Top Seven Reasons To Watch The Rest of The Leafs Season
First and foremost, let me apologize for my absence. As some of you may know, I am in school completing my Sports Marketing degree, and things have gotten really hectic in crunch time. I am also organizing a golf tournament for this summer in Strathroy, Ontario. Anyone who would like to golf can get in touch with me anytime.
You know, another season of hockey is winding down. At least, it is in Toronto with the Maple Leafs. While the sun has been shining and treating us to above average weather the past week or so, it does come at a price.
It has become all to accustomed. As soon as the sun begins to melt the snow, and the grey, dull sky is replaced by a ray of sunlight, you know that the Maple Leafs aren’t long for this world. That the season is just about wrapped up, and lockers will soon be cleaned.
And to be honest, fan to fan, sometimes it’s hard to stay engaged. I mean, let’s be honest, no matter how many wins we rack up in the final few games, we are all but eliminated from playoff contention. No matter how many losses we take, we won’t be closer to the first overall pick, at least not us personally (for the record I have little problem with that deal.)
However, there are still plenty of reasons to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs as we head down the home stretch of the schedule. If you need a friendly reminder, here is a few.
The Kids Are Alright They have been the talk of the town the last two weeks, and so it isn’t surprising to anyone that I would touch on the kids, and what type of impact they are having on this final stretch of the season. Tyler Bozak has looked right at home riding shotgun with Phil Kessel. Viktor Stalberg, Christian Hanson and Luca Caputi have shown mixes of flash, dash, and crash that is making them look like effective, everyday NHL’ers, and Carl Gunnarsson has been arguably the surprise of the year.
In fact, you could argue that if just one of these players meets their potential, than these really aren’t “lost” seasons at all.
The Schedule: If you haven’t yet looked, the Leafs still have some dates against some opponents who, for lack of better term, are mostly hated in Leafs Nation. Battles against Ottawa, Montreal, Pittsburgh, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and the Sabres still loom, among others. If nothing else, the young, confident Leafs can at least throw a wrench into the playoff plans of some of their rivals, or at least make them sweat a little.
J.S. Giguere And Dion Phaneuf Emerging As Leaders: This has been one of the nicest things to watch on ice in Toronto in a few years. With the late January trade, we not only got real NHL talent, but we also got leadership type guys, who aren’t afraid to take the sails of the ship and steer us through uncharted waters and hopefully to that luxury island known as the NHL playoffs. Phaneuf has been a leader not only with on ice play, but also with his mouth while on the bench and in practice. Giguere has also been a consummate professional, all the willing to lead a helping hand or word of encouragement to the Leafs penalty killers, and young goalie Jonas Gustavsson.
Nikolai Kulemin: While he could be grouped into reason number one, as I do feel Kulemin is obviously a part of the young core, the fact is, the dude deserves a category and heading all his own. Kulemin has blossomed for Toronto in his sophomore season, scoring important goals, and also doing everything it takes to win hockey games, including improving his defensive play. He is one of the most reliable players for Ron Wilson and staff night in, night out.
Tomas Kaberle Situation: The Tomas Kaberle situation has been looming for nearly two years, and by all accounts, it could finally come to a head this summer. After a few deadlines of Kaberle saying he wouldn’t waive his no trade clause, he has softened his stance. Also keep in mind the failed deal between Boston and the Leafs last season that would have sent the longest serving Leaf to beantown. It will be interesting watching Kaberle play out the rest of the season. Is it his last in blue and white, or is he playing his way towards an extension?
Phil Kessel’s Goal Run: No matter which side of the trade you’re on, there is no doubt that Phil Kessel, regardless of the price, is one of the most talented players the Toronto Maple Leafs have had in some time. A young man, not even close to his prime and with a 36 goal season under his belt could obviously be a very useful piece for the Leafs to build around in the future. After missing all of training camp, and the first month or so of regular season competition, Kessel has strung together a pretty successful season, including 23 goals to date. What will his goal total be at season’s end?
And Perhaps The Most Important Reason To Keep Watching The Leafs This Late In The Season..because if you decide to channel surf, your girlfriend may find that sappy/hunky vampire show you’ve worked so hard at hiding from her all year. Don’t slip up now, bro. Keep waving the blue and white flag.
Reach me anytime on Twitter, or by emailing me at derekh_24@hotmail.com
March 12th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Go Leafs Go!
March 12th, 2010 at 12:38 pm
Toronto signs Simon Gysbers, D to a 2-year contract, worth $702,500 annually, per capgeek.com
Gysbers played for Lake Superior of the NCAA this past season, amassing 6 goals and 15 points in 38 games. Simon Gysbers is a decent player. Logged a pretty good amount of ice, including PP and PK for Lake Superior this season. He’s a big guy, and has a pretty hard, accurate shot that nets him some goals. Not the most mobile guy, which is what will probably keep him as a career minor-leaguer. He could maybe hang with the Marlies though. He’s a local kid too, from Richmond Hill, so it’s a nice story.
March 12th, 2010 at 12:40 pm
Largus wrote:
not familiar with him but I’m confident BB wouldn’t have signed him unless he felt he was a good future asset
March 12th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
Nice write up Derek, optimism is refreshing.
March 12th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Kessel is a potential all star for the next 10 years….
That’s a good thing.
March 12th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
I’m just hoping that the Leafs can at least get themselves up in the overall standing far enough so they are not in a draft pick lottery position. Would like to not see the Bruins be in that lottery for the #1 pick overall.
March 12th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Top ’1′ Reason for ME to watch the Leafs ?
I AM A LEAF FAN
.
.
hehe
March 12th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
this might go down as one of the most important leafs seasons in a long time especially if the young guns do great next year the foundations would have been laid this season
March 12th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Something else I’d like to point out, and very important:
Luke Schenn:
Passing his goal total from last year
Passing his point total from last year
Drastically improving his +/- from last year
Back up to between 17 – 23 minutes per game
Lately a top 4 defenceman on this club, ahead of Tomas Kaberle in ice time
All during a “sophomore slump” season.
March 12th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
danvertising wrote:
Beyond impressive, indeed.
March 12th, 2010 at 3:35 pm
kulemin is having an unbeliveably good year. he started out showing he can be a very solid 3rd liner in a defensive role, and has recently begun to show his nose for the net, and offensive upside.
if he continues to progress he could become a prototypical 2nd line winger. maybe get up to around 25 – 30 goals a year while playing a gritty game along the boards, and very responsible defensively.
this kid can play.
March 12th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
and i think it’s fair to say that out of bozak, stalberg and hanson, we have at least one diamond in the rough, if not two.
stalberg has all the tools and his speed is blinding. he just needs to figure out how to put it together at the NHL level.
bozak can play all next year with kessel and (hopefully a good free agent winger) and probably put up over 60 points i bet. down the line, when we are a top team, bozak looks like he could become the 2nd line centre to play along kulemin and someone else (stalberg if we’re lucky enough he turns out).
hanson could become a good 3rd or 4th line player.
the college kids we were all dying to see some of this year have shown us why burke signed them. okay, we drafted stalberg, but picking up bozak for free is like having picked him as a late 1st rounder 5 years ago. i bet if you looked at who was drafted from 20th overall to 40th overall in what would have been Bozak’s draft year, you’d find a very low percentage of guys who are playing as well as he is these days.
if he can put about 10 pounds back on over the summer and come back to camp strong and with this season to build on he seems to have what it takes to be very good.
March 12th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
okay, so i cut and pasted the 2004 first round draft picks. this would have been bozak’s year. their career nhl stats are posted after their names. for some reason the formatting didn’t apply correctly, but if you look through the list, and exclude the top 5 overall picks from that year, how many would you rather have right now then bozak? it truly is like having ANOTHER former 1st round pick on our club:
2004 NHL Entry Draft
Round 1 NHL Totals
Round Num. Drafted By Player Pos Drafted From GP G A Pts PIM
1 1 Washington Alexander Ovechkin L Moscow Dynamo [Russia] 324 219 201 420 216
1 2 Pittsburgh Evgeni Malkin C Magnitogorsk Metallurg [Russia] 242 115 189 304 238
1 3 Chicago Cam Barker D Medicine Hat Tigers [WHL] 149 13 53 66 161
1 4 Carolina Andrew Ladd L Calgary Hitmen [WHL] 239 46 65 111 113
1 5 Phoenix Blake Wheeler R Breck School (Minn.) 81 21 24 45 46
1 6 NY Rangers Al Montoya G U. of Michigan [NCAA] 5 0 0 0 0
1 7 Florida Rostislav Olesz L Vitkovice HC [Czech] 227 37 49 86 76
1 8 Columbus Alexandre Picard L Lewiston MAINEiacs [QMJHL] 58 0 2 2 48
1 9 Anaheim Ladislav Smid D Liberec Bili Tygri HC [Czech] 202 3 22 25 152
1 10 Atlanta Boris Valabik D Kitchener Rangers [OHL] 57 0 5 5 174
1 11 Los Angeles Lauri Tukonen R Blues [FNL] 5 0 0 0 0
1 12 Minnesota A.J. Thelen D Michigan State University [NCAA]
1 13 Buffalo Drew Stafford R U. of North Dakota [NCAA] 184 49 61 110 113
1 14 Edmonton Devan Dubnyk G Kamloops Blazers [WHL]
1 15 Nashville Alexander Radulov R Tver (Russia) 145 44 51 95 70
1 16 NY Islanders Petteri Nokelainen R SaiPa Lappeenranta [FNL] 122 12 9 21 39
1 17 St. Louis Marek Schwarz G Sparta Praha [Czech] 6 0 0 0 0
1 18 Mtl. Canadiens Kyle Chipchura C Prince Albert Raiders [WHL] 49 4 10 14 15
1 19 NY Rangers Lauri Korpikoski L TPS Jrs. (Finland) 68 6 8 14 14
1 20 New Jersey Travis Zajac C Salmon Arm Silverbacks [BCHL] 244 51 87 138 76
1 21 Colorado Wojtek Wolski L Brampton Battalion [OHL] 240 56 90 146 60
1 22 San Jose Lukas Kaspar L Litvinov CHP HC [Czech] 16 2 2 4 8
1 23 Ottawa Andrej Meszaros D Trencin Dukla [Slovak] 298 28 98 126 249
1 24 Calgary Kris Chucko R Salmon Arm Silverbacks [BCHL] 2 0 0 0 2
1 25 Edmonton Rob Schremp C London Knights [OHL] 7 0 3 3 2
1 26 Vancouver Cory Schneider G Phillips-Andover (Mass.) 8 0 0 0 0
1 27 Washington Jeff Schultz D Calgary Hitmen [WHL] 174 6 27 33 65
1 28 Dallas Mark Fistric D Vancouver Giants [WHL] 73 0 6 6 66
1 29 Washington Mike Green D Saskatoon Blades [WHL] 242 52 92 144 184
1 30 Tampa Bay Andy Rogers D Calgary Hitmen [WHL]
March 12th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
point is…..nice work mr. burke.
March 12th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
@ Bring the Cup Home:
I was hoping you’d do that. Thank you.
It is a great comparison, assuming Bozak can keep up his play and become a consistent contributer and legitimate NHL player, it would be like we got a late 1st round pick in 2004.
I don’t think 60-70 points is out of the question as a career high for him down the line.
Same with Kulemin, I think he will definitely be a consistent 25 goal winger.
March 12th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
@ Bring the Cup Home:
Yea… Bozak is like a good LATE 1st round pick.
Ahead of him i’d take the following:
1 1 Washington Alexander Ovechkin L Moscow Dynamo [Russia] 324 219 201 420 216
1 2 Pittsburgh Evgeni Malkin C Magnitogorsk Metallurg [Russia] 242 115 189 304 238
1 3 Chicago Cam Barker D Medicine Hat Tigers [WHL] 149 13 53 66 161
1 4 Carolina Andrew Ladd L Calgary Hitmen [WHL] 239 46 65 111 113
1 5 Phoenix Blake Wheeler R Breck School (Minn.) 81 21 24 45 46
1 13 Buffalo Drew Stafford R U. of North Dakota [NCAA] 184 49 61 110 113
1 15 Nashville Alexander Radulov R Tver (Russia) 145 44 51 95 70
1 18 Mtl. Canadiens Kyle Chipchura C Prince Albert Raiders [WHL] 49 4 10 14 15
1 20 New Jersey Travis Zajac C Salmon Arm Silverbacks [BCHL] 244 51 87 138 76
1 21 Colorado Wojtek Wolski L Brampton Battalion [OHL] 240 56 90 146 60
1 23 Ottawa Andrej Meszaros D Trencin Dukla [Slovak] 298 28 98 126 249
1 29 Washington Mike Green D Saskatoon Blades [WHL] 242 52 92 144 184
So Bozak was really like a 1st round pick within the 12-20 range.
I know, this is a way simplification of the process, and he wasn’t nearly as good a player then as he is now… but it’s a nice little analysis.
March 12th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
it’s starting to feel like we have been building through the draft…..virtually.
March 12th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
@ ndk:
I’m not sure why you’d take Cam Barker ahead of Bozak, as he wasn’t getting much playing time in Chicago and was traded away for a very low return.
Also, I wouldn’t take Radulov as he bolted for Russia, although if he had stayed in the NHL, I’d take him ahead of Bozak.
DOn’t think I’d take any of Chipchura, Ladd, Stafford or Meszaros ahead of him either.
March 13th, 2010 at 7:18 am
I hate vampire shows. Excellent point.
March 13th, 2010 at 6:22 pm
@ ndk:
you’d take chipchura ahead of bozak. from that list, i’d only take Ovechkin, Malkin, Green, Zajac, and MAYBE Wolski. Unless you were saying, you would have taken them ahead of him at the time, then of course, but now, I’d say Bozak is one of top 10-15 players in that whole draft.
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