Preseason: sens @ Leafs - Sept. 19th, 7:30pm - TSN, TSN 1050

[CarltonTheBear]

Don't teams have to dress at least a few veterans in each NHL preseason game?

Pretty sure it's only for home games.

No, you do need 8 veterans. VandeVelde , Thompson, and Pyatt are 3 forwards who I count as counting for that. Condon and Hammond are splitting the goalie duties so that brings them up to 5. And it looks like they'll have Wideman, Claesson, and Borowiecki on D to bring them to 8.

 

[disco]

Methuselah still got it

 

[Guru Tugginmypuddah]

Now that's how you hockey.

 

[disco]

https://twitter.com/LeafsNews/status/910294078088208384

 

[AvroArrow]

Borgman has looked pretty good so far.  Of course, he has the advantage of playing with Gardiner, and against an ahl team.

 

[AvroArrow]

Borgman has looked pretty good so far.  Of course, he has the advantage of playing with Gardiner, and against an ahl team.

And a fight in his debut!  Didn't expect that.

 

[Bullfrog]

So, I haven't been following the rule changes, but............that's a penalty? Equivalent to punching someone in the face?

 

[bustaheims]

So, I haven't been following the rule changes, but............that's a penalty? Equivalent to punching someone in the face?

There's going to be quite the adjustment period. Also, I think we're going to see some significant changes in individual face-off proficiencies this season - though, I imagine a lot of those changes will largely be contained to this season.

 

[herman]

Have they played any 5v5 tonight?

 

[Bullfrog]

The way they're saying BorGman is making me feel ill.

 

[ZBBM]

That guy will remember a preseason goal for a long time?

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

This was infinitely worse than last night, a pathetic performance against an ECHL/AHL roster.

 

[rdowdall]

Leafs fallin' for Dhalin

 

[bustaheims]

This was infinitely worse than last night, a pathetic performance against an ECHL/AHL roster.

Strange. I actually thought they played pretty well tonight. Just couldn't put the puck in the net.

 

[ZBBM]

This was infinitely worse than last night, a pathetic performance against an ECHL/AHL roster.

Strange. I actually thought they played pretty well tonight. Just couldn't put the puck in the net.

Don't try to sugarcoat this -- The Darkest Day In Leafs History so far this month.

 

[hockeyfan1]

Babcock once again unimpressed with Leafs' performance...

Leafs coach Mike Babcock is hoping things change before the start of the regular season.

?I thought tonight was way worse than the first night we played, but obviously they want it this way,? said Babcock. ?I think it?s still supposed to be a competitive situation. I don?t know if it is anymore.?

On the plus side, Marleau showed he  fit right in and his debut in a Leafs jersey was one of the few positives on the night:

"Definitely nice to get one and get some confidence and build off of that," said Marleau, who was making his Leafs debut. "It was good to get out there and get used to the surroundings and line mates and systems and all that. Something to build off of."

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/ottawa-senators-toronto-maple-leafs-1.4297844

 

[L K]

Have they played any 5v5 tonight?

This is the joy of "More Offense" NHL.  I'm always fine with the idea of the league calling more blatant interference calls for penalties.  I'm concerned what we are really going to see is just more of the same.  Faceoff infractions will be penalized to death.  Players who put their stick parallel to another skater will get penalized and things like hits from behind will be 50/50 on whether the ref calls it.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I was all for being much stricter on slashing penalties, but this was a pretty bad call:

https://twitter.com/JeffVeillette/status/910309295027351553

Based on that angle, it actually looks like Marincin's swing was going higher and then he made an effort to bring it down to an acceptable point. That's just a good defensive play.

 

[herman]

Have they played any 5v5 tonight?

This is the joy of "More Offense" NHL.  I'm always fine with the idea of the league calling more blatant interference calls for penalties.  I'm concerned what we are really going to see is just more of the same.  Faceoff infractions will be penalized to death.  Players who put their stick parallel to another skater will get penalized and things like hits from behind will be 50/50 on whether the ref calls it.

These all have the same value in the eyes of the league:
Punching someone in the face
Smacking someone in the face with a stick
Hitting someone from behind into the boards (sometimes)
Spearing your stick into someone's gibblets
Tapping someone's stick with your stick
Having a skate over the hash marks on a faceoff

 

[Coco-puffs]

Have they played any 5v5 tonight?

This is the joy of "More Offense" NHL.  I'm always fine with the idea of the league calling more blatant interference calls for penalties.  I'm concerned what we are really going to see is just more of the same.  Faceoff infractions will be penalized to death.  Players who put their stick parallel to another skater will get penalized and things like hits from behind will be 50/50 on whether the ref calls it.

These all have the same value in the eyes of the league:
Punching someone in the face
Smacking someone in the face with a stick
Hitting someone from behind into the boards (sometimes)
Spearing your stick into someone's gibblets
Tapping someone's stick with your stick
Having a skate over the hash marks on a faceoff

Tapping someone stick with your stick isn't supposed to be a penalty.  Don't let one bad call sully the good thing the league is trying to do to get slashing, of the hands specifically, out of the game.  The call on Komarov was exactly what they should be enforcing.  Marincin's penalty was a bad call, even under the new level of enforcement.  Refs don't always get it right, even on "smacking someone in the face with a stick" calls.

Also, having your skate over the line on a faceoff is not a penalty in itself- its a faceoff violation.  Having two faceoff violations on the same draw is a penalty.  League wants to enforce the faceoff rules (which they've been lax on for years) and it will take time for players to adjust.