Whats going on at defence?

[BozakKadriKessel]

Who is going to play with dion phaneuf. I like the short term additions of robidas, not a fan of trading gunner for polak but we will have to wait and see willing to give it a shot but who plays with phaneuf? Right now I am thinking the lineup would look like this


Phaneuf xxxx

Robidas Reilly

Polak Gardiner


So we have a huge gap to fill to play with phanuef. I know they tried to sign boyle short term which would have been a good fix for a short term but clearly we cannot put franson back there and I don't think robidas can handle all those mins. Right now for what the leafs have I guess the lone choice would be jake gardiner. But does RC give him that chance after jumping on the guy. Do u think there are any quick fixes or trade opportunities they can make to get phaneuf a pairing partner. And if not if it is gardiner are you ok with the leafs bringing in a guy like volchekov? A guy as slow as he is but blocks shots, hits and plays pk playing him on the bottom pair with a guy like a Reilly, or would it just be franson back their with him?

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[Tyler Biggs*]

A third of our defense is new and has much better balance of size, toughness and veteran smarts. We now have 3 right handed shots on the blueline with Franson, Polak and Robidas; not an unimportant asset.

 

[Holymakinaw]

I think Gardiner will play with Phaneuf. It's time to start giving him more responsibility, to see what he can do. And I still hope they trade Franson away, maybe for some forward help.

Phaneuf - Gardiner
Rielly - Robidas
Granberg - Polak
Percy

 

[SprDaVE]

It'll depend which side Phaneuf plays. Nonis said it's possible he plays the left but apparently Phaneuf prefers the right and stats suggest he does. It also depends if Franson is traded, but it does look like a strong possibility.

So it's either:

Phaneuf - Polak
Gardiner - Robidas
Rielly - Granberg
MacWilliam - Holzer

Or:

Gardiner - Phaneuf
Rielly - Robidas
MacWilliam - Polak
Holzer - Granberg

Looks like the first option looks better and makes more sense but I think depending on how it goes, we could see both options through the season.

 

[one77]

Rielly - Phaneuf
Gardiner - Robidas
Percy - Polak
Granberg

 

[officialmark*]

Franson had an off year, but to give up on him would be idiotic. I'm not sure why people are kind of writing him off by not expecting him to play, but come October he will probably be playing top 4 minutes.

 

[Stats01]

I'd move Gardiner or Robidas up to play with Dion and have a Marlie play as the #5-#6 D-man (Granberg)

NVM: I remember they want Robidas playing with a Marlie

Rielly- Phaneuf
Gardiner - Robidas
Granberg - Polak

 

[Stats01]

Franson had an off year, but to give up on him would be idiotic. I'm not sure why people are kind of writing him off by not expecting him to play, but come October he will probably be playing top 4 minutes.

He's a terrible player, great and accurate point shot, but he's soft as butter for his size. Trade him

 

[yubbers]

Gunner trade was awful
Robidas broke his leg twice last year
Phaneuf and Gardiner? Hahaha

Next year is gonna be special

 

[officialmark*]

He's a terrible player, great and accurate point shot, but he's soft as butter for his size. Trade him

He was being praised 2 years ago, you don't sell low. Franson isn't as bad as he was last season, and trading him now would be bad asset management.

 

[IWD]

He's a terrible player, great and accurate point shot, but he's soft as butter for his size. Trade him

Pretty sure he was among the league leaders in hits. I'm sure some will say something about the ACC counter, but the same counter put Phaneuf at 60 fewer hits,

 

[StuckOutHere]

I'm sure they'll start by square peg and round holin' Phaneuf onto the left side. When that fails, here is how I think it shakes out.

Gardiner Phaneuf
Rielly Robidas
Percy Polak
Granberg

I think Polak is traded next offseason/the following trade deadline as Granberg grows into that physical role and eventually surpasses Polak at a cheaper hit. The big question is where/when does Finn fit in to the picture? He won't be making the team this year, but I bet after a year with the Marlies he'll get a look.

 

[Stats01]

Pretty sure he was among the league leaders in hits. I'm sure some will say something about the ACC counter, but the same counter put Phaneuf at 60 fewer hits,

What do you think happens when the puck is consistently in your own end and you can't get it out?? You're going to be hitting a lot of forwards along the boards. Please don't tell me Franson has the most hits as a good thing, the guy was soft in front of the net and made a ton of mistakes. He can go any time.

 

[Smif]

It'll depend which side Phaneuf plays. Nonis said it's possible he plays the left but apparently Phaneuf prefers the right and stats suggest he does. It also depends if Franson is traded, but it does look like a strong possibility.

So it's either:

Phaneuf - Polak
Gardiner - Robidas
Rielly - Granberg
MacWilliam - Holzer

Or:

Gardiner - Phaneuf
Rielly - Robidas
MacWilliam - Polak
Holzer - Granberg

Looks like the first option looks better and makes more sense but I think depending on how it goes, we could see both options through the season.

This. Except Robidas with Phaneuf rather than Polak.

 

[AustonMitchWilly]

Whats going on at defense is:


Its obvious that Phaneuf struggled last year trying to carry the load mostly by himself. He is more offensive driven than defensive, but he has been asked to and relied on while playing out of his element. Now they are bringing in tougher defensive defensemen so Dion can go back to his offensive ways. This is a very good thing, especially for people that call Dion a pylon or say hes trash or what have you. If you think he is overpaid, you won't after this season.

 

[wc17]

If the Leafs want to be taken for real (lol) they still need a partner for either Dion on the 1st pairing or Gardiner on the 2nd pairing.

Dion cant play the left side so Robidas might be playing with Gardiner. This pairing would be easily our best 5 on 5 pairing IMO.

Polak isnt a top 4 dman and certainly isnt a top pairing guy so he'll play with Rielly on the right side. Again, this has the potential of being a very good 3rd pairing with Rielly allowed to skate with Polak playing the defensive end (playing vs. lesser competition on the 3rd pairing).

That leaves Dion...IMO the Leafs still havent found a capable partner for him.

 

[GoonieFace]

I think Gardiner will play with Phaneuf. It's time to start giving him more responsibility, to see what he can do. And I still hope they trade Franson away, maybe for some forward help.

Phaneuf - Gardiner
Rielly - Robidas
Granberg - Polak
Percy

If you want to ruin Gardiners career, put him with Phaneuf. Dion has no clue in his defensive zone and cant expect Gardiner to cover for him. I seem to recall a promising youngster named Holzer who got paired with Phaneuf and the poor guy looked lost. Phaneuf is not good enough to bring a young dman along. A sign of a great #1 dman

 

[IWD]

What do you think happens when the puck is consistently in your own end and you can't get it out?? You're going to be hitting a lot of forwards along the boards. Please don't tell me Franson has the most hits as a good thing, the guy was soft in front of the net and made a ton of mistakes. He can go any time.

I don't see a few nudges along the boards being counted as hits. You can say he's not very good defensively all you want, and I'm not sure many will disagree, but soft he clearly isn't.

 

[SprDaVE]

This. Except Robidas with Phaneuf rather than Polak.

Robidas said himself the Leafs want him to play with one of Rielly or Gardiner.

I think at least to start this is what will happen.

 

[Hotlanta]

Robidas said himself the Leafs want him to play with one of Rielly or Gardiner.

I think at least to start this is what will happen.

Regardless of who plays with who, we know have 3 well balanced defensive pairings. Protecting a pairing is no long as important, and I doubt we see Phaneuf playing 28+ minutes a game. I think if Phaneuf is only having to play 22 minutes a game, we won't need to worry as much about who he is playing with. Especially if it is a veteran like Polak or Robidas.

 

[Derrty]

Phaneuf is going to be great for closer to 82 games this year, instead of 60.

 

[AustonMitchWilly]

Phaneuf is going to be great for closer to 82 games this year, instead of 60.

Hey even #1D can keep getting better, too.

 

[Ace88*]

We have a much more balanced defense now:

Phaneuf - Robidas
Rielly - Polak
Gardiner - Franson/Granberg

That's 1 LHD and 1 RHD on each pairing. One puck mover, one defensive guy. Best case scenario is each pairing plays around 20 quality minutes a night, with whichever pair is playing best earning a bit more ice time.

I won't lie, i hated trading Gunnarsson, but it looks like our defense is in much better shape.

 

[rrc1967]

Who is going to play with dion phaneuf. I like the short term additions of robidas, not a fan of trading gunner for polak but we will have to wait and see willing to give it a shot but who plays with phaneuf? Right now I am thinking the lineup would look like this

snip.

it's really hard to tell how the pairings will look like until training camp and the coaches can start evaluating who plays with who better.

and we still have to wait and see what happens with franson before filling out really the 6th or 7th spot on defense.

while part of the problem was the 6-7 defenseman, the majority of the problems were caused by the forwards and the systems employed. have to wait and see how things go would be my guess.

 

[Teeder9]

What do you think happens when the puck is consistently in your own end and you can't get it out?? You're going to be hitting a lot of forwards along the boards. Please don't tell me Franson has the most hits as a good thing, the guy was soft in front of the net and made a ton of mistakes. He can go any time.

Paul Maurice said it best. Getting lots of hits means you didn't have the puck. Something like that. Great context would be knowing how many times his hits meant a change in puck possession. My bet is on not much