New Season, Old Questions for Leafs

As the Leafs get ready to start their 2010-11 season at home against the dreaded Montreal Canadiens, the team has more question marks than Frank Gorshin’s Riddler suit.

Have the Leafs finally fixed their goaltending situation?
The team has suffered from horrific goaltending since the lockout, but Burke may have finally found a tandem in Gustavsson and Giguere that can provide some stability between the pipes. I'd be delighted if this club could aim so high as getting league average goaltending.

Will the special teams finally be special?
Rob Zettler talked about minor fixes for the Leafs PK and the team was trying new PP systems in the pre-season. The coaching staff has to do something as being in last place in both the PK and PP is like being fat, drunk, and stupid – it’s no way to go through life.

Will the Leafs D actually play D?
The defence corps reminds me of every hockey pool team I have ever drafted. Looks great on paper, the games begin and I find myself wondering - how can so many big names be so bad?

If the Leafs fix the defensive side of the game, what about offence?
Last season, the Leafs gave up 263 goals, 37 more than the NHL average of 226. If they shave-off nearly 0.5 goals a game they’ll be in great defensive shape; however, based on goal differential, they’ll need to score about 220 goals in order have a shot at a 90 point season and the post-season. Can the current line-up generate that much offense?

Is Tyler Bozak a legit option as the number one centre?
Bozak looked tremendous in the final half of last season, but how plausible is it that an undrafted kid with 37 NHL games experience will succeed as a #1 Centre in the NHL? I sure hope he pulls it off...

Has Burke misread the tea leaves again?
Last season, Burke and his management team looked at the state of the Leafs and thought they had assembled a team that could challenge for a playoff spot. The team came in 29th.

This past off-season, they looked at the team and thought a scoring winger, preferably with size, was the team’s most pressing need. Yet, out of the four centres on the club, none seem prepared to handle the tough minutes. Grabovski is a serviceable #2, but there a plenty of questions of size, strength stamina (and sanity) surrounding Grabbo. In the #3 and #4 slots, the Leafs are going with John Mitchell and two AHL cast-offs. This does not seem like a recipe for success.

How will the kids develop on the Marlies?
Luca Caputi and Christian Hanson earned a spot with the big club, but find themselves starting with the Marlies because of waiver status/ contracts/ spinning a giant wheel left over from JFJ's tenure. For the first time in a long time, the Leafs look like they've got some kids in the system, but are there enough minutes for all of them on the Marlies? Something to keep an eye on until Brent/Zigomanis/Mitchell's cup of coffee is over and the Leafs bring up the more deserving kids.

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Post-game Leafs - Sabres

I missed the winning goal because an Elvis impersonator was in our section. Clearly this was the highlight of the night, if not week, for everyone within 20 feet of me as they all decided to stand up, turn their backs to the game, and yell at Elvis in hopes of getting a t-shirt of some sort. The good news (bad news?) is, I only had to wait all of a minute for a chance to see the Sabres score another goal. Great.

In addition to the love for Elvis, the row I was in also featured a portly teen who felt the need to imitate Larry the Cable Guy while yelling a the Leafs. Other high lights from this young Chunker included him stealing sips of his dad's beer and calling the Leafs "Ladies" most of the night. And here I was worried that the awful music would be the low-point of the in-game entertainment.

Christian Hanson didn't look out of place. There was one occassion where he didn't chip the puck out on his wing, which led to a bit of a scramble, but on another Sabres rush he picked up the third man and did some nice work down low. I have all the scouting accumen of a dead squirrel, so I'm not sure where this kid fits on the talent spectrum but he didn't stand out as being a liability. It was also nice to see him get a shot to get the Leafs back into it late in the game.

A tip of the hat to the ACC A/V crew. It's amazing that they can get a replay up and onto the scoreboard in mere seconds. One of my biggest complaints when watching the game at home is how long it takes TSN/Sportsnet/CBC to roll the tape so we can get a closer look at what happened - it's like the TV folks are slower than Jason Allison skating in sand.

The big sponsorship push tonight was President's Choice green products. To show us just how much President's Choice treasures the environment, all 20,000 fans in attendance were given coupons printed on non-recycled high-gloss stock that soon filled the hallways and garbage cans between the ACC and Union Station. Nice work Loblaw Corp. Next time, to demonstrate your commitment to the environment, perhaps you could hand out low-efficiency incandescent light bulbs or leave a bunch of PC delivery trucks covered in pro-environment signs idling in the parking lot for the duration of the game.

Those who took the over in the Tragically Hip song count were wise folks. We counted at least four selections from the Hip and I'm sure I tuned out at least one or two others.

Leafs are idle until Saturday. It's a good thing they were scheduled to play back-to-back games and then given a three day break.

It's always great to see the Leafs live. My very first Leaf game was a 3-3 tie between the Sabres and Leafs back in 1975 or '76 at MLG (I still have the ticket stub somewhere in the basement).

I wonder if the ACC has the same aura of wonder for little kids that MLG held for me growing up. I was thinking it would be cool to skate on the ACC ice, but it would have been an out and out magical thrill to skate down at MLG...maybe it's just a matter of time. The ACC is only ten years old, perhaps in another thirty or forty years it will have created enough memories and special moments to give it the historical presence that was associated with going to a game at MLG.

I also posted live from the game, which you can read here: pre-game; the start of period 2; and thoughts after 40 minutes.