2022-23 Toronto Maple Leafs General Discussion

[herman]

https://twitter.com/puckpedia/status/1633972556188499968

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/markhmasters/status/1634241164097335296
Are you guys ready to overreact?!

 

[cw]

#Leafs lines at practice Mar. 10/23

Kerfoot-Matthews-Marner
Nylander-Lafferty-Jarnkrok
Bunting-Tavares-Simmonds
AstonReese-Kampf-Acciari
Extra: Steeves

McCabe-Brodie
Giordano-Liljegren
Rielly-Gustafsson
Extra:Holl-Timmins

Are you guys ready to overreact?!

Edit: There was a typo in Alter's tweet, and knowing him, he'll probably edit it out from under me.

I saw a tweet that Schenn just got back to Toronto. He's going to play Saturday - according to the tweet. Gustafsson may be a place holder ...

https://twitter.com/thegoldenmuzzy/status/1634232331476127744

Which was just contradicted by this:
https://twitter.com/sunhornby/status/1634243651206299696

Rosehill reports Schenn said he'll be with the Leafs Saturday
https://twitter.com/TLNdc/status/1634222494159896576
at the 33 min mark

EDIT: Schenn is still away.
Keefe says they're going 11-7 with Holl as the 7th and Simmonds out.
https://twitter.com/markhmasters/status/1634267782354292751

 

[ZBBM]

yay Simmonds!

 

[Guilt Trip]

https://twitter.com/markhmasters/status/1634241164097335296
Are you guys ready to overreact?!

Keefe said he's going to experiment with the lines so that's what he's doing.
I have no problem getting Simmonds into a game and line #2 looked good last gme so why not give them another go of it. Maybe that could potentially be a 3rd line option down the road. Who knows? Schenn by all accounts is going to be with Rielly so no biggie.

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/markhmasters/status/1634267976525389827
No Schenn or Simmonds

That baby is taking her sweet time

 

[L K]

Rielly-Gustafsson seems like a bit of an odd choice, but maybe focusing on playing Rielly with a stay at home, and instead just going full throttle offense with protected zone starts is a thing worth trying.

Normally I'm one to dislike Simmonds still getting NHL games but Steeves doesn't really move the needle for me one way or the other so getting him into a game is a 'meh whatever' kind of move. 

 

[princedpw]

I?m curious if O?Reilly could slide in at center with Bunting and Tavares. One of them would have to play on the right. Would give us 3 lines of offense, which I?d like to see.

 

[cw]

Tampa Bay Times: The Lightning have been nearly unbeatable at home. On the other hand ...
With a potential playoff series looming against Toronto, Tampa Bay?s struggles on the road are a ?slight concern.?

Tampa Bay is 15-16-1 on the road this season for a .484 points percentage. That?s even worse than 2017, when they had a .537 road percentage and missed the postseason for the only time in the past decade. And it absolutely pales in comparison to Tampa Bay?s 23-5-5 mark (.773) at Amalie Arena.

Whole article is pretty good.

While Keefe is trying to figure out who should play where, the article underscores why home ice might be a little more important this year. Tampa has been floundering since mid February. But I wouldn't count too much on that. They have too much talent.

 

[Frank E]

I think they're going to have to get Simmonds into some games at some point here.  He may be needed for Boston, if they get that far.

Totally related...Clifford has 16 points in 33 games this season for the Marlies...4 points in his last 5.

 

[herman]

I?m curious if O?Reilly could slide in at center with Bunting and Tavares. One of them would have to play on the right. Would give us 3 lines of offense, which I?d like to see.

I was thinking something along those lines too. Unfortunately it would push our Golden Son and leading scorer onto his own line, but I think it can work because Willy is basically centre-agnostic and can punish a soft matchup single-handedly.

This is a balanced build with everyone on their proper handedness
Kerfoot - Matthews - Marner - OZ Swirl
Tavares - O'Reilly - Jarnkrok - Spadework or Choppy Skates
Bunting - Lafferty - Nylander - Blitz
Aston-Reese - Kampf - Acciari - Kill the Clock

that could flex into pushing for goals
Bunting - Matthews - Nylander
Tavares - O'Reilly - Marner
Kerfoot - Lafferty - Jarnkrok/Acciari

or lock down
Kerfoot - Matthews - Marner
Tavares - O'Reilly - Nylander
Lafferty - Kampf - Acciari

 

[cw]

https://twitter.com/camcharronyvr/status/1634286189254676480

Nothing wrong with our eyes here

 

[cw]

Sportsnet: How should the Leafs engage Tampa's physical nature in a playoff series?

Last year, the Leafs saw this coming in round one versus Tampa, and they prepared for it. They dressed Wayne Simmonds and Kyle Clifford and maybe got a little overhyped for the physical action. Sheldon Keefe talked about his team preparing for a ?violent? series in the lead-up to Game 1. Then of course, Clifford ? presumably all amped up on Red Bull and a clearly defined role - threw a bad hit almost immediately, took a penalty, and the Leafs were on their heels from the get-go. Now, they went on to win that game handily, so it?s tough to say being in that mindset harmed them, but it was certainly a big part of how they prepared to play that series.

This is going to be a key battleground in the Toronto/Tampa Bay series this year, which looms just a month away. Will Toronto dress Luke Schenn among their six D in anticipation of needing some pushback to kick things off? Will Noel Acciari and Sam Lafferty be more relevant in the early going than later in the series? Or will the Leafs stick to their identity, focus on playing their 5-on-5 game, and hope to make the Lightning pay for their PIM-heavy ways on the power play, an area that?s fallen off for Toronto badly in post-seasons past?

The right answer probably lies somewhere between accepting a full-out brawl, and pretending they?re not being directly challenged. But it?s a question the Leafs have to consider.

The challenge is coming, and like it or not, it?s going to hurt at times. But it wouldn?t hurt half as much as the pain of another first round defeat.

I'm still digesting the article. Don't always agree with Bourne. I have to give it some thought.
But as I read it, you could wind up with a little more sympathy for what Dubas tried to do at the deadline.

It could be a very interesting series.

 

[cw]

The Athletic:
LeBrun: Who?s next on the NHL?s GM hot seat after Flyers fire Chuck Fletcher?

Kyle Dubas, Maple Leafs
Hey, did you know the Leafs GM was on an expiring deal?

Toronto is trying to finally get out of the first round of the playoffs, is having another excellent regular season, and no GM was busier ahead of the trade deadline. It?s all out there. This is it, either way.

Personally, I believe Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment should have made this decision last summer. Extend Dubas or cut him loose. (I would have extended him.) Putting your GM in a lame-duck situation in the NHL?s biggest market wasn?t ideal. It?s OK in most NHL markets, but not in Toronto. Same reason Habs owner Geoff Molson couldn?t let Marc Bergevin twist in the wind all season a year ago and felt compelled to make the management changes he did when he did. Montreal and Toronto aren?t markets where being in a lame-duck situation can easily be ignored.

The question is, what does the MLSE board view as extension-worthy now for Dubas? Win one playoff series? Two? Get to the Stanley Cup Final? I guess we?ll find out this spring. But I can assure you, based on how other front offices view Dubas, he wouldn?t be out of work very long.

I quoted the portion of the article related to the Leafs & Dubas.
The bolded part of the quote is the second time I've heard that in the last 24 hours.

 

[ZBBM]

Bourne I don't take all that seriously as an analyst.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/dalter/status/1634577318638239745

David's just spitballing here but for awhile now I've wondered if the league would ever expand the playing roster size by 1 or 2. They do that in the KHL and it allows teams to regularly run 8 defencemen.

Obviously a team would still need to be cap compliant, and if teams would rather stick to 18 skaters that's fine too. Assuming that I don't really see a downside for the league/teams and on the players side it gives more people an opportunity to play so that'd be a plus for them.

 

[Bill33]

https://twitter.com/dalter/status/1634577318638239745

David's just spitballing here but for awhile now I've wondered if the league would ever expand the playing roster size by 1 or 2. They do that in the KHL and it allows teams to regularly run 8 defencemen.

Obviously a team would still need to be cap compliant, and if teams would rather stick to 18 skaters that's fine too. Assuming that I don't really see a downside for the league/teams and on the players side it gives more people an opportunity to play so that'd be a plus for them.

I wonder if expanding the roster to to the point where more depth guys are routinely getting single digit minutes is actually beneficial to the overall performance of the team. I'd imagine that there's a minimum floor in which it's hard to be effective in terms of getting into the game pace and making effective plays; or at least, that's my excuse for being terrible.

 

[herman]

The ideal scenario -- after a decent trial run with Brodie -- is to test McCabe-Holl as a pairing, i.e. the Muzzin replacement plan.

This would give us
Rielly-Brodie
McCabe-Holl
Giordano-Liljegren/Schenn

This really does seem like the more obvious solution.

Spreads out our two best defensive defencemen, which makes even more sense when you take into consideration that our first 2 likely playoff opponents both don't tend to load up on a single line (although they certainly have that option to).

And I think if you do want to experiment with Liljegren in more of a top-4 role (which could become more of a full-time thing next season if Holl doesn't return in the offseason) then pairing him with either Brodie or McCabe, with the other playing with Rielly, feels like it would provide better results than what they're attempting to use now.

https://twitter.com/markhmasters/status/1634952109312581632

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/JhanHky/status/1635280967698108417
Is it fun to have a player that knows who is on the ice and where they all are and where they're headed, AND has the skills and wherewithal to take advantage of it? Yes.

One of the other fun things we've seen more recently are perfectly timed stick lifts from the superstars on the team to free up pucks for their linemates or themselves. Hard to see in game speed, but you can see they're engaging the lift at very specific moments of opponent's puckhandling.

https://twitter.com/TicTacTOmar/status/1634747782652207104
https://twitter.com/TicTacTOmar/status/1634731753880399872
https://twitter.com/LeafsJelly/status/1629311175270846469
https://twitter.com/LeafsJelly/status/1633330394996023300

 

[ZBBM]

https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2023/03/14/the-pros-and-cons-of-the-maple-leafs-running-11-forwards-and-seven-defensemen/

Another good analysis by Petrielli. 11/7 vs. 12/6?  Personally, I think the last paragraph of the piece is the clincher.  TB & Boston can roll 4 effective lines and could very well grind an 11/7 configuration into sand over the course of a two-week battle.  Not guaranteed, but it's risky.

Personally, I think Dubas is counting on Knies coming in and playing some kind of non-trivial role on the 3rd or 4th line to be "the missing forward" (in Petrielli's take).  Maybe McMann can be that guy,  Either way, it's also risky.