Stars @ Leafs - Mar. 15th, 7:00pm - TSN4, TSN 1050

[ZBBM]

It's wonderful for the kid but I'd start Mrazek on Thursday.  As bad as he's been and as mad at him as I've been I think you need to give him another chance to get things righted.  They'll either need him down the road or else it'll give him a chance to goose his trade value.

Sent from my moto g(7) power using Tapatalk

 

[Arn]

Kallgren first career start and shutout

Attaboy, Arn

I?m telling you. This is our year where the unexpected goalie comes from obscurity and backstops us to the cup

 

[Andy007]

I know it?s not over but I don?t think the leafs are playing any better tonight than they do any other night. I also don?t think the goaltending has been overly spectacular. That?s the difference competent goaltending makes.

I think the ?defensive woes? are greatly exaggerated.

Logged in just to emphasize this point. I don't think there is a defense in the NHL that would look good playing in front of goaltenders who have performed as abysmally as Mrazek and Campbell the past two months. And I certainly don't buy the idea that the Leafs defense just, out of nowhere, ceremoniously showed up last night and played a great, sound game including a never yet seen 'clearing the net' style. Kallgren was "good" last night, and that's all it took to secure a 4-0 win over a strong team, that also benefited from an especially strong outing by Oettinger.

All this team needs is competent, consistent goaltending (and J.T. Miller at the deadline please) 

 

[L K]

The Leafs have 6 shutouts on the season.  They have an .897 SV% in games they dont' win by shutout.  I think the key is to just shut teams out every night.

 

[Kin]

Logged in just to emphasize this point. I don't think there is a defense in the NHL that would look good playing in front of goaltenders who have performed as abysmally as Mrazek and Campbell the past two months. And I certainly don't buy the idea that the Leafs defense just, out of nowhere, ceremoniously showed up last night and played a great, sound game including a never yet seen 'clearing the net' style. Kallgren was "good" last night, and that's all it took to secure a 4-0 win over a strong team, that also benefited from an especially strong outing by Oettinger.

All this team needs is competent, consistent goaltending (and J.T. Miller at the deadline please) 

I agree with this(well, not so much about Miller). The thing I'd add is that it's not just true for the Leafs, it's true for most teams. If they get competent goaltending, they're a threat to beat anyone. If they don't, they'll have a hard team beating anyone.

The issue for Dubas will be evaluating his goalies and weighing if an upgrade is necessary and/or possible.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

It's wonderful for the kid but I'd start Mrazek on Thursday.  As bad as he's been and as mad at him as I've been I think you need to give him another chance to get things righted.  They'll either need him down the road or else it'll give him a chance to goose his trade value.

I'm not saying that Kallgren is our next undisputed starter or anything, but it's not as if Mrazek hasn't had chances to turn things around. I don't mind seeing what the new guy can do for a couple more games at least.

Team confidence also plays a role here. I just don't think the team has it in Mrazek right now. Going up against the top team in the East without Matthews is a challenge on it's own, but doing that with a goalie the team thinks might let in any shot on net makes things significantly tougher.

 

[bustaheims]

Team confidence also plays a role here. I just don't think the team has it in Mrazek right now. Going up against the top team in the East without Matthews is a challenge on it's own, but doing that with a goalie the team thinks might let in any shot on net makes things significantly tougher.

I'm torn on this one. On one side, Kallgren played well and putting him against one of the best teams in the league might be an opportunity to see if he can carry a good chunk of the load until Campbell gets back and potentially beyond. On the other side, it would only be his 2nd NHL start, so it feels like it's throwing him to the wolves a little, and maybe Mrazek is extra motivated by playing his former team and because maybe he feels like he's playing for his job.

I don't know if there's a clear choice going in.

 

[L K]

Team confidence also plays a role here. I just don't think the team has it in Mrazek right now. Going up against the top team in the East without Matthews is a challenge on it's own, but doing that with a goalie the team thinks might let in any shot on net makes things significantly tougher.

I'm torn on this one. On one side, Kallgren played well and putting him against one of the best teams in the league might be an opportunity to see if he can carry a good chunk of the load until Campbell gets back and potentially beyond. On the other side, it would only be his 2nd NHL start, so it feels like it's throwing him to the wolves a little, and maybe Mrazek is extra motivated by playing his former team and because maybe he feels like he's playing for his job.

I don't know if there's a clear choice going in.

Mrazek did stop 28 of 31 in a win against Carolina in February.  That being said he also got lit up against another one of his former teams in Detroit.

I don't think there is a right decision at this point.  Mrazek has been brutal nearly every game he plays and even in the ones he plays well I think his style just breeds chaos and the Leafs just don't have the kind of defensive structure that works well with that.

 

[bustaheims]

Mrazek did stop 28 of 31 in a win against Carolina in February.  That being said he also got lit up against another one of his former teams in Detroit.

I don't think there is a right decision at this point.  Mrazek has been brutal nearly every game he plays and even in the ones he plays well I think his style just breeds chaos and the Leafs just don't have the kind of defensive structure that works well with that.

I'm willing to give him a bit of a pass on the games against Detroit, as neither was a particular good showing by the team in front of him. Your point about his style has a lot of truth to it, though - he's a more active goalie than most, and when he's struggling to find his game, that definitely leads to chaos. I think the Leafs can play well enough defensively to manage that, but it's not their default by any means - and that certainly doesn't help him to regain his form.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

The whole "big game + Kallgren is green" thing was my reasoning for thinking Mrazek should get the outdoor game, which to me represented a potential turning point for his season. And while he wasn't a complete sieve it was more of the same from him. So yeah the Leafs are at a point where there's no clear choice but I think Kallgren is more of a boom/bust option and I'm willing to take that chance considering what we've seen in net for the past few months. If he fails then he goes back down once Campbell is back and the Leafs continue trying to get him or Mrazek back up to where they should be.

The other thing that should be pointed out is that it's not as if Kallgren is some young rookie straight out of junior. He's 25 years old and started playing professional hockey 7 years ago. He also left Europe, for the 2nd time in his career, and signed here on a 2-year deal with his eyes clearly on the NHL. And generally speaking all the talk from the Marlies on him have been pretty good with Joshua Kloke calling him one of their MVPs in his Marlies midseason review earlier this month. With goalies struggling and an injury opening up a spot on the roster the Leafs have a rare but limited opportunity to see if he's really up to snuff at the NHL level.

 

[Bill_Berg]

I am not high on Kallgren being a great long-term option, or playoff option, but go with the hot hand. Let him start in Carolina.

 

[Arn]

The thing is league average goaltending is probably enough for this Leafs team to be competitive, particularly if one of the top lines gets on a bit of a hot tear. They've been winning games with basically league basement goaltending.

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/265Kilometres/status/1503878663154110464
All the Marlies blogosphere writers are nodding in agreement

https://twitter.com/MarkUkLeaf/status/1502193245966766084

 

[Joe S.]

I don?t understand what this is saying.

Honestly I?m tired of the narrative that the leafs are this team that runs around their own zone clueless and gives up tons of scoring chances. That?s just not true at all.

 

[herman]

I don?t understand what this is saying.

Honestly I?m tired of the narrative that the leafs are this team that runs around their own zone clueless and gives up tons of scoring chances. That?s just not true at all.

It's just saying that the Marlies, under Moore, give up tons of chances in chaotic fashion. I think the Leafs are fine in this regard too and really just need a boring goalie that is square to the shot attempts.

 

[Joe S.]

Ok so I didn?t misunderstand it. Am I alone in thinking this? This isn?t the Ron Wilson leafs. They aren?t chaotic in their own end.

 

[rdowdall]

Ok so I didn?t misunderstand it. Am I alone in thinking this? This isn?t the Ron Wilson leafs. They aren?t chaotic in their own end.

The Leafs are fine as long as they possess the puck.  They have a very good system for getting the puck out of their end.  The problem is that if a team can establish a forcheck against them, then they have trouble breaking the forecheck cycle.  But I think this is a fair statement of every team in the NHL.  It just comes down to how easy is it to establish that forecheck.

 

[bustaheims]

Ok so I didn?t misunderstand it. Am I alone in thinking this? This isn?t the Ron Wilson leafs. They aren?t chaotic in their own end.

There's a lot of confirmation bias that goes into assessments of defensive play, as well as recency bias. The Leafs aren't nearly as bad as the perception of their defensive play - though, I'd argue they're not as good as the metrics suggest, either. They're an average to above average defensive team. Recently, it feels like their making more mistakes, but that's likely due to more of their mistakes ending up in the back of the net. If they received even average goaltending over the last two+ months, there wouldn't be a ton of talk about any defensive deficiencies.

 

[ZBBM]

I think Mrazek's style is not suited for this team or this market.  They haven't performed well in front of that kind of reactive goalie since Cujo (and he was exceptional). Freddy was the perfect type of goaltender for us ... except for you know failing to deliver when it counted most.  I like the way K?llgren plays.

Now, having said all that, and even though I agree with much of what is said in recent posts, I still would give Mrazek the start on Thursday.  One more chance.  He looked much better in Hamilton until that godawful 3rd goal.  It's great that the kid threw a shutout, but what if he gets lit up by the Canes?

We have the luxury of being virtually assured of a playoff spot, and no matter where we finish the opponents will be tough.  So keep tinkering, I say.  If Mrazek does well, then if Dubas does decide to move him it won't be from a position of absolute desperation.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/markhmasters/status/1504144757014282240