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November 14, 2005
Offensive
The Sports sections of Canada continue to reflect not so good on the rest of the newspapers in which they reside. In the National Post, Howard Berger needs a fact checker:
Trade speculation flared up late in the week with whispers the Leafs were talking to Columbus about Allison, whose play has tailed off after a more-than-adequate start. Moving Allison's US$4.5-million contract (excluding bonuses) will not be an easy chore for general manager John Ferguson, if the rumors have any substance.
Good thing for JFJ Allison makes US$1.5 million excluding bonuses.
In the Toronto Sun, Lance Hornby is suffering from Belfour Delusion Syndrome:
But can they possibly go another five months and perhaps playoffs letting Ed Belfour clean up after everyone's mistakes?
…
He [Pat Quinn] singled out the defense for almost handing Saturday's game back to the Montreal Canadiens after a late tying goal and is worried what the confusion in front is doing to the psyche of Belfour, the Leafs' 40-year-old lifeline.
Ten of the 16 giveaways charged to the Leafs were traced to Belfour, Klee and McCabe.
In other words, when Belfour coughs up the puck it's because his defensemen have been emotionally abusing him. This relationship doesn't go both ways, for some reason — when Belfour left his net against Boston, realized he couldn't touch the puck without taking a penalty and then inexplicably didn't opt to take said penalty, resulting in a gimme goal against, that's just a freebie. Run along, Eddie — we all make mistakes. When Tim Connolly undresses Ken Klee, mind you, it's an assault on Belfour, never mind that Eddie was in terrible position and gave Connolly half the net to shoot at (or not "three inches" anyway, as Ken Fidlin laughably suggests, also in the Toronto Sun).
Hornby isn't through:
When reloading after the lockout, Ferguson was obviously counting on the likes of Klee, Khavanov, Berg and Belak to bridge the talent level so the likes of Kronwall and Carlo Colaiacovo could be eased into the lineup.
Does he mean the Marlies' lineup? Those four plus McCabe, Kaberle and Pilar would put Kronwall and Colaiacovo eighth and ninth on Pat Quinn's depth chart. The Leafs do not "lack depth on defense," as the papers delight in telling us. They have plenty of unspectacular depth, to the point that it's actually somewhat surprising Kronwall has established himself as a regular. The fact remains that on most other teams Aki Berg's ice time would go to Colaiacovo (or Andy Wozniewski for that matter, who seems to have vanished off the face of the earth).
No doubt insubstantial trade rumors have the Leafs adding Janne Niinimaa. That wouldn't help the situation vis-à-vis getting Colaiacovo and Kronwall adequate playing time, and it wouldn't help the Leafs' defensive play appreciably either unless Niinimaa is secretly a really excellent defense coach. He'd just be another log in the jam, another medium-name non-Canadian defenseman brought to Toronto on reputation alone as the latest sink for the disappointment of the Leaf Nation, which among many other feats of imbecility is capable of simultaneously demanding the veteran blue line presence of men it has never seen play hockey and kvetching that its beloved team never develops any of its own talent. In short, the Leafs don't need more veteran defensemen. They need to upgrade the ones they have — i.e., one in, one out. You might even be able to convince me that it would be a good move to ditch Berg for a draft pick and get Colaiacovo in the lineup immediately.
Wade Belak can't "bridge" any "talent level" outside beer league. He's a travesty of a troke of a forward, and a far better forward than he is a defenseman. Qualifying him at $850,000 won't go down as Ferguson's worst mistake, but it will definitely rank among the least explicable. Bryan McCabe is establishing himself as a bonafide number-one man, while Tomas Kaberle is a fine number-two, Ken Klee is a more-than-acceptable number-three and Alex Khavanov and Aki Berg are serviceable fifth/sixth defenseman for a playoff team. Kronwall shows great promise, and I personally believe Colaiacovo is ready to step up. In other words it is time to make a move, one that does not involve adding to the defensive depth chart.
One of the Leaf Nation's wildest fantasies is that all the other good teams are stocked with big-name defensemen right down to the number-7 slot. This is, of course, untrue. The sixth spot in Detroit is being split between Jamie Rivers, Jason Woolley and something called Brett Lebda. I am supposed to believe that Ottawa's Brian Pothier or Andrej Meszaros could magically transplant themselves to the Leafs and turn the great ship blue-and-white around, but that's silly. The Leafs' system, or lack thereof, would turn any of those defensemen into the same flawed hockey players that Berg and Khavanov are now. The key is that Ottawa's excellent defense corps has been carefully crafted from its number-one man (Chara) down to its limited minutes number-six (Pothier), with the dual intents of providing solid defensive play and developing Meszaros into a good blueliner. If Quinn doesn't think he can swing that with his current staff and/or with two rookies at a time, and the consensus is that both Kronwall and Colaiacovo are ready to step up, then what the Leafs have is a glut of young defensemen. I know it sounds weird, but there it is. And in the hands of a competent GM there's nothing better than that to have in the NHL, new or old, except maybe a coach who can wrap his mind around team defense.
Posted by Chris Selley at November 14, 2005 10:09 PM
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Comments
Two minor points:
(1) I'm not suggesting that Andrej Meszaros is truly a typical sixth defenceman, but he is reported to be terrific and has a rather annihilating +16 through 15 games. I doubt anyone in Ottawa even still considers him the #6, and as a rookie impact player he is kinda an example of the species you're claiming doesn't exist. Of course you could go nuts comparing the Leafs' talent-assessment abilities to those of the finest organization in the league, which just happens to be at the other end of the VIA track.
(2) Was Pilar's heart condition not known of when the lockout officially ended? I'm not certain it's fair to suggest that Quinn was counting on him at that time; I remember checking up on the Leafs fairly early in the summer and being startled to learn of Pilar's troubles.
Posted by: Colby Cosh at November 15, 2005 06:49 AM
1. Well, Meszeros has the sixth most ice time among regular Ottawa defensemen. And I'm not sure where I said rookie impact d-men don't exist. I'm just saying that whereas Ottawa has the right personnel (and system, as a fallback) to bring in a guy like Meszeros, the Leafs are letting the perennially mediocre be the enemy of the potentially great. They've done that for years at forward, and now they've switched their attention to the D.
2. Last I heard Pilar was to be ready by Christmas. I don't know what Quinn or JFJ were thinking — my beef was with Hornby for suggesting that 8th and 9th (or 7th and 8th, if you want to discount Pilar and his dicky ticker) is a good place to have defensemen who you think can one day be 2nd-through-4th.
Posted by: Chris Selley at November 15, 2005 09:50 AM
Why are you even reading those articles - why bother following the Leafs anyway? Even the sportswriters are disinterested. The Leafs play ugly fumblesome hockey and even the sparkplugs like Tucker and Domi aren't fast enough to keep up, just join the Habs parade, that's where the exciting firewagon hockey is being played.
Posted by: huh at November 15, 2005 08:20 PM
It is testament to how much the Leafs/Habs rivalry has faded that I was once, albeit briefly, a fan of both — far, far more of the Leafs than of the Habs, but still. I hooted and hollered like a maniac at the Centre Molson when Andy Moog & Co. shut down the Pens in six, and I don't imagine I'll ever see a better playoff game live than that (although Kaberle's winner against New Jersey with Shayne Corson literally lying on top of Martin Brodeur remains a close second). It's worth mentioning that all the best NHL games I've ever seen were in Montreal — any number of Leafs/Habs tilts, the fist being my one and only trip to the Forum, the unfortunate Game 2 in the 1996 World Cup, and the aforementioned Game Six.
But that was then, and this is now. That was a likeable Habs team. Corson hadn't yet turned into a world-class idiot. Mark Recchi has always been one of my favourites. Koivu is among the classiest of acts the NHL currently has to offer. The only way I could possibly like the Habs these days is if I sold hair gel for a living. So thanks for the invite, huh, but no. I'm quite happy being devoted to the Leafs, indifferent to the Habs, and entirely committed to hating the Ottawa Senators for the rest of eternity.
Posted by: Chris Selley at November 16, 2005 12:32 AM