Tempering Tampering and Tending
A classic distraction story, taking the heat away from an 0-3 start. Canucks responded with a 7-1 drubbing of the Habs in their second home game.
It’s difficult to believe that this was aired in the first place, but at the same time, it’s not as surprising.
Just look at the landscape and how much it’s changed over the course of even one single season. This site only recently celebrated a one year anniversary. Aside from the media and their particular slant on the minutiae of everything Leafs, but there’s a bustling underground with sprouts of mainstream within, that provides further and further analysis, slant, opinion, commentary, humorous, opinionated, biased, balanced etc etc ..
Pension Plan Puppets provides daily links to what seems to be a new member of the Barilkosphere almost on a weekly basis. There’s new boards and Leafspace, while the Leafs organization embrace Web 2.0 with blogs, tweets, video-blogs, Monika-with-a-K, whatever the Leafs fans hearts desire.
As this newly emerging content hits keeping people’s very short attention is becoming more difficult with so much consumption variety. Meanwhile, everyone wants their voice heard. It keeps coming back to keeping patrons attention. Content has to be edgy, timely, and most importantly has to entice readers, listeners, viewers, with an already voracious apetite for content to come back for more. And what does that better than anything in the entire world?
Rumors …
Names included and all, along with the situation of management personnel discussing strategy, the ‘rumor’ was a content Godsend. It was that kind of edge that will keep viewers tuned in.
That’s why the video was aired, that’s why Gillis found it as a perfect excuse to use in this particular time, and that’s why nothing really came out of it except for a wag of a finger and contribution into a hat.
(interesting take on Leafs Lunch with Watters making mention of this being retribution for previous ownership issues with Vancouver and the current Leafs management.)
Gustavsson’s Groin Injury: Chance of Redemption
Somewhere in a little corner of the Mastercard Center for Hockey Excellence is a little Toskala built shrine directed to whichever hockey God pulled at the Monster’s groin, and sidelined him for about a week.
This is the break Toskala was waiting for, but with inerrant risk. yes, he could finally address and silence critics, but … What if he … stinks, and permanently loses his starters role. If he is to recapture the number one job – that wasn’t his to begin with, technically – this is the stretch of game for which he has to step it up.
The Leafs take on the Rangers twice and one against the Avalanche after Saturday’s match up against with the Pengiuns. They head off for a five-game road trip the following week. If the Monster isn’t ready for the road trip, surely the load will land on Toskala’s shoulders.
It’s obvious Gustavsson will be the goalie of the future, but I think it’s rushed to adorn him as the number one goaltender, just yet. Aside from this injury-riddled beginning to his Leafs career, there is still the matter of Toskala playing out his final season as a contract – not so much as a player – and how the Leafs handle that asset. Is Toskala even marketable anymore in this goaltending market? Making Toskala a valued asset has to be part of the general plan in Leafsland just to maximize some sort of return without losing him for nothing ala unrestricted free agency.
Could the Leafs even be able to get a good enough season out of him to make him a marketable commodity should they decide to deal him at the deadline, particularly if they aren’t close enough to a playoff spot.
I think the measure of the goaltending market was a 2nd round pick the Canadiens got in return for dealing Cristobal Huet, and cap it at that as a best case scenario for him to be moved. Also taking into consideration that Manny Fernandez wasn’t able to land a back up position in the NHL, if things proceed downhill far enough, Toskala himself could be shortly following.
This could be the defining moment of the Leafs goaltending situation this season.
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