Ahh... Tampa can have him.

Thanks for the responses. If anything I'm still seeing this as a long shot. I'm with Frank, I don't think this lasts into the regular season.

I have to give Keefe props here though. Better to try Nylander at C in the preseason than to, let's say, a deciding game in the playoffs. 😃

I'm asking this genuinely. Can anyone give an example of a player, after 7 years in the NHL made the transition to a full time centre after never playing that position with any regularity?

I know Mats Sundin spent a lot of his time in Quebec as a winger and played some wing with the Leafs before transitioning as a full time center.
 
Brayden Schenn switched to Center from the wing in his age 26 season after being traded to St. Louis from Philadelphia. It can happen.

I don't disagree with this, but Mirtle has got him lining up with Robertson and Domi there behind Matthews and Tavares...I think Nylander has a cow if that's where he's slotted.

My guess is Nylander starts with with Domi and Jarnkrok, not Robertson. And really I think you could make the case that that's a better duo than Tavares' wingers (Knies-Lafferty). If Nylander can handle the C position I think it's entirely possible that his line outperforms the Tavares line. Which one beat reporters decide to type up first in their tweets doesn't really matter.

Yeah that Knies - Tavares - Lafferty line is more of a third line.  Personally, I would put Marner and Nylander together because I think that would help Nylander be more successful, but I get that has drawbacks as well.

Just came on here to type that. The Leafs ever tried Nylander with Marner on his wing.

Maybe a line of Domi - Nylander - Marner?

Maybe Tavares - Kämpf - Lafferty 3rd line?

Leaving Knies - Matthews - Bertuzzi with top line duties.

Thoughts?

I know we have time to make a decision on who gets cut to get under the cap but I hope they don't make a bad decision with Timmins.  If he bulked up that much I really wonder if he finds the next gear to be a guy you would really regret losing.  The potential upside is still pretty significant with him.

Agreed. The Leafs 7th D is more important than their 10th forward, imo, when it comes to who to expose on waivers.

How did Giordano grow an inch?

New and improved measuring tape. ;P

Giordano spent the offseason sleeping upside down like a bat.

Based entirely on the two training camp groups I'm assuming the pre-pre-season expected regular season opening lines are:

Bertuzzi-Matthews-Marner
Knies-Tavares-Lafferty
Domi-Nylander-Jarnkrok
Gregor/Holmberg/McMann-Kampf-Reaves

Top-6 are all in group 1, bottom-6 are all in group 2. Certainly lots of time for that to change but Keefe generally doesn't just pick his camp groups/lines willy nilly.

Building 3rd line around Willy is a great idea imo. That would put a 40-goal scorer on each of the top 3 lines. Run all three lines evenly. I hope they stick with it. 

https://twitter.com/spittinchiclets/status/1704129975065219102
SC has its own issues, but Bisonette is pretty right here in terms of the crux of the message. There was more that happened that didn't make it to public consumption.

The uh, methodology prescribed at the end there is not helpful though; again, SC has their issues too.

Two wrongs make a right? 🤦�♂️

I mean unless there's new/worse details I'm still not sure this seems worthy of this level of attention, but if players were uncomfortable with it they're obviously fully entitled to bring those concerns up the chain.

As long as Babcock didn't take the phones out of the player's possession I think this is a nothingburger. It's been established Babcock has done this activity in the past, with no one saying "he took my phone and starting going through it" and until that changes I think this is weird but not a gross violation of people's rights to privacy. We know people have a vendetta against Babcock and I also consider that in all this.

He did the thing.

I mean unless there's new/worse details I'm still not sure this seems worthy of this level of attention, but if players were uncomfortable with it they're obviously fully entitled to bring those concerns up the chain.

As long as Babcock didn't take the phones out of the player's possession I think this is a nothingburger. It's been established Babcock has done this activity in the past, with no one saying "he took my phone and starting going through it" and until that changes I think this is weird but not a gross violation of people's rights to privacy. We know people have a vendetta against Babcock and I also consider that in all this.
 

https://twitter.com/Kyle_Cush/status/1702368580442939502

Former Coyotes goalie coach so you'd assume there'd be some familiarity with Treliving there. Good luck in Pittsburgh.
 

I think the problem is that there isn't enough information to actually form an opinion, which leaves many of us filling in the gaps with our own assumptions, which is really bad reporting.  It's reporting for the sake of controversy, and they are wrapping it in the guise of trying to do right by the players.

Any leader worth their salt knows that they have to understand the people they are leading so that they can create roles for them that they will feel invested in and ultimately perform well at.  So Babcock trying to get to know his players is not all that strange.  It's how that personal connection is being fostered that matters.  You can't force a personal connection.  It needs to be grown.

So if Babcock invites the players into his office, they start chatting and then organically it leads to showing some pictures on the screen, then that's fine.  There is nothing wrong with that.

Even if Babcock sends out an email ahead of time to the team and says something like "Hey I'm new here, I want to get to know you guys a little better, so during our 1 on 1 meeting, I would like for you to show me some pictures from last summer around what you did" is a little more forced, but still okay because it isn't a surprise, everyone is on the same page for the reasoning, and there is time for the player to prepare. 

But if the player walks in to Babcock's office sits down and the first thing out of Babcock's mouth is "Get out your phone and show me what's on it", then even if the reasoning is that he is trying to get to know them, that is forced, and invasive, which counteracts the part of trying to get to know them.

So without knowing how the whole thing shook out, it's really hard to judge whether this is something that is bad or good.

To that point, here's what we have to go on: At least two players from the Blue Jackets have come out and refuted what Spittin' Chiclets said on their pod. And I'll add this:



Jack Han who was on the Leafs coaching staff:

https://twitter.com/JhanHky/status/1701669871547765070

I work remotely. I go into the office every now and then. I literally had my boss ask to see pictures of the kids. Obviously this was off my phone. I whipped out the phone and found a few good pictures. This was not awkward or untoward at all. I definitely enjoyed that she was taking an interest in who I was as a person.

Now, if I was a more let's say "adventurous" person and my life was full of debauchery, I'd probably be more hesitant to whip out my phone and start scrolling my album for some good photos to share.   

Poisonous you say...

Edit: The wording of that post sounds mildly like a sexual assault and with the recent Hockey Canada scandal, not a great look imo.


https://twitter.com/BizNasty2point0/status/1701633099371860220

"A member of the team" sent me a text, so it must be true.

I certainly hope he's not depicting that it's true based on a text from one player.

That text doesn't seem like it's coming from a member of the Blue Jackets, "He's doing it to guys in Columbus now same shit he did to me - guys need to know that's coming" -- Seems to imply it happened to the texter previously. The whole thing seems bogus.