BlowLeafsBlow123

Just bumping this up. I think we've seen over the last few games exactly what I referred to above, consistent production from Doan. His net-front presence on PP1 appears to be a strong attribute. The difference between his skill there compared to Tuch for instance, it's major. It's the hockey IQ he possesses, which leads to him knowing how to position himself for a tip in, being open for a quick pass down low and quickly taking it to the net, etc. He also has extremely good hands as we saw on display last night. I think his ceiling is quite a bit higher than we all thought. He truly might be a 1st line level talent or at minimum a top 6'er/top PP guy on a good team. At this point, it's simply not a fluke with the consistency of his production game to game and the way he's doing it. He's elite along the boards, net front, passing ability and hockey sense. I'm over the moon for this guy.

I agree that Benson is not fully developed. I'm also confident he'll get there...needs to work on his shooting ala Reinhart, but he'll never be a big time goal scorer, more a playmaker of course. Doan however has been very productive and a play driver every game he's been in our top 6. Lindy started him lower in the lineup and as soon as he was moved up he's been consistently productive. Again, he should NOT be the most skilled player on his line but he is a creative player in his own right and makes the smart possession-keeping play 9 times out of 10. When you compare that to guys like Tage and Tuch who are lower IQ/hockey sense guys, it's much needed. That was the problem with Peterka in this lineup, he was another who seemed to lack hockey sense. You can only have so many of those guys clogging up your top 6. Personally, I think we still have one too many. One or Tage or Tuch will need to go and be replaced by a smarter skilled guy to get over the hump. That's an entirely different conversation however.

Personally, I think he's a legit top 6 forward as much or more than Peterka is. He'll never be as dynamic as Peterka, but he has much better forechecking, passing, hockey sense and grit. This is what leads to his off the charts analytics, he gets the puck and then consistently makes smart plays with it. He is constantly winning battles to get the puck and then actually making a good play with it. He's honest to god a top 3-5 passer on the team. His shot, finishing ability, wheels are all in a lower tier but he makes up for it in so many ways. He's basically a bigger, more experienced version of Benson with a little less rat in his game. He's a better fit for this roster and what they've needed. He helps their PP a ton, and is a glue guy for any line he's put on and is typically the best player on his line. Granted, I think if you're relying on him to be much more than he is today then we'll likely be disappointed. I think he tops out as a 20G/60P guy, and might even achieve that this year. Having that on your second line is nothing to sneer at. How I see it, he's going to be a key piece whenever we do turn this thing around. I think they need to get better at the higher positions in the top 6. We cannot continue thinking we can be a playoff team with Tage and Tuch as our two best forwards. Whether that's bottoming out and getting a real impact player via the draft or somehow making a big trade, that's probably the biggest issue with this roster that is not talked about. When that does happen, you'll be very happy to have guys like Doan and Benson that have off the charts hockey IQ and can plug and play on any line. Sorry for the long winded response.

You can tell they were told to make quicker plays ... and Tage's brain couldn't keep up. It was hard to watch at the end there ... his low IQ literally squandered that entire sequence.

I think he can be a functional 2C, if you had a 1st line that was going. The problem is, he hasn't really looked good with Tage any time they've been put together. I believe he played some 1C at points last year when we had some injuries and it didn't go well. But later in the year when Benson Kulich Thompson was working, McLeod was producing very well in the 2C spot. We all knew that probably was not sustainable but some of this is on the coach. Doan McLeod Tuch was a good line and Lindy obliterated it when we could have tried Tage at C and not break up their best line this year.

He has some of the worst hockey sense the sport has ever seen ... he's at Cozens level. Tuch isn't much better, especially on the PP.

Yes, I don't think they can wait much longer on the Byram decision. Ideally you trade him with a year and a half left on his deal to maximize the return. I wonder if one of the Western Canadian teams would view him as a potential piece. He's still got a solid pedigree but the longer we play him without Dahlin, the more that negative light will shine.

Clearly Adams is overvaluing Byram. Quite honestly, he's not a very good player and you might be able to squeeze more value out of him due to his draft status and perceived value. If you can get a 2nd line winger for him, you do it all day. We have guys that can fill that third pair role (Ryan Johnson comes to mind). We need to balance the books a bit as we're investing a ton on our defense and will need room for Kesselring's next contract.

Fair, sorry didn't mean to jump on you. I just think we need to be careful with Power and trading him away too quickly. Like you said, it has to be for a similarly talented player, at a similar point in their career. We absolutely need to balance this roster somehow but I'd prefer to not use Power to do it. I'd much rather see Byram or Tuch (pre-12 million dollar mistake) move out first.

This is just plain irresponsible and terrible. All due respect. You're severely underrating Power by trading him for a terrible contract. As I stated in the GameDay thread, just look at Byram's analytics and the eye test alone to see who should be moved. The dude can't perform without being attached to Dahlin. All of the proof is in the pudding and they need to act quickly before teams catch on. I could see him being a good fit for a rebuilding Calgary team as their offensive d-man.

Anyone that wants to move Power before Byram should look at last night's analytics. Also, check out when Dahlin was out last year and how this guy performed. He's terrible without him while Power is above water. These two players are not in the same tier so maybe look there first.

The problem is the swing of having 2 points in your back pocket, then blowing it while giving a team you're fighting for position with the extra. That's a huge swing. It's one thing if you do that against WC teams, but they really had a chance to put some distance behind them in the standings and instead we're bottom feeding again. Our schedule is about to get tougher and we simply didn't bank enough points against several terrible/mediocre teams (Boston, NYR, TOR, CBJ). My thought, if they want to take the next step they need to get 12-14 points out of a stretch like their first 10. It was a pretty soft schedule with more home games than road.

I have a hard time blaming him for those early games. Literally everyone was playing like absolute *****. I still think he's a good hockey player and has a history of decent analytics for a 4th line guy. I think he could be a better player than Krebs with the right linemates. When healthy I could see a 4th line with Greenway-Kozak-Danforth working well. Maybe I'm crazy.

While I agree that their defense looks bad on paper, a few reasons I'm worried this weekend for us (if you hate basic stats, don't read): -Our forward group seems to struggle in these "must have" games where we have a chance to put some pressure on another team that is down bad. We really need more from Tage, Dahlin and Tuch tonight, no ifs, ands or buts about it. In years past, literally every time they got within breathing distance of a playoff spot they'd fall flat on their face. Tage is public enemy number one for me in this regard (Tage only has 13 points in 19 career games against TO and is -4). He really seems to lack the clutch gene and kinda stinks against good teams. Would you believe that he has only 1 Power Play point, an assist in the last 10 games against them. It's something that has always worried me about having him at the top of our lineup, just doesn't match up well against a lot of teams with good centerman. One more stat, Tage has 20 career game-winning goals, while Matthews has 65 for reference. I know that doesn't paint the whole picture but for how many goals he's scored it's a bit surprising/disappointing to see more. -Toronto's forward lines still look pretty good. They cannot take them lightly by any means. Matthew/Nylander and Knies/Tavares are good combos. Don't forget Domi loves to score against Buffalo. Per a Google AI search, Max Domi has 11 goals and 15 assists for 26 points and a +8 in 27 regular-season games against the Buffalo Sabres. That's frankly insane considering his career numbers of 0.61 Pts/Game but not surprising as he's an absolute Sabre killer. While it's never felt like Matthews killed us to me, he has 21G/33P in 29 Games against us, but is likely in line with what he does to other teams. The goal scoring numbers are pretty eye-popping still. Meanwhile Tavares (28G/56P in 48GP) and Nylander (10G/18P in 33GP) have had good success, with Tavares in borderline Sabre killer territory there. Why I think we can and should walk away with 3 out of 4 points: -This is the weakest Leafs team we've faced in 5+ years. Losing Marner is huge as he was often the straw that stirred the drank (8G/35P in 28GP against us). They don't have a competent replacement for him so don't let someone be that guy tonight. With their defense banged up (Tanev and Reilly out), we need to play a hard game and utilize the "dawgs". I think our newly formed PP1 can do some damage here, especially with Tanev out. -Speaking of the Dawgs, I like Benson and Doan to have good games again tonight. Toronto is the type of team where they can shine. I like Benson to get his first goal both of the season and against Toronto tonight (he's got 0G/6A in 4GP). Josh Doan has never played the Leafs, so he can start his reign of terror tonight. -Defense - I think our defense can be up to the challenge tonight. Dahlin seems to get up for the Leafs (14P/-6 in 19GP) and Power is from Ontario (6P/+11 in 10GP). Hoping Timmins has a bit of a revenge game in him haha. -Goaltending - Lyon is 1-1-1 against them but has really strong numbers of 2.06GAA/.927 SV %, which are in line with his overall play this year. I expect he's the starter tonight. We need to get back to taking care of business against the Leafs. We're very back and forth with them, which I suppose is good considering how much better they've been in the standings. Now it's time to take it to them and jump them in the standings. Sorry for the long post, was enjoying checking out the stats and very interested to see if our top players can step it up. They've got to be feeling the need to produce and need to find a way to break through the stick gripping and lack of confidence (freakin Tage, get it together brah).

Correct. A regulation loss here is very very bad. They need to dig deep and need Tage to pull his head out of rear.