Post-Game Talk: Wow. We looked Good. (but we lost). That wasn't painful at all.

[Pyrophorus]

Don't forget Price raising his pad to stop Holland, Holland missing the net on the between the legs move, and Spaling missing the net all alone in front. Could have been 4-4!

Am I doing this right?

Boyes partial breakaway.

 

[Bluelines]

What I noticed:

The Good:
- Rielly: Looked pretty freakin dominant. He had a couple gaffs, but I'd expect that from a guy his age. He looks like he's gonna have a huge year.
- Kadri: I think he might just hit 65-70 points this year. He's got a fire lit under him so far.
- JVR: Seems like he doesn't need Kessel to be effective.
- Hunwick: Looks like he could be a steal of a pick up.
- Harrington: Looked very solid.

The Bad:
- Bozak: Oh man, it's gonna be a long year for Ty without Kessel feeding him.
- Holland: He was more average than anything, but he hasn't really shown any progression in my eyes.

The Ugly:
- Komorav: That hit was.. eh.. over the top.
- Bernier: Those softies man..

Holland had a very good night, he was one of the few Leaf forwards who actually created offensive pressure.

You can add Gardnier to the Ugly category, he had a number of ugly mental mistakes that led to scoring chances, kid needs to trust his god given skills and stop trying to think the game.

 

[Warden of the North]

Utica Comets fan here in search of some answers.

Can't find a thread exactly appropriate so I'll ask here. I read that Babcock was very adamant about going with 8 D-men and that influenced the grabbing of Corrado off waivers. In checking the Leafs main website, they currently list 10 D-men. Have they neglected to take two off the list and if so who are they?

I know Corrado can't go to the Marlies without the Canucks having the right to take him back. I get a feeling he isn't quite NHL ready. Utica could use him and I think Benning would reclaim him after the abuse he is taking from putting him on waivers when he had a perfectly legit way to hold on to him.

My hope is he sticks with the Leafs after the way he was mishandled last season. He has promise. Just needs to get the ice and a little time to adjust to the NHL game. Someone has to live with a few growing pains and an occasional mistake. In other words the way most teams initiate newcomers to the team. In Vancouver Benning's boys can make mistakes repeatedly and keep playing. The rest end up missing a few shifts, sitting at the end of the bench for a period or more, or in the press box. Frank sat in the press box for weeks without getting any game time. Then he got sent down. Was recalled and got similar treatment and then sent back down. Then at this year's camp they wondered how come he hadn't developed any further and tried to sneak him through waivers.

Good luck Frankie from the Utica fan base.

Leafs currently have Rielly, Phaneuf, Gardiner, Marincin, Harrington, Hunwick, Corrado, and Polak with the team (Polak and Corrado were scratched).

Corrado wont be waived to go the AHL, if thats what you're hoping.

 

[burpsalot]

Holland had a very good night, he was one of the few Leaf forwards who actually created offensive pressure.

You can add Gardnier to the Ugly category, he had a number of ugly mental mistakes that led to scoring chances, kid needs to trust his god given skills and stop trying to think the game.

I agree, I thought Holland had a very good game. The number of chances generated as a 3rd line were exceptional & Holland himself had at least 3 very good chances. Goals will come if he keeps playing like that.

 

[A1LeafNation]

Now imagine the Leafs playing the way they did last night consistently, but next year with a top 9 of:

JVR Stamkos Nylander
Kadri Matthews Kapanen
Leipsic Marner Brown

 

[Teufelsdreck]

good game

It shows what a good coach can accomplish.

 

[Rogie]

Sorry, don't know how to line up the columns better (duh); i don't know how to copy paste excel files well at all.

Also, this is just even strength, so, depending on which game had more penalties would affect es ice time obviously. Anyways, I think we can see already a smaller ES ice time difference between lines than compared to last year. Bozak/Kessel/jvr had 18/17.5/17.5 minutes ES last year and then ES TOI drops down to 13 minutes or less for remaining players and lines.
This year, much different TOI:
Bozak with over 16 minutes and 6 players with more than 13 minutes and a little difference between 1st and 2nd line - whomever we designate as the first line.


Even strength TOI from nhl.com site for season opener:

GARDINER, JAKE 20:09
RIELLY, MORGAN 18:47
HUNWICK, MATT 18:45
PHANEUF, DION 18:00
BOZAK, TYLER 16:36
HARRINGTON, SCOTT 16:31
LUPUL, JOFFREY 15:30
MARINCIN, MARTIN 15:30
BOYES, BRAD 15:20
KADRI, NAZEM 15:11
VAN RIEMSDYK, JAMES 14:43
SPALING, NICK 13:49
WINNIK, DANIEL 13:34
PARENTEAU 13:05
MATTHIAS, SHAWN 12:57
HOLLAND, PETER 12:18
ARCOBELLO, MARK 10:15
KOMAROV, LEO 8:47

Even strength TOI from last season's opener:

PHANEUF, DION 19:36
ROBIDAS 18:32
BOZAK, TYLER 18:01
KESSEL, PHIL 17:28
VAN RIEMSDYK, JAMES 17:24
PERCY, STUART 16:06
RIELLY, MORGAN 15:42
GARDINER, JAKE 15:37
POLAK, ROMAN 15:13
KOZUN, BRANDON 12:45
LUPUL, JOFFREY 12:14
KOMAROV, LEO 11:53
KADRI, NAZEM 11:36
SANTORELLI, MIKE 11:08
CLARKSON, DAVID 10:59
HOLLAND, PETER 9:39
WINNIK, DANIEL 9:22
FRATTIN, MATT

 

[TheProspector]

Now imagine the Leafs playing the way they did last night consistently, but next year with a top 9 of:

JVR Stamkos Nylander
Kadri Matthews Kapanen
Leipsic Marner Brown

That'd be a short rebuild, but you have to think that 1st OA will be really unlikely. We aren't going to be the worst team in the NHL.

 

[Johny Drama]

Even strength TOI from nhl.com site for season opener:

GARDINER, JAKE 20:09
RIELLY, MORGAN 18:47
HUNWICK, MATT 18:45
PHANEUF, DION 18:00
BOZAK, TYLER 16:36
HARRINGTON, SCOTT 16:31
LUPUL, JOFFREY 15:30
MARINCIN, MARTIN 15:30
BOYES, BRAD 15:20
KADRI, NAZEM 15:11
VAN RIEMSDYK, JAMES 14:43
SPALING, NICK 13:49
WINNIK, DANIEL 13:34
PARENTEAU 13:05
MATTHIAS, SHAWN 12:57
HOLLAND, PETER 12:18
ARCOBELLO, MARK 10:15
KOMAROV, LEO 8:47

While watching game it just seemed that Phaneuf wasn't on the ice quite as much as in the past and ice time was spread around a little more. These numbers back this up. I really think one of MB's challenges this year is to get more out of Phaneuf even if this means it raises his stock in order to trade him. He has always been over-used since coming here and I really think he would be a much more effective player if he plays less and simplifies his game.

 

[Joey Hoser]

That'd be a short rebuild, but you have to think that 1st OA will be really unlikely. We aren't going to be the worst team in the NHL.

Being last matters way less now.

 

[ULF_55]

Being last matters way less now.

Yes, luck will play a bigger part.

Leafs should have some breaks coming to them you would think.

 

[deletethis]

It wasn't painful but it was probably a preview of the accumulative pain of the 2015-16 season where the offense will be spotty and the impact of any bad goal against is magnified.

 

[CanadiensforLife]

Don't forget Price raising his pad to stop Holland, Holland missing the net on the between the legs move, and Spaling missing the net all alone in front. Could have been 4-4!

Am I doing this right?

Not really because in that case, it would have been 7-4 for the Habs. Reread Pookie's post: 4-1 for Habs if not for Gardiner's toe & Bernier's over the net deflection, to which I added 2 posts and 1 crossbar hit by Habs. That makes it 7-4 with the Leafs misses you added.

 

[Fogelhund]

Now imagine the Leafs playing the way they did last night consistently, but next year with a top 9 of:

JVR Stamkos Nylander
Kadri Matthews Kapanen
Leipsic Marner Brown

It is an interesting idea, but if we were in position to draft Matthews, and already had Nylander, Marner and Kadri in the system, signing Stamkos to a long-term deal at 10-12M, might not make much sense in a cap era.

Also, our major weakness would be Defence after drafting Matthews, not needing another C.

 

[bobg1]

I just HATE losing to the Habs!!!

Me too

 

[BigWilly]

Now imagine the Leafs playing the way they did last night consistently, but next year with a top 9 of:

JVR Stamkos Nylander
Kadri Matthews Kapanen
Leipsic Marner Brown

I'd guess we'd look more like this next year:

JVR - Kadri - Marner
Matthias - Holland - Boyes
Winnik - Nylander - Brown

Meaning we could be in for some more growing pains before we find success.

 

[King85Kong]

It is an interesting idea, but if we were in position to draft Matthews, and already had Nylander, Marner and Kadri in the system, signing Stamkos to a long-term deal at 10-12M, might not make much sense in a cap era.

Also, our major weakness would be Defence after drafting Matthews, not needing another C.

It sure would be hard to pass up on him, if given the opportunity to sign him.

I'd guess we'd look more like this next year:

JVR - Kadri - Marner
Matthias - Holland - Boyes
Winnik - Nylander - Brown

Meaning we could be in for some more growing pains before we find success.

I like the look of that lineup. Only thing is if Marner can make the jump from CHL straight to the first line. Might want to ease him in first on a lower line.

 

[BigWilly]

I like the look of that lineup. Only thing is if Marner can make the jump from CHL straight to the first line. Might want to ease him in first on a lower line.

Maybe, but it would be good to see him developing with offensively creative players. Also keep in mind with Babcock every line plays pretty evenly.