Leafs Regular Season Discussion

[bryant08]

The last two periods were pretty embarassing to watch, kudos to Scrivens for stealing us a win.

[Crowned]

We've got to roll with Scrivens right now, he's been real good. He's had the short end of the stick in his supposed poor start against Boston, and in relief against Florida.

All 5 goals he let in against Boston, he had no chance on. Put Reimer, Luongo, Kipper...whoever in net for those goals, and it would've been the same result. Against Florida, you have a young rookie with minimal experience coming into the net cold while trailing in the game. I can speak from experience, that's one of the most difficult things a goaltender can do. When you're sitting on a bench for much of the game, and you're suddenly called upon, it takes awhile to get your head into the game, and your muscles and body warmed up.

I'd start him, while giving Gustavsson the odd start until Reimer comes back. Once Reimer comes back, send Gustavsson down (he's shown no sign of being capable of playing in the NHL right now) and let him get some starts in the minors. If he's claimed on waivers, so be it.

[Anatomize]

^ I don't think the issue is that Gustavsson can't play in the NHL.. he made some fabulous saves so far and had some nice wins.. it's that he lets in a lot of silly/easy goals and stops the hard ones.. it's really an oddity and one that will correct itself with experience and time.. I still think he can be solid.. but I wouldn't put him in over Reimer when Reimer is healthy.

[s e n s i]

gustavsson is in over his head at this level. he has done nothing in the numerous chances he's been given to prove he belongs in this league, and a few fabulous saves do not change that in the slightest. the idea that he lets in weak goals and stops hard ones is fallacious. he lets in weak goals and lets in hard goals, probably at the same rate, which is sad. he lacks fundamental positioning and is a very, very, poor puckhandler. couple those weaknesses with his ever-wavering confidence and you have someone who belongs in the AHL or overseas, but not as a back-up under the microscope here in toronto. neither stats nor observational analysis in his two years as a leaf suggest he is an NHL caliber goalie.

[YogiStewart]

he's a scrambler. the complete opposite of Belfour, who was slow but so amazing at playing the angles.

[Crowned]

No published estimated timeline for Reimer makes me think that Burke is working the phones....

[YogiStewart]

to be honest, if you're a leafs fan, you better hope Burke is not working the phone. shaving 1 goal off per game won't solve the warts that i saw at the beginning of the season and that will be glaringly apparent for the 2nd half of November.
not a fun schedule coming up.

Coyotes
Preds
Caps
Hurricaines
Lightening
Stars
Ducks
Bruins x 2

January also looks like a doozy.

[ATLTimekeeper]

^Still really early. Most of us thought 8th was realistic, and I'd say that's still the case. Injuries have been more of a factor than scheduling, IMO.

[_venom_]

More bad news for the Leafs. Grabovski and MacArthur are both expected to be out 2+ weeks after last night. So we get Connolly back and lose 2/3 of our 2nd line....lovely. Who's getting the call-up? I assume Kadri will, will Colborne?

Lupul/Connolly/Kessel
Kadri/Bozak/Kulemin
Lombardi/Steckel/Frattin
Crabb/Dupuis/Brown

Also the Leafs were apparently offered a player and 2nd rd pick for Franson from an undisclosed team. If we're not going to play franson then we might have to move him pretty soon for a forward.

[Crowned]

^ I think Colborne is hurt, otherwise I'd love to see him up here. I'm going to say they'll go with Kadri or someone like Zigomanis/Hamilton. I heard Frattin will be out the next game as well for personal reasons.

If they don't call Kadri up, they might roll with Rosehill on the 4th line, ugly...but I can see them doing it.

Also, if the Leafs were offered a player and a 2nd round pick...I'd take it and run. There's no need for Franson on the roster right now. I like him, but they're not playing him nearly enough...and you might as well maximize your assets because that's a nice return for someone we have rotating through the lineup. Whatever we lose in Franson, we can call up someone like Aulie, Finger or Mikus (Blacker too if he's ready enough, which I don't think he is).

[Crowned]

Rumour has it that Montreal offered Gomez and a 2nd for Franson or Komisarek. There's no chance that EVER get's accepted.

[_venom_]

So the Leafs are going to go with 7 D tonight in Nashville. I understand that they want to have Franson play against his old team and all but going 7 D makes no sense to me. Apparently Gardiner may play some forward tonight because he used to play forward in high school. Why not just call Kadri up and not make a rookie play a position he hasn't played in years?

[YogiStewart]

possibly/probably hoping to showcase Franson

[Crowned]

Connolly is back tonight as well.

Putting Gardiner on forward is a disaster, and it doesn't make any sense. Yup, let's put a young defenseman on forward against Ryan Suter and Shea Weber.

[_venom_]

It boggles my mind that the Leafs chose to play that useless plug Rosehill rather than call Kadri up. We haven't been able to score at all recently so you might as well give Kadri a chance to create some offense. Lombardi and Komisarek have also now been hurt in tonight's game to join the rest of injured leafs. Things are getting pretty bad pretty quickly right now.

[hsb]

Yeah, this team has had lengthy scoring droughts over the last 6 games - averaging 1.5 goals/game.

They need more consistent offensive producers or they are going to go through these peaks and valleys.

[YogiStewart]

so is it safe to say that the start of the season was the anomaly?
can we go back to having a team that will hopefully bottom out enough to get a high 1st round pick?

[bassmastert]

so is it safe to say that the start of the season was the anomaly?
can we go back to having a team that will hopefully bottom out enough to get a high 1st round pick?

We shouldn't write them off just yet. They currently have way too many injuries to tell what kind of team we are. It seems that's the catalyst for our recent struggles.

Reimer
Armstrong
Grabovski
Macarthur
Lombardi
Komisarek
Brown
Orr
Connolly (even though he played tonight)
Kulemin's playing hurt

Not to mention a lot of top players on our farm team are hurt as well.

We should still be a playoff team when all is said and done, probably 6-8 seed.

[Crowned]

Apparently Komisarek and Lombardi are out for about a month each (3-4 weeks). Lovely...

[_venom_]

So Komisarek and Lombardi will both be out 3+ weeks. That means that we have the following guys out now:

Armstrong (another month at least)
Lombardi (3+ weeks)
Komisarek (3+ weeks)
Grabovski (2+ weeks)
Reimer (who knows, at least another week)
MacArthur (at least 1 more game)

Colborne is now back from injury and ready so I hope that he get's called up, along with Kadri and a defenceman. I wouldn't call up Aulie to be a 7th D though because he needs to play and he's been awful in the AHL this year anyways. Someone like Holzer should get the call.

What I'd like to see:

Lupul/Connolly/Kessel
Kulemin/Bozak/Frattin
Kadri/Colborne/Crabb
Dupuis/Steckel/Brown

Scratch: Orr, Rosehill

Gunnarsson/Phaneuf
Liles/Schenn
Gardiner/Franson

Scratch: Holzer

Scrivens
Gustavsson