Ah, the morning after. That feeling of despair and futility you had last night as you watched the Leafs crumble yet again has eroded your sleep, keeping you tossing and turning as the latest Leaf bogeyman stalked your dreams. The morning brings a sense of calm, a feeling that the worst is over, and you can make a fresh start. A few cups of coffee and everything will be right as rain.
But as you slowly start to go about your day, you’ll begin to get reminders of the prior evening’s events. This hits me the moment I wake up, as the gigantic Toronto Maple Leafs logo that adorns the Mastercard Center for hockey ‘Excellence’ is right outside my bedroom window. If you dare turn on the TV or the radio, reports of the previous night’s debacle will be followed by giggles or sadness as the announcers summarize the latest travesty.
After a shower you’ll feel a little more optimistic, knowing that we have a plan in place and most of the players are just going through some growing pains as one of the younger teams in the NHL matures. You counter the horrible defensive zone play by pointing out the few positives, such as the play of Mikhail Grabovski. Your mind starts to entertain thoughts of Mike Brown’s return, knowing that his hustle and character are sorely needed in the dressing room.
You take a quick glance at the standings, thanking your lucky stars that the Leafs aren’t the New Jersey Devils or the New York Islanders. You figure you’ll just have to wait until January, or until the trade deadline, or the draft, or July 1st, and then your team will be better. But deep down inside you know the truth: The Leafs rebuilding process is stuck. We’ve changed the players, but the results remain the same.
It seems that the Leafs are still stuck in step two of GM Brian Burke’s three step plan of building from the net out. Burke has re-tooled the defense in every season he has been here so far, and figures to do more re-tooling in light of the team’s performance. In Burke’s first season, he shipped off Pavel Kubina and Anton Stralman, while Mike Van Ryn was moved to injured reserve. Jonas Frogren and Phil Oreskovic were sent to the Marlies.
He brought in Mike Komisarek, Garnet Exelby and Francois Beauchemin, and rookie Carl Gunnarsson earned regular playing time. Luke Schenn’s play regressed somewhat and Tomas Kaberle really fell off the map as the power play went south. Burke then dealt Ian White for Dion Phaneuf, and finished out the year with the defense core we see today. He failed to move Tomas Kaberle over the summer, and buried Jeff Finger in the minors a few games into the season.
This unit was the worst in the league in penalty killing last year, and is among the worst again this year. At the start of the season the team showed some defensive cohesion and skill, sitting among the top 10 in goals against and penalty killing through the first 10 games of the season. Then it all went south in a hurry. Dion Phaneuf was injured and missed 16 games. Komisarek and Lebda have been liabilities. The strong play of Luke Schenn has been the only bright spot on a blue line that has just 5 goals combined.
The Leafs are the only team in the league to not have recorded a shut out yet this season. They sit 25th in the league in goals allowed per game, and 29th in penalty killing. They have given up 4 or more goals in 14 games this season, having just 2 victories to show for it. This defense, twice re-vamped, is no better than it was last year, or two seasons ago.
As a Leafs fan this is the most worrisome part. I could accept losing, I could accept the growing pains and the struggling to score goals, but two years into a rebuild from the net out, and one should expect to see some results on the blue line. There needs to be some measurable sign of progress.
On paper, a defensive unit consisting of Tomas Kaberle, Dion Phaneuf, Luke Schenn, Carl Gunnarsson, Francois Beauchemin and Mike Komisarek shouldn’t be this bad. Phaneuf, Beauchemin and Komisarek had all performed better defensively with their previous clubs. They don’t seem to be able to execute against Wilson’s system, and he doesn’t seem to be the right coach for these players, as defense wasn’t exactly Wilson’s calling card in San Jose. If you aren’t going to fire Ron Wilson, then at least one if not all of Keith Acton, Tim Hunter or Rob Zettler, Wilson’s assistants, need to go.
It isn’t all doom and gloom, however. Defensemen are at a premium right now in the NHL, as evidenced by the recent Scott Hannan trade. With several teams wanting to upgrade their defense, we can expect that Burke will get a lot of phone calls in January and February. The team also boasts a wealth of solid defensive prospects, as Keith Aulie, Jesse Blacker, Korbinian Holzer, Matt Lashoff, Juraj Mikus and Danny Richmond all possess NHL level potential. Even if only 2-3 of those players pan out, they still have young players like Phaneuf, Gunnarsson and Schenn with the big club.
In fact, one could go so far as to say that Burke had planned for this type of scenario, given that he insisted on Keith Aulie being included in the Calgary deal, and then dealt some middling wingers in Alex Berry and Stefano Giliati for Matt Lashoff at the start of the season. The Brett Lebda signing is another indicator that Burke was anticipating moving out some bodies on the blue line. Was it Kaberle he was anticipating? Or perhaps more than that?
One could definitively say that if Burke is still building from the net out, we have at least solved the goaltending situation. While the team’s defensive struggles may cloud the goaltending stats a little, no Leafs fan could argue that the goaltending has taken a major step forward from the days of Andrew Raycroft and Vesa Toskala. Goaltending has gone from a position of weakness to a position of strength, with the acquisitions of Jonas Gustavsson, JS Giguere, Jussi Rynnas and Ben Scrivens.
With Phaneuf installed as the captain, and players like Schenn, Gunnarsson and Aulie in the team’s long term defensive plans, it seems that there remains some work to be done on the blue line, and that work could be done soon as the trade deadline approaches. Tomas Kaberle could be gone, as could Mike Komisarek, Francois Beauchemin or Brett Lebda. Burke could pull something completely out of left field as he has been known to do.
It is plain to see that the Leafs woes start and end with their defensive group. Defensive miscues, giveaways, missed assignments and turnovers all add up to getting down in games early and that places undue pressure on the offense. For an offensively challenged team like the Leafs it is paramount to ensure that they don’t fall behind early. The defense is also prone to panic, as when the opposition breaks the seal, it seems that the floodgates open and they fall victim to quick goals in bunches, making the problem worse.
With the holiday approaching, there are some big days ahead in Leaf Nation. More heartbreak and embarrassment will be had, I’m sure, but until Burke can find the players to fix his team’s defensive woes, we can’t expect him to move on and concentrate on the forward group. Continued poor results from the defense have Burke, and the Leafs, spinning their wheels.
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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. 