After a great effort in Detroit, the Leafs have had problems putting good performances going 1-2-2 after 5 games. The offense is in a deep coma, scoring only 9 goals (4 against St.Louis) since the beginning of the season. The defense has been on a roller coaster, offering inconsistent performances and allowing 18 goals.
Vesa Toska was stellar against the Wings and the Rangers, but was not very sharp against the Blues and the Habs.
On defense, Luke Schenn is a pleasant surprise, logging around 20 minutes a game and playing like a 10-year veteran. Will the Leafs send him back to junior after 9 games or will they keep him? They will have a boatload of d-men when Finger comes back from injury; Ian White has yet to appear in a game and is practising as as forward
Tomas Kaberle and Pavel Kubina have been far from extraordinay and will have to raise their play for the Leafs to improve.
Up front, Jason Blake, Nikolai Kulemin and Nick Antropov have been the best and more consistent players. On the opposite, Ponikarovsky, Stajan and Grabosvki have been almost invisible, Stajan even being a healthy scratch vs St. Louis. Niklas Hagman will never score 27 goals with the Maple Leafs...
However, Ron Wilson will need secondary scoring from these players if he wants his team to at least compete every night. I doubt any player will hit the 50-point mark this season as this is a young and inexperimented team.
The Tavares-Hedman race is on, and the Leafs are the favourite to win it!
The other candidates are the Panthers, the Islanders and the Trashers.
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9 comments:
Have you actually seen a Leaf game this year? Jason Blake one of the best players??? He's been awful. Hagman and Grabovsky have been their two most dangerous forwards, despite the lack of results on the scoresheet.
I watched the games against Detroit, Montreal and NYRangers. It's the same old Grabovsky that we have seen in Montreal; very good skater, soft hands, but no results!
I agree with Fred here - he scored that beauty in Pittsburgh in the preseason and has seemed to drop off since. Jesus, we gave up a 2nd and a 5th for him, he better start producing.
your an idiot.....don't make judgment on a player until he has at least played a full season in the league.
I agree with the first anonymous. Grabovsky, Hagman and Mitchell have been working hard every shift. Sure, this hasn't translated to a lot of goals or no goals (Grabovsky) but they have only played five games and the new players need to get ajusted with each other. And once again, Jason Blake has a lot of shots but not a lot of results. 1 goal on 24 shots.....
what are you talking about, grabovski has been there best player up front, theres more to hockey than goals and assists
We'll see tonight if the Leafs beat a lame Ducks team. I watched 3 Ducks game and they really suck offensively, they take bad penalty and Getzlaf, Perry and Selanne are in a deep coma. A strong start by the Leafs will result in a win!
"Anonymous said...
your an idiot"
Yeah, you really showed me. Questioning another's intelligence usually works better with proper spelling. Just a suggestion.
betman will never let the leafs win the dirst pick, have you not seeen the last 4 1st picks U.S. based teams in trouble. i'm putting money on the leafs not getting that pick
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