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Post by Chance on Sept 18, 2008 0:04:49 GMT -5
Really it's not a stretch at all for me to see Kulemin or Tlusty playing the top line. Are they first line players? Not right now, maybe not ever but just as you said; Can they fit the spot of a rotating winger? Hell yes. Plausible indeed good sir.
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Post by Alex Tran on Sept 20, 2008 13:01:29 GMT -5
"The first full day of Maple Leafs practice saw coach Ron Wilson separate the 60 players into two groups: Veterans and rookies.
Wilson, who was continually on the white board with the group of veterans, used five lines . The top line featured Nik Antropov, Alex Ponikarovsky and new addition Mikhail Grabovski. The seocnd line paired Alex Steen and Niklas Hagman with propsect Nikolai Kulemin. Fifth-year Maple Leaf Matt Stajan joined veteran Jason Blake and sophomore Jiri Tlusty on the third line while the fourth and fifth lines consisted of Dominic Moore-Jamal Mayers-Ryan Hollweg and Dale Mitchell-Mark Bell-Boyd Devereaux.
The defensive pairings started with Tomas Kaberle and Jeff Finger and featured the all-Swede second unit of Anton Stralman and Jonas Frogren. Pavel Kubina skated with Carlo Colaiacovo and Ian White and Staffan Kronwall.
The non-veteran split-squad will skate on Saturday afternoon and is made up of Toronto Marlies, rookies and tryout contracts." sportsnet.ca/hockey/2008/09/20/wilson_leafs_practice/
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Post by Alex Tran on Sept 20, 2008 13:04:39 GMT -5
Kulemin - Steen - Hagman should be a very fun line to watch.
Steen might have a chance to pile up the assists with those two on his wings.
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Post by sixtyone on Sept 20, 2008 13:47:09 GMT -5
where's van ryn?
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Post by Alex Tran on Sept 20, 2008 15:21:00 GMT -5
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Post by Micheal Aldred on Sept 20, 2008 15:33:23 GMT -5
that Kulemin Hagman and Steen line actually made my eyebrows rise. It seems like it just "makes sense" for that line to be true. It could be the type of players he needs around him for him to play his game. Hopefully we see that line in one of the preseason games.
But... Finger as the number 2 defensemen?
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Post by Alex Tran on Sept 20, 2008 15:44:22 GMT -5
that Kulemin Hagman and Steen line actually made my eyebrows rise. It seems like it just "makes sense" for that line to be true. It could be the type of players he needs around him for him to play his game. Hopefully we see that line in one of the preseason games. But... Finger as the number 2 defensemen? Should've read my "Jeff Finger" blog Finger played 22 mins/night after the all-star break and really flourished. That TOI would've ranked him 43rd among NHL D-men, so yes, #2 D-man ice time. It looks like Toronto will be counting on him to do that once again.
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Post by burn on Sept 20, 2008 16:07:16 GMT -5
"The first full day of Maple Leafs practice saw coach Ron Wilson separate the 60 players into two groups: Veterans and rookies.
Wilson, who was continually on the white board with the group of veterans, used five lines . The top line featured Nik Antropov, Alex Ponikarovsky and new addition Mikhail Grabovski. The seocnd line paired Alex Steen and Niklas Hagman with propsect Nikolai Kulemin. Fifth-year Maple Leaf Matt Stajan joined veteran Jason Blake and sophomore Jiri Tlusty on the third line while the fourth and fifth lines consisted of Dominic Moore-Jamal Mayers-Ryan Hollweg and Dale Mitchell-Mark Bell-Boyd Devereaux.
The defensive pairings started with Tomas Kaberle and Jeff Finger and featured the all-Swede second unit of Anton Stralman and Jonas Frogren. Pavel Kubina skated with Carlo Colaiacovo and Ian White and Staffan Kronwall.
The non-veteran split-squad will skate on Saturday afternoon and is made up of Toronto Marlies, rookies and tryout contracts." sportsnet.ca/hockey/2008/09/20/wilson_leafs_practice/I really like these lines and pairs!! This makes it look like Wilson will rotate Cola, White and Kronwall during the pre-season to see who is ready to step up/willing to play the game Wilson wants from them. Curious where VanRyn was, as he wasn't mentioned in the Sportsnet piece. Is he on team #2 with the rooks and Marlies?? That's bad news for him if he is, I'd imagine.
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Post by Micheal Aldred on Sept 20, 2008 18:16:48 GMT -5
that Kulemin Hagman and Steen line actually made my eyebrows rise. It seems like it just "makes sense" for that line to be true. It could be the type of players he needs around him for him to play his game. Hopefully we see that line in one of the preseason games. But... Finger as the number 2 defensemen? Should've read my "Jeff Finger" blog Finger played 22 mins/night after the all-star break and really flourished. That TOI would've ranked him 43rd among NHL D-men, so yes, #2 D-man ice time. It looks like Toronto will be counting on him to do that once again. lol I did read it, I've just been under the impression since the end of last year that Kaberle would be playing with Kubina. I knew Stralman would be with Frogren, and I guess I had Finger pegged with Colaiacovo. Definitely going to be an interesting camp this year. REALLY looking forward to tomorrow's game.
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Post by Micheal Aldred on Sept 20, 2008 18:19:26 GMT -5
"The first full day of Maple Leafs practice saw coach Ron Wilson separate the 60 players into two groups: Veterans and rookies.
Wilson, who was continually on the white board with the group of veterans, used five lines . The top line featured Nik Antropov, Alex Ponikarovsky and new addition Mikhail Grabovski. The seocnd line paired Alex Steen and Niklas Hagman with propsect Nikolai Kulemin. Fifth-year Maple Leaf Matt Stajan joined veteran Jason Blake and sophomore Jiri Tlusty on the third line while the fourth and fifth lines consisted of Dominic Moore-Jamal Mayers-Ryan Hollweg and Dale Mitchell-Mark Bell-Boyd Devereaux.
The defensive pairings started with Tomas Kaberle and Jeff Finger and featured the all-Swede second unit of Anton Stralman and Jonas Frogren. Pavel Kubina skated with Carlo Colaiacovo and Ian White and Staffan Kronwall.
The non-veteran split-squad will skate on Saturday afternoon and is made up of Toronto Marlies, rookies and tryout contracts." sportsnet.ca/hockey/2008/09/20/wilson_leafs_practice/I really like these lines and pairs!! This makes it look like Wilson will rotate Cola, White and Kronwall during the pre-season to see who is ready to step up/willing to play the game Wilson wants from them. Curious where VanRyn was, as he wasn't mentioned in the Sportsnet piece. Is he on team #2 with the rooks and Marlies?? That's bad news for him if he is, I'd imagine. Keep in mind that VanRyn's wife and kids got stuck at the border last week which I believe was because they are all American, while Van Ryn is a Canadian. They are likely getting it sorted out to get them dual-citizenship and possibly get her a visa so she can work here. He probably stayed behind to get that worked out before coming over, so I wouldn't worry about it.
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Post by burn on Sept 20, 2008 21:11:43 GMT -5
I really like these lines and pairs!! This makes it look like Wilson will rotate Cola, White and Kronwall during the pre-season to see who is ready to step up/willing to play the game Wilson wants from them. Curious where VanRyn was, as he wasn't mentioned in the Sportsnet piece. Is he on team #2 with the rooks and Marlies?? That's bad news for him if he is, I'd imagine. Keep in mind that VanRyn's wife and kids got stuck at the border last week which I believe was because they are all American, while Van Ryn is a Canadian. They are likely getting it sorted out to get them dual-citizenship and possibly get her a visa so she can work here. He probably stayed behind to get that worked out before coming over, so I wouldn't worry about it. He's been in Toronto for over week now, skating with the guys at Lakeshore Lions Arena. He had difficulty getting his horses across the boarder last week but that was the last I heard. I didn't hear anything about his family having problems at the boarder.
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Post by Micheal Aldred on Sept 20, 2008 22:58:06 GMT -5
It was probably the horses thing then, but sportsnet was saying it was the family, which doesn't really make sense. You're likely correct with the horses.
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Post by burn on Sept 21, 2008 7:16:01 GMT -5
It was probably the horses thing then, but sportsnet was saying it was the family, which doesn't really make sense. You're likely correct with the horses. Yeah, but I had heard that he had the horses cleared up and that he was on the ice for a week already in TO. I don't really think this sportsnet piece is accurate anyways after watching LeafsTV last night. During the program "Leafs Today", they showed clips of the morning session's practice. According to Sportsnet Dale Mitchell was on the 5th line with Bell and Devereaux. But, when I watched on LEafsTV it was Jon Mitchell. Also Tim Stapleton was on ice during the morning practice with the vets too!! Not sure where Sportsnet got their info.
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Post by burn on Sept 21, 2008 7:30:29 GMT -5
It was probably the horses thing then, but sportsnet was saying it was the family, which doesn't really make sense. You're likely correct with the horses. Yeah, but I had heard that he had the horses cleared up and that he was on the ice for a week already in TO. I don't really think this sportsnet piece is accurate anyways after watching LeafsTV last night. During the program "Leafs Today", they showed clips of the morning session's practice. According to Sportsnet Dale Mitchell was on the 5th line with Bell and Devereaux. But, when I watched on LEafsTV it was Jon Mitchell. Also Tim Stapleton was on ice during the morning practice with the vets too!! Not sure where Sportsnet got their info. Hey, I was just reading the Star are they have the lines like Sportsnet, except it was Jon Mitchell on the 5th line, VanRyn was with Schenn, and White and Kronwall was the 5th pair. Also there were 3 goalies Toslala, Joseph, and Pogge. Here's the link: www.thestar.com/Sports/Hockey/article/503163
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Post by sixtyone on Sept 21, 2008 14:02:51 GMT -5
i do like the idea of having both kabby and kubina playing with "stay at home" guys... should add a good amount of balance... my guess would be that for the PP, you would have kabby/kubina as the starters and then stralman/carlo or van ryn...
it will be interesting to see how well these pairings and others do in the pre-season games... hopefully some chemistry can start to build in those games leading up to the opener...
i'm really curious to see how frogen is going to transition into the nhl... the guy looks huge (based off an interview on mapleleafs.com) and hopefully his style will compliment well in the nhl...
for the forward lines, i like that blake and stajan are playing together... they play well down the stretch last year and with tlusty on the other wing, that adds a lot of speed to a shutdown line...
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