Leafs could have 5 or 6 forward lines next year.

[igloo]

The Leafs line-up of forwards are doing well, and projected only to get better.  I am not sure what you could do to improve things immediately, or next year.  This group is impressive at both ends of the rink.

But wait, there's more!  Kapanen (sucks he got injured, anyone know when he is coming back?), Leipsic, and CHL starts Adam Brooks and Jeremy Bracco will all be fighting for full time jobs next year.  I think out of those 4, you will see Bracco sent packing to the AHL before anyone, but who knows, he is an excellent player and on many NHL teams, would have a very good shot at cracking the line up.

These guys are pretty well ready for next year, and I'm afraid we could be wasting their talents.  But who would they replace? 

This is why I believe Bozak is the #1 target along with Uncle Leo.  Either could command a good draft pick, good prospect Dman or even a prospect goalie.

 

[disco]

Good points, could be an embarrassment of riches up front. Leafs have the ability to replace anyone moved at the deadline by just doing nothing and letting their prospects develop. My guess is they'll stand pat at the deadline and let this team play it out intact, accumulating valuable experience playing meaningful games right to the end and possible playoffs.

 

[herman]

Welcome back, igloo.

Here's who I think will be gone, and who will be coming up next year:
Gone: Bozak, Komarov, JvR, Hunwick, Polak, Smith, Robidas, Marincin (LVGK)

Up: Kapanen, Leipsic, Griffith, Rychel (waiver eligible), Valiev, Loov (waiver eligible)

New Marlies: Bracco, Brooks, Korostelev, Dzierkals, Desrocher, Grundstrom, Walker, Piccinich, Bobylev

 

[Highlander]

may be nostalgic but dont want to see either Bozo or JVR go unless we win the cup this year. LOL

 

[mr grieves]

Welcome back, igloo.

Here's who I think will be gone, and who will be coming up next year:
Gone: Bozak, Komarov, JvR, Hunwick, Polak, Smith, Robidas, Marincin (LVGK)

Up: Kapanen, Leipsic, Griffith, Rychel (waiver eligible), Valiev, Loov (waiver eligible)

New Marlies: Bracco, Brooks, Korostelev, Dzierkals, Desrocher, Grundstrom, Walker, Piccinich, Bobylev

So something like:

Hyman - Matthews - Brown
Leivo - Kadri - Marner
Leipsic - Nylander - Kapanen
Martin - Gauthier - Griffith
Rychel

?

 

[herman]

So something like:

Hyman - Matthews - Brown
Leivo - Kadri - Marner
Leipsic - Nylander - Kapanen
Martin - Gauthier - Griffith
Rychel

?

Would not bother me to see us ice such a lineup! Maybe swapping Brown and Griffith... Babcock would hate having Nylander as the only RH faceoff guy though, especially if Bozak is gone. Might see Froese or Colin Smith over Gauthier in that case.

Kind of hard to say who Vegas would snag from us (survivable either way) with the moves that can still be made.

There are better defense options from other teams in the pinch than off the Leafs, so I'm thinking they'd go for one of our forwards so long as Carrick is not exposed.

 

[Frank E]

Maybe swapping Brown and Griffith...

Your affinity for Griffith knows no bounds.

 

[herman]

If I had my druthers, with no external additions. Every line has a banger, disher, and finisher. Y'all can probably do better.

Zach Hyman - Auston Matthews - Seth Griffith
Basically what they're rolling with now, but a slight dip in skill going from Nylander to Griffith. He plays with jam that belies his size, has the puck skills to extend plays like Nylander, and is a pass-first player for Matthews.

Josh Leivo - Nazem Kadri - Mitch Marner
Leivo added some huge jump to his game, and with a right shot on the left wing + chemistry with Kadri + Marner doing everything, this line switch between heavy cycle and east-west dangle.

Brendan Leipsic - William Nylander - Kasperi Kapanen
Sheltered scoring line with speed to burn. It's not that big, but they'll just skate past defenders. Leipsic and Kapanen have both shown a nose for the net, so Nylander can continue patrolling the high slot.

Kerby Rychel - Byron Froese - Connor Brown
Rychel adds some heavy size to a pretty fast fourth line that's all about defending aggressively. Froese might be a defense-first player, but he actually has hands in tight. Brown is awesome and will skate through a wall for the team.

Extras: Nikita Soshnikov, Frederik Gauthier, Colin Smith
Drop in replacements at pretty much every part of the lineup. This Smith can play all three positions and has an actual two-way game. Sosh will shoot from anywhere, and Gauthier can bring a slower paced game when needed.

 

[Kin]

Not regularly skating Matthews with legit 1st line talent will start to border on abuse of a minor.

 

[herman]

Not regularly skating Matthews with legit 1st line talent will start to border on abuse of a minor.

Just being facetious, but:
a) age of majority is 18 and Matthews is 19
b) Hyman is already skating on the current first line
c) Griffith skated first line for Florida

I don't mind seeing how far the team can get with a balanced attack. Outside of JvR, the only first line talent on the wing are Marner and Nylander, and I think it scares teams more when they are spread out and recombined mid-game.

 

[Kin]

Just being facetious, but:
a) age of majority is 18 and Matthews is 19
b) Hyman is already skating on the current first line
c) Griffith skated first line for Florida

Well, if we're being that way, look up what "border" means.

Every team has a first line regardless of quality. I think you'd agree that even speaking colloquially we don't need to be so pedantic as to confuse what I was saying with "anyone who at ever time was used on a team's first line because of a lack of, or even in spite of, better options available".

Otherwise you're kind of contradicting yourself as there'd be no reason not to stack up a line with Marner and Matthews because Marner could just be replaced by Griffith on the Kadri line and, hey, he's a first line talent, right?

I don't mind seeing how far the team can get with a balanced attack. Outside of JvR, the only first line talent on the wing are Marner and Nylander, and I think it scares teams more when they are spread out and recombined mid-game.

As good as Matthews is, what I think you're doing with that line configuration is effectively putting him on the third line as I think the other two would likely be more dangerous than his line offensively.

Personally, I think not giving him linemates capable of really doing something with the chances he generates is basically wasting his talents. Either give him more talented linemates from within the current group or maybe look outside for a short term deal.

 

[Coco-puffs]

If I had my druthers, with no external additions. Every line has a banger, disher, and finisher. Y'all can probably do better.

Zach Hyman - Auston Matthews - Seth Griffith
Basically what they're rolling with now, but a slight dip in skill going from Nylander to Griffith. He plays with jam that belies his size, has the puck skills to extend plays like Nylander, and is a pass-first player for Matthews.

Josh Leivo - Nazem Kadri - Mitch Marner
Leivo added some huge jump to his game, and with a right shot on the left wing + chemistry with Kadri + Marner doing everything, this line switch between heavy cycle and east-west dangle.

Brendan Leipsic - William Nylander - Kasperi Kapanen
Sheltered scoring line with speed to burn. It's not that big, but they'll just skate past defenders. Leipsic and Kapanen have both shown a nose for the net, so Nylander can continue patrolling the high slot.

Kerby Rychel - Byron Froese - Connor Brown
Rychel adds some heavy size to a pretty fast fourth line that's all about defending aggressively. Froese might be a defense-first player, but he actually has hands in tight. Brown is awesome and will skate through a wall for the team.

Extras: Nikita Soshnikov, Frederik Gauthier, Colin Smith
Drop in replacements at pretty much every part of the lineup. This Smith can play all three positions and has an actual two-way game. Sosh will shoot from anywhere, and Gauthier can bring a slower paced game when needed.

Do you seriously think Seth Griffith would help Matthews more than Brown?  He basically did nothing on Florida's first line. 

Brown on the fourth line is a waste of a real hockey player.  I don't even want Seth Griffith on our fourth line next year.

 

[Coco-puffs]

Instead of only providing criticism, here are my lines, assuming ALL of Komarov, JvR, and Bozak aren't back (which I doubt) and only using internal options.  Martin has a permanent spot, so I'm not going to pretend he won't be on the 4th line.

Leivo - Matthews - Marner
Hyman - Kadri - Brown
Sosh/Rychel - Nylander - Kapanen
Martin - Gauthier - Rychel/Sosh
Extra:  Leipsic

I think if Leivo's skating continues to be as good as we've seen recently, he can provide the digging/effort on the forecheck that Hyman does with a better touch around the net. 

 

[Kin]

My fervent hope:

Leipsic-Matthews-Marner
X-Nylander-Kapanen
Hyman-Kadri-Brown
Leivo-Gauthier-Sosh

Wherein X is whatever solid scoring left winger would be willing to take a one year UFA deal. Also, while I'm dreaming, Babcock and co. snap out of the Matt Martin stuff.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

My fervent hope:

Leipsic-Matthews-Marner
X-Nylander-Kapanen
Hyman-Kadri-Brown
Leivo-Gauthier-Sosh

Wherein X is whatever solid scoring left winger would be willing to take a one year UFA deal. Also, while I'm dreaming, Babcock and co. snap out of the Matt Martin stuff.

Yeah I think that's roughly where I'm at too. I'm not fully convinced we move all 3 of JVR/Komarov/Bozak though. So assuming Komarov stays he plays with Nylander/Kapanen. If JVR stays he goes with Matthews-Marner and Leipsic drops down to the 2nd line.

 

[rdowdall]

My fervent hope:

Leipsic-Matthews-Marner
X-Nylander-Kapanen
Hyman-Kadri-Brown
Leivo-Gauthier-Sosh

Wherein X is whatever solid scoring left winger would be willing to take a one year UFA deal. Also, while I'm dreaming, Babcock and co. snap out of the Matt Martin stuff.

I was thinking about this last night.  Who do they sit when Marner comes back?  I mean all things being equal, I would say Martin or Komarov.  However, I think it's more likely one of Soshnikov or Leivo. 

 

[Kin]

I was thinking about this last night.  Who do they sit when Marner comes back?  I mean all things being equal, I would say Martin or Komarov.  However, I think it's more likely one of Soshnikov or Leivo.

It seems unlikely that it would be someone on the left side so Sosh seems like the easy answer.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I was thinking about this last night.  Who do they sit when Marner comes back?  I mean all things being equal, I would say Martin or Komarov.  However, I think it's more likely one of Soshnikov or Leivo.

It seems unlikely that it would be someone on the left side so Sosh seems like the easy answer.

Yeah, it'll be Sosh for sure. The bigger question is which winger drops out of the top-9. Leivo or Brown?

 

[Kin]

Yeah I think that's roughly where I'm at too. I'm not fully convinced we move all 3 of JVR/Komarov/Bozak though. So assuming Komarov stays he plays with Nylander/Kapanen. If JVR stays he goes with Matthews-Marner and Leipsic drops down to the 2nd line.

I agree that it seems unlikely that all three of them go but with the exception of JVR I just can't wrap my head around how either Komarov or Bozak could fit on the team next year. I guess Leivo could be seen as surplus but if you deal JVR and bring back a LW of Leivo, Leipsic, Hyman and Komarov...I don't know. That just strikes me as a lot of missed opportunities for offense from your middle 6(assuming Leipsic is on a top line).

It sounds crazy but absent the significant blue line improvements the team needs I'm really thinking that a major piece they need to be targeting is a winger(preferably left) who contributes both in the grit/puck retrieval way and is a decent offensive option. If Nylander moves to the middle, I'm not crazy about the wings on this team right now.

 

[herman]

Do you seriously think Seth Griffith would help Matthews more than Brown?  He basically did nothing on Florida's first line. 

Brown on the fourth line is a waste of a real hockey player.  I don't even want Seth Griffith on our fourth line next year.

I appreciate the critiques, guys, really.

I'm not disparaging Brown with slotting him 'down there' as I'm an advocate for rolling 4 lines, hence the smear of talent. I felt Brown had the best playstyle and talent mix to Make The 4th Line Great Again and boost them into better scoring effectiveness. Brown's best AHL season was mostly on Froese's wing.

Griffith is, in reality, not going to get a chance when he's behind Marner, Nylander, Brown, and Babcock 4th line. From what I've seen of him, he's best suited to playmaking winger for a shoot happy line, as he doesn't shoot enough himself (yet*). I wish he'd get a chance because that kid can really hold the puck (open ice, on the boards, down low in the paint) and isn't a gaping defensive liability. He extends plays the way Nylander, Marner, and Matthews do (puck skills) and for our type of relentless offense, that's the ticket.

* Froese was a defense-first centre but the development team in Cincinnati pushed him to shoot more. He now leads the AHL in goals, with 4 games in hand. Statistically better than Gauthier in everything but size.

As good as Matthews is, what I think you're doing with that line configuration is effectively putting him on the third line as I think the other two would likely be more dangerous than his line offensively.

This was deliberate. Of the three centres we could stuff our lesser talent with and still get good results, Matthews is the one. Other teams are going to key in on him regardless, and that opens up space for the rest of the team; treat Matthews' line as a third and he'll burn them there too. It's fewer points for Matthews over the course of the season, but that's not the team goal.