This is why we have Marleau

[supermann_98]

The leafs are going through a horrible stretch and our best player (Mathews is really struggling and the team is struggling). It is a luxury to be able to put Marleau on Mathews line, this is why leafs got Marleau is on this team. If we didn't have a veteran like this I would start getting really worried but now we have a guy that can help guide this team back to victory. Babcock can play Marleau with Marner and Mathews let them learn from him and have him calm them back down. If anyone can get Mathews out of this slump it is Patrick Marleau. Then when the team starts rolling again we can put the lines back to normal. This is where the Dubas signing will pay dividends

Somehow methinks Marner will be a bigger reason if Matthews gets out of his little slump. Marleau hasn't shown much chemistry with Matthews but he's a great trigger man for some open chances with Matthews and Marner attracting all the attention

 

[TheBigThree]

Yet more examples of why I am not a big Brown fan. Its not just the eye test,

Seeing him on the Matthews line yesterday was a nightmare. Egocock needs his head checked

 

[The Podium]

There's a reason why Marleau was stripped of his captaincy, largely because he let his team get complacent. Marleau, as great a player as he was and as good a mentor as he has been, is not the type of leader to get this team, or Matthews, out of this slump.

 

[supermann_98]

Agreed. Marleau seems like a dream vet add to be on your 3rd/4th line at this point for a million or two. Problem is he's making 6.25, and he's why we're going to have to lose one of Gardiner, Johnsson, or Kapanen.

Gardiner is the easiest solution in this scenario to replace. If the team is forced to lose simple Jake then Marleau's 3rd year is well worth it

 

[thewave]

There's a reason why Marleau was stripped of his captaincy, largely because he let his team get complacent. Marleau, as great a player as he was and as good a mentor as he has been, is not the type of leader to get this team, or Matthews, out of this slump.

Exactly. He is an example of a well disciplined player and that's about it at this point.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Marleau isn't in a slump, he's just 39.

he has like 4 points in his last 16 games. either you think he really sucks, or he's in a slump

 

[thewave]

I don't know if you're ignoring people-to-people interactions off the ice on purpose or not. My post wasn't about on ice play.

Either way, The kids are looking up to Rielly right now and JT. I am sure everyone likes Marleau but what does that really do? You love and look up to your parents I imagine, does it make you a better student? I don't really think you could measure the impact and if you are able to, it would be pretty creative reasoning.

 

[Morgs]

Gardiner is the easiest solution in this scenario to replace. If the team is forced to lose simple Jake then Marleau's 3rd year is well worth it

Gardiner is not easily replaced. There's a reason EvolvingWild has him ranked 11th in GAR for defenseman, and Corsica has him ranked as the 10th best LD in the league. Thats with playing almost all his minutes 5v5 with the 164th best defenseman (over 400 mins, 188 possible) according to EvolvingWild and the 77th best RD according to Corsica.

When he's gone, we'll be looking for a replacement.

 

[thewave]

Gardiner is not easily replaced. There's a reason EvolvingWild has him ranked 11th in GAR for defenseman, and Corsica has him ranked as the 10th best LD in the league. Thats with playing almost all his minutes 5v5 with the 164th worst defenseman (over 400 mins, 188 possible) according to EvolvingWild and the 77th best RD according to Corsica.

When he's gone, we'll be looking for a replacement.

Sometimes I feel this fanbase needs a jolt. I wouldn't be upset at Dubas for trading him. I would be furious at the fans that booed him out of town. I can just imagine the shitshow that would commence after he is gone.

 

[Mr Hockey]

Zaitsev looked pretty good without him.

 

[Morgs]

Sometimes I feel this fanbase needs a jolt. I wouldn't be upset at Dubas for trading him. I would be furious at the fans that booed him out of town. I can just imagine the ****show that would commence after he is gone.

I wouldn't be mad if we traded him as I think Dermott could be our best two-way defenseman (instead of Jake) even before this sesason ends.

My problem is letting him walk for nothing when he's EXACTLY the type of defenseman we need to play the right side - or you know, play him on the Left beside Rielly.

 

[Morgs]

Zaitsev looked pretty good without him.

Dermott made Polak look good. Dermott is a god.

 

[7even]

he has like 4 points in his last 16 games. either you think he really sucks, or he's in a slump

I think he really sucks, because he's 39.

 

[Mr Hockey]

Dermott made Polak look good. Dermott is a god.

Dermott didn't play that well, he is not ready for top 4 yet

 

[7even]

Either way, The kids are looking up to Rielly right now and JT. I am sure everyone likes Marleau but what does that really do? You love and look up to your parents I imagine, does it make you a better student? I don't really think you could measure the impact and if you are able to, it would be pretty creative reasoning.

I'm not trying to measure the impact, I'm inferring that it exists, because it's reasonable to do so.

My parents aren't my coworkers.

 

[Morgs]

Dermott didn't play that well, he is not ready for top 4 yet

He literally lead the team in "game score" in his first taste of top-4 duty.

Not only is he "ready", but he's arguably our 2nd best defenseman.

 

[TMLS]

troll post. marleau is a bigger plug that hyman and brown. people put way too much on past production. guy is a washed up 40 year old bum that should have retired.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Dermott didn't play that well, he is not ready for top 4 yet

he played better than Zaitsev

 

[Mr Hockey]

He literally lead the team in "game score" in his first taste of top-4 duty.

Not only is he "ready", but he's arguably our 2nd best defenseman.

that's cool, I'm not going to argue.

 

[Gabriel426]

The thing is when Marleau was playing with Matthews and Kap, both Matthews and Kap were amazing while Marleau didn’t get any thing going offensively. I think that’s the trade off, if we want a Maleau that scores and stuff, probably not a good idea to slot him with Matthews and Marner since Matthews is the trigger man and Marner needs the puck to be his best. However, I would rather have Matthews and Marner lighting it up and Marleau scoring the odd goals here and there than Matthews struggling.

 

[GodEmperor]

Marleau is what he is, have no idea why people bash the guy, he's basically producing at the same pace as last year and people are acting like he's overpaid by 3-4 million, the guy at most is overpaid by a million which is nothing for us, literally nothing.

Kadri has disappeared and regressed, Nylander is totally invisible apart from his 'great chances" that he finishes none of and Zaitsev has been mediocre again. Those are the guys who should be getting bashed, not a near 40 year old putting up a 40 point pace and getting paid basically what market value is.

Things that would make a real difference:
Marner, Matthews and Tavares getting PROPER TOI not 36th, 87th and 51st respectively
Kadri, Nylander and Zaitsev doing something
Babcock not f***ing up our PP and being incapable of making changes
Babcock not playing trash like Brown and Hyman on our first two lines when we have guys like Kap, Johnsson, Moore and Marchement

Marleau is the LEAST of this team's concerns.

 

[BrainyBomber]

Sometimes I feel this fanbase needs a jolt. I wouldn't be upset at Dubas for trading him. I would be furious at the fans that booed him out of town. I can just imagine the ****show that would commence after he is gone.

The fanbase certainly does need a jolt as far too many Leafs fans are hung up on grit and toughness and think that is all that matters.

Booed a fantastic player in Larry Murphy out of town when they absolutely worship mediocre to bad players like Tucker and Domi.

Sure Gardiner is prone to a blunder but is a very good Dman overall. He's +17 this year and +50 the past 3 seasons but his detractors never mention that.

Even now the problem with the current slump is largely a lack of scoring as its fallen of a cliff recently (especially for some of the big guns like Matthews and Nylander) while scoring against has largely held when empty net goals are ignored. Yet all some moan about is a lack of toughness.

Toughness, defence, and grit are key components to winning but not the be all end all.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

I think that Marleau will work quite well with Matthews and Marner. I think that line will gel instantly. I expect this to be our permanent #1 line going forward.

MMM mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[Gary Nylund]

It was around this time last season that Marleau apparently made a 2nd period locker room speech after which the Leafs stormed back from a 2 goal deficit for their first win in 5 games and their first regulation win in a lot longer than that. They never looked back after that game and were one of the best teams in the NHL for the rest of the season.

Maybe he has one more speech left in him?

 

[Spirit of 67]

The leafs are going through a horrible stretch and our best player (Mathews is really struggling and the team is struggling). It is a luxury to be able to put Marleau on Mathews line, this is why leafs got Marleau is on this team. If we didn't have a veteran like this I would start getting really worried but now we have a guy that can help guide this team back to victory. Babcock can play Marleau with Marner and Mathews let them learn from him and have him calm them back down. If anyone can get Mathews out of this slump it is Patrick Marleau. Then when the team starts rolling again we can put the lines back to normal. This is where the Dubas signing will pay dividends

Marleau and Matthews are like oil and water.
They've only proven they're terrible on a line together.