Line Combos: Playoff Lines

[thusk]

I don't ever see Keefe or any other reasonable coach doing that, sorry


I disagree that was the "best series Marner ever had" . . . I would say last year 1st round vs Lightning was. Playing with Matty.

Joel Quenneville did it with toews kane and sharp on 3 different line

Mike sullivan did it with crosby malkin and kessel on 3 different line

together they won 5 stanley cup last 15 year... so please dont tell me any reasonable coach doing that...


and personally for me last year was his second best, be able to produce like he did at 5v5 playing against the best defensive player of 2000+, alongside 2 old player who didn't had a lot of gas left in the tank... for me thats was just fantastic what he did during that playoff but yeah last year is certainly at #2

 

[The Podium]

Bertuzzi - Matthews - Domi
McMann - Tavares - Marner
Knies - Holmberg - Nylander
Dewar - Kampf - Reaves
Jarnkork, Robertson

Or

Bertuzzi - Matthews - Marner
McMann - Tavares - Nylander
Knies - Domi - Jarnkrok
Dewar - Kampf - Reaves
Robertson, Holmberg

Reilly - Lyubushkin
Benoit - McCabe
Edmundson - Liljregren
Gio, Brodie

Samsonov
Woll

 

[seanlinden]

Put me on the "split them up train"... but honestly... do it the second Marner gets back.

The Leafs need to get away from the approach of "have a problem? put Matthews out for a 2 minute shift" way of doing things... they need 9 forwards consisently invovled playing meaningful minutes in meaningful roles; and that accountability needed to start a while ago.

To me, that looks something like:

Domi-Matthews-Jarnkrok
McMann-Tavares-Marner
Bertuzzi-Holmberg-Nylander
Robertson-Kampf-Dewar

Yeah, it sucks not having Matthew Knies in there. Ultimately, I think you've gotta value what Robertson brings in terms of creating danger chances, over the more "stable" Matthew Knies. Holmberg as a #3C is not ideal, but you need somebody that can play with those 2 and be reliable defensively.

As for Reaves, I get that he's important to the room... but I think it would be a mistake to remove a valuable PKer like Dewar, or a legitimate scoring threat like Robertson to make a spot for him.

As for D, I'm at a bit of a loss. I feel like the most reasonable approach is something along the lines of
Rielly-Lyubushkin
Brodie-McCabe
Edmundson-Liljegren

 

[slozo]

Joel Quenneville did it with toews kane and sharp on 3 different line

Mike sullivan did it with crosby malkin and kessel on 3 different line

together they won 5 stanley cup last 15 year... so please dont tell me any reasonable coach doing that...


and personally for me last year was his second best, be able to produce like he did at 5v5 playing against the best defensive player of 2000+, alongside 2 old player who didn't had a lot of gas left in the tank... for me thats was just fantastic what he did during that playoff but yeah last year is certainly at #2

So . . . you're comparing Marner to Sharp? And the TML team structure to the cup winning Hawks team? Help me out with something a bit more solid here, I'd need reminding on the similarities if you're trying to make a salient point.

neither Toews nor Kane are Matthews or anything similar; same with Marner
So I think you're comparing a good 2nd line player (Sharp) with a top line player.

 

[AvroArrow]

I don't think you break up the top line, they've been so dominant since Marner went down.

 

[thusk]

So . . . you're comparing Marner to Sharp? And the TML team structure to the cup winning Hawks team? Help me out with something a bit more solid here, I'd need reminding on the similarities if you're trying to make a salient point.

neither Toews nor Kane are Matthews or anything similar; same with Marner
So I think you're comparing a good 2nd line player (Sharp) with a top line player.

no i compare nothing except split core 3 orn4 inb3 different line to create mismatch... if leafs can have 3 1st line unstead of 2 and get a mismatch, they should do it. If matthews is able to produce at same rate with domi and marner is able to drive his own line and shutdown exemple tkachuk line and still producing, you will get 1 of matthews or nylander line against lundell, rodrigues and luostarinen... you get a mismatch you can use at your advantage

you put matthews and marner together, florida will counter with barkov and if hes able to do his job, barkov will shutdown 2 of 3 best leafs weapon at the same time. if you split those 3 player, they need to choose their poison.

 

[slozo]

no i compare nothing except split core 3 orn4 inb3 different line to create mismatch... if leafs can have 3 1st line unstead of 2 and get a mismatch, they should do it. If matthews is able to produce at same rate with domi and marner is able to drive his own line and shutdown exemple tkachuk line and still producing, you will get 1 of matthews or nylander line against lundell, rodrigues and luostarinen... you get a mismatch you can use at your advantage

you put matthews and marner together, florida will counter with barkov and if hes able to do his job, barkov will shutdown 2 of 3 best leafs weapon at the same time. if you split those 3 player, they need to choose their poison.

Chicago's "core 4" was Kane + Toews, and the 2 D, Keith and Seabrook (who was usually included reluctantly in their core 4)

Our core 4 are all Fs, and then Rielly is added in for a core 5.

That is a TOTALLY different dynamic of who moves the needle for the Leafs - offensively it doesn't make sense to put our TOP PLAYMAKER on the 3rd line, or even the 2nd . . . when we literally have the top goal scorer in the world, along with a top 10 all around skill guy in Willy and an aging/experienced Tavares who can be a high end scorer who is smart with the puck offensively. Leafs have a deep lineup actually when it comes to secondary scoring now as well, so there's no need to spread offense - we have tonnes of it, the concern is centred around different things - balanced lines, toughness, pairing scorers with passers with puck retrievers, getting each line a defensively responsible player, etc.

Also - who's playing with Barkov? and what's the saw-off?
Hint: I'll take that saw-off any day this year, with the additions we have and the year Willy's having.

 

[arso40]

So . . . you're comparing Marner to Sharp? And the TML team structure to the cup winning Hawks team? Help me out with something a bit more solid here, I'd need reminding on the similarities if you're trying to make a salient point.

neither Toews nor Kane are Matthews or anything similar; same with Marner
So I think you're comparing a good 2nd line player (Sharp) with a top line player.

pretty sure sharp was on his off wing with kane .......

 

[arso40]

Chicago's "core 4" was Kane + Toews, and the 2 D, Keith and Seabrook (who was usually included reluctantly in their core 4)

Our core 4 are all Fs, and then Rielly is added in for a core 5.

That is a TOTALLY different dynamic of who moves the needle for the Leafs - offensively it doesn't make sense to put our TOP PLAYMAKER on the 3rd line, or even the 2nd . . . when we literally have the top goal scorer in the world, along with a top 10 all around skill guy in Willy and an aging/experienced Tavares who can be a high end scorer who is smart with the puck offensively. Leafs have a deep lineup actually when it comes to secondary scoring now as well, so there's no need to spread offense - we have tonnes of it, the concern is centred around different things - balanced lines, toughness, pairing scorers with passers with puck retrievers, getting each line a defensively responsible player, etc.

Also - who's playing with Barkov? and what's the saw-off?
Hint: I'll take that saw-off any day this year, with the additions we have and the year Willy's having.

we need to give matthews some credit here though he can handle driving his own line and marners only just a playmaker with matthews hes much more than that when hes away from him and we need him to be all he can be so if that means putting him with jt then by all means willy can be our version of pittsburghs kessel

 

[Captain Crunch]

I like that, but I really liked Domi on the wing better than at centre, so I'd be interested in seeing if:

McMann - Nylander - Domi

would work. Domi digs and sets up and Willy is the trigger man.

The Nylander at center experiment has never materialized, so it sure won’t happen in the playoffs. Personally I would like to see Holmberg there with Marner and maybe Knies, although McMann might be a better fit.

 

[thusk]

pretty sure sharp was on his off wing with kane .......

kane was playing with bickel and richard at least in 2015

Chicago's "core 4" was Kane + Toews, and the 2 D, Keith and Seabrook (who was usually included reluctantly in their core 4)

Our core 4 are all Fs, and then Rielly is added in for a core 5.

That is a TOTALLY different dynamic of who moves the needle for the Leafs - offensively it doesn't make sense to put our TOP PLAYMAKER on the 3rd line, or even the 2nd . . . when we literally have the top goal scorer in the world, along with a top 10 all around skill guy in Willy and an aging/experienced Tavares who can be a high end scorer who is smart with the puck offensively. Leafs have a deep lineup actually when it comes to secondary scoring now as well, so there's no need to spread offense - we have tonnes of it, the concern is centred around different things - balanced lines, toughness, pairing scorers with passers with puck retrievers, getting each line a defensively responsible player, etc.

Also - who's playing with Barkov? and what's the saw-off?
Hint: I'll take that saw-off any day this year, with the additions we have and the year Willy's having.

forget the order you can consider it line 1a 1b 1c .... if Matthews is able to produce at the same level without marner, why should leafs waste marner skill to keep the kind of production unstead of using marner to get a most dangerous 3rd line and increase leafs game all around? they will still play a lot and keefe will still be able to bring back marner with matthews when they will absolutly need a goal like in 3rd or whatever.

and for me Marner could be better without Matthews because when the pressure start to be high, he start to looking too much to reach matthews on the ice all the time and becoming too predictable.

 

[jiggy35]

Bert - Matthews - Domi
Knies - Tavares - Marner
McMann - Holmberg - Nylander
Dewar - Kampf - Jarnkrok

Reaves in for Jarnkrok Gm 1/2
Robbie on spot duty

If Lilly injured:
Rielly - Edmundson
Benoit - McCabe
Brodie - Lybushkin

If not:
Rielly - McCabe
Edmundson - Liljegren
Benoit - Lybushkin

 

[notDatsyuk]

The Nylander at center experiment has never materialized, so it sure won’t happen in the playoffs. Personally I would like to see Holmberg there with Marner and maybe Knies, although McMann might be a better fit.

I'm sure it won't happen in the playoffs, or likely as long as Keefe is the coach.

I'd just be interested to see how it works with either Domi or Marner on the right side. It would also let JT play his game on the third line.

If you're playing Holmberg with Marner and McMann or Knies, what are your other lines?

 

[DraftSchmaft]

Bertuzzi - Matthews - Domi
McMann - Tavares - Marner
Knies - Holmberg - Nylander
Dewar - Kampf - Reaves
Jarnkork, Robertson

Or

Bertuzzi - Matthews - Marner
McMann - Tavares - Nylander
Knies - Domi - Jarnkrok
Dewar - Kampf - Reaves
Robertson, Holmberg

Reilly - Lyubushkin
Benoit - McCabe
Edmundson - Liljregren
Gio, Brodie

Samsonov
Woll

No offence but I stopped reading when my eyes glanced at Beastlander on the 3rd line with no top 6 skill.

 

[Fogelhund]

""

 

[Captain Crunch]

I'm sure it won't happen in the playoffs, or likely as long as Keefe is the coach.

I'd just be interested to see how it works with either Domi or Marner on the right side. It would also let JT play his game on the third line.

If you're playing Holmberg with Marner and McMann or Knies, what are your other lines?

I just don't think Nylander is best suited at center, or they would have tried him there for more than part of a game, especially where this is what, his 7th or 8th year in the league.
As for the other lines. I would go with:
Domi-Matthews-Bertuzzi
McMann/Knies-Tavares-Nylander/Marner
Dewar-Kampf-Reaves/Gregor (I just don't think Robertson is best suited for 4th line duty, he needs to play higher up, and I'm not overly fond of Gregor but Reaves can't play every game)

 

[slozo]

kane was playing with bickel and richard at least in 2015

forget the order you can consider it line 1a 1b 1c .... if Matthews is able to produce at the same level without marner, why should leafs waste marner skill to keep the kind of production unstead of using marner to get a most dangerous 3rd line and increase leafs game all around? they will still play a lot and keefe will still be able to bring back marner with matthews when they will absolutly need a goal like in 3rd or whatever.

and for me Marner could be better without Matthews because when the pressure start to be high, he start to looking too much to reach matthews on the ice all the time and becoming too predictable.

But Mathews isn't quite producing at the same rate. And the playoffs will make that more pronounced.

Not sure how Marner's skill can be "wasted" by playing with our top C and goalscorer.

 

[notDatsyuk]

I just don't think Nylander is best suited at center, or they would have tried him there for more than part of a game, especially where this is what, his 7th or 8th year in the league.
As for the other lines. I would go with:
Domi-Matthews-Bertuzzi
McMann/Knies-Tavares-Nylander/Marner
Dewar-Kampf-Reaves/Gregor (I just don't think Robertson is best suited for 4th line duty, he needs to play higher up, and I'm not overly fond of Gregor but Reaves can't play every game)

Lines look good, except that I don't like JT and Willy together.

Willy always played centre except with the Leafs. Considering we had Matty as 1C, and were paying $11M for JT to be our 2C, they had to either play him at 3C or on the wing, and with no depth it was an easy call.

With more depth on the wings and JT looking more and more like a 3C, it might be time to try Willy at his natural position next year.

 

[The Podium]

No offence but I stopped reading when my eyes glanced at Beastlander on the 3rd line with no top 6 skill.

In lineup #2 he is in the top 6

The problem is if you want to spread offense Marner would be pretty useless on a line without scorers, Nylander can produce in multiple ways.

 

[slozo]

pretty sure sharp was on his off wing with kane .......

yeah, they were switched around here and there at times during their cup runs.
Not that it matters to any point that was trying to be made earlier, lol.

 

[arso40]

yeah, they were switched around here and there at times during their cup runs.
Not that it matters to any point that was trying to be made earlier, lol.

it did though.....the person you were conversing with had a theory that him toews and sharp were spread on 3 different lines but yeah not really important i guess

 

[Commander Clueless]

I can't see Reaves not playing. Players mention him often, Keefe mentioned him last night.

His style of play and his ability to police the game has value in the playoffs. He will hit anyone, he will chirp anyone, he won't back down from anyone. He balances the lineup that requires more grit.

He should be on the ice come playoffs.

I'm good with him playing. He's played very well.

But who sits? Knies?

 

[Leafsfan74]

I'm good with him playing. He's played very well.

But who sits? Knies?

If I have to choose one it is Robertson.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Like i always say it will come down to D and G .. if we can play a tight game of MAJOR mistake free defense and clear da net area so Sammy can see pucks .. we will win

Starting G Sammy ..

Woll backup

Starting D
Rielly Boosh
McCabe Benoit
Brodie Edmundson

Lily and Gio and Timmer as backups

Like i always say it will come down to D and G .. if we can play a tight game of MAJOR mistake free defense and clear da net area so Sammy can see pucks .. we will win

Starting G Sammy ..

Woll backup

Starting D
Rielly Boosh
McCabe Benoit
Brodie Edmundson

Lily and Gio and Timmer as backups

If Brodie screws up bad game 1 then insert in Lily for him

 

[Commander Clueless]

If I have to choose one it is Robertson.

I already had him sitting I think