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Leaf Rumours

McClement is a very good 3rd liner, and has been every time he's been given that opportunity. Bozak is throwing things out of wack right now. Kadri and Grabo need to be bumped up in the lineup because they are better than Bozak and its the only way Grabo can earn his money. And McClement is a better checking line center than Grabo anyways.
 
leafman101 said:
Statistically Kadri's linemates have been much better this year, and he hasn't been put in terrible offensive situations. In fact he has been protected and put in good offensive situations.
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Here's Kadri for comparison's sake:

MacArthur 60%
Komarov 50%
Frattin 34%
 
Yeah, Grabo's situation is pretty tough in terms of point-production. But he really does have to put up more than a 30 point pace. More worrisomely, he hasn't even really had many chances lately.

He'll have a better opportunity with a full lineup though.
 
yeah, it's the complete lack of chances that's more worrisome, really.

Kadri's in on 3-4 scoring chances every game, and I can't remember the last one grabo was in on.
 
leafman101 said:
Statistically Kadri's linemates have been much better this year, and he hasn't been put in terrible offensive situations. In fact he has been protected and put in good offensive situations.

Grabo has by far been placed in the worst scoring opportunities of all of the offensive players on this team this year. By far.
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I wouldn't say "much" better...again, 2 of Grabo's regular linemates have either matched or bettered his point pace. I dig Frattin, but before the season started I don't think anyone had him ahead of Kulemin on the depth chart....and MacArthur was lost with Grabo before he found some magic with our Lebanese Chemisty Machine.

If the offensive rates between the two were remotely similar, I'd maybe buy your argument here, but Grabo's point production has been shit because he's been shit offensively. Would I expect him to maintain his 55-60 point pace with Kule & McLeo on his wing? No. 40-45 points, with the amount of burn he receives...absolutely. Especially considering the fact that Kulemin is putting up those type of numbers while on his wing.
 
MindzEye said:
If the offensive rates between the two were remotely similar, I'd maybe buy your argument here, but Grabo's point production has been shit because he's been shit offensively. Would I expect him to maintain his 55-60 point pace with Kule & McLeo on his wing? No. 40-45 points, with the amount of burn he receives...absolutely. Especially considering the fact that Kulemin is putting up those type of numbers while on his wing.
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Yeah, but that is only a 3 point difference at this point.

I'm not sure that if Grabo had just 3 more points this conversation wouldn't be happening.
 
The Green Hornet said:
I don't know why everyone is in such a hurry to turn us into a one offensive line team. Kessel and Kadri are producing just fine as it is
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Yeah, it's a fair point. The Lupul-Kadri duo makes that "second line" a 1b line. Or 1a even. Whatever. It should be hard for other teams to stop both.
 
What would be funny is if all they're doing is building Bozak's trade value, with an eye towards Colborne replacing him.
 
The Green Hornet said:
I don't know why everyone is in such a hurry to turn us into a one offensive line team. Kessel and Kadri are producing just fine as it is
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Oh, I don't mind if we have them split up....but I'd really, really like to see Grabo get a shot as his centreman. I don't think it will work, but we're at the point where he have some difficult decisions to make about our centre position.

Are we re signing Bozak? The reflex answer is no...but I'm actually quite concerned that we're going to end up being the team giving him 4/16. Grabo showing that he can mesh with Kessel over a 8-10 game stretch would make it a lot easier to walk away from Bozak's contract demands for Nonis. You can always slot McClement in as the 3C and not lose much over top of what Grabo has provided in that role to this point.

The other thing is, of course, you can't pay a ~40 point 3rd line centre 5.5 million long term...you just can't, if you have any plans on maintaining the cap flexibility necessary to add top end pieces when they come available. Either he and Kadri are our 1-2, or we need to start considering an amnesty in 2014, which of course means that we need to save one of our amnesties and can only jettison one of Komi or Liles that way this summer.
 
leafman101 said:
First round picks since the last lockout:

2005 - n/a
2006 - Phil Kessel (6th)
2007 - James Van Riemsdyk (2nd)
2008 - Joe Colborne (16th), Jake Gardiner (17th)
2009 - Nazem Kadri (7th), Carter Ashton (29th)
2010 - n/a
2011 - Tyler Biggs (22nd), Stuart Percy (25th)
2012 - Morgan Rielly (5th)

9 first round picks in the last 7 drafts, 4 of them from the top 10.
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Nice list, glad to see they're picking and developing their own players the last couple of seasons. If they keep it up, maybe they'll have a consistent stream of quality, cheap, young players to help sustain a successful team for many years. Or, they can trade picks for pricey vets and hope for a playoff round or two.
 
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