Leafs @ Rangers - Feb. 1st, 7:00pm - TSN4, Fan 590

[CarltonTheBear]

@

29-18-5, 63 points | 25-20-5, 55 points

Projected Lines

Hyman-Matthews-Nylander Marleau-Kadri-Marner JVR-Bozak-Brown Komarov-Moore-Kapanen Gardiner-Zaitsev Dermott-Holl Borgman-Carrick McElhinney ​

Nash-Zibanejad-Buchnevich Miller-Hayes-Zuccarello Grabner-Holland-Fast Vesey-Desharnais-McLeod McDonagh-Holden Skjei-Staal Smith-DeAngelo Lundqvist​

Scratches

Ron Hainsey Josh Leivo Matt Martin ​

Paul Carey Steven Kampfer ​

Game Notes

TOR
?McElhinney (4-4-0, 2.55 GAA, .925 Sv%) will likely start for the Leafs
?Hainsey and Polak didn't fly out to New York with the team last night, but if their illnesses improve overnight they might re-join the team today
?If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Will this be the 4th straight game Matt Martin sits in the pressbox for?

NYR
?Lundqvist (21-13-4, 2.61 GAA, .922 Sv%) will likely start for the Rangers
?The Rangers are 1 point behind Philly for the final wild card spot in the East and need to seperate themselves from the Islanders and Hurricanes who are right behind them
?New York was 5-7 in the month of January, which won't be good enough to get into the playoffs
?Cody McLeod, one of the last few goon-type forwards in the league, will be making his Rangers debut after being claimed off waivers from Nashville. He'll likely be trying to make his physical presence felt tonight
?I don't know why Peter Holland is their 3C either

Injuries

?Nathan Horton - Back - Out indefinitely ?Joffrey Lupul - Actually Injured - Out indefinitely ?Nikita Soshnikov - Groin - Injured Reserve ?Morgan Rielly - Arm - Injured Reserve ?Roman Polak - Infection - Injured Reserve ?Ron Hainsey - Illness - Questionable Thursday​

?Kevin Shattenkirk - Knee - Injured Reserve ?Chris Kreider - Ribs - Injured Reserve​

Stream Options

https://www.reddit.com/r/NHLstreams
​

 

[Crucialness Key]

If NYR is dressing Cody McLeod (of the Clan McLeod) and we don't dress Martin, gotta figure that's end of the line for him, right? Since that was basically the only reason for him to be on the roster?

 

[CarltonTheBear]

If NYR is dressing Cody McLeod (of the Clan McLeod) and we don't dress Martin, gotta figure that's end of the line for him, right? Since that was basically the only reason for him to be on the roster?

Getting scratched against his former team, and then against his former rival team who has a goon dressed? That's a pretty huge statement from Babcock.

 

[rdowdall]

If NYR is dressing Cody McLeod (of the Clan McLeod) and we don't dress Martin, gotta figure that's end of the line for him, right? Since that was basically the only reason for him to be on the roster?

Getting scratched against his former team, and then against his former rival team who has a goon dressed? That's a pretty huge statement from Babcock.

Also, playing Kapanen instead of Leivo is a pretty big statement as well.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Also, playing Kapanen instead of Leivo is a pretty big statement as well.

Yup. He's made it clear that he wants speed on that line and Leivo just doesn't bring that. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if the team was trying to flip Leivo for a pick right now before the IR clears off.

 

[Crucialness Key]

Also, playing Kapanen instead of Leivo is a pretty big statement as well.

Yup. He's made it clear that he wants speed on that line and Leivo just doesn't bring that. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if the team was trying to flip Leivo for a pick right now before the IR clears off.

I don't think we'll trade off everyone who's not in the starting 12, though. Babs will want a couple extra guys in case of injuries (Leivo, Sosh)

 

[herman]

Chris Johnston mentioned the Leafs are putting out feelers for Martin and Soshnikov trade interest during the pre-game show yesterday.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/maple-leafs-engaging-market-trading-martin-soshnikov/

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I don't think we'll trade off everyone who's not in the starting 12, though. Babs will want a couple extra guys in case of injuries (Leivo, Sosh)

Someone's got to go right now. Ideally I think you trade Martin and that leaves Leivo and Soshnikov in the pressbox and Johnsson (who because of his expiring waiver status needs to be in the NHL next season) in the AHL if more injuries strike. That's plenty fine depth. But if the team feels like moving Leivo and keeping Martin mostly in the pressbox I'd be fine with that too.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Chris Johnston mentioned the Leafs are putting out feelers for Martin and Soshnikov trade interest during the pre-game show yesterday.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/maple-leafs-engaging-market-trading-martin-soshnikov/

Interesting. I wouldn't actually be surprised if Martin said "if I'm not going to play everyday then I wouldn't really mind a trade somewhere where I will". I think they could probably get some decent value for him. The Islanders would take him back I'm sure. They could use an old fan favourite, especially if they have to lose Tavares.

 

[Zee]

Chris Johnston mentioned the Leafs are putting out feelers for Martin and Soshnikov trade interest during the pre-game show yesterday.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/maple-leafs-engaging-market-trading-martin-soshnikov/

Interesting. I wouldn't actually be surprised if Martin said "if I'm not going to play everyday then I wouldn't really mind a trade somewhere where I will". I think they could probably get some decent value for him. The Islanders would take him back I'm sure. They could use an old fan favourite, especially if they have to lose Tavares.

I like your style.  Martin for Barzal would get it done for me.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I like your style.  Martin for Barzal would get it done for me.

They need a goalie, I'd throw in Sparks too I guess.

 

[Kin]

It's funny though. If the Leafs do dress Martin in response to McLeod then the Rangers will have, perhaps inadvertantly, displayed the only real value of dressing an enforcer if by doing so they goad the other team on a hot streak into changing things up.

 

[herman]

Islanders are a natural fit, though I'm not sure if there are any hard feelings there. They'd certainly want to jump start Cizikas and Clutterbuck, and form a ~10M 4th line.
Calgary has expressed it needs more F-U in the lineup.
Edmonton is always looking for character and grit and team players.
Detroit was in pretty heavily on the Matt Martin sweepstakes.

Matt Martin's remaining years of the contract are more cap hit than actual dollars, so he'll be pretty attractive to teams on a budget looking to make the floor; Arizona for instance.

 

[Highlander]

Chris Johnston mentioned the Leafs are putting out feelers for Martin and Soshnikov trade interest during the pre-game show yesterday.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/maple-leafs-engaging-market-trading-martin-soshnikov/

f
I'd be more than good with this although I do want to keep Sparks in the pen.

 

[herman]

Not looking to pump the brakes too hard here, but we're rolling through a much easier stretch of the schedule than December. They've played some very good teams in January (TBL, SJS, CBJ) but also a lot of tire fires that give up as many if not more chances than the Leafs do regularly, where talent advantage gets a chance to shine.

The team has got 5 more games against Tampa Bay and Boston in the regular season, and a healthy dose of Metro matchups to show what sort of damage it can do against actual teams.

 

[ZBBM]

Not looking to pump the brakes too hard here, but we're rolling through a much easier stretch of the schedule than December. They've played some very good teams in January (TBL, SJS, CBJ) but also a lot of tire fires that give up as many if not more chances than the Leafs do regularly, where talent advantage gets a chance to shine.

The team has got 5 more games against Tampa Bay and Boston in the regular season, and a healthy dose of Metro matchups to show what sort of damage it can do against actual teams.

Wise words but Dallas and (despite last night) NYI are actual teams, and while CHI is not good this time beating them at United is not nothing.  I think demartinizing and activating the Bot are real effects.

Re the bolded, again true, but you are neglecting to mention that the final 17 games of the season are all against BUF.  Those crazy NHL skedmakers!

 

[herman]

Wise words but Dallas and (despite last night) NYI are actual teams, and while CHI is not good this time beating them at United is not nothing.  I think demartinizing and activating the Bot are real effects.

Re the bolded, again true, but you are neglecting to mention that the final 17 games of the season are all against BUF.  Those crazy NHL skedmakers!

I'll grant you Dallas is a really good team, and I'm hoping we see more of that against similarly tiered opponents.

The Islanders are currently in a rut. They haven't been great since the end of November. They have two great lines, but one of them is a one-way line (see 2012-2014 Leafs as a comparable, but better). The Leafs caught them on a bad night, back half of a back-to-back, but you could really see their lack of depth exposed (and semi-soft goaltending). The bottom half of our roster really took it to them, and that forced their top lines to take more chances, and pay for more mistakes. Our extensive puck time meant they were too tired to mount much in return when we made defensive lapses ourselves.

 

[L K]

Chris Johnston mentioned the Leafs are putting out feelers for Martin and Soshnikov trade interest during the pre-game show yesterday.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/maple-leafs-engaging-market-trading-martin-soshnikov/

f
I'd be more than good with this although I do want to keep Sparks in the pen.

It's entirely TBD whether Sparks would be an adequate backup but if Andersen is going to continue to play 60 games a year, we need someone good, not necessarily someone great.  If Sparks is the driving factor behind making the team better he isn't can't miss enough to let him go in a trade.

 

[disco]

Just to chip in, Nash vs Pitt for the Cup last year was the end of a long two-month battle of attrition for both teams. I wouldn't be surprised if they do absolutely nothing. Hitting / leaning on guys ramps up again in the playoffs and guys start to get injured. I remember Polak knocked a Cap out of the lineup with a hit last year. Big bodies show their value in a way they simply can't in an 82-game parity league season. Guys like Sosh, Martin and Leivo have some value for future picks but I think it would be a vote of confidence just to keep all hands on deck for this year's run.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

I understand what you're saying disco, but they are about to face a numbers crunch when guys get healthy and if they are intent on retaining as many as possible it likely means going back to a sub-optimal roster.

Only Kapanen, Dermott and Borgman are waiver exempt, who are you sending down?

Who are you willing to lose on waivers?

Just saying keep everyone isn't realistic.

Hyman-Matthews-Nylander
JVR-Bozak-Brown
Marleau-Kadri-Marner
Komarov-Moore-Kapanen
Martin-Soshnikov-Leivo

Rielly-Hainsey
Gardiner-Zaitsev
Borgman-Carrick
Dermott-Polak

Andersen
McBackup