Pre-Game Talk: Leafs vs Predators

[Aashir]

I don’t mind Liljegren coming out for this one as long as Holl comes out with another brutal game. He’s gonna have it, we all know it. Preds offence is rolling with duchene and Josi both over a PPG. If he gets matched up against the duchene line…..yea I could see it ending badly

 

[NinjaKick]

They got to hit that sauce hard. Afterwards, Leafs HE-Man must twerk in their faces. Does not matter if da goalie is wearing his brains-proof goalie mask, Leafs will dish that puck and throw Southern cooking into their trap like faces and dance in their goal crease to line-dancing western music. When the Leafs score again, our thugs suckas will twerk again in the goal crease. This time to country music.

Being righteous Southerners, that will cause the brawl line, like good ole boys having a good ole time. Just like Dubya B once said, mission accomplished! Get out your 2 string banjo, and started the muzak with the twerk. It's is Saturday night next week!

Before the main event Saturday night, wuhoo! On Tuesday they gotta put blonde man Sandin back in there will lumberjack Little Lil. They are gonna be a hacking and chopping them trees down. They know no twerk, they know chop 'em down! Needs Simmons for back up, he's the artillery. Simmonds is artillery man. Man!

The GM and da Keefe, heard a rumour they don't got this twerk thang down. They need to find the right pencil to fill out that line-dancing card.

That's it, y'all. Hee Haw!

 

[m1ker]

Tavares is good at getting open for a pass and syncs well with Marner. I don't see why Keefe is re-uniting Matthews and Marner. I guess the upside is he's willing to go back and forth between the wingers which will make us more dynamic.

 

[IPS]

Didn't the current hot streak kick off when 34 & 16 were split up as regular line mates ?

Seems like a series of bad coaching decisions but we'll see how it turns out.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

I really don't know why Liljegren is coming out, or why Sandin was out last game. There should be 5 regular defensemen who get every game, and Dermott and Holl can compete for the last spot

 

[PromisedLand]

Keefe experimenting

I would be all over Keefe calling him out on this but quite frankly this is the time to experiment. We have the points on the board so why not.

Not liking Lily out though. Dermott/Holl give me chest pains

 

[zeke]

 

[zeke]

Keefe experimenting

I would be all over Keefe calling him out on this but quite frankly this is the time to experiment. We have the points on the board so why not.

Not liking Lily out though. Dermott/Holl give me chest pains

yep.

more experimenting, not less, imo.

 

[zeke]

 

[Fogelhund]

 

[Aashir]

I agree with this, but don’t think Tavares should be split up with marner to compensate for Matthews.

tavares is playing some of his best hockey over the last 15 games, and that coincides with when Marner was put on his line. Nylander plays ok with Matthews, well with Tavares, and really really good with kerfoot. i think for one we should go with:
X- Marner - Tavares
Kase- Matthews - Bunting
X- Kerfoot - Nylander
X - X - Spezza
Or even super line and go kerfoot Nylander 2nd line to keep the kampf line intact

everyone else can fill in the remaining spots. This gives us a chance to experiment without taking away Marner from Tavares who’s been amazing with him

 

[Terrible GM]

I really don't know why Liljegren is coming out, or why Sandin was out last game. There should be 5 regular defensemen who get every game, and Dermott and Holl can compete for the last spot

I like the rotation. Allows the Leafs to fully evaluate Liljegren at the NHL level, avoids rotting in the press box for Dermott or Lilly, and showcase a player for potential trades.

I still think Holl handles pressure better than Dermott or Lilly. The few games where teams were putting extreme pressure on our D, both Dermott and Lilly turned it over. Holl isn't much better but he has the size to pin the puck on the boards and get it to a teammate. I'm just not huge on either Dermott or Liljegren starting the playoffs when that pressure is constant, but the biggest pro for Lilly right now is he half the salary and is about on par with Dermott even though Dermott has played 200+ games.

 

[stickty111]

If it's just a one game or 2 game thing, then it's fine, but Lilly and Sandin should both have a leg up on Dermott right now.

 

[PromisedLand]

Proper way to analyze data/chances would have bene to see:

If JT-Marner generate more net positive chances or Matthews-Marner do. Whoever does that plays together for the betterment of the team.

Based on my eye test I think JT-Marner generate more chances together than Matthews-Marner.

Reason: Opposition has to plan to play against either Matthews or JT-Marner.

With Matthews-Marner together, Keefe IMO makes it easier for the opposition to game plan against the Leafs

 

[Notsince67]

Just don't understand why Bunting and Marner on the same line hasn't been tried yet. Marner is a good set up guy but it doesn't look like he is good enough to elevate Ritchie in any appreciable way that makes him an effective top 6 player.

 

[fahad203]

Just don't understand why Bunting and Marner on the same line hasn't been tried yet. Marner is a good set up guy but it doesn't look like he is good enough to elevate Ritchie in any appreciable way that makes him an effective top 6 player.

If Ritchie wasn't a FA signee he would have been benched by now. He hasn't done anything to stay in the line up

I would give Joey Anderson a shot. He can at least skate and give him 5-10 games to see what he has, if he has anything

 

[Coachcorner]

Ritchie finna rock that thang hard this week. Y'all better recognize. And I've been critizing him-a-lot too during this year. Hard. He finna show his clawths this week. Bunting also thuggin that thang up, like he use to. He always hard on that thang. Wanting it.

 

[ryno23]

Paul Marner must have called down to Dubas and told him to read the fine print in #16 contract. He cannot be separated from Matthews on a line for more than 10 games.

Keefe doing his buddy Dubas a solid for putting is UFA bust Ritchie back on the top line where he stunk to start the season.

Other than that all good on leaf land lol

 

[Twine Tickler]

I am not sure I love moving Mitch away from Johnny, but I do agree with Sheldon's perspective on the Willy/Auston front. As much as Johnny looks great with Mitch, he also looked great with Willy at the end of last year. I think people are sleeping on how good Johnny has been for his last say 50 games. He's been all over the puck, and when him and Willy were on their games last year they were virtually unstoppable. They dictated the game near the end of the season. Not to mention I think Willy is on a whole new level this year, so I could really see him and Johnny lighting it up.

Also, Mitch and Auston were dynamic for a long time last year, and they had zero pre-season before going into this year. I think Auston has been a bit rusty as a result. He's still been largely lights out, but you can tell the timing hasn't been quite there yet. Imagine being near pt/game and not being on your A-Game....must be nice. I think now that he's got 13 games under his belt, he will start to get that mojo back. Having Mitch on his wing should help with that. These guys love playing together, and I really do think they can be their old dominant selves.

I also really like the idea of giving Ritchie a second look with Mitch and Auston. That line was an absolute tire fire to start the year. But like Sheldon said early on, We should be shitting on Mitch and Auston as much as we were Ritchie. All 3 of them were terrible, and now that I think Mitch and Auston are starting to get their shit together I think we will see Ritchie be able to play his game a bit better. Which realistically shouldn't need to be much, just be in the mix

Excited to see how she pans out

 

[Willchel Marlynder]

I'm fine with the switch. Was excited to see Nylander and Matthews reunited but was disappointed with the results. I think they worked well enough that if you're in a lull period or just want to switch things up you can go to it, but they just didn't look as in sync as they have in the past. We know what Matthews and Marner can do, and I like Kerfoot and Nylander playing together with a JT that's going.

 

[zeke]

Proper way to analyze data/chances would have bene to see:

If JT-Marner generate more net positive chances or Matthews-Marner do. Whoever does that plays together for the betterment of the team.

Based on my eye test I think JT-Marner generate more chances together than Matthews-Marner.

Reason: Opposition has to plan to play against either Matthews or JT-Marner.

With Matthews-Marner together, Keefe IMO makes it easier for the opposition to game plan against the Leafs

xGF/60 together this year:

Tavares-Nylander 4.02
Matthews-Nylander 3.52
Tavares-Marner 2.72
Matthews-Marner 2.42

Last year:

Matthews-Nylander 4.24 (tiny sample, mostly superline shifts)
Matthews-Marner 3.17
Tavares-Nylander 2.79
Tavares-Marner 2.52 (tiny sample, mostly superline shifts)

 

[Maplebeasts]

I'm fine with Liljegren sitting for a game here and there for rotational purposes. As soon as the Leafs trade either of Holl or Dermott though Lilly and Sandin need to be a full time pairing. They are simply magnificent together.

 

[Leafidelity]

Not a fan of changing around nearly everything that has worked for the Leafs on this winning streak, but I suppose the results will show whos right

 

[LeafsOHLRangers98]

Keefe experimenting

I would be all over Keefe calling him out on this but quite frankly this is the time to experiment. We have the points on the board so why not.

Not liking Lily out though. Dermott/Holl give me chest pains

The experiment shpuld be giving Sandin/Liljegren more minutes with better players, not sitting them.

Holl was awful and came back into 20 minutes a night. Should have came back in on the 3rd pair in a sheltered role.

 

[diehardleafsfan9878]

Just don't understand why Bunting and Marner on the same line hasn't been tried yet. Marner is a good set up guy but it doesn't look like he is good enough to elevate Ritchie in any appreciable way that makes him an effective top 6 player.

Ritchie is too slow of a player to keep up with Matthews and Marner. Ritchie looked good with Tavares, as he's actually able to keep up with him. I think he'd do well with Nyladner as well. But this is where it's weird. In terms of speed, Nylander is faster than Marner. Straight line skating he's easily faster. But Nylander plays a much more east-west game which would allow Ritchie to keep up.