2023-24 Toronto Maple Leafs General Discussion
- Thread starter herman
- Start date
If Lily and McCabe are both hurt the Leafs would have to send Holmberg down and play with a roster short a forward and with the teams #8 and #9 defenceman in the line-up tomorrow. So yeah hopefully one or both of them are good to go.
Timmins will be eligible to come off LTIR starting at this Saturday's game. But since there hasn't been any word on him resuming skating yet feels safe to say he'll be out for additional time.
herman
Well-known member
I know why Keefe is reluctant to swap them: Matthews-Marner are reliable in the DZ and this year?s roster is bereft of his usual safety blankets. Kampf starting with Reaves really put the DZ draw burden solely on Matthews. More time defending means fewer reps getting their OZ engine revved up.
The top line struggle has been papered over by the Tavares line rejuvenation. They?re letting Nylander carry the mail, rather than much of the last few seasons where Tavares got it in his head to try out his refined skating mechanics and trucked pucks into 1v3s for like 5 turnovers a night.
Bertuzzi should probably just stick with Tavares. They play at the same speed (clunky, but puck strong), and prefer to make plays out of chaos. Nylander doesn?t care what his linemates do offensively because he can either solo or just play off whatever they do.
Stylistically, Knies is the best LW match for Matthews and Marner, but it?s a bit early to foist those additional responsibilities on him (I think he gets there by December).
The top line struggle has been papered over by the Tavares line rejuvenation. They?re letting Nylander carry the mail, rather than much of the last few seasons where Tavares got it in his head to try out his refined skating mechanics and trucked pucks into 1v3s for like 5 turnovers a night.
Bertuzzi should probably just stick with Tavares. They play at the same speed (clunky, but puck strong), and prefer to make plays out of chaos. Nylander doesn?t care what his linemates do offensively because he can either solo or just play off whatever they do.
Stylistically, Knies is the best LW match for Matthews and Marner, but it?s a bit early to foist those additional responsibilities on him (I think he gets there by December).
OldTimeHockey
Active member
Maybe Nylander can play on both lines.
Highlander
Active member
their wearing cowboy boots that give them at least a 2" lift over J.T.
Highlander
Active member
Not a chance Cowboy!herman said:
I think Knies absolutely has the potential to be a solid penalty killing option at some point, but maybe it's a little early in his career to be throwing him into those minutes. He's been on the ice for 4 goals in just over 8 minutes of PK time. That's a GA/60 of 28.46, which is more than any other player in the league who has played 8+ PK minutes. There's probably some noise/small sample stuff at work there, I highly doubt he continues to get scored on at that rate. But there has been times where his inexperienced has shown on the PK for sure.
I get trying him in those minutes because of his potential and the lack of other options, but with Holmberg in the line-up now he should be able to handle those secondary PK minutes and if not I'm pretty unsure what the point of Pontus Holmberg is.
Knies should also be getting PP2 time over Jarnkrok, it's actually kinda baffling that hasn't been happening this season.
I get trying him in those minutes because of his potential and the lack of other options, but with Holmberg in the line-up now he should be able to handle those secondary PK minutes and if not I'm pretty unsure what the point of Pontus Holmberg is.
Knies should also be getting PP2 time over Jarnkrok, it's actually kinda baffling that hasn't been happening this season.
herman
Well-known member
CarltonTheBear said:
Yes to all of this.
I think he hasn't gotten PP2 yet because a) learning PK, and b) he occupies a similar niche to Bertuzzi, who they are trying to get going. Jarnkrok has a sick shot (if he gets the time), is one of the puck carriers on that unit (alongside Domi), and adds the right handedness they would otherwise only have Liljegren for. Knies would only account for the shooting threat.
Arn said:
Well you could easily waive him and get dinged with only a $200k cap hit. Replacing him with a Gambrell or McMann or Robertson or Steeves would then still you give enough cap space to keep Timmins as the 21st roster player once he's healthy. A trade option is probably non-existent right now. I'm sure there's teams out there that would have some interest in Reaves but that 3rd year on the contract likely scares everyone off unless you're dealing him for a different bad contract.
I'm incredibly doubtful that Treliving admits defeat on this move at any point in the first year of the contract though.