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Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • Fan 590 •
TORONTO (Nov. 6) – As the Maple Leafs and Carolina get ready for the NHL “Basement Bowl” in Raleigh Friday night, here are some figures that pertain to your beloved Blue & White – at 1-7-5, tied with the Hurricanes for fewest points in the league:
Though general manager Brian Burke talked boldly about challenging for a playoff spot this season, the Leafs have gotten off to such a terrible start that they’ll have to go 33-28-8 in their remaining 69 games just to equal their record from a year ago. And, that was good enough for only 12th place in the Eastern Conference.
As for a potential berth in the Stanley Cup tournament… well, spend your Pro-Line dollars elsewhere. To equal Montreal’s eighth-place mark from last season [41-30-11], the Leafs must tear a swath through the league at 40-23-6 in their remaining games. If they can pull it off, sports publications across North America will have photos of Burke and Ron Wilson in their hockey sections for NHL executive and coach-of-the-year honors.
After falling into such a precipitous valley in the first month of the season, the worst thing that can happen to the Leafs is for teams in front of them to play three-point games in head-to-head encounters. It occurred twice on Thursday, as Montreal beat Boston in a shootout and Ottawa knocked off Tampa Bay in overtime. And, it left Toronto eight points out of playoff territory in the East, with six teams standing in the way.
Going into action Friday, Philadelphia holds down the No. 8 slot with 15 points, and has a game in hand on the Leafs. The closest team to the Blue & White [other than Carolina] is Florida, which is four points ahead with a game in hand. Division and geographic rivals Ottawa and Montreal are both in playoff positions today with 16 points, nine more than Toronto, though the Canadiens have played three extra games.
Even the New York Islanders – last in the NHL a year ago – are eight points ahead of the Leafs, with Toronto holding two games in hand.
**************************************
I had to admire Wilson for his virtuoso performance in front of cameras and microphones after practice on Thursday. With a perfectly straight face, the coach told reporters that Jonas Gustavsson and Vesa Toskala “are equally capable of winning games for us.”
There are only two plausible explanations for such a remark: Either Ron’s wife, Maureen, slipped an ounce of Brandy into her husband’s morning cup, or there is a plan to somehow rehabilitate Toskala for the purpose of a trade. Otherwise, a person imported from Botswana would be able to recognize that the Leafs play with drastically more self-assurance and trust when Gustavsson is between the pipes.
“Yeah, but the only time we’ve scored first in a game this season was with Vesa in goal,” Wilson noted, as media wags bit their lower lips in restraint.
Given the ominous numbers posted earlier in this blog, Wilson has few alternatives right now. He can offer prayer to his chosen denomination and trot out Toskala – hoping the Finnish native rediscovers the art of timely puck-stopping. Or, he can play Gustavsson in every game for the next month and give his team the optimum chance of crawling out of its massive pit. If experimenting with Toskala is more important than putting his best players in the line-up, Wilson’s days in Toronto will not be plentiful. There is no legitimate reason for Toskala to be seen in either game this weekend – at Carolina or home to Detroit.
The coach confirmed on Thursday that the Leafs’ medical staff has cleared Gustavsson of any obstacle as it pertains to playing on consecutive nights. The top goalies in the NHL – Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Miller, Tim Thomas – routinely start in all situations, and Gustavsson must now be similarly deployed for the Leafs to have any chance of evading a season-long embarrassment.
E-mail howardlberger@gmail.com
Though general manager Brian Burke talked boldly about challenging for a playoff spot this season, the Leafs have gotten off to such a terrible start that they’ll have to go 33-28-8 in their remaining 69 games just to equal their record from a year ago. And, that was good enough for only 12th place in the Eastern Conference.
As for a potential berth in the Stanley Cup tournament… well, spend your Pro-Line dollars elsewhere. To equal Montreal’s eighth-place mark from last season [41-30-11], the Leafs must tear a swath through the league at 40-23-6 in their remaining games. If they can pull it off, sports publications across North America will have photos of Burke and Ron Wilson in their hockey sections for NHL executive and coach-of-the-year honors.
After falling into such a precipitous valley in the first month of the season, the worst thing that can happen to the Leafs is for teams in front of them to play three-point games in head-to-head encounters. It occurred twice on Thursday, as Montreal beat Boston in a shootout and Ottawa knocked off Tampa Bay in overtime. And, it left Toronto eight points out of playoff territory in the East, with six teams standing in the way.
Going into action Friday, Philadelphia holds down the No. 8 slot with 15 points, and has a game in hand on the Leafs. The closest team to the Blue & White [other than Carolina] is Florida, which is four points ahead with a game in hand. Division and geographic rivals Ottawa and Montreal are both in playoff positions today with 16 points, nine more than Toronto, though the Canadiens have played three extra games.
Even the New York Islanders – last in the NHL a year ago – are eight points ahead of the Leafs, with Toronto holding two games in hand.
**************************************
I had to admire Wilson for his virtuoso performance in front of cameras and microphones after practice on Thursday. With a perfectly straight face, the coach told reporters that Jonas Gustavsson and Vesa Toskala “are equally capable of winning games for us.”
There are only two plausible explanations for such a remark: Either Ron’s wife, Maureen, slipped an ounce of Brandy into her husband’s morning cup, or there is a plan to somehow rehabilitate Toskala for the purpose of a trade. Otherwise, a person imported from Botswana would be able to recognize that the Leafs play with drastically more self-assurance and trust when Gustavsson is between the pipes.
“Yeah, but the only time we’ve scored first in a game this season was with Vesa in goal,” Wilson noted, as media wags bit their lower lips in restraint.
Given the ominous numbers posted earlier in this blog, Wilson has few alternatives right now. He can offer prayer to his chosen denomination and trot out Toskala – hoping the Finnish native rediscovers the art of timely puck-stopping. Or, he can play Gustavsson in every game for the next month and give his team the optimum chance of crawling out of its massive pit. If experimenting with Toskala is more important than putting his best players in the line-up, Wilson’s days in Toronto will not be plentiful. There is no legitimate reason for Toskala to be seen in either game this weekend – at Carolina or home to Detroit.
The coach confirmed on Thursday that the Leafs’ medical staff has cleared Gustavsson of any obstacle as it pertains to playing on consecutive nights. The top goalies in the NHL – Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Miller, Tim Thomas – routinely start in all situations, and Gustavsson must now be similarly deployed for the Leafs to have any chance of evading a season-long embarrassment.
E-mail howardlberger@gmail.com
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