Michalek waived. Leafs claim Ben Smith from Colorado.

[Frank E]

So, that leaves Smith, Leivo, and Griffith for 2 roster spots.

Wonder who the odd man out is?

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Are there any rules in the CBA about what you can do with a claimed player?  Like can you waive them again, do you have to wait a certain amount of time, etc.?

You can basically waive them the next day, and, if only their original team puts in a claim, for the next 30 days, they get the right to send him the the AHL without waivers.

Makes me think he is waived and sent to the Marlies when Leivo returns.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Makes me think he is waived and sent to the Marlies when Leivo returns.

I've seen that suggested too... but what would the point of that be? The Marlies already have more veterans than they need. And now we can already add Michalek to that list assuming he reports.

 

[bustaheims]

Makes me think he is waived and sent to the Marlies when Leivo returns.

That, or someone else may be injured. Or, least likely, they have a minor trade nearing completion.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Makes me think he is waived and sent to the Marlies when Leivo returns.

That, or someone else may be injured. Or, least likely, they have a minor trade nearing completion.

Occam's razor guys. Babcock's already stated what his role is and he's jumping into the line-up immediately.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Makes me think he is waived and sent to the Marlies when Leivo returns.

I've seen that suggested too... but what would the point of that be? The Marlies already have more veterans than they need. And now we can already add Michalek to that list assuming he reports.

Not sure other than I don't think they wanted Michalek playing the minutes Smith will be playing which are probably the minutes they'd want Leivo playing when he's healthy?

 

[CarltonTheBear]

The pick-up also puts the Leafs at 49 contracts. Would be 50 if Cowen wins his arbitration hearing.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Not sure other than I don't think they wanted Michalek playing the minutes Smith will be playing which are probably the minutes they'd want Leivo playing when he's healthy?

There are plenty of Marlies available who could be playing the role they'd like Leivo to play if he were healthy.

 

[rdowdall]

Maybe now they are going to try and move Bozak.  Smith adds to the centre's.  They could slot Kadri in to Bozak's role, or Matthews and juggle the lines that way.  Holland, Brown and Komarov on that third line wouldn't be terrible.

Leipsic ( 9 pts in 5 games with the Marlies ) and Soshinikov are still on the farm as well.  So maybe this is a precursor move to something else.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I feel like winning faceoffs is more important on the PK than other defensive situations. Winning the draw and icing the puck can easily kill 20-25 seconds at a time. Probably not enough to be worthy of a roster spot, but enough to make an adjustment if you have those pieces on your roster.

I remember someone looked at that last year so I decided to track it down: https://aphockey.net/2015/12/01/john-tortorella-wants-to-know/

So here are the results:

Overall 5v4 PP% = 18.32%

5v4 PP% when you win the first faceoff = 20.53%

5v4 PP% when you lose the first faceoff = 16.21%

So overall, there is a impact, but it?s small. You?ll score about a goal more every 20 power play opportunities if you go from losing EVERY opening power play faceoff to winning EVERY one. It?s not something that I would lose too much sleep over, although to be fair, every little thing counts.

 

[jonlleafs]

I'm a bit surprised, as Michalek isn't that far removed from being a productive player. I guess he's declined too much to give any more leash.

The Smith thing is a bit odd. Why not just throw Gauthier or rotate from the marlies in the bottom hole?

Agreed here.  I'd like to see Gauthier, Leivo, Soshnikov (the last 2 when they are healthy).

 

[mr grieves]

Makes me think he is waived and sent to the Marlies when Leivo returns.

That, or someone else may be injured. Or, least likely, they have a minor trade nearing completion.

Occam's razor guys. Babcock's already stated what his role is and he's jumping into the line-up immediately.

Smith's role is less interesting than what happens to Michael's spot. Brown!!

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Well that's pretty simple:

?We added Smith today [because] he gives us a right-hand faceoff guy who can penalties kill too,? said head coach Mike Babcock. ?That was a concern for us. [Zach] Hyman and Leo [Komarov] are taking all the draws and they don?t play centre. We wanted to shore that up.?

Smith was averaging 2:16 per game on the penalty kill unit with Toronto last season and has won 50 percent or more of his faceoffs in each of the last four seasons. Michalek was averaging only 1:05 per game on the penalty kill unit this season.

http://www.tsn.ca/leafs-waive-michalek-claim-smith-1.591160

 

[Highlander]

Michalek looked great at the Worlds but only so so for the Leafs, better to clear a spot for them and win some face-offs

 

[TBLeafer]

Yeah Michalek had it coming.  Enjoy the Marlies!

[tweet]790602581147996160[/tweet]

Simmsation
‏@Simmsation
Dealing w Lou is terrifying. Michalek demanded top line mins to waive NTC. Lou gave him 5 games there, no show, then shivved him.

Can't get traded if you don't have value.  Buh-bye.

 

[ZBBM]

?We wanted to free up Brownie to play in a different spot,? Babcock said.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

"Did somebody say free brownies?"

https://twitter.com/simmonssteve/status/785201831370567680

 

[CarltonTheBear]

There are plenty of reasons to dislike Simmons. The fact that he calls it "soda" is a new one. How is this possible? He was born and raised in Canada.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

What's the situation with Leivo?

Babcock said that he is no longer injured, so shouldn't he need to be waived?

 

[CarltonTheBear]

What's the situation with Leivo?

Babcock said that he is no longer injured, so shouldn't he need to be waived?

I think they're basically getting away with keeping him on the IR to get his conditioning back up.