Stralman Demoted

I’m torn on this. On the one hand, I’ve been arguing for five years or longer that as defensemen, our corps make pretty good forwards…but Wilson seems bound and determined to eradicate *any* offense from the D. Schenn plays as if he’s been repeatedly warned not to score goals. Kaberle’s confidence seems to be shot. Only Van Ryn and White have excelled at all offensively…the former had to be made a forward to do it and I figure that due to Van Ryn’s injury, Wilson didn’t get *quite* enough time to scrub that nasty point-getting tendency out of the guy.
You need a mix of offensive and defensive D. Stralman’s got offensive vision and I think it’s a shame he’s not being allowed to use it.

sorry… it was the right move

If Stralman is smart he won’t bitch about the demotion and bide his time until Kaberle and/or Kubina get traded. It’s going to happen eventually this summer at the latest – there’s just too much to be gained and those two won’t be around when the Leafs develop in to the dynasty they’re planning.

That being said, I’m a little surprised. I hadn’t actually checked his TOI lately, but I could’ve sworn we were seeing more of Stralman lately and he wasn’t looking out of place. I think to excel he needs a lot of minutes, so he should be glad to be getting them even if it is with the Marlies.

Stralman has regressed terribly this season. He needs to go find his game in the AHL. He has shown virtually nothing offensively this season to curb his dreadful defensive abilities. If he can’t understand why he was demoted, he needs to get his head checked.

When Ron Wilson was hired, I was hoping he would do for Stralman and Tlusty what he did for players like Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Joe Pavelski in San Jose. Instead both of them have been sent to the minors. It’s arguable that Toronto’s youth was rushed by the previous regime (Tlusty especially) but on a rebuilding team I expected these guys to get more leeway and more ice-time. I’m still a big Wilson fan though (and Tlusty has caught fire with the Marlies recently), so we’ll see what happens.

Agree all the way about Tlusty, Jono. This kid was pulled out of the OHL too early and then pulled out of the AHL too early.

As for Stralman, when one of the Czech K’s is gone, will he step into a top-four spot? I’m not sure he’s first in line at this point – I don’t think Wilson really trusts him.

Jono…

7 points is not terrible, but how many of those points came as a result of fine play as opposed to second assists? 1 goal scored on Oct 23? Hardly lighting the league up. For a guy spending significant time on the PP and very little time in pressure situations or on PK, he should be a plus player.

On the other hand, Luke Schenn has 2 assists and is a minus 6. Schenn is hands down more valuable than Stralman, but the stats would show otherwise.

Stralman has been fighting the puck this season. He looks about as comfortable with it as someone with a live grenade. He gets burnt on outside rushes, gets caught watching the puck instead of playing the man, and has very little strength down low when containing larger forwards. He is supposed to bring some offense in to offset this, but he needs to get some confidence back playing with the Marlies.

A defenseman still has to sit then goleafsgo, and that is likely to be Stralman as they need a defensive presence especially for penalty killing purposes.

I was watching the Marlies/Bulldogs game on LeafsTV yesterday and was surprised to see Stralman playing. I think that it’s the best thing for him, as opposed to sitting in the pressbox. Hopefully he can go down there, work on somethings and come back if/when they move some Dmen (Kaberle and Kubina). I was also surprised to see Robbie Earl with only one goal through 20 games. Seems to really be having a tough year. What’s up with him, is he done?? He can’t be a guy we’re relying on as a prospect anymore.

The new Marlies dman played last night too.

Alec,

Do you know anything about Newbury?? I only saw a little bit of the Marlies game last night and they said that he’s gone for 4 weeks!!!

I think people are overly critical of Kaberle’s play this season. We haven’t seen the best of him, but he’s not playing as poorly as stated in above comments.

I think the Leafs need to take a good look at Sifers to evaluate if he should be given a FT spot on the Leafs after the trade deadline. Sifers’ audition will likely determine who’s going to get traded and for who in return. It may also help management assess the teams’ needs in the upcoming draft. It only made sense to send Stralman down, I don’t think it was anything personal, it was a matter of assessing where the team is presently.

If Burke and his staff determine that Sifers can easily be a #5-7 d man on the Leafs than I think Kabs and Kubina will be on their way out come trade deadline.

Alec,

I see that Newbury is leading the team in pts, but do you have any info on an injury?? They said that he’ll miss the next 4 week last night during the Marlie’s game, but I didn’t catch what the injury was.