On the Leeds side-streets that you slip down

Before Leaf fans start to panic, one has to wonder what the best case scenario was for this young season. Looking at the strength of competion, I'd say the best this team could have hoped for was to be 2-2-0 in their first four.

The Leafs played well and deserved to win game one against Montreal. It took two bizarre calls and some bad officiating to lose the game against the Sens. Losses to Pittsburgh and Washington shouldn’t surprise anyone.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the Leafs have looked absolutely atrocious in three of their four starts this year.

The team didn’t show up for the Sens, got outclassed by Washington and in the last game against Pittsburgh the Leafs had more turnovers than a Pillsbury factory. (Crosby scored two PP goals from the exact same spot on the ice. He was untouched and unguarded on both plays. Maybe it’s just me, but somebody might want to keep an eye on the #87 out there or maybe Wilson’s coaching cheat sheet mis-spelled Crosby’s name and the leafs weren't sure who to cover.)

I don't know if it's physical, mental or both but Vesa Toskala looks about as comfortable as a woman in burqa a at a Klan rally.

Keeping the Story Straight

Does anyone think management set expectations at a level that’s remotely in line with the talent (or lack thereof) on this club?

The organization said playoffs was their goal and then iced a team with Matt Stajan as the #1 centre and Vesa Toskala as the starting goalie - even though he hasn’t been able to approach the league average save percentage in three years.

Burke also promised an entertaining team. Other than game one against the Habs, I haven’t seen any entertaining hockey - have you?

Remember the old competition in camp theory? You know, the one where guys were going to earn their jobs. Well it turns out the Leafs couldn't get the msessage straight on that front either and some guys earned their starts this year based on last season's play. That would be the same season the team put up 81 points and missed the playoffs for the third year in a row.

A few days ago, Ron Wilson compared public criticism of Vesa Toskala to waterboarding. Your read that right, the Toronto media were metaphorically torturing the goalie.

Tonight the coach decided to throw that same goalie under the bus.

The only consistent thing coming from the Leafs is the stench of incompetence.

Shortcomings and Off-Season Moves

The two biggest issues that dogged the Leafs last year were the penalty kill and goaltending. The Leafs were dead last in both categories.

In the off-season, Burke shuffled the defence - moving out Kubina and bringing in Komisarek, Exelby and Beachemin. He also added Rickard Wallin to the forward mix (as well as pugilist Colton Orr)

In nets, Burke actively pursued the Jonas “The Monster” Gustavsson, who unfortunately is battling injuries and has only started a single game.

Four games into the Season and the Leafs are, once again, dead last in goals against and dead last on the PK.

Until goaltending and special teams play is resolved, this team will remain winless.

Oh, and a question the media horde might want to ask Coach Wilson: what the heck is Wallin doing on the PP?

Leafs and Goaltending: Playing the Percentages

Even though the Leafs are just two games into the season the team is dealing with a so-called goaltending "controversy."

Fresh from off-season hip-surgery, Toskala has looked decidedly sub-par in pre-season and regular season action. He's surrendered 14 goals in his last seven periods of play and was pulled after giving up three goals on just eight shots against Washington, including whiffing on a forty-foot wrist shot just 17 seconds into the game (go team!).

His save percentage is a frightening .800

Waiting in the wings is one of Burke's big off-season signings, goaltender Jonas Gustavsson. He was considered by many to have been the best goalie outside of the NHL last season (note to so-called experts: does Raycroft being in the league have any bearing on this title?)

Leafs management are waiting until game day to confirm whether Vesa "punainen valo" Toskala or Jonas "the Monster" Gustavsson will get the start against The City That Fun Forgot^TM SNES on Tuesday night.

It may be early, but given how tight playoff races in the East have been over the past three years - where every single point really matters - this decision could have a significant impact on the Leafs post-season aspirations.

The bad news is, the Leafs may be in trouble if they can't sort out their goaltending situation.

The good news is, the Leafs are covered by about 40 professional journalists who have incredible access to players, coaches, managers, agents and other various insiders. Sometime in June 2010 one of them will report on what was really going on in the room and just what Nonis, Burke and Wilson were thinking about Toskala early in this 2009-10 season.

Two Minutes (to midnight)

I was prepping a post on PK performance that's taking a bit longer than I expected (some stuff that should be easy to dig out sure is buried at NHL.com) when I stumbled across this, largely meaningless, factoid: the Ron Wilson coached Maple Leafs are currently the fourth least penalized team in the NHL. You read that right, they are 27th in times shorthanded. Here's the trend line:

2008-09 - 27th most penalized
2007-08 - 17th
2006-07 - 11th
2005-06 - 12th
Lockout
2003-04 - 5th
2002-03 - 1st (woo hoo, Leafs are #1!)

For the first time in a long time this club is actually showing some signs of discipline.

Clearly this isn't what Fletcher had in mind when he traded for Hollwegg, but all things considered it's probably for the best as the PK is dead last and Toskala's sv% when the Buds are a man (or two) down is a chilling .852

Now, this post isn't suggesting I don't want a tough club and I know there's no correlation between times shorthanded and regular season or post-season success. And yes, everyone knows full well Anaheim won the cup as the most penalized team in the league. I just found it interesting that in all the discussion of what Ron Wilson may or may not have accomplished in his first year as coach of the Leafs, this trend hasn't been noted.

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A month or so ago I was contemplating throwing out some Iron Maiden for the title of a post. I ended up going with the Smiths instead and I heard about it in the comments. Because I care so much about my readers (all three of you - hi mum!) I went back to the days of Powerslave for this one (grade 9 if memory serves). It's a track I still have on my iPod right between Radiohead's "2+2=5(The Lukewarm)" and "21 Park Rd." by Bill King (sorry, Canadian Jazz and youtube don't seem to mix).