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Line-up changes - Part II

S

slapshot

New member
Preferred line-up as of now...barring further changes

Lupul  Van Reimsdyck    Kessel
MacArthur Graboski  Frattin/Kulemin
Kadri    Bozak    Kulemin/Frattin
Crabb    Steckel  Brown

Gunner    Phanuef
Gardiner  Franson
Liles      Komisarek (Schultz?)

Reimer
Scrivens

It would be nice to clear out Connolly, Lombardi, Armstrong and Komisarek, having Colborne and Holzer in the wings. Of course, there is the whole Luongo thing. Personally, if Reimer could actually return to form of 2010, I wouldn't have a problem starting the season with him and Scrivens. I'd like Luongo to simply be an albatross for the Nucks given Gillis's smug attitude. No heat on him, only Burkie (ya, right).

Leafs seem to have a glut of forward bodies, so I expect Burkie to be busy.

Can you believe how awful the free agent pool is once you get by Parise and Suter?
 
Problem with that line up is that there isn't much grit/sandpaper on the 3rd line.  I guess we could role 3 scoring lines with the 3rd line a bit more of a cross between shutdown and scoring line.
 
slapshot said:
Preferred line-up as of now...barring further changes

Lupul  Van Reimsdyck    Kessel
MacArthur Graboski  Frattin/Kulemin
Kadri    Bozak    Kulemin/Frattin
Crabb    Steckel  Brown

Gunner    Phanuef
Gardiner  Franson
Liles      Komisarek (Schultz?)

Reimer
Scrivens

It would be nice to clear out Connolly, Lombardi, Armstrong and Komisarek, having Colborne and Holzer in the wings. Of course, there is the whole Luongo thing. Personally, if Reimer could actually return to form of 2010, I wouldn't have a problem starting the season with him and Scrivens. I'd like Luongo to simply be an albatross for the Nucks given Gillis's smug attitude. No heat on him, only Burkie (ya, right).

Leafs seem to have a glut of forward bodies, so I expect Burkie to be busy.

Can you believe how awful the free agent pool is once you get by Parise and Suter?
Click to expand...

Q:  Has JVR ever played center on the Flyers?

Q:  Is there a sticky thread somewhere that has the waiver status of our younger players? (esp: Kadri, Frattin).  It's one of those things I can never get straight.

Lupul  Bozak    Kessel                    <-- sheltered scoring line
Kulemin  Grabovski  MacArthur      <-- shutdown line
JVR    Connolly  Frattin/Kadri          <-- 3rd line that outplays opponents?
Crabb/Lombardi    Steckel  Brown 
 
slapshot said:
Preferred line-up as of now...barring further changes

Lupul  Van Reimsdyck    Kessel
MacArthur Graboski  Frattin/Kulemin
Kadri    Bozak    Kulemin/Frattin
Crabb    Steckel  Brown

Gunner    Phanuef
Gardiner  Franson
Liles      Komisarek (Schultz?)

Reimer
Scrivens

It would be nice to clear out Connolly, Lombardi, Armstrong and Komisarek, having Colborne and Holzer in the wings. Of course, there is the whole Luongo thing. Personally, if Reimer could actually return to form of 2010, I wouldn't have a problem starting the season with him and Scrivens. I'd like Luongo to simply be an albatross for the Nucks given Gillis's smug attitude. No heat on him, only Burkie (ya, right).

Leafs seem to have a glut of forward bodies, so I expect Burkie to be busy.

Can you believe how awful the free agent pool is once you get by Parise and Suter?
Click to expand...

You forgot Leo Komarov for the 3rd or 4th line.
 
slapshot said:
I'd like Luongo to simply be an albatross for the Nucks given Gillis's smug attitude.
Click to expand...

I agree.  It is because Gillis is arrogant that he is asking for so much for Luongo even though its only between Toronto and Florida right now.  Because he wants so much he will likely end up with no trade and having the most expensive back up in the league for 10 more years.
 
princedpw said:
Q:  Has JVR ever played center on the Flyers?
Click to expand...

Not much. Maybe more than the faceoff stats suggest.

Like Kessel, he did play there before turning pro.

He has two significant issues to overcome before he could play there:
1. Faceoffs
2. Defensive play

If the Leafs felt they could quickly correct those and that possibly, because he was stuck behind Carter, Richards, Briere, Giroux, etc, he might do better at his 'natural' position, who knows what he would be capable of?
 
About the bottom 6 I think the top 6 is more competitive than last season's bottom 6. Steckel sucks at everything apart from winning faceoffs. However Carlyle seemed to believe in him. I don't think it's a coincidence that Steckel's ice time went up during the team's swan dive. In theory, a big center like Steckel is just what the Leafs need in that spot, I just don't think Steckel's that guy.
I doubt Crabb will return although he's a better player than Colby Armstrong who should be buried in the minors next season.
Brown is hugely overrated. His hockey skills are subpar. He's a game fighter and tries to throw big hits but he isn't very good at the little things like taking a breakout pass or clearing the zone. The Leafs have better PKer's than Brown and Steckel both are expendable. And don't forget that Carlyle deemed Brown expendable in Anaheim.
Kulemin is perfect for the team's 3rd line although I'm not sure that even the qualifying offer for him isn't too rich ($2.2M+). Still it's better than the value the team has gotten from Armstrong and Lombardi.
I had really hoped that Kadri's competitive edge would make him suitable to apprentice in a 3rd line role. But he hasn't filled out and really he plays very passively in the NHL. I bet he's going to make the team this fall regardless because it would be bad optics otherwise.
If no other center is acquired, I'm sure that Connolly will return. He wasn't great but he's a better PKer than Steckel even with Steckel winning more faceoffs.

What the forward group will be:
Lupul Bozak Kessel
MacArthur Grabovski Van Reimsdyk
Kulemin Connolly Frattin (may not be ready to start the season)
Komarov Steckel Brown
extra forwards: Kadri, some fighter

What I'd like to see:
Lupul Bozak Kessel
Frattin Grabovski Van Reimsdyk
MacArthur Connolly Kulemin
4th line: All new to the organization
extra forwards: Kadri, some fighter
 
LeafsInSeven said:
About the bottom 6 I think the top 6 is more competitive than last season's bottom 6. Steckel sucks at everything apart from winning faceoffs. However Carlyle seemed to believe in him. I don't think it's a coincidence that Steckel's ice time went up during the team's swan dive. In theory, a big center like Steckel is just what the Leafs need in that spot, I just don't think Steckel's that guy.
I doubt Crabb will return although he's a better player than Colby Armstrong who should be buried in the minors next season.
Brown is hugely overrated. His hockey skills are subpar. He's a game fighter and tries to throw big hits but he isn't very good at the little things like taking a breakout pass or clearing the zone. The Leafs have better PKer's than Brown and Steckel both are expendable. And don't forget that Carlyle deemed Brown expendable in Anaheim.
Kulemin is perfect for the team's 3rd line although I'm not sure that even the qualifying offer for him isn't too rich ($2.2M+). Still it's better than the value the team has gotten from Armstrong and Lombardi.
I had really hoped that Kadri's competitive edge would make him suitable to apprentice in a 3rd line role. But he hasn't filled out and really he plays very passively in the NHL. I bet he's going to make the team this fall regardless because it would be bad optics otherwise.
If no other center is acquired, I'm sure that Connolly will return. He wasn't great but he's a better PKer than Steckel even with Steckel winning more faceoffs.

What the forward group will be:
Lupul Bozak Kessel
MacArthur Grabovski Van Reimsdyk
Kulemin Connolly Frattin (may not be ready to start the season)
Komarov Steckel Brown
extra forwards: Kadri, some fighter

What I'd like to see:
Lupul Bozak Kessel
Frattin Grabovski Van Reimsdyk
MacArthur Connolly Kulemin
4th line: All new to the organization
extra forwards: Kadri, some fighter
Click to expand...

You guys keep forgetting Leo Komarov. You don't think he'll Make the cut?
 
slapshot said:
Lupul  Van Reimsdyck    Kessel
MacArthur Graboski  Frattin/Kulemin
Kadri    Bozak    Kulemin/Frattin
Crabb    Steckel  Brown

Gunner    Phanuef
Gardiner  Franson
Liles      Komisarek (Schultz?)

Reimer
Scrivens
Click to expand...

Yikes. Might as well just say "pass".
 
Nik? said:
slapshot said:
Lupul  Van Reimsdyck    Kessel
MacArthur Graboski  Frattin/Kulemin
Kadri    Bozak    Kulemin/Frattin
Crabb    Steckel  Brown

Gunner    Phanuef
Gardiner  Franson
Liles      Komisarek (Schultz?)

Reimer
Scrivens
Click to expand...

Yikes. Might as well just say "pass".
Click to expand...

Yeah, but they forgot about Komarov.

With Komarov inserted in there this lineup really starts to take shape and look like a winner.

I'm just getting concerned with the backlash that will ensue if the Leafs' first rounder is 25th overall next year. 

People will be pissed. 
 
Not sure why people want to keep throwing Bozak out there as the first line center?

If not JVR, then I think Burkie has to find one via another trade (not easy task). Colbourne maybe down the road if he really blossoms, but if Bozak is first line again, I think the Leafs are in trouble. And, I really like Bozak, just not there. As a third liner he's be terrific depth.

JVR likely only got moved to wing because Flyers had so much depth there, Richards, Carter, Briere, Giroux, etc. Not because he wasn't capable of playing there. After all he was a number 2 pick overall based on what he had done up to that point as a center.
 
I will say this, as much as I dislike what Burke has done this weekend, the people who must be really upset are the ones who get annoyed when players names are misspelled. I bet we get roughly 2,000 variations on van Riemsdyk.
 
slapshot said:
Not sure why people want to keep throwing Bozak out there as the first line center?
Click to expand...

Last season our 1st line was the least of our problems, and for the most part that included Bozak. I'm not saying that I wouldn't love to get a legit top-guy, but Bozak proved he can be a fine stop-gap measure. There are other pressing concerns Burke can address if a top-line centre just isn't available.
 
slapshot said:
Not sure why people want to keep throwing Bozak out there as the first line center?

If not JVR, then I think Burkie has to find one via another trade (not easy task). Colbourne maybe down the road if he really blossoms, but if Bozak is first line again, I think the Leafs are in trouble. And, I really like Bozak, just not there. As a third liner he's be terrific depth.

JVR likely only got moved to wing because Flyers had so much depth there, Richards, Carter, Briere, Giroux, etc. Not because he wasn't capable of playing there. After all he was a number 2 pick overall based on what he had done up to that point as a center.
Click to expand...

Agreed.  He is not coming to a team full of wingers so it makes sense for him to go back to center.
 
slapshot said:
After all he was a number 2 pick overall based on what he had done up to that point as a center.
Click to expand...

What he'd done was with the US development program, miles away from the NHL. The guy's been a disappointment as a 3rd wing, I wouldn't immediately pencil him in as the team's #1 centre.
 
Nik? said:
slapshot said:
After all he was a number 2 pick overall based on what he had done up to that point as a center.
Click to expand...

What he'd done was with the US development program, miles away from the NHL. The guy's been a disappointment as a 3rd wing, I wouldn't immediately pencil him in as the team's #1 centre.
Click to expand...

Kessel was drafted as a centre too from the same program, and I don't think anybody would say he's a suitable centre in the NHL.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Kessel was drafted as a centre too from the same program, and I don't think anybody would say he's a suitable centre in the NHL.
Click to expand...

I agree with the point but Kessel got drafted out of the U of Minnesota program so he at least got a little further with it.

Either way, I think the point stands. There's a world of difference between "He can play centre" and  "He can play centre in the NHL".
 
Nik? said:
CarltonTheBear said:
Kessel was drafted as a centre too from the same program, and I don't think anybody would say he's a suitable centre in the NHL.
Click to expand...

I agree with the point but Kessel got drafted out of the U of Minnesota program so he at least got a little further with it.

Either way, I think the point stands. There's a world of difference between "He can play centre" and  "He can play centre in the NHL".
Click to expand...

Ah sorry I thought he only entered the NCAA after being drafted. But yeah, point still stands. I'm not sure why we'd want JVR to centre the top-line anyway. 3-shoot first players, none of whom are known for their defensive play? That sounds like a disaster in the making.
 
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