[Fox] Sheldon Keefe is becoming more open to going 11/7 in the playoffs in light of his newfound defensive depth: “It’s important that we’re not just locked into 12 and 6…. While 12 and 6 is the most comfortable situation, it might not be the best one.”
Sheldon Keefe is becoming more open to going 11/7 in the playoffs in light of his newfound defensive depth:
"It's important that we're not just locked into 12 and 6…. While 12 and 6 is the most comfortable situation, it might not be the best one."
— luke fox (@lukefoxjukebox) March 13, 2023
by Evening_Calm
30 Comments
>Keefe on 11/7: “We might discover through this we just might be better at 11 and 7. Look at how things have gone for us as of late, and you can see some of the positives coming out of it. I think it’s important we’re not just locked in to 12 and 6.”
https://twitter.com/koshtorontosun/status/1635298422793150466?t=l0OCuozK5NgHGU2DgiTytw&s=19
>Keefe says getting Wayne Simmonds into the lineup “isn’t at the top of my list” right now. But they’ll take every day at a time and will look at the busy schedule coming up with back-to-backs.
https://twitter.com/mikeystephens81/status/1635296374026809346?t=aMmxqNko72_QOm6eAKlSLA&s=19
>Per Keefe, Luke Schenn is flying into Toronto today but won’t be available tonight. Ryan O’Reilly will begin skating this week.
https://twitter.com/joshuakloke/status/1635295777126793216?t=SSlDvkwUJD-OoYBvCOLXFA&s=19
Tampa won a cup going 11/7 in the playoffs, so it’s not something we should dismiss outright. For a team with great high end forwards, poor forward depth, and ridiculous defensive depth, it’s probably not a bad idea to go 11/7
Fuck it, go 6/12. I I want Jordie Benn on the left wing this instant😂
Dumb
How did Keefe deploy the defensive pairings Sat night against Edmonton? Was there a couple set pairs and he rotated amongst a few or was it a complete blender?
Mike Johnson was floating the idea that Keefe really is into the idea of basically playing his top 9 forwards for 90% of the game and using two as extras to keep legs fresh, and the extra defense for deployment. For example – using Gustafsson vs. Schenn as the offensive / defensive extremes. If you are down 2 chasing a game in the third, you might not want schenn eating up 6 minutes of time when he adds no offensive value. Vice versa, you may lean on him defending a lead. Allows you to mix and match lines to the game at hand, deploy Kampf in certain ways, and so forth. Definitely not saying its the best option for sure, but this is the time to toy around and find out what works best.
Keefe, stop.
Edit: keep em coming you guys. [Totally not the sentiment a few days ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/leafs/comments/11nywnv/masters_keefe_confirms_leafs_will_go_with_11_f/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button). But yeah, win one game and 11-7 is great again. I can understand tinkering now, but by playoffs I’d like to see a little more of the standard structure.
What I saw Saturday was a EDM team with no answer for the uncertainty coming off the leafs fwd bench. Also made for a wildly entertaining game for Leaf fans who watch regularly as we got to see all the creative fws pairs possible. I haven’t had that much fun watching a leaf game all season. Oh, and O’Reilly wasn’t even in that blender.
I like it. I hate to say it, but if we’re up like 3-1 or more, Morgan should have his ass parked to the bench. Just have the defensive guys out.
No issue with this at all. If we don’t have a Hedman/Makar type that can play 25+ minutes, no need to force any of our D into that role. As long as they have the legs play the big 4 (and ROR) until the wheels fall off, deploy the D situationally.
11/7 works better when better rested. In the Vancouver game, 3rd game in 4 nights, the forwards were clearly gassed by the 3rd.
With how this Forward group is built I really dont mind this at all. You have a 6 players who can play centre and allows you to load up lines at different times of the game. Also keeps the other team guessing on whos coming out. Makes it a bit tougher to match up the lines.
If it works keep it going.
If you really think of it this was always the play of keith/ dubas. there’s really no good reason to play 12/ 6 when you have 8 nhl defence. Good way to keep everyone involve. Timmons is the perfect safety blanket if anything bad happens/ injuries.
I know it’s different but with are lineup this really makes the most sense.
Fuck it just go 10-8 at that point.
I mean it basically boils down to Aston-Reese sitting vs having Schenn or Gustafsson as an option. I’m ok with that. He doesn’t even PK so we’d be fine.
I admit it’d be good to be able to pull this off with some confidence at times. So trying it in the run up to the post season makes sense. And getting guys time playing with a lot of combinations has value in general. I’d really be worried if he defaulted to this from game 1.
It’ll depend a lot on the injury situation as we get closer to mid April.
I think this team, when healthy, can run 11-7 without issues.
Basically, we have Matthews, Tavares and O’Rielly down the middle, each of whom can eat 20+ minutes a night.
Marner and Nylander both have had success playing with Matthews and Tavares respectively.
It gives Keefe some options for sure
ZAR looked fine last game…
I’m just worried about the load on Matthews. He’s obviously hurt somewhere as he isn’t able to get around the ice as he has in past years so adding more playoff miles to his body may limit his effectiveness this spring.
Just wonder if this would impact on fwd cohesion over time. Has its positives given current makeup of the the team. But would the unpredictably of the fwd lines hurt? Seeing the comments about the Edmonton game and how the Oilers couldn’t handle this forward unpredictably and have to wonder if it could harm as much as help.
That said, I’m all for trying it. Having that extra D could be necessary, too, to be sure that the Leafs cover for weak goaltending in the playoffs. The issue shouldn’t be scoring, as long as the core guys show up and battle. Goaltending, though, is a huge concern. Neither Samsonov or Murray give off any confidence to me right now that they’d be able to backstop a deep playoff run.
I thought mike johnson was onto something with suggesting the 10F 8D
this would allow maximum creativity while maintaining D partner chemistry IMO but if sheldon feels more comfortable with 11F7D you have to trust one of the winningest coaches in nhl history
I Love It
Holmburg played 6:50, and Steeves played 6:11 against New Jersey. If giving a forward a small amount of time extra to run our defence evenly then I guess it works out 🤷♂️
It’s OK to sit Holl Keefe. If he’s kidnapped or threatened your family we can help you. He’s not that fast.
Don’t care – just win. LOL
I think O’Reilly would make a big difference there to round out the lines, but who knows? I was skeptical, but the added minutes have seemed to work for Acciari and Kampf, and Zach Aston-Reese has looked better as well.
Keep that going and you’re gone with Dubas.
I like the 11/7 but especially one that doesn’t include Justin Holl
I’m okay with any measures that will reduce Holl’s ice time. He is getting slower and making worse decisions! I used to try and defend him but it’s getting more difficult.
Does anybody realize that mo44 is a far cry from a no1 dman? Has ANYBODY seen what Rasmus Sandin is doing in Washington?????? All this team had to do was ship out Reilly for pick and let sandin take the reigns…..this team absolutely DOMINATED when Reilly was hurt and sandin and liljegren took over(along with Gio) We had pints in 15 straight games and it was the best hockey i had ever seen this team play in…EVER…..sandin is a WAAAAAAAYYYYY better passer than Reilly will ever be….he is MILES better than mo44 at basically everything…….ship out Reilly and add Pat Kane and then you have a possible championship team
SANDIN HAS POINTS ON 7 OF 9 GOALS AS A CAPITAL
That will go down as the worst trade dubas has ever made
I have been and am a huge KD and SK keefe fan but. .
What they have done with liljegren (WHO HAS BEEN THE BEST DMAN ALLLLL YEEAR LONG) and trading sandin is has absolutely ruined this team
ROR and acciari were great adds
Mo44 is this teams Achilles heel