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After being mismanaged for so long, it's finally en vogue for the Leafs to bomb this year. That's the hope from Fletcher and co. anyway. They want to lose as much as possible and add to their slowly growing pool of young talent. Schenn is a great step in the right direction, Kulemin is a highly touted center from Russia, Tlusty is a gritty, talented center, who should get a nice, big shot at centering one of TO's top 2 lines. And my personal favourite out of them, Antom Stralman. Despite not having an overly big frame, Stralman is fairly adept in his own zone and a wonderful passer in the offensive zone. He'll have to bulk up a fair bit, but he'll be a big part of TO's future.
Of these players, the one I would expect not to make the lineup in Schenn. Why rush this kid when you're going to be rebuilding for 2 or 3 years? Let him learn the ins and outs of professional hockey with the Marlies and get used to a heavy schedule.
There are 2 major X-factors for the Leafs and they are Thomas Kaberle and Vesa Toskala. Both are way too good to be on a team that has Hedman or Tavares in their sites. Both will hinder the Leafs chances of being in last place. As it stands right now, the Leafs have some interesting names up from in Stajan, Steen, Blake, Ponikarovsky, Antropov, Hagman and Mayers, but none of these guys scream goal-scorer.
Toronto's defense is actually pretty decent. Kubina has found his feet again and can now be considered a top pairing D-man. Kaberle is one of the best defenders - both defensively and offensively - in the NHL, Stralman will take his knocks, but learn a lot this year and all joking aside, Jeff Finger will be a steady player for Ron Wilson. Add to the mix Mike Van Ryn and you have a recipe for trying to get picks out of Colaiacovo and Ian White (no small task).
Toronto's area to shine is in goal though. Consider just how good Vesa Toskala is to have the numbers he did last year. .904 save % and a 2.74 GAA doesn't sound spectacular, but think back to the disaster that was the Leafs of last year and you begin to appreciate this guy more and more.
Ron Wilson played Vesa Toskala's old partner Nabokov 77 times last year. 77 times. That's mind boggling. Toskala's NHL high is 66, last year, but before that, his NHL high was 38. What is Wilson going to do here? Is he going to ride Toskala like a pony, or is he gonna pawn some of that work onto Curtis Joseph? That will remain a huge question for the Leafs going forward. As good as Joseph is as a back-up, he's nowhere near the talent level that Toskala is. Does Wilson end up 'giving Toskala a break' somewhere in that season to try to get that 1st overall pick?
One thing's for certain: when the dust settles and the 2008-2009 Toronto Maple Leafs take the ice, they will be a tight-checking, trap-happy team that will try to grind teams into the ice and take away their time. This should make for some enormously boring games - especially between them and Boston or New Jersey...yikes. But in the end, it's not how many times they win 2-1, it's how many times they lose.
Team Grade: D
Conference Prediction: 13th in the East
Of these players, the one I would expect not to make the lineup in Schenn. Why rush this kid when you're going to be rebuilding for 2 or 3 years? Let him learn the ins and outs of professional hockey with the Marlies and get used to a heavy schedule.
There are 2 major X-factors for the Leafs and they are Thomas Kaberle and Vesa Toskala. Both are way too good to be on a team that has Hedman or Tavares in their sites. Both will hinder the Leafs chances of being in last place. As it stands right now, the Leafs have some interesting names up from in Stajan, Steen, Blake, Ponikarovsky, Antropov, Hagman and Mayers, but none of these guys scream goal-scorer.
Toronto's defense is actually pretty decent. Kubina has found his feet again and can now be considered a top pairing D-man. Kaberle is one of the best defenders - both defensively and offensively - in the NHL, Stralman will take his knocks, but learn a lot this year and all joking aside, Jeff Finger will be a steady player for Ron Wilson. Add to the mix Mike Van Ryn and you have a recipe for trying to get picks out of Colaiacovo and Ian White (no small task).
Toronto's area to shine is in goal though. Consider just how good Vesa Toskala is to have the numbers he did last year. .904 save % and a 2.74 GAA doesn't sound spectacular, but think back to the disaster that was the Leafs of last year and you begin to appreciate this guy more and more.
Ron Wilson played Vesa Toskala's old partner Nabokov 77 times last year. 77 times. That's mind boggling. Toskala's NHL high is 66, last year, but before that, his NHL high was 38. What is Wilson going to do here? Is he going to ride Toskala like a pony, or is he gonna pawn some of that work onto Curtis Joseph? That will remain a huge question for the Leafs going forward. As good as Joseph is as a back-up, he's nowhere near the talent level that Toskala is. Does Wilson end up 'giving Toskala a break' somewhere in that season to try to get that 1st overall pick?
One thing's for certain: when the dust settles and the 2008-2009 Toronto Maple Leafs take the ice, they will be a tight-checking, trap-happy team that will try to grind teams into the ice and take away their time. This should make for some enormously boring games - especially between them and Boston or New Jersey...yikes. But in the end, it's not how many times they win 2-1, it's how many times they lose.
Team Grade: D
Conference Prediction: 13th in the East
