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WordsOfWisdom

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10 hours ago, hobie said:

 

You're not the only person I've seen say they like how Polak plays and what he's accomplishing.

 

I see Polak as a giveaway machine, he does alrite defensively but when he has the puck he gives it back to the opposition. He either throws the puck up the boards out of TO's zone to the opposition or he simply gives it to the opposition in TO's d zone. His best option in TO's d zone when he has the puck is give it to his partner. As a PKer he's OK because throwing the puck down the boards is what's expected but giving up possession 5v5 due to lack of foot or mental speed isn't good enough.

 

Interesting. I'll have to watch him a bit closer and see if he does that. I haven't noticed. That type of thing is something the DE stat doesn't track and is best measured by other means (such as the giveaways stat or other possession stats). :)

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
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Finally, TO put Corrado on waivers!!!

 

TO claimed Alexy Marchenko off of waivers from Detroit. I don't think we need to get excited about him as TO is around middle of the league so a lot of other teams passed on him before TO grabbed him.

 

Quote

Marchenko, a 6’2, 210-pound right shot, played 14 games for Mike Babcock between the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons. Over 110 NHL games, he’s accumulated three goals and 19 points while playing bottom-pairing minutes in Detroit. The 25-year-old has averaged 17:58 per game this season, tied for seventh among Red Wings defencemen, but he was a regular on the penalty kill when in the lineup (2:17 per game, second among Wings D).

https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2017/02/04/toronto-maple-leafs-claim-alexey-marchenko-off-waivers-waive-frank-corrado/

 

Babs knows him, is he possibly a replacement for Polak?

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  • 5 months later...
On 12/8/2016 at 4:55 PM, WordsOfWisdom said:

tor.png

 

Then (last season) and now:

 

Despite improving from 28th to 6th place offensively, 29th best PP to 11th, and 13th best PK to 4th, the Leafs have regressed from 24th best defensively to 28th.

 

What are the chances of the Leafs prying someone like Doughty or Kopitar out of LA? Or someone like Toews or Keith out of Chicago? The chasm is so wide that the Leafs need someone in here that is the best in the NHL at what they do, with a proven winning track record, not a "top 50" or "top 100" or whatever. Thoughts?

 

 

 

In my opinion, the chance of getting one of the players that you mentioned is sadly zero. I think that these players are the backbone of the franchises and they won't be traded or let go to any other team. It's like that the Leafs won't trade one of our young players that are the core of the Leafs. They are too important for their teams and they won't release them.

 

I like the improvement that the Leafs did offensively but in the defensive aspect, they are still not good as you mentioned. I said it last season and also mentioned it this offseason and the number prove it. We need to improve on the defensive aspect next season.

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I'd prefer TO score more, have puck possession more and that should result in improved d. Polaks and Hunwicks are poor possession players, poor offensive support players and are the wrong types of d-men to help TO improve defensively, hounding the puck in all 3 zones is the best type of d.

 

I'm pretty sure that as the forwards get better TO's d will improve, players like JVR and Bozak need to be upgraded as their d results have been commensurate with their effort/ability. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 7/18/2017 at 11:41 AM, hobie said:

I'd prefer TO score more, have puck possession more and that should result in improved d. Polaks and Hunwicks are poor possession players, poor offensive support players and are the wrong types of d-men to help TO improve defensively, hounding the puck in all 3 zones is the best type of d.

 

I'm pretty sure that as the forwards get better TO's d will improve, players like JVR and Bozak need to be upgraded as their d results have been commensurate with their effort/ability. 

 

How has your summer been? :)

 

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On 7/18/2017 at 6:41 PM, hobie said:

I'd prefer TO score more, have puck possession more and that should result in improved d. Polaks and Hunwicks are poor possession players, poor offensive support players and are the wrong types of d-men to help TO improve defensively, hounding the puck in all 3 zones is the best type of d.

 

I'm pretty sure that as the forwards get better TO's d will improve, players like JVR and Bozak need to be upgraded as their d results have been commensurate with their effort/ability. 

 

I think that you have a good point regards Hunwick, but in my opinion, Polak is a good defensive player that did an excellent job in the defensive zone last year. Both of them are not a very good on offense, but we got plenty of firepower on the offensive aspect. I also want Toronto to score more and have more possession of the puck.

 

In my opinion, the main problem is the possession and the defense that Toronto addressed this summer.  I think that they still need to improve in these areas, but I like Lou and Babcock signing and the direction that the team is going. I trust and have faith in them that they will make Toronto great again and we could have seen it last season.

 

I believe that this year the young player will take the next step and will become better also on the defensive part. I agree that if the forwards will get better on defense so that Toronto will get better.  I think that we will see a better Toronto team on defense and a better offensive team.

I have faith in Toronto management and Babcock that they will make the team better in this aspect and that will have great seasons to come.

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On 8/7/2017 at 2:38 AM, Edanl said:

I think that you have a good point regards Hunwick, but in my opinion, Polak is a good defensive player that did an excellent job in the defensive zone last year. Both of them are not a very good on offense, but we got plenty of firepower on the offensive aspect.

 

If you take a peek at my Defensive Errors thread, I tracked these stats for the Leafs in recent years.  

 

The data revealed that Polak was the Leafs' most reliable defender, but as you mentioned, he provided nothing offensively. It wasn't surprising that Polak got the assignment to handle shutting down Ovechkin in the playoffs before getting injured. :)

 

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  • 5 weeks later...
Quote

Toronto Maple Leafs Best D Pairing Gets No Press

https://editorinleaf.com/2017/09/09/toronto-maple-leafs-best-pairing/

 

From this article the results are:

 

Gardiner and Carrick: 677 minutes together, 54.31% CF 

Gardiner and Zaitsev 314 minutes together, 48.01% CF 

Hunwick and Polak  712 minutes together, 48.65% CF

Zaitsev and Rielly  810 minutes together, 49.39% CF

Zaitsev and Gardiner 314 minutes together, 48.01% CF

 

We can see that the only effective d pairing of last year was Gardiner and Carrick when they were together. I'd like to see Rielly and Gardiner together as Rielly would be an upgrade from Carrick and Gardiner would be an upgrade for Rielly over Zaitsev. I never understood why Babs didn't pair them together.

 

I don't think it's important who is the better d-man is, but rather who gets the best results, the pairings above didn't produce good results, mostly. TO needs to find more effective pairings either from what's available or via trade. Polak isn't the answer. 

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On 9/10/2017 at 7:54 PM, hobie said:

 

From this article the results are:

 

Gardiner and Carrick: 677 minutes together, 54.31% CF 

Gardiner and Zaitsev 314 minutes together, 48.01% CF 

Hunwick and Polak  712 minutes together, 48.65% CF

Zaitsev and Rielly  810 minutes together, 49.39% CF

Zaitsev and Gardiner 314 minutes together, 48.01% CF

 

We can see that the only effective d pairing of last year was Gardiner and Carrick when they were together. I'd like to see Rielly and Gardiner together as Rielly would be an upgrade from Carrick and Gardiner would be an upgrade for Rielly over Zaitsev. I never understood why Babs didn't pair them together.

 

I don't think it's important who is the better d-man is, but rather who gets the best results, the pairings above didn't produce good results, mostly. TO needs to find more effective pairings either from what's available or via trade. Polak isn't the answer. 

 

Polak also logged a lot of time on the penalty kill. :cool[1]:

(Endless Polak sales pitch is endless...)

 

I'd say he didn't pair Gardiner with Rielly because they're too similar. He wanted to spread the offence around. (My guess.) :)

 

Maybe the Leafs can win the Pittsburgh Penguins way: all offence, no defence. 

 

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