As all of you tore into your Meuslix this morning, your better halves sat across from you reading a story in the Globe and Mail in which intrepid cub reporter Dave "The Hammer" Shoalts reported that Cliff Fletcher will not be offering the-fluff-you-blow-off-a-dandelion Kyle Wellwood a new contract. This means that Kyle will not be pulling on a Leafs sweater (size XXXL) any more.
If I was the type of pretentious, self important dick who used phrases like "this corner" when talking about his blog, I would tell you that I demanded predicted Wellwood's Leaf demise on my "this corner", He Score, He Shoot on March the 18th. I'll say now what I said then: that Wellwood is a metaphor for everything the Leafs have become: Soft, listless and uninspired. Kyle has become so easy to beat, he's a one man Washington Generals. Cliff Fletcher has seen this, and has decided not to not do something about it.
I've had many a debate about Kyle on HS/HS, primarily with Welly #1 Fan Navin from Sports and the City. The point he and others made was always, "sure he's soft, but he's the only one on the Leafs with any appriciable skill!" That's debatable, but for the sake of this arguement lets say it's true. Kyle does have skill. Loads of it. He could be a great hockey player, but he won't be because he has no heart. He's been in the league long enough to figure out what it means to be a professional hockey player. What it means to be a Leaf. And I'm sorry, I've never seen anything to suggest otherwise. Take stock of all the Leafs we love and admire. Mats, Darcy, Gilmour, Wendel, Valk. No wait, not that last guy, but ask yourself, above their level of skill, what made them so awesome? You know the answer. In the end, I'd take a team of plodding lions over a bunch of soft, lazy (potential) stars any day.
Speaking of someone we love, there must be something about Sweden that makes you take life at a much slower pace than the rest of the world because our Mats is doing to Bob Gainey what he did to JFJ last year. That is, taking his God damn time making a decision about the who, what, where, when and how he'll spend the next year of his life. Not that I give a shit about Gainey, whose life is led in Super Slo-Mo himself, but it affects us all because we, you know, care about the implications of Sundin's decision to maybe leave. For instance you have to figure out, like, do I call him "a traitorous selfish asshole" or do I say, "thanks a lot for all those draft picks you got us at the trade deadline, no wait, that never happened" etc.
- Here's the Shoalts article from the Globe
- Here is Nav's impassioned rebuttal to everything I just wrote.
- And, as usual, Steve refuses to write lazy, and sees the 2008 Leafs draft for the success it was./
Do yourself a favor today and do two things: 1) Give someone a hug, and 2) Go visit the good General and vote in his "Least Memorable" poll. I voted for...that guy.
And finally, Moose says that he thinks that the lesser talented Leafs will excel after bossman Sundin's gone, which is exactly what he's doing while I'm away! Good for you, Big Guy!