Matthews/Marner

[BorntoLose]

They looked good, to be honest Marleau was a boat anchor, killed a ton of plays.

yup this is starting to become a trend unfortunately hes going to stick in the top 9 so someones gonna have to drag him around.

 

[JamieG19]

Auston’s comment after the game was very revealing...as revealing as any hockey player comment can get.

He loved playing with Marner but Babcock doesn’t like it too much.

It’s time to make Matthews happy until if it when it’s hurting the team. Leafs have enough depth. It’s not like the other lines are useless.

 

[frizzer1]

Marleau is at best a 4th line checking winger now.....putting him with Matthews/marner limited that line tonite.
Problem is that their only skilled left winger is out right now, and this coach would never use a rookie like Moore on that line..

Even when he makes the line adjustment we've been waiting for after 3 years, he still is Babcock.

 

[Nithoniniel]

He's also scored nearly a goal per game though, decent trade off.

Hehe yeah. I was going to say that but forgot to add it. My point wasn't to criticize his game, more that the playmaking itself has cooled down a bit. That might very well be because he's trying to be more versatile and open himself up as a scoring threat.

 

[RLF]

He's also scored nearly a goal per game though, decent trade off.

Yep, sure is. He is shooting more and passing less...hence his increased goal production. Like you said, pretty decent trade off. Crosby actually does a similar thing. If people start looking pass from him, he starts shooting more and scoring more to open up the pass again. Marner is still pass first mentality and I think it is difficult for him to think shoot, but he is smart enough to know the rewards of doing both.

 

[LeafGrief]

They were good together, but I think it was more that each of them are elite players and Matthews was on an absolute mission. They weren't really clicking together the way that Tavares and Marner have been, but that's completely expected considering half a season of playtime versus one game. Marleau was a net negative, that line would have cut the Caps in half if they'd had Johnsson instead.

 

[hfman]

I hope this means Babcock puts Nylander with Tavares, then when he doesn't produce we'll see how the Pro Nylander's explain it with their pie charts and production graphs, and "elite zone entries" blah blah blah.......

oh and don't forget the corsi stats, the entry zone stats, the back end defensive entry zone stats, the forward neutral zone per goal per period stats, the hits per minute per blue line icing stats and the chances per game vs. chances per 3rd period entry zone defensive corsi backend stats

all nicely written with their colorful bar graphs and bullet points and a 5000-word essay to go with it

gotta admit they do a good job even if 99% of the population has no idea what they're talking about

 

[SprDaVE]

they were actually terrible tonight but I wanna see more anyways.

and the other lines all looked great so no reason to change anything.

I expected a little better as well. I thought Marleau was putrid though. So many plays died around him, it was crazy. When Marner and Matthews exchanged puck possession, it was great but when it got close to Marleau to win a battle or make a play --- dead. With that said, I thought Marner had his worst game in a quite some time in terms of being able to generate but he made some plays despite that.

I hope Matthews and Marner can stick together when Johnsson is healthy. He will make that line a lot more effective.

 

[Mess]

Babs was hoping the Marner/Matthews duo would ignite the offense, but it lite a fuse under Kardi and Nylander and they went off instead.

That Matthews line had a very quiet night overall and didn't really impact the game by playing together. But some times it takes more time for chemistry to sync up.

Be interesting to see how long the experiment lasts, but I don't believe this is long-term strategy and we will find Mitch back with Johnny before long.

 

[ShaneFalco]

As I said in another thread, I hope Babcock gives them a few more games and doesn't pull the plug after 1

 

[TheTotalPackage]

I just mentioned it in the Matthews thread, but I didn't find they jelled really well. Dare I say it, but Marner thinks the game a step or two ahead and is a bit more finessed, while Matthews is just a bull. Ultimately, in my opinion, it'd be best to have Marner with Tavares and Matthews with Nylander when he's back up to speed (but if he and Kadri were any indication last night...).

 

[Romkey]

I thought they looked good but not great. I think a lot of that has to do with Marleau not being able to win board battles and couldn't cycle to save his life. His passes were awful, but when Marner and Matthews started passing to each other, plays opened up.

Also, Matthews was an absolute machine and was on a mission. He had that puck on a string, looked like the Matthews from the start of the season. Hope he builds on it, need him to be firing on all cylinders to have a chance this playoff run.

 

[ACC1224]

Looked like they were looking for each other a little too much, some of their play reminded me of the two of them at the end of warm up.
Biggest thing that came out of this for me is Marleau needs to have his minutes cut, he's not very effective.

 

[Mess]

Looked like they were looking for each other a little too much, some of their play reminded me of the two of them at the end of warm up.

I wouldn't have been surprised if that had been a direct Babcock quote from his post game presser.

Likely a factor also in why generally Babcock prefers not to play them together, anticipating exactly that outcome and the opposition will catch on fast as well if it becomes too obvious, and then better and more strategic plays are not made when either has the puck.

Its breeds potential bad habits into their games, and one of Mitch's best qualities is unpredictably as he does things the opposition is not expecting making plays, and that advantage goes away if get the puck to Auston becomes the norm and not the exception.

 

[Willy Stylez]

Babcock dont ruin this. Have some patience.

 

[ToDavid]

I'm honestly not that big of a fan of the Matthews/Marner pair. They looked good last night playing keep away because that's what they both excel at. But they couldn't really play that well off each other because they both like to have the puck on their stick. IMO they'll be a good line because they're two very good players but they could be better split up.

Marner doesn't need an elite sniper. He's so good all he needs is a guy who knows how to be in the right place at the right time and is strong enough to battle for that position. Those are Tavares' strengths (plus a wicked shot).

Matthews doesn't need an elite play maker. His shot is deadly, all he needs is a bit of space. Give him a guy like Nylander or Kapanen to use their speed and transition skills to back off the D.

Now, all this said, they want to play together and they seem to have fun doing it. A bit of fun after the team has been slumping could probably do some good. Plus it probably doesn't hurt contract negotiations to let Matthews play with his buddy. How about a discount and we'll give you all the Marner you can handle?

 

[CabanaBoy5]

Give Babcock credit. Matthews needed an injection of adrenaline and he knew playing with Marner would deliver it. Matthews had great jump and looked like the superstar he is.

Having said this, I like the Marner/Tavares combo better.

 

[Walshy7]

I thought they were good, but tried to be too cute too often. I was at the game so it may have looked different on TV. But Marner tried quite a few times to find Matthews on 1/100 type plays. I hope they get more games together because I think this will change with more time together to get each others tendencies down perfectly,

 

[Battle Lin]

johnsson - matthews - marner
hyman - tavares - nylander
brown - kadri - kapanen
marleau - lindholm - moore

 

[Sweet Leaf]

The one combo we havent tried is Nylander with Tavares. And that seems odd since we have tried everything to get guys going, especially Nylander, except putting him with the guy who is largely famous for making linemates look great.

I think Nylander/Jt suit each other great. JT is a scoring center who loves to get to the dirty areas and Nylander can feed him.

I am not an advocate of breaking up something that is working great ie Tavares/Marner but if we were going to do it I was surprised they didnt put WN with JT. Should be good for Kappy though.

 

[m1ker]

I have a gut feeling that Matthews is not happy with who he is being played with and upset how he is being used and mentally putting the blame on Babcock and not himself. If he's paired with Marner and doesn't produce I feel like he knows he has no more mental excuses and this will be a spark to get him determined to elevate his game. There is no fact in this just my opinion but if this works or not I think it's the best thing for Matthews.

Now babs just needs to play Matthews against other top line and give him more minutes. Let him fail because it will make him better. You can see how happy he gets when he scores against other top players. Remember his battle with Kane? His personality strikes me as a guy that wants to be the best and loves the challenge to prove hes the best in the NHL. Stop sheltering this guy

 

[Gary Nylund]

Give Babcock credit. Matthews needed an injection of adrenaline and he knew playing with Marner would deliver it. Matthews had great jump and looked like the superstar he is.

Having said this, I like the Marner/Tavares combo better.

Criticising Babcock is all the rage these days but it's entirely possible that like you say:

1)
Marner/Tavares is simply better for the team then Marner/Matthews.
2)
Babcock put Marner/Matthews together on a temporary basis to give Matthews a shot in the arm.

Maybe we should give Babcock credit. Maybe the guy actually knows a thing or two about coaching a hockey team. Who knows, I think it's possible though.

 

[Mess]

Fist impressions , after just 1 game, outside of the team getting a win, I doubt Babcock liked what he saw so much from this experiment yesterday, and it wouldn't seem worth it to break up the very successful Tavares and Marner combo based on the return.

Had the Leafs lost the game his experiment might be DOA right now, because the line was MIA, and you wouldn't need the FBI or the CIA to put out a missing persons report on all 3 linemates as a line.

 

[Clark4Ever]

I didn't think they were very effective to be honest, and they were a liability defensively.

It was only one game of course, but I think in the long run, we're better off splitting them up. Keep Marner with Tavares and put Nylander back on Matthews' wing.

 

[diceman934]

Looked like they were looking for each other a little too much, some of their play reminded me of the two of them at the end of warm up.
Biggest thing that came out of this for me is Marleau needs to have his minutes cut, he's not very effective.

They want to play together so bad that they tried to hard to show Babs they belong together.

Marleau is done for the most part and like I have said all along is that he will not be back after this season. He will be gone adding his cap hit to our budget.