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Tyler Bozak

C

Cory_BSF

Member
Has he become the most important player on this team ? The contract even if he is scoring at a 60pts pace considering everything else he does for the team is a complete steal. Can you honestly say we have a player on the team we miss more when injured than Tyler Bozak ? Maybe its our Centre depth that isn't strong or Carlyle's obsession with playing Mclement in other roles (Should never move from the 4th line) that makes it seem that way.

Best signing we've made in years.. Tyler Bozak!!!
 
I always found it odd people claimed 4.2 per was so much for him. It was always a good deal.

This season he's really proven that indeed he is an important player on the team.
 
Most important player on the team? No I wouldn't go that far then again I believe the goalie should be the most important guy on the roster. That being said I don't get all the Bozak hate I mean yea the guy will never put up top line numbers and I think the best you can hope for him is a 55-60 pt season but he does all the little things right such as winning faceoffs, grinding it out in the corners, being responsible in his own end and taking/making a hit to make a play.

Bozak reminds me so much of Rucchin in Anahiem. Ruuchien also was never an offensive catalyist the best he could muster up was 67 points back in 96/97. Like Bozak Rucchin played with elite players (Selanne, Karyia) but he was never a true 1C but he was a key cog who excelled at winning the faceoffs, was never a nasty SOB but would sacrifice his body physically to make a play, not to mention very reliable in his own end which allowed his wingers to go all out on offense.
 
Bozak is very important. Not the most important, but important. He plays tough minutes in all situations and does well in all of them.

Like you said the fact that the Leafs don't have depth down the middle makes him more important. So does Bolland's injury. But they would be worse off without Kessel, Phaneuf and/or Bernier/Reimer for sure. Probably Lupul and Kadri too when they are actually on their games.
 
The difference is that when healthy he's produced at a top line centre rate this year. I'm not expecting him to keep it up but if you're going to play Bozak 21 minutes it's nice that he's producing a good amount of offence. The problem is when he plays 19-20 minutes with an elite linemate or two but scores maybe 50 points tops.
 
Bozak is a useful top 6 player. Is he the most important player? Of course not - wait till you lose Kessel, Phaneuf, or Bernier / Reimer.

But he's a useful offensive center, who's improved defensively this season, he can play on the top PP, top PK and ES and won't look out of place in any of the 3. $4.25M is a very good deal for the Leafs actually.
 
He's been PPG for a pretty long stretch since he came back.

This is still a young guy with only a few years in the league.

No reason why he can't be a 60-70 point player as Kessel and JVR develop further themselves.
 
Bozie has been fantastic since his return from injury and it's not just the points he's producing. He's been stronger on the puck, a bit more willing to shoot, better on the defensive side of the puck. Just a better, more mature player that I've seen out of him in the past. If he's a ~60 point guy who is solid at both ends of the ice, I'm thrilled with his contract. Prior to this he was a pussy soft pansy in the defensive end and a succubus off of Phil at the offensive end.
 
At minimum, he's a solid two way 2nd line C.

But imo he's still got untapped upside beyond that, even if he's getting a bit too old to dream on it anymore. Don't expect him to keep up a 70-75pt pace but if he can just move himself into the 60-65pt range he becomes a topnotch 2nd line C.
 
MindzEye said:
Bozie has been fantastic since his return from injury and it's not just the points he's producing. He's been stronger on the puck, a bit more willing to shoot, better on the defensive side of the puck. Just a better, more mature player that I've seen out of him in the past. If he's a ~60 point guy who is solid at both ends of the ice, I'm thrilled with his contract. Prior to this he was a pussy soft pansy in the defensive end and a succubus off of Phil at the offensive end.
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Hilarious how you guys think he was crap defensively before and think that just now he's finding his game..When i talked about him making great defensive plays you guys turned blind eye and just looked at those times when he made mistakes so you can keep thinking he's shit in our zone(like best players don't make those or something)....He was always dong things the right way(why do you think Carlyle kept him there so often instead of putting Naz who you guys trusted much more?)..but anyways...He's no better than he was before(except in the offensive end he's showing more which i hoped he would).
 
MindzEye said:
Bozie has been fantastic since his return from injury and it's not just the points he's producing. He's been stronger on the puck, a bit more willing to shoot, better on the defensive side of the puck. Just a better, more mature player that I've seen out of him in the past. If he's a ~60 point guy who is solid at both ends of the ice, I'm thrilled with his contract. Prior to this he was a pussy soft pansy in the defensive end and a succubus off of Phil at the offensive end.
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Bozak's always been good in his own end, don't let his horrible plus minus rating fool u because he was playing with 2 guys who don't know the meaning of the word "defence" and he's played in front of some shitty goaltending. I'm impressed that he's learning to shoot more, he doesn't have a bullet shot by anymeans but its quick/accurate and its the type he could snipe 20ish goals a season with, he needs to keep this pace up oh and he's gold in the shootouts.
 
PKForce81 said:
Hilarious how you guys think he was crap defensively before and think that just now he's finding his game..When i talked about him making great defensive plays you guys turned blind eye and just looked at those times when he made mistakes so you can keep thinking he's shit in our zone(like best players don't make those or something)....He was always dong things the right way(why do you think Carlyle kept him there so often instead of putting Naz who you guys trusted much more?)..but anyways...He's no better than he was before(except in the offensive end he's showing more which i hoped he would).
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Bullshit. He used to regularly, regularly lose his man in front of the net on defensive coverage and his board play was weak as ****. We weren't imagining him being shit defensively, he was shit defensively.
 
MindzEye said:
Bullshit. He used to regularly, regularly lose his man in front of the net on defensive coverage and his board play was weak as ****. We weren't imagining him being shit defensively, he was shit defensively.
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Nope, the pattern on here(by some) for awhile has been to go with what most on here say and ignore the rest. Look at right now whats happening with some. Gunnar has a short time where he's struggling and we ignore the fact he went for so long where he wasn't screwing up at all(similar with Dion)...Someone pointed out how we need another #2, 3 dman. McClement same shit, even though he rarely screws up on the defensive end we remember the bad..Some of you are easily conditioned..Enough people on here say it, it must be true. Keep thinking otherwise though. Just look at some of the arguments by zeke against Montana and the whole Reimer vs Bernier(and he's regarded as one of the best posters on here). Fact is, to get things your way you guys will say anything..It's ok though, i get it...
 
I actually think Bozak has gone back to being a little soft down low since he came back. They have been on for a bunch of goals against where the coverage has broken down around the net for some goals that are way too easy, and his biggest contributions have been on the faceoff dot and on special teams. And shootouts, which I guess should count as special teams.

He started off the season really strong though. His defensive metrics were finally trending upwards (after being near the bottom of the league among centers his whole career). They have gone back down though since he has been back.

But he did show signs of being able to handle the opposition down low earlier in the season, and hopefully he can get back to that.

Like every other young player in the league he should improve in that area of the game. To pretend like he is the same player now as he was when he came into the league is silly.
 
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PKForce81 said:
Nope, the pattern on here(by some) for awhile has been to go with what most on here say and ignore the rest.
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Hilarious...the majority of us fight like married couples over minutae.

Look at right now whats happening with some. Gunnar has a short time where he's struggling and we ignore the fact he went for so long where he wasn't screwing up at all(similar with Dion)...Someone pointed out how we need another #2, 3 dman.
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"right now". Again, the problem appears to be your perception. There have been a number of people who have been saying that the Leafs need another defender for quite a while, specifically at the time of the Bouwmeester trade last year when a few of us were cranky that the Leafs weren't in on it.

McClement same shit, even though he rarely screws up on the defensive end we remember the bad..Some of you are easily conditioned..Enough people on here say it, it must be true. Keep thinking otherwise though. Just look at some of the arguments by zeke against Montana and the whole Reimer vs Bernier(and he's regarded as one of the best posters on here). Fact is, to get things your way you guys will say anything..It's ok though, i get it...
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Rich.Creamery.Butter. A complete waste of your keystrokes and my time reading it.
 
leafman101 said:
I actually think Bozak has gone back to being a little soft down low since he came back. They have been on for a bunch of goals against where the coverage has broken down around the net for some goals that are way too easy, and his biggest contributions have been on the faceoff dot and on special teams. And shootouts, which I guess should count as special teams.

He started off the season really strong though. His defensive metrics were finally trending upwards (after being near the bottom of the league among centers his whole career). They have gone back down though since he has been back.

But he did show signs of being able to handle the opposition down low earlier in the season, and hopefully he can get back to that.

Like every other young player in the league he should improve in that area of the game. To pretend like he is the same player now as he was when he came into the league is silly.
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That line as a whole is soft and yea I noticed they've been on for fair amount. I don't know if Bozak is trying to do much out there or if he's focusing too much on offense and cheating in his own end, either way I'm not overly concerned at the moment. As for him being young, he's turning 28 in March harldy what I'd consider young, he's in his prime years now.
 
leafman101 said:
I actually think Bozak has gone back to being a little soft down low since he came back. They have been on for a bunch of goals against where the coverage has broken down around the net for some goals that are way too easy, and his biggest contributions have been on the faceoff dot and on special teams. And shootouts, which I guess should count as special teams.

He started off the season really strong though. His defensive metrics were finally trending upwards (after being near the bottom of the league among centers his whole career). They have gone back down though since he has been back.

But he did show signs of being able to handle the opposition down low earlier in the season, and hopefully he can get back to that.

Like every other young player in the league he should improve in that area of the game. To pretend like he is the same player now as he was when he came into the league is silly.
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Same as most players in the league. Sometimes they'll look stronger than other times. Nothing different here.

Here is the funny part. When that line goes back to doing same shit again(which is most likely as JVR and Phil still do a lot of floating) and allow goals, people will go back to thinking they were right about Bozak all along...being shit defensively and all. How hard is it to use logic that 1 guy cannot possibly cover 3 players(he has to take his own guy and somehow players JVR and Phil just lost)....So at the end all i read on here is.."****ing Bozak", only because he's the center..Really?...The compete level most times is non existant and that's the issue i have with those guys on our 1st line. At least put Lups who can pin guys and not act so weak...but anyways, i'm done talking about this as it's been beaten to death.
 
Bozak has been very good so far this season. A huge improvement over his previous seasons. I suspect that big uptick in his play is that he got a big confidence boost from the contract signing.
 
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