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Toronto Maple Leafs 2011-2012


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Gus with another shutout.

 

What is that, his 3rd in his last 8 games or something? Really, it should be 4 if not for a momentary lapse against the Wild.

 

Guy is playing some awesome hockey as of late. I really hope he keeps it up because he has been through a lot in the past 3 years. It also doesn't hurt that it would prove my confidence in him to become a number 1 goalie right, and I have to be honest, I'm usually wrong on things like this. :lol:

 

Also, Lombardi with 2 goals tonight for the first time in a Leafs uniform. He is really starting to pick his game up over the past few weeks. He has, I think, 4 or 5 goals in the last two or so weeks. Hopefully he can continue this because it would provide the Leafs with some secondary scoring that they desperately need with Kulemin and MacArthur both playing very poorly this season after great years last year.

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Leafs extend John-Michael Liles.

 

TSNBobMcKenzie Bob McKenzie

Jean-Michael Liles contract extension with TOR is four years with AAV of $3.875 million. His current AAV on final year of old deal is $4.2M

 

I really like this signing. He was on pace for 50 points in an 82 game season prior to getting that concussion (which could be a bit of a worry, but I doubt it). He is absolutely key in the Leafs PP which was ranked in the top 3 prior to him getting injured and since then has fallen to about 5th. He isn't just an offensive defenseman like many people think as he is reliable in his own zone and a solid shot blocker. They also got him at what is probably a discount in terms of what he would get in FA (just look at what Ehrhoff got last year and he isn't that much better than Liles).

 

Looks like the Leafs have their two PMD in him and Gardiner locked up for the foreseeable future and I have to say that I am very happy about that. Love both of these guys.

 

However, I think this means a trade is forthcoming. The Leafs can't go into the season with all of Phanuef, Gunnarsson, Schenn, Gardiner, Liles, Aulie, Franson and Komisarek. That is 8 defenseman who can play at the NHL level. Throw in Korbinian Holzer, who many believe is ready to make the jump from the AHL to the NHL, and that is 9.

 

I think it is relatively safe to say that Phanuef, Liles, Franson and Gardiner are safe, so I would expect to see one or two of Schenn, Aulie, Komi and Holzer moved before next season. Whether it is around the deadline, the draft or the start of FA, I can't say.

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Kadri and Aulie to the minors to make room for Liles and Armstrong.

 

Glad to see Liles back since he was sorely missed on the backend, especially on the powerplay.

 

Armstrong is a scrub and Kadri has done more than him in this recent stint than Armstrong has done since signing with the team. I really love how all of these horrible signings from Burke is keeping better, younger and more deserving players out of the lineup.

 

Komisarek is keeping Aulie down.

Armstrong is keeping Kadri down.

Lombardi (although he was a salary dump to get Franson) is keeping Frattin down.

Connolly is keeping Colborne down.

 

It really is pathetic how much money the Leafs are paying these 4 guys to contribute next to nothing to the team. Komisarek hasn't been as bad this season as the first two, but he is still a brutal contract.

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I know what you're saying about all the signings keeping all our young talent in the minors. Kadri and Colborne both deserve spots in the NHL lineup IMO. Aulie was great last year, but he seemed to have regressed a bit so I wouldn't say its a given that he should have a spot on the NHL lineup. Frattin had a loooong stint with the the big club at the start of the year, and although he was alright, he really generated almost no offense.

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I know what you're saying about all the signings keeping all our young talent in the minors. Kadri and Colborne both deserve spots in the NHL lineup IMO. Aulie was great last year, but he seemed to have regressed a bit so I wouldn't say its a given that he should have a spot on the NHL lineup. Frattin had a loooong stint with the the big club at the start of the year, and although he was alright, he really generated almost no offense.

 

He scored 1 less goal than Lombardi has despite getting 3rd/4th line minutes his entire tme with the Leafs. Lombardi has played around 10 games with Lupul and Kessel and still only managed to score 6 goals and 11 points in 32 games as opposed to Frattin's 5 and 10 in 37.

 

Frattin also gives you a physical edge that Lombardi doesn't. If Lombardi isn't scoring, which he doesn't do often, he is basically useless. He just floats around and can't win any puck battles. Frattin will throw hits, grind it out in the corner and even when he wasn't scoring, he was using his speed and strength to drive the net. He has created much more scoring chances than Lombardi has this season.

 

I agree about Aulie regressing and I'm fine with him being in the AHL, especially since he would be the 7th d-man with Liles, Phanuef, Gunnarsson, Schenn, Franson and Gardiner. What I'm not fine with is him being forced down to the AHL because of a $4.5M plug like Komisarek.

 

It is more frusturation over this team than anything. They finally have their first round pick back and once again are primed to finish in 9th or 10th place. It seems they only bottom out when they don't have a 1st round pick otherwise they are the prototypical treadmill team.

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He scored 1 less goal than Lombardi has despite getting 3rd/4th line minutes his entire tme with the Leafs. Lombardi has played around 10 games with Lupul and Kessel and still only managed to score 6 goals and 11 points in 32 games as opposed to Frattin's 5 and 10 in 37.

 

Frattin also gives you a physical edge that Lombardi doesn't. If Lombardi isn't scoring, which he doesn't do often, he is basically useless. He just floats around and can't win any puck battles. Frattin will throw hits, grind it out in the corner and even when he wasn't scoring, he was using his speed and strength to drive the net. He has created much more scoring chances than Lombardi has this season.

 

I agree about Aulie regressing and I'm fine with him being in the AHL, especially since he would be the 7th d-man with Liles, Phanuef, Gunnarsson, Schenn, Franson and Gardiner. What I'm not fine with is him being forced down to the AHL because of a $4.5M plug like Komisarek.

 

It is more frusturation over this team than anything. They finally have their first round pick back and once again are primed to finish in 9th or 10th place. It seems they only bottom out when they don't have a 1st round pick otherwise they are the prototypical treadmill team.

 

Mathew Lombardi has played the majority of his time for the leafs on the 4th line with a bit of third line minutes. I don't remember any 10 games where he played with Kessel/Lupul. I can only remember 1 or 2 when he played with them. Plus in his first 10 games back or so, he barely played at all because he was coming off a rally tough injury, so he was kind of eased into playing time. Lombardi has a tone of speed which is really what keeps him in an NHL lineup. When he's using his speed to skate right by defenders, he really looks good out there. I guess you can say that Frattin has a more physical side to him, but when he was on the leafs, he just seemed to keep turning the puck over by not being able to get by the defenders. Plus what everyone seemed to be most excited about when he was coming into the Leafs lineup, the one timer, was basically non existent.

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Mathew Lombardi has played the majority of his time for the leafs on the 4th line with a bit of third line minutes. I don't remember any 10 games where he played with Kessel/Lupul. I can only remember 1 or 2 when he played with them.

 

Lombardi hasn't played one game on the 4th line this season. Maybe he has played one or two, but that is it. The 4th line has basically always featured some combination of:

 

Steckel

Brown

Crabb

Frattin

Boyce

Rosehill

Armstrong

 

Lombardi has either played on the 3rd line with Connolly as his center, or at center with two of Kadri, MacArthur, Crabb and Armstrong on his wings or on the 1st line between Kessel and Lupul. He also played a couple of games with Bozak when Connolly was on the first line between Kessel and Lupul.

 

Maybe 10 was an exageration, but he has played more than 1 or 2 games on the first line. Earlier in the season he played on the 1st line against the Habs and Flyers. He was there in the game against Calgary. He had a game against Ottawa and there are one or two more for sure that I am probably forgetting where Bozak was hurt and Connolly wasn't with Kes and Lup.

 

The point is, he was given the opportunity to play with the two best wingers on the team and still could barely produce. The best chance Frattin got was playing alongside a struggling Grabovski and Kulemin earlier in the season. Yet he still basically equalled Lombardi's production.

 

Plus in his first 10 games back or so, he barely played at all because he was coming off a rally tough injury, so he was kind of eased into playing time.

 

 

What are these 10 games of limited ice time you are talking about? His first 10 games after returning from the seperated shoulder he had TOI of:

 

10:57

10:45

13:46

15:04

12:27

10:16

15:00

15:43

13:34

15:34

 

Those kinds of minutes are basically what he has gotten all season long. Not really being eased in. He had 5 15+ minute games in that 10 game stretch. Frattin had 3 in 37 games, so that kind of disproves the whole Lombardi playing on the 4th line argument. 4th liners don't average around 12 minutes a game.

 

When he's using his speed to skate right by defenders, he really looks good out there. I guess you can say that Frattin has a more physical side to him, but when he was on the leafs, he just seemed to keep turning the puck over by not being able to get by the defenders.

 

Lombardi does have a lot of speed, I don't deny that. However, how often does he actually use it? Not very.

 

As far as the giveaways go, Frattin had 11 in 37 games. Lombardi has 8 in 33. They basically give the puck over the same amount of time. Frattin also had 14 takeaways compared to Lombardi's 8. Frattin also had 46 hits and since they both play in a bottom 6 role, I'd rather have the physical winger who is better at winning puck battles and that is clearly Frattin.

 

Plus what everyone seemed to be most excited about when he was coming into the Leafs lineup, the one timer, was basically non existent.

 

Pretty much everything about Lombardi has been non-existent. His major asset is his speed, yet how many times have we seen him use it to create a scoring chance? We can probably count the number on one hand. Frattin had numerous net drives that created scoring chances. He also did a much better job of finding open ice. He didn't convert on a lot of his chances because he certainly missed a lot of open nets, but at least he was getting those chances. Lombardi is basically just floating around out there and once every 5 games he does a nice job of blowing by a defender.

 

I liked Lombardi when he was with the Flames and Coyotes. I was actually looking forward to seeing him with the Leafs this season as I thought he would be good for 40 points or so. It is quite clear that he is not the player he was prior to those concussion issues he had last season. He is hesitatnt out there and not contributing at all. Frattin is the better player and is more deserving of being in the NHL. Lombardi is only up because he is a veteran on a one way contract making $3.5M a season.

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Lombardi hasn't played one game on the 4th line this season. Maybe he has played one or two, but that is it. The 4th line has basically always featured some combination of:

 

Steckel

Brown

Crabb

Frattin

Boyce

Rosehill

Armstrong

 

Lombardi has either played on the 3rd line with Connolly as his center, or at center with two of Kadri, MacArthur, Crabb and Armstrong on his wings or on the 1st line between Kessel and Lupul. He also played a couple of games with Bozak when Connolly was on the first line between Kessel and Lupul.

 

Ok, I went and counted, and Lombardi has had 9 games this season where he had under 12 minutes on the ice. I don't know about you but i consider under 12 being fourth line minutes. 9 games out of his 33 might not be a lot, but its certaintly more than your making it out to be.

 

Maybe 10 was an exageration, but he has played more than 1 or 2 games on the first line. Earlier in the season he played on the 1st line against the Habs and Flyers. He was there in the game against Calgary. He had a game against Ottawa and there are one or two more for sure that I am probably forgetting where Bozak was hurt and Connolly wasn't with Kes and Lup.

 

The point is, he was given the opportunity to play with the two best wingers on the team and still could barely produce. The best chance Frattin got was playing alongside a struggling Grabovski and Kulemin earlier in the season. Yet he still basically equalled Lombardi's production.

 

I also went and looked at this, and Lombardi had one game this year where he had 19:18 TOI. That I would consider 1st line minutes. Other than that he had one where he's only had one game over 16 minutes. Kessel averages 19:43 TOI and Lupul average 18:45, so I would consider top line minutes 18-20 minutes on the ice..

 

 

What are these 10 games of limited ice time you are talking about? His first 10 games after returning from the seperated shoulder he had TOI of:

 

10:57

10:45

13:46

15:04

12:27

10:16

15:00

15:43

13:34

15:34

 

Those kinds of minutes are basically what he has gotten all season long. Not really being eased in. He had 5 15+ minute games in that 10 game stretch. Frattin had 3 in 37 games, so that kind of disproves the whole Lombardi playing on the 4th line argument. 4th liners don't average around 12 minutes a game.

 

Ok, you got me on the whole recovery period thing. I thought I remembered him being eased into the first couple weeks of games, but obviously I was off on that.

 

Fourth liners on the Leafs average 10-11 minutes a game, so 12 is really not a big stretch from that.

 

Lombardi does have a lot of speed, I don't deny that. However, how often does he actually use it? Not very.

 

As far as the giveaways go, Frattin had 11 in 37 games. Lombardi has 8 in 33. They basically give the puck over the same amount of time. Frattin also had 14 takeaways compared to Lombardi's 8. Frattin also had 46 hits and since they both play in a bottom 6 role, I'd rather have the physical winger who is better at winning puck battles and that is clearly Frattin.

 

Ok your right about that. in a bottom six role, its better to have someone who is physical and can grind it out in the corners and win some puck battles. I'd just like to throw in there that that basically fully describes Armstrong, who you described as a scrub. Thats a whole different argument, so I won't get started on that.

 

 

Pretty much everything about Lombardi has been non-existent. His major asset is his speed, yet how many times have we seen him use it to create a scoring chance? We can probably count the number on one hand. Frattin had numerous net drives that created scoring chances. He also did a much better job of finding open ice. He didn't convert on a lot of his chances because he certainly missed a lot of open nets, but at least he was getting those chances. Lombardi is basically just floating around out there and once every 5 games he does a nice job of blowing by a defender.

 

I think you're right about Frattin having more hustle in his game. When he was with the big club he was going all out on every shift, and that was something I really liked about him. I'm not saying its a good thing, but that kind of shows that Lombardi has gotten around the same production that Frattin had without going hard on every shift. If Lombardi would just use his blistering speed more often, he would have much more scoring chances. If Frattin was going all out on every shift and only managed 10 points in 37 games, than he obviously needs to improve. You're right though. It's better to have someone who goes hard on every shift then someone who is lazy and doesn't produce as much as he should because of what almost seems like laziness.

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See, if Lombardi would play like this all of the time I wouldn't have any problems with him (well, other than him being so weak on the puck). He has used his speed to create 3 scoring chances, one of which likely should've resulted in a power play for Toronto and made an awesome pass to Kessel for the 3rd goal. This is the Lombardi that I was excited about getting.

 

The problem is that he will have a game like this and then become completely invisible for the next 10 games. If he would play like this all the time I wouldn't make comments like my last two posts in this thread.

 

Also, Grabovski continues to play some unreal hockey. His end-to-end rush to set up Gardiner's goal was just beautiful and he just made another sick pass to Mac, but Mac fanned on the shot otherwise Grabo would've had his 3rd assist and Mac would've had his 2nd goal.

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Didn't read ya'll posts (some were pretty long winded/I am tired as hell) but my .02 is that Lambo is absolute waste of a roster space, he hardly brings anything to the table other than his random goals. Brick hands for the most part, so weak on the puck, not a great forechecker, though I will admit I like him as a penalty killer (at least in comparison to other guys often out there). Frattin was really coming into his own before he got sent down and I would have liked to have seen him up, but it makes sense he is the one to go down since he has a 2-way. Kadri should be up here, such a shame guys like Lambo have his spot for no reason other than they have been in the league longer.

 

Lambo, Komi and Army (sad to say it) are basically cap killers at this point. 10M combined or so for guys who if we didn't have on our roster, we probably would be completely unaffected. It'd be nice if we could dump one or two of them, not like their terms are killers. We need to make room for guys like Frattin, Kadri, Colborne, etc because they aren't going to learn much more by being down there forever.

 

Nice to see everyone getting it rolling though - Riems looks better, the Grabo line is getting clicking again thank God, Phil is getting back on track, everything is just clicking and our schedule isn't too tough currently, so hopefully we can take advantage. When our team plays like they are lately, we should definitely be in the playoffs, when we play like this we are heads above OTT/FLA imo. Excited for tonight, big game, hopefully we can nab it.

 

Also IBN saying we are in on the Jeff Carter sweepstakes, obviously not a hugely credible source but I still wait for him to get one right lol. I honestly think the whole contract thing is hugely overblown (would you rather give a 28 year old Parise a 6 year 50M deal or something? He will be earning Gomez type money in his mid-30s, where Carter will make just over 5, how is that bad? If we could pick him up cheap, I think that would be an awesome pickup. Something like Colborne+Komi+first this year or something like that, maybe Connolly in there I don't know. I would be a huge fan of Carter here. He was awesome with Lupul in Philly, and I think Lups/Phil have shown they can set up and score, so I think Jeff could definitely fit in there. it was only 2 years ago this was almost a 50 goal scorer and an 80 point center.

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On Insider Trading during the 1st intermission of the Flyers/Leafs game Bob MacKenzie mentioned that don't expect either Grabovski or Schenn to be traded.

 

He also said that he fully expects Grabovski to be re-signed prior to July 1st and stay with the Leafs. The most likely comparision is the Tomas Plekanec deal, which was a 6 year, $30M deal. With Burke, expect it to be around 4 or 5 years instead of 6, but the $5M per year seems to be likely.

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On Insider Trading during the 1st intermission of the Flyers/Leafs game Bob MacKenzie mentioned that don't expect either Grabovski or Schenn to be traded.

 

He also said that he fully expects Grabovski to be re-signed prior to July 1st and stay with the Leafs. The most likely comparision is the Tomas Plekanec deal, which was a 6 year, $30M deal. With Burke, expect it to be around 4 or 5 years instead of 6, but the $5M per year seems to be likely.

 

I saw all of that. It was a huge relief to hear that Bob doesn't expect Grabovski to be traded. At many points this year, he has been our best player. I'd be more then happy to have him around as our second line centre of the future. Schenn on the other hand I didn't feel the same. I hope he can still develop his puck handling skills, atleast a bit.

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That was a really nice ceremony for Mats Sundin before the game. It got me emotional seeing him trying to hold back the tears the whole time he was there.

 

Unfortunately for him, the fans and the playoff chances, they are playing like absolute garbage. What a god damn joke this is for them to be playing this badly from offense to defense to goal tending. They should be ashamed of themselves. This should have been a special night. I really expected Mats being there would maybe motivate them. Looks like we are headed towards a third straight loss. Each loss is one step further from another year of missing the playoffs.

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Well, the Leafs were atleast able to bring tonights game to OT, receiving one point and not losign any ground on Winnipeg. Although in the end, goaltending was the reason for the loss. Gustavsson seemed to get rattled quickly after the first goal, which was not at all his fault. But then right away he alows a softy to give the Devils an early 2-0 lead. Leafs were able to battle back, but Gus again allowed a bad goal near the end of the second. Luckily Kessel was able to tie it up right before the end of regualtion to bring it to OT. Leafs end up losing in OT because of a absolutley HORRIBLE goal allowed by Gus. All in all, 3 of the 4 goals on the Leafs were bad goals, and we suffer our 6th loss in our past 7.

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So... is the late season run not coming this year? Or do we wait until we can't make the playoffs to start winning games? Part of me wants to make the playoffs, but another part of me wants to lose out and hope the lottery is rigged for us.

 

Too be honest, I'm not sure what I want either. I'm mostly leaning towards wanting to make the playoffs. If we finish 9th place, I will be pissed. for us to make the playoffs, each and every player on this team, ESPECIALLY the goalies, have to really step up. Now that the trade deadline is passed, hopefully the guys will be less tense, and more relaxed.

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Really unsure of this. Sounds like Carlysle is pretty redundant (hard ass, not a player's coach, etc.) but hopefully a new system will benefit us. I would have liked us to stand pat and ride the season out, looks like 9th in the east is inevitable. Would have liked to see us either ride out Wilson or name an interim then explore all of the available options in the summer, rather than change everything with 20 games left.

 

Either way, just so ecstatic Wilson is gone. Guy is a stubborn old bastard who only refers to the team as us when we are winning, then refers to the team as them when we are losing. His style sucked, and exposed all of our weaknesses and caused us to have to be scoring 4-5 goals a game to win all year. Hopefully a new voice and a new system will get this team where it needs to be, if not this year, but by next.

 

Also, really hope Carlysle isn't a huge twat when it comes to our prospects. nazem Kadri either needs to be traded or kept up, he is learning nothing in the AHL.

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While I'm estatic that Wilson finally got fired, I'm not too thrilled with Carlyle being named his replacement. I know he is an established coach and has a solid resumé, but I'm not particluarly fond of him. There are a lot of similarities between him and Wilson and I can see the team having a lot of the same problems under Carlysle as they did Wilson.

 

I would've loved to see Eakins get a 20 game audition with the big club as I absolutely love the work he has done with the Marlies. Then again, they have a legitimate chance at winning the Calder Cup this year and removing Eakins now would really hurt.

 

I'll take it, though, so long as it meant that Wilson won't be behind the bench. This firing is only, oh, I don't know, 2 years overdue?

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Randy's tough. He's going to work the guys pretty hard in practice consistently. He likes to run a defense first system (which is why i was left baffled that we were consistently surrendering 30+ sogs) and he likes his players to play gritty, physical hockey. Lot's of board play...if you hate dump and chase under Wilson, you're going to pull your eyes out of their sockets if Carlyle is the guy.

 

He should help tighten up the defense and will bring a lot of structure and discipline to the Leafs. However, Carlyle is very tough on younger players (especially rookies) and the Leafs have a lot of young guys.

 

He's a good coach but you guys better be ready for a lot of dump and chase/cycle type of hockey.[b/]

 

Probably won't have guys flying the zone like in Wilson's system. He runs an aggressive forecheck, tight checking system. Defensemen probably won't pinch *that* often, team will be very passive with 3rd period lead. I'm anxious to see what he can do with Gardiner because I thought RC did a great job with Fowler.

 

RC's system is great for Dmen who aren't the greatest skaters and/or defensive-minded. I bet those guys will do very well

 

Found this on HFboards posted by a Ducks fan. I don't know, I just really hope we don't lose Eakins in a year or two over this shit. I heard Eakins actually doesn't want to come to the big leagues yet. I really think he is going to be a great coach in the NHL one day. It would be really cool if he could get on the bench as an assistant next year or the year after, then move up in a couple years... though honestly think he will have job offers before then.

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