Tyler Bozak Appreciation Thread

[The Blue Devil]

I'd venture you'd be in the minority. I said in the midst of his terribad second season that he would be back on that line for the long haul, and I stand by it. He is a multi-talented player, is becoming a hell of a two way center and brings more to the top line than just points. Lets face it, we're not hurting for offense here in Toronto.

You are correct that we aren't in dire need of goal scoring, but it would be nice if our top line center can get at least 50 points. It would also be nice if he'd stop whiffing on shots with a wide open net as that could be the difference between a win or loss and prevent a divisional rival getting an extra point like on Saturday.

Will say that he did do well with the put away goal on the SO.

 

[Joey Hoser]

You are correct that we aren't in dire need of goal scoring, but it would be nice if our top line center can get at least 50 points.

Well, like I said before, he's paced 50+ points every year except one. He just needs to not regress and play 82 games.

Any improvement at all in his offensive game and we're looking at 60 points, which would make his contract respectable if not good value.

 

[jmart21]

You are correct that we aren't in dire need of goal scoring, but it would be nice if our top line center can get at least 50 points. It would also be nice if he'd stop whiffing on shots with a wide open net as that could be the difference between a win or loss and prevent a divisional rival getting an extra point like on Saturday.

Will say that he did do well with the put away goal on the SO.

2/3rds of our top line can't get 50 pts; why is Bozak the sole issue?

 

[hockeyfanz*]

Man if you hate Bozak's contract, you better hope we don't touch Thornton with a 10 foot pole this summer.

Will be a 35 year old looking for a 5+ year retirement contract at $6+ mil and has been on the decline for the last 3-4 years.

Is this a joke? Joe Thornton at 35 is better than Tyler Bozak will ever be. The guy is still one of the best passers in the game and his last 3 years has 70, 77 and 40 (48games).
He will still be worth 6M per which is only 1.5 more than Bozie makes. Plus he is a big body center @6'4 225lbs.

 

[The Apologist]

Is this a joke? Joe Thornton at 35 is better than Tyler Bozak will ever be. The guy is still one of the best passers in the game and his last 3 years has 70, 77 and 40 (48games).
He will still be worth 6M per which is only 1.5 more than Bozie makes. Plus he is a big body center @6'4 225lbs.

What makes you think Joe only gets 6M per? Cap going up, ppg guy, veteran. None of this adds up to 6M to me?

 

[Lebanese Leaf]

Is this a joke? Joe Thornton at 35 is better than Tyler Bozak will ever be. The guy is still one of the best passers in the game and his last 3 years has 70, 77 and 40 (48games).
He will still be worth 6M per which is only 1.5 more than Bozie makes. Plus he is a big body center @6'4 225lbs.

He has been declining, and has a LOT of mileage (17 years of NHL experience) for a 35 year old, and will be looking for 5+ years at over $6 mil. I don't want to go anywhere near Thornton if he is available. That will be one of the worst contracts in the NHL in a couple years, mark my words.

 

[Alexanderthe89]

I don't really see Thornton and Kessel meshing well.

 

[The Blue Devil]

Well, like I said before, he's paced 50+ points every year except one. He just needs to not regress and play 82 games.

Any improvement at all in his offensive game and we're looking at 60 points, which would make his contract respectable if not good value.

I would actually like to see him hit it, not just on pace.

If he hits 60, then that would be great value for his contract.

 

[The Blue Devil]

2/3rds of our top line can't get 50 pts; why is Bozak the sole issue?

I'd say JVR easily can. He's never gotten the type of opportunity that Bozak has to produce that. You can argue that he never earned it on Philly, but you could say the same for Bozak.

 

[Wheels]

He won the 2nd most faceoffs in the NHL last year, and took the 2nd most as well. Among the top 30 face-off takers, Bozak ranked 11th. Among the top 10 faceoff takers, Bozak ranks 4th.
.

So among the 10 guys who took the most faceoffs, he was essentially middle of the pack? Got it.

He's decent at face-offs. I never said he was bad at them. But let's not make him the next Yanic Perreault in the dot.

 

[Wheels]

Hey Wheels, I was just wondering if I could get your opinion on which ways you think Bozak and Stajan are similar and maybe some ways in which they're different? Why isn't Bozak as good?

Stylistically they're similar - not great but not terrible on either offence or defence. Don't play physical. Can't score goals. Stajan's best years offensively are better than Bozak's best years. They don't really do anything to stand out whatsoever during the game. If they didn't play, you probably wouldn't notice. How's that?

 

[ErnieLeafs]

I'll appreciate Bozak being replaced with a player capable of maximizing our 1st line's output.

 

[CabanaBoy5]

Stylistically they're similar - not great but not terrible on either offence or defence. Don't play physical. Can't score goals. Stajan's best years offensively are better than Bozak's best years. They don't really do anything to stand out whatsoever during the game. If they didn't play, you probably wouldn't notice. How's that?

Sorry, but Bozak was missed in that Game 7 collapse. Probably wouldn't have happened if a defensively responsible centre was available. Unfortunately all we had was the minus 10 defensive sieve Grabovski.

 

[leafstilldeath*]

The "Appreciation" in the title of this thread associated with the name Bozak makes me want to vomit.

 

[ErnieLeafs]

Sorry, but Bozak was missed in that Game 7 collapse. Probably wouldn't have happened if a defensively responsible centre was available. Unfortunately all we had was the minus 10 defensive sieve Grabovski.

You're vastly overstating Bozak's defensive ability.

 

[member 147413]

I think I hate Tyler Bozak. Why is he with Kessel? Why is he our Center put on the first PP unit? Why is he Kessel's friend.

 

[Penalty Kill Icing*]

Sorry, but Bozak was missed in that Game 7 collapse. Probably wouldn't have happened if a defensively responsible centre was available. Unfortunately all we had was the minus 10 defensive sieve Grabovski.

A player who is a minus player his entire career can't be called a "defensively responsible centre". Bozak is the last player I would expect to have influence on the team.

 

[Penalty Kill Icing*]

When Bozak plays 23:35 and Kadri plays 13:00, don't expect your team to win. And that is exactly what happened tonight. Can't score goals when you have offensive blackhole on the ice half the hockey game.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

When Bozak plays 23:35 and Kadri plays 13:00, don't expect your team to win. And that is exactly what happened tonight. Can't score goals when you have offensive blackhole on the ice half the hockey game.

Another Bozak post, I think we all get where you stand.

I'll ask you again, where was JVR and Kessel tonight, and don't give me the Kessel had 7 perimeter shots tonight reasoning.

BTW Bozak playing 20 mins a game worked last year didn't it? We made the playoffs first time in 9 years no?

 

[Penalty Kill Icing*]

Another Bozak post, think you need a new alias. I think we all get where you stand.

I'll ask you again, where was JVR and Kessel tonight, and don't give me the Kessel had 7 perimeter shots tonight reasoning.

BTW Bozak playing 20 mins a game worked last year didn't it? We made the playoffs first time in 9 years no?

People in glass houses don't throw stones at other. Everyone on Leafs board knew about your fascination with Grabo.

How about you give me explanation for Bozak's suckage EVERY night. I had enough of explaining.

And I proved it couple of months ago that Bozak had no business with Kessel's (and thereby Leafs) success. You have to dig in my post history, but Bozak didn't record a point on most of Kessel's scoring plays.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

People in glass houses don't throw stones at other. Everyone on Leafs board knew about your fascination with Grabo.

How about you give me explanation for Bozak's suckage EVERY night. I had enough of explaining.

And I proved it couple of months ago that Bozak had no business with Kessel's (and thereby Leafs) success. You have to dig in my post history, but Bozak didn't record a point on most of Kessel's scoring plays.

I simply proved that your statement was wrong when you said you can't play Bozak 20 mins a game and expect to win. No need to get huffy.

As for attempts to constantly derail a thread, I am not responding, will let the mods decide what to do. Not falling for the bait.

 

[Penalty Kill Icing*]

And yes. You will find Bozak related posts in a Bozak related thread.

 

[Nithoniniel]

I think what Bozak does for the first line is gel. He doesn't have a lot of standout-skills as a hockey player, but he does have a good eye toward seeing what his linemates does best and adapt his style of play to allow them to get the most out of their skills. He also has a rather mistake-free game and does the little things well.

People get too hung up on individual players and their production when what is important is how their line as a whole produces offense. A line can be at its best offensively by employing a player that plays a more grinding game because he can work to give the other players some space.

Compare Oilers from past seasons with very skilled players on their top lines who could never utilize their great skill 5-on-5, and Detroit with Abdelkader on the first line, who is worse offensively than Bozak but uses his style of play to allow Zetterberg and Datsyuk to get more space, and therefore contributes more to offense than a more skilled player would.

With all that said, Bozak as of right now is not playing well. He has been worse than before at faceoffs, he's been worse than before offensively and I have even caught him cheating defensively as well.

Carlyle has been all about accountability from his players, and it will be interesting to see if this extends to someone like Bozak as well. I think he is playing bad enough right now that some time on the third line would do him good.

 

[Diatomic]

I think what Bozak does for the first line is gel. He doesn't have a lot of standout-skills as a hockey player, but he does have a good eye toward seeing what his linemates does best and adapt his style of play to allow them to get the most out of their skills. He also has a rather mistake-free game and does the little things well.

People get too hung up on individual players and their production when what is important is how their line as a whole produces offense. A line can be at its best offensively by employing a player that plays a more grinding game because he can work to give the other players some space.

Compare Oilers from past seasons with very skilled players on their top lines who could never utilize their great skill 5-on-5, and Detroit with Abdelkader on the first line, who is worse offensively than Bozak but uses his style of play to allow Zetterberg and Datsyuk to get more space, and therefore contributes more to offense than a more skilled player would.

With all that said, Bozak as of right now is not playing well. He has been worse than before at faceoffs, he's been worse than before offensively and I have even caught him cheating defensively as well.

Carlyle has been all about accountability from his players, and it will be interesting to see if this extends to someone like Bozak as well. I think he is playing bad enough right now that some time on the third line would do him good.

Carlyle is too stubborn to remove bozak from Kessel. Heck, Kadri's been 10x better than Bozak yet he's playing like 13mins a game and has regular shifts with Ahlers Abbott and knuckleheads like Orr.

Bozaks unfortunately playing 20mins a night on the 1st line with Kessel till his contract expires. By then kessel will be past his prime and struggling to plot 20 goals a year.

 

[Mowerman]

Another Bozak post, think you need a new alias. I think we all get where you stand.

I'll ask you again, where was JVR and Kessel tonight, and don't give me the Kessel had 7 perimeter shots tonight reasoning.

BTW Bozak playing 20 mins a game worked last year didn't it? We made the playoffs first time in 9 years no?

Kessel played fine, he generated most of the quality chances and drove most of the quality offensive possessions. JVR was MIA though which was a vital part of the lack of offence.