Budding Season - The Leafs’ Outlook
Hey all!
So the 2010/2011 NHL Season is coming up fast! And I have yet to post on my thoughts for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Why haven’t I posted?
Well because I haven’t seen the Leafs practice, scrimmage … anything. I usually have by this point in September. The good news is: I watched a pretty solid Leafs Rookie Team play the Chicago Rookie Team this evening, and saw some good things.
Jerry D’Amigo looked excellently fast (as I expect), Nazem Kadri is showing promise, and Greg McKegg has the best name I’ve heard in a long time! He’s also a solid player. But mostly a good name. Greg McKegg. Awesome.
Check out the rookie game here:
http://video.mapleleafs.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=75146&catid=802
So lets do a little preliminary analysis of the Leafs expected roster then:
Goaltending:
We are back in action with the tandem of J.S. Giguere and Jonas Gustavsson. A goaltending duo that should have a better showing that last season (at least in terms of numbers). Jiggy has been touted (perhaps prematurely) as the #1 starting goaltender for the Leafs by Ron Wilson. This may change over the course of the season, but he is experienced, solid positionally, and is coming to camp in great shape.He has continued to teach the ‘Monster’ how to play in the NHL, and this is beneficial for all of us.
Gustavsson will be battling for some minutes to start the season. But he will be more comfortable in the NHL rinks this season … which isn’t saying too much being he looked about as comfortable as a squirrel in a bear trap last season. But he’ll be better this year, more adjusted, and more confident. Good things to come here. If he continues to improve as he did, we could see some big things from him this year. Remember, he finished last season with 7 wins in 10 games. A percentage I’ll happily take for the entire season!
Defense:
Whoa. We have a lot of these guys. Seriously. I would describe this as a ‘little much’. As it stands we have:
‘Double’ Dion Phaneuf, Tomas Kaberle, Francios Beauchemin, Luke Schenn, Carl Gunnarsson, Mike Komisarek, Brett Lebda, Matt Lashoff … and that’s it for NHL defensemen, right Jeff Finger? Because we only want NHL calibre defensemen. Not phalanges
That’s an exuberant number of defensemen, even by Burke’s truculent standards. Perhaps it’s all part of the plan? You know, the ‘sign all of the defensemen in the league, so it’s easy for our weak forward group to score’ plan. Commonly used by Lou Lamoriello and the New Jersey Devils.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Finger get dropped (either to the Marlies, or on his head), Lashoff to be sent to the Marlies, and Komisarek to be injured in a mafia shooting. That leaves us with six defensemen. Perfect.
The only changes from last season were the additions of Brett Lebda and Matt Lashoff on defense. Meaning we are looking at the same defensive core, which should hopefully be able to carry over their late season chemistry to a new year. Also, with Dion Phaneuf as the newly named Toronto captain, expect to see lots of leadership coming from this group of guys. Also expect to hear a lot about how great Dion is when the NHL on TSN returns with Pierre McGuire between the benches.
The best way to summarize this group is: toughness, sandpaper, toughness, Kaberle, and truculence.
Forwards:
Hm. That’s strange. I was sure we would add a top centre. Like … I don’t know. Marc Savard. But that didn’t happen in the offseason. So here is where we stand. My prospective lineup:
Kulemin-Bozak-Kessel
MacArthur-Kadri-Versteeg
Sjostrom-Grabovski-Armstrong
D’Amigo-Mitchell-Orr
Not too shabby. Certainly better than what we ended the season with! But I’m looking for a little more offensive push … where that push is provided by a jet engine … on steroids of some kind. The summer additions of MacArthur, Armstrong, and Versteeg are good for the style Toronto will play. They will be young, energetic, and gritty.
How young? Well, Colton Orr is the oldest forward on the squad at 28 years old. So pretty young to say the least.
I know these guys will grow on me as the season progresses. Especially if each one of them is able to pot … oh 20 goals or so. There may be some struggles to score for these guys, so look for Burke to go against his gut, and actually sign a goal scorer. Or a playmaker. Or Rick Nash.
In any case. The Leafs look like they will … may … have a slight chance to be able to compete for a playoff spot. I won’t say anything for sure just yet. But I think they are capable of scraping into 8th spot in the East.
Don’t count them out. But don’t count them in just yet!
A new season is about to begin. Might as well get excited for it!
Go Leafs Go!
Cheers,
Blaine
