Don't partner Sandin with Ceci though.

I would...

I get it. He is an upgrade on Marincin but Marincin is a good penalty killer. I think the mistake was pairing matlrimcin with Holl. Marincin and ceci in the bottom pair. Playing limited minutes (mostly pk) would work for me. Put Dermott with Holl and try getting them out there for 20-24 minutes.

I am not on board with burning a year off Sandin.

Ride out the year with Marincin, Gravel, or even the russian.


Anyone know how close Muzzin is to return?

I don't get the hate Marincin is getting, he hasn't been the worst TO defender since Muzzin got hurt. Let him play until he blows himself up, it'll probably happen, it has always happened but maybe under Keefe he doesn't until Muzzin comes back. Sandin can't kill penalties as good as Marincin. To be honest, I'd rather have Marincin in the lineup over Ceci.

Steven Burtch did some work and he found that marty is a top 40 penalty killer in the league. Ceci has had fine results on the pk so far but he cant prevent a cross ice pass. I really like marincins ability to prevent slot passes and cause opponent to dump the puck in.

Me neither. The leafs are at a point where they are contending for a cup and sandin gives them the best chance to do so. I'm not opposed to calling up Lilly because his contract doesnt slide anymore but sandin is better

Marincin isn't hurting us right now. Once Muzzin is back where would Sandin even play? His off side in Ceci's place? I am not sure I'd do that, and that is the only guy who isn't good on the Leafs blueline. So with that in mind, I'd not bother, let him be an allstar and top defenceman on the Marlies. It won't hurt him and it isn't hurting the Leafs.

If I were the coach I would play sandin and barrie together on the 3rd pair so they can be sheltered in the OZ and some shifts in the DZ against 3rd and 4th lines. I would run
Muzzin-holl
Rielly-dermott
Sandin-holl
And occasion dress marty as the 7th defenseman and pk specialist.

I think dermott can step into the top 4 and be good. I'm not a fan of playing barrie and rielly together unless they are down by a goal but in a tie game or when they are leading it seems dangerous.

But it really hasn't been, I have found that they have been the best at getting the puck out of their zone and back up ice quickly. The system the teams plays defensively works well with them together. Once they have puck they are so good at getting it down the ice.

I definitely agree with you about how it's worked so far. Barrie has something like a 56% expected goals share under Keefe. I'm just worried if they were to get stuck out at the Bruins top line it wouldn't be good. Neither are really good at regaining the puck after its lost. When they have the puck I cant think of a better pairing

I haven't seen anything to make me concerned. The defence has been really good under Keefe, as I have mentioned in other posts, where this team gets in trouble is when they make mistakes in the offensive zone and get caught on odd man rushes. Those mistakes are falling off and I think Rielly and Barrie have been pretty good at getting back so far. I think people are concerned because they are thinking about how things used to be when Babs was the coach and teams would cycle behind the net and then the Leafs would leave the front of the net wide open. I think now we'll see Boston's top line either defending against our top line or they'll be passing it around the outside of our zone and not really getting any quality chances. TO has been extremely good at taking away the front of the net and I think Barrie and Rielly have been good at that as well. I am not at all concerned with that pair. I think most of the people that do, are letting what happened earlier in the season and the overall public perception about "How its supposed to be" influence their thoughts on this.

What Russian?

Do you regret burning a year of Nylander?

We're in it to win it. Our clock has started.

Steven Burtch loses the forest for the trees. I used to chat with him on these sorts of site 5-10 years ago.

A) someone will probably get injured at some point.

B) Dermott can play his off side

Sorry hes finnish, Teemu.

Nylander year burn was okay now we are cap strait so that is why we shouldn't.

It was better to burn nylander. They knew MM and AM (or whoever they picked at the time) would be ready to play in the NHL that season and they wouldn't want them to expire at the same time

He can but he's better on his strong side. Plus if you take Ceci and Marincin out, your options for PK minutes aren't very good. Believe me I was all for keeping Sandin up earlier in the season but right now, I don't see it being necessary. If Marincin falls apart then all bets are off but he's been better than Ceci so far and I am not sure Dermott is ready to go to his off side yet.

I feel like there is a lot angst behind this thread. As in perhaps people are really worried about a year getting away from them and every year they don't win the cup the worse things will be. Patience. They are one of the youngest teams in the NHL. They are going to be fine and they will make the playoffs. Right now, Sandin doesn't need to come up, Marincin, Rielly and Dermott are playing fine and I think we can weather this for the next 2-3 weeks and then Muzzin will be back. If Ceci struggles more or gets hurt I'd bring up Lilly and give him sometime, he could already be better than Ceci and he isn't a slide candidate anyways

I am not trying to be impatient. But I just don't think "burning" a year of Sandin's contract is a big deal. Its not something I would go out of my way to do, but it wouldn't be a major deciding factor for me.

For example if all else were equal and I was trying to decide who to bring up at some point (not now, a hypothetical situation) between Lilly and Sandin, I wouldn't choose Lilly over Sandin for contract reasons. I would choose whichever I thought would help us win now/would be best for their development.

Also the clock on this team winning in a sense are Rielly and Andersen's contract. If we resign Andersen I strongly suspect it will be a terrible contract sooner than later.

Figured you meant him. How has he looked on the Marlies?

You are worrying too much, there are always moves that can be made when you develop players as well as TO does. Robertson looks like a massive steal and if he pans out, he can either be moved to shore stuff up or a high profile other player can be moved. Andersen I think could price himself out of town and be replaced by someone else.

I dislike Marincin so I go with him over Marincin.