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Training Camp Thread - Now with 100% more Tavares

Bender said:
herman said:
CarltonTheBear said:
herman said:
I?m quite okay with this. Although Ennis probably replaces Leivo in an actual lineup scenario, while Lindholm?s line holds.

If Leivo falters and Ennis thrives, sure. But if Babcock's original plan had Ennis playing with Kadri then he'd be there from the start of camp and Leivo would have been used as the placeholder.

Hmm, that makes sense. Leivo has been used in some of the Leafs media spots recently...

Does not quite compute with Babcock wanting to keep Kadri as the primary checking line in home games though.

Leivo's been a good soldier. He deserves a fair shake.

If previous years are any indication, I think he plays the same role this year.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
herman said:
Does not quite compute with Babcock wanting to keep Kadri as the primary checking line in home games though.

Ennis being there wouldn't make any sense in that situation either. Or even Johnsson really, as much as I like the guy I can't see Babcock throwing him into top match-ups right off the bat. That comment was pretty strange any way you put it. I'm curious to see how that plays out.

Ennis is a veteran guy though, right?  It makes more sense to me than Leivo in that spot.
 
Frank E said:
Ennis is a veteran guy though, right?  It makes more sense to me than Leivo in that spot.

He's still a guy who definitely needs sheltered minutes, like Leivo and Johnsson. Quite frankly using Kadri as the match-up centre this season wouldn't make a lick of sense. Just use Tavares and go head-to-head.
 
Dubas on Training Camp
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2018/09/14/kyle-dubas-on-the-leafs-blue-line-we-have-some-history-recently-showing-that-teams-can-have-ultimate-success-with-that-style-of-a-defense-group/

Dubas on Leafs Lunch
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2018/09/14/kyle-dubas-on-wanting-a-long-term-deal-for-william-nylander-the-whole-time-im-here-until-they-kick-me-out-one-day-william-is-a-part-of-the-group/
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Frank E said:
Ennis is a veteran guy though, right?  It makes more sense to me than Leivo in that spot.

He's still a guy who definitely needs sheltered minutes, like Leivo and Johnsson. Quite frankly using Kadri as the match-up centre this season wouldn't make a lick of sense. Just use Tavares and go head-to-head.

Quite frankly the Leafs have the depth and talent on their lines (especially once Nylander finally signs) that they shouldn't be the ones line matching with other teams.  I found it frustrating last year that Babcock was so worried about his matchups that ice time would sometimes vary significantly because of this.  I'm not sure why the superior talent need to sit on the bench so Babcock can have Line 3 vs. Line 1 at the expense of Lines 1 and 2.
 
https://twitter.com/markhmasters/status/1041051631775830016

*squeeeeeeeelllllllssssssssssss*

Granted, Babs tried doing this early last season with Marner and Marleau IIRC and it didn't stick. So we'll see how it goes.
 
L K said:
CarltonTheBear said:
Frank E said:
Ennis is a veteran guy though, right?  It makes more sense to me than Leivo in that spot.

He's still a guy who definitely needs sheltered minutes, like Leivo and Johnsson. Quite frankly using Kadri as the match-up centre this season wouldn't make a lick of sense. Just use Tavares and go head-to-head.

Quite frankly the Leafs have the depth and talent on their lines (especially once Nylander finally signs) that they shouldn't be the ones line matching with other teams.  I found it frustrating last year that Babcock was so worried about his matchups that ice time would sometimes vary significantly because of this.  I'm not sure why the superior talent need to sit on the bench so Babcock can have Line 3 vs. Line 1 at the expense of Lines 1 and 2.

He did say in one interview this week that he intended to do a lot less matching and just roll out the lines so I suppose he's coming along more into your way of thinking. If I had to guess, he might have been more intent on it in the past because of the struggles Bozak's line frequently had in getting trapped in their own zone for extended periods of time. I don't see that happening with any of the lines this year (even the 4th line ought to be able to survive the occasional shift against many of the league's top lines).
 
I think it?s less Babcock coming around to the idea of letting his players play, and more him being comfortable with trusting the lineup. There aren?t too many players who will need sheltering this coming season. I think the Front Office overbabies the big 3: no letters, Lou blocked in game interviews, deliberately signing shepherd players to mentor on and off the ice, lots of game time with the Hymans/Browns/Komarovs of the team.
 
herman said:
I think it?s less Babcock coming around to the idea of letting his players play, and more him being comfortable with trusting the lineup. There aren?t too many players who will need sheltering this coming season. I think the Front Office overbabies the big 3: no letters, Lou blocked in game interviews, deliberately signing shepherd players to mentor on and off the ice, lots of game time with the Hymans/Browns/Komarovs of the team.

I don't know that it's "overbabying" the big 3. I seem to remember Detroit being very similar in their methods(allowing their players to mature slowly) with Babcock coaching. Did they not do fairly well with him there?
 
OldTimeHockey said:
herman said:
I think it?s less Babcock coming around to the idea of letting his players play, and more him being comfortable with trusting the lineup. There aren?t too many players who will need sheltering this coming season. I think the Front Office overbabies the big 3: no letters, Lou blocked in game interviews, deliberately signing shepherd players to mentor on and off the ice, lots of game time with the Hymans/Browns/Komarovs of the team.

I don't know that it's "overbabying" the big 3. I seem to remember Detroit being very similar in their methods(allowing their players to mature slowly) with Babcock coaching. Did they not do fairly well with him there?

He certainly did that with the rookies in Detroit over time, but he also started his coaching career there with a fairly established base of a prime-veteran core (Shanahan, Lidstrom, Yzerman, Holmstrom as the veterans, Datsyuk and Zetterberg as the exciting prime players). It?s really only this year we have something resembling that with the layer of super veterans and still prime vets.

The Big 3 are still the youngest players on this team. Fans want them unleashed and are frustrated that the coach seems to deliberately not ice his best lineups. Babcock has been trying to bake in good habits on the defensive side early in their careers with some (unfortunately) offensively suboptimal veterans.
 
Auston has a sense of humor:
Reporter: "Any personal goals for the upcoming season?"
AM: "Yeah, they're personal."
Reporter: "Is it fair to say you have high expectations with regards to this upcoming season?"
AM: "We have high expectations with regards to the upcoming season."
;D

I think a lot of the young guys are really grateful having a lot of veteran talent around to help answer questions. And I think JT will be yuge for Auston's growth, just having that superstar 1C around. Some of the pressure's off, he can really come out of his shell. I'm sure it can get pretty monotonous, reporters constantly trying to feed the beast. Tavares is so adept at it, there's Marleau, Rielly, Naz and Haisey around. We really have a great blend. I was thinking about the Eugene Melnyk interview recently with one of his players. He was trying to sell hope (sounds familiar) talking about character and their "rebuild". It sounded a bit delusional. The question up to them is do you want to finish bottom-5 for about 3 years or 10? The difference is weather you're delusional or not.
 
On the way out of Niagara, Dubas made some cuts:
https://twitter.com/dcmahiban/status/1041399380413239297
https://twitter.com/dcmahiban/status/1041407593418305536

Looks like Durzi and Hollowell are getting longer AHL looks. They can go back to junior, or be loaned to the Growlers if there is no room on a very stacked Marlies defense corps (Marincin, Liljegren, Subban, LoVerde, Nielsen, Borgman, Rosen, maybe Holl and Ozhiganov; Sandin should be in Rogle/SHL, and Lindgren has been loaned to HPK/Liiga).

Rasmus Sandin and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev are still in play for exhibition matches.

Updated Training Camp Roster
 
herman said:
https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1041406880625688576

Leivo lighting it up.
Heard he came into camp lighter and quicker. Hope he gets out of limbo this year.
 
Any thoughts on the back up goaltender situation? Correct me if I'm wrong, but they all have to go through waivers to be sent down correct?

IMO it all depends on how much the team plans on playing Andersen. If they feel he can handle the same workload as last year, I think McElhinney or Pickard are the ones for the job. With that you can move Sparks(if there's a deal to be had) and probably get the best return out of the 3.

If you'd like to lower the amount of starts for Andersen, I think you need to keep the best possible goalie with the team as the back up. IMO that is Sparks.
 
OldTimeHockey said:
Any thoughts on the back up goaltender situation? Correct me if I'm wrong, but they all have to go through waivers to be sent down correct?

IMO it all depends on how much the team plans on playing Andersen. If they feel he can handle the same workload as last year, I think McElhinney or Pickard are the ones for the job. With that you can move Sparks(if there's a deal to be had) and probably get the best return out of the 3.

If you'd like to lower the amount of starts for Andersen, I think you need to keep the best possible goalie with the team as the back up. IMO that is Sparks.
I can't understand if the Leafs keep McBackup at 35 years old and let a younger guy go on waivers. They need a guy who can give them more than 20 games and I'm not sure if McBackup is the guy. I say let Sparks have the role, maybe he can play more, and he's insurance in case anything happens to Andersen.
 
OldTimeHockey said:
Any thoughts on the back up goaltender situation? Correct me if I'm wrong, but they all have to go through waivers to be sent down correct?

IMO it all depends on how much the team plans on playing Andersen. If they feel he can handle the same workload as last year, I think McElhinney or Pickard are the ones for the job. With that you can move Sparks(if there's a deal to be had) and probably get the best return out of the 3.

If you'd like to lower the amount of starts for Andersen, I think you need to keep the best possible goalie with the team as the back up. IMO that is Sparks.

The answer seems pretty obvious: we should combine the 3 into 1 super back-up goalie.
 
I say let the exhibition games determine who the back-up goalie will be, regardless of their age. Sparks looked great last year in the ?A? but  looked average during his cup of coffee with the Leafs. You never know how good a goalie really is until he faces better shooters on a consistent basis.
 

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