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CANOE -- SLAM! Sports - Hockey NHL - Toronto: Leafs all tapped out?
An honest Leafs fan will have told you after watching the final series of the NHL playoffs that he's glad the Leafs didn't make it - they would have embarassed themselves. The current calibre of play coming off the Leaf bench is not that of a Stanley Cup winning team - they lack speed and they lack depth in the blue-line. Ed Belfour was an astounding fixture of the Leaf line-up, making incredible stops time and time again when his sieve-like defencemen couldn't get the job done.
After yesterday's signings, it's apparent that the business-as-usual Leafs are willing to wait for another year to hoist the Cup. McCabe and Antropov are to remain in the blue and white. McCabe, who I will admit has a strong record on paper, is a player who has shown a total inability to raise his game in the clutch. When he's strong, he's strong, but when he's weak, he looses games. Nik Antropov... well let's hope he can get his head out of his ass this season.
I am of the strong belief that it is time to re-invent the Leaf blue line from top to bottom and there are no babies in the bathwater when it comes to the Leaf defenders. Perhaps Bryan Leech will provide the guidance and leadership that will motivate the younger players to actually start defending (Hello Tomas Kaberle). Perhaps defensive pairings from the current roster will develop that are beyond the demonstrated sum of their parts. Perhaps by some miracle all the aging Leaf players will have the seasons of the lives and the team will be a serious contender. There are a lots of "perhaps" in the Leaf future - the team looks more like a bond fund than it does a high performing company. I think the most likely result of these moves is that Toronto will remain a city of frustrated Cup ambitions.
An honest Leafs fan will have told you after watching the final series of the NHL playoffs that he's glad the Leafs didn't make it - they would have embarassed themselves. The current calibre of play coming off the Leaf bench is not that of a Stanley Cup winning team - they lack speed and they lack depth in the blue-line. Ed Belfour was an astounding fixture of the Leaf line-up, making incredible stops time and time again when his sieve-like defencemen couldn't get the job done.
After yesterday's signings, it's apparent that the business-as-usual Leafs are willing to wait for another year to hoist the Cup. McCabe and Antropov are to remain in the blue and white. McCabe, who I will admit has a strong record on paper, is a player who has shown a total inability to raise his game in the clutch. When he's strong, he's strong, but when he's weak, he looses games. Nik Antropov... well let's hope he can get his head out of his ass this season.
I am of the strong belief that it is time to re-invent the Leaf blue line from top to bottom and there are no babies in the bathwater when it comes to the Leaf defenders. Perhaps Bryan Leech will provide the guidance and leadership that will motivate the younger players to actually start defending (Hello Tomas Kaberle). Perhaps defensive pairings from the current roster will develop that are beyond the demonstrated sum of their parts. Perhaps by some miracle all the aging Leaf players will have the seasons of the lives and the team will be a serious contender. There are a lots of "perhaps" in the Leaf future - the team looks more like a bond fund than it does a high performing company. I think the most likely result of these moves is that Toronto will remain a city of frustrated Cup ambitions.
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