I apologize for the long hiatus in posts. I decided to have a long christmas vacation with lots of eat, a bit of drink and a superfluous amount of shinny. Oh the life we life, eh?
When I left off, we had just played Buffalo on December 21st, which might have been the most exciting game of the season. Stalberg was called up and played well only to get injured. Then we lost a lot. Then Carolina actually caught up to us in the standings... and here we are.
The Leafs are starting to get hard to watch. Kessel's slump is just painful at this point, and Hagman's harsh decrease in point production is doing so much that his trade value is even dropping. What to do, what to do? I actually heard talk yesterday of taking Kessel off the power play and at this point, I think that might just be a good idea. Although he's a solely offensive-minded player (with no regard for ANY defense), he struggles to break into the shooting lanes. Even with a quick-release as deadly as his, he's not getting the puck through. If he's not getting the goals, it's because they're putting a lot of emphasis on his side of the ice both at full strength or on the PP. Thankfully, on the other side of the ice we have Ian White or Beauchemin (on the PP). Get them the puck.
We've heard it from all the media: the Leafs are being killed/killing themselves by special teams. They start calling into question Ron Wilson's skill as a coach (and penalty kill specialist) or Brian Burke's criteria for a team but this isn't the way to go about Leafs criticism. I do my best to try to avoid this because Wilson has no one to put out there on a penalty kill and Burke has no one to trade other than draft pi- nevermind.
In regards to the power play, my only advice would be to stop putting on full lines. If they seem to have figured out our first line to the extent every team in the league has at this point, switch it up a bit. With Kessel in his normal spot, the high boards on the goaltender's right hand side, the goalie knows where the shot is coming from. There needs to be more movement instead of a stagnant umbrella set up that feeds Kessel for a shot that's going to be blocked. Leafs need to get it down low, pull a defenseman off the slot area, then push it to the point and get a shot off. It sounds easier than it is, but our opposition does it to Luke Schenn every time he's on the ice.
The penalty kill is a whole other story. Let's look at the power play goal last night by Eric Staal. Who was on the ice? Hagman, Mitchell, White and Exelby. We just have a really weak team. Yes, we could put Kulemin out as a big body to block shots but at the end of the day, neither the Leafs first nor second line PK unit is strong enough to compete. I know it's halfway through the season, but what needs to happen isn't an overhaul of the players, but a mastery of a PK system. If the diamond doesn't work, give small box a shot. If that doesn't work, large box and so on. It can't get any worse can it? I dunno, ask LA a decade ago.
Anyway, Go Leafs G.... oh who am I kidding.
Bone
About Me
- Bone
- Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- As a born and brought up fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Bone watches the Leafs while located in the heart of Habs territory. He's seen the greatness of Clark and Gilmour and their fight in 1993, but has also seen the times of Hal Gill and Wozniewski and their slow, bonehead style hockey. Bone is a Leafs optimist at times but knows that there is still an unfortunate ultimate reality that all Leafs fans must realize during the current rebuilding process.
2 comments:
The Leafs played three games last week. Have they learned anything from them? Let's take a look from this angle. First, in the Philadelphia game(won 6 to 2 by the Flyers),four of the Flyers’ goals were scored on power plays. Secondly,in the game against Buffalo, Buffalo scored three of their four goals on power plays. In the third game the Penguins did a bit worse, popping only one goal in four power plays. In the three games a total of eight goals were scored against the Leafs in fourteen power plays.
My point is not to criticise the Leafs’ penalty killing teams. Instead, why not attack the penalties by sitting the players that (in the coach's eyes)take bad penalties - otherwise known as stupid ones. Penalties were invented to give scoring opportunities to the teams who stick to the rules. It's a tremendous advantage to play for two minutes with an extra man. Burke likes his players to be tough, to start fights, to hit from behind, to sneak trips, to play dirty. We all know that hockey is a tough game, but it is also a beautiful one, especially when we see sportsmanship exercised.
The Horse's Ass
I agree that penalty killing is, was and will continue to plague the Leafs this season. When players are consistently taking stupid penalties, it does call for a couple minutes on the bench but I feel as though Wilson is worried that such action might discourage players from playing aggressively. I could be wrong but, especially after seeing Jay Rosehill being called up, softening up does not seem to be what Wilson wants for this club. Let's hope that putting a brawler's team out there may scare Philadelphia into a loss.
Post a Comment