Game 53: Oilers @ Maple Leafs 7:00Pm Sportsnet/am640 The duel of Hot Hands!

[L K]

12th in the league too, so they are currently a very legitimate playoff team.

 

[WAYNEINIONA]

2 points back of Pittsburgh, with the same number of games played, 1 back of Jersey, though they have a game in hand. Even Philly is within reach right now - 4 points, but they have a game in hand.

Forget those guys we're going after Boston.

 

[azzurri63]

Dion was absolutely terrible tonight.

And yet, he had two assists and made one or two decent plays. I'll take it with him, really.

I changed my sat channel so I could'nt go back on my pvr to Lupul's goal but yahoo has Dion getting the lone assist and the first of his night but I recall and think it was Liles that shot the puck from the point. Anyone have a replay of that?

Found a link it was Dion.

 

[azzurri63]

As much as I hate Cox he's looking awfully smart sitting next to Kypreos.

 

[Omallley]

12th in the league too, so they are currently a very legitimate playoff team.

That's definitely a metric that is encouraging - positive goal differential being another. I really think this team has a shot at a lower seed. I can't imagine Florida is going to continue to lead the SE division...I really think they are primed to drop off. That would leave very few teams vying for that 8th spot.

 

[Kessel Run]

The key tomorrow will be the PK.  You can bet there won't be 0 penalties called out there.  And Leafs will look to tie franchise record at 15 games w/o a PP goal allowed.

Pretty amazing not one penalty was called.

 

[Deebo]

When the Leafs are doing well, games not involving the leafs seem to entertain me more than usual.

 

[Deebo]

12th in the league too, so they are currently a very legitimate playoff team.

That's definitely a metric that is encouraging - positive goal differential being another. I really think this team has a shot at a lower seed. I can't imagine Florida is going to continue to lead the SE division...I really think they are primed to drop off. That would leave very few teams vying for that 8th spot.

Ottawa too, they could fall out of the picture.

 

[Britishbulldog]

The key tomorrow will be the PK.  You can bet there won't be 0 penalties called out there.  And Leafs will look to tie franchise record at 15 games w/o a PP goal allowed.

Pretty amazing not one penalty was called.

I noticed that and was surprised that it wasn't mentioned on the broadcast

 

[Capn_Crunch]

Yes Phil has started to turn his two way game around and has made big improvement for sure Grabbo's has been more comple?e for a longer period.

I think the only real difference between the scoreboard results from each line is that bozak has bounced back and Kuil has had emotional personal baggage that has affected him in every aspect of his life for a while. Looks like he's been getting his hustle back as of late tho.

I'm probably being homerish a bit but I don't think Kulemin ever lost his hustle, maybe his shot totals and shooting percentage but I don't see a lot of reason to believe in projecting anything on him.

That said, while Grabovski has been a pretty fair two way player he doesn't have the top end offensive skill that Lupul and Kessel are exhibiting currently and his contract will reflect that.

I love having Mik as the second line centre so, please, don't think I'm down on him or anything but to say he's the Leafs best player is, to me, more of an 'in the moment' kind of pov. Clearly Kessel and Lupul are the best two forwards on the team, to me at least.

I personally value a 2 way guy more tbh as he's less of a liability overall. I don't think it would be going out on a limb to say that grabbo would be putting up even more points then he has if he played with Phil and Lupes more. Phil and Lupal are good players and have elite level offensive skills but do they make others better like Grabs does?

That's kind of an unproven testament though, absence of proof and all.

I do appreciate what you're saying but let's get real for a minute, if you were going to make a trade who do you think would bring more value, Grabovski, Lupul or Kessel? Free agency aside...

If you think Grabovski would be more successful playing with those two I have to wonder who is making who a better player?

( ...and suddenly AC/DC becomes relevant to hockey.. )

I'd have to answer with grabbo brings a hell of a lot more to the first line then lombardi and bozak and a damn sight more then connelly.

Well ok but that was never the question to me, we ( I thought ) were talking about Grabovski versus Lupul and/or Kessel.

I thought so too, lol

I firmly believe that grabbo brings more to the table in a overall sense no matter what someone would pay for kessel.

Value doesn't always denote true worth.

Defensively Grabs is superior to both of them and there is a edge to kessel offensively but not as much of a edge to lupal as of yet. To me the fact that he is almost as offensively gifted as lupes and kessel but has a much better 200 foot game makes him personally more value. I'd go as high as 5.5 mill a year to lock up his services but I doubt will end up costing that much.

 

[Omallley]

12th in the league too, so they are currently a very legitimate playoff team.

That's definitely a metric that is encouraging - positive goal differential being another. I really think this team has a shot at a lower seed. I can't imagine Florida is going to continue to lead the SE division...I really think they are primed to drop off. That would leave very few teams vying for that 8th spot.

Ottawa too, they could fall out of the picture.

Yup, they could for sure - certainly not looking great lately.

 

[Sudafederov]

The key tomorrow will be the PK.  You can bet there won't be 0 penalties called out there.  And Leafs will look to tie franchise record at 15 games w/o a PP goal allowed.

Pretty amazing not one penalty was called.

Conspiracy theorist in me wonders if it has something to do with NBC Sports launching this January and the perceived flow of the game.

 

[bustaheims]

Yup, they could for sure - certainly not looking great lately.

The fact that they've played the most games in the league is certainly not working in their favour, either.

 

[Britishbulldog]

Finally decided buy Center Ice Streamed and was surprised by how good Lombardi was. Hopefully he is the next Lupul. Recover this year, prepare this summer and play to his potential next year.

 

[Omallley]

While this may not last, it is really nice to be 8 points up on 9th with a game in hand at this point in the season, and not vice versa...how many years were we in Winnipeg's shoes at this point in the season?

EDIT: Forgetting about Washington...but, still...8 points up on 10th...it's better than we've been treated to since the lockout...

 

[Omallley]

Yup, they could for sure - certainly not looking great lately.

The fact that they've played the most games in the league is certainly not working in their favour, either.

Touche - I am forgetting they're 4 games up on Florida and a couple on pretty much everyone else in the conference...

 

[Stickytape]

I think the Oil might catch us napping to start, but thankfully they're Leafian in their defensive irresponsibility, so I can see this being a back and forth game.

5-3 Leafs, Grabbo with 2.

Pretty close to the mark there!

 

[Capn_Crunch]

While this may not last, it is really nice to be 8 points up on 9th with a game in hand at this point in the season, and not vice versa...how many years were we in Winnipeg's shoes at this point in the season?

Way to many for our liking. Sure is nice to have that feeling that we just have to keep playing hard and we'll see results rather then another ill fated push for a first round exit.

If our goalies keep playing like this we have enough Grabbo in our P&L sandwich to make some teams take notice. Playoffs would be nice but to advance and give a good run would do wonders for the progression into next season.

 

[crazyperfectdevil]

not pretty..but it's a win..and that's all they needed..especially since there are a lot of games this week and tomorrow and thursday's will be hard to win ..

 

[Tigger]

I firmly believe that grabbo brings more to the table in a overall sense no matter what someone would pay for kessel.

Value doesn't always denote true worth.

Defensively Grabs is superior to both of them and there is a edge to kessel offensively but not as much of a edge to lupal as of yet. To me the fact that he is almost as offensively gifted as lupes and kessel but has a much better 200 foot game makes him personally more value. I'd go as high as 5.5 mill a year to lock up his services but I doubt will end up costing that much.

Ok, I respect your opinion but the difference is pretty fair in that regard, Grabovski getting 5.5 ( very arguably ) as an ufa doesn't make him more complete a player than Kessel nor a more effective player than Lupul. I mean that definitively, Grabovski is probably the third most valuable player to the Leafs, which says a lot to me but not enough to make me agree with you.

'Value' in that sense does actually denote a players worth to me.

I'll go back to 'agree to disagree' if it helps?