapanen, Tavares, Marner, Kadri and Rielly.
PK1a: Gauthier, Lindholm, Marincin and Holl.

 

[stickty111]

We are back to a split up PP.