Tyler Bozak Appreciation Thread

[The Blue Devil]

I can see the argument of giving Bozak less PP time more- though he's mainly on there since winning face-offs on the PP is huge, and it is not always practical to win a face-off and then try to change right away on the PP. Hopefully Kadri can grow into that role by improving on face-offs.

Pretty sure we scored 2 PP goals without our FO God out there to win the draw.

 

[The Blue Devil]

Even the Blackhawks #1 line does not have 3 guys that what I would term in the class of JVR and Kessel.

The days of the Triple Crown line have long passed. There is nothing wrong with having a player like Bozak on the first line if you see what he brings to it. He does his job, is paid only 4.2 and JVR and Kessel continue to bring 1st class offence with Bozak as a member of the line.

JVR was recently interviewed and was asked about Bozak and gave him glowing praise. We know Kessel's feeling of playing with Bozie.
They have never called Bozak a passenger. Infact they have said he doesn't get the credit he deserves.

JVR was also asked earlier this year(pre-season) about Grabovski and also gave him glowing praise, something that you disagree with and would probably give some ****** explanation about how JVR didn't want to trash a former team-mate. I'm sure many players in the Leafs D-room like Bozak as a team-mate, but it also doesn't change the fact that no one would say something negative about a current team-mate.

 

[Doshy]

We're winning with the way the lineup is right now...

Why do you all want him demoted? If it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

JVR was also asked earlier this year(pre-season) about Grabovski and also gave him glowing praise, something that you disagree with and would probably give some ****** explanation about how JVR didn't want to trash a former team-mate. I'm sure many players in the Leafs D-room like Bozak as a team-mate, but it also doesn't change the fact that no one would say something negative about a current team-mate.

Maybe JVR is a nice guy, ok let's agree he is. But Kessel does enjoy playing with Bozak. And its not just because they are friends I suspect, which is overstated here much too often.

 

[Penalty Kill Icing*]

The dude won't crack top 6 on most NHL teams and we have an appreciation thread for him?

He would be a 3rd line C on a good team, and a miscast otherwise.

Anaheim: Getzlaf, Koivu
Buffalo: Hodgson,
Boston: Krejci, Bergeron
Calgary:
Carolina: Staal & Staal
Chicago: Toews, Sharp/Handzus
Colorado: Duchene, O'Rielly, McKinnon
Columbus: Dubinksy
Dallas: Benn
Detroit: Datsyuk,
Edmonton: RNH, Gagner
Florida:
Los Angeles: Kopitar, Brown
Minnesota: Koivu
Montreal: Plekanec, Galchenyuk
Nashville: Fisher
New Jersey:
NY Islanders: Tavares
NY Rangers: Stepan, Richards
Ottawa: Spezza, Turris
Philadelphia: Giroux, Lecavalier
Phoenix: Ribeiro
Pittsburgh: Crosby, Malkin
San Jose: Thornton, Couture
St. Louis: Backes, Roy
Tampa Bay: Stamkos,
Washington: Backstrom
Winnipeg:
Vancouver: Sedin, Kesler

 

[The Winter Soldier]

The dude won't crack top 6 on most NHL teams and we have an appreciation thread for him?

He would be a 3rd line C on a good team, and a miscast otherwise.

Why not? He did for ours. And teams as good as Detroit and St Louis were reportedly interested in him this summer, but he never wanted to leave Toronto lucky for us.

 

[SteveV*]

If Kadri could ever win draws, down the line it could be Kadri, Bolland/Bozak hybrid top three centers.

 

[Damisoph]

The dude won't crack top 6 on most NHL teams and we have an appreciation thread for him?

He would be a 3rd line C on a good team, and a miscast otherwise.

Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realize we should clear all the appreciation threads with you first.

 

[SteveV*]

Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realize we should clear all the appreciation threads with you first.

I believe there is a form to be filled out, then a committee review. This was formalized after the Kostka appreciation thread.

 

[Penalty Kill Icing*]

His "chemistry" with Kessel has to be the biggest myth around in NHL today. He doesn't help Kessel got those points. He doesn't record points on most of Kessel's scoring plays.

And he isn't any Kule either that you can give him the 3rd assist if Kessel scored.

P.S.: People here keep thinking "What if, what if" scenarios for Bozak playing Game 7. He was far from being the best Leafs defensive forward, and your "face-off master" was at 42.6% in playoffs. So much for "We missed Bozak in Game 7". I mean, whom are you kidding?

Grabovski and McClement both had better faceoff winning % than your faceoff guru.

 

[Penalty Kill Icing*]

@OP: Why are you only comparing last 2 years? Because that is what suits your agenda?

Come back when Bozak ever cracks 60 (he hasn't even cracked 50 mind you) points in NHL. Richards has already cracked 80 and has been more than a PPG in multiple seasons.

 

[Crispy Crust]

@OP: Why are you only comparing last 2 years? Because that is what suits your agenda?

Come back when Bozak ever cracks 60 (he hasn't even cracked 50 mind you) points in NHL. Richards has already cracked 80 and has been more than a PPG in multiple seasons.

Exactly.

 

[Stephen]

@OP: Why are you only comparing last 2 years? Because that is what suits your agenda?

Come back when Bozak ever cracks 60 (he hasn't even cracked 50 mind you) points in NHL. Richards has already cracked 80 and has been more than a PPG in multiple seasons.

At this point, I don't think Richards is more likely to hit 60 points than Bozak.

 

[Tak7]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

But it's very hard to ignore the fact that this guy should be our top goal-scorer by a country mile right now.

The number of grade-A quality scoring chances he's missed so far in 3 games is staggering. He should be comfortably on 5 or 6 goals by now.

 

[Kyle Doobas*]

extra 10 points could mean the difference between we making the playoffs or finishing 9-11 place

What?

Anything could be the difference between making the playoffs or finishing 9th-11th place. One missed check could be the difference. Even if it were 10 points that prevented us from making the playoffs, it's completely arbitrary to just pin it on Bozak. Anyone or any combination of players could have made up those ten points.

Like what the hell? Sometimes Kessel misses his check, therefore he's a bad player because one day he might miss a check that leads to the team missing the playoffs?

 

[Alexanderthe89]

The thing is, most of these duos are usually C-W. Rarely, do top lines have that role player be the centre. I can only think of two other examples of really good winger only duos- the Lafleur line of the Canadians 1970s, with Shutt/Lemaire/Lafleur and the Selanne/Kariya duo when they were playing with the ducks.

What about Brendan Morrison centering Big Bert and Naslund in their prime?

 

[Alexanderthe89]

P.S.: People here keep thinking "What if, what if" scenarios for Bozak playing Game 7. He was far from being the best Leafs defensive forward, and your "face-off master" was at 42.6% in playoffs. So much for "We missed Bozak in Game 7". I mean, whom are you kidding?

Grabovski and McClement both had better faceoff winning % than your faceoff guru.

IIRC, Bozak was hurt going into the first round. May have played a factor.

It's a shame how much **** Bozak takes around here for the things he isn't, when all the things he IS amounts to a pretty solid player. You can't just assemble a team of all-stars, you've got to have role players too. Just so happens that the team we've assembled is stronger on the wing so the role players play center. Not a difficult thing to grasp.

There were people on this board saying we'd never be a playoff team with him as our 1C.

 

[Leafs Forever]

@OP: Why are you only comparing last 2 years? Because that is what suits your agenda?

Come back when Bozak ever cracks 60 (he hasn't even cracked 50 mind you) points in NHL. Richards has already cracked 80 and has been more than a PPG in multiple seasons.

What about Brendan Morrison centering Big Bert and Naslund in their prime?

Sure, that could qualify too.

 

[TMLife*]

The dude won't crack top 6 on most NHL teams and we have an appreciation thread for him?

He would be a 3rd line C on a good team, and a miscast otherwise.

Anaheim: Getzlaf, Koivu
Buffalo: Hodgson,
Boston: Krejci, Bergeron
Calgary:
Carolina: Staal & Staal
Chicago: Toews, Sharp/Handzus
Colorado: Duchene, O'Rielly, McKinnon
Columbus: Dubinksy
Dallas: Benn
Detroit: Datsyuk,
Edmonton: RNH, Gagner
Florida:
Los Angeles: Kopitar, Brown
Minnesota: Koivu
Montreal: Plekanec, Galchenyuk
Nashville: Fisher
New Jersey:
NY Islanders: Tavares
NY Rangers: Stepan, Richards
Ottawa: Spezza, Turris
Philadelphia: Giroux, Lecavalier
Phoenix: Ribeiro
Pittsburgh: Crosby, Malkin
San Jose: Thornton, Couture
St. Louis: Backes, Roy
Tampa Bay: Stamkos,
Washington: Backstrom
Winnipeg:
Vancouver: Sedin, Kesler

You say he wouldn't crack the top 6 on most teams then continue to list 14 teams where he would and a few that are arguable(Richards, brown is a RW, Koivu on ANA)

 

[happyaccident]

In Saturday's game, I appreciated how Bozak:
Reacted like a deer in the headlights when Reimer kicked the puck to him and hung Reimer out to dry.
Flubbed badly on the wide open net (seen that one before?)
Played the role of "hapless decoy" when big bad Marc Methot was near him, doing nothing with the puck so that the real talent could make a play.
Lost 2 key faceoffs in the final minute when we had a chance to close the game out on the pp.

There. What's next, the Philipe Dupuis appreciation thread?

 

[thewave]

In Saturday's game, I appreciated how Bozak:
Reacted like a deer in the headlights when Reimer kicked the puck to him and hung Reimer out to dry.
Flubbed badly on the wide open net (seen that one before?)
Played the role of "hapless decoy" when big bad Marc Methot was near him, doing nothing with the puck so that the real talent could make a play.
Lost 2 key faceoffs in the final minute when we had a chance to close the game out on the pp.

There. What's next, the Philipe Dupuis appreciation thread?

This is a generic post game remarks post I could make almost every night and would be accurate. Just post this again next game, most everything said will happen again.

 

[Havoc]

Wow, is this thread serious?

Mike Richards has never had stable line-mates since he became a King until they acquired Jeff Carter. He was usually skating around with god-like players such as Gagne, Stoll and Penner and had to face most teams top lines in a defensive role.

If Richards got to play with Kessel and JVR on our top line there would be no comparison to make. Mike Richards was, and always will be 100x the player Bozak is. The only reason this comparison can even be made right now is because of ONE bad year for Richards in which he also suffered a concussion. It's laughable that this thread relies on this one bad year to validate it's claim.

Two 30 goal seasons at an age Bozak was still figuring stuff out, a stanley cup under his belt in 2012, a game-changer during his stint in Philly and former selke nominee.....please stop embarrassing yourself.

Bozak is a face-off beast and provides us with some good assets, but he shouldn't be on our first line or first PP unit.

 

[cookie]

Love Bozak. He's fast, great on the PK and shootout, solid defensively, hits and isn't intimidated by bigger players and can chip in a little offensively. Finding a player who's better than this guy offensively is easy; finding one that plays the other parts as well as he does is costly. Plus he's the opposite of a locker room cancer, being best buddies with (arguably) the team's most shiest player.

Hopefully, someone like Raymond can fill in his PP duties.

 

[The Hockey Life]

I admit, I have criticized Bozie for a long time, but he has played really well this year and continues to improve. He will never be a #1C, but he's a good #2-3 in the future and 4.2 mill really isn't that bad.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

IIRC, Bozak was hurt going into the first round. May have played a factor.

It's a shame how much **** Bozak takes around here for the things he isn't, when all the things he IS amounts to a pretty solid player. You can't just assemble a team of all-stars, you've got to have role players too. Just so happens that the team we've assembled is stronger on the wing so the role players play center. Not a difficult thing to grasp.

There were people on this board saying we'd never be a playoff team with him as our 1C.

This is an excellent post.