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Are we actually a good defensive team now? or these guy's giving us no credit?

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Arthur Morgan

Arthur Morgan

Registered User
Jul 6, 2016
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6,516
Toronto
The Athletic: Sean Gentille and Dom Luszczyszyn
can't help but noticed the little jab saying us being a good defensive team is just simply preposterous.
What do you guy's think?
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Arthur Morgan said:
The Athletic: Sean Gentille and Dom Luszczyszyn
can't help but noticed the little jab saying us being a good defensive team is just simply preposterous.
What do you guy's think?
image.png
Click to expand...
seems like they are poking fun at people saying we arent a good defensive team to me, otherwise having us at #3 in power ranking while saying nothing but negative stuff wouldnt make sense.
 
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djdev said:
seems like they are poking fun at people saying we arent a good defensive team to me, otherwise having us at #3 in power ranking while saying nothing but negative stuff wouldnt make sense.
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to be fair they had Boston at 1st and NJ at 2nd and both they said they couldnt keep it up or that it was a fake record
 
Joking or not...if you take a clear headed look, this d is short a little even with Reilly back. Certainly the bottom 2 in a playoff series being heavily forechecked would be in trouble. Maybe Benn wild help because of size and experienced. As a defensive team, the Leafs are playing very very well. Watching shot blocks and lane filling is a pleasure most nights.
 
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Niagara Bill said:
Joking or not...if you take a clear headed look, this d is short a little even with Reilly back. Certainly the bottom 2 in a playoff series being heavily forechecked would be in trouble. Maybe Benn wild help because of size and experienced. As a defensive team, the Leafs are playing very very well. Watching shot blocks and lane filling is a pleasure most nights.
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Who do you have as bottom pairing come playoff time?

Gio/Holl or Sandin/Lilly?
 
Jojalu said:
Who do you have as bottom pairing come playoff time?

Gio/Holl or Sandin/Lilly?
Click to expand...
if Sandin/Lilly keep up their solid play do you take them off the top line once Rielly is back?
I'm going to assume Muzzin likely wont be back at all. and Brodie is currently on the 3rd defensive line
 
Pretty sure it's sarcasm. The first line says that having six points from "losing" is also a red flag whereas the opposite is true. Not accumulating points from the post-tie skills competition tells you pretty much nothing about how a team performs in an actual hockey game. It's the teams that do have a lot of 3v3/shootout points that you should be wary of when evaluating their strength.
 
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Arthur Morgan said:
if Sandin/Lilly keep up their solid play do you take them off the top line once Rielly is back?
I'm going to assume Muzzin likely wont be back at all. and Brodie is currently on the 3rd defensive line
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If they continue to develop I am all for keeping all minutes pretty even.

No need to play Reilly 24-25 minutes.

Then matchup based on who they are playing
 
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I think it's pretty straight forward. We are extremely well coached defense first team with an average blueline and slightly above average goaltending that is particularly strong at what was always our weak spot, high danger chances.

This is supported by every forward who is at least above average in defensive awareness. Only in the bottom 3 will we have the odd liability (Simmonds). Even Nylander has bought in.

Now we look to Marner who has transformed into an elite two way forward who will get Selke consideration going forward in his career. Matthews has always been surprisingly responsible in this regard his entire career.

If they do it, it is inconceivable you could exist in that locker room without buying in. No rookie even considers his offense will cover his weakness.

Make no mistake. It's clear as day. Their all in. Their sick of the choker tag. There are no excuses. Put up or shut up. This is the year we move forward or we die trying. I don't know how you can't love this team and how they've grown. f*** adversity. f*** excuses. Find a way. For the first time ever that is who we are. I see it on their faces. I see it in the game and I see it in the standings. This is a different team and Keefe has done one he'll of a job giving them the structure to make their new found resolve yield maximum results.

We're in a damn good place right now.
 
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The defensive commitment from the forward group has been impressive since November started. The annoying active sticks, back pressure and five man defensive approach definitely takes pressure off of the blueline. The goaltending has been excellent. I think we could always be better defensive on paper, with a meaningful defensive upgrade.
 
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I think our defense / goaltending has probably been better than we should expect but the offense has been below what we should expect. All in all I think we're still a top 5 team but things will balance out more going forward.
 
Eye test:

- Goaltending is helping a lot and possibly making things look a little better than the results shown.
- I've noticed an enormous change in attention to detail in the last few games (puck battles, more price passes, not giving up on plays, etc.).

I'll take it. They play like this and get this kind of goaltending moving forward and they've got as good of a chance as any team in the league to go far.
 
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Much better team defence but still missing a piece or two. I would have tried to upgrade LW with a big, strong veteran 2-way player as a priority.
 
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Stephen said:
The defensive commitment from the forward group has been impressive since November started. The annoying active sticks, back pressure and five man defensive approach definitely takes pressure off of the blueline. The goaltending has been excellent. I think we could always be better defensive on paper, with a meaningful defensive upgrade.
Click to expand...

Would not have a bet much on this team being so good with Muzz, Brodie and Rielly out. We know they can beat any team on any given night with a healthy Murray/Sammy but what needs to be answered is whether they can do it every other night in a 7 game series against Tampa, Boston or another bigger. heavier team.
 
It seems like sarcasm.

I just want us to play this kind of game consistently, I genuinely will not care if we lose if we give the defensive effort we have been giving of late. If we do so, we will be just fine in the playoffs. One month down another 3 months to go? So let's hope that is the case.
 
Arthur Morgan said:
if Sandin/Lilly keep up their solid play do you take them off the top line once Rielly is back?
I'm going to assume Muzzin likely wont be back at all. and Brodie is currently on the 3rd defensive line
Click to expand...
Any of these pairings. Holl is easily pressured and NEVER fights back. Gio tires at his age.
While I like Sandin and Lilly, on a hard forcheck Sandin is easily moved off his game
 
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