Now that the camp and exhibition games are over, what are your thoughts? I watched virtually all the preseason games, and mine are the following:
The Great:
Marner, Tavares, Kadri, Matthews.. etc.. - all the players that we assumed would be fun to watch showed up immediately as fun to watch. During the preseason games, I almost wanted them to stumble a little bit, to have something to build on for up to the reg season, but these guys looked in form almost from the get-go. The PP is ridiculous with so many high talent options, my only concern being that they dish it off too much instead of shooting. Marner is a human highlight reel. So much fun to watch.
The Good:
Moore+Engvall, Sandin+SDA, Ozhiganov and Ennis. The first two showed up trying to turn some heads, and succeeded, in my eyes. On a lesser team, they'd probably get a look in the starting lineup based on their camp. The bottom two showed massive potential, particularly Sandin. To step into D at that age even at the pre-season level and look so competent is really encouraging. Oz looked NHL capable, if not NHL ready. Ennis isn't going to make anyone forget about Nylander, but he looked like he could contribute on any line.
The Mediocre:
Rosen, Carrick, Holl, Borgman, Grundstrom. I was willing to give Dubas a pass on adding anything significant on the D side (Oz notwithstanding) on the assumption that a few of these guys would make the jump, and Zaitsev surely being better than LY, along with Dermott starting in the top 4 but none of these guys looked good for anything longer than an occasional shift. The leafs outscored their problems when the had the big guns out against weak teams, but there was the scrambling around in the D zone for extended periods that was pretty troubling. These guys aren't the answer. If there's an injury on the back end, then it's a massive gamble with these guys in the lineup. Grundstrom was... there. Wasn't he supposed to be the 2nd coming of Komorov with more talent?
Time for waivers:
Leivo, Marincin. Leivo in particular bugged me, because he's shown flashes of being "undeservedly" a press box player. You'd think that now that there's truly an opportunity he'd come out ready to prove he's on the team, but instead of taking a page from Ennis' book, and come out with that extra effort, he was content to float around and try to catch a pass for a goal. That penalty he took at the end of the 2nd period was the kind of effort that drives coaches absolutely insane - watch it if you haven't. Sure, he got some assists on the 2nd to last game, but there was nothing prior, and I can't see why there aren't better options - especially if Babcock actually wants to prove that there's opportunity for guys that earn it.
Marincin has nothing going for him but reach. He handles the puck like a hand grenade, is slow to pivot, reads plays poorly.. just cut bait. He's a career AHL player. That doesn't seem a popular opinon with most here, but I just don't see the upside. I know the comment was made that he can play PK, but so could Polak, and I didn't see any objections to running him out of town. And I'd rather Polak on the ice 5 on 5 over Marincin.
