Blacker to Ducks for depth.

[Jalili]

I think it will be an interesting long-term debate as to what they do with Bozak.

Do they keep him with Kessel and JvR, where he has that close friendship with the former of those two, or put him on the 3rd line where he would probably be better suited in terms of ability.

My guess is that he'll be back with Kessel and JvR, but who knows.

I'm also wondering how long Holland stays up with the team.

 

[Sevax]

Holland stays up until at least until Bolland comes back so he will have plenty of time to show what he is capable of.

 

[Rebel_1812]

Holland stays up until at least until Bolland comes back so he will have plenty of time to show what he is capable of.

I would agree, but that no name centre has put up more points.  So holland likely gets sent to the marlies.

 

[moon111]

Leading all NHL forwards in giveaways. 

This shouldn't really be news, but every season the top 10 in giveaways for forwards are some of the top offensive players.  Datsyuk (you've probably heard of him, won some "Selke Trophy" award 3 times) was 8th in giveaways last season - is he costing Detroit?  Bozak, who you say needs to be there to save Kessel, was 9th in giveaways last season.  Tavares was 2nd.  Thornton was 3rd. Kovalchuk was 4th.

The season before that it's the same thing.

Sensing a pattern?  The players who have the puck on their stick a lot also end up with a lot of recorded giveaways.

So perhaps the Leafs aren't any different then any other club, it's just they call a turn-over more frequently then in other arenas?  It would be interesting to see the Leafs turn-over stats home v.s. away.  Because like you said, it's to be expected.  But by how much?  Kessel isn't the only player who handles the puck.

 

[Rebel_1812]

This trade looks better to me overtime.  Blacker wasn't going to make our defense due to the glut of offensive defense-men.

 

[hobarth]

I think this trade stinks Holland = Colborne just 1 year younger and since when does a minor leaguer cost a team either a 2nd or 3rd draft choice.  With the brittle players TO has I'd be surprised Holland doesn't cost a 2nd.

 

[Highlander]

Holland was tearing up the AHL and looks like he can play in this league. Yes losing Joe C was not a fan favourite. 6'5" centres are not a dime a dozen and I think Colbourne will have a decent career. However I see more instant upside in Holland, he is large enough has very good vision, speed and may be a great find for us. I don't see how more time in the AHL is going to improve him.

 

[mr grieves]

As far as I can tell the skill set required to play on the 4th line is put 1 foot in front of the other, so I'm not sure where the Leafs or their fans can feel that shunting skilled players away if they can't play on the top 2 lines makes sense.  It's not a bad thing to have more skill on the 3rd and 4th lines.  The team is in trouble now because no one on the bottom 2 lines can score.  There's zero depth scoring.

Well, it's not zero depth scoring. I think they're up to 3 goals. I wonder where that ranks in the league.

And, weeks later, Cam Charron's done the math.

On the flip side, if you look at depth players and the defence, the Leafs are dead last:

GPG from rest of lineup
1. Phoenix 1.35
2. Boston 1.33
3. Chicago 1.21
4. St. Louis 1.16
5. San Jose 1.15

30. Toronto 0.59

source: http://theleafsnation.com/2013/12/2/fixing-offensive-woes

 

[CarltonTheBear]

And, weeks later, Cam Charron's done the math.

I would have been curious to see 25 through 29 as well, just to know exactly how far back the Leafs are. But yeah, not really a surprise.

 

[Kin]

I think it's interesting that Charron lists Kulemin as someone who no longer should be considered a lock for the line-up. I feel like he's someone who's largely gone unmentioned when it comes to looking at what's off about the club.

 

[Corn Flake]

I think it's interesting that Charron lists Kulemin as someone who no longer should be considered a lock for the line-up. I feel like he's someone who's largely gone unmentioned when it comes to looking at what's off about the club.

Yeah that is a rather ridiculous statement considering Kulemin's overall value to this team even if scoring isn't one of them anymore.  The idea that if you aren't scoring you aren't valuable seems pretty silly to me and a very bad attempt at player evaluation.

I wonder if he's from the same faction that concluded a while ago that Jay McClement is a terrible defensive hockey player.  When I heard that I just turned around and walked away.

 

[mr grieves]

And, weeks later, Cam Charron's done the math.

I would have been curious to see 25 through 29 as well, just to know exactly how far back the Leafs are. But yeah, not really a surprise.

I would've liked that too. Guess he left it out to highlight the point that the Leafs are in the mix with Chicago, San Jose, and St. Louis for top-six scoring, but, while most of those teams show up at the top of the depth scoring list too, Leafs are in the basement.

 

[Kin]

Yeah that is a rather ridiculous statement considering Kulemin's overall value to this team even if scoring isn't one of them anymore.  The idea that if you aren't scoring you aren't valuable seems pretty silly to me and a very bad attempt at player evaluation.

I wonder if he's from the same faction that concluded a while ago that Jay McClement is a terrible defensive hockey player.  When I heard that I just turned around and walked away.

Well, he mentions McClement with Kulemin as someone he thinks shouldn't necessarily be in the line-up every night so clearly he's not as taken with his defensive game as others are.

Anyways, I don't have a strong opinion on his position re: Kulemin or McClement I just think it's an interesting opinion to have. I think that a lot of Leafs players have gotten off pretty lightly for their poor play of late.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

I think it's odd too that Kulemin is rarely mentioned as someone who should be shifted out of the line up, not that I feel he should be.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

I think it's interesting that Charron lists Kulemin as someone who no longer should be considered a lock for the line-up. I feel like he's someone who's largely gone unmentioned when it comes to looking at what's off about the club.

Yeah that is a rather ridiculous statement considering Kulemin's overall value to this team even if scoring isn't one of them anymore.  The idea that if you aren't scoring you aren't valuable seems pretty silly to me and a very bad attempt at player evaluation.

I wonder if he's from the same faction that concluded a while ago that Jay McClement is a terrible defensive hockey player.  When I heard that I just turned around and walked away.

I think there's a sizeable group who feel that McClement is very good when on the PK but not so good when it comes to 5 on 5 defensive play, which as a C is a lot more involved than the structured PK format.  I can see that to some degree - I don't think McClement should be playing as much as he is at 5 on 5.

Regarding Kulemin/McClement, Kulemin's offensive production this season is likely being dragged down by playing with McClement.  McClement and Kulemin have averaged about the same amount of 5 on 5 time per game, but Kulemin is scoring at a 27 point pace (still well below even last year's pace for him) while McClement is putting up points at a 6 point pace.  Kulemin was on a 40 point pace last season when still playing the majority of the time with Grabovski, but now McClement is his linemate 60% of the time and he's basically just an offensive black hole.

I don't think anyone is saying if you're not scoring you're not valuable, but that if you are unable to provide any offensive production that you are harming the team, which is facing serious depth scoring issues right now.  McClement, as great as he has been on the PK, is playing too many ES minutes and providing virtually no offensive production.  While Kulemin is still off where I'd expect him to be, he's still outscoring McClement by a fair margin.

Basically to recap, I have no problem with McClement being the 4th line C.  I don't think he provides enough offensive production to be the 3 C.  While Kulemin is below where he should be, I think McClement is part of the reason why, and despite that he's still outproducing McClement by a fair clip and provides good D from the wing.