OTTAWA (Nov. 18) – It was an interesting paradox in the immediate moments after Tuesday night’s 3-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators… the player that has least contributed to the unfolding disaster in Leaf-land came off the ice in the foulest mood.
I happened to be standing at the entrance to the corridor of the visitors’ dressing room when the horn sounded at Scotiabank Place. The Toronto players filed into their room with zombie-like expressions, clearly numbed by the colossal amount of losing they’ve authored so far in 2009-10. Only the newest member of the club displayed outward emotion, and it was quite the tantrum: Phil Kessel unleashing a stream of F-bombs while repeatedly slamming his stick to the ground.
This was either a sign that Kessel is becoming impatient with the Leafs’ glaring inability to bury the biscuit, or he was still fuming over a blatant missed penalty call late in the second period that had the visitors’ bench in an uproar [Kessel was plainly tripped on a foray to the Ottawa net; the misdeed overlooked by referees Dennis LaRue and Brian Pochmara]. We simply don’t know for certain what was bugging Kessel, for he refused to answer reporters’ questions afterward. But, at least he was showing some bile.
It’s a rather painful experience to observe the Leafs right now. The laughter and horseplay that belied their appalling record earlier in the season has almost completely vanished from practice sessions and day-of-game skates. Instead, a somber countenance has overcome the hockey club in the same way, I’d imagine, as really bad baseball teams in the middle of June each year. Given the terribly restrictive playoff system in the major leagues, clubs that wobble and stagger through the first quarter of the season are consigned to the equivalent of four month’s worth of exhibition games. The Leafs may not be quite in that valley just yet, but there appears to be nothing beyond blind hope that will carry this club into a sequence of meaningful games later in the schedule.
To the chagrin of those whose lives are solely governed by the Leafs’ fortunes, I’ve kept a running tab on the challenge the club faces in mounting a playoff bid – not to deliberately aggravate anyone, but rather to underscore the futility of the way the season was positioned. At 3-11-5, this bumbling collection has to go 38-19-6 in its remaining 63 games to match the eighth-place record of the Montreal Canadiens from a year ago. Rush Limbaugh and Barack Obama will be seen lunching together before that happens.
The bigger question around the Leafs is how much longer general manager Brian Burke will choose to function in a state of virtual paralysis. Burke was lassoed from Anaheim and handed the keys to the Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment vault not to sit idly while his team transitions from mediocrity to hopelessness. I’ve seen happier faces on a bottle of Iodine than the one Burke is walking around with these days, and it cannot possibly be more than another week or two before he starts taking whatever measures are available to him in the NHL’s restrictive salary-cap system.
How much longer will Burke tolerate Jason Blake, with two goals in 19 games?
Has Rickard Wallin proven he’s better prepared to make an impact – even a minor one – in the NHL today than he was in a failed attempt with Minnesota half-a-decade ago?
Is there any purpose in carrying Wayne Primeau AND Jamal Mayers on the same floundering team?
Will Nikolai Kulemin ever show, for more than a few minutes, that he isn’t figuratively on some distant planet?
What service is Garnet Exelby [10 games, no points, minus-7] providing the Maple Leafs?
Can a player in the NHL possibly waste more energy and motion than Mikhail Grabovski?
These are among the myriad questions Burke will have to ponder if he’s truly intent on re-shaping the Blue & White. The GM evidently felt he had done just that heading into the current season. He couldn’t possibly have envisioned such a catastrophe.
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