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Leafs desperately need secondary scoring

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When you talk about needing more scoring, I don't know how Ho-Sang doesn't come to mind. I'm sure his NHL contract would come in at league minimum. Infact, albeit pre-season, I thought Bunting-Tavares-Ho-Sang looked like a ready made second line. This allows you to spread out Nylander and have 3 lines that attack. We are totally dependent on 2 lines to score. 1 line to just be defensive specialists, and a 4th line to provide a bit of spark. Engvall can sit. He may provide more than Ritchie, but we need to get some use out of his 2.5mil contract, so he's not gonna be getting scratched.

Ritchie-Matthews-Marner (give it another shot. Actually think Ritchie has played his best couple of games as a Leaf in the last 2. Keep his minutes down by rotating Spezza in here and there. Also gives Spez a minutes boost)
Bunting-Tavares-Ho-Sang (seems like it would provide offence, looked good in pre-season)
Nylander-Kerfoot-Kase (worked in its limited time together last night. Gives Kase a chance to show more offense. Kerfy and Willy have seemingly always worked well together)
Simmonds-Kampf-Spezza (frees up Spezza for more chances as a winger. Should give you a reliable 4th line no matter who they get stuck out against)
 
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Mess said:
Zach Hyman was on a 30 goal pace for the Leafs and a consistent top 6 player ... If he leaves for $5.5 mil and you spend $6.2 mil on his replacements Bunting, Kase, Kampf and Ritchie and combined they have 7 goals after 13 games
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7gls in 13gms = 44gl pace
 
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Nylander - Matthews - Kase
Bunting - Tavares - Marner
Ritchie - Kerfoot - Spezza
Engvall - Kampf - Simmonds
 
nuck said:
As long as they have Kampf in the #3 spot that line can't produce. As they say on the Hawks board, he creates low event hockey at both ends of the ice. They have had ample opportunity to move Spezza to the #3 spot and have made it clear they have no intention of doing this, even after the Tavares injury in the playoff. I think unless Kampf gets hurt he is there until the last 20 of the season and they will decide if they can carry a 2 goal #3 into the playoffs. They knew what they were getting when they signed him and were content to protect Kerfoot to use as a mostly winger. Semyonov is around but I don't think he gets a real hard look as long as Kampf is healthy and they are winning some games.

Once again the Marner usage is a bit concerning to me but 10th overall in TOI is better than 1st. However why not trade his pk minutes to Engvall and Kase and let him have more es time? Ritchie has been good for 10+g a year so Keefe needs to use him in a way that gets him producing. It will happen or he will be gone.

I think the D will come around a bit as the lack of goals seems like a bunch of individuals just in a trough at the same time. The only D they have who is really a threat for a 1g season is Brodie.

I don't like the structure of the lineup but except for the big 4 usage there is not much that can't evolve as the season progresses.
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Kampf has 91% defensive zone starts, Kase 87%, Engval 77%. I don't think I've ever seen that drastic of defensive deployment. As long as they continue taking on these difficult defensive minutes and battling their opponents to a virtual draw, I don't think we need them to score much.

Note that once Mickey comes back and likely takes Envall's spot, I expect the offense from that line to tick up a bit as he's great at stripping the opponent and creating his own chances.
 
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I agree with the OP. The Leafs are like a hamburger without the meat portion. They have a top end skill & bottom end grinders but they have no quality middle tier players. You look at a team like Florida & a lot of the quality depth moves they've made. It has made the difference & is a big part of why they are able to lead the division. When your big guns are not going, you have to have decent support. It gives a team the ability to be more consistent & win more games. You combine that with a defence that ALSO doesn't produce much offensively, It highlights why this team has had scoring issues in the post-season.

Where are the options? When the Leafs had trouble scoring earlier in the season, Keefe's only answer was to change the core 4 around. When the Leafs struggle to score during games, Keefe's only option is to overplay his big guns. That isn't where you want to be because the regular season + playoffs is a marathon, not a sprint. You gas the stars & then are surprised when they underwhelm in the post-season.
 
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Considering the always have been giving the Kampf line like 85% + defensive zone starts, the depth scoring is doing pretty well, especially compared to other comparable teams (ie the Bruins) as posted earlier in the thread
 
Kurtz said:
Kampf has 91% defensive zone starts, Kase 87%, Engval 77%. I don't think I've ever seen that drastic of defensive deployment. As long as they continue taking on these difficult defensive minutes and battling their opponents to a virtual draw, I don't think we need them to score much.

Note that once Mickey comes back and likely takes Envall's spot, I expect the offense from that line to tick up a bit as he's great at stripping the opponent and creating his own chances.
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Its been done, or close.

The 2011 Canucks buried Malhotra to about the same degree, while the Sedins got 80% Ozone starts.

The 2013-2015 Blackhawks basically gave Kruger the same dungeon zone starts against top competition, as means to balance the ledger for Kane, who they wanted in the ozone against weaker competition as much as possible.

It works well if the defensive line can consistently flip the ice and the other lines can take advantage of the easier deployment.
 
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All teams could use more secondary scoring. The Leafs are in the mix with those that can use a bit more Edmonton and Tampa come to mind.
 
Mess said:
Less quality scoring chances equates to a lower goals total as a result of a lower SH%.

Circle of Life.
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Thats not how sh% works. Shot quality has far less impact on sh% than people think. Intuitively it makes sense that better shots would increase sh% overall, but in practice, sh% is pretty proportionately distributed over various shot quality. That is, if you take 30 crappy shots vs 10 dangerous shots, you tend to come up roughly even in goals scored.
 
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JaegerDice said:
Thats not how sh% works. Shot quality has far less impact on sh% than people think. Intuitively it makes sense that better shots would increase sh% overall, but in practice, sh% is pretty proportionately distributed over various shot quality. That is, if you take 30 crappy shots vs 10 dangerous shots, you tend to come up roughly even in goals scored.
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Thank you blackhawks fan for wducating our global mod
 
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Ahem

7BF6244B-5AA9-4CBE-BDAB-0E9FDE85A500.jpeg
 
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Good to have this and a goal from the blueline taken care of in the one game (and win).
 
I dont know about scoring but Kerfoot is suddenly a play maker. This should result in some more goals. The Kampf signing helped Kerfoot the most. Getting to develop his offensive instincts.
 
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