No More Soft Players & Career Losers On The 3rd & 4th Lines

[Leaf Fans]

Dubas has constantly proclaimed he’s going to build a team based on speed and skill while ignoring size and physicality because his spreadsheets calculate that’s how to win in the “modern” game.

He has never made that proclamation. He will draft based on hockey iq regardless of size.

 

[Nylander88]

I'd like a Brett Ritchie or a Kurtis Gabriel added to the 4th line

 

[seanlinden]

Following up my earlier comment about balanced teams: look at the Islanders now. People can't even tell you the numbers of the lines until you get to 4th. That's what I want: 9 similar level equally effective forwards who just keep coming over the boards and have talent..

The reason we comment on the bottom 6 is the imbalance problem. No one is facing this: if the bottom 6 is a non-entity, it changes how you play against the top 6, big time...

This... the Leafs actually somewhat well setup for this too... work with pairings... Tavares-Marner, Kerfoot-Nylander, and Matthews with whomever... maybe a Robertson, Galchenyuk, or Mikheyev.

The Leafs need their 3rd line to be more than "role players" to be able to stash PK guys on. That's where your 4th line comes in.

 

[deprw]

Don't overpay anyone, but acquire best possible players for every position? Easy task, go on Dubas. We told you how to do it.

 

[The Iceman]

Dubas has constantly proclaimed he’s going to build a team based on speed and skill while ignoring size and physicality because his spreadsheets calculate that’s how to win in the “modern” game.

In the future please put a wink emoji when you are making stuff up. Thank you.
Dubas explains Maple Leafs' approach to drafting skill vs. size - Sportsnet.ca
Draft best player, trade and sign size and physicality.

 

[The Iceman]

I am old enough to remember the recipe for the last Leaf teams to have success in the playoffs.

Get a great not good goalie (Cujo), get a bunch of guys that buy in to the system, get a great coach and motivate them.
The Quinn and Burns led teams were this.

Now I also remember GM Fletcher saying after he made the Sundin trade that he couldn't ask the plumbers to give any more and they still didn't win the Cup after back-to-back semi final appearances. Thus the Sundin trade.

NYI are a likable band of plumbers with some decent talent. Built to win in the playoffs but not strong enough to win it all.

All 4 remaining starting goalies are 1st round NHL picks.

 

[ToneDog]

He has never made that proclamation. He will draft based on hockey iq regardless of size.

Hard to find big hockey players with high IQ I guess cause he hasn't drafted many.

 

[Cap'n Flavour]

I'd like a Brett Ritchie or a Kurtis Gabriel added to the 4th line

Kurtis Gabriel could well be the absolute worst player in the NHL, I wouldn't even want him on the Marlies and am absolutely baffled as to why he gets any attention at all. You may as well pine for bringing Steve Webb out of retirement.

Ritchie as a 13th forward? Ok, whatever.

 

[Lightsol]

But you need a GM who takes a look at what the playoffs really are and bring back our identity of Burns/Quinn. Blue collar skill. Not boy band or Country Club.

We did this for a decade in a half. Yeah, we won rounds, but we were always "just not good enough to finish". But hey, why not try the same thing that didn't work the last 3 times we tried it?

 

[JT AM da real deal]

This is what we got now .. we are in deep sh*t .. this is a paperweight team of lightweights none of whom can get their own pucks

Matthews, Auston "A"	C	NHL	23	14.3	$11,640,250	$11,640,250	$11,640,250	UFA
Tavares, John "C"		C	NHL	30	13.5	$11,000,000	$11,000,000	$11,000,000	$11,000,000	UFA
Marner, Mitchell "A"	RW	NHL	24	13.4	$10,903,000	$10,903,000	$10,903,000	$10,903,000	UFA
Nylander, William	RW, LW	NHL	25	8.5	$6,962,366	$6,962,366	$6,962,366	UFA
Kerfoot, Alexander	C, LW	NHL	26	4.3	$3,500,000	$3,500,000	UFA
Mikheyev, Ilya	LW, RW	NHL	26	2.0	$1,645,000	UFA
Engvall, Pierre	LW, C	NHL	25	1.5	$1,250,000	RFA
Spezza, Jason		C, RW	NHL	38	0.9	$750,000	UFA
Brooks, Adam

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[notbias]

This is what we got now .. we are in deep sh*t .. this is a paperweight team of lightweights none of whom can get their own pucks

Matthews, Auston "A"	C	NHL	23	14.3	$11,640,250	$11,640,250	$11,640,250	UFA
Tavares, John "C"		C	NHL	30	13.5	$11,000,000	$11,000,000	$11,000,000	$11,000,000	UFA
Marner, Mitchell "A"	RW	NHL	24	13.4	$10,903,000	$10,903,000	$10,903,000	$10,903,000	UFA
Nylander, William	RW, LW	NHL	25	8.5	$6,962,366	$6,962,366	$6,962,366	UFA
Kerfoot, Alexander	C, LW	NHL	26	4.3	$3,500,000	$3,500,000	UFA
Mikheyev, Ilya	LW, RW	NHL	26	2.0	$1,645,000	UFA
Engvall, Pierre	LW, C	NHL	25	1.5	$1,250,000	RFA
Spezza, Jason		C, RW	NHL	38	0.9	$750,000	UFA
Brooks, Adam

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Go look at the takeaway stats from the last few (3) seasons.. some people are delusional and just go with whatever narrative they want without logic.

Marner, Matthews, Tavares, and Nylander are all top 100 in takeaways.
Marner and Matthews are top 10.

 

[rumman]

Meanwhile Corey Perry, fresh of a finals appearance last year, kills our captain and continues on his Conn Smythe dark horse pace.

I don’t really think the third and fourth lines are the main problem. Sure you can get a little more juice from them. But those lines typically go as the alphas higher up the pecking order go. If they’re expected to cover the blemishes of the top end guys, that’s a lot to ask for.

3rd and 4th lines are what they are, it’s not like there’s money to upgrade these plugs.....

 

[rumman]

Do you ever get tired of banging the same drum to the same tune repeatedly? When is enough enough?

Whoa, some of us are tired of hearing the “Leafs are cup contenders” narrative that’s been beaten into soap since boy wonder took the reins, I guess Team Dubas throws it better than they catch it?

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Go look at the takeaway stats from the last few (3) seasons.. some people are delusional and just go with whatever narrative they want without logic.

Marner, Matthews, Tavares, and Nylander are all top 100 in takeaways.
Marner and Matthews are top 10.

Must be regular season sh*t which I could care less about .. we were scared sh*tless going for loose pucks in playoffs

 

[Stonehands1990]

In the future please put a wink emoji when you are making stuff up. Thank you.
Dubas explains Maple Leafs' approach to drafting skill vs. size - Sportsnet.ca
Draft best player, trade and sign size and physicality.

Which is an atrocious strategy. You’ll never end up with those high end skill/physical guys like prime Lucic or Matthew Tkachuk

 

[Stonehands1990]

3rd and 4th lines are what they are, it’s not like there’s money to upgrade these plugs.....

I mean signing Perry instead of Thornton would have been a pretty significant upgrade to the 4th line. No brainer

 

[The Iceman]

Which is an atrocious strategy. You’ll never end up with those high end skill/physical guys like prime Lucic or Daniel Tkachuk

HA, Daniel was a bust. Wrong guy.
But there are so few of them that it is a massive risky pick.

 

[rumman]

I mean signing Perry instead of Thornton would have been a pretty significant upgrade to the 4th line. No brainer

no brainer, yet boy wonder passed even though Perry apparently begged them to sign him?

 

[Stonehands1990]

HA, Daniel was a bust. Wrong guy.
But there are so few of them that it is a massive risky pick.

Whoops I meant Matthew Tkachuk. Daniel was a bust. His name is forever embedded in my mind because he went to the same high school

 

[IPS]

no brainer, yet boy wonder passed even though Perry apparently begged them to sign him?

Perry is 100% not a Dubas player.

Perry brings dirtiness and violence and he's just not a nice guy on the ice. I'm really starting to believe Dubas values his players being clean cut good boys above actual effectiveness they bring on the ice.

 

[IPS]

This is what we got now .. we are in deep sh*t .. this is a paperweight team of lightweights none of whom can get their own pucks

Matthews, Auston "A"	C	NHL	23	14.3	$11,640,250	$11,640,250	$11,640,250	UFA
Tavares, John "C"		C	NHL	30	13.5	$11,000,000	$11,000,000	$11,000,000	$11,000,000	UFA
Marner, Mitchell "A"	RW	NHL	24	13.4	$10,903,000	$10,903,000	$10,903,000	$10,903,000	UFA
Nylander, William	RW, LW	NHL	25	8.5	$6,962,366	$6,962,366	$6,962,366	UFA
Kerfoot, Alexander	C, LW	NHL	26	4.3	$3,500,000	$3,500,000	UFA
Mikheyev, Ilya	LW, RW	NHL	26	2.0	$1,645,000	UFA
Engvall, Pierre	LW, C	NHL	25	1.5	$1,250,000	RFA
Spezza, Jason		C, RW	NHL	38	0.9	$750,000	UFA
Brooks, Adam

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

And when people talk about cheap solutions stepping in to fill in the lineup - they're talking guys like Robertson, Amirov, Liljegren, Sandin. Like holy shit, how much softer are we going to make this team?!

 

[notbias]

Must be regular season sh*t which I could care less about .. we were scared sh*tless going for loose pucks in playoffs

Marner would rank 6th on Montreal for takeaways, Nylander would be 3rd and Matthews would be 1st... and Montreal has played 6 more games.. keep moving the goalposts.

 

[notbias]

And when people talk about cheap solutions stepping in to fill in the lineup - they're talking guys like Robertson, Amirov, Liljegren, Sandin. Like holy shit, how much softer are we going to make this team?!

Don't worry, we are going to bring in Gabriel, re-sign Simmonds and Sabourin, and then trade Rielly for Gudbranson, we will get a really tough team with no skill instead.
Also, none of those guys you listed are soft or shy away from contact, you just want big goons I am guessing?

 

[JT AM da real deal]

And when people talk about cheap solutions stepping in to fill in the lineup - they're talking guys like Robertson, Amirov, Liljegren, Sandin. Like holy shit, how much softer are we going to make this team?!

No worries all da candy a**es will get fired soon and roster can be repaired by a hockey guy ..

 

[Lightsol]

Which is an atrocious strategy. You’ll never end up with those high end skill/physical guys like prime Lucic or Matthew Tkachuk

Getting that guy was Brian Burke's #1 priority the entire time he was in Toronto, and we got what out of it again? Or would you prefer we ignored Matthews for Tkachuk or Marner for Lawson Crouse? Or maybe Nylander for third liner Nick Ritchie?