• Moderators, please send me a PM if you are unable to access mod permissions. Thanks, Habsy.

GDT #41: Leafs @ Wild, 6:00 - Happy Halfway Mark

zeke said:
Yeah he's looked so solid that he's already my choice for #7 dman next year too.
Click to expand...
It says a lot that he comes into the lineup getting toughs in a top four role. Coach trusts him more than Dermott. And honestly so do I.
 
Yeah if he keeps looking like this he may have to push out one of dermott/ceci come playoffs.
 
I'm not one to cheer for injuries but I would love to see Ceci get hurt. Badly. As long as he lives a long and healthy life after and stuff. But I want a season ender.
 
Shit, I love Keefe.
We thought what would happen in the game today is that they would be forechecking us really hard and they would shoot the puck a lot. That didn’t seem to happen a whole lot today. Just the way we seemed to retain the puck took the wind out of their sails for what is the strength of their team. We hope that that can continue.
Click to expand...

That's a really serious team weakness (i.e., defending a good forecheck) and he looks to have the fix working.

The chemistry has been good. The nice thing that has come out of the fact that we’ve moved things around here since I’ve been here is that it is giving me a pretty good taste of what different things look like. You never know what the season is going to bring and what each game is going to bring. It gives me a different feel for different things. Obviously, we’ve used a number of different combinations so far and we like this one. We like a lot of others that have worked, too.
Click to expand...

I love this thinking. It reminds me a lot of Pat Quinn. He always had his players ready for different looks when the playoffs arrived.

mapleleafshotstove.com

Sheldon Keefe Post Game, Leafs 4 vs. Wild 1: "Just the way we seemed to retain the puck took the wind out of their sails for what is the strength of their team"

Sheldon Keefe addressed the media after his team’s 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild on New Year’s Eve, improving the Leafs’ record to 22-14-5 on the season at the halfway point. On the team’s ability to defend the lead tonight: I thought it was good. Efficient is a good word to describe it. We...
mapleleafshotstove.com mapleleafshotstove.com
 
I think a lot of the good stuff that comes out of Keefe’s approach is from having been an nhl player himself. He gets it more than a guy who never played in the league.
 
Sorta shocking to see the results he has produced. And you know what? We are far from cosy in the standings and we have won a boatload of games under Keefe. We really had to do this, to get back into the picture. Keefe was under a lot of pressure, damn, has he ever performed.

He probably would like to be making the money Babcock is pulling in.
 
aniablue said:
I don't think even the wildest Leafer on this board thought that this kind of result would happen though I mean Muzzin and Miky out, and sheeit, haven't missed much of a beat so far.
Click to expand...

I replied to you, disagreeing with your statement.
 
LeafOfFaith said:
I think a lot of the good stuff that comes out of Keefe’s approach is from having been an nhl player himself. He gets it more than a guy who never played in the league.
Click to expand...

Some of the most successful coaches in sports didnt step foot on a pro playing surface
 
Might have been an NHLer but he thinks and coaches more like a nerd. I like it.

How old were the Babcockisms getting?
 
How hilarious is it that Babcock never tried any of these combos. Like, he had 4 star level forwards, 2 C's and 2 RW's... And he just absolutely refused to rotate them to see how the two possible combos would look.
 
I don't know what's worse. That, or that he felt the driving need to constantly have a "safe" babysitter playing with those guys, like Marleau, Brown, or Hyman, even when the combination clearly wasn't working.
 
I think his golden child actually cursed him. He saw Matty immediately go into beast mode from game one, and I think he attributed it in large part to Hyman, and not Willy or Matty himself. So he figured he needed a Hyman on every line. Problem is, the other guys like Marleau and whoever else aren’t really Hyman types. They’re just fringe guys who can’t win those pick battles like Hyman does. He is pretty unique in his ability to outwork and outmuscle. Makes up for his lack of skill.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top