Leafs address the 6 out of 7 Defenders as Lefties situation [2014-2024]

[Mess]

Gleason were not much more mobile than Fraser. Polak is not the most mobile guy either, but he is an incredibly powerful skater. This would allow him to bail Franson out a lot.

As the poster you quoted said, he hasn't been playing LD though.

Part of the reason given for the Polak trade by management was to acquire a RH shot because Leafs had an abundance of LH shots with only Franson on the right, and they were looking for more balance among the defense.

It would seem odd now to expect Polak to switch from his natural right side over to his weak non shooting hand just to pair him with RH shot Cody in the 3rd pairing.

The usual reliable Gunnarsson a LH shot could simple have been paired with Franson this year hoping to mask some of Cody's defensive weaknesses.

You have to hope that now with 3 lefties and 3 righties on the D, that Plan A was to have everyone in the top 6 playing their strong side.

 

[J1S]

Josh Gorges could have eliminated this entire thread.

 

[Sundinisagod]

Josh Gorges could have eliminated this entire thread.

It's true he would have fit in quite nicely.

...but who wants a guy who doesn't wanna be here? I actually gained respect for him not wanting to go to a rival.

 

[Gallagbi]

Gleason were not much more mobile than Fraser. Polak is not the most mobile guy either, but he is an incredibly powerful skater. This would allow him to bail Franson out a lot.

As the poster you quoted said, he hasn't been playing LD though.

Gleason is closer to Polak than Fraser, but he's a tough LH defenseman with better mobility than Fraser and Franson struggled with him as well.

 

[Brewsky]

It's true he would have fit in quite nicely.

...but who wants a guy who doesn't wanna be here? I actually gained respect for him not wanting to go to a rival.

True, but I hope Clarkson and Komarov double check his ass on a forecheck everytime we face Montreal now.

 

[J1S]

True, but I hope Clarkson and Komarov double check his ass on a forecheck everytime we face Montreal now.

I think you mean Buffalo.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Tonight's D-men vs. Bruins.

Phaneuf - Franson
Rielly - Roidas
Gardiner - Polak

Is Dion playing on the Left this year ?
Is he better on the Left ?

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Too bad this first round Right D never worked out.

 

[Field of Dreams]

Nice necro. Jesus that phaneuf franson top pairing though. Puts things in perspective.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Funny how history repeats itself.

 

[Fogelhund]

Funny how history repeats itself.

Or just never gets fixed.

 

[Bomber0104]

The more things change, the more they stay the same with this team.

Our defence is always so terribad.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Funny how history repeats itself.

Or just never gets fixed.

The more things change, the more they stay the same with this team.

Our defence is always so terribad.

What went wrong? Did we just not pay enough attention to drafting defenders? Is this odd that the problem persists over so many years, or is it more normal situation?

 

[robertmac43]

Holy smokes that D-core is a blast from the past. Are there just RHD's in general? I would be curious to know the % of RHD's to LHD's that played games this past year.

 

[LaPlante94]

View attachment 232611

Too bad this first round Right D never worked out.

Percy was a Left Handed shot though. What were the people at NHL.com smoking back then lol

 

[diehardleafsfan9878]

View attachment 232611

Too bad this first round Right D never worked out.

Not sure where you found that but I found a video of him, he's a lefty too.

 

[Snip Genos]

A big #1 rhd would be the perfect add to this team. Imagine how good this team would look with a prime Shea Weber or Drew Doughty, or Dustin Byfuglien, etc. paired next to Rielly.

Too bad those guys are so rare because that Jones for Johansson trade would be exactly what I would look for in trading Nylander away.

 

[Its not your fault]

The more things change, the more they stay the same with this team.

Our defence is always so terribad.

They have 10 years to fix this problem with this forward group.

 

[LeafSteel]

This makes me sad...

 

[notDatsyuk]

The funniest part was someone suggesting having Phaneuf and Polak as the top pairing. That might have been the slowest pairing in the entire league.

I still think we got shafted on the Gunnarsson/Polak trade (even without adding a pick). By the way, St Louis now have won two Stanley Cup final games in their entire 51 year existence. Carl Gunnarsson scored one of the GWGs, and assisted on the other, along with his usual strong defensive play.

 

[Its not your fault]

The funniest part was someone suggesting having Phaneuf and Polak as the top pairing. That might have been the slowest pairing in the entire league.

I still think we got shafted on the Gunnarsson/Polak trade (even without adding a pick). By the way, St Louis now have won two Stanley Cup final games in their entire 51 year existence. Carl Gunnarsson scored one of the GWGs, and assisted on the other, along with his usual strong defensive play.

That and Steen but again with shitty trading aside we don't get Mathews Nylander Marner. Nylander first 2 years are better then MadKad (Kadri) first 2 years so who know what you can turn Nylander into. Other 2 are well fine so not even gunna throw a case there way. Who knows Gunner may do a retirement tour here. LHD #5-6. Agreed about slowest pairing in the league although that would have let Phaneuf be a bit of a wild thing after whistles rather then Gardiner or I forget the other pairing were. Come to back his butt up.

 

[Menzinger]

The funniest part was someone suggesting having Phaneuf and Polak as the top pairing. That might have been the slowest pairing in the entire league.

I still think we got shafted on the Gunnarsson/Polak trade (even without adding a pick). By the way, St Louis now have won two Stanley Cup final games in their entire 51 year existence. Carl Gunnarsson scored one of the GWGs, and assisted on the other, along with his usual strong defensive play.

Gunnarsson was better than Polak from the second that trade happened to now. Always hated it.

 

[A1LeafNation]

This thread should not be a surprise to anyone.

No major trade for RD and no major signing for RD has been made yet.

We only realistically started addressing the need for RD in 2017 with Liljegren and Ransanen in the first couple rounds.

You shouldn't expect the 2017 draft picks to make their debut before the 2019-20 season. If they did it sooner that would be exceeding expectations.

 

[notDatsyuk]

That and Steen but again with ****ty trading aside we don't get Mathews Nylander Marner. Nylander first 2 years are better then MadKad (Kadri) first 2 years so who know what you can turn Nylander into. Other 2 are well fine so not even gunna throw a case there way. Who knows Gunner may do a retirement tour here. LHD #5-6. Agreed about slowest pairing in the league although that would have let Phaneuf be a bit of a wild thing after whistles rather then Gardiner or I forget the other pairing were. Come to back his butt up.

I've never liked the "if we hadn't traded A then we could have picked B, and then traded C for D, and signed E and..." type of argument. Nothing personal, it's just so many variables in play makes it, imo, a waste of time. I'm sure someone can come up with a string of events to 'prove' that if the Leafs hadn't traded Frank Mahovlich to Detroit in 1968, we would have won the FA Cup two years ago.

 

[deletethis]

Right handed players are roughly 40% of NHL players. If you don't manage this, it's easy to develop a shortage of RHD. Still, there's no rule that left handers can't play the right side well. If anything, the lone cause of lefthanders not being comfortable on the right side is that the player probably never had to play that side during his development. The NHL isn't the ideal place to do this for the first time. Here's a crazy suggestion: play your better defense prospects on their weak side in the AHL at times to challenge them and possibly discover that lefty who is comfortable on the right side.