With the 2005-6 hockey season winding down, and my Leafs--Sunday night's win nothwithstanding--being, well, not with (playoff) standing, I think now's a good time to issue my season report card on the roster. The Toronto papers will do this in a couple of weeks: this way, I can get the jump on them and maybe sue for plagiarism later. Ha.
In doing this report, I'm going to try to be as objective as I can. There's a belief out there that most Leaf fans are really fanatics who have let their blue-and-white blood choke off every vestige of reason. I'd like to say that this is one fan who refuses to conform to that stereotype.
The team as a (w)hole:
Grade: D
Did not live up to modest expectations. The sense at the outset was that this team would have to battle hard to make the playoffs. They haven't...and they won't.
The damnedest thing is, they are capable of beating most teams, if they put the effort in. Most of them don't, except ever so occasionally...just often enough to piss you off. Why don't you play like that every night?!?!?
General Manager John Ferguson Jr.
Grade: F
He's made two glaring errors. The first was signing G Ed Belfour to a ridiculous contract: too long and too lucrative. He argues that there was no alternative, but any GM with vision and foresight could have fashioned one, via trade. Now we're stuck paying Eddie $1.5 million not to play next year--cap money we really could have used elsewhere!--
The second error--one even more damning, in my view--was refusing to make some kind of commitment at the trade deadline. At that time, he had two options. He could have committed to making the playoffs, by bringing in the high-priced help as the Leafs have done in the past. Or he could have realized his team was going nowhere fast and dismantled. What did he do? He traded one old, slow defenseman (Klee) for an older, slower defenseman (Richardson) and gave up a pick for a career minor-leaguer (Suglobov) who, while fast, hasn't exhibited consistency or indeed any defensive acumen.
Then there's the plethora of painful decisions: the ongoing commitment to Antropov, Belak, Domi, and so on and so on. Ferguson apologists will say it takes three to five years to fully realize a GM's vision. I'd argue he needs to have one, first.
Head coach Pat Quinn
Grade: D+
There's this tendency to blame the coach for every last problem (while crediting the players for anything that does go well, of course.) The sorry state of this team is not entirely Quinn's fault: he's been given precious little to work with. However, I will not exonerate the man. His coaching vision is rooted in an NHL that is, thankfully, dead. He absolutely refuses to adhere to set lines, preferring to saddle his captain with an ever-rotating supply of spare parts. He's also been far too loyal to players who have done nothing to merit the loyalty. This particular trait has abated somewhat of late, but Quinn is still far too apt to keep paying out rope long after his charges have hung themselves.
Captain Mats Sundin
Grade: B
Close to his usual point-a-game production despite never knowing who's going to flank him on any given night. Exhibits quiet leadership. Performance is marred by occasional stupid penalties--taken out of frustration, I'm sure. Could be kept for next year, but the Leafs owe him a shot with a contender, and he could bring real value in return...one of the few on this roster that could.
C Jason Allison
Grade: C-
One of Ferguson's gambles that paid off...sort of. He's been relatively injury-free until breaking his hand last Saturday, and he's our leading scorer among forwards. But--and it's a huge but--his plus/minus is atrocious and he loves to give the puck away. Most of his points have come on the power play. That's all he's good for, really. Allison plays the game at half-speed at a time when fleetness of foot is highly desirable. Trade him if we can find a sucker/team in need of a power play specialist: under no circumstances resign him.
C Eric Lindros
Grade: D
A few flashes of Eric the Great, most notably at the beginning of the season when Sundin went down with his eye injury. But when the captain returned, Lindros increasingly looked lost. Then he hurt himself. Again. High risk gamble that failed. Waive bye-bye, Eric.
C Kyle Wellwood
Grade: B-
Respectable player with some upside. Historically has shown he takes one year to acclimatize himself, then explodes offensively. A bit too prone to the cutesy move, in my opinion. Nevertheless, this is a piece to keep and build around.
C Clarke Wilm
Grade: C
Meagre talent, but he works hard on a team where far too many loaf around. Solid penalty killer and check-finisher. Worth keeping as a fourth-line shift disturber.
RW Jeff O'Neill
Grade: D-
Otherwise known as Jeff O'Shit, There Goes The Puck. His plus/minus is terrible and he has largely lost the ability to score. In recent years he has been restricted to the PP...for good reason. But Quinn had him out there taking a regular shift, and the team paid for it. Dearly. Another of Ferguson's acquisitions that did not pan out.
RW Nik Antropov
Grade: F
Nearly every game of 2002-3, I was urging the Leafs to trade this guy for a bucket of pucks. Now I know better. There's no way any GM would give up so many pucks for this lug. Quinn's loyalty to Antropov is unconscionable: is sex involved somehow? No idea, but this is one player we could trade for nothing and come out ahead.
RW Tie Domi
Grade: D
Congratulations, Tie, you've played over a thousand games. Time to move on. You can't skate, you can't score, you hardly even fight anymore...what good are you, exactly?
RW Alexander Steen
Grade: B-
Another rookie keeper with real potential. Exactly what you'd expect with his bloodline. Solid two-way player who is very good on the PK and rarely a liability. Some prolonged offensive droughts, but the goals will come.
RW Ben Ondrus
Grade: INC, but shows promise
I don't think Ben will ever light up the NHL scoring race. But, like most of the Marlies we've had come through here this season, he has not looked out of place. (Is that a tribute to Marlies coach Paul Maurice, or an indication that the Leafs are, in fact, an AHL team? Hmmm.) Solid work ethic. I like this kid.
LW Darcy Tucker
Grade: B+
The poor man's Doug Gilmour. He, more than anyone else, has put effort in this year and it shows. Career year. Has managed to walk the fine line between playing with intensity and
penalty-boxing himself. Trading him would be a mistake: somebody's got to rub off on our kids, and you could do a lot worse than Darcy.
LW Alexei Ponikarovsky
Grade: B
I used to pair Poni with Antropov on my list of Goodwill donations. He force-fed me several helpings of crow this season. He's discovered a bit of a scoring knack; he's learned how to use his size; and he has wheels I never noticed before. A lock for most improved Leaf this season. Keep him.
LW Matt Stajan
Grade: C
Lethal on the penalty kill, semi-invisible everywhere else--how do you grade this guy? Needs to develop some consistency. I'm not sure he can do it here. Possible trade bait.
LW Chad Kilger
Grade: B-
Another pleasant, though modest, surprise. Chad has also improved quite a bit this season. He's our leading goal-getter at even strength. Has some speed and more defensive sense than some of our D. Utility player with real utility.
LW/D Wade Belak
Grade: D+
In January Wade would have managed an F- at best. For most of this year, Wade's been a walking disaster, particularly on defense. Something happened to him on the Olympic break that's caused him to start playing sound defensive hockey. I'm not sure who he switched unis with, but it's been a shock. Keep it up, Wade.
D Bryan McCabe
Grade: B-
Is this guy a chore to grade or what? A one-dimensional player...but what a dimension. Our leading scorer and a real workhorse on the blueline, Bryan uses his partner to cover up for some of his lapses defensively. There are quite a few of those. McCabe is best suited to be #3/4 on somebody's depth chart. It's inexcusable that Ferguson didn't find somebody to deal him to.
D Tomas Kaberle
Grade: B
Here's the unsung hero of the Leafs' defense corps...and yet as of this writing he's a -8. Without Kaberle, McCabe loses about forty of his points; without Kaberle to soak up minutes, the rest of the Leafs' D would be even more exposed--scary thought. Could be a Norris Trophy candidate if he'd learn to shoot the frigging puck every once in awhile.
D Luke Richardson
Grade: C-
If only we'd kept him here over the length of his career. Now, deep in the dusk of it, he's creeping...creeping...creeping. Smart positional play has somewhat made up for his lack of foot speed, but he's a shadow of the stay-at-home D-man he once was.
D Alexander Khavanov
Grade: D
Looked really good during the preseason. Pretty awful since. He has no speed, no real backchecking ability, and no reason to stick around. His plus/minus is only at -11 because they don't give you a minus when you're in the penalty box for hooking and the opposition scores.
D Aki Berg
Grade: C-
I watched him turn in a Kaberle-type effort for Finland during the Olympics and wondered why he couldn't play half so well for the Leafs every night. Since the break, he's been distinctly average: a huge improvement. His +/- sits at -5, which is pretty good for this defense corps.
But I still think we'd be better off without him.
D Staffan Kronwall
Grade: C-
...could improve, given enough time. He'll get it, next year, barring another injury.
G Ed Belfour
Grade: D+
Sure-fire first-ballot Hall of Famer. People have been predicting the end of his career for years, and he's made a lot of them look pretty silly, but you knew that one of these seasons they were going to be right. Still capable of great saves and the occasional stolen game, Belfour has been prone to softie goals this year, quite a few of them, and his puckhandling skills have all but deserted him. It's time to hang 'em up.
G Mikael Tellqvist
Grade: C-
Not ready for prime time. Does show some promise, but is inconsistent both game to game and within games.
INC: C John Pohl, D Andy Wozniewski, D Carlo Colaiacovo, D Jay Harrison, D Brendan Bell, D Ian White, G Jean-Sebastien Aubin
I'd like to single out Jay Harrison amongst that group. While everybody there more or less looked okay, Harrison stood out. Hard to judge him on eight games played, but what I saw looked pretty good.
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