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Lightning @ Leafs - Feb. 12th, 7:00pm - TSN4, TSN 1050

CarltonTheBear

CarltonTheBear

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38-14-3, 79 points | 33-19-5, 71 points

Projected Lines


Gourde-Stamkos-Johnson
Killorn-Point-Kucherov
Conacher-Namestnikov-Erne
Kunitz-Paquette-Callahan

Hedman-Stralman
Sergachev-Girardi
Coburn-Sustr

Vasilevskiy
​
             
Hyman-Matthews-Nylander
Marleau-Kadri-Marner
JVR-Bozak-Brown
Komarov-Moore-Kapanen

Rielly-Hainsey
Gardiner-Zaitsev
Dermott-Carrick

Andersen​

Scratches

Matthew Peca
Slater Koekkoek
Jake Dotchin
​
Code: 
     
Roman Polak
Josh Leivo
Matt Martin​

Game Notes

TB
?Vasilevskiy (33-10-2, 2.29 GAA, .929 Sv%) will likely start for the Lightning
?Tampa had a stretch of games in January where they went only 5-5-1 and their lead on the Atlanic division was slipping away to Boston. Unfortunately, it's February now and they're 4-1 this month and they've averaged 5 goals for in those 4 wins
?Nikita Kucherov also had a rough personal stretch going where he went 11 straight games without scoring a goal. But he's scored in each of his last 2 games so he's back now too

TOR
?Andersen (27-15-4, 2.65 GAA, .921 Sv%) will likely start for the Leafs
?Patrick Marleau had a breakout game against Ottawa, finally joining his two new linemates on the score sheet. In the 8 games since Marner joined him and Kadri that trio has a combined 24 points.

Injuries

?Ondrej Palat - Lower Body - Injured Reserve
?Peter Budaj - Leg - Injured Reserve​
Code: 
     
?Nathan Horton - Back - Out indefinitely
?Joffrey Lupul - Actually Injured - Out indefinitely
?Nikita Soshnikov - Groin - Injured Reserve​

Stream Options

https://www.reddit.com/r/NHLstreams
​
 
Should be an entertaining game. Two new school high seeded teams going at it. I just hope we don't come out of this one with the feeling I got after the last Boston game. Let's prove were not a first round push over.
 
herman said:
https://twitter.com/jonassiegel/status/963087058364334080

Wut.
Click to expand...

In soccer trade/transfer requests have to be formally submitted in writing, while Leivo or his agent might have leaked something to an insider, it doesn't change the fact that they might not have filed the paperwork. Especially when Leivo kind of backtracked afterward and said he would rather play with the Leafs.
 
herman said:
https://twitter.com/capfriendly/status/963091717107875841

Yup.
Click to expand...

That being said, I suspect this buys them another 24/48 hours to make the call on his health given how he performed down there.

A few days to see team doctors or a specialist in his injury to get the all clear.

I'm starting to feel bad for guys like Sosh, Leivo and Corrado.

I know they are compensated well, but it must be very unfulfilling to be that close to what they want, but still so far away.
 
This should be an interesting game to measure how the team stacks up against a cup favourite. Beating the Sens is one thing, but the Lightning are a completely different animal.

GO LEAFS GO!
 
WhatIfGodWasALeaf said:
That being said, I suspect this buys them another 24/48 hours to make the call on his health given how he performed down there.

A few days to see team doctors or a specialist in his injury to get the all clear.

I'm starting to feel bad for guys like Sosh, Leivo and Corrado.

I know they are compensated well, but it must be very unfulfilling to be that close to what they want, but still so far away.
Click to expand...

I don't really have a problem with him staying on IR after the conditioning stint. I am a bit curious to know how guy playing 3 games straight with top line minutes (and performing fine) qualifies as being injured. So long as Soshnikov does not raise a fuss, the PA and league won't likely step in, but I can see them voting to plug this CBA gap at the next opportunity.

Re: feeling bad for the fringe
I guess the argument here would be... play overwhelmingly better. Dermott and Kapanen made the jump and that's sort of why Leivo, Soshnikov, now Martin and so-on are where they are while the aforementioned are getting NHL minutes now.

Where I might contend with that in previous seasons would be Martin and Polak getting full time minutes at the expense of younger (and in my view, better) options. Now that I see Babcock will actually move on from a veteran when the options are no longer tied makes me feel a bit better.
 
herman said:
WhatIfGodWasALeaf said:
That being said, I suspect this buys them another 24/48 hours to make the call on his health given how he performed down there.

A few days to see team doctors or a specialist in his injury to get the all clear.

I'm starting to feel bad for guys like Sosh, Leivo and Corrado.

I know they are compensated well, but it must be very unfulfilling to be that close to what they want, but still so far away.
Click to expand...

I don't really have a problem with him staying on IR after the conditioning stint. I am a bit curious to know how guy playing 3 games straight with top line minutes (and performing fine) qualifies as being injured. So long as Soshnikov does not raise a fuss, the PA and league won't likely step in, but I can see them voting to plug this CBA gap at the next opportunity.
Click to expand...

Just to clarify, he remains on IR until the Leafs doctors have cleared him.  So despite evidence that he's fine (him saying he's fine, playing 3-in-3 over the weekend), he can't just self-clear himself as ready.  They have conveniently pushed off the doctors seeing him by him staying at home today.
 
herman said:
I don't really have a problem with him staying on IR after the conditioning stint. I am a bit curious to know how guy playing 3 games straight with top line minutes (and performing fine) qualifies as being injured. So long as Soshnikov does not raise a fuss, the PA and league won't likely step in, but I can see them voting to plug this CBA gap at the next opportunity.

Re: feeling bad for the fringe
I guess the argument here would be... play overwhelmingly better. Dermott and Kapanen made the jump and that's sort of why Leivo, Soshnikov, now Martin and so-on are where they are while the aforementioned are getting NHL minutes now.
Click to expand...

You don't think Soshnikov's point per game pace on his conditioning stint coming off an injury, his physical element, strong skating, being skilled on the PK and his booming shot aren't overwhelmingly better than Moore/Komarov?

As for his remaining on IR, I suspect it's only for the 24/48 hours until medical professionals officially clear him on the Leafs end, a time-saving measure for them to try and figure things out.

As you say I think this will be addressed in the next CBA or off-season, waivers was supposed to stop teams stalling guys careers like this.
 
Coco-puffs said:
Just to clarify, he remains on IR until the Leafs doctors have cleared him.  So despite evidence that he's fine (him saying he's fine, playing 3-in-3 over the weekend), he can't just self-clear himself as ready.  They have conveniently pushed off the doctors seeing him by him staying at home today.
Click to expand...

Lou: our doctors are BC natives and we felt i best to give them their Family Day off to spend time with their loved ones on this made up holiday.
 
WhatIfGodWasALeaf said:
You don't think Soshnikov's point per game pace on his conditioning stint coming off an injury, his physical element, strong skating, being skilled on the PK and his booming shot aren't overwhelmingly better than Moore/Komarov?

As for his remaining on IR, I suspect it's only for the 24/48 hours until medical professionals officially clear him on the Leafs end, a time-saving measure for them to try and figure things out.

As you say I think this will be addressed in the next CBA or off-season, waivers was supposed to stop teams stalling guys careers like this.
Click to expand...

I actually do think he's better overall than those two veterans, but is he better than who is in his play slot in the designated role? Komarov is utility defenseman, bumping into lines 2 and 3 situationally. Soshnikov is a huge step up offensively, but Komarov wasn't being used for offense anyway. (personally, I would argue that putting the puck into the other net is the best defense, but I'm not the coach here)

If any of the LWs went down with an injury, Sosh would be up before Josh barring injury. I don't think Babcock considers Sosh better than Komarov for what he uses Leo for; he doesn't play centre and Babcock does not consider Komarov as a centre option, so that's why Sosh is still on the outside.

NHL people also have a huge amount of respect/cachet/bias for NHL games played (per Friedman and Marek's podcast, if I recall correctly). If you've played the NHL level for a certain amount of time, you get soooo much benefit of the doubt. It is really something huge that Marner and Kapanen supplanted Komarov/Martin.
 
I like this being over the limit thing.  This I think will keep everyone sharp with players capable of jumping in there spot, kicking at there heels, makes for a more determined team.
I look forward to see how they play TB knowing there spots are not a free ride, and could be lost with a bad outing.
 
I think he's better defensively because he's better offensively, Komarov is an absolute black hole when it comes to getting out of his own zone. He's in the sixth percentile league-wide, that is terrible.

I'd need to dig up the numbers, but I'm fairly certain Soshnikov was one of the best PKers on the team last year too.

I hear what you're saying though re veteran getting the benefit and having to overcome Babcock's veteran biases.

It's becoming tougher though to give Babs the benefit of the doubt, we've all been arguing about the bottom of the lineup on both offense and defense for over a year and when he finally listened to the conventional wisdom, the team started to play much better.

I know he's one of the top coaches in the world, but watching Polak wet the bed most nights while guys like Carrick, Borgman, Sosh and Leivo get the shaft is extremely grating.

A lot of people don't put that much weight on fourth lines and third pair decisions, but when they are playing almost 20% of your even strength time, it's a massive issue, much like a backup goalie is a more important position than most give credit.
 
Coco-puffs said:
Just to clarify, he remains on IR until the Leafs doctors have cleared him.  So despite evidence that he's fine (him saying he's fine, playing 3-in-3 over the weekend), he can't just self-clear himself as ready.  They have conveniently pushed off the doctors seeing him by him staying at home today.
Click to expand...

I can understand him staying on for one more day, especially since he was basically given today off. But if I'm a rival team and this lasts longer than that I'm causing a fuss about it.
 
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