TORONTO (Oct. 3) – The Maple Leafs may have an entirely new look this season, but their fate depends on upgrading the most familiar component of the club in recent years: soft play in the defensive zone. Any legitimate hope of ending a five-season playoff drought is contingent on making life routinely difficult for attacking forwards, while barring the door when mistakes happen. In that regard, the Leafs nine-game exhibition slate ranged from inconclusive to ominous.
Though it seemed, on paper, that goal production would be the club’s biggest challenge, old habits reappeared once the puck was dropped. A defense with size, experience and depth – considered, by many, among the top groupings in the National Hockey League – was too-easily penetrated, and looked generally slow. This was a problem for the Leafs last year. While such players as Dion Phaneuf, Mike Komisarek and Luke Schenn are rugged and sturdy, they lack nimbleness and foot-speed. It leaves them vulnerable to swift movement along the boards; to neutral-zone transition, and to late recovery in front of the net. A thorough defensive system, with heavy involvement from a much quicker cast of forwards, is essential to any improvement by the Leafs.
And that’s where a laser-beam of scrutiny falls on third-year coach Ron Wilson. Though Wilson’s rank in the all-time coaching register is undeniable, he’s been a marginal presence with the Blue & White. His future hinges on developing trust and coordination among a group of players assembled, comprehensively, by his boss and old college pal, Brian Burke. This is no longer a team influenced by John Ferguson or Cliff Fletcher. Only a handful of prime contributors – Schenn, Tomas Kaberle, Nikolai Kulemin, Mikhail Grabovski – are remnants of the pre-Burke era, thus expanding Wilson’s culpability. If he cannot make a go of it with Burke’s roster; and/or if the Leafs stumble from the gate once again, logic would suggest that his days are numbered.
This isn’t to imply, however, that the Leafs are going to fail. There is much to like about the revamped hockey club, and about Wilson’s conceivable influence on it. The coach has long proven capable of molding a representative group of athletes, and he has some balance to work with this season. But, he absolutely must devise a system that coaxes mechanical, involuntary collaboration between forwards and defensemen… a tricky but vital task. Such teamwork would allow the Leafs to compensate for their shortcomings, while providing much-welcomed support for goalies Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Jonas Gustavsson. Should Wilson finally concoct such a blend, the Leafs will strongly challenge for a playoff spot.
The goaltending assignments were typically pell-mell during the exhibition schedule, and a groin injury sustained by Gustavsson further muddled the picture. Giguere, anointed by Wilson as the club’s starter, played only two complete matches and never looked entirely comfortable. His ability to regain Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe-winning form is up for debate, though his work-ethic, team-first attitude and leadership skills are beyond reproach. Gustavsson oozes talent, but he seems rather fragile. In a perfect world, the Swedish import would dodge the myriad ailments that have stalled his early progress and assume the unquestioned mantle as No. 1 goalie. To this point, no one can be sure whether that will happen this season, or at all. But, the Leafs’ goaltending tandem has terrific potential.
Where the club could receive an enormous boost is from its top-end nucleus. On several, though brief, occasions since 1967, the Leafs have been able to ice a group of five skaters comparable to any in the league. In the mid-‘70s, coach Red Kelly could throw Darryl Sittler, Lanny McDonald, Errol Thompson, Borje Salming and Ian Turnbull over the boards. That five-some amassed 157 goals and 229 assists in 1975-76. By comparison, the entire Leafs team scored only 214 goals last season. In the early-‘90s, it was a dynamic duo that carried the Blue & White, as Doug Gilmour and Dave Andreychuk terrorized opposition goalies. More recently – within the past 10 years – the Leafs were able to deploy a high-potency unit of Mats Sundin, Gary Roberts, Steve Thomas or Alex Mogilny, Kaberle and Bryan McCabe.
The exhibition slate this autumn showed the possibilities of the current nucleus. Though any Sittler-Gilmour-Sundin comparisons are a lot to put on Tyler Bozak – and, perhaps, unfounded – the Leafs’ No. 1 pivot is a smart, industrious performer who could mesh spectacularly with Phil Kessel, Kris Versteeg, Kaberle and Phaneuf. The Toronto powerplay – featuring this collection – looked dominant in the exhibition tune-ups, providing credence for Burke’s intractable stance with Kaberle over the summer. While there’s likely to be a pronounced decrease in scoring through the balance of the roster, most teams are in a similar situation, and not all can boast a top unit as potentially commanding as Toronto’s.
On the flip side, the Leafs are terribly vulnerable to injury – a trait shared by many of their conference foes. The prolonged absence of Bozak or Kessel could have a devastating effect on a team that lacks creativity and finish beyond its prime unit. Removing Phaneuf or Kaberle from the picture would shift undue responsibility to Francois Beauchemin and Carl Gunnarsson. Teams without depth cannot withstand key losses of personnel. By comparison, a goaltending injury to the Leafs may not be as significant if both Giguere and Gustavsson are able to carry the load.
In the end, one thing is certain: A healthy Leafs team, responding to its coach, should easily provide this city its best chance to witness playoff action in the post-lockout NHL.
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