The Star: Maple Leafs face Canadiens, Bruins, Red Wings in new Atlantic Division

[Cor]

Montreal is tougher, but not by much.

Parros isn't that great of a fighter anymore, and although murray is physical, our forwards will skate right around him.

 

[21]

Montreal is tougher, but not by much.

Parros isn't that great of a fighter anymore, and although murray is physical, our forwards will skate right around him.

Yeah, yeah... it depends on how Montreal will use him. Murray needs to be paired wisely, that's for sure. He is valuable on PK and blocking lots of shots, Murray had a couple of weird injuries end of season 2012 (throat etc), now he is fully recovered and he played so much better for the Penguins than the Sharks last year.

Murray is one of the strongest and toughest players in the game and perhaps one of the greatest/toughest open ice hitters of all time? (at least top ten)

Douglas Murray rocks Dustin Byfuglien
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXsFK9NY0E4

A more recent highlight vs Boyle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QQl-AvnLnE

Montreal becoming a bit more physical is fun and good for the game.

 

[EDDIE20*]

Karlsson isn't a great defender, though. His minutes are lot softer. On the other hand, Lidstrom was carrying Paul Coffey, defensively. It's offensive to compare Karlsson to Lidstrom. He's not going to develop into an all-round defenceman. Nothing wrong with that, because Paul Coffey, who like Karl is an offensive defenceman, is what every team wants.

Edited "good" for "great". Regardless, nothing special in that regard.

Go post this in the General forum and see what happens.

 

[FreeBird]

Montreal is tougher, but not by much.

Parros isn't that great of a fighter anymore, and although murray is physical, our forwards will skate right around him.

Canadiens marched into the ACC the last game of the year and trounced the Leafs in a must win situation. Toughness was not a factor.

 

[SteveV*]

This new format is pure unmitigated ******** and I can't believe more aren't upset. How can you have any sense of fairness in a league where one conference has 8 spots for 14 teams, one 8 for 16. Simply isn't fair, and it puts our Leafs at a relative disadvantage. The NHL is a joke for going with this embarrassing system, which contradicts the essence of sport, fair competition.

 

[likeabosski]

Yep, because the Norris is usually awarded to the Dman with the most points. Otherwise, there is no way Erik Karlsson would be considered the best defenceman in the league. Supremely talented, but not much of a defender.

The Norris Trophy has no real meaning anymore. They just give it to the D-Man with the most points. If you are not a puck-carrying defenseman, you can kiss your shot at that trophy goodbye. It's stupid. P.K Subban is so over-rated. He plays only 17:06 even-strength/g, which makes him a #4 tier D-Man. His point production comes from playing sheltered competition on the 2nd defensive pairing and PP-1 duty. Lots of guys pad their point totals with Powerplay duty (Phaneuf is guilty of that too. But in Toronto, Phaneuf takes lots of defensive assignments in even-strength. His point production would be better if he was used in his natural puck-carrying D-Man role). You don't deserve a Norris trophy if you are not a top-pairing defenseman. You need to prove yourself against top competition.

Even if we are talking forwards, I don't like how people just look at the point scoring leaders and point to them as the best players in the game. Points have a lot to do with opportunity. Guys who don't get much powerplay duty are not given the opportunity to score lots of points. Guys who aren't given many offensive zone assignments are not given the opportunity to score lots of points. Your success as a player depends a lot on how the coach uses you.

 

[Budsfan]

Maple Leafs’ Jay McClement excited about team’s new identity

http://sports.nationalpost.com/2013...y-mcclement-excited-about-teams-new-identity/

“That’s Randy’s style of team,” he said. “We are expected to play hard. Last year we started to build that identity. And I think to have that identity, you have to do it every night and year in and year out, so we’re going to have to live up to that as well. But it’s definitely something we started to build last year. I think when teams come into town they know it’s going to be a hard night.”

A versatile forward, McClement played everywhere from wing on the second line to centering the fourth line. He could help form a shutdown unit with Bolland and Nikolai Kulemin this season, allowing Carlyle to use his top two lines primarily to provide offence.

Toronto’s team defence, McClement said, will define its success.

The Leafs, who averaged 26.3 shots per game and allowed 32.3 shots per game, had one of the worst shot differentials in the league last season. It is a reason why some believe the team was lucky to win as many games as it did.

But McClement, who had an even plus-minus rating, said the numbers are misleading. The Leafs were content giving up shots as long as they were from bad angles or far away from the net, he said, and coaches tracked advanced stats on everything from turnover-to-takeaway differential to where players were finishing their bodychecks that provided an accurate indicator of how well the team was playing.

 

[Mess]

Maple Leafs’ Jay McClement excited about team’s new identity

http://sports.nationalpost.com/2013...y-mcclement-excited-about-teams-new-identity/

I agree with everything McClement said 150%.

He is spot on, on his understanding of the situation as it is.

New team identity of physicality and defense first winning them more games.. More puck possession and less of a rush team are the things that Carlyle will institute with his new players to reduce the shot differential and increase winning odds this year.

 

[diceman934]

I agree with everything McClement said 150%.

He is spot on, on his understanding of the situation as it is.

New team identity of physicality and defense first winning them more games.. More puck possession and less of a rush team are the things that Carlyle will institute with his new players to reduce the shot differential and increase winning odds this year.

Agreed Carlyle has a more versatile line up then he had last year and better players to use in the rolls he defines for them.

I can see us finishing anywhere from 1st to 4th in our division....with 2/3 as the most likely. I stated before and will again....the Wings will be in a battle to make the Playoffs this coming season.

 

[Liminality]

Where's that thread that said the Leafs coaches didn't believe in advanced stats? Cause McClement said in that article that they track stats on everything.

Agree with the team's identity, probably the most noticeable change to see since the lockout in 2004/2005.

 

[egd27]

This new format is pure unmitigated ******** and I can't believe more aren't upset. How can you have any sense of fairness in a league where one conference has 8 spots for 14 teams, one 8 for 16. Simply isn't fair, and it puts our Leafs at a relative disadvantage. The NHL is a joke for going with this embarrassing system, which contradicts the essence of sport, fair competition.

Said it before and I'll say it again.

The difference between 8 spots for 15 (last several years) and 8 spots for 16 isn't that big a difference. If you're fighting for that last spot, odds are you're not going that far in the playoffs anyway.

 

[Budsfan]

I agree with everything McClement said 150%.

He is spot on, on his understanding of the situation as it is.

New team identity of physicality and defense first winning them more games.. More puck possession and less of a rush team are the things that Carlyle will institute with his new players to reduce the shot differential and increase winning odds this year.

I believe McClement is spot on too and with the additions we have made, our team will be amongst the top teams, in our division and in the league, defense wins games.

I was going to post a similar observation yesterday but I was called away and it didn't go anywhere, add the fact that we are more experienced and we should do well, this year.

 

[ACC1224]

This new format is pure unmitigated ******** and I can't believe more aren't upset. How can you have any sense of fairness in a league where one conference has 8 spots for 14 teams, one 8 for 16. Simply isn't fair, and it puts our Leafs at a relative disadvantage. The NHL is a joke for going with this embarrassing system, which contradicts the essence of sport, fair competition.

don't see the big deal, you still need to be in the top 8.

 

[likeabosski]

Said it before and I'll say it again.

The difference between 8 spots for 15 (last several years) and 8 spots for 16 isn't that big a difference. If you're fighting for that last spot, odds are you're not going that far in the playoffs anyway.

It's easier for teams in the West to make the playoffs than for teams in the East with this format though. And then there's the whole overtime losses and shootout business. I would like for overtime losses and shootouts to be scrapped and for us to go back to a 2 points for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss system with a 10-minute overtime period in the regular season. If the Yanks and Canucks insist that draws are boring, they can make the over-time period 4v4. Soccer continues to have draws (just not in cup tournaments). What's wrong with draws? American sports fans seem to be allergic to them.

 

[Jack Bauer]

Canadiens marched into the ACC the last game of the year and trounced the Leafs in a must win situation. Toughness was not a factor.

But the fact it was must win for 1 team can arguably be do to the toughness difference between the 2 over the season.

 

[mix1home]

The addition of Parros and Murray, changes this, would you not agree?

Parros is a gun that cannot play. This is what Mtl fans used to say about us adding Orr, Brown, etc. Yes, they got a bit tougher, but not by much, but they lost a lot of speed and ability for quick transition.
Still their top-6 is small and soft, D is slower now and they still don't match us well physically across the lineup. We will have our way with them this year as last one and probably even score more on them and still will win all fights, get their skilled guys frustrated and Price rattled.

5min of Parros will scare/agitate no one on our team, but I hope to see 20 mins of Clarkson in Price kitchen.

Mtl fans say that Kadri became dirty player as he started to play Maple Leafs style hockey. Right! Hitting smurfs and staring them down is now dirty.

 

[FreeBird]

But the fact it was must win for 1 team can arguably be do to the toughness difference between the 2 over the season.

Neither team wanted to face the Bruins, and both wanted to have home ice advantage starting the playoffs.

 

[egd27]

It's easier for teams in the West to make the playoffs than for teams in the East with this format though. And then there's the whole overtime losses and shootout business. I would like for overtime losses and shootouts to be scrapped and for us to go back to a 2 points for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss system with a 10-minute overtime period in the regular season. If the Yanks and Canucks insist that draws are boring, they can make the over-time period 4v4. Soccer continues to have draws (just not in cup tournaments). What's wrong with draws? American sports fans seem to be allergic to them.

Given the travel differences between the 2 conferences, I don't have a big issue with the "advantage" the Western teams have.

 

[Mr Scarface*]

most people are so high on the wings, don't really see why

Haha
Mainly because their team has played in the playoffs for like 21 seasons straight. There is not one team that comes even close. So don't compare any team to the Red Wings.

Also, have you seen ice hockey being played at Joe Louis Arena, Detroit? It's almost impossible for the visitor to win there.

 

[likeabosski]

Given the travel differences between the 2 conferences, I don't have a big issue with the "advantage" the Western teams have.

Florida and Tampa Bay are getting the shaft though. They have to compete in a bigger conference AND the teams in their conference are very far away.

It's absolutely crazy how many teams are packed in the North-East quadrant of North-America and how dispersed things get outside of that region. Southern states have no business being in the NHL. Aside from the small minority of hardcores, their fanbases are pretty much all fairweather fans who started going to the games when their teams were winning. If you are south of St. Louis, you don't belong in the NHL. Columbus and Washington don't really belong either. They are not hockey cities. The NHL should have no more than 20 teams tops.

On the flip side of that, Canadian hockey fans have the opposite problem: they blindly support their hockey clubs even though they charge exorbitant ticket prices and for some clubs, concession prices (The Leafs are the biggest offenders for ticket prices and their alcohol/soft drink/food/parking prices are not the worst but still pretty bad overall). And on top of all that, it's a slap in the face when these Canadians clubs mismanage their club (the Leafs are the biggest offenders. 7 seasons of no playoffs, only managing during a 48 game season. It will be 8 in 9 next season. A friend of mine calls them the Maple Next Years. I can't argue with that. I'm not happy with how MLSE has managed this team and I see the same mistakes being repeated by Nonis/Carlyle.)

I have more respect for American hockey towns (like Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh, New Jersey, Minnesota, etc). Because they love hockey but they don't put up with BS from the organizations they support. That's why ticket prices are lower there than in Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Montreal. They have the right balance between passion for the sport and holding their teams accountable. Passionate fans + Hold their teams accountable > Fairweather Fans > Fans who support their club no matter how greedy the organization is and no matter how much their club lacks accountability (Leafs fans are the worst offenders).

 

[disgruntleddave]

Florida and Tampa Bay are getting the shaft though. They have to compete in a bigger conference AND the teams in their conference are very far away.

And they are also going to draw a larger crowd to their games because of the teams they will see more of. Not a bad trade-off. I bet it will benefit them in the end.