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Playoff Roster

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saltming said:
It's good when we can complain about a centre who has 68 points in 70 games, owns the faceoff circle, beast along the boards and plays a 200 for game.
What a great team we have
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Complain and complain, if i could decide i would try to promote him to the first line and put Bunting with Nylander and Kfoot. I dont think putting Nylander on a allready good thirdline will inprove the team. I presume JT play great with M&M and If Matthews and Marner cant play great with Tavares, then how should Nylander be able to?
To get " beast" Nylander he need a greater asignment . This was true with his father, when he was sort of the go to guy, he was his best. Nylander will not be the go to guy on this team , but he could be on his own line. Give the dude a real task. I might be wrong, but we will never know.

And im with you there, it is a good "problem " to have :)
 
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ZEBROA said:
Complain and complain, if i could decide i would try to promote him to the first line and put Bunting with Nylander and Kfoot. I dont think putting Nylander on a allready good thirdline will inprove the team. I presume JT play great with M&M and If Matthews and Marner cant play great with Tavares, then how should Nylander be able to?
To get " beast" Nylander he need a greater asignment . This was true with his father, when he was sort of the go to guy, he was his best. Nylander will not be the go to guy on this team , but he could be on his own line. Give the dude a real task. I might be wrong, but we will never know.

And im with you there, it is a good "problem " to have :)
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Nylander with bunting and Kerfoot is interesting indeed. My only thing is that it weakens out centre depth.
I like having the Matthews Tavares one two punch at C
 
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If they’re rotating Boosh Holl and Lily then you’d think Lily would be in next. I liked Muzzins game a lot last night so I would love to see Lily back with Gio for next game and the other 2 pairings the same.

Even out the 5v5 time on ice between all of them and I think that’s the winning defensive lineup.
 
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ToneDog said:
Matty and Mitch can carry any LWer so why not try Bunting with 91 and 88 to see if he can ignite that line and re-unite 64,65 and 47?? Perhaps try Blackwell with Matty and Mitch ???
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Nah you gotta keep the top line together. Don't change a thing with them. They need to be feeling like this heading into the playoffs. Let them keep doing what they're doing. I would try and put Blackwell up with Tavares and Nylander and see how that goes though.

That and obviously banning Holl from the Leafs bench and dressing room of course.
 
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Atomos2 said:
Nah you gotta keep the top line together. Don't change a thing with them. They need to be feeling like this heading into the playoffs. Let them keep doing what they're doing. I would try and put Blackwell up with Tavares and Nylander and see how that goes though.

That and obviously banning Holl from the Leafs bench and dressing room of course.
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Blackwell worth a try but we cannot afford to be a one line team in the playoffs. With Willie playing better, things are looking brighter though.
 
We have such good depth at forward that I am not too concerned with any of the combos. It does feel like Spezza has lost his spot, though, or at least is fighting for his life. Kase-Blackwell seems like they will both have a spot, so that might mean Simmer and Spezza rotate in and out. Neither will play much more than 6 or so minutes.
 
Engvall-Kampf-Mikheyev is a must IMO.

If we play Boston or Tampa I'd feel VERY comfortable throwing them out there on a D-zone faceoff against Kuch or Berg lines. Which would open up Auston.
 
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As long as Muzzin-Holl aren’t paired together they’ve actually been alright this year. And if Holl is playing well there’s something to be said got his size. Felt like it was on display in Dallas last night. Needs to be better in front of the net but he can really push guys around in the corners.

That said, Liljegren has been too good. I think our best lineup right now is:

Rielly-Bush
Muzzin-Brodie
Gio-Liljegren

Won’t be surprised if Holl gets in though.

In an ideal world where Sandin wasn’t injured I think our best lineup is probably Gio-Brodie with Sandin-Liljegren on the third. But throwing him into the playoffs after a month off is risky (if he’s even healthy by then). And I don’t see Muzzin getting scratched.
 
For forwards, I would like to see Nylander back up with Tavares. He’s way too good to be playing with Kampf (who has been great, but he’s not an offensive player) and Engvall-Kampf-Mikheyev has been so good.

Blackwell has earned his spot on the 4th line. I think we might see a rotation of the other two spots depending on what we may need in a given game. Clifford had played well but I’m a bit anxious about him in matchups in the Atlantic. He has a habit of taking dumb penalties and all three of those teams will make you pay for it.
 
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Have we seen enough of Abruzzese for a while? at least on the 4th line. Kid looks more comfortable but still a little overwhelmed on the 4th. They weren’t great last 2 games. Probably want to see Blackwell with Spezza and Simmonds for a few games to get some chemistry going.
 
As much as we rag on Holl, it’s good we have depth at D, because we’re probably going to need 7 if not 8 guys for a long playoff run. This is the deepest D we’ve ever had. Great.
 
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ZEBROA said:
Complain and complain, if i could decide i would try to promote him to the first line and put Bunting with Nylander and Kfoot. I dont think putting Nylander on a allready good thirdline will inprove the team. I presume JT play great with M&M and If Matthews and Marner cant play great with Tavares, then how should Nylander be able to?
To get " beast" Nylander he need a greater asignment . This was true with his father, when he was sort of the go to guy, he was his best. Nylander will not be the go to guy on this team , but he could be on his own line. Give the dude a real task. I might be wrong, but we will never know.

And im with you there, it is a good "problem " to have :)
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I'd suggest you listen to Kypper and Bourne 1st hour of April 7. Kypper played with him and talked about what he was like as a player and stuff btwI already knew about Michael Nylander. It's definitely not what you're saying here. Cheers
 
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zeke said:
Last year's playoffs roster vs this year's roster looks kinda like these are the changes, given that Tavares only had one shift:

Galchenyuk ---> Tavares
Hyman ----------> Bunting
Foligno ----------> Kampf
Thornton -------> Blackwell
Nash --------------> Kase/Clifford
Brooks -----------> Abbruzzese/Knies/Robertson

Bogosian -------> Giordano
Dermott ---------> Liljegren
Hutton -----------> Lyubushkin
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Hey Zeke is you're point here that it was a totally different team and that what happened last year was last year?;)
 
Bunting - Matthews - Marner <-- Best Line in Hockey
Mikheyev - Tavares - Engvall <-- Matchup Line
Kerfoot - Kampf - Nylander <-- New HBK Line?
Clifford - Blackwell - Simmonds <-- Energy Line***
Spezza Rotates with All 3***

Rielly - Lyubushkin
Muzzin - - - Brodie
Giordano - Liljigren
 
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ToneDog said:
Matty and Mitch can carry any LWer so why not try Bunting with 91 and 88 to see if he can ignite that line and re-unite 64,65 and 47?? Perhaps try Blackwell with Matty and Mitch ???
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I understand the idea but that trio is so hot you can't split them up. They're the best line in hockey right now

Since 2022 began:
Mitch Marner: 38 games - 25 goals - 43 assists - 68 points
Auston Matthews: 39 games - 38 goals - 28 assists - 64 points
Michael Bunting: 41 games - 13 goals - 24 assists - 37 points

I do want Blackwell to get more opportunities though, he has tenacity and some skill. Wouldn't be opposed to the following:

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

Can play with lines 2/4 to see what works
 
Rielly Lyubushkin
Muzzin Brodie
Giordano Liljegren/Holl/Sandin

Holl needs to get out of Keefe’s head, but if he’s bottom pairing, he has good moments and decent on the PK, so I get it. Liljegren is just so much better with Giordano in my eyes. At the end of the day, the reality of playoffs is that they are a war and we will end up needing everyone including Sandin on a deep run.

I like Muzzin’s last game with Brodie, a couple of rusty moments but much better than his first game with Holl. I think his speed/mobility is looking better and after 10 games left, he should be at the top of his game. We will need his physical game and shot blocks.
 
I’m thinking it should look like this:

Bunting - Matthews - Marner
Mikheyev - Tavares - Nylander
Engvall - Kampf - Kase
Blackwell - Kerfoot - Simmonds

Rielly - Lyubushkin
Muzzin - Brodie
Giordano - Liljegren

Campbell
Kallgren

If Knies comes abord, he goes on L4 in place of Simmonds.
 
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