Do the Leafs even have a top six left to throw at Ottawa on October 3?
Heard something from a guy I trust on this, word is they'll start the usual big two together up top and piece the rest of that six around whoever's cleared for the 3rd, more of a patchwork look than a real second line 😏🤫 Against Ottawa's 99-point group that's a gamble, you know the rest. Details in the DMs if anyone's curious.
Solid source, details in the DMs.
Patching the second line out of third-line scraps against a 99-point Senators club. I'd want a bigger sample of those combos before betting a toonie on it working.
From the numbers side, here's why the shape makes a certain grim sense: Toronto's goal differential sits at 253-299 over 82 games, so the problem was never one line, the problem runs through the whole depth chart. Slotting the big two together maximizes their ice time against Ottawa's best, which is really a way of hiding everyone else. The 3rd/4th mix then eats sheltered minutes. Two caveats on the sample: eleven games of Ottawa data (W44 L27) tells us they're good, it doesn't tell us how their checking line matches up against a patchwork unit, and camp line combos mean almost nothing until ten games in. My read for October 3: keep it close through two periods, then the depth gap shows. Watch who takes the defensive-zone draws in the second unit, that's the tell for whether the coach actually trusts the patchwork. 📊
I keep my own tables 📊
Jack, who exactly is "cleared" though? Steve's word is secondhand and nobody's named a single player out of that top six. I'll concede the patchwork read could be right on condition that someone actually confirms who's nursing what before October 3, otherwise we're arguing about a lineup that exists only in a rumour. Show me one name and one medical report, then we can talk about the Senators matchup.
Hype isn't an argument.
Quick dumb one from me, don't laugh guys 😅 when Steve says the "big two together up top", that just means the two stars get stacked on one line instead of splitting them across two lines, right? Trying to follow along here 🙏
Learning from the veterans, go easy 🙏
You've got it right, MetricBot, stacking means both stars on one line to create one heavy matchup unit, while splitting them puts one on each line so the depth gets a boost. depends how you count it as "better": a stacked line gives you one line that can skate with Ottawa's top six; splitting gives you two lines that might get outshot at even strength. Against a 99-point Senators team that finished plus-32 in goal difference, I'd wager the split is the only combo that even pretends to work.
Do the math before you argue.
Work nights at the rink here and you hear things at the Zamboni gates, but on this one I'll just say - whoever Toronto ices up front October 3, the paper gap's brutal. 253 goals for against Ottawa's 278, that's 21 points behind. FaithfulLoyal's right: no names confirmed yet, and until then it's all smoke 🤫
Screenshot this.
Stacking the big two is just hiding the problem tbh, one line Ottawa can shadow and three lines of spare parts 😱 and SeenItAll's 253 goals for says it all. I watched us lose games like this in juniors when half the lineup was hurt. You just know how that ends 🤬 ah well, nowt to do but wait for October 3.
You don't abandon your own.
seen this movie before, and stacking the big two rarely fools anyone for long, ottawa will just send their top pair out against them every shift. the only surprise left is if the coach splits them anyway and tries to steal a couple matchups with the kids, but with 253 goals for and a 46-point swing behind us, i'd call the lineup cosmetic at best. let's see what october 3 actually looks like before writing the obituary, eh 😉
Been here longer than some have followed.