NHL Transactions, Injuries & Rumours

[Bruyns]

Muzzin hits

My issue is with the dinosaurs in MSM who were claiming the Leafs were too soft and needed to go out and add a player like McQuaid who IMO is terrible. No one is saying you can't have physical hockey players, but don't sacrifice skill or acquire inferior players just to strive for one attribute.

Dom had a good article on The Athletic last week looking into exactly what we are talking about. His research shows that hitting significantly increases during the playoffs from all teams, it also showed that more hits is also correlated to losing in the playoffs which makes sense since teams/players with lots of blocks and hits usually have them since the other team has the puck.

Physicality does have its place in the game and you could make a strong argument it played a large part in BOS beating VAN years ago, but more than ever the game is evolving and we have seen the demise of the 4th line goon and we are transitioning away from the physical bruising Dman.

[Handsome&FairMike]

Bottom line, if Leafs were really a contender teams would be worrying about how to shut down the leafs approach of 2-3 top end lines... instead what happens is babcock gets matchup horny, changes lines so often mid-shift, that the boys lose flow. It's why they look like such a great team when they are leading/win games and very mediocre, if not poor, when they are trailing. You could probably say that about most teams, but with the leafs i find its pronounced (full bias granted, as i mostly just watch Leafs games).

[kimmer]

conclusion then i think, is less about the player type that needs to be brought in, but systematic.

[Da_Hawks]

Correct - the Leafs do not need someone who is going to go in and crush someone (though I would love to at least have one guy capable of doing so - a la Wilson). The problem we have is that we don't have enough players that can TAKE a beating in the playoffs - see Gardiner last year and almost every fucking game with Nylander. Maybe it's just me, but the only person who looked like a gamer in the playoffs (last year) was Hyman.

Maybe Babs should try Kadri on the wing. Let him be that shit disturber a la Marchand. Let Nylander play C where his chicken shitness won't be so apparent.
Kadri - Matthews - Kapanen
Hyman - Tavares - Marner
Johnson - Nylander - Brown
xxx-xxx-xxx (who cares)

I'm really hoping that they come back with more compete than last year. Even when they won, they didn't really deserve it. The length of the series, IMO, did not indicate how poorly the Leafs played.

[Jordan (VGK)]

Bottom line, if Leafs were really a contender teams would be worrying about how to shut down the leafs approach of 2-3 top end lines... instead what happens is babcock gets matchup horny, changes lines so often mid-shift, that the boys lose flow. It's why they look like such a great team when they are leading/win games and very mediocre, if not poor, when they are trailing. You could probably say that about most teams, but with the leafs i find its pronounced (full bias granted, as i mostly just watch Leafs games).

Yup. Matthews loses ice time because of "matchups". Leafs have a top 9 that can beat any team in the league, but if they try to focus on matchups you're losing expected gains elsewhere.

Also, not using Hainsey to match Boston's top pair would be a step in the right direction. Babcock seems very hesitant to change that, however.

[thom54]

Bottom line, if Leafs were really a contender teams would be worrying about how to shut down the leafs approach of 2-3 top end lines... instead what happens is babcock gets matchup horny, changes lines so often mid-shift, that the boys lose flow. It's why they look like such a great team when they are leading/win games and very mediocre, if not poor, when they are trailing. You could probably say that about most teams, but with the leafs i find its pronounced (full bias granted, as i mostly just watch Leafs games).

Yup. Matthews loses ice time because of "matchups". Leafs have a top 9 that can beat any team in the league, but if they try to focus on matchups you're losing expected gains elsewhere.

Also, not using Hainsey to match Boston's top pair would be a step in the right direction. Babcock seems very hesitant to change that, however.

that's why i think Dubas takes Babcock's favourite D toy away from him this offseason - can't play hainsey if he isn't re-signed.

[Matthew]

From Fantrax today:

"Richardson recorded an even-strength assist and was a plus-3 in Tuesday's 3-1 win over the Blues.

Analysis:Richardson was able to get back in the point column, after he was pointless in his last five games. The first-line center has been decent this campaign, racking up 22 points in 54 games. The 34-year-old has only logged an average of 1:07 of power-play time in his last 10 games, which hampers his fantasy value."

Is he leading Arizona in goals? Yes.
Is he one of the top 5 forwards in toi on Arizona? Yes.

Is he a first line center? Heeelllllllll nooooo. Get your shit together fantrax.

[kyuss]

where is that Leafs-only thread again?

[Bruyns]

Do you even have a favourite team? Just realized I have no idea.

[kimmer]

He'll say I'm a student of the game. Im not 6 years old, dont have a fave team

[Matthew]

I believe mik likes pittsburgh?

[Da_Hawks]

I believe mik likes pittsburgh?

People over the age of six like Pittsburgh? I just assumed the old people were there because the kids dragged them out to watch crybaby Crosby.

[Matthew]

It's probably due to the Malk Man.

[kyuss]

yeah in hockey it's always been a players thing for me rather than a team thing.
The team thing, I've had that for soccer, growing up in Italy.. and then growing to despise more and more the European soccer system and especially the Italian one. Speaking of which, it's basically a grieving day for me after yesterday's nightmarish events

[Matthew]

Trevor Moore - John Tavares - Mitch Marner

[thom54]

NHL Draft Lottery will be earlier this year: April 9 — the night before the playoffs begin

[Matthew]

NHL Draft Lottery will be earlier this year: April 9 — the night before the playoffs begin

I dislike it because it's before our season is over, and thus we aren't able to make trades before the lottery. People lose pre-lotto trade value on the picks.

[Shoalzie]

I like the earlier lottery date...let's get it out of the way and we can get rolling with our offseason. It'll give all the lottery teams a couple extra weeks to weigh their options. It's still almost two full months before we do our draft.

How many of our early picks have been moved before the lottery occurred? And I'm not talking about a year in advance.

I think the team selling the pick and the interested party would rather know where the pick ends up to get proper value. Who would pay Chicago now for their pick before you know where it could end up? Seems careless to me.

[kyuss]

yeah I think usually GMs waited to see where the picks landed before making their move (both to acquire or give away a lottery pick)

[Matthew]

NHL Draft Lottery will be earlier this year: April 9 — the night before the playoffs begin

I just noticed the season is over on the 6th, so if teams want to do a trade they do in fact have 3 days.