News Article: [Paywall] The NHL is shifting to more of a skill-first league, have the Maple Leafs over-corrected?

Mess

Global Moderator
Feb 27, 2002
86,912
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Leafs Home Board
Identifying a need and solving it are 2 completely different stories.

Martin and Komarov were drains on the team. Polak was meh for the most part and whatever toughness he provided was offset but other areas he lacked in. The Leafs truly won't miss them.

Dubas doesn't have much cap space to work with either and trades are hard to make. The team is also young and will naturally become tougher.

If anything as a team on the rise let's be thankful he didn't try to sign someone like Clarkson, Lucic, Ladd, Callahan like his GM counterparts did and handcuff the team for years with a bad contract.

At present it appears Dubas believes NHL stands for No Hitting League, at least that is what you would believe by the way he has his current roster assembled as he let all his big hitters walk and failed to address the teams lack of physicality in the process.

Leafs were both in the bottom 5 team in hits (physicality) and penalties drawn last year and Leafs offseason changes under Dubas made that first situation even worse.

My fear is that this team will be pushed around and intimidated by big, strong heavy skilled teams and have very little push back ability based on current player personnel. Many of Leafs current players don't like to be hit and even cause self inflicted wounds by causing turnovers to avoid getting hit. Others are simply unwilling to engage physically in an attempt to win puck battles and outmatched size wise in the process.

Teams will exploit this weakness to their advantage, and not much Babcock can do with the players he has been provided as a "Leopard never chances its spots" and there are too few Lions and Tigers on the roster to fight back when the going gets tough.
 
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ponder

Registered User
Jul 11, 2007
16,928
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Vancouver
At present it appears Dubas believes NHL stands for No Hitting League, at least that is what you would believe by the way he has his current roster assembled as he let all his big hitters walk and failed to address the teams lack of physicality in the process.

Leafs were both in the bottom 5 team in hits (physicality) and penalties drawn last year and Leafs offseason changes under Dubas made that first situation even worse.

My fear is that this team will be pushed around and intimidated by big, strong heavy skilled teams and have very little push back ability based on current player personnel. Many of Leafs current players don't like to be hit and even cause self inflicted wounds by causing turnovers to avoid getting hit. Others are simply unwilling to engage physically in an attempt to win puck battles and outmatched size wise in the process.

Teams will exploit this weakness to their advantage, and not much Babcock can do with the players he has been provided as a "Leopard never chances its spots" and there are too few Lions and Tigers on the roster to fight back when the going gets tough.
It's a valid concern, physicality is very important for winning puck battles and intimidating the opposition, and our current roster is very soft.

However, I do think we can address this with a few moves. Making a spot for Borgman would be great, he's a beast. He's an LD though, and behind Rielly/Gards/Dermott, so that probably means moving Gards (something we should do anyways IMO), and bumping Dermott to the 2nd pair, Borgman to the 3rd. We could also bring in a big hitting 4th liner - I'd love to grab someone like Virtanen. With moves like this, our hitters would look like:

Hit hard and often: Borgman, Virtanen
Hit hard, but less often: Kadri
Hit a bit, but not that hard: Hyman, Kapanen, Marleau, Zaitsev, Hainsey, Dermott (and Jooris/Grundstrom, if either make it)

This would change the team from "roughly the softest in the league" to "just below average physicality". With elite skill and good hustle, that's fine.
 
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Slyfox

Registered User
Dec 12, 2016
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1,392
Toronto
I love this move. It will force the youngsters to grow up and stand up for themselves. No more having a tough guy hit and fight for them. Now they have to be more physical and fight back. Great move imo.
 

Hogan86

Registered User
Jun 21, 2016
1,563
679
I know he signed an AHL deal, but a forgotten guy buried on our farm team that would fit this bill is Colin Greening. He's not an offensive dynamo, but he's a big body who can move around the ice quickly. Watching the Marlies playoff run, he was quietly one of the best forwards on the team, grinding it out down low and using his body effectively. I think he should honestly be considered if Lindholm struggles as the 4C. He would be on a league minimum contract, is a veteran presence, and has dropped the gloves a few times if necessary. A 4th line of Ennis-Greening-Leivo still has enough skill that they would put some pucks in the net. At least better than the Moore-Martin combo from last season.
 

Stephen

Moderator
Feb 28, 2002
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51,520
Guys like Martin, Komarov and Polak are among the league leaders in Hits annually and Leafs top 3 in that category.

Wearing out the opposition in a long series starts paying dividends the longer and more physical the series becomes.

The reason Leafs defense makes so many mistakes in their own zone is teams dump the puck in and then Leafs defenders hearing fast charging forecheckers bearing down on the them to hit them causes turnovers as they attempt to avoid contact.. Gardiner and Zaitsev treat the puck as a hot potato to avoid contact with aggression Dzone give-aways etc.

You could count on 1 hand now the Leafs players that will deal out hits or cause turnovers by physical contact with Hyman (117 hits) and Kadri (94) leading the way.

Also, I'd argue that having good players who play a heavy game can help speed bump and deter some of the heavy forechecking the other team is otherwise engaging in. Just have that strength and brawn ready to make sure your own backcheck can impede some of that physicality against your defensemen retrieving the puck, or else be in the ensuing scrum to make sure whomever crushed your defenseman also is paying a heavy price.
 

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