Changes needed?

[Buds17]

Totally missed my point, eh?

Not necessarily (creating balanced lines, untapped player potential). We're probably just in disagreement about Gregor being a suitable fit on 'a' or 'the' top line of a team that's trying to contend. Of course, that is totally fine. Cheers.

 

[Ciao]

It is coming to 56.5 years since Army hoisted the SC on May 2, 1967.

As much as I respect your opinion -- and I do, very much so -- the current management, coaches and players have nothing at all to do with the Leafs' performance since 1967.

Their successes and failures over the past 50 years are irrelevant to the group on the ice, behind the bench and in the front office now.

They're competitive, and that's kind of what I would want.

Dominant wire-to- wire teams like the 1978 Montreal Canadiens are long gone. Nowadays teams have to scrap it out, game-in and game-out, and that competitive balance is not too bad a thing.

The only thing better would be if the Leafs' were the ones on the top of the heap, but then again if they were no one else would really care. Habs fans would just go "Meh, so what."

 

[disgruntleddave]

I'd rather have Bunting than bertuzzi.. at least for now

 

[sxvnert]

Should have kept Lafferty for the fourth line + PK.

Gregor Holmberg Lafferty

I'd rather have Bunting than bertuzzi.. at least for now

Would have been a nice add on a 1yr/2.5-3m show me deal. At 5.5 they could have looked elsewhere.

 

[ZEBROA]

This would just increase ice time for lesser players and decrease ice time for your best players.

Bad idea

Great idea.
If trailing you shorten the bench and top the first line with Nylander Marner Matthews .So first second first second third and so on. They will get a lot of icetime.

And the two second lines split time so it will not be less time for the best players.

 

[Enga Olly]

I know some people derive such satisfaction over-analyzing and over-thinking what's wrong with this 100+ point Leaf team. Imbalance in offence/stars disappear in PO/D-fence is leaky/not enough sandpaper and lord knows what else, the Leafs are a very good team and their PO success will come down to finally getting NHL PO level goaltending. If we get actual great goaltending from Woll and he doesn't let in stinkers that have sunk this team the past 7 years, we'll do great. It's the only change that's required.

 

[ACC1224]

I'd rather have Bunting than bertuzzi.. at least for now

Not me, his act grew tiresome.

 

[Nineteen67]

I'd rather have Bunting than bertuzzi.. at least for now

Bertuzzi gets involved and can actually play a little. Bunting is making the Canes worse.

 

[Strangle]

Great idea.
If trailing you shorten the bench and top the first line with Nylander Marner Matthews .So first second first second third and so on. They will get a lot of icetime.

And the two second lines split time so it will not be less time for the best players.

Can you write out the 4 lines you would run, and the expected ice time you’d want Keefe to give each line?

Doesn’t need to be exact, just what the ideal ‘plan’ would be. We all know that through the course of a game these things are very fluid

 

[ZEBROA]

At work so quite braindead right now but:

20min Jarnkrok Matthews Marner
16.30 Bert Tavares Domi (not sure about the D on this one)
16.30 Knies Nylander Minten (like to se what Nylander can create with two rookies, i belive he grows with responsability)
7 Greg Kampf holmberg?

Top players get more minutes when they shorten the bench and doubleshift. Nylander on first ppp.

And no fourth line in OT

 

[notDatsyuk]

At work so quite braindead right now but:

20min Jarnkrok Matthews Marner
16.30 Bert Tavares Domi (not sure about the D on this one)
16.30 Knies Nylander Minten (like to se what Nylander can create with two rookies, i belive he grows with responsability)
7 Greg Kampf holmberg?

Top players get more minutes when they shorten the bench and doubleshift. Nylander on first ppp.

And no fourth line in OT

Not too bad. I'd be quite worried about the D on the Tavares line, but I am all for trying Nylander on his own.

For the moment, since the JT/Willy combo seems to be clicking best, I'd leave it as is, unless we need to swap WIlly and Mitch to try to get Matty going again.

 

[namttebih]

I think that they need to create a Gregor Kampf Jarnkrok line for d-zone starts. This would free up the first line for more offensive starts and allow them to produce at a higher level. This would of course mean that Reaves would have to sit.

Knies Matthews Marner
Bertuzzi Tavares Nylander
Robertson Holmberg Domi (sheltered)
Gregor Kampf Jarnkrok

At work so quite braindead right now but:

20min Jarnkrok Matthews Marner
16.30 Bert Tavares Domi (not sure about the D on this one)
16.30 Knies Nylander Minten (like to se what Nylander can create with two rookies, i belive he grows with responsability)
7 Greg Kampf holmberg?

Top players get more minutes when they shorten the bench and doubleshift. Nylander on first ppp.

And no fourth line in OT

Minten is back in the dub

 

[JTK1967]

Bertuzzi gets involved and can actually play a little. Bunting is making the Canes worse.

IMO its obvious that Bert is battling some sort of ailment.
Cant place what, but he is way more tentative with the body and not driving to the hard areas as much as he did with Detroit or Boston.
I would prefer we sit him for a few games and let him heal up, and bring up a guy like Robertson/McMann for 3W with Kampf and Domi, and put Knies + Jarnk as the top 6 wings for a few games now that the road trip is done.

Id rather have 5 less Bertuzzi games over the next month and have him healthy for the next 65 than have 70 games of him being a bit off.

 

[robertmac43]

First line Gregor would be hilarious...

 

[ZEBROA]

Not too bad. I'd be quite worried about the D on the Tavares line, but I am all for trying Nylander on his own.

For the moment, since the JT/Willy combo seems to be clicking best, I'd leave it as is, unless we need to swap WIlly and Mitch to try to get Matty going again.

Yeah right now it would only make sense to try Nylander with Matthews. But around playoffs i want three strong lines. Knies Nylander Kane...?

 

[notDatsyuk]

Yeah right now it would only make sense to try Nylander with Matthews. But around playoffs i want three strong lines. Knies Nylander Kane...?

I'm not so sure Kane has that much to offer, but Knies, Nylander, and another speedy player would make an excellent second line.

 

[ZEBROA]

I'm not so sure Kane has that much to offer, but Knies, Nylander, and another speedy player would make an excellent second line.

Most of all i dont want Nylander to change his jersey nr

 

[Leafblooded]

We clearly need a 3C, a Big D, and a high end LW. But we can't afford it...so here we are. The squad is good but not good enough. Unlikely to find cheap diamonds in the rough.

 

[capfit9]

The core with their financial demands doesn’t work period

 

[mjd1001]

This is pretty much what I expected from the team. They are a very good team that can have streaks where they look great but they're not a top five NHL team. They're in the 5 to 10 range probably.

If everything goes their way they can win the cup. They stay healthy. They get a couple favorable matchups in the playoffs and an injury or two along the way to their opponents and they could win the cup. Is it likely? No. But not out of the question.

There's not much you can do to change it though. You are a very good team because you have high-end talent and you are not drastically overpaying that talent. But, The reason you are not a great, elite, presidents-trophy-favorite-team every single year is because you don't have any bargains on your top end.

The lack of top end bargains on your star players is the exact reason why this team is what it is. You don't have enough cap room to make a major change that you would need to be better, but you are still going to be very good with what you have.

It is what it is. This team is what it is. They're not likely to win the cup but they have a chance. With this core, That's pretty much all we can hope for going forward.

 

[LeafGrief]

The only change that matters is the core 4. They make half the money and drive the bus. Rielly and the goalie can sit behind the drivers and point, but we go where the big boys take us.

We shuffled the deck chairs again. Bertuzzi for Bunting and Domi for Kerfoot, at least Klingberg isn't completely analogous to Holl. I believed for the first five years that if we just got the recipe of the surrounding cast right, that we would see success, but that illusion died Game 7 in Montreal. The bus drivers didn't come out to play, so we lost.

The big guns are good enough to get this team 100 points in the regular season. They might also drive off a cliff because everyone has down years and surely they see the writing on the wall at this point, but who knows. We'll get to the playoffs and spend endless pixels arguing and wondering if this is the version where Romeo and Juliet live happily ever after. Maybe this is our year...

Real change is the core 4, everything else is pretending.

 

[TheGroceryStick]

Part of me gets trying out lines and see what sticks, the other wants them to cook more before changing.

Gimme this for a stretch (good or bad, let em work it out)
Knies-Matthews-Nylander
Bertuzzi-Tavares-Marner
Jarnkrok-Domi-Robertson (give Domi a line and hope he finds a home)
Reaves-Kampf-Gregor (Jarnkrok cycles into this line sometimes, to limit Reaves)

 

[rumman]

The core with their financial demands doesn’t work period

It’s not the players fault they get what they demand, that’s on management, plain and simple……

 

[Gary Nylund]

At work so quite braindead right now but:

20min Jarnkrok Matthews Marner
16.30 Bert Tavares Domi (not sure about the D on this one)
16.30 Knies Nylander Minten (like to se what Nylander can create with two rookies, i belive he grows with responsability)
7 Greg Kampf holmberg?

Top players get more minutes when they shorten the bench and doubleshift. Nylander on first ppp.

And no fourth line in OT

So just like the Leafs last night.

 

[ToneDog]

It’s not the players fault they get what they demand, that’s on management, plain and simple……

They are their own enemies. When you demand every penny off the table and then shit the bed in the playoffs, you open yourself up to criticism. As Bieksa said, take a bit less and you won't have to face as much criticism. Clearly Matty marches to his own drummer.