Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
To be fair it is being stated that the Leafs have made two significant changes to their defensive zone coverage and breakout, IMO they have looked better in that area the last two games.
In terms of Phaneuf ideally he is a number 2/3 on a good team. Issue is at $7.1 million he is paid like a number 1, and the Leafs don't have a cheap young player stepping up to play like a number 1.
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Teams often try to do what the new coach says for a few games. Then they find out it's more work than their old habits. For example, the new coverage and breakout might mean Kessel has to come back closer to the D zone. He will be a good good guy for a couple games and it will work OK. But he also won't have as many long stretch passes to him and his gap will start to get bigger and bigger until he's back where he was.