Stephen
Moderator
- Feb 28, 2002
- 77,850
- 51,520
I want to talk about the phenomenon that is Martin Marincin and a couple of other things.
This guy has been with the organization since 2015 and has completed five partial NHL seasons of below average defense on a part time basis. On most nights displays an alarming lack of hockey sense, composure and unreliable skillset. He fans on pucks, struggles to exit the zone, produces no offense and can barely control himself from making unforced icing plays from near center ice. He’s even survived a Mike Babcock regime change and given the choice between Marincin and Sandin or Liljegren, even Keefe elected to start Martin Marincin.
But I’m actually not here to bash Marincin or second guess Keefe. I want to highlight that given the circumstances, even a skill and speed team recognizes they need a 6’5” crease clearing, defensively inclined player in a playoff series with heavy forechecking. Let’s agree that even though we aren’t St. Louis or Columbus, our team felt like it needed that ingredient. Why else keep Marincin around for half a decade, and why else would you play him in big game situations?
This brings me to my real point. When rubber hits the road, even the Leafs realize they need these types of players. And given the personnel choices and player types the Leafs have focused on over the years we don’t really have a lot of options other than Martin Marincin.
So given this reality, why are we not spending a little more energy trying to find and develop these bigger body defensive assets lower in the draft? If we have our Sandin and Liljegren skill options in the system, do we need to consider trying to focus on finding guys like Gavrikov so we have other non Marincin options? Seems like we abandoned that project after Gordeev and Rasanen.
If we don’t have Marincin alternatives, why are we spending so much energy on drafting signing and developing guys like Hollowell, Kivihalme and Koster? I understand they’re looking for a Torey Krug and sometimes that takes a few kicks at the can. But even if you do develop a 5’9” puck mover you don’t have the Boston infrastructure to support him. And your system isn’t building defensive depth defensemen to help the big club.
What I’m getting at is drafting and developing skill is fine but the organization needs to be honest with real world playoff needs and start building the kind of role players and player types that a real functional team needs. The farm system can’t just be a collection of nice practice players than ultimately are not useful and don’t help when things really matter.
This guy has been with the organization since 2015 and has completed five partial NHL seasons of below average defense on a part time basis. On most nights displays an alarming lack of hockey sense, composure and unreliable skillset. He fans on pucks, struggles to exit the zone, produces no offense and can barely control himself from making unforced icing plays from near center ice. He’s even survived a Mike Babcock regime change and given the choice between Marincin and Sandin or Liljegren, even Keefe elected to start Martin Marincin.
But I’m actually not here to bash Marincin or second guess Keefe. I want to highlight that given the circumstances, even a skill and speed team recognizes they need a 6’5” crease clearing, defensively inclined player in a playoff series with heavy forechecking. Let’s agree that even though we aren’t St. Louis or Columbus, our team felt like it needed that ingredient. Why else keep Marincin around for half a decade, and why else would you play him in big game situations?
This brings me to my real point. When rubber hits the road, even the Leafs realize they need these types of players. And given the personnel choices and player types the Leafs have focused on over the years we don’t really have a lot of options other than Martin Marincin.
So given this reality, why are we not spending a little more energy trying to find and develop these bigger body defensive assets lower in the draft? If we have our Sandin and Liljegren skill options in the system, do we need to consider trying to focus on finding guys like Gavrikov so we have other non Marincin options? Seems like we abandoned that project after Gordeev and Rasanen.
If we don’t have Marincin alternatives, why are we spending so much energy on drafting signing and developing guys like Hollowell, Kivihalme and Koster? I understand they’re looking for a Torey Krug and sometimes that takes a few kicks at the can. But even if you do develop a 5’9” puck mover you don’t have the Boston infrastructure to support him. And your system isn’t building defensive depth defensemen to help the big club.
What I’m getting at is drafting and developing skill is fine but the organization needs to be honest with real world playoff needs and start building the kind of role players and player types that a real functional team needs. The farm system can’t just be a collection of nice practice players than ultimately are not useful and don’t help when things really matter.