Will Leafs Make the Playoffs?

Will Leafs Make the Playoffs?

  • Yes

    Votes: 23 69.7%
  • No

    Votes: 7 21.2%
  • Maybe

    Votes: 3 9.1%

  • Total voters
    33
  • Poll closed .

gcostanza

Well-known member
Jul 24, 2010
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....Sign of a much more balanced offense and less wear and tear on the players.
Zero proof that playing less than 20 minutes/game results in less wear and tear on the players OR causes them undue stress.

But, you do you, Rocky.
 

shack

Nitpicker Extraordinaire
Oct 2, 2001
51,807
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My mistake. I missed Hedman.

Bergeron is significantly older.--will be 35 this year so he cannot play more minutes
Pastrnak--more than Nylander
Pastrnak and Marchand would have more time with a centre younger than Bergeron.
O'Reilly--more than Panarin, Matthews, Nylander and Tavares
Bozak--Who in their right mind wants him on more than that? And he is no way a top tier player.

And out of the whole league, you picked 6 players out of 9 from one single team, the St. Lois Blues. And the other 3 were Boston. 2 teams only. I looked at the top players of 7 teams for my 8 (eligible) examples and all were in the top 20 in scoring. At least 5 of yours were no better than 45th in scoring, so they are not worthy of more ice time. BTW, Bozak is 227th in scoring. He is your example to compare regarding ice time to these 4 Leafs?

Your list proves nothing. I showed the minutes of these 4 Leafs under Keefe is very comparable to other players of their calibre across the league, not just 2 teams. That represents about 6% of the players in the league that you sampled.
 

superstar_88

The Chiseler
Jan 4, 2008
5,624
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Dart is still hoping it was November. He thinks playoffs start in November. That's how much he knows about hockey. Zip and pip. Someone should tell him how his favourite team Montreal is doing. Somewhere Steve Shutt is calling.
 

shack

Nitpicker Extraordinaire
Oct 2, 2001
51,807
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Dart is still hoping it was November. He thinks playoffs start in November. That's how much he knows about hockey. Zip and pip. Someone should tell him how his favourite team Montreal is doing. Somewhere Steve Shutt is calling.
And Guy Lapointe.

We'd better be careful or he will take his thread and run home.
 

Darts

Well-known member
Jan 15, 2017
23,023
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You guys can huff and puff all you want.

I am correct that the TOI for the Leaf stars as a group ( Tavares and Marner are 10% and 14% higher and two are basically flat) is higher under Keefe.

The question is whether this is good or bad long term. So, far it's been good. Longer term, time will tell.

Right now the Bruins and Blues are still better teams than the Leafs and they do it without their forward stars playing more than 20:00 a game, except O'Reilly who is a great defensive player and also great at faceoffs.
 

shack

Nitpicker Extraordinaire
Oct 2, 2001
51,807
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I am correct that the TOI for the Leaf stars as a group ( Tavares and Marner are 10% and 14% higher and two are basically flat) is higher under Keefe.

The question is whether this is good or bad long term. So, far it's been good. Longer term, time will tell.
So, if the Leafs lose in game 7 of the Finals in overtime, you can say that you were right. The Leafs ran out of gas.
 

shack

Nitpicker Extraordinaire
Oct 2, 2001
51,807
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Right now the Bruins and Blues are still better teams than the Leafs and they do it without their forward stars playing more than 20:00 a game
Does that hold true for the rest of the teams that have better records than the Leafs or is it just those two? There are about 9 or 10 teams with better records.
 

glamphotographer

Well-known member
Nov 5, 2011
17,048
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Does that hold true for the rest of the teams that have better records than the Leafs or is it just those two? There are about 9 or 10 teams with better records.
The Leafs are now 8th in the NHL. Anyways Darts is not a Leaf fan.
 

gcostanza

Well-known member
Jul 24, 2010
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I am correct that the TOI for the Leaf stars as a group is higher under Keefe.
Every now and then a blind squirrel finds a nut.
 

shack

Nitpicker Extraordinaire
Oct 2, 2001
51,807
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Best in the NHL under Keefe's Leafs 14-4-1.
Just think how well they'd be doing better if Keefe didn't play them some of them so much. They are almost playing as much as other top players, but those guys don't get tired as easily. It's just the Leafs.
 

Darts

Well-known member
Jan 15, 2017
23,023
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Due to popular demand (LOL!), I expanded my search for 20:00 minute ATOI players (forwards only). I selected the Leafs under Keefe, the 4 division leaders and 5 teams in the Atlantic division. The results confirmed what I had originally thought. Don't believe anyone who say there are lots of 20:00 minute ATOI players, there are not many at all.

1) Leafs under Keefe have three 20:00 ATOI players (Matthews, Marner and Tavares). This makes the Leafs the undisputed ATOI leader in my survey. The Leafs are really lucky they have 3 forward players who can (or Keefe thinks they can) average over 20:00 TOI per game.

2) Sabres have two (Eichel and Reinhart).

3) Blues (O'Reilly), Capitals (Oveckin) and Senators (Brown) have one each.

4) Bruins, Panthers, Canadiens, Lightnings and Golden Knights have none, zipo, nana.
 

smuddan

Well-known member
Mar 7, 2007
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Due to popular demand (LOL!), I expanded my search for 20:00 minute ATOI players (forwards only). I selected the Leafs under Keefe, the 4 division leaders and 5 teams in the Atlantic division. The results confirmed what I had originally thought. Don't believe anyone who say there are lots of 20:00 minute ATOI players, there are not many at all.

1) Leafs under Keefe have three 20:00 ATOI players (Matthews, Marner and Tavares). This makes the Leafs the undisputed ATOI leader in my survey. The Leafs are really lucky they have 3 forward players who can (or Keefe thinks they can) average over 20:00 TOI per game.

2) Sabres have two (Eichel and Reinhart).

3) Blues (O'Reilly), Capitals (Oveckin) and Senators (Brown) have one each.

4) Bruins, Panthers, Canadiens, Lightnings and Golden Knights have none, zipo, nana.
Personally I am not be too concerned with any negative effect on players’ ice time because I believe MLSE probably has the best “sport’s science” department which is shared between the Raptors and the Leafs. They probably have the best personnel in the industry. They did such a great job with Kawhi Leonard that it was rumoured Kawhi wanted to lure the head guy to go to LA with him.

I’d think the coaching staff would get input from the SS depart in this regard as they’d want to protect the players’ s well beings as they are the company’s assets.
 

gcostanza

Well-known member
Jul 24, 2010
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Darts

Well-known member
Jan 15, 2017
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Personally I am not be too concerned with any negative effect on players’ ice time because I believe MLSE probably has the best “sport’s science” department which is shared between the Raptors and the Leafs. They probably have the best personnel in the industry. They did such a great job with Kawhi Leonard that it was rumoured Kawhi wanted to lure the head guy to go to LA with him.
Good point. However, I surveyed 9 teams (4 division leaders and 5 division rivals) and the combined total of 20:00 ATOI players is 5 (the Leafs currently have 3). Marner's ATOI under Keefe is 22:15 which is even higher than Jack Eichel's 21:59.

Question: Do Hyman and Nylander and maybe Kerfoot have room to improve their ATOI?
 

Darts

Well-known member
Jan 15, 2017
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Matthews is probably averaging 2 or 3 extra shifts per game under Keefe. The style of play under Babcock probably took a higher toll on Matthews and the other elite Leaf players than what they are experiencing under Keefe. Besides, if the extra shifts are the difference between making or missing the play-offs, by all means give the better players on the Leafs more icetime. The Leafs are better off now than the first 23 games of the season.
Here are the usage numbers for Matthews, Marner, Tavares and Nylander under the each coach.
Numbers are up to date as of yesterday's game against the wild.


Marner and Tavares are being used more.
Nyander and Matthews are being used about the same

Matthews

Babcock: 19:50 ATOI (16:25 ES, 3:24 PP), 24.4 Shifts/Game
Keefe: 20:15 ATOI (17:40 ES, 2:32 PP), 22.7 Shifts/Game

Marner

Babcock: 19:40 ATOI (13:33 ES, 3:14 PP, 2:53 SH), 25.7 Shifts/Game
Keefe: 22:15 ATOI (17:35 ES, 2:55 PP, 1:44 SH), 24.5 Shifts/Game

Tavares

Babcock: 18:26 ATOI (15:22 ES, 3:04 PP), 22.1 Shifts/Game
Keefe: 20:24 ATOI (17:51 ES, 2:31 PP), 23.0 Shifts/Game

Nylander:

Babcock: 18:00 ATOI (15:06 ES, 1:19 PP), 23.4 Shifts/Game
Keefe: 17:37 ATOI (15:19 ES, 2:17 PP), 21.6 Shifts/Game
Personally I am not be too concerned with any negative effect on players’ ice time because I believe MLSE probably has the best “sport’s science” department which is shared between the Raptors and the Leafs. They probably have the best personnel in the industry. They did such a great job with Kawhi Leonard that it was rumoured Kawhi wanted to lure the head guy to go to LA with him.

I’d think the coaching staff would get input from the SS depart in this regard as they’d want to protect the players’ s well beings as they are the company’s assets.
You guys should post more often.
 

Darts

Well-known member
Jan 15, 2017
23,023
11,228
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Matthews is probably averaging 2 or 3 extra shifts per game under Keefe. The style of play under Babcock probably took a higher toll on Matthews and the other elite Leaf players than what they are experiencing under Keefe. Besides, if the extra shifts are the difference between making or missing the play-offs, by all means give the better players on the Leafs more icetime. The Leafs are better off now than the first 23 games of the season.
Here is an interesting article from April 2019 on why Matthews did not get or deserved more ice time. We'll soon see how Matthews do in April 2020. P.S. Matthews' ATOI in the past 5 games is 21:44.

"Babcock called Matthews’ number 49 times, at even-strength, in the final two games of the series, the most of any of his forwards."

https://www.thepointhockey.com/did-...ve-more-to-do-with-the-player-than-the-coach/
 
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