Post-Game Talk: Toronto Sports Team Loses In Extra Play

[Warden of the North]

I'm probably just over analysing things, but have the leafs looked kinda slow to anyone else? Like good stick positioning, smart net front play, but just... slow. Granted, I'm expectant that everyone is going to be top flight for Wednesday, but I was wondering if anyone else was thinking...where's the next gear?

No.

More letters.

 

[diceman934]

Thr biggest thing that stands out to me is speed. The training wheels are off Rielly and he is FLYING out there. Hes far more involved in the play and he is carrying the puck with confidence.

Zaitsev is also impressive. I was not expecting his mobility, particularly in the offensive zone when he is working the blueline.

And Gardiner is Gardiner.

Those three combined with the influx of talent and speed up front has dramatically changed the way this team looks.

Rielly when playing with Zaitsev was constantly telling him what to do, pointing with his stick etc, to be truthful Zaitsev struggled a lot with positional play in his end and was chasing the play a lot. Time and space was an issue as well, but he got better as the game went on. He is not ready to play top pair as of yet but will get there.

Gardiner was also being an on ice General, he played very well despite a couple of gaffs.

Carrick was a monster last night and we must not forget about him. He is younger then Zaitsev and was very impressive, our top 4 by the end of the year are above.

 

[SprDaVE]

Carrick was definitely a stand out and Corrado played very well. Both have completely outplayed Polak AND Hunwick.

It's going to suck big time when Carrick and/or Corrado sit in the press box in place of Polak and Hunwick. Sigh...

 

[sda]

I'm probably just over analysing things, but have the leafs looked kinda slow to anyone else? Like good stick positioning, smart net front play, but just... slow. Granted, I'm expectant that everyone is going to be top flight for Wednesday, but I was wondering if anyone else was thinking...where's the next gear?

The leafs were by far the faster team last night. they controlled the last 2 periods but didn't finish

 

[Johny Drama]

Carrick was definitely a stand out and Corrado played very well. Both have completely outplayed Polak AND Hunwick.

It's going to such big time when Carrick and/or Corrado sit in the press box in place of Polak and Hunwick. Sigh...

I agree. Carrick has been good since he arrived and Corrado seems to get a bad rap around here. Always liked him as a player and was glad when we picked him up. He's had a very good camp IMHO.

Can see us keeping 8 defenders coming out of camp, and right now I would have this.

Zaitsev-Reilly
Carrick-Gardiner
Corrado - Marincin
Polak and Hunwick are kept for depth with the view to moving them during the season.

 

[SprDaVE]

I agree. Carrick has been good since he arrived and Corrado seems to get a bad rap around here. Always liked him as a player and was glad when we picked him up. He's had a very good camp IMHO.

Can see us keeping 8 defenders coming out of camp, and right now I would have this.

Zaitsev-Reilly
Carrick-Gardiner
Corrado - Marincin
Polak and Hunwick are kept for depth with the view to moving them during the season.

You managed to put all of the the right handed defenders on the left side... for all the pairings. Amazing.

 

[Macallan18]

I told yall not to sleep on my boy kapanen.

I really can't understand the people who would write him off so quickly.
He has great skills, skates great, good shot, and he's still very young.
I think he is a reasonable bet to be a second line winger.
Not so bad.

 

[Macallan18]

You managed to put all of the the right handed defenders on the left side... for all the pairings. Amazing.

True, but I like his lineup anyways. Can sort out the actual LHDvsRHD later.

 

[SprDaVE]

True, but I like his lineup anyways. Can sort out the actual LHDvsRHD later.

I know, the point still remains. I just thought it was funny.

 

[IBeL34f]

I'm sure it's not all the same posters going through all of these motions, but it's been pretty funny watching the shifts in narrative over the past few days with regards to Matthews' linemates.

Sunday morning: "Can't wait to see Matthews and Nylander together, they're gonna be awesome!"

Sunday night/Monday: "Nylander likes having the puck too much, he's not a good fit for Matthews. Marner passes more, we need to try him with Auston!"

Tuesday morning: "Can't wait to see Matthews and Marner together, they're gonna be awesome!"

Tuesday night/Wednesday morning: "Matthews and Marner look awful together. Mitch passes it to Auston too much. We should go back to Matthews and Nylander!"

Some patience is going to be required for these kids who have never played together to gain chemistry. Right now they're focused on a million little things about their own game as they try to adapt to a new level of competition, a new level of evaluation, a new level of expectation, a new level of responsibility... Trying to make the NHL, and make an impression on guys like Babcock, Lamoriello and Shanahan, is their #1 priority. Chemistry will come with time.

Hell, I didn't even think they had that difficult a time meshing together. I saw some excellent plays between them, and thought they had some really dynamic moments together. They weren't perfect, but they were a big part of maintaining possession and pressure last night.

 

[TheBigThree]

Marner was on his ass a lot yesterday or kept getting knocked off the puck but that doesn't surprise anyone. He really has no chance but that's why he needs to play in the NHL and not CHL to develop properly.
Matthews was good
Nylander is the best of the 3 when he tries but this boy gets lazy fast. Hope that's just pre-season and not a character flaw.

 

[Budsfan]

Carrick was definitely a stand out and Corrado played very well. Both have completely outplayed Polak AND Hunwick.

It's going to suck big time when Carrick and/or Corrado sit in the press box in place of Polak and Hunwick. Sigh...

I agree but it seems they want veteran players to mentor the young D and Hunwick and Polak will likely be kept at least for this year as both are on 1-year contracts and Babcock seems to favour their staying.

 

[SprDaVE]

I agree but it seems they want veteran players to mentor the young D and Hunwick and Polak will likely be kept at least for this year as both are on 1-year contracts and Babcock seems to favour their staying.

What's the good of mentoring when they are hurting your team with their performance?

I think Gardiner and Rielly are better mentors on and off the ice. They have a combined 500+ NHL games of experience. I don't think you need to be 30+ years old to mentor anyone. Just look at how young captains are these days.

 

[Bullseye]

I really can't understand the people who would write him off so quickly.
He has great skills, skates great, good shot, and he's still very young.
I think he is a reasonable bet to be a second line winger.
Not so bad.

Because people base their opinions on a single game or how he did last year for a brief stretch...

 

[thewave]

Carrick and Zaitsev. Two very good reasons for not trading for Trouba. When I was worshipping Carrick after his first game last year I took flak. Now its sinking in why Jake and Carrick for Trouba is dumb... Finally.

 

[Budsfan]

What's the good of mentoring when they are hurting your team with their performance?

I think Gardiner and Rielly are better mentors on and off the ice. They have a combined 500+ NHL games of experience. I don't think you need to be 30+ years old to mentor anyone. Just look at how young captains are these days.

Veterans will put losses in perspective and won't carry it into the next game, a lot of young players have trouble losing a lot of games in a row and it tends to change their game and this is just one thing among many, they can teach rookies, coaches rely on them to keep the younger guys on track.

when Babcock was talking about Howe at last night's game, he was saying if everything was not right, send Howe in to talk to the team and settle things down, players listen to veterans and they can put things in perspective and keep things on track.

 

[SprDaVE]

Veterans will put losses in perspective and won't carry it into the next game, a lot of young players have trouble losing a lot of games in a row and it tends to change their game and this is just one thing among many, they can teach rookies, coaches rely on them to keep the younger guys on track.

when Babcock was talking about Howe at last night's game, he was saying if everything was not right, send Howe in to talk to the team and settle things down, players listen to veterans and they can put things in perspective and keep things on track.

That's why you have coaches. We also still have plenty of veterans like Laich, Michalek, Bozak, JVR,etc laying around.

And I'm pretty sure the Hunwick and Polak aren't ****ing Gordie Howe. Ironically, those losses someone like Polak will try to put in perspective might be on the back of his inferior play.

My point is that it would it would be a big mistake to keep Polak and even Hunwick over better, younger players just because they are older. Especially if we lose one of them on waivers or to see them sit in the press box. Playing inferior players over others just because they might have some wisdom is stupid to be honest. Find better players if you want veterans.

 

[Northernguy10]

Same feeling here. A good thing too as he's maybe the most important player on our team.



Nice post, couldn't agree more.

Thanks. I usually do my best to ignore the few posters with chronic negativity but now and then I just hafta let it out...lol

 

[Northernguy10]

I'm sure it's not all the same posters going through all of these motions, but it's been pretty funny watching the shifts in narrative over the past few days with regards to Matthews' linemates.

Sunday morning: "Can't wait to see Matthews and Nylander together, they're gonna be awesome!"

Sunday night/Monday: "Nylander likes having the puck too much, he's not a good fit for Matthews. Marner passes more, we need to try him with Auston!"

Tuesday morning: "Can't wait to see Matthews and Marner together, they're gonna be awesome!"

Tuesday night/Wednesday morning: "Matthews and Marner look awful together. Mitch passes it to Auston too much. We should go back to Matthews and Nylander!"

Some patience is going to be required for these kids who have never played together to gain chemistry. Right now they're focused on a million little things about their own game as they try to adapt to a new level of competition, a new level of evaluation, a new level of expectation, a new level of responsibility... Trying to make the NHL, and make an impression on guys like Babcock, Lamoriello and Shanahan, is their #1 priority. Chemistry will come with time.

Hell, I didn't even think they had that difficult a time meshing together. I saw some excellent plays between them, and thought they had some really dynamic moments together. They weren't perfect, but they were a big part of maintaining possession and pressure last night.

Well said. That portion of fans should be named "The Toronto Waffle Leafs"...

 

[Budsfan]

That's why you have coaches. We also still have plenty of veterans like Laich, Michalek, Bozak, JVR,etc laying around.

Ironically, those losses someone like Polak will put in perspective might be on the back of his inferior play.

My point is that it would it would be a big mistake to keep Polak and even Hunwick over better, younger players just because they are older. Especially if we lose one of them on waivers or to see them sit in the press box.

Like I said about your first post "I agree" but Babcock seems to want Hunwick and possibly Polak on the team, he has his reasons and even if we disagree with them, I won't try to out think and out coach the Best coach in hockey...LOL

Babcock likes tried and true veterans and in Detroit he almost spurned young prospects, they would have to really out play his core of older players, or play their entire careers in the AHL

Things are different in Toronto but Babcock will keep players he can rely on and won't go with the shiny new toy, that excels for a few games, in preseason.

 

[SprDaVE]

Like I said about your first post "I agree" but Babcock seems to want Hunwick and possibly Polak on the team, he has his reasons and even if we disagree with them, I won't try to out think and out coach the Best coach in hockey...LOL

Babcock likes tried and true veterans and in Detroit he almost spurned young prospects, they would have to really out play his core of older players, or play their entire careers in the AHL

Things are different in Toronto but Babcock will keep players he can rely on and won't go with the shiny new toy, that excels for a few games, in preseason.

Hunwick and Polak have been pretty average to bad for a lot more then just this pre-season.

I know Babcock will have his reasons but that doesn't mean they aren't wrong. This is why I fully expect to see them in the opening lineup and it will suck, like I said in my original post.

 

[Nithoniniel]

Polak took a clear step back last season, and from what I've seen so far, I'm afraid he's taken an even bigger step back for this one. He used to have value in a specialized role, I don't really think so anymore.

Hunwick can do better than he's shown so far this pre-season, so I'm not as worried about him. He really needs to be on the bottom pairing though. Normally when you look at performance across QoC spread there's really not much difference, but Hunwick has a clear drop off as he starts to face even middling opposition if I recall.

Speaking of which, I think some people will have a hard time swallowing that Gardiner shows absolutely no decline when the QoC increases. In fact, he actually performed slightly better (most likely due to better teammates).

 

[X66]

Polak took a clear step back last season, and from what I've seen so far, I'm afraid he's taken an even bigger step back for this one. He used to have value in a specialized role, I don't really think so anymore.

Polak was the biggest head scratcher.

Even the Martin signing, which I wasn't too fond of made more sense than the Polak signing.

I would have been more than happy with...

Rielly-Marincin
Gardiner-Zaitsev
Hunwick(Traded at TDL)-Carrick
Corrado

then after the TDL have

Rielly-Zaitsev
Gardiner-Carrick
Marincin-Corrado
Loov

 

[Budsfan]

Hunwick and Polak have been pretty average to bad for a lot more then just this pre-season.

I know Babcock will have his reasons but that doesn't mean they aren't wrong. This is why I fully expect to see them in the opening lineup and it will suck, like I said in my original post.

And again I agree with you, the thing is they are on 1-year contracts, Hunwick is in his final year, Polak for whatever reason he was added, is on a 1-year contract and I fully expect him to be deadline fodder, or possibly traded sooner.

 

[Leafsman]

Keep in mind, Nylander is a leg up on Marner and Matthews. Nylander is familiar with Babcock's system. Marner and Matthews are trying to adapt it. It will take a little while for the other two to mesh Babcock's system with their own style.