In Praise of the Leafs' Fourth Line

[Champ Kind]

I know it has been mentioned in other threads, but the Leafs' fourth line of Dupuis - Steckle - Brown is, for me, one of the highlights of this young season.  Steckle's performance has been well discussed, and to a slightly lesser degree so has Mike Brown's, but I've really been enjoying Phillipe Dupuis.  He's a great forechecker and can really lay the body.  Has some definite hockey IQ, defensively sound and skates well.  This easily represents the Leafs' best fourth line of recent years and, for me at least, represents a really exciting part of this year's team.

On an unrelated matter, Lombardi's speed is amazing.  I could not believe the amount of ice he was covering on one of the penalty kills last night where he seemingly hemmed in the Senators in their end all on his own.

 

[ZBBM]

I agree.  Aside from Steckel's faceoff prowess, which has contributed a great deal to the wins so far, and Brown's energy, the main thing about the 4th is that they can contribute to the PK and have not made an egregious mistakes.  Very effective.

EDIT: Oh, and welcome aboard.

 

[Champ Kind]

I agree.  Aside from Steckel's faceoff prowess, which has contributed a great deal to the wins so far, and Brown's energy, the main thing about the 4th is that they can contribute to the PK and have not made an egregious mistakes.  Very effective.

EDIT: Oh, and welcome aboard.

Thanks, Mr. McFate.  I was an occassional poster on the old site and have been lurking on the new one until now.  I really want to participate on the Man of the Match votes .

 

[Corn Flake]

I really like how the 4th line has been put together and that Orr isn't being dressed every night just for the sake of it.  Like that a guy like him is available vs. certain teams but not out there playing 5 mins or less and causing other problems.

Having a 4th line that forechecks like these guys do is fantastic, and the fact they can log 10 mins a night without being a massive liability is a huge improvement over last year. 

Now I wish we could see a little bit more of that through the rest of the lines.  The skill upgrades were badly needed and welcome, but would be good to see them put more pressure on other team's defenders and wear them down even more.

 

[ZBBM]

I agree.  Aside from Steckel's faceoff prowess, which has contributed a great deal to the wins so far, and Brown's energy, the main thing about the 4th is that they can contribute to the PK and have not made an egregious mistakes.  Very effective.

EDIT: Oh, and welcome aboard.

Thanks, Mr. McFate.  I was an occassional poster on the old site and have been lurking on the new one until now.  I really want to participate on the Man of the Match votes .

By all means -- vote early and often!

 

[crazyperfectdevil]

figured i'd resurrect this thread ...especially with the return of brown.  I'm not sure what the consensus is around here ..but i'm glad that he's back ...i feel like the leafs as a whole throw the body more with him in the lineup

 

[McPwnage]

Nice to see that is a line you can count on to finish games in the dying seconds. 

 

[ZBBM]

figured i'd resurrect this thread ...especially with the return of brown.  I'm not sure what the consensus is around here ..but i'm glad that he's back ...i feel like the leafs as a whole throw the body more with him in the lineup

I agree.  And Boyce has been solid too.  But the star of the 4th line is Steckel.  He's escaped MotM accolades so far this season but just in the last 2 games he truly helped seal the deal.  He is back on the beam in faceoffs, bigtime.  One of Burke's best moves IMO.

 

[Stickytape]

Go sluggos, go!

 

[Zee]

Steckel is one of those guys that if you don't watch the team regularly and just look at his stats you don't think he brings much to the overall success.  He's been as important a pickup from the offseason as anyone else.  Love watching him take a faceoff deep in our zone late in the game and feeling confident we'll control the puck.  So much easier to defend a lead that way.

 

[Kin]

Steckel is one of those guys that if you don't watch the team regularly and just look at his stats you don't think he brings much to the overall success.

I think Steckel's actually a guy whose contributions actually show up pretty well statistically. He's 4th in the entire league in FO%, 1st in the league in Shorthanded faceoff wins, 1st in the league in home face-off %. He's 1st on the Leafs and 15th in the league in SH ice time among forwards. He's first on the team, by a comfortable margin, in hits by a forward. He's second only to Connolly among the forwards in blocked shots also. To top it off, he's tied for fifth amongst the team's forwards in goals.

 

[Zee]

Steckel is one of those guys that if you don't watch the team regularly and just look at his stats you don't think he brings much to the overall success.

I think Steckel's actually a guy whose contributions actually show up pretty well statistically. He's 4th in the entire league in FO%, 1st in the league in Shorthanded faceoff wins, 1st in the league in home face-off %. He's 1st on the Leafs and 15th in the league in SH ice time among forwards. He's first on the team, by a comfortable margin, in hits by a forward. He's second only to Connolly among the forwards in blocked shots also. To top it off, he's tied for fifth amongst the team's forwards in goals.

The average person doesn't look at stats down to that level.  You'll see, 7 goals, 0 assists, -2 and think, "meh".

 

[Highlander]

Steckel for President!!

 

[Kin]

The average person doesn't look at stats down to that level.  You'll see, 7 goals, 0 assists, -2 and think, "meh".

Those are all stats that can be found pretty quickly and simply at nhl.com and regardless the point remains that Steckel's contributions are showing up well statistically. If someone didn't watch the games and just dug into his numbers I think they'd get a pretty good sense of what he's bringing.

 

[sucka]

Unlike Rosehill and Orr, these 3 can bang around and not take a penalty.

 

[Kaberle15]

Unlike Rosehill and Orr, these 3 can bang around and not take a penalty.

I wounder if someone else came out of the injury list if they will demote Rosehill...