Hockey Blog 2007 (III)

Toronto Maple Leafs report card 2006-2007

(cf. here)

(caveat: as I write this I still have no idea whether or not they are in the playoffs. This report card is based on their regular season only.)

I started to do a player-by-player comprehensive report, and that fizzled out after I got through a few forwards. The fact is, this team is so damned inconsistent that it's nearly impossible to give them any kind of meaningful grade. One night they go out and shut down one of the top teams in the league. The next night they fall to one of the cellar-dwellers.

Long before this season started, it was evidently decided by Leafs braintrust to take the path less trodden and build their team differently. Unlike almost every other NHL team, almost all of our offense comes from the defense. Since there are very few D-men who are exceptional at both ends of the ice, this philosophy requires a top-flight, cool-under-pressure, game-stealing goalie in the Roberto Luongo or Marty Brodeur mold.
About all Andrew Raycroft has in common with either of those two is his goal stick. Simply put, Raycroft is horrible. Even on nights when he's playing well, there's this little niggling voice in the back of every fan's mind (and, no doubt, the minds of the people playing in front of him) that any minute now a shot's going to come sailing in from the blueline, high glove side, and Raycroft's going to wave at it as it goes by and lands in the net. Raycroft has established the Leafs franchise record for wins by a goalie, but that stat ought to come loaded with a few domes of salt, as there are no longer such things as ties. Raycroft was yanked in that final do-or-die game last night after letting in at least two inexcusable softies. He may yet prove to be a decent goalie. I hope he proves it somewhere else.
Moving out from the beleaguered crease, we first come to Tomas Kaberle, who is our sole All-Star (I'm not counting Yanic Perrault) and deservedly so. This is a future Norris Trophy winner. A couple of weeks ago I watched him lug the puck out of the zone despite being triple-teamed by the opposition. Joe Bowen, Leafs play-by-play man par excellence, said something like "And there's only three guys on Kaberle, no trouble there. Four and he might be a little concerned." Kaberle still doesn't shoot the puck enough, in my opinion, but you know what? He shoots just often enough that a goalie can't always discount a shot. I'd think long and hard before I'd trade this guy for anything below, say, Jordan Staal.
Hal Gill has been our other bright light on defense, our sole stay at home guy. He's got the wingspan of an Airbus and, although he's a plodder, his positioning is more often than not sound enough to overcome people speeding in on him. He was everyone's favourite whipping boy in Boston, but he's become an integral part of the team here.
The rest of the defense...is offensive, usually in both senses of the word. Special pair of goat horns for Bryan McCabe, whom they might want to think about converting to forward. Still has his shot, for whenever teams forget that's all he does. Why didn't we trade him last year?
I would like to single out Carlo Colaiacovo for a breakout season. He still gets injured with great frequency, which is scary, but when he's healthy he contributes...and even though he's good for one brainfart every game, he's also fast enough that he can usually get back into the play. His diving poke check is a thing of beauty.
Moving up to the forwards, we have two, maybe three legitimate first line players here followed by a whole host of third and fourth line muckers and grinders. Mats Sundin was as advertised good for a point a game, badly snakebit the last quarter in the goal-scoring department, but still contributing. He's something of an enigma. On the one hand, he's the definition of steady...point a game, like clockwork. But the way he goes about that is just bizarre: he'll go five games without a point, then get ten points in his next five games. It's almost as if he pays more attention to his own boxscore than anything else.
Darcy Tucker: another great season derailed by injury. He might have been a 40 goal scorer if he'd stayed healthy. He's a Leaf for life and if Sundin retires I think they ought to give him the "C".
Kyle Wellwood: despite missing half the season, he almost matched last season's point total. It's not inconceivable to suggest a healthy Wellwood would have been our top scorer. Immensely creative with the puck, he is hampered by the sub-par talent level of his linemates, who seem incapable of expecting Wellwood's unexpected passes.
After these three the talent level goes over a cliff and we have to rely on intangibles such as grit and heart. Kudos to Nik Antropov, who improved despite once again missing a third of the season. Boos to Stajan and Steen, who took several steps backwards this year and were largely invisible. And a message to John Pohl: John, I had you down for 40 points, and while you didn't quite manage that, you would have if you'd been used properly. I sorta kinda thought Paul Maurice knew your nose for the net.
Finally: Boyd Devereaux. I got a serious case of man-love on for this guy. He came up from the Marlies and resurrected his NHL career with speed, work ethic, and an occasional clutch goal. Keep him...and clone him.

All in all, this team actually improved a bit over last year, point total notwithstanding. With any kind of a goalie and even one more scoring winger we'd be talking about home-ice advantage right now. Maurice deserves credit for keeping his team together despite a hospital's worth of injuries.

GO DEVILS GO!