Pre-Game Talk: Leafs vs the red wings

[IPS]

Defense at practice:

Rielly-Dermott
Muzzin-Brodie
Sandin-Liljegren

Looks like no Holl (woooo) and our best defenseman this season (Dermott) is going to finally play some serious minutes.

Love it. Muzzin-Brodie takes the hard matchups I assume, and we really get to see how much Rielly can earn this new contract.

A $7.5M guy should unquestionably be able to carry a lesser partner against lesser competition.

 

[Morgs]

Are we sure that Holl isn't on a maintenance day and one of Dermott/Sandin/Lilly are just filling in for now?

I think Holl and Muzzin will both get it together, but splitting them up and sitting one of them for Lilly is definitely the right move at the moment.

Holl has been objectively bad for over 50 games now. He cruised on his great 10-20 games to start last year. The guy probably will not get it together and I hope we don't keep giving him chances to.

 

[dubplatepressure]

Holl has been objectively bad for over 50 games now. He cruised on his great 10-20 games to start last year. The guy probably will not get it together and I hope we don't keep giving him chances to.

Harsh but 100% agreed. Biggest mistake was protecting him over McCann. 2nd biggest mistake would be playing trodding him out there every night while Lilly sits in the pressbox. Really excited for this lineup tomorrow.

 

[Fogelhund]

Defense at practice:

Rielly-Dermott
Muzzin-Brodie
Sandin-Liljegren

Looks like no Holl (woooo) and our best defenseman this season (Dermott) is going to finally play some serious minutes.

Complete mixed emotions with this D. I mean, as Leafs, and players, I really like each one of these guys. I want to see Dermott, Sandin and Liljegren, our draft picks succeed. I really think (and hope) Sandin and Liljegren can be decent players given time.

I look at this lineup, and realize that Brodie is being put with Muzzin, to re-stablize Muzzin's game... Muzzin might be our best Defensive guy, but being weighed down by Holl as of late has been too much, and Muzzin's game has suffered. I hope this gets him back on track.

I also wonder about two rookies together... but hopefully this is temporary.

Finally, while I love all of these guys... it's just that lack of more size/physicality back there.. and while I wouldn't want to part with anyone, the other side of me says.. we need more size... Ahh.. the inner conflict.

 

[dubplatepressure]

Complete mixed emotions with this D. I mean, as Leafs, and players, I really like each one of these guys. I want to see Dermott, Sandin and Liljegren, our draft picks succeed. I really think (and hope) Sandin and Liljegren can be decent players given time.

I look at this lineup, and realize that Brodie is being put with Muzzin, to re-stablize Muzzin's game... Muzzin might be our best Defensive guy, but being weighed down by Holl as of late has been too much, and Muzzin's game has suffered. I hope this gets him back on track.

I also wonder about two rookies together... but hopefully this is temporary.

Finally, while I love all of these guys... it's just that lack of more size/physicality back there.. and while I wouldn't want to part with anyone, the other side of me says.. we need more size... Ahh.. the inner conflict.

I mean, Muzzin-Lilly also looked at least decent when they played together. And I would much rather be investing GP into Lilly than Holl at this point. I don't think we necessarily need size, though that would be nice. We just need coverage and mobility. We're getting wheeled in our end due to our lack of mobility, and both Muz and Holl look like they've been skating in quicksand this year.

 

[crump]

Love it. Muzzin-Brodie takes the hard matchups I assume, and we really get to see how much Rielly can earn this new contract.

A $7.5M guy should unquestionably be able to carry a lesser partner against lesser competition.

Needed to happen. If you don’t make the plug-like play of Holl accountable it says a lot about your coach.

I hope Dermott takes this opportunity and absolutely crushes it.

Brodie wasn’t lights out this season either, so a little wake up call for him too.

Lilje gets another shot. All good.

 

[Fogelhund]

I mean, Muzzin-Lilly also looked at least decent when they played together. And I would much rather be investing GP into Lilly than Holl at this point. I don't think we necessarily need size, though that would be nice. We just need coverage and mobility. We're getting wheeled in our end due to our lack of mobility, and both Muz and Holl look like they've been skating in quicksand this year.

For sure... I think Muzzin-Brodie is just to get Muzzin going again.

I don't know how well Rielly- Dermott will work, but man, we gotta hope it's gold for us.... Roll out the D pretty evenly like this, (If we can get Muzzin playing well again) and I think we'd have something... I'm talking even 5v5 minutes, not suggesting any player is top line, or bottom line.

Rielly - Dermott
Muzzin - Lilly
Sandin - Brodie

It's pretty balanced, and again, if given more even playing time, I think it could really work. Pairs veterans with our rookies too.

 

[LeafSteel]

Pretty sure Rielly and Dermott were played together previously and it wasn’t a good outcome.

Not sure why we have to got with 3 new defensive pairings and upset 2 pairings that were established.

imI think it’s easier to just put Muzzin with Liljegren and leave the other pairs intact, but then again Keefe is the master of adjustments so who knows……

 

[ToneDog]

So we left Kerfoot and McCann unprotected so we could protect a $2m dman that is playing so bad he needs to be benched. Hopefully a stint in the pressbox will wake him up and he finds his game.

We also have to move Brodie down in order to help Muzzin find his game and we move a 5/6 dman up to the #1 pairing. Hope it works, otherwise it should show management that this is not a serious SC contender IMO.

 

[crump]

So we left Kerfoot and McCann unprotected so we could protect a $2m dman that is playing so bad he needs to be benched. Hopefully a stint in the pressbox will wake him up and he finds his game.

If the stint in the press box is long enough, I think the Marlies come and play in the big Arena later in the season. He can step out then.

 

[PromisedLand]

Just to be official.

Thank you Keefe!

 

[PromisedLand]

Love it. Muzzin-Brodie takes the hard matchups I assume, and we really get to see how much Rielly can earn this new contract.

A $7.5M guy should unquestionably be able to carry a lesser partner against lesser competition.

you mean like how 11 AAV Tavares and Marner carry other lesser linemates?

ohhh wait...

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Just to be official.

I think the major issue with that pairing has more to do with neither being particular good skaters, and now with Muzzin really struggling to even do basic things at this point, that issue is becoming magnified.

Holl has faired quite well playing with Rielly, but has been really bad playing with Sandin/Dermott, albeit in very limited samples.

I think it is time to experiment with the defensive pairings, but they should have just split up Muzzin/Holl. Like that Liljegren is getting a chance, and Dermott is getting more minutes though. Having 7 guys to fill 6 spots on defense is never a bad thing.

 

[Burnie97]

Doesn't hurt to try new d pairings. Not sure I like them like that but we'll see how it goes.

Holl definitely deserves to be benched. He was a dumpster fire this past week.

 

[Mattfan02]

Sounds like Mrazek will.be starting tomorrow against Detroit

 

[hockeynorth]

I really like Rielly-Dermott, that'll be a big pair for us next year in my opinion, with Brodie beside Sandin

 

[Buds17]

Hopefully this game will be to Mrazek what the last game was to Kampf. Minus the goal, I guess? Or, maybe not.

Should be a good test for Dermott as well with the increased minutes he looks primed to receive.

 

[Twine Tickler]

Scratching Holl is the right call. I don't like Dermott and Reilly as a pair.

I am placing the over/under odd man rushes against w/ those 2 on the ice at 3.5

I'll take the over

Dermott is just not smart enough to recognize the activity of his partner. For whatever reason the directive from the coaching staff has clearly been to activate the D in neutral ice. This over aggression has killed us this last week. I think they idea is that the forwards would be covering for a D stepping up, but it's just been sloppy all year long. To me, Dermott has never been good at picking his spots. With Rielly understandably being the guy to get into the play on most occasions, i just think this spells disaster.

I hope Keefe has spoke with Derms and identified that he needs to simplify his game tmw. Eliminate risk. I thought he did that very well last year with Bogo, I just haven't seen it yet this year.

 

[Chief Berube]

Wow, Keefe didn't protect his guy (Holl). LOVE THIS. He should not be playing. If Lily can cover the spot until we find him a new home let's do it and bring someone in like Bogo!

 

[hockeynorth]

Scratching Holl is the right call. I don't like Dermott and Reilly as a pair.

I am placing the over/under odd man rushes against w/ those 2 on the ice at 3.5

I'll take the over

Dermott is just not smart enough to recognize the activity of his partner. For whatever reason the directive from the coaching staff has clearly been to activate the D in neutral ice. This over aggression has killed us this last week. I think they idea is that the forwards would be covering for a D stepping up, but it's just been sloppy all year long. To me, Dermott has never been good at picking his spots. With Rielly understandably being the guy to get into the play on most occasions, i just think this spells disaster.

I hope Keefe has spoke with Derms and identified that he needs to simplify his game tmw. Eliminate risk. I thought he did that very well last year with Bogo, I just haven't seen it yet this year.

I'm really getting the sense that this year they're trying to mold Dermott into a Brodie-esque defender, and so far its seemed to work. He's been arguably our 2nd best dman so far behind Rielly, so I think this is a good challenge. Worst case scenario, we bump him back down, but imagine he shows he can be our Weegar? That'd be awesome! He's also still relatively young for men, I believe the old quote goes that you need to give a dman 300 games to see what he is, and Derms is only at 200. He's been here a while, but never gotten the leash to show what he can do until now

 

[IPS]

I'm really getting the sense that this year they're trying to mold Dermott into a Brodie-esque defender, and so far its seemed to work. He's been arguably our 2nd best dman so far behind Rielly, so I think this is a good challenge. Worst case scenario, we bump him back down, but imagine he shows he can be our Weegar? That'd be awesome! He's also still relatively young for men, I believe the old quote goes that you need to give a dman 300 games to see what he is, and Derms is only at 200. He's been here a while, but never gotten the leash to show what he can do until now

"2nd best dmen" don't play 13-14 minutes a game. Let's cool the jets until he can actually prove something meaningful.

 

[hockeynorth]

"2nd best dmen" don't play 13-14 minutes a game. Let's cool the jets until he can actually prove something meaningful.

I'll rephrase that to "who has played the 2nd best in the situations he's been placed in", since you do have a point

 

[stickty111]

Love seeing Holl out. Was worried he was getting the veteran treatment. Huge game for Liljegren. If he performs, Keefe has no choice but to give him regular minutes.

 

[Twine Tickler]

I'm really getting the sense that this year they're trying to mold Dermott into a Brodie-esque defender

It's funny you say that, I remember saying they needed to have Dermott watch Brodie highlights all year last year. I couldn't agree more, they have very similar skill sets, its just Brodie has way higher hockey IQ and plays a far less risky game. I think because Derms has always been kind of a pt producing D-Man from the back end that is how he views his game. But unfortunately he just doesn't think the game at a high enough level to be that offensive defensemen at the NHL level. He just ends up getting himself into trouble more often than not. That said, he has every ability to quiet his game down and be very effective. He did so last year with Bogo IMO.

I am hopeful he takes a Brodie level role to that pairing, but I am definitely a bit nervous. Especially against a young quick team like Detroit. They can absolutely f*** you in transition if you get too greedy.

 

[mydnyte]

Harsh but 100% agreed. Biggest mistake was protecting him over McCann. 2nd biggest mistake would be playing trodding him out there every night while Lilly sits in the pressbox. Really excited for this lineup tomorrow.

if you protected McCann, then Seattle would have taken Dermott, not Holl.