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Leaf Rumours

Volcanologist said:
The troubling part is that there's no evidence Orr intimidated anybody. Toughness has to be part of the players who log the big minutes up front, not just a cementhead who can't even play the game. The Leaf forwards as a group are very small and mostly quite soft.
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Although most aren't happy with the contract Colby should rectify this to a degree, and maybe Kulimen and even more maybe Mueller.
 
Volcanologist said:
The troubling part is that there's no evidence Orr intimidated anybody. Toughness has to be part of the players who log the big minutes up front, not just a cementhead who can't even play the game. The Leaf forwards as a group are very small and mostly quite soft.
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Other than Kessel, who doesn't go into the corners and typically avoids physical contact, I don't consider any of Kadri, Versteeg, Grabo, Kulemin or Bozak soft. Small maybe, but not soft. Those 5 guys aren't afraid to get their noses dirty.
 
Yeah, the Leafs are a pretty scrappy bunch up front. They aren't going to scare anyone physically, but they aren't easy to play against and will definitely get under the opponents skin.
 
'Tough' isn't just about how much you weight.

'Tough' is an attitude more than anything. Take Grabo for example, he's not going to intimidate just because he's on the ice, but he doesn't back down from ANYBODY.
 
Bozak = shifty
Kulemin - gritty
Grabo = persistent
Kadri = tenacious
Versteeg = TBD

Only Kessel is a bit of a scaredy cat and avoids contact. The rest welcome it or are good at dodging it.
 
As the season grinds on, the Leafs lack of size will hurt them. I do understand the scrappy thing...Grabo is scrappy for sure, for example. But he doesn't win a lot of board battles and he's going to get knocked down a lot. He isn't a physical player.

On the plus side, they do have great speed as a group, which should help them win more of the games when the other team is tired.

Boy would Antropov look good in our forwards right about now. Burkie messed up there.
 
corksens said:
Colton Orr has gotten a wee bit cocky.

It's as if he's forgotten that Carker (who isn't an enforcer, by the way) KO'd him once too.
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They fought 4 times I think, and Orr absolutely dropped Carkner 3 of those times. It really means nothing in terms of the performance of the two teams, but in this matchup Orr is entitled to feel cocky I suppose. God knows he doesn't do much else on the ice.
 
Volcanologist said:
As the season grinds on, the Leafs lack of size will hurt them. I do understand the scrappy thing...Grabo is scrappy for sure, for example. But he doesn't win a lot of board battles and he's going to get knocked down a lot. He isn't a physical player.

On the plus side, they do have great speed as a group, which should help them win more of the games when the other team is tired.

Boy would Antropov look good in our forwards right about now. Burkie messed up there.
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Well, I don't disagree, but lack of size up front didn't seem to stop the Habs from going deep.
 
In all this talk about the leafs' forwards lack of toughness, we seem to be overlooking that they might just be the fastest group of forwards in the league.

backed up by one big, tough, and mean d-corps.
 
number17 said:
Well, I don't disagree, but lack of size up front didn't seem to stop the Habs from going deep.
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Yeah, one time. With Halak standing on his head stopping a zillion shots every night. I don't think we should model ourselves after last season's habs. Being carried by your goaltending while being outshot 2-1 isn't a strategy I prefer.

Listen, I like what some of our forwards bring to the table. Bozak seems a solid 2-way player, I'm thinking the board will like the well-rounded Versteeg a lot better than Hagman or Stempniak, for one. I've said before, if Bozak and Kadri can do the job as the top centres, we're looking good provided Burke can bring in another scoring winger to back up Kessel. That would give us two solid scoring lines and something for opposition coaches to think about other than "doubleteam Kessel whenever he's on the ice".

I just think we'll really miss having some big guys like Nik (and to a lesser degree, Poni) drawing penalties and holding possession against big defencemen. Especially when the season gets into the grind of Jan-Feb and the cumulative punishment starts to add up.
 
Oh you ARE preaching to the choir here. I think we need size up front, and I think we should've kept Antropov (for cheap too!)

BUT I also think the game's changed, and with the small in size but at least scrappy and very fast bunch of forwards we have up front, I think we'll do alright especially when we have a good defense and some size in our bottom 6.

I do agree Burke's priority remains to get a top 6 forward with size.
 
zeke said:
In all this talk about the leafs' forwards lack of toughness, we seem to be overlooking that they might just be the fastest group of forwards in the league.

backed up by one big, tough, and mean d-corps.
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If that was directed at me, I did mention the Leafs speed. Speed helps you in a lot of ways as well, I agree with that.
 
Volcanologist said:
They fought 4 times I think, and Orr absolutely dropped Carkner 3 of those times. It really means nothing in terms of the performance of the two teams, but in this matchup Orr is entitled to feel cocky I suppose. God knows he doesn't do much else on the ice.
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You remember incorrectly.

They fought four times.

2 KO's for Orr
1 KO for Carkner
1 Draw.
 
Uwe Krupp, Mueller's coach at the Olympics said he believes Mueller will be a significant player at the NHL, but also said he doesn't think Mueller is ready for the NHL just yet ...

“He’s developed very nicely, but I don’t think anything he has done so far is going to be good enough to play for the Leafs,” said Krupp, in Toronto for the World Hockey Summit.

“Marcel is going to have to make another step and that is going to be a big challenge for him.”

“He is an instinctive player who can make plays in a small space. He protects the puck really well and he goes hard to the net. He can be physical. He is versatile. To me he has always been an offensive player more than a third line or a fourth line centreman or winger.”

“His skating is good. He’s a big strong kid. He is 22 years old and I don’t think his physical development is finished.”
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Most sites have Mueller at around 6'3, 220-225 already. He's pretty big as is.

I'm no Mueller expert, but reading Krupp's description, he sounds a lot like Poni.
 
He's got some more edge to his game I think. He led the league in PIM by a ton.

If he could turn into a Poni type player though, that would be a fantastic signing.
 
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