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Playoff Roster

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20 games to sort things out. Assuming Kase is coming back he’s in, but maybe Robertson gets his spot if not. Spezza is needed for draws and 2nd PP. doubt he is left off the roster.

Nylander should be asked to drive a line for a bit, see how he responds. I think he needs a Blackwell/bunting type to create some energy on his line.

Try Lyubushkin with Rielly for a good 5-8 game stint. See if cracks show up, otherwise drop him down with Gio. Holl can play his way off the roster and Liljegren can step in. I think Sandin might be done, idk.
1st line - 19 min
2-4 lines 13-15 min
Adjust for Pk Pp

Bunting-Matthews-Marner
Kerfoot-Tavares-Kase(Robertson)
Nylander-Spezza-Blackwell
Engvall-Kampf-Mikheyev

Rielly Lyubushkin
Giordano Brodie
Muzzin Holl/Liljegren

Sandin
 
If you could start from scratch, Kerfoot with his skating and size would be at center and JT on wing.
 
crump said:
20 games to sort things out. Assuming Kase is coming back he’s in, but maybe Robertson gets his spot if not. Spezza is needed for draws and 2nd PP. doubt he is left off the roster.

Nylander should be asked to drive a line for a bit, see how he responds. I think he needs a Blackwell/bunting type to create some energy on his line.

Try Lyubushkin with Rielly for a good 5-8 game stint. See if cracks show up, otherwise drop him down with Gio. Holl can play his way off the roster and Liljegren can step in. I think Sandin might be done, idk.
1st line - 19 min
2-4 lines 13-15 min
Adjust for Pk Pp

Bunting-Matthews-Marner
Kerfoot-Tavares-Kase(Robertson)
Nylander-Spezza-Blackwell
Engvall-Kampf-Mikheyev

Rielly Lyubushkin
Giordano Brodie
Muzzin Holl/Liljegren

Sandin
Click to expand...
In the playoffs Kampf has to play more than Spezza. He is stronger defensively and was brought here for his defensive ability. He is a more reliable neutralizing player.
What Nylander will we get, first 50 games? If last 10?
Kase I do not think will survive a long playoff pounding. Tough break for him and us.
If we go heavy 3 lines Jase hies and Mikh moves up I would think.

Your d pairings look strong and teams often go 2 pairings only.
 
TMLife17 said:
Imo the issue is with the first pairing right D. Brodie isn’t good enough in front of his own net especially in regards to tying up sticks. I think we keep pushing Lyubushkin there until he falters. We need someone doing the dirty work in front of our net on every pairing. Also a bit worried about having two average skaters on one pairing. A lot will be based on these last 20 games for sure but I’d be pushing for:

Rielly - Lyubushkin
Gio - Brodie
Muzzin - Holl/Lilly

I would slate Sandin higher on the chart than Holl and Lilly but he hasn’t shown much ability to play on the right side and I don’t see him as a good option over Muzzin unless Muzzin comes back ugly.
Click to expand...
I think you will see Sandin get assigned to Marlies once he is better and get a few games on RH side before playoffs start .. this is what I hear da plan is
 
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Lebron James said:
For sure. If you play Tampa and beat them, that's a major success (even if u only win one round)
Click to expand...
So you obviously are a Cleveland Barons fan. Since you said if YOU play Tampa, so your stripes show.
It is when WE beat Tampa on the way to Cup win.
 
I have no idea if they'll sign Matthew Knies, just that Dubas said they will be speaking with the Knies family and their representation.

As I understand it Knies has a 4 year full ride at UMinn (total value US$188k) and so if he leaves prematurely, he'll owe them for his first year which is @$47k US which is how I believe it works. University of Minnesota Twin Cities - Net Price, Tuition, Cost to Attend, Financial Aid and Student Loans.

So I don't necessarily see them doing the regular 2 year deal for a college player and also because he's 19, they would have to perhaps sign him to a 3 year ELC Max @$3.77m including bonus', that number is only if he sticks in the NHL, he'd have a minor league salary $82,500. It's a big gamble for the Leafs for sure and for Knies as well. that 3.77m number is the absolute most he could make, but there's almost a full year gone already, in fact there's only 3 2 week pay cheques left this season and that's for the guys who've been around all year for a guy just signing it would probably be 2 2 week cheques of about 32k each or so only because he won't qualify for all the perfomance/NHL bonus, he would however qualify for a signing bonus of up to 10% of the contracts value pro rated to a full year of earnings in this case 850k, I don't see the Leafs being nitchy so we'll say they hand him a cheque for 85k, less taxes, less escrow less agents fees so a cheque for about 40k give or take. Not as rosy as maybe some think

It's a big decision for this young man, If it were me, and NHL or not, I would wait until the start of next year and get full value plus a little bigger and stronger while getting a full camp in.
 
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If I were Keefe I’d be throwing the F lines in a blender for the next little bit to see what works. And I don’t like that he makes so many in game adjustments when he does try new things. If you’re going to try something, try it. One to two periods doesn’t give you an answer and I don’t think our playoff positioning matters at all. If we lose a game, so be it. We need two lines that can score in the playoffs, we have our shutdown line (thankfully).

I’d start with two main forward groups and go from there. One with Matthews-Marner, one with JT-Marner. I’m still not convinced that keeping the best line in hockey together is best for this team as a whole. And I think that’s ultimately a compliment to Matthews and Marner. They’re good enough to drive their own line, especially Matthews. So I’d run around 7/8 games of each, and some different looks. Then make my decision and run the last 4-6 games with our presumed playoff lineup based on what works. Build some consistency going in.

Anyways, here’s what I would start with, play around from there.

Group 1
Bunting - Matthews - Marner
Xxx - JT - Xxx
Xxx - Kerfoot - Nylander Soft offensive minutes)
Mikheyev- Kampf - Engvall (shutdown)

Group 2
Xxx - Matthews - Nylander
Xxx - JT - Marner
Xxx - Kerfoot - Xxx (soft offensive matchups)
Mikheyev - Kampf - Engvall (shutdown)

Xxx (order of preference/priority) - Kase, Spezza, Robertson, Knies, Abbruzese, Simmonds/Clifford/Steeves/Anderson (heck try the AHL guys out before the college ones come).

My priorities as follows:
- Have a new third/fourth line with speed and some finish.
- Have Nylander away from JT at all times 5 on 5
- Not play Simmonds unless 100% necessary. (Last resort)
 
I guess we approach the next 15 games like it's preseason and see what gels and get everyone on the same page and hopefully healthy.
Last 5 games will probably be what we go with in the playoffs.
 
McSnypsky said:
I guess we approach the next 15 games like it's preseason and see what gels and get everyone on the same page and hopefully healthy.
Last 5 games will probably be what we go with in the playoffs.
Click to expand...

Yeah pretty much. At this point our positioning doesn’t matter too much. Obviously getting home ice would be great though
 
Rielly-Brodie
Giordano-Liljegren
Muzzin-Holl
Sandin-Lyubushkin

If everyone’s playing as they should, that’s pretty stacked.
 
A1LeafNation said:
Bunting Matthews Marner
Kerfoot Tavares Nylander
Engvall Kampf Mikheyev
________ ______ Kase

Spezza Robertson Simmonds Blackwell Clifford

Rielly Bush
Giordano Brodie
Muzzin Holl
Sandin Liljegren

Campbell
Mrazek
Kallgren
Woll

Still need to figure out our 4th line.
Click to expand...
 
What about this Knies or Nies (forgive my spelling) kid. 6'3" . If he is the real deal, how about him with JT & Willie.

Bunting, Matthews, Marner
Knies , JT, Nylander
Kerfoot, Kampf, Mikeyev
Engvall, Spezza , Blackwell

I think Kase is done. So is Simmonds.

Reilly Brodie
Gio Lily
Muzz Lybushkin
Holl

I think Lily will be a good fit w/Gio
 
Michael - Auston - Mitch
Ilya - John - Nylander
Matthew - Alexander - Pierre
Colin - David - Jason

Morgan - Timothy
Mark - T.J
Jake - Ilya
 
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