I think if you asked the Toronto Maple Leafs players what they have to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, they would say their glad an NHL game is only sixty minutes. If you asked their coach he might say he's thankful to have a 4 year contract after coaching the team to it's worst start in history. If you asked Sean Avery he would say he's thankful Brian Burke is stubborn enough to think Vesa Toskala is an NHL goalie, let alone a NUMBER ONE!
Nice job guys. You even made Avery look good, and that's no easy feat. The Leafs lost their 5th straight game against the New York Rangers Monday night. 7 - 2 was the final score. Another stellar performance by the Finnnish Sieve, Vesa Toskala. They have never started a season this bad. How could this be? We have have Brian Burke calling the shots now. We're going to make the play-offs this year. Hmm, don't you actually need to accumulate points in the regular season to make the play-offs. That's how it used to work. Maybe Burkie had the rules changed. Maybe we just have show up. Well based on their play this year that won't even get them in.
When Burke took over last year he told us he would make big changes. He said we would be tougher to play against. He said we would be better defensively and be one of those teams others would hate to play against. Well, 5 games in we have the worst home record, the worst road record, a terrible goals against average, a terrible power play, embarrassing penalty kill, and oh ya, our starting goaltender couldn't stop a beach ball if they tossed it to him. Tough to play against? I doubt it. I can just imagine the opposition scouting report. If you lose the puck, don't worry, they'll give it back. When you get over the blue line just shoot at the net, the defense will screen the goalie and if he does happen to see it he'll move out of the way anyway.
Burke did make some big changes. He traded our best defenseman of last year, Pavel Kubina, for Garnet Exelby. I think he wishes he could have that one back considering Exelby can't even crack this pathetic line up. He also invested big bucks in two other big name defensemen, Mike Komisarek and Francois Beauchemin. Both have been great at helping Toskala pull the puck out of the back of the net. Well maybe Komisarek hasn't been on the ice for that many goals, actually he's been in the penalty box for most of them.
If the Leafs are going to have any success this year they need a solid organized defensive system. This means Beauchemin has to wake up and start playing that great positional play he's been known for his entire career. Mike Komisarek needs to be less selfish and stop taking needless penalties. Garnet Exelby needs to actually make the team and when he does, he has to stop handing the puck to the guys in the other colored jerseys. Most importantly, their goalie needs to stop the puck. That's it, nothing fancy or philosophical ... JUST STOP THE PUCK.
When Burke took over last year he told us he would make big changes. He said we would be tougher to play against. He said we would be better defensively and be one of those teams others would hate to play against. Well, 5 games in we have the worst home record, the worst road record, a terrible goals against average, a terrible power play, embarrassing penalty kill, and oh ya, our starting goaltender couldn't stop a beach ball if they tossed it to him. Tough to play against? I doubt it. I can just imagine the opposition scouting report. If you lose the puck, don't worry, they'll give it back. When you get over the blue line just shoot at the net, the defense will screen the goalie and if he does happen to see it he'll move out of the way anyway.
Burke did make some big changes. He traded our best defenseman of last year, Pavel Kubina, for Garnet Exelby. I think he wishes he could have that one back considering Exelby can't even crack this pathetic line up. He also invested big bucks in two other big name defensemen, Mike Komisarek and Francois Beauchemin. Both have been great at helping Toskala pull the puck out of the back of the net. Well maybe Komisarek hasn't been on the ice for that many goals, actually he's been in the penalty box for most of them.
If the Leafs are going to have any success this year they need a solid organized defensive system. This means Beauchemin has to wake up and start playing that great positional play he's been known for his entire career. Mike Komisarek needs to be less selfish and stop taking needless penalties. Garnet Exelby needs to actually make the team and when he does, he has to stop handing the puck to the guys in the other colored jerseys. Most importantly, their goalie needs to stop the puck. That's it, nothing fancy or philosophical ... JUST STOP THE PUCK.
Don't lose heart, TC.
ReplyDeleteThis team always comes through by the playoffs. Great front office, strength up the middle, solid in goal and a dynamite defense--a winning combination. Hey haven't they made the playoffs 18 years in a row?
Oh … were you talking about the Leafs… I thought this site was the Detroit Red Wings. Sorry, not much hope for the Leafs, eh?