TSN: Leafs projected early defensive pairings already set.

[Durkin67]

August 5th, and a coach who won't announce his goaltender a night before, tries to keep his roster a secret as long as he can, has announced his defensive pairings for the season? All this before he has seen them play a shift together. LOL.

Simmons is such a tool.

This reply should accompany the original post at the top of the thread.

He's anointed the top pairing before they have even shaken hands let alone run a drill together.

 

[Budsfan]

I posted in the trade tread that Jamie McBain could be picked up possibly for a minimal contract, he is a RH D and payed a ton of minutes for Buffalo, signing him would give us insurance, if Franson has the same problems as last year and since there appears to be a few teams wanting Franson, we could flip him for whatever, probably at the deadline.

Phanuef/Polak
Gardiner/McBain
Rielly/Robidas

 

[PuckMagi]

I find it a bit strange that we haven't signed any cheap defenders yet. Hopefully those moves are coming.

Cause we signed: Santorelli, Winnik, Booth and Kontiola for really good prices. We should be doing these types of deals to get one or two more defenders who could just play on the third pairing and not screw up all the time.

If we can trade Franson and sign two cheaper NHL D, then I think we'll have a solid team going into next season.

Maybe we haven't done this yet because they want guys like Granberg to play. I guess we have options like Holzer and stuff like that too. So we've got a lot more depth on defense on the Marlies. On offense, all we've got is Leivo, Bodie and Ashton. Leivo I actually think could be good. Bodie is probably just a 4th liner and Ashton I don't think will be a regular NHL player. So maybe the plan is to stay lean and mean and use the Marlies on defense if needed. With our forwards, we didn't really have that option.

 

[ACC1224]

This reply should accompany the original post at the top of the thread.

He's anointed the top pairing before they have even shaken hands let alone run a drill together.

Who has?

 

[The Great Gazoo]

Also, pairings and lines are never set in stone.

We have like 10 pre-season games or something that will change things drastically

Blow it up after the first scrimmage.

 

[MakeTheIronSing]

I posted in the trade tread that Jamie McBain could be picked up possibly for a minimal contract, he is a RH D and payed a ton of minutes for Buffalo, signing him would give us insurance, if Franson has the same problems as last year and since there appears to be a few teams wanting Franson, we could flip him for whatever, probably at the deadline.

Phanuef/Polak
Gardiner/McBain
Rielly/Robidas

You can't sign McBain without letting someone go or trading Franson immediately, you can't wait for the deadline.

Miraculously, the Leafs have managed to put themselves up against the cap ceiling while putting together a completely mediocre team. They've becomes the wealthy island of misfit toys.

 

[Mess]

I find it a bit strange that we haven't signed any cheap defenders yet. Hopefully those moves are coming.

Cause we signed: Santorelli, Winnik, Booth and Kontiola for really good prices. We should be doing these types of deals to get one or two more defenders who could just play on the third pairing and not screw up all the time.

If we can trade Franson and sign two cheaper NHL D, then I think we'll have a solid team going into next season.

Leafs only have $360k free cap space at present and the league minimum is $550k.

They can demote Orr and spend about $1 mil on a depth dman.

 

[Donato]

Leafs playing another bottom pairing defenseman like Polak on the top pair cause they have no other options. No new news here Simmonds, and I dont need your thick glasses to see that either.

 

[ACC1224]

Leafs only have $360k free cap space at present and the league minimum is $550k.

They can demote Orr and spend about $1 mil on a depth dman.

Can't you go over the cap in the summer?

 

[Mess]

Can't you go over the cap in the summer?

Yes by 10% however eventually you must comply with the cap before the regular season starts.

 

[ACC1224]

Yes by 10% however eventually you must comply with the cap before the regular season starts.

Of course.

 

[Mess]

Of course.

Are you suggesting Leafs should spend into that 10% overage cushion, and worry about complying later?

 

[Eb]

Why did the Leafs go out of their way to trade for right hand shot Polak and sign RH shot Robidas to get balance among the defense putting players on thier strong shooting side only to go back and play 2 LH shots together (Gardiner & Phaneuf) and 2 RH shot together (Franson and Polak)?

It defeats the entire purpose of trying to balance out the RH an LH shooting dmen if you don't pair 1 RH shot with 1 LH shot in each pairing.

They traded LH shot Gunnarsson to acquire RH shot Polak just to play Polak on the left side and opposite to his normal position.

You act like Nonis and crew acquired those players based on which way they hold their hockey stick and not on how well they play the game of hockey.

 

[ACC1224]

Are you suggesting Leafs should spend into that 10% overage cushion, and worry about complying later?

Wouldn't bother me depending on the Player.

 

[Hunter74]

I thought the whole play your best shut down guys against the other teams top lines was a bit old school?

Aren't a lot of teams now playing PMD against other teams top lines in the hope of keeping possession and the other teams skill players in their defensive zones where they are not as effective.

While I like the idea of having Polak and Phaneuf together because they are physical and defensively strong but that type of pairing seems more suited to RC's old way of thinking. Wouldn't Phaneuf plus a strong PMD be more optimal in todays game? Regain possession and transition quickly to offense and keep possession in effect limiting your teams shots against and scoring chances against as well as preserving energy by not defending constantly.

Obviously there must be some sort of balance kept for defense and transition abilities just not sure Polak, Phaneuf pairing is achieving the right balance. Love it for PK duties.

Maybe a better team system will offset Polak's lack of puck moving skills.

 

[seanlinden]

Is there any wonder why this team has so many issues year in and year out...on any other team Polak perfectly fits into the bottom pairing (at most he squeezes into the top 4) the Leafs trade for him and we make him a #1 pairing D-man. It's laughable really. Roman Polak is not a top pairing D-man it's just plain and simple. It's going to be really scary watching him and Dion play close to 23-24+ mins every night. Wow..just SMFH

If the team is so concentrated on giving Dion another vet on his other side then Robidas would be a way better fit on the top pairing than Polak. Polak's minutes need to be sheltered to be totally effective.

Outside of that my pairings would be

Phaneuf-Rielly
Robidas-Gardiner
Polak-Franson

Franson gets a solid vet to help cover his mistakes and you give Rielly a ton of minutes and leeway to do his thing. You also give Gardiner a shield in Robidas to cover any mistakes he makes as well. This is the best way of going about things IMO.

Objectively, Polak wouldn't play 23+ minutes a night. He'd probably play the exact role that Gunnarsson had; which was ~19 minutes a night, all at event strength or shorthanded.

As for your suggestion of Rielly with Phaneuf, I'm pretty confident in saying that seems to be the worst idea I've seen in this thread. Help a puckmover grow by putting him against the toughest defensive matchups.

 

[seanlinden]

If we use salary as a guide.

The Pairings should be this.

Gardiner 4.05 , Phaneuf 7
Robidas 3M , Franson 3.3
Rielly and Polak

I agree, anyone who thinks Polak is a #1 pairing D man is not being realistic, he has never been one in the NHL, I am not sure why we think he is now. Let him play where he has been good at in St. Louis. Stop trying to fit round pegs into square holes.

A round peg fits into a square hole quite nicely actually.

The real question is, what do you do when you have 5 square pegs and 1 round peg, with 2 round holes and 4 square holes?

 

[GordieHoweHatTrick]

Thread title is misleading simpy because pairings are not static, especially considering these guys arent even tried and tested together yet

 

[Hockey Talker29]

A round peg fits into a square hole quite nicely actually.

The real question is, what do you do when you have 5 square pegs and 1 round peg, with 2 round holes and 4 square holes?

Can you drill another hole?

 

[Divine]

Polak is a third pairing defenceman.. if he's playing on the first pairing, I'm buying my McDavid jersey now.

 

[ACC1224]

I'm amazed at how strong the opinions of Polak are.
Can people honestly say they've watched him play more than a few times?

 

[PuckMagi]

I think they should just go with Gardiner - Phaneuf as the top pair. Gardiner gets the PP time... Phaneuf gets the PK time.

Each plays about 25 minutes a night.

I think that they're both capable of playing big minutes... and they're our two best defenders IMO.

 

[pspot]

I'm amazed at how strong the opinions of Polak are.
Can people honestly say they've watched him play more than a few times?

he's solid in nhl 14
good endurance, can hit

 

[Sypher04]

Are you suggesting Leafs should spend into that 10% overage cushion, and worry about complying later?

Is it really even a worry though? Clearly not all the players we've signed can make the team, so we're looking at a couple demotions or waiver dumps anyway.

We may technically only have 360k right now in cap space, but we have 15 forwards signed in that space. Somethings gotta give.

 

[BlueBaron]

Nothing preventing Gardiner and Robidas being paired together and Rielly and Polak at least than you still have 1 LHs and 1 RHs.

Perhaps Franson is being shopped for Dion's new partner or being moved to promote Granberg.

You're on a roll with this thread Mess, I think I have agreed with every post you've made within ( a sure sign of the apocalypse )

We know they tried to trade Franson for Georgy so I am inclined to believe they will keep shopping him hoping to get a more defensive minded right handed shot with size, who uses his size.