It’s that time of year again in Leaf Nation. The time of year when everyone throws on their rose-coloured glasses and waves of optimism about the upcoming season wash over the shores of Lake Ontario. Talk of this player hitting a certain point total or that player in the running for an award always seems to happen around this time. After all, in August and September, every team has the same record.
The pain and agony of the previous season has been washed away, off-season personnel changes bring a renewed sense of hope, and line combinations and defense pairings run through every fan’s head. The preseason showcases young talent and all but confirms our greatest dreams and sets the expectation for when the points start to count, only to inevitably have it blow up in our faces come January.
And we’ve all heard before, that ‘this year is different’. That the improved play at the tail end of last season was only due to the pressure being off and that our team will inevitably buckle again this year. But is it the same feeling this year? Somehow this year feels different. Why is it different? Well, there are several reasons.
Youth – This is the youngest Leaf team in many years. Depending on who the Oilers put out in their home opener, the Leafs will be the youngest team in the league. Gone are the days of trading away our first round picks for over the hill veterans (Leetch, Nolan). Now we trade them away for young, proven talent. And not only is the club young, but many of the leaders on this team are also among the youngest members.
Our Captain, Dion Phaneuf, is 25 years old. Phil Kessel, our leading scorer, will be 23. Jonas Gustavsson, tagged as our future in goal, is only 25 as well. Nikolai Kulemin, Luke Schenn, Carl Gunnarsson, Kris Versteeg and Tyler Bozak are all solid contributors who are 25 and under. Add to that the young guns looking to make the team out of training camp, like Nazem Kadri and Jerry D’Amigo, and you can see that this is a core we can build around.
Speed – This is also one of the fastest Leaf teams we’ve ever seen. Gone are the days of Tie Domi being our fastest skater. Brett Lebda, Mikhail Grabovski, Phil Kessel, John Mitchell and many others in the system possess game-breaking speed and solid skating abilities. Only Mike Komisarek and perhaps Colton Orr could be identified as players with speed or skating issues.
Stability in Goal – Not since the early days of Cujo have the Leafs had solid, dependable goaltending, and now many could say it’s our most stable position. With the veteran presence of J.S. Giguere leading the way, and with Jonas Gustavsson overcoming so much adversity last season, the Leafs have an excellent tandem in goal to start the year. Combine that with James Reimer, who seems to improve at every level he plays at, and the recent signings of top prospects Jussi Rynnas and Ben Scrivens, and you can see how the Leafs have eliminated what was once one of their biggest question marks.
Penalty Killing – This goes hand in hand with the goaltending situation, as the Leafs have been among the worst penalty-killing teams in the league over the last three seasons. That all changed on January 31st, 2010, with the introduction of J.S. Giguere, Dion Phaneuf and Fredrik Sjostrom. Now, Burke has gone one step further and acquired good PK options in Kris Versteeg and Colby Armstrong, not to mention last year’s standout in Nikolai Kulemin.
If you give up less goals, you’ll win more games, plain and simple. Boston made the playoffs last year on this concept alone. Any combination of Bozak, Kulemin, Versteeg, Armstrong, Sjostrom and even Mitchell will make for a solid PK unit. When you add to that Dion Phaneuf, Francois Beauchemin and the shot-blocking abilities of a healthy Mike Komisarek, and the penalty killing suddenly looks really good.
While every fan is right to be optimistic at this time of year, it just doesn’t feel the same as years past. Brian Burke has provided legitimate hope for this club going forward, and he has done so in just under two seasons of work. While many will not agree with some or all of the decisions he has made, you cannot deny the potential of this lineup and what it could mean for the Leafs in the future.
There are still issues to address with this club, like getting more offensive talent, working out the kinks on the powerplay, and fielding the growing pains of players like Schenn and Kadri. However, as a Leafs fan, the sentiment of ‘this year, things will be different’ seems to ring truer in 2010 than it has for a long time.
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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. 
Does is hurt knowing that the pick they gave up for Kessel turned into Tyler Seguin? Living in Boston, I’ve always like Kessel. But I also know the Boston media has turned Seguin into the second coming. Knowing what the pick turned into, do you think the Leafs would do anything differently?
If you beleive some of the more fanatical Leaf fans, you’d get the impression that first round picks are completely useless.
Well, for one, Burke never would have thought they’d be that low. A combination of a bad start, countless injuries to key players (Gustavsson, Gunnarsson, Kessel, Komisarek, Bozak) and just a lassez-faire attitude by some of the incumbents led to us being at the bottom. But Burke CANNOT, under any circumstances turn around and say, you know what? We fucked up here. How would that make the Leafs, and Kessel look?
Ultimately… Kessel is 23 years old. The guy isn’t even in his prime yet. Is he a 50 goal man? Maybe. And it’s not like 40 goal threats grow on trees and are readily available. Would Tampa have taken that same deal for Stamkos? How about Carter? Heatley? Crosby? Ovechkin? What is 2 1sts and 1 2nd actually worth? It’s not as horrible as everyone makes it out to be.
It actually hurts me more to see RASK on the back of a Bruins jersey than SEGUIN, and that wasn’t Burke’s fault!
That’s what I’d figured. There’s not way they could’ve known that the pick would turn into #2 overall. At the time, they probably thought the acquisition of Kessel would be the one to put them over the top. Not necessarily a “back-fire” just bad luck as you had mentioned.
Yep, and while hindsight is 20/20, Burke seems determined to not let that happen again with this year’s pick. I’m just not sure why the Bruins would be content to let Seguin leapfrog Joe Colborne like that though. You would think they would have wanted to trade down for Fowler or Gudbranson.
They’re still in pretty good shape for the next few seasons but for a team that has Krejci, Bergeron, Savard and Colborne waiting in the wings I felt drafting another C was just overkill unless they try to improve in other areas through trade. They even brought in another C in Horton. There’s a logjam down the middle in Beantown and that’s what makes me think Seguin doesn’t make the team this year.
No it’s not the same feeling. It’s the feeling of the boys in blue getting back in the playoffs! Phaneuf for MVP!