Is it just me, or is Jake McCabe pretty bad?

[Fogelhund]

I think he is our new Holl. Can be serviceable in the right situation but being played like he is better than he is. Lots of high expectations for a 2 milly player.

He's a $4 mil player... We paid to have cap retained.

Holl got a lot of flack, but he was miles better than McCabe.

 

[hotpaws]

he's a mediocre bottom pair D that Dubas grossly overpaid to acquire , i can't even say he's been better than Lybushkin (sp) was here

 

[Gilmour1996]

Jake is no Bryan.

 

[HockeyVirus]

Leafs need another Muzzin trade and things will be better. McCabe can replace Gio on the bottom pair with Lilly. If Brodie starts to not suck again the defense shapes up nicely.

 

[Phion Keneuf]

He’s the perfect #5D.

It too bad our D core is comprised of a bunch of #5D and Morgan Rielly.

 

[IPS]

Leafs need another Muzzin trade and things will be better. McCabe can replace Gio on the bottom pair with Lilly. If Brodie starts to not suck again the defense shapes up nicely.

Even a Chris Tanev from Calgary would help tremendously.

 

[Mugzy97]

He's a $4 mil player... We paid to have cap retained.

Holl got a lot of flack, but he was miles better than McCabe.

There's no world where Holl is miles better than McCabe

 

[34]

It is not just you. He is that bad. The entire Toronto D core is just not ok.

 

[Stephen]

I think McCabe is a guy who needs a “big brother” defensive partner like Jake Muzzin who can kind show him the ropes a little bit the way Muzzin showed Holl. You can see his bad team pedigree and how he’ll just start running around. He’s not good for the $4 million man that he’s paid to be. But he also can’t be beat with that 50% retention. You can’t get a better guy at $2 million or less…

I guess one question is can you package him off at some point for a team that needs cheap defense. But we get some trading chips back to do something else… if it doesn’t work out.

 

[sxvnert]

The entire trade was a train wreck.

 

[Bobby Bottle Service]

Sabres fan will confirm, you are not alone.

 

[hamzarocks]

He is a #5D

I said it last year befire and during the playoffs

His career he has been a fringe top4D at best.

A 5D who can play the 4 for 2M is still solid. Issue is the offense dies when the puck is on his stick (him, and brodie).

He is a great 3rd pair guy not a 2nd pairing

 

[usernamezrhardtodo]

Klingberg IMO is easily the worst (Small sample) defensive defenceman on the team.

Always up ice, out of position, poor decisions, wrong side, not covering guys.
BRILLIANT offensively-magic feet in the offensive zone, great vision.

BUT he needs to be paired with a solid defensive guy in sheltered minutes....welcome to the 3rd pair Mr Klingberg, and please meet Mark GIO your new partner

From what I see...it seems McCabe's game went into the shitter after the TB series when Keefe complained he wasn't getting enough offense from him and Brodie. Ever since then he wants to pinch constantly and his roaming behind the oppositions net...you can't do that when you have Klingberg backing you up...They keep trying to make something happen with these guys on offense that just won't work. Lilly is another example of someone who should just work on being Schenn-light and not worry about goals...he isn't good enough offensively to be worth the damage he causes most of the time.

 

[trellaine201]

He is trying to play an offensive game. And getting caught alot. Isn’t he here for defense?

 

[KillerMillerTime]

It's just you

This has the makings of a BAAAAAAAAAAAD Nathan Thurm skit.

 

[All Mod Cons]

I don't know how anyone can watch Jake McCabe play and think "Gee, the Leafs have done a real good job assembling a Stanley Cup winning defense".

McCabe stinks.

Through three games he's been one of the worst defensemen in the league. He's a useless turd. He was a bad defenseman when they traded for him.

And he's still a bad defenseman today.

It's not like McCabe has ever been good either. He's never had a full season with above average stats. At this point it's safe to say McCabe is just another example of Dubas overrating, and overpaying for, another team's trash players.

Another bad trade added to the long list of smelly trades Dubas made during his tenure here.

That's why I have no expectations for Brad. He's got a hell of a job on his hands. The team is/was so wonky, and renting a third of a roster last season didn't help.

Bless him.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Honestly at this point the only defensemen playing well seem to be Rielly and Klingberg. And Klingberg we know is offensively great and defensively...well...you know.

McCabe, Brodie, Giordano, and Liljegren have all struggled significantly for 3 games. Don't know how much we can read on individuals yet.

Props to Rielly though. He's in playoff form.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

I'm not willing to blame the defense until either

A one of these goalies puts up a 900 save%

B allows less than 3 goals and steals a game.

Woll wasn't terrible last night but Samsonov owes this team 2 games

 

[A1LeafNation]

Reilly Cernak
Muzzin Liljegren
McCabe Klingberg
Giordano Timmins

Blame Treliving if there aren't enough top 4 dmen on the team, not the players forced to play higher than they should be.

Blame guys like Tavares and Domi and Marner for taking 25m and not providing 25m on the ice.

 

[kb]

Honestly at this point the only defensemen playing well seem to be Rielly and Klingberg. And Klingberg we know is offensively great and defensively...well...you know.

McCabe, Brodie, Giordano, and Liljegren have all struggled significantly for 3 games. Don't know how much we can read on individuals yet.

Props to Rielly though. He's in playoff form.

Did I not read somewhere that Gio and Lily have not been on the ice for a goal against?

 

[mcleex]

Nothing will ever compare to how hyped Mike Komisarek was and how bad he turned out to be

 

[Gallagbi]

Did I not read somewhere that Gio and Lily have not been on the ice for a goal against?

Maybe not together, but Lily had a memorable flub for a Habs goal

I think Gio's been good. Skating looks awful, but still finding a way to be helpful

 

[The Iceman]

5v5 The two pairings of Rielly/Brodie, and Gio/Liljegren are 4 goals for 1 against. xGF% tells the same story. It's only three games, but it's been pretty consistent. If they maintained that through out the year, those would be excellent results. Brodie and Rielly pairing have had very good results, and expected results so far.

On the other hand, McCabe/Klingberg are 1 goal for, 5 against. Again, xGF% tells the same story.

McCabe/Klingberg is a mess, that needs addressing.

And we can ALL visualize the goal BRODIE and Reilly were on for 5 on 5, watch out for that banana peel TJ

 

[Commander Clueless]

Honestly I agree with the idea he's a bottom pairing defenseman that hits hard.

And if he was playing bottom pair for $2M, I don't think we'd be upset. Well maybe with the price of the trade, but that's in the past.

McCabe playing top 4 minutes right now is just not a good idea. I mean he could still rebound and play well for us but I have an unfortunate feeling he played above his head last season....

I think ideally we get a solid defensive right handed D to play with Rielly, shift Brodie to play with Klingberg, and then re-evaluate the top 4 next year when everyone needs new contracts anyway.

Now if only we could find some cap space......

 

[mikeyz]

Becoming more and more clear that he's not a top-4 D. We really don't have enough legit top-4 D on this team .

Only one we have is Rielly.