How good is T. Bozak?

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Bozak isn't bad per say, he's an NHL calibre player but there's a lot of frustrations with him. There's the myth that he has chemistry with Kessel and worse that Nonis believed in it, when Grabovski and Kadri both averaged better stats playing with kessel than bozak did, and more damning is Kessel averages worse stats playing with Bozak than he does did with Grabo and Nazem. When Bozak first started playing with Kessel it was when the Leafs had no one down the middle. We had Stajan who got traded to Calgary for Phanuef, and a bunch of other bums, Wayne Primeau, Sjostrom, Rickard Friggin Walin was on that team. We could have brought Gilmour out of retirement and he'd be higher on our depth chart than Wallin, I can't remember if Grabovski was on that team too.

So Bozak slid between Kessel and Kulemin that year and Kessel had a bit of a tear at the end. Well don't fix what ain't broken right? Problem is it was broken, it was just less broken than before. So the Leafs kicked the tires on free agents but didn't get to sign anyone but we did get Tim Connolly! He started his Leaf career as our new #1 but old broken down Connolly finished his contract as a Marlie. So Bozak still managed to be our #1 guy, but then Carlyle showed up. Randy probably set this team back another 5+ years wanting Clarkson signed and Bozak to be re-signed.

Under Carlyle Bozak and Kessel were inseparable, Kadri emerged as a top 6 player and Grabo got the **** end of the stick being played like a defensive specialist(seriously wtf) but there was a light at the end of the tunnel, Bozak was becoming a UFA and negotiations had seemingly broke down because he wanted a payday and the Leafs seemed to understand he was not going to cut it as a #1. but then, the leafs bought out Komisarek which made us happy, and then a couple of days past, no other buyout happened, and Bozak was on his way out of town. It was as it should have been. And then Grabovski got bought out. How could they? John Michael Liles was still around, and they wanted to dump him so badly why buyout Grabo? His season saw him put up a puny amount of points but as previously mentioned he was turned into a defensive zone centre specialist because coaching is hard I guess.

And then that fateful day arrived. July 5th, 2013. Tyler Bozak re-signed with the Leafs. He would forever be connected to Phil Kessel, like a kid on a leash attached to a parent with no shame. This terrible decision was completely overshadowed a little later when Nonis continued to ruin this franchise by signing the single worst contact in the NHL today with David Clarkson, who spurned the Oilers higher offer because they've suffered enough.

Now I'm depressed after recalling the history of Bozak.

This made me unreasonably sad. Thanks for the history lesson.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Bozak isn't nearly as bad as some Leafs fans would have you believe, the problem is that there's a cult of Kadri fans and Bozak is on the top line ahead of him, so he instantly receives a lot of hate.

It works both ways bub. Before recently, Bozak himself had a following of some of the most vocal posters on the Leafs board and in the media. Building up myths of him being good defensively and needing to cover for Kessel. Because of this Grabovski got a lot of hate thrown at him, and many consider Kadri a bust and he needs to be traded.

Now many have all gone silent as the evidence is overwhelmingly against Bozak as a #1C, showing him to be the mediocre player he always has been.

The truth, in my opinion, is that Bozak is an alright player. He's okay defensively, he can probably put up about 60 points with enough playing time. I could see him putting up 30-50 points as a third line center. He's good on the face-off and great on the shoot out. He's been terrible in the last 20 games though. The thing is, everyone of the Leafs has been terrible. Kessel has been terrible, JVR has been terrible. Yes, even Kadri has been terrible. It's pretty clear to me that Bozak needs a change of scenery and I think he'd make a decent 2nd or 3rd line center for a team.

That sentence got more ludicrous the longer it went on.

 

[Nick1219]

Hudler has looked great, but I don't know how many people would consider him good enough to a #1C.

arguably Hudler (this season only)

It's kind of hard to take your analysis seriously when Jiri Hudler hasn't played center this season. He's taken a faceoff 29 times this season. Ranking 10th on the team in that category. He's basically taking one faceoff every 2 games, but sure. He's a better C than Bozak "this year"

 

[LeafsLegendAkiBerg]

It works both ways bub. Before recently, Bozak himself had a following of some of the most vocal posters on the Leafs board and in the media. Building up myths of him being good defensively and needing to cover for Kessel. Because of this Grabovski got a lot of hate thrown at him, and many consider Kadri a bust and he needs to be traded.

Now many have all gone silent as the evidence is overwhelmingly against Bozak as a #1C, showing him to be the mediocre player he always has been.

I don't really care about these fan boy wars. I don't have any loyalty to any particular player. I'm more annoyed that some people feel like they need to bash Kadri/Bozak because they like one of those players. I'm merely pointing out to posters that don't frequent the Leafs board that there are dedicated Kadri fan boys that fiercely defend him and loathe Bozak for "stealing" his minutes (not that that's Bozak's fault anyways).

That sentence got more ludicrous the longer it went on.

How so? Did you read OP?

Last two years he's gotten 79 pts in 98 games (that's 66 pts over a full season).

Over an 82 game season, he could conceivably get ~60 points. Has he been terrible lately? Of course. How great has Kadri been? 6 points since the new year. That's a 30 point pace over 82 games... but it's a cardinal sin on the Leafs board to criticize Kadri. And no, I'm not trying to say Bozak good, Kadri bad. The entire team has been atrocious. I agree with the TSN panel last night, the whole first line looks like they're playing to get traded.