Size of D core

[ToneDog]

Seems to vanish for some who come to TO - Clifford, Simmonds, Foligno (although he was playing hurt). Muzzin has called the boys out a few times, but they seem unwilling or unable to play a heavier game.

Seems playing mean is not what Shanny and Co, want so I am not surprised players who are thought to be tigers lose their ferocity when they join this team. It seriously has become a joke.

 

[mydnyte]

Can you say Oleksiak ?? Move Rielly and Holl and sign Hamilton (expensive) or cheaper Mike Reilly or Vatanen.

Muzzin Hamilton/Reilly/Vatanen
Oleksiak Brodie
Dermy/Sandy Bogo
Lily

I'm all aboard the Olesiak bandwagon and wouldnt mind taking a run at also adding Larsson, or Gudbranson.
I'd like to revamp our D to have one heavy hitter on every pairing.

 

[ToneDog]

I'm all aboard the Olesiak bandwagon and wouldnt mind taking a run at also adding Larsson, or Gudbranson.
I'd like to revamp our D to have one heavy hitter on every pairing.

Not sure about Gudbransson but yes to Larsson. Look what good goaltending and a solid top 4 of Weber/Chariot/Edmunson/Petry are doing for what many thought was a lousy Habs team.

 

[mydnyte]

Not sure about Gudbransson but yes to Larsson. Look what good goaltending and a solid top 4 of Weber/Chariot/Edmunson/Petry are doing for what many thought was a lousy Habs team.

Reilly - Brodie
Olesiak - Holl
Sandin - Larsson

this could be a difficult defense to play against, and Olesiak - Holl could make a fine shutdown pair.

Muzzin traded while he still has good value/reputation Dermott, taken or flip/flop with Sandin, as I dont think he's ready for the defensive end of the NHL yet. Lili deserves a shot, but, injury fill in and spot games for now.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Not sure about Gudbransson but yes to Larsson. Look what good goaltending and a solid top 4 of Weber/Chariot/Edmunson/Petry are doing for what many thought was a lousy Habs team.

Size works for pro hockey playoffs when defenders can do pretty much what they want .. it used to work in pro hockey regular season but not anymore due to penalties called as game has really softened up .. now you need a MIX of 4 big nasty fast guys and a couple skater boys who can move puck for regular season .. then have 2 men lined up to bring in for playoffs and take out 1-2 of puck movers .. kinda like what Habs did .. Vegas doing same thing .. Isles and Tampa too .. you have to make it extremely challenging for smaller attacking forwards to take ur net .. eventually the lite weights give up and go away .. and da strong survive to fight another day

 

[ToneDog]

Reilly - Brodie
Olesiak - Holl
Sandin - Larsson

this could be a difficult defense to play against, and Olesiak - Holl could make a fine shutdown pair.

Muzzin traded while he still has good value/reputation Dermott, taken or flip/flop with Sandin, as I dont think he's ready for the defensive end of the NHL yet. Lili deserves a shot, but, injury fill in and spot games for now.

Many have suggested traing Muxxin but I believe he has a NMC. Bringing in Olesiak couple bring back some of the snarl Muzzin seems to have lost.

If cap is not an issue:

Rielly Brodie
Muzzin Larsson
Olesiak Dermott/Holl
Sandin Lily

 

[Arzak]

Reilly - Brodie
Olesiak - Holl
Sandin - Larsson

this could be a difficult defense to play against, and Olesiak - Holl could make a fine shutdown pair.

Muzzin traded while he still has good value/reputation Dermott, taken or flip/flop with Sandin, as I dont think he's ready for the defensive end of the NHL yet. Lili deserves a shot, but, injury fill in and spot games for now.

Larson, the most expansive third pair ever ( but good defensive D).

 

[Arzak]

Size works for pro hockey playoffs when defenders can do pretty much what they want .. it used to work in pro hockey regular season but not anymore due to penalties called as game has really softened up .. now you need a MIX of 4 big nasty fast guys and a couple skater boys who can move puck for regular season .. then have 2 men lined up to bring in for playoffs and take out 1-2 of puck movers .. kinda like what Habs did .. Vegas doing same thing .. Isles and Tampa too .. you have to make it extremely challenging for smaller attacking forwards to take ur net .. eventually the lite weights give up and go away .. and da strong survive to fight another day

Bruins always going for the mix. Krug, Grezlyk, Chara,Muller(Clifton, Lauzon etc). McAvoy got both size and movement/playmaking abilities.

 

[ToneDog]

Larson, the most expansive third pair ever ( but good defensive D).

Be great to sign Olesiak and Larsson and keep Rielly but I say you move Rielly to acquire depth up front because we will not be able to afford him next year like we cannot afford Hymie this year.

Muzzin Larsson
M Reilly Brodie
Olesiak Dermott
Sandin Lily

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Bruins always going for the mix. Krug, Grezlyk, Chara,Muller(Clifton, Lauzon etc). McAvoy got both size and movement/playmaking abilities.

They got softer this year on D and with Carlo injured it killed them off .. Carlo and Chara it was not even enough last year .. Bruins will toughen up defenders next year or they will be done

 

[Superstar]

Size works for pro hockey playoffs when defenders can do pretty much what they want .. it used to work in pro hockey regular season but not anymore due to penalties called as game has really softened up .. now you need a MIX of 4 big nasty fast guys and a couple skater boys who can move puck for regular season .. then have 2 men lined up to bring in for playoffs and take out 1-2 of puck movers .. kinda like what Habs did .. Vegas doing same thing .. Isles and Tampa too .. you have to make it extremely challenging for smaller attacking forwards to take ur net .. eventually the lite weights give up and go away .. and da strong survive to fight another day

I like da poetry here...

 

[HellasLEAF]

The Leafs defence I don't care what average height and weight they come in does not scare anyone or impose their will in any way. Always one Muzzin injury away from looking to bring in Marincin. Watching Habs defence shows just how poor and weak Leafs was. Leafs need some big and boring signings. Bogosian looked great to me in playoffs he should be resigned at all costs.

 

[Menzinger]

The Leafs D this season really wasn't an issue. Even during the playoffs they did well at limiting the Habs chances against (and to just 14 goals over 7 games).

A couple individual mental errors led to a couple disasterous goals against in the Habs series but that really had nothing to do with size of the D corps. Size of the top 4 D wasn't the problem when Dermott did his dumb spinorama passes, or Gally's disasterous decision in OT

 

[HamiltonNHL]

The Leafs D this season really wasn't an issue. Even during the playoffs they did well at limiting the Habs chances against (and to just 14 goals over 7 games).

The D wasnt the issue.

The goaltending was excellent.

Not much left to blame.

MaMa - Mitch and Matthews, the overpaid wonder twins.

 

[Superstar]

They got softer this year on D and with Carlo injured it killed them off .. Carlo and Chara it was not even enough last year .. Bruins will toughen up defenders next year or they will be done

They have already tried to toughen up their d this year with another big guy in Tinordi.

 

[kabidjan18]

These are the top 4 defensemen of the final 4 teams in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the past 3 years. Finalists bolded. Champions Italicized. This year's are alphabetical because there's not a winner yet.
2019
San Jose Sharks - Justin Braun (6'2"), Marc Edouard Vlasic (6'1") , Brent Burns (6'5"), Erik Karlsson (6'0")
Carolina Hurricanes - Jaccob Slavin (6'3"), Justin Faulk (6'0"), Brett Pesce (6'3"), Dougie Hamilton (6'6")
Boston Bruins - Zdeno Chara (6'9"), Charlie McAvoy (6'0"), Brandon Carlo (6'5"), Torey Krug (5'9")
St. Louis Blues - Alex Pietrangelo (6'3"), Colton Parayko (6'6"), Jay Bouwmeester (6'4"), Joel Edmundson (6'4")
2020
Vegas Golden Knights - Shea Theodore (6'2"), Alec Martinez (6'1"), Nate Schmidt (6'0"), Zach Whitecloud (6'2")
New York Islanders - Ryan Pulock (6'2"), Adam Pelech (6'3"), Scott Mayfield (6'5"), Devon Toews (6'1")
Dallas Stars - Esa Lindell (6'3"), John Klingberg (6'3"), Miro Heiskanen (6'1"), Jamie Oleksiak (6'7")
Tampa Bay Lightning - Victor Hedman (6'6"), Ryan McDonagh (6'1"), Mikhail Sergachev (6'3"), Erik Cernak (6'3")
2021
Montreal Canadiens - Shea Weber (6'4"), Ben Chiarot (6'3"), Jeff Petry (6'3"), Joel Edmundson (6'4")
New York Islanders - Ryan Pulock (6'2"), Adam Pelech (6'3"), Scott Mayfield (6'5"), Nick Leddy (6'0")
Tampa Bay Lightning - Victor Hedman (6'6"), Ryan McDonagh (6'1"), Erik Cernak (6'3"), Mikhail Sergachev (6'3")
Vegas Golden Knights - Alex Pietrangelo (6'3"), Alec Martinez (6'1"), Shea Theodore (6'2"), Brayden McNabb (6'4")

Just looking at the data, in the past 3 years, 48 defensemen have made the Stanley Cup Semifinals. One was sub-6 foot. Five were 6 feet flat. The average height of a defenseman was 6 foot 2.875 inches (just a shade under 6'3").

 

[JT AM da real deal]

The Leafs D this season really wasn't an issue. Even during the playoffs they did well at limiting the Habs chances against (and to just 14 goals over 7 games).

A couple individual mental errors led to a couple disasterous goals against in the Habs series but that really had nothing to do with size of the D corps. Size of the top 4 D wasn't the problem when Dermott did his dumb spinorama passes, or Gally's disasterous decision in OT

Sandin and Dermy cost us 2 games (1 each) .. little guys ... Sandin not fast enough for a small man with 2 goals all his fault cost us game 1 .. Dermy not smart enough yet and cost us a game .. and Gally clearly screwed up another game .. 3 games lost with wrong kind of playoff players

 

[LeafsOHLRangers98]

He would likely find a better opportunity to play elsewhere but if we lose Bogo I would take a shot at Jani Hakanpaa to add some depth to the right side. 6'5" RHD and extremely physical and plays the PK.

 

[CapspaceKiller]

Size isn't the issue with the defense, mobility is. They don't have the speed and puck-handling skills to handle a tough forecheck.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Size isn't the issue with the defense, mobility is. They don't have the speed and puck-handling skills to handle a tough forecheck.

Habs are having no issues at all muscling Vegas fore checkers for pucks .. you don't need to be super fast but you need size and strength .. withstand hit on corner .. eat puck in your skates .. muscle fore checker to create room and keep strong on puck for pass to centre or winger .. nothing there then ice it .. da formula has worked for a hundred years .. it also helps to clear net area for screens when no penalties called in playoffs .. keep attackers to outside on da perimeter

 

[Menzinger]

Sandin and Dermy cost us 2 games (1 each) .. little guys ... Sandin not fast enough for a small man with 2 goals all his fault cost us game 1 .. Dermy not smart enough yet and cost us a game .. and Gally clearly screwed up another game .. 3 games lost with wrong kind of playoff players

I'd chalk that more up to them being rookies and making mistakes than their size though.

 

[cannucky]

Habs are having no issues at all muscling Vegas fore checkers for pucks .. you don't need to be super fast but you need size and strength .. withstand hit on corner .. eat puck in your skates .. muscle fore checker to create room and keep strong on puck for pass to centre or winger .. nothing there then ice it .. da formula has worked for a hundred years .. it also helps to clear net area for screens when no penalties called in playoffs .. keep attackers to outside on da perimeter

How many times do you have to be told not to confuse peoples personal narrative with your actual facts and knowledge geeez .

 

[JT AM da real deal]

How many times do you have to be told not to confuse peoples personal narrative with your actual facts and knowledge geeez .

I don't think it i lived it on da ice .. that is difference between guys who learned da hard way in life

 

[cannucky]

I don't think it i lived it on da ice .. that is difference between guys who learned da hard way in life

That was my point , no XBox warriors under my roof either lol

 

[FraumBallard]

at thread.
Imagine thinking the problem was size on D. Pretty much all of Dubas's adds to the D core on the NHL team was size.

Ya.
Wonder Boy is great.
Just check playoff results.
Wow.
So smart.
Reinvented the wheel.
He’s great.
Enjoy that.
For 1 more year.
If that.