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Sheldons' new look lines, will they work?

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Barring the ability to get a good right shot top four D on a reasonable deal (Severson for example) - I think what they should do is try to get Hertl or Pavelski (a legit top end forward rental). Then what I would do is:

Bunting - Matthews - Nylander
Hertl - Tavares - Marner
Kerfoot - Kampf - Kase
Mikheyev Engvall Spezza

Make the opposing teams in the playoffs choose to defensively match Matthews-Nylander or that supercharged Tavares line.

I assume an injury or two will move Mikheyev back into the top nine at some point but this gives you a few more options.
 
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Stonehands1990 said:
Keefe coached a roster with
Matthews
Tavares
Marner
Nylander
Kerfoot
Kapanen
Hyman
Johnsson

The depth argument isn’t looking very solid
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You'd have to ask him the type of depth he was looking for. But what we have not is miles ahead of what you just posted especially defensively; and I think that is the angle here. It's not about offence, it's about being able to spread out the offence when the going gets tough and we need to shut down other teams. Regardless, I can't read the guys mind and am only relaying what he has stated publically.
 
Would we be shocked if he goes back to them to start next game? They didn't look good... But the players were putting in less than a full effort. Not sure what to expect on Monday.
 
It's always dependent on the situation. Sometimes you need to stack lines for the big offensive push, sometimes you want to spread it around.

If they trust the Big 4 defensively, you're probably going to be better off having three lines while nursing a tight lead for example. If you need a big come back, you stack the lines and overwhelm.
 
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I thought the new lines were good. They give the Leafs a different look, and they make it much harder to play against them.

Tonight, Detroit played well enough against the lines that started the game. When the Leafs changed gears in the third period, Detroit's game plan fell apart and they couldn't adjust to the changes on the ice.

In football, if you want to have an effective passing game, you need to set that up with the run. It might look like four or five series of four-yard rushes is futile, until you've drawn the defence in and go to the air. Or vice versa, by loosening the rushing coverage by using the pass first.

In basketball, you might switch between zone and man-to-man, but you need to be able to use both well for either one to be effective.

Baseball is all about establishing the zones between the pitchers and hitters, with the emphasis on setting up the pitch you want to throw or to see.

I think it's pretty pedestrian to play the same four lines in the same rotation shift-in shift out, game-in game-out like these guys are pre-programmed machines. It's far too predictable.

I like the idea of having different looks to come at you on the fly and that are at once well rehearsed and very unpredictable.

That's what happened tonight.

If the Leafs keep with the new look as well as the old, they should eventually get better results for both looks. Even if that ground game isn't scoring any points at first.
 
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The 6ix said:
I thought the new lines were good. They give the Leafs a different look, and they make it much harder to play against them.

Tonight, Detroit played well enough against the lines that started the game. When the Leafs changed gears in the third period, Detroit's game plan fell apart and they couldn't adjust to the changes on the ice.

In football, if you want to have an effective passing game, you need to set that up with the run. It might look like four or five series of four-yard rushes is futile, until you've drawn the defence in and go to the air. Or vice versa, by loosening the rushing coverage by using the pass first.

In basketball, you might switch between zone and man-to-man, but you need to be able to use both well for either one to be effective.

Baseball is all about establishing the zones between put pitchers and hitters, with the emphasis on setting up the pitch you want to throw or to see.

I think it's pretty pedestrian to play the same four lines in the same rotation shift-in shift out, game-in game-out like these guys are pre-programmed machines. It's far too predictable.

I like the idea of having different looks to at come at you on the fly and that are at once well rehearsed and very unpredictable.

That's what happened tonight.

If the Leafs keep with the new look as well as the old, they should eventually get better results for both looks. Even if that ground game isn't scoring any points at first.
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Yeah uh lets just stay with the old lines please. Keefe gets creative with those ones as well he doesn't keep them static where have you been the last 3 months?

So you're basically starting from a worse position with these new lines then making in-game changes to get a spark that trend towards your old setup. So.....why not just start from the best baseline and then get creative......

These new lines are backwards and thank god for the Wings exposing it quick. Makes zero sense to have to make in-game adjustments just to offset your crappy starting point. Make the adjustments and get a spark on top of your strong base.
 
So far they aren't, the PP and Matthews shoout winner won them the game against the ducks.

and tonight nothing really clicked until the big boys got put back together.

Surprise, Surprise putting William Nylander with David Kampf as his center didn't work.
 
Shooter2x said:
Yeah uh lets just stay with the old lines please. Keefe gets creative with those ones as well he doesn't keep them static where have you been the last 3 months?

So you're basically starting from a worse position with these new lines then making in-game changes to get a spark that trend towards your old setup. So.....why not just start from the best baseline and then get creative......

These new lines are backwards and thank god for the Wings exposing it quick. Makes zero sense to have to make in-game adjustments just to offset your crappy starting point. Make the adjustments and get a spark on top of your strong base.
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I get what he's trying to say.

The new lines on paper are still good and are suppose to spread the offense and more sound defensively. Unfortunately it just hasn't shown up that we'll aside from the first game they tried it where the metrics were great but did t produce.

If the knew lines learn and find chemistry then it's a good thing to have, so when you switch to the normal old version (our better version) it forces other teams to adjust and push teams on there heels like we did to Detroit... We were playing okay, and trading chances, Detroit took advantage of our lines not having chemistry, and as soon as we stacked the lines again they had no answer and got over whelmed.. it's a good strat for playoffs.. as teams get too accustomed to eachother.

I like the idea and I would give it a few more games so our players get used to it and improve... We aren't bad with the new lines, the outcome just need to catch up with the metrics... But if I gets bad we can just switch back and other teams have harder time to adjust... It's almost like a new game mid way through.


Again, it's good for the players to play with different line matches and situations... Get it ready for playoffs where you need to switch things up mid game.. better to get these links out of the way now, and if we're still finding ways to win I don't see how it's a bad thing. Keefe was double shifting our star players in the 3rd with stacked lines and they weren't worn out because of the scoring threats being spread out in period 1 and 2. It's a good practice formula.. especially with the schedule we have in February.


I say give it another 5 games and see if the new lines find improvement while keeping the old lines in our back pocket for a stronger 3rd period... If it still doesn't look good then just keep the old line up.
 
zeke said:
Sure hope we go right back to the new lines next game.

Giving up on them already just makes us weaker. Those lines should be able to work and the option to use them should always been our back pocket.
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This. We are good enough to iron out as any kinks as we can to set us up for playoffs.. keep trying out a balanced line up until they eventually build chemistry. Then stack lines when needed or when we fall behind and force other teams to make IN GAME adjustments which is hard to do once they already worked a game around the 1st/2nd period line up.
 
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zeke said:
Sure hope we go right back to the new lines next game.

Giving up on them already just makes us weaker. Those lines should be able to work and the option to use them should always been our back pocket.
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But they don't, and the reason they don't is because Kampf is a checking center, and a damn good one but ge doesn't have the offensive skill to play with Nylander consistently.

It's possible it clicks VS NJ, especially given that the last time I looked both Bernier and Blackwood were out and if that's the case Toronto gets the 3rd and 4th stringer.

But that's different from facing Andersen, or Demko, or Markstrom, or Bobvrosky, or Vasi.

David Kampf doesn't have the offensive skill to play with Nylander consistently and beat those guys, he scored 1 goal last year.
 
LEAFANFORLIFE23 said:
But they don't, and the reason they don't is because Kampf is a checking center, and a damn good one but ge doesn't have the offensive skill to play with Nylander consistently.

It's possible it clicks VS NJ, especially given that the last time I looked both Bernier and Blackwood were out and if that's the case Toronto gets the 3rd and 4th stringer.

But that's different from facing Andersen, or Demko, or Markstrom, or Bobvrosky, or Vasi.

David Kampf doesn't have the offensive skill to play with Nylander consistently and beat those guys, he scored 1 goal last year.
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Pretty amazing that one really good defensive center with no offense can destroy three lines like that.
 
Looks like the line experiment was short lived.

IMO, although they didn't look very good they didn't really give it much of a chance.
 
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