Manny Malhotra to join Leafs as assistant coach

[Kin]

https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1306622707719692289

 

[herman]

Apparently this will be good for our face-offs.
https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/manny-malhotra-became-one-nhls-promising-young-coaches/

Hitchcock had singled him out the previous night with intent ? he saw something in the centreman?s character. Malhotra was the guy who Columbus players respected the most and Hitchcock needed him to become what the coach calls ?the first teammate.?

Their conversation was ?very intense and very emotional,? Hitchcock remembers, and centred on what the coach needed and expected from his player. Malhotra was told that he could be an alright top-six forward and enjoy a nice career, or he could have a major impact as a go-to third-line checker who took all the important faceoffs, killed all the important penalties and played against opponents? top players. That route would require him to do all the dirty work on the ice, cover for teammates? mistakes, fight for space and be okay with all of that. It was, after all, the most unselfish job in hockey.

?And you?ve got to drag people into the fight,? Hitchcock added. ?You can?t be everybody?s friend. You?ve got to lead the charge in being a great teammate.?

Now Hakstol is taking a new role somewhere else, right? So our assistant coaches can both have comic book character names.

Edit: The more I'm reading the more I'm liking this (is it even confirmed yet?). Canucks fans are mad.

 

[L K]

https://twitter.com/friedgehnic/status/1306622707719692289?s=21

 

[Deebo]

https://twitter.com/PierreVLeBrun/status/1306629363220258816

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/RussoHockey/status/1306630752969293826

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I'm not sure if he'll be handling PP or PK duties but from the sounds of it he was very involved with face-off strategies in Vancouver so I really hope he asks key questions like "what do you mean you don't have centres take face-offs on the penalty kill?" and "no seriously what's up with that?".

 

[herman]

Malhotra served as player dev, scouting, and face-off coach; eye in the sky coach for games.
Looks like he'll be on the bench with Keefe and Hakstol, bringing a lot of those intangibles without affecting cap/roster constraints, not to mention the hype for South Asian hockey fans in the west end of the GTA.

https://twitter.com/Sigi_JE/status/1306632796325150720

Jordan Bean and Sam Kim round out the staff handling video and analysis.

 

[Frank E]

Well, I sure hope this works out.

I would have rather them gone with Boudreau's experience.  I think they needed some depth there, and Malhotra hasn't even been on an NHL bench before.

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1306642996482502662

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I'm not sure if he'll be handling PP or PK duties but from the sounds of it he was very involved with face-off strategies in Vancouver so I really hope he asks key questions like "what do you mean you don't have centres take face-offs on the penalty kill?" and "no seriously what's up with that?".

Veering slightly off topic but I looked into this a little bit more. This past season Hyman led the Leafs in SH face-offs. He took 127 face-offs while on the PK and just 28 at even-strength.

Here is the full list of all NHLers to take more than 100 face-offs on the PK and less than 100 face-offs at even-strength in the last 10 years. Again, this is among all NHLers, not just Leafs:

Zach Hyman 2019-20 TOR
Zach Hyman 2018-19 TOR
Zach Hyman 2017-18 TOR
Leo Komarov 2017-18 TOR
Leo Komarov 2016-17 TOR

Save us Manny! Save us!

 

[Guilt Trip]

Well, I sure hope this works out.

I would have rather them gone with Boudreau's experience.  I think they needed some depth there, and Malhotra hasn't even been on an NHL bench before.

I wanted Boudreau also but who knows how the interview went. He may have wanted an out if a head coach job came up. He could be realistically gone early next season with such a clause. I'm sure Dubas didn't want that to happen. By all accounts though MM is a rising star and from everything I've read, he's a quality person and ready.

 

[L K]

I'm not sure if he'll be handling PP or PK duties but from the sounds of it he was very involved with face-off strategies in Vancouver so I really hope he asks key questions like "what do you mean you don't have centres take face-offs on the penalty kill?" and "no seriously what's up with that?".

Veering slightly off topic but I looked into this a little bit more. This past season Hyman led the Leafs in SH face-offs. He took 127 face-offs while on the PK and just 28 at even-strength.

Here is the full list of all NHLers to take more than 100 face-offs on the PK and less than 100 face-offs at even-strength in the last 10 years. Again, this is among all NHLers, not just Leafs:

Zach Hyman 2019-20 TOR
Zach Hyman 2018-19 TOR
Zach Hyman 2017-18 TOR
Leo Komarov 2017-18 TOR
Leo Komarov 2016-17 TOR

Save us Manny! Save us!

Over the last 3 seasons Hyman took 411 short handed faceoffs.  He was 44.5% on the draw.  I'm good with being unconventional when it works, but Hyman taking faceoffs wasn't really working.

 

[Guilt Trip]

I'm not sure if he'll be handling PP or PK duties but from the sounds of it he was very involved with face-off strategies in Vancouver so I really hope he asks key questions like "what do you mean you don't have centres take face-offs on the penalty kill?" and "no seriously what's up with that?".

Veering slightly off topic but I looked into this a little bit more. This past season Hyman led the Leafs in SH face-offs. He took 127 face-offs while on the PK and just 28 at even-strength.

Here is the full list of all NHLers to take more than 100 face-offs on the PK and less than 100 face-offs at even-strength in the last 10 years. Again, this is among all NHLers, not just Leafs:

Zach Hyman 2019-20 TOR
Zach Hyman 2018-19 TOR
Zach Hyman 2017-18 TOR
Leo Komarov 2017-18 TOR
Leo Komarov 2016-17 TOR

That's really a sad stat that has Babs all over it. I see no reason why Matthews(55%) isn't taking PK draws. Same as JT(55%). Goat and Spezza 54%
I don't know what they did just shorthanded but this is their overall %..
Zach Hyman 2019-20 TOR...43.8%
Zach Hyman 2018-19 TOR...47.68%
Zach Hyman 2017-18 TOR...42.8%
Leo Komarov 2017-18 TOR...52%
Leo Komarov 2016-17 TOR....45%

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Friedman was able to get a quick Malhotra note into his 31 Thoughts released today:

9. Toronto wasn?t the only team that asked for permission on Manny Malhotra. Vancouver wasn?t going to stand in the way of a promotion.

 

[Frank E]

I'm not sure if he'll be handling PP or PK duties but from the sounds of it he was very involved with face-off strategies in Vancouver so I really hope he asks key questions like "what do you mean you don't have centres take face-offs on the penalty kill?" and "no seriously what's up with that?".

Veering slightly off topic but I looked into this a little bit more. This past season Hyman led the Leafs in SH face-offs. He took 127 face-offs while on the PK and just 28 at even-strength.

Here is the full list of all NHLers to take more than 100 face-offs on the PK and less than 100 face-offs at even-strength in the last 10 years. Again, this is among all NHLers, not just Leafs:

Zach Hyman 2019-20 TOR
Zach Hyman 2018-19 TOR
Zach Hyman 2017-18 TOR
Leo Komarov 2017-18 TOR
Leo Komarov 2016-17 TOR

Save us Manny! Save us!

Over the last 3 seasons Hyman took 411 short handed faceoffs.  He was 44.5% on the draw.  I'm good with being unconventional when it works, but Hyman taking faceoffs wasn't really working.

They didn't have a centre that played the PK well enough.  Hyman, Marner, Kapanen were the best of the bunch.

EDIT:  And I can't blame the coach for that.

 

[Guilt Trip]

Friedman was able to get a quick Malhotra note into his 31 Thoughts released today:

9. Toronto wasn?t the only team that asked for permission on Manny Malhotra. Vancouver wasn?t going to stand in the way of a promotion.

The Leafs swooped in a told him to come home lol. My guess is MM wasn't getting a promotion in Van city which is no surprise seeing the success they had in the playoffs.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

They didn't have a centre that played the PK well enough.  Hyman, Marner, Kapanen were the best of the bunch.

EDIT:  And I can't blame the coach for that.

Tavares killed penalties with the Islanders, never did it here. Kerfoot showed he could play the PK in the playoffs, that should have started earlier. Kadri should have had a PK role during his time here... he was good enough in his own zone to centre our checking line but not play shorthanded? I don't buy that.

Heck even Matthews could have played PK minutes... you're telling me Marner and Kapanen can learn that part of the game but he can't?

 

[Frank E]

They didn't have a centre that played the PK well enough.  Hyman, Marner, Kapanen were the best of the bunch.

EDIT:  And I can't blame the coach for that.

Tavares killed penalties with the Islanders, never did it here. Kerfoot showed he could play the PK in the playoffs, that should have started earlier. Kadri should have had a PK role during his time here... he was good enough in his own zone to centre our checking line but not play shorthanded? I don't buy that.

Heck even Matthews could have played PK minutes... you're telling me Marner and Kapanen can learn that part of the game but he can't?

They could have, maybe.  But neither Keefe nor Babcock seems to think they should be playing the PK.

Kerfoot had a 32.6 FO% in the "playoffs" this year.  46.9% during the season.

 

[Guilt Trip]

I'm not sure if he'll be handling PP or PK duties but from the sounds of it he was very involved with face-off strategies in Vancouver so I really hope he asks key questions like "what do you mean you don't have centres take face-offs on the penalty kill?" and "no seriously what's up with that?".

Veering slightly off topic but I looked into this a little bit more. This past season Hyman led the Leafs in SH face-offs. He took 127 face-offs while on the PK and just 28 at even-strength.

Here is the full list of all NHLers to take more than 100 face-offs on the PK and less than 100 face-offs at even-strength in the last 10 years. Again, this is among all NHLers, not just Leafs:

Zach Hyman 2019-20 TOR
Zach Hyman 2018-19 TOR
Zach Hyman 2017-18 TOR
Leo Komarov 2017-18 TOR
Leo Komarov 2016-17 TOR

Save us Manny! Save us!

Over the last 3 seasons Hyman took 411 short handed faceoffs.  He was 44.5% on the draw.  I'm good with being unconventional when it works, but Hyman taking faceoffs wasn't really working.

They didn't have a centre that played the PK well enough.  Hyman, Marner, Kapanen were the best of the bunch.

EDIT:  And I can't blame the coach for that.

I can blame him and he doesn't get a pass here. You can teach players to kill penalties. He had Dom Moore back in 17/18 who did kill penalties. He also had Tyler Bozak all those years who wasn't good enough to kill for the Leafs but was for St Louis and they have O'Rielly. He also never tried Matthews on the PK.
I think MM can help a guys like Engvall/Kerfoot in the faceoff dot which would help a lot seeing they kill penalties.

 

[Highlander]

Welcome Manny, trusting you will be a welcome addition to the bench.