Midway report card

[stugats1]

Feel free to disagree, tell me I'm wrong etc. Just figured with no games need something to talk about.

Goal
Samsonov D, would be f other than last few games

Woll - B-. A little fragile

Jones - C+, some clunkers but better than expected. Held fort for awhile

Defense

Rielly - B+ far and away our best. Heavily relied on

Brodie - D+ hit a wall

McCabe - C - average at best

Lilligren C- not taken next step. Injuries

Giordano- D+ Slowed down to crawl

Benoit- C+ better than expected

Timmins - D- awful

Lagesson D

Klingberg D

Forwards

Matthews - A- scoring a lot but some very off nights

Marner B- good stats but should be better

Nylander A- not perfect but pretty consistent n carried us many nights with Auston

Knies C+ potential there, but in over head rt now

Bertuzzi D+ not good for money. A disappointment

Tavares- C+ great on face-off

Domi C+. Decent. Gives an effort

Robertson C - needs consistency, better lately

KAmpf C- not a gamechanger

Reaves D

Jarnkrok B- plays everywhere. Pretty consistent

McCann D+

Gregor C

Coach n management

Keefe C-

Shanahan F

Treliving D

[jayleaf]

Pretty good assessment.  The player that stands out a bit for me is Knies.  I thought he might be more of an impact player so I'm a little disappointed so far, but that might be my own fault because maybe my expectations were set a little to high.  I'm hoping in a season or two he'll become the player I was expecting.

[kazzie]

I think you are pretty much spot on Jim.  I can’t argue with any of your assessments.  

[Gerard]

I'd give Rielly an A. He eats up tons of minutes against the best forwards in the league and still carries the puck up ice.

Based on expectations im also giving Benoit and McCabe a B. They are the only bit of grit we have and they bring it every night.

Knies may have hit the wall but thats ok. Hes prob. played more games than he was every used to and this is the NHL. Hes a keeper.

Its easy to be harsh on BT bc his moves havent worked out. He tried to make an impression in year 1 but it failed. Lesson learned.

I doubt Schenn ever wanted to stay here. He had already gone thru being dubbed the next one at age 18. I really like the guy I cant say I blame him.

[hobie]

Ratings players is always an interesting exercise, for me for instance Gregor, I'd give him an A, I don't think a player needs to be Mitch or Austin good to be As, I think they need to be rated against the rest of the leagues' players of the same ilk, like 4th liners being rated against other team's 4th liners or even just TO's own 4th liners. I think the primary responsibilities of a 4th liner is to not be a liability, being able to move the puck and contribute offensively, for me, is an outstanding 4th liner all the while defending. Gregor is -8, that's maybe explained by who he plays with mostly, Kampf, McMann and Reaves, Gregor also PKs reasonably well.

Benoit is another player who I thought Stugat1 was underappreciating, he's physical, his defense is very good, he PKs. in relation to his salary he's a humongous bargain, a definite A. Is he a #1 to #3 quality d-man, no but I think he's more valuable than Brodie who makes over 5 times as much as him. I doubt he has any real hope to become much more than he is but I've read that true quality d-men don't normally become so until after at least 300 NHL games which is probably true. The only thing I think he's missing is puck moving either via skating or passing but as the year goes on he looks like he's improving there.

Timmins, needs icetime, TO's d doesn't move the puck well enough to create better/more offensive opportunities, here's a right handed d-man that Keefe would rather bench than give him icetime with which he could learn/grow into a competent NHL d-man, I think that Benoit and Timmins as a 3rd pairing could be very competent now and in a short time be exceptional in a 3rd pairing role. Rating Timmins is difficult but I'd definitely rate Keefe's handling of Timmins an F. 

For what Brodie makes, I'd rate him an F, I've felt that way since TO signed him.

Gio, last year I hope, I hope he'd be someone TO would use to spell Timmins on occasion but with the intention of growing Timmins.

I find Matthews very frustrating, he's going to be making 13+ mil. per next year, he's a generational scorer and basically defensively responsible, the rest of his game is more hide in plain sight rather than dominate, the last 2 games against Winterpeg, he scored and defended but otherwise was almost invisible. Anybody that does score like Matthews deserves an A.

JT, at 11 mil per is an F, there's lots of other centers making way less being as good if not better than JT. I don't knock his effort, just his pay when related to productivity, he hasn't scored 5v5 in 20 plus games, $11 mil?

Kampf, another player who isn't good enough to be worth his salary, I think a key to have a winning team is having the money to pay players what they're worth, AM, MM and WN are worth what they're being paid, TO makes the playoffs year after year because of them, finding appropriately paid support players that give quality support is what's essential after those 3 beyond the regular season.   
 

[hobie]

As much as it has been uncomfortable for fans that the Leafs’ place in the standings has not been as solidified as in years past, I think this is a good thing for the team. They can’t afford to take their foot off the pedal, which maybe will help them become more battle-tested before playoff time.



At the start of the 2023 playoffs, the Leafs were run over in the first game and benefited greatly from Erik Cernak getting knocked out of the series. Of course, for all of this to work, the Leafs actually have to make the playoffs, but grinding through the season, encountering pivotal regular-season games, and collecting enough points is not necessarily a bad thing.



The Panthers made it in the last week of last season, and Vegas was 10th in points percentage at this time last year. The Leafs are currently 11th.


mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/01/29/toronto-maple-leafs-notebook-nick-robertson-tyler-bertuzzi-team-speed/

I can't think of the last time TO faced true adversity like the possibility of not making the playoffs, maybe the first Matthews/Marner years. Can the Leafs learn to dig deep to overcome this year?

[Gerard]

I said it before, but maybe fighting for a playoff spot for the next 40 games will get this team some true colours. They are so used to having everything nice and easy but some adversity could be exactly what they need.

[Barilko]

Jan 29, 2024 21:06:20 GMT -5 hobie said:

Ratings players is always an interesting exercise, for me for instance Gregor, I'd give him an A, I don't think a player needs to be Mitch or Austin good to be As, I think they need to be rated against the rest of the leagues' players of the same ilk, like 4th liners being rated against other team's 4th liners or even just TO's own 4th liners. I think the primary responsibilities of a 4th liner is to not be a liability, being able to move the puck and contribute offensively, for me, is an outstanding 4th liner all the while defending. Gregor is -8, that's maybe explained by who he plays with mostly, Kampf, McMann and Reaves, Gregor also PKs reasonably well.

Benoit is another player who I thought Stugat1 was underappreciating, he's physical, his defense is very good, he PKs. in relation to his salary he's a humongous bargain, a definite A. Is he a #1 to #3 quality d-man, no but I think he's more valuable than Brodie who makes over 5 times as much as him. I doubt he has any real hope to become much more than he is but I've read that true quality d-men don't normally become so until after at least 300 NHL games which is probably true. The only thing I think he's missing is puck moving either via skating or passing but as the year goes on he looks like he's improving there.

Timmins, needs icetime, TO's d doesn't move the puck well enough to create better/more offensive opportunities, here's a right handed d-man that Keefe would rather bench than give him icetime with which he could learn/grow into a competent NHL d-man, I think that Benoit and Timmins as a 3rd pairing could be very competent now and in a short time be exceptional in a 3rd pairing role. Rating Timmins is difficult but I'd definitely rate Keefe's handling of Timmins an F. 

For what Brodie makes, I'd rate him an F, I've felt that way since TO signed him.

Gio, last year I hope, I hope he'd be someone TO would use to spell Timmins on occasion but with the intention of growing Timmins.

I find Matthews very frustrating, he's going to be making 13+ mil. per next year, he's a generational scorer and basically defensively responsible, the rest of his game is more hide in plain sight rather than dominate, the last 2 games against Winterpeg, he scored and defended but otherwise was almost invisible. Anybody that does score like Matthews deserves an A.

JT, at 11 mil per is an F, there's lots of other centers making way less being as good if not better than JT. I don't knock his effort, just his pay when related to productivity, he hasn't scored 5v5 in 20 plus games, $11 mil?

Kampf, another player who isn't good enough to be worth his salary, I think a key to have a winning team is having the money to pay players what they're worth, AM, MM and WN are worth what they're being paid, TO makes the playoffs year after year because of them, finding appropriately paid support players that give quality support is what's essential after those 3 beyond the regular season.   
 

Agree with some of these, disagree with others.

Gregor was never an A this season; he probably topped out at B for the first month, but there's no way that any of the most commonly used fourth liners deserve anything remotely close to an A grade, given the fact that they generally fail in their assigned roles night after night. Gregor doesn't elevate that group, so I think the C that Stu gave him seems about right.

With Benoit, I would like to split the difference between the two of you and give him a B. He's definitely great value as a third pairing d-man, but as much as the physicality looks good, there are too many flaws in his game to warrant an A.

Hobie, you nailed it with Timmins; the way Keefe has used him has been inexcusable. I think there's something there with Timmins, and he showed that in limited ice time last year. Actually, I have a somewhat similar take on Brodie; I think he's still a serviceable player if he's given a different role than the one he has now.

Matthews?? A solid A for sure.

I don't think JT deserves to go all the way down to an F. Might be another one where we split the difference and land on a C- or D+. I really wish they could move him out of the 2C spot in the lineup, either to 3C or the wing. Another one that is more a failure of management than the player.

[hobie]

mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/02/01/grading-the-performances-of-the-maple-leafs-big-four-forwards-at-the-all-star-break/

mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/02/02/grading-the-performances-of-the-maple-leafs-secondary-forwards-at-the-all-star-break/

Other points of view.