Forget the beloved blue train Thomas the Tank Engine for a minute and picture the Leafs as a train that is on a never ending uphill climb where there is no end. That’s been the Toronto Maple Leafs for the last 48 years, yet their train cars seem to hold the most valuable cargo; money.
With oodles of fans and numerous haters, the franchise thrives year in year out when it comes to making money. Who needs playoff revenue when you already have full pockets? Well, that was certainly the case for years as it seems the Leafs were more of a charity to the NHL. They have been feeding the pockets of the league for years with a select few other teams; whom which have had results in the recent past.
Could it be possible that after MLSE was bought by Rogers and Bell, that these owners want their money’s worth and are actually going to let the hockey minds make the decisions for the hockey club? You don’t say? For now, that seems to be the case with this ‘nuclear meltdown’ that has been taking place as of late we refer to as the Toronto Maple Leafs. It’s a joke at this point how bad the team is playing…
Brendan Shanahan is the new face of the rebuild, and of the Leafs the way I see it right now. The players, coaches and internal staff are all worried about their jobs going forward. Some of the players I feel are already done for the year, and were done long ago. The fans are certainly fed up with the efforts night in night out from players such as Dion Phaneuf, Phil Kessel and Tyler Bozak.
The list goes on; those are just three that seem to stand out this season as they have been horrific down the middle/end stretch. Kessel was on point for another 30+ goal season with 80 points; he’s been a shadow of that player we once would get excited about coming down the wing. His half-assed effort each game is not unnoticed, which is the painful part.
A guy with his skill could be so much better, imagine he worked hard in the off season and trained properly with a proper diet to help bring his game up to the next level. These are the things that frustrate us Maple Leaf fans…a guy with all the talent in the world is out for a free skate while another player like Santorelli who worked his bag off just to keep a job in the NHL.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand how it all works…but to mould the young players coming up the pipeline, you really need the veteran and best players to show a quality work ethic and commitment to being a great player. That’s how the young players grow properly and are groomed to succeed.
Was Carlyle the problem? Certainly part of it; he had Nonis/Burke make a team for him to ice, players who were ‘Carlyle’ type players. This is exactly why players like Grabovski, Kulemin and MacArthur were dismissed from the team. Randy didn’t like what they brought to the ice. Fair enough, but once this decision was made, perhaps it should have been followed up by trading the players and getting something back in return. Instead we are stuck buying Grabovski out, only to have both Kulemin and MacArthur walk the following year(s).
Burke stated that he could have gotten decent draft picks for all of these players mentioned. Amazing how that changed so much in one season with Randy giving this line no playing time…even if they did struggle; who doesn’t? What coach in NHL history had their team into a game 7 and decided it was meaningless not to call a timeout in the dying minutes to give their players not only a pep talk, but a minute or two to rest and gain some composure? Only Randy Carlyle could pull this off and not find himself looking from the outside in.
What I’m getting at here is: everyone is to blame. The coaches, the players, the upper management, the media, the fans, whatever, and whoever you want to blame…This is all part of the reason that we are where we are…Tanking a season away and praying to win the lottery for the grand prize; McDavid.
Could it be that Shanahan has Babcock lined up to become the Leafs coach of the future? Perhaps, but I wouldn’t be overly optimistic over Babcock coming to Toronto, or the Leafs landing McDavid. But, one can hope, and after years and years of disappointment…the tides have to turn at some point, don’t they?
Odds are the Leafs end up 26th place and will draft 4th overall…which isn’t bad by any means. What is more exciting as a Toronto fan these days, the thought of winning the lottery, cashing in on a huge trade where Kessel and or Phaneuf are gone? What does Shannahan do with Kadri, Bozak, JVR? There are some quality players on this Maple Leaf team, but which ones are worth keeping? Are any?
Personally I am ready to completely gut this team and start over, if they can’t find a great return package for Kessel then I say you keep him and you can try to move him at a later date.
After all, right now he is at an all-time low in value and if Toronto ever got him a decent center with a decent team behind him, he could quite possible break the 40 goal plateau. Which of course would increase his value in a trade, and hopefully by that time the Leafs would have some sort of an idea of what they actually need.
Right now they need everything they can get, so perhaps saving their most valuable asset for the future may be a smart idea…what do you think?
Thanks for reading!