I cannot for the life of me understand why this ****ing coach is so stubborn and keeping Gards-Zaitzev and Rielly-Hainsey together. Try ANYTHING else!

Maybe he wants Bruins surprised when he puts actual good lines in front of them and stunn them lmao. Everything else is working, this isnt.. expect Z to be bad and Gardiner to let in another ****ty goal. Thats what I would expect.. **** it.. Im hating that pairing so long.. it destroys our chances of trading Zaitsev for good replacement..

To be perfectly honest, the Muzzin deal looks worse and worse each game the Leafs play since he was acquired. It's not so much that he's especially bad or anything, though he gives the puck away quite a bit, and is not a great skater, it's more the fact the Leafs needed someone to slot in on high, on the right side, and Muzzin's cost, at least to this point, just does not equate to it being a good deal. I agree that Gardiner and Zaitsev should never be paired together and trying Reilly with Zaitsev might not be the worst experiment.

I don't know. I thought Muzzin looked pretty good with Rielly in the begining. Seemed like a fine top pairing to me. And then he scored a PP goal early on as well. So, Babs seperates Muzzin/Mo and takes Jake M off PP2?? And Hainsey's ice time increases since we aquired Muzzin??!

To me it's coming down to Babcocks strange logic and stubborness here. I guess I could kinda get it if Hainsey was a RHD, but he's not - he's playing on his offside too. I'm just losing the plot here. I don't get it all..

That said, I like Willy at 3c. Hope he sticks there and Kadri gets bumped up to LW.. Something like..

Kadri - JT - Hyman
Brown - AM - Marner
Johnsson - Willy - Kappy
Ennis - Marleau - Moore

Kadri could be that gritty LW we need, and I think a line of Johnsson - Willy - Kappy would kill it.

Because he isn't actually a good coach. People think he is good but look at his numbers with and without Lidstrom.

I just don't think Muzzin has been a good fit. When the Leafs win, everything is fine and dandy, and issues seem to go largely unnoticed by the masses watching. Then suddenly, they lose a couple of games, and all these issues are noticed, and magnified because they are playing in Toronto. I think Muzzin was bad acquisition for the price.

Kadri has been largely non-physical all year. Not sure why, but I don't think he will provide that grit someone like Chris Kreider, Simmonds, or Ferland could offer. Also, he's a very capable center. Willy is a line driver, but the pressure of being a center, doing the defensive work, makes him less than ideal for the role, at least for the moment. Marner and Matthews will never play together long term because they are both line drivers.

He has his systems, that's perfectly fine, but what worked with a star-studded Team Canada, and the Detroit Red Wings may not work in Toronto. I hope he is willing to change things up, because, at least from what I can see on the #1 PP, he is very unwilling to make significant moves there, and I think Kadri is quite wasted on that first unit.

Yeah, that's all fair.

On Kadri to LW - The idea of kadri heading to the LW is done without any further trades coming along to address the LW, which is cleary an area in need of improvement. I agree, kadri hasn't been as physical this year, but each game that he is, he certainly is more effective. Plus a line of kadri-JT-Hyman (finally on his strong side...) could do well against Boston's top line.. and it'd be really fun to see Kadri and Marchant line up against each other over 7 games.. I think kadri needs a more prominent role on the team and to be given that challenge

On Willy at C - I think we'd all be surprised at how well Willy would do as a 3C with propper winger support.. I'm looking forward to seeing him there while Kadri is out. He's been heating up, and I think he is much better defensively than he gets credit for.. I think Willy needs a more prominent role and the team and to be given that challenge...

On Muzzin - I hear what your saying here and won't argue it too much, because you could be right. I guess my beef with the situation is that Muzzin/Mo weren't really given a whole lot of tiem to prove what they could do together. A handful of games,maybe? And then we're right back to Mo/Hainsey. I just don't get it..

On Marner/AM driving a line - True. But it's not like JT hasn't done that his whole career.. JT doesn't need Mtich to have success, although it doesn't hurt.. And like you mentioned, Willy can drive a line as well

Anyways, I'm not suggesting that this is the answer... but it could be an option with some logic to it.

babcock had the privilege of coaching some star studded teams with Team C\anada and the Red Wings. But I think his best coaching was with Anaheim when he took them deep and with the rookie squad of leafs that he had 2 years ago. I'd like to see less Team Canada/red wing Babcock, and more Anaheim/Rookie leaf team Babcock..

I'd say its a stretch to say he isn't a good coach, but very close to the truth to say he is one helluva stubborn coach... I agree, he was loaded with talent in Detroit. And honestly, he probably should of nabbed more cups with that talent available to him..

Having a top 5 all-time D man will get you a long ways.

Truth