When discussing ideas for upcoming columns with the Habs blogger and site owner, Chris Reed, I had mentioned that the season opener tonight between the Maple Leafs and the Canadiens would be great fodder. As it turned out, both of us wanted to cover the topic. What resulted is the first head to head ‘write off’ between writers on the Sports Blog Network, as I will be presenting my argument for a Leafs victory, while Chris counters with his argument for a Habs win. You’ll find a link to his column at the end of this page.
I could come up with thousands of reason as to why the Leafs are about to deliver a beat down at the ACC tonight, but I figured I’d try to pick the most important ones and condense them to fit into this column. So, without further adieu, here are the reasons why the Leafs will win tonight:
Offseason Acquisitions: Burke loaded up this past off-season, bringing in Kris Versteeg, Clarke MacArthur and Colby Armstrong. All three can be difference makers, and all three are eager to make their mark on the biggest rivalry in hockey tonight. Each player has been slotted into one of the first three forward lines, showing you just how deep the changes run. The Habs brought in Lars Eller in a third line role.
They’re Healthy: For the first time in a long time, the Leafs are healthy to start the season. Aside from minor injuries to Jonas Gustavsson and Jeff Finger, the Leafs will have their full compliment out tonight. Phil Kessel had a tremendous training camp and pre-season. He’s got a quicker first step and has shown an increased willingness to go into the dirty areas for the puck. Mike Komisarek’s shoulder problems are behind him, as Daniel Alfredsson found out the hard way a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for their opponents, as Carey Price will sit out with the flu and Andrei Markov is battling flu-like symptoms.
Varied Offense: While you have to take any pre-season results with a grain of salt, it seems that the Leafs have discovered some secondary scoring with a line featuring MacArthur, Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin, to compliment their top line of Kessel, Tyler Bozak and Versteeg. This one-two punch ran the power play with deadly efficiency during the pre-season, and when you combine them with Tomas Kaberle, Dion Phaneuf, Francois Beauchemin and Carl Gunnarsson on the back-end, the Leafs can hopefully answer one of the biggest questions facing them this off-season: Who’s going to score?
The Habs will be without leading scorer Mike Cammalleri, who is sitting out with a one game suspension for his slash on Nido Niederreiter in the pre-season. The Habs and Leafs were both awful in the goal scoring department last season, but with their key offensive catalyst on the sidelines and their power play quarterback Markov not at 100%, they will struggle to find the back of the net. Which brings me to my next point -
Goaltending: Jean-Sebastien Giguere gets the start in goal tonight. A proven talent and a seasoned veteran, Giguere is a winner of a Conn Smythe trophy and the Stanley Cup. His pedigree brings a calming presence to the Leafs defense unit, and you can regularly hear him bark out orders as he sails Toronto’s defensive ship. NHL Journeyman Alex Auld gets the start for the Habs tonight in the absence of Carey Price, though with Price’s less than stellar pre-season, many Leafs fans were still wishing he would get the call.
Truculence: One of the hallmarks of every Brian Burke team is the ‘sandpaper’ they bring to the game. Physical dominance and intimidation are key here, and with players like Dion Phaneuf, Luke Schenn and Mike Komisarek patrolling the blue line, Montreal’s under-sized forwards will have to learn quickly to keep their heads up. Add some shift disturbers in Colton Orr, Colby Armstrong and Mike Brown, and this game could get really nasty, really quickly. If it does the scale tips heavily in the favour of the home team. But even if they start to carve out a path to the penalty box, I’m not worried, because of my final point -
Penalty Killing: The Leafs finished 30th in the league in penalty killing last season. They just couldn’t keep the puck out of the net and they weren’t aggressive on the forecheck. That all changed on January 31st. That day saw the Leafs acquire Giguere, Phaneuf and Fredrik Sjostrom, all key contributors to the penalty killing units. Add to that solid off-season penalty killing acquisitions in Versteeg, Armstrong and Brown, as well as a healthy shot-blocking Komisarek, and you can see that this team is not going to be anywhere near the basement in the penalty killing department this year. With any number of good penalty killing combos at his disposal, coach Ron Wilson has set to work at improving the area that the team needed the most work on, and it showed in the pre-season. This trend should carry over into the regular season as well.
And there you have it, 6 compelling reasons as to why the Maple Leafs are going to start their season off with a much needed win, and hopefully keep last year’s 0-7-1 start where it belongs: In the past. To find out why the Habs will win tonight, check out Habs blogger Chris Reed’s column by clicking here.
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Born and raised in Northern Ontario but currently living in Toronto, Tyler wouldn't have it any other way. Home to his two favourite sports teams, Tyler revels in the day to day sports experience that is Toronto. 
Remember when we surprised a team that made that miracle run in our home opener? Those were the days.