Burning a New Leaf

Author: Illegal Curve

October 20, 2009

Illegal Curve`s E-Take is sponsored every Monday by Immunocal, the elite athlete nutritional supplement for muscular performance since 1996. www.wellnesswinnipeg.com

Written by Richard Pollock editor@illegalcurve.com. 

Heading into the 2009/10 season, expectations were high from the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, down through the coaches and fans alike.  Free agency brought new faces such as Mike Komisarek, Francois Beauchemin and Colton Orr.  These veteran free agents were augmented by the additions, both at the end of last season and over the summer, of youngsters such as Tyler Bozak, Christian Hanson and Jonas Gustavsson.  With these much-lauded acquisitions, came heightened expectations.

Then came arguably the Leafs’ biggest move of all—the team traded two first round draft picks (2010 and 2011) to the rival Boston Bruins for young sniper Phil Kessel.  This move signalled management’s belief that the 2009/10 version of the Toronto Maple Leafs could—and arguably should—make the playoffs.  How else would you explain the dispatch of two first round draft picks for a team that is still a ways away from being in the same class at Pittsburgh, Philadelphia or Washington?

Brian Burke is a shrewd general manager and surely would not part with two significant assets (the two first round picks) if he thought that even one selection would be in the top ten of the next two NHL entry drafts.  With five of the team’s first seven games at the Air Canada Centre and momentum from a successful pre-season (six wins in nine games), a fast start was almost expected from Leafs Nation.  Well, the opposite has happened.  In fact, the Leafs have not won a game yet this season (0-6-1) and have been outscored by a whopping 18 goals (14 goals for, 32 goals against) in the team’s first seven games.

This is not the 1980s, teams that allow 4.57 goals against per game are not going to win many games in today’s National Hockey League.  Now, with time, the Leafs are going to improve on those totals, but let’s remember that this team finished last in the entire league in goals against last season (293).  Additionally, the Leafs are once again among the bottom teams in the NHL in penalty killing percentage (30th overall last season; 30th overall so far this season).  Looking at things optimistically, the season is young and it is not yet time to panic.  At the same time, it has to be troubling for Leafs fans to observe the same issues from a season ago rear its ugly head again.

The thing is, last season, when the Leafs performed poorly, the organization and the team’s die-hard fan base always pointed, with optimism, to the entry draft.  They would explain that there was value in the ability to utilize a top ten draft pick (which turned out to be Nazem Kadri of the OHL—a youngster that impressed at Leafs training camp just last month) and the upside that comes along with such a selection.  This season, however, there is no such light to point to.  With the trade for Phil Kessel, the Leafs will no longer reap the benefits of a team that struggles.  Instead, any struggles will result in the rival Bruins having a high selection at the 2010 Entry Draft.

A smart man like Brian Burke understands that with managing comes risk.  I, for one, admire Burke’s willingness to put himself out there and make this kind of transaction.  Burke has shown in the past that he can handle the pressure and the spotlight.  However, with this move, he has placed the spotlight on someone other than himself—the Leafs team as a whole.

Can this team prove to be as good as he expected?  If the Leafs cannot, get used to hearing an endless number of Leafs fans complain that Burke mistakenly accelerated the rebuilding process a year too soon.  Granted, those will mostly be the same Leafs fans that loved the trade the day it happened.  Alas, that is what comes with managing in a hockey hot-bed like Toronto.  Today you are a hero; tomorrow they are ready to burn you at the stake.

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