Globe and Mail: Mirtle: Leafs betting on improvement from within after quiet off-season

[Cap'n Flavour]

Well since the article specifically mentions that the Leafs got rid of a good number of their worst possession players, it is once again blindingly obvious that Interactif didn't bother to read the article and just came in to post the same repetitive **** as usual.

Mirtle is probably not gushing with effusive praise because while the Leafs didn't do anything exceptionally stupid (though the Komarov contract and Polak trades were overpayments), they didn't greatly improve the roster or hire a competent coach. Like Mirtle says, though, this was not for lack of trying (Bolland saved us from another ridiculous contract) and also mainly because the Leafs really don't have the cap space to fit in another overpayment without dumping Franson or Reimer.

 

[Tyler Biggs*]

Toronto Maple Leafs keep core intact, hoping small changes will be enough

http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014...e-intact-hoping-small-changes-will-be-enough/

The captain and coach are back. So is the starting goalie, the leading goal-scorer and nine of the top 10 point-getters. But when the Toronto Maple Leafs start the season against the Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 8, nearly half the team will consist of new faces.

Two weeks after the NHL’s free agency period opened, nine Leafs who appeared on the roster last season are already gone, having been bought out (Tim Gleason), traded (Carl Gunnarsson and Jerry D’Amigo) or simply allowed to walk away (Mason Raymond, Dave Bolland, Nikolai Kulemin, Jay McClement, Paul Ranger and Jerred Smithson). That number does not include American Hockey League defenceman of the year T.J. Brennan, who signed a contract with the New York Islanders. Nor does it include the three assistant coaches (Dave Farrish, Scott Gordon, Greg Cronin) who were fired.

Depending on how the arbitration hearings of restricted free agents Cody Franson (July 21) and James Reimer (July 28) unfold, even more names could be added to the list of goners.

 

[Tyler Biggs*]

I see that Shanahan has taken a small page out of Redwings playbook. Play the kids (farm team up most of the season), let them have fun, and compete, and that's how you build a winning attitude..

 

[The Great Gazoo]

The return of Komarov could have the biggest impact of any player added this summer. His approach to the game seems to be contagious. Hopefully that remains to be the case, and it rubs off on guys like Kadri, who we could certainly use a more consistent effort from.

 

[BertCorbeau]

Merged it with the other thread

 

[Leafspoison*]

http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014...e-intact-hoping-small-changes-will-be-enough/

The one that sticks in my craw is the mishandling of TJ Brennan. D man of the year and leafs never gave the guy a second thought.

Shows the level of competence of the management team.

Nonis just has to go and Shanny with him if this guy thinks this roster is going to make the playoffs.

Oh well, Macdavid....here we come.

 

[Leafspoison*]

Shanahan Schmanahan. Here, have a sip, sure, its blue koolaid, but you will like it.

Loved Shanny as a player but come on robots, he has zero experience here.

This team will contend for bottom spot with Buffalo this year.

Its not about our roster so much as it is about everyone else's roster.

Is our goal to make the playoffs or win a cup? Right now, it should be one step at a time.

Our top 6 is still soft as butter and not many of them know how to back check which is a big reason shots and goals against is so fricking nasty.

Defence happens when the other team has the puck and all 6 guys are responsible, not just 3 of them.

The good teams back check like their lives depended on it. Our guys coast back into our zone....in time to see the puck in our net.

THIS IS NOT A PLAYOFF TEAM.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Well since the article specifically mentions that the Leafs got rid of a good number of their worst possession players, it is once again blindingly obvious that Interactif didn't bother to read the article and just came in to post the same repetitive **** as usual.

Mirtle is probably not gushing with effusive praise because while the Leafs didn't do anything exceptionally stupid (though the Komarov contract and Polak trades were overpayments), they didn't greatly improve the roster or hire a competent coach. Like Mirtle says, though, this was not for lack of trying (Bolland saved us from another ridiculous contract) and also mainly because the Leafs really don't have the cap space to fit in another overpayment without dumping Franson or Reimer.

You are correct, I usually don't make a habit of reading Mirtle. Needless to say who would have known he could have foresaw our injuries at Center or to Bernier late last year, or the regression of Kadri, Lupul, our 2nd line. It's easy and rather tunnel visioned to keep citing the same refrain of possession stats, when one can easily point out it was our players with the exception of Kessel, JVR, and Bozak, having off years.

 

[Leafspoison*]

Kadri for Kane straight across. That would give us more punch in the top 6.

 

[Kessley Snipes*]

You are correct, I usually don't make a habit of reading Mirtle. Needless to say who would have known he could have foresaw our injuries at Center or to Bernier late last year, or the regression of Kadri, Lupul, our 2nd line. It's easy and rather tunnel visioned to keep citing the same refrain of possession stats, when one can easily point out it was our players with the exception of Kessel, JVR, and Bozak, having off years.

Good possession teams can survive their top end players having "off years".

Don't know why such a simple concept is so difficult for you.

 

[Tyler Biggs*]

The one that sticks in my craw is the mishandling of TJ Brennan. D man of the year and leafs never gave the guy a second thought.

Shows the level of competence of the management team.

Nonis just has to go and Shanny with him if this guy thinks this roster is going to make the playoffs.

Oh well, Macdavid....here we come.

For those asking, TJ Brennan wasn't re-signed because his defensive game is sub-par and his points are reflective of a Marlies team that build their PP around him. His stats are deceiving without knowing how he was used in the AHL.

That said, the top scoring dman in the AHL. Voted top dman in AHL. Top plus man on the Marlies....would have been nice to sign him for $600,000.00.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Good possession teams can survive their top end players having "off years".

Don't know why such a simple concept is so difficult for you.

How did it help NJ last season? Good possession that is.

 

[paulhiggins]

For those asking, TJ Brennan wasn't re-signed because his defensive game is sub-par and his points are reflective of a Marlies team that build their PP around him. His stats are deceiving without knowing how he was used in the AHL.

Hopefully they're making a "one-dimensional=gone" statement and the rest of the lazy incumbants are gone if they don't abide early.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

For the record I don't dismiss possession stats, I just dismiss the notion propagated by some it is the only reason this team failed last year. Given this is basically the same team that made the playoffs the season before. This argument is faulty.

 

[Weltschmerz]

I see that Shanahan has taken a small page out of Redwings playbook. Play the kids (farm team up most of the season), let them have fun, and compete, and that's how you build a winning attitude..

Not sure what you are talking about, or if you know even anything about that franchise.
The red wings are the organisation that signs evryone till he is 40 at least and some guys beyond and never plays the kids until they are at least 25.
Last year was different because all that old farts went down and they had no cap space to get more veterans.
Yzerman played more years there and it still took him 4 years to learn there about management after his career.
Shanahan waisted the time after his career as director of player disceplin.

 

[Kessley Snipes*]

How did it help NJ last season? Good possession that is.

Given the fact they were relying on 2 guys over the age of 37 to produce offensively and played 40 games with a goalie who barely had over a .900 Save %, yet were only 5 points out a wild card spot and 4 points better than the Leafs, I'd say it helped them quite a bit.

The Devils had the 5th best Fenwick last season. Give that team even a smidge of talent beyond Elias, Jagr and Brodeur and they would have been in the post-season. Heck possession players almost carried them there in spite of the fact they were 27th in Goals for per Game.

 

[Kessley Snipes*]

For the record I don't dismiss possession stats, I just dismiss the notion propagated by some it is the only reason this team failed last year. Given this is basically the same team that made the playoffs the season before. This argument is faulty.

Sample Size.

This team was heading towards disaster in 2012/2013, but luckily they ran out of regular season games and avoided what almost certainly would have been disaster.

Furthermore some players like Kadri were scoring at a ridiculous and unsustainable percentage that many of us knew would tail off in 2013/2014 and regress back to the mean...as it did.

This collapse was not hard to predict. Once the team stopped being bailed out by unrealistic goal tending numbers, the weaknesses apparent in 2012/2013 came back to haunt them.

 

[Nithoniniel]

The one that sticks in my craw is the mishandling of TJ Brennan. D man of the year and leafs never gave the guy a second thought.

Shows the level of competence of the management team.

Nonis just has to go and Shanny with him if this guy thinks this roster is going to make the playoffs.

Oh well, Macdavid....here we come.

That you are a good player in the AHL doesn't mean you are an asset in the big league. Brennan is basically a worse Franson without the size. In the AHL he is a star defenseman, in the NHL he is a liability.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Given the fact they were relying on 2 guys over the age of 37 to produce offensively and played 40 games with a goalie who barely had over a .900 Save %, yet were only 5 points out a wild card spot and 4 points better than the Leafs, I'd say it helped them quite a bit.

The Devils had the 5th best Fenwick last season. Give that team even a smidge of talent beyond Elias, Jagr and Brodeur and they would have been in the post-season. Heck possession players almost carried them there in spite of the fact they were 27th in Goals for per Game.

As far as I know, The Devils have better goaltenders than we have, they had more quality Center depth than we had last year, they even had a defence collectively better than us.

Now given all this, and they are a good possession team. How did a poor possession team like the Leafs manage to finish ony 4 points behind NJ?

The Players were the reason why they did not make the playoffs, not possession or lack of it for both teams.

 

[diceman934]

We produce more offensive then New Jersey and yet we finished behind them. Why? The devils have been playing the same way for years and have been successful doing so. Right now they are rebuilding yet still out pointed us with a simple game plan of being better defensively...they have always managed the puck well and this results in good possession stats.... It has passed the test of time...be better then your opponents at owning the puck and you will win in most cases.

This past year LA won the cup with only two players in the top 100 in scoring...17th and 88th I believe...we're they the best offensive team in the NHL nor where close....they were the best team with the best possession stats players.

 

[Kessley Snipes*]

As far as I know, The Devils have better goaltenders than we have, they had more quality Center depth than we had last year, they have a defence collectively better than us.

Now given all this, and they are a good possession team. How did a poor possession team like the Leafs manage to finish ony 4 points behind NJ?

Bernier- .923%, 1787
Schneider- .921, 1107 SA

Reimer- .911%, 1085
Brodeur- .901, 971 SA

The Maple Leafs goalies faced 794 more shots than the Devils tandem. Given those numbers and comparable/superior save percentages by the Leafs tandem, I would say that your depth of knowledge regarding the Devils goaltending is lacking.

The Devils are defensively better than us BECAUSE THEY DRIVE POSSESSION. Teams that drive possession spend MORE time with the puck and LESS time without it.
They are defensively better than us BECAUSE they are a good possession team. The two concepts are NOT mutually exclusive and I think that is where you are getting confused.

A Poor Possession team like the Leafs finished 4 points behind New Jersey because unlike New Jersey the Leafs were able to outscore their problems... for a while. The Leafs were 6th in 2012/2013 in Goals per Game and 14th in 2013/2014. The Devils were 29th and 25th in those years respectively.

Given the Leafs ability to score goals, imagine what they could do if our bottom 6 could drive possession and wasn't full of face punchers.

 

[Kessley Snipes*]

We produce more offensive then New Jersey and yet we finished behind them. Why? The devils have been playing the same way for years and have been successful doing so. Right now they are rebuilding yet still out pointed us with a simple game plan of being better defensively...they have always managed the puck well and this results in good possession stats.... It has passed the test of time...be better then your opponents at owning the puck and you will win in most cases.

This past year LA won the cup with only two players in the top 100 in scoring...17th and 88th I believe...we're they the best offensive team in the NHL nor where close....they were the best team with the best possession stats players.

This might be the first time you and I have ever agreed on something.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Hate to break it to you, but I'm pretty sure that's because you lack a basic depth of understanding when it comes to even the most basic ones. As evidenced by your Devils goal tending argument.

When you cannot argue the fact that Schneider and Brodeur were a better goaltending tandem than Bernier and Reimer,nor the fact the Devils Center depth was stronger.

Here is something else for you to ponder, David Clarkson was the 5th best possession player in the entire NHL for the 12-13 season, 5th. No T.Y.P.O. Was it the player that failed last season, or shall we blame it on old reliable, possession?

 

[diceman934]

This might be the first time you and I have ever agreed on something.

We agree on a lot more than you realize it is generally my opinion on two players that we disagree on...

 

[Kessley Snipes*]

When you cannot argue the fact that Schneider and Brodeur were a better goaltending tandem than Bernier and Reimer

Here is something else for you to ponder, David Clarkson was the 5th best possession player in the entire NHL for the 12-13 season, 5th. No T.Y.P.O. Was it the player that failed last season, or shall we blame it on old reliable, possession?

In my previous post, I demonstrated that our tandem was on par, if not better than the Devils tandem last season. Debating with you is difficult when you refuse to acknowledge when your point has been factually proven incorrect.

With respect to Clarkson, much of his dip in possession numbers comes from the fact that Toronto employs a different system than New Jersey and 1 player can not create a team that drives possession. In fact, his dip may also be the fact that his DZ starts were dramatically increased last season under Carlyle from his last season as a Devil and his OZ starts were dramatically decreased.

Given Toronto's affinity to allow 30+ shots per game, it is no surprise that Clarkson would suffer a dip based on the fact he was starting his shifts in a place where the opposition was likely to get an opportunity to score.

What a lot of statistical denier such as yourself fail to realize or understand is that possession is a team game. You can't bring in one or two guys and expect the entire team to begin to drive possession. It's an organizational philosophy that this team doesnt have and doesnt understand yet.