In a game that was just as much about the Flyers’ failings as it was the Leafs‘ success, Toronto played an energetic 60 minutes. Their bombardment of the Philadelphia net resulted in the exit of a shaky Martin Biron and an eventual total of 38 shots on goal. To be brutally honest, the Flyers were awful on a night when they should have steamrolled a non-playoff team. Ron Wilson and company must be happy that their team was the only one to show up tonight at the ACC.
Here are some notes from this Wednesday night whipping:
-Horrible play tonight aside, tonight was a matchup of two teams going in different directions. While Holmgren’s Heist (my attempt to coin his miraculous one-year turnaround) was an exception to the rebuilding rule, his team is still a golden example of what can be done with the correct approach to drafting and development. The solid foundation was laid by high-level draft picks in Carter, Richards, and more recently Giroux. It was complemented by shrewd trades and signings (none of which are cookie-cutter superstars) in Timonen, Coburn, Parent, Hartnell and Lupul. The Flyers are far from perfect, and there is never any one way to “do it right” (contrary to what some pick-hungry armchair-GMs would have you believe), but they are definitely on the right path. They shall be a force for years to come, and with corrections to some obvious holes (…in the net), can become strong contenders.
-The TSN squad made an observation that Luke Schenn’s season is essentially done when the curtain closes for the Leafs. No Kelowna, no Marlies for our stud defender. At the beginning of this year, many fans called for Schenn to be demoted back to the Rockets after a trial spin in the big league. They said he would benefit with “more time to develop”. I ask you this: how ludicrous does that sound now? Does anybody really doubt that top-four time in the NHL has been anything but the best path for Toronto’s young blueliner? He has shown increased maturity and skills as this campaign has progressed and his untapped potential is tantalizing.
With the Leafs recent “official elmination” from the playoffs, Brian Burke put on a brief grumpy face that was shortly followed by his claims that the team will be different next year. These musings of our GM have included indications that an attempt to move up in the draft is a definite possibility. Much has been said in recent days about the contractual binds that have been placed on his ability to make many such moves. Other than the two Czech elephants in the room (read: Kaberle and Kubina) players such as Ponikarovsky, Stajan, and Stempniak will very much be on the table this offseason as Burke embarks upon his own rebuild.
As always, interested to hear your thoughts.
Cheers,
Nik
