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The Toronto Maple Leafs are just about ready to hit the ice against the New Jersey Devils, and they will be challenged to compete without their captain Dion Phaneuf who is out of the lineup for a few weeks with an “upper body injury….
Some fans see this as terrible news while others see this as potentially good news while the team looks to rediscover its core and plan for their future as their current squad has all but proved worthy to compete in the Eastern Conference on a consistent basis.
Dion Phaneuf has taken a heck of a lot of criticism over most recent years as he was paid to be the Leafs #1 defenseman and captain; a leader – the guy who was going to help take this team to the next level.
Whether you feel that this captain is part of the problem or not, the next string of games will be interesting to watch as the team is challenged with replacing his minutes, leadership, and assignments. Whether or not you like the guy, there is no doubting the number of minutes and quality of competition that Dion is faced with every night.
Toronto simply doesn’t have anyone who has immediately stood out this year who appears to be worthy of said minutes, however over the next few weeks we should be able to assess what impact this particular player may or may not have toward his team.
And while this may be considered a rather small sample size, it may actually provide the perfect opportunity for Leafs upper management to assess who they can and certainly cannot move at this point in the season. As I mentioned during my Flames blog, I typically set bench marks following the AllStar break over a ten game sample to try and establish how I feel about said team moving forward into the playoffs or not.
Although it’s just one blogger’s opinion, I’ve found in years past that how a team does throughout a ten game stretch following the AllStar break will give you a very good indication of their odds of pushing for the playoffs, or not. A team who plays .500 hockey is not likely to be pushing hard enough, while a team who is puts up a record of .600 or greater would appear to have things in working order.
Although I do not feel that with or without Phaneuf the Leafs will push hard enough to get back into the playoffs conversation, it will be interesting to see how they do (if he misses anywhere near 10 games) over the upcoming stretch.
Do any signs of consistence/improvement mean nothing more than the team finally figuring out Horachek’s systems? Or could it offer that the team should actually look into moving their captain? Conversely, if the team does even worse (is that even possible?), does that solidify his position within the team and it's fan base?
Look at the Boston Bruins. When their captain played injured to start off the season, the team started to struggle. Chara would later miss a ton of games and the Bruins for the first time in years would move down the standings at a quick pace. Upon the captain's return, the team slowly began to improve and are now back in the playoff discussion. Could Phaneuf have enough impact on his team?
What are your thoughts!?