Around the League - 2022-23 Season Edition

[Stephen]

Was listening to ex-Leaf staffer Cam Charron on The Leaf Report. Was refreshing to hear him talk about second guessing a lot of his own long held beliefs like whether controlled zone entries are the best way to create offense, that bad data and analysis is worse than no data and a need to be more aware of the “X’s and O’s” of the game, being a young guy with a lot to learn from the traditionalists. That conversation really does need to be integrated into a more comprehensive unified theory.

 

[Stephen]

I'd say Marner's overrated at this point. I mean he's a great player, had a few sub par playoffs but since the beginning of last season he's been fantastic. That said, seems like a ton of people here consider him a top 5 player in the league and he's more like on the fringes of being a top 10 forward.

Thing with Marner is he’s generally a great player on his A and B nights but he’s also got a spectacularly low floor on those early season October nights where it looks like you need to send him back to London. He’s sort of McCabe like in that respect where he’s memorably and catastrophically bad.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Thing with Marner is he’s generally a great player on his A and B nights but he’s also got a spectacularly low floor on those early season October nights where it looks like you need to send him back to London. He’s sort of McCabe like in that respect where he’s memorably and catastrophically bad.

I've been at the point for a while with all our players that I just don't care much what they do during the regular season. I'm not going to celebrate if Marner gets 140s point and I'm not going to much care if he only gets 70, just bring it in the playoffs. Play in the playoffs like you're worth 11 million a year, that's all I ask for.

 

[Stephen]

I've been at the point for a while with all our players that I just don't care much what they do during the regular season. I'm not going to celebrate if Marner gets 140s point and I'm not going to much care if he only gets 70, just bring it in the playoffs. Play in the playoffs like you're worth 11 million a year, that's all I ask for.

Hmm, I’m not sure I agree 100% but I know what you mean. Tampa’s core for example is on average quite a bit than ours and can still produce at a high level in the regular season. Which our guys are doing, to be fair. Matthews is the only one who has taken a step back from his own high standards. So I wouldn’t let them off the hook for a terrible regular season. Playoffs is definitely where it’ll count but it’s also hard to be apathetic to the best regular season Leafs team we’ve had post Original Six.

 

[All Mod Cons]

A buddy of mine who grew up a big Ronnie Francis fan who as we all know now is GM of the Seattle Kraken.

Well long story short as we all know the only 2 teams that have never won a playoff round in a salary cap era are the Leafs and recent expansion Seattle Kraken.

My buddy wants to bet me $500 that Seattle will win a playoff round before my Leafs and I'm actually hesitant to make that bet.

This chart that gives an expansion team > odds then the Leafs has not helped my decision making process.

Would you make that bet at even odds as it seems like a trap bet to me, but in comparison to the 2 teams head to head it seems like easy money?

Don't take the bet man. Unless you're extremely comfortable, then have at er.

But I can easily see Seattle winning a series before we do.

 

[ToneDog]

Don't take the bet man. Unless you're extremely comfortable, then have at er.

But I can easily see Seattle winning a series before we do.

We could put up another two banners.

 

[LaPlante94]

Was listening to ex-Leaf staffer Cam Charron on The Leaf Report. Was refreshing to hear him talk about second guessing a lot of his own long held beliefs like whether controlled zone entries are the best way to create offense, that bad data and analysis is worse than no data and a need to be more aware of the “X’s and O’s” of the game, being a young guy with a lot to learn from the traditionalists. That conversation really does need to be integrated into a more comprehensive unified theory.

I think most young analytics people in hockey look at how analytics took over baseball and think that it's the same thing for hockey when the 2 sports are no where close to each other. Hopefully we're getting closer to finding which analytics are actually useful and which ones aren't that useful and have no impact on games as much as they say they do.

 

[Gabriel426]

I think most young analytics people in hockey look at how analytics took over baseball and think that it's the same thing for hockey when the 2 sports are no where close to each other. Hopefully we're getting closer to finding which analytics are actually useful and which ones aren't that useful and have no impact on games as much as they say they do.

I agree. I think advanced stats is just one of the many ways to look at the players and teams. Still need to eye test as well as traditional stats.
Just wish people wont be obsess about certain advanced stats and push it like the Bible.

 

[notDatsyuk]

I looked at the scoring leaders the other day, something I almost never do because team success is all that really matters but what can I say, no games to watch so I guess I'm just bored. Now that these lists have the flags next to them I noticed something I otherwise wouldn't give any thought to but I wonder, if we were talking about scoring leaders that would play for Team Canada, I think almost everyone would know that the leading scorer under the Canadian flag is McDavid. But if I told you that there are 4 players tied for second (and tied for 11th overall), and those players are Marner, Crosby, RNH and ... ????

How many of you would be able to say who the other player tied for 2nd on the scoring list of top Canadians is?

Then if I told you that that player was Zach freaking Hyman, how many of you would say your minds are blown?

Not at all surprised, considering that he's a good player, and spends most of his ice time with at least one of three others in the top 11, on the top scoring team in the league.

 

[BertCorbeau]

Hyman’s a modern day Ryan Smythe

 

[Gary Nylund]

Hmm, I’m not sure I agree 100% but I know what you mean. Tampa’s core for example is on average quite a bit than ours and can still produce at a high level in the regular season. Which our guys are doing, to be fair. Matthews is the only one who has taken a step back from his own high standards. So I wouldn’t let them off the hook for a terrible regular season. Playoffs is definitely where it’ll count but it’s also hard to be apathetic to the best regular season Leafs team we’ve had post Original Six.

I get what you mean too but I just can't get excited about anything this team does during the regular season, I just can't. If we'd won at least a couple of rounds during the last 5 years I could enjoy it a lot more but record breaking Novembers and so on are just so meaningless to me with the memories of game 7 collapses still fresh in my mind. It's not even so much that we lost, it's how we lost and the only reason I have any optimism left is that we finally played like we cared until the end against TB so that's at least some progress. Still, the way we pissed away the previous 4 years is hard to think about, 4 years is a lot of wasted opportunities for any professional sports team and when the franchise has sucked for the better part of half a century, it's especially hard to take.

Not at all surprised, considering that he's a good player, and spends most of his ice time with at least one of three others in the top 11, on the top scoring team in the league.

Yeah all that's true, was still a big surprise to me though. There are a lot of great players in the league who also have the opportunity to put up a ton of points. I mean Zach freaking Hyman, I'm still having a hard time processing it TBH. I mean we have a lot of elite scoring talent on our team as well, would anyone have predicted that half way through the season, not one single player on our team has more points than Zach freaking Hyman? It's bizarre.

 

[Stephen]

Hyman’s a modern day Ryan Smythe

Perfect comparison.

 

[Mess]

Hyman’s a modern day Ryan Smythe

Great comparison, but the former Oiler spelt his name without the "e" on the end ..

Spelling Ryan Smyth with Freudian slip as Smythe as in Conn Smythe makes him appear like the Playoff MVP.

His 11 goals in 16 playoff games last year had him well on his way.

 

[Mess]

I looked at the scoring leaders the other day, something I almost never do because team success is all that really matters but what can I say, no games to watch so I guess I'm just bored. Now that these lists have the flags next to them I noticed something I otherwise wouldn't give any thought to but I wonder, if we were talking about scoring leaders that would play for Team Canada, I think almost everyone would know that the leading scorer under the Canadian flag is McDavid. But if I told you that there are 4 players tied for second (and tied for 11th overall), and those players are Marner, Crosby, RNH and ... ????

How many of you would be able to say who the other player tied for 2nd on the scoring list of top Canadians is?

Then if I told you that that player was Zach freaking Hyman, how many of you would say your minds are blown?

I would have been able to get that answer correct .

 

[notDatsyuk]

I get what you mean too but I just can't get excited about anything this team does during the regular season, I just can't. If we'd won at least a couple of rounds during the last 5 years I could enjoy it a lot more but record breaking Novembers and so on are just so meaningless to me with the memories of game 7 collapses still fresh in my mind. It's not even so much that we lost, it's how we lost and the only reason I have any optimism left is that we finally played like we cared until the end against TB so that's at least some progress. Still, the way we pissed away the previous 4 years is hard to think about, 4 years is a lot of wasted opportunities for any professional sports team and when the franchise has sucked for the better part of half a century, it's especially hard to take.


Yeah all that's true, was still a big surprise to me though. There are a lot of great players in the league who also have the opportunity to put up a ton of points. I mean Zach freaking Hyman, I'm still having a hard time processing it TBH. I mean we have a lot of elite scoring talent on our team as well, would anyone have predicted that half way through the season, not one single player on our team has more points than Zach freaking Hyman? It's bizarre.

True, I would have expected at least Matthews to be ahead, but at the same time, Zack is only fourth in scoring on that team.

Who's fifth for Toronto, despite minimal PP time, and actually fourth at even strength?

A good grinder playing with elite linemates.

 

[3blizzard4]

These Devils unis looks so much like the LA Kings jerseys.

Edit: from far.

 

[Mess]

Yeah all that's true, was still a big surprise to me though. There are a lot of great players in the league who also have the opportunity to put up a ton of points. I mean Zach freaking Hyman, I'm still having a hard time processing it TBH. I mean we have a lot of elite scoring talent on our team as well, would anyone have predicted that half way through the season, not one single player on our team has more points than Zach freaking Hyman? It's bizarre.

You speak of opportunity and did you know Marner has 6 PP goals and Nylander has 7 PP goals on the season but Zach Hyman has 13 PP goals which is the same as both Leaf top scoring players combined.

I asked this recently in this thread and the general answer was Zach would never get that pp time in Toronto because he isn't talented enough to play of the powerplay when here.

 

[PromisedLand]

anyone watching hockey switch to this game. Shits going down

 

[ULF_55]

You speak of opportunity and did you know Marner has 6 PP goals and Nylander has 7 PP goals on the season but Zach Hyman has 13 PP goals which is the same as both Leaf top scoring players combined.

I asked this recently in this thread and the general answer was Zach would never get that pp time in Toronto because he isn't talented enough to play of the powerplay when here.

And Nylander (758:56 - ES TOI) is only 3 Even Strength goals behind McDavid (864:09 - ES TOI).

 

[PromisedLand]

Was listening to ex-Leaf staffer Cam Charron on The Leaf Report. Was refreshing to hear him talk about second guessing a lot of his own long held beliefs like whether controlled zone entries are the best way to create offense, that bad data and analysis is worse than no data and a need to be more aware of the “X’s and O’s” of the game, being a young guy with a lot to learn from the traditionalists. That conversation really does need to be integrated into a more comprehensive unified theory.

Truer words have never been spoken.

The bullshit per 60 crap and dubas' crapshoot is all due to single minded hubris

 

[3blizzard4]

Wow Kadri got rocked by Truba! Dang that was a good hit.

 

[PromisedLand]

Flames/Rangers is one heckuva game. So much hatred. Don't know where it even comes from

and Vasy getting lit up by panthers LOL

what a return of hockey

 

[leafsfan5]

Kadri will come for revenge. Whenever he got lit up or embarrassed he'd go hunting

 

[BertCorbeau]

Wow Kadri got rocked by Truba! Dang that was a good hit.

That was a beautiful hit

 

[Nineteen67]

Maybe I’m just out to lunch, but I had no idea Necas was leading the Canes in scoring

He’s been having a great year. If I’m not mistaking he’s scored 3 or 4 OT goal in row before the break.

On a side note, I wish he could get in the fastest skater contest to see how he compares.