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The Toronto Maple Leaf's Report Card After 18 Games Played; 2005/2006

By Joe DeClara

The Toronto Maple Leafs have begun their season and are not doing as well as I might have liked. I expected big things from the team, Quinn has always been big on offense and now he has the chance to show off what he can do without worrying about other players hooking and obstructing his players. So what happened? I guess someone from got to tell the Leafs that speed is going to be important this year. Add that to the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan forcing the Leafs to make smart financial moves and suddenly we’re stuck with an aging goaltender and little cap room for defense. The result has surly been predictable, Belfour has struggled early and often while a weak defense is allowing him the get peppered every night. If they could slow the shots on Belfour, a tough feat for any team in this new NHL) then he could probably hang on a win us a couple more games. Our forwards, as usual, aren’t doing their part defensively either, but that’s probably because they’re used to half decent blue liners behind them. We’ll have to wait a couple more months to be sure, but unless the Leafs make a drastic change either in philosophy or personal, they might be in for a long season and a short playoffs.

The following in a report card on the team:

Goaltending: C+

Belfour has been weak in more games than he has been strong. He complains about the smaller gloves and I feel for him, but he’s got to get used to it, nothing is going to change. The reason he isn’t completely garbage this year is due to his incredible vision and intelligence on the ice. He is a positional goaltender and he certainly hasn’t lost that ability. Most of the saves he makes are right into his chest, you may think that’s luck but I don’t. His problem arises when shooters shoot on his glove side. If he’s still got it he’ll improve his glove game and be all right, if he doesn’t have it anymore we’ll know soon enough and the load will fall to Tellqvist. Tellqvist has had an amazing game and a horrendous game. Which one can we rely on in the future? Your guess is as good as mine.

Defense C+

I’m tempted to bump the defense up to a B due to the offense they’ve produced, but the majority of that is McCabe. Kaberle is still not shooting enough, although he’s been awesome on the rush. After those two things go south quickly. Klee who was supposed to be a rock on defense for us takes way too many penalties, and the new guy Khavanov is living up to the reports on him. Avoids physical play, is frustrating to watch. I haven’t seen much offense from him, and his defense has not been commendable. It gets even worse from there. Berg, who has improved of late, is still horrible with the puck, although I should probably go easy on him after watching McCabe give the puck away so often. Berg is a big guy who likes to use his size but he is slow. The new NHL requires fast players and Berg is not fast. Belak was one of our defensemen but thankfully was moved to forward, since he played in a bunch of games as a D-man I’m including him in this evaluation, but I won’t say much about him other than he sucks on the blue line. The remaining players are all young, Colaiacovo, Kronvall, and Wozniewski. All three have played decently and should be given lots of time to make mistakes. If all three were playing from day one I would have ranked the defense higher. Since Belak is moved and these guys have moved up I expect the Leafs blue line in the future will be much improved, but a real solid player is still required. Leetch would have been perfect.

Forwards B

Sundin missed the first 12 games and we still did ok. Now that we have Sundin back we should improve significantly, Sundin is the man, period. Lindros has been solid in almost every game he’s played, I wish we had him three years ago, stupid Bobby Clarke. O’Neil is much improved with the return of Sundin, (Mats please don’t go away again), and the young guys are looking fantastic: Wellwood, Stajan, Steen, all have bright futures with the club and have quickly become core players now. Good for you guys! Allison has been a bit of a disappointment, I expected him to be a dominant player and while he is scoring points he could improve. Allison is just so slow, I don’t know if he can be a dominant player because of that. Great hands but slow legs in the new NHL don’t fit the requirements. The new NHL is about speed, speed, speed. Antropov of course has been hurt and isn’t scoring again, this guy is gone soon. Ponikarovsky has been good, scoring timely goals and playing physical, I like this guy. Kilger and Wilm have been stable and I’m glad we have them for depth. Domi hasn’t changed a bit since the lockout. The only forward to be a big disappointment is Czerkawski, where are you buddy? He’s only played in six games, but there’s a reason for that. Do something!

Coaching C+

Quinn has to take the brunt of the team’s near .500 record. If we’re that kind of team then fine, but it looks to me like we could and should have won way more games than we have. The Leafs blow a lot of leads, I’m blaming that on coaching. Come on Quinn put these guys in their place and get them winning!

About the author.

Joe DeClara, is a researcher/writer for Askipedia.com A question isn't just something that you have answered, it's a chance to learn something new, and what is more important than expanding our area of knowledge. Come learn with us, all you need is a question.

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