Revisiting: "Leafs - Best defense in the league?"

We were all spectacularly wrong because at the very least we thought that they were going to be good.

Toskala is a reason, Gustavsson too, but not completely.

Happy Trails is my biggest disappointment. At least Komisarek seemed to be turning things around when he went down.

being paired with defensive liabilities such as Exelby & Finger didn’t really help matters or whatever.

On an other subject, Gunnarsson has been a pleasant surprise this season. Hopefully he doesn’t fall victim to the sophomore slump.

Kaberle, Beauchemin and Toskala were the biggest reasons imo…

Also, Dion has not shown me (yet) that he can be defensively sound… also he is not racking up the points an ‘offensive defenceman’ is supposed to.

We can’t have both Kaberle and Dion on this team as high paid defensive liabilities.

Also, Beauch really needs to pick up his game. There was about 2 weeks there where I thought he was coming around.

Let’s see what happens next season without Toskala, Exelby, Finger(yes he is gone) and probably Kaberle (Burke saying ’I’d bet on Kaberle re-signing is all optics. Kaberle is not signing without a NTC and I doubt Burke is giving him one.)

Our forwards’ ability to help backcheck and clear the zone. For example (and I concede that this is partly due to the system the buds are supposed to play), but our wingers are kitten-soft on the point when we’re hemmed in.

I’m glad you gave Phaneuf and Komi a pass, not enough games played to judge their impact on our team for the future.

I am confident Schenn will be great as long as we continue to be patient.

Gunnarsson – what else is there to say?

I’ll leave Kaberle alone because he’s getting ragged on pretty hard today.

has both the highest QUALCOMP and QUALTEAM for the Leafs’ D. His TOI/60 is also highest on the team, in fact it’s 8th highest in the league. He’s also tops in TOI/60 on the PK for the Leafs, and 3rd highest on the PP. His 5 on 5 GA/On60 is lower than Schenn or Kaberle’s. His PK GA/On60 is 3rd worst, behind Kaberle and Komisarek. His Pts/60 5 on 4 is 3rd best, behind Kaberle and Phaneuf.

Couple his astronomically high ice time with horrible goaltending and I’m shocked he doesn’t look worse.

He’s being played as a top 2 d-man, minus the top 2 pedigree. He’s a good d-man, but it doesn’t look like he can carry a blue line all by himself. With Komisarek’s return next year, I think Happy Trails will see more PP time and less PK. What I hope is that Wilson rewards Gunnarsson with more PK time, as his play continues to improve. A completely bounced back Schenn would be nice as well.

That said, how much of all this is symptomatic of the aforementioned horrible goaltending? I don’t know if we’ll find that out next season either. Hopefully I’m wrong.

I don’t think our defensemen have been as horrible as our goaltending and our overall team defense. I think one of the people who should have a major share of the blame is Jason Blake. He coasted so much on the backchecks I swear his man must have scored at least 20-25 times against the Leafs alone this season.

Phaneuf looks ok to me. He’s not making any bad mistakes and is making it tough to go around him/scrum with him in the defensive zone. Beauch is also ok I don’t mind what he’s done at all. Finger/XLB are simply rancid. Schenn has been made to look bad a few times this season but the old Schenn is definetly back now. Komi was abhorrent at the start but settled down before the injury. Gunnar looks solid if unspectacular. Kaberle is playing some lazy hockey since the trades and it seems like he’s gone a bit nonchalant lately which isn’t a good sign.

The forwards we gave up namely Blake, Stempniak and sometimes Stajan were too lazy to burn it up on the backcheck and it led to a lot of goals. Since the trades our defensive coverage as a whole has looked a lot better. Hanson Kulemin Shoestrings and Lundmark are a lot more responsible defensively. Kessel is when he wants the puck otherwise he’s coasty down there too.

Other than defensive coverage two of our biggest liabilities are clearing out rebounds and getting the first lead pass to be crisp and spring a counter-attack. Other than Kaberle no one can make that pass. Even when Kabby does it the receiver can’t handle it half the time which leads to a turnover which leads to a goal. After we give up rebounds our players look like retarded headless chickens and we get scored on.

lastly 99% of the blame lies with John Mitchell who reminds the defense of the futility of trying to clear the puck because, alas, it will be Mitchell who eventually gets it and gives it back to the other team.

I rec’d this only because it was so cute when you read it to me and Ovechwin. :)