However, this year, it seems that swinging for the fences is the goal of everyone. When James Van Reimsdyk is the lowest profile player in trade speculation, that speaks volumes. Most of it seems to default to the big three in Anaheim, Rick Nash, and to some extent, Eric Staal and Paul Statsny. In other words, the usual suspects.

The Anaheim bunch have their rumours stemming from a quote from Anaheim GM Bob Murray, stating that the only two players on the team that absolutely won’t be traded are Saku Koivu and Teemu Selanne. As such, this was rather quickly interpreted as “we’re selling everyone”. Oddly enough, when Brian Burke repeats on the radio on a freqent basis that every player has a price and that he’d take an overpayment for a core player, nobody bats an eyelash.

The reality is, Getzlaf, Perry, and Ryan won’t come cheap, or anything close to it. The overpayment it will likely take would gut the Leafs roster to levels that would set the team back as a whole both short term and long term. While all three of these guys are fantastic talents, you’re easily giving two current players of a high quality, at least one or two higher level prospects, and draft picks just to acquire one. If any of them get moved, it’ll be to a team that’s willing to give them a player of a similar calibre as a shakeup. Unless everybody’s cool with trading Phil Kessel for Bobby Ryan, we need to stop talking about this.

Next up is Rick Nash. To be honest, every trade rumour round up until he’s been dead for at least six or seven years will have Rick Nash to the Leafs on it. Forget the fact that while good, he makes a ridiculous amount of money. Forget the fact he doesn’t have much of anything in terms of a two way game. He’s tall and he’s from the GTA and occasionally gets the TSN highlight of the night, so in Leafs Nation’s mind, he’s about up there with a prime Gretzky. It’s outrageous – this is a guy that despite his skill set and size, almost never throws a hit, rarely sees a penalty kill, and has been point per game a whopping once in his career. At 28 years old, I wouldn’t expect any massive breakouts. Yes, he’d get a boost by being on a line with quality linemates (theoretically – working with Jeff Carter appears to be a bust), but players who get hyped up as much has he does should be able to put up elite points in spite of who they have, not because of them. And at 7.8M a year long term, with a definite overpayment of talent required to get him (he is after all, the all time face of the Blue Jackets, and their captain).

In fact, putting those two paragraphs above me together – maybe Rick Nash should go to Anaheim for one of Perry or Ryan. It would probably suit both teams better than a deal with Toronto.

Eric Staal is similar to Nash, except he actually did have a gargantuan year where he did carry his team on his back. The issue is – it’s been 5 years since then, and he’s playing like a shell of himself now. Reclamation project? Sure. But do you throw 8.25 PER SEASON at a reclamation project? Especially one who is, yet again, probably the face of the Hurricanes since the team moved from Hartford, even though he’s only been around for about half the years? This one isn’t even as unlikely, it’s just extremely risky. This is a market where you get ripped to shreds for not performing to your dollar figure starting at around a 2.5M contract. Staal makes triple that, and his play this year reflects a guy who makes half that, if not less.

Stastny of all options seems the most logical, but even then, Colorado is in no rush to rid themselves of him, and he still makes over 6 million. Which begs the question – when people want to trade picks, prospects, and young players, where is this cap money coming from? The Leafs aren’t exactly the Jets or Islanders.

Personally, I feel even if you get rid of overpayments and salaries and all of that, going after the above players doesn’t fit the teams actual needs right now. After all, when a team is 7th in goals for and 4th in powerplay percentage, perhaps the problem isn’t in how good at scoring your top forwards are? Yes, it’s easy to say that Toronto can score away their problems if they stack every line up as a scoring line, but this also isn’t NHL12, and I’m saying that strategically, finacially, and accounting for player values.

Toronto’s key need is to fix the fact that they’re 25th in goals against and 30th on the penalty kill. The penalty kill being so bad that it’s affected to overall goals against. Toronto is a below average 19th in even strength goals against, 28th in 4-on-5 goals allowed, and 30th in 3-on-5 goals allowed.

Personally, my solution isn’t in the top six. I’m fine with the idea of not getting big name first line wingers right now, considering the Leafs have, you know the highest scoring 1st line winger combination in the league. The first line centre market is non existant, and there’s been a fair bit of support scoring. Basically, the solution isn’t goals. It’s trying to fix the goals against.

At the same time, one has to remember this is a team with a young core, and you don’t want vets to get in the way long term – this is a low-cost, quick fix scenario. Players that will help the current situation out a bit, then leave it up to Burke if he wants them around longer or if the kids can take their place.

On forward, the guy I want to go for is a penalty kill specialist. While not the player he used to be while a member of Brian Burke’s cup winning 2007 Anaheim Ducks, he’s still a very effective player that racks up significant PK time for his team and is easily their best forward in that regard. He’s not a liability 5-on-5, though his production isn’t that high. He’s a UFA at the end of the year, and he’s playing on a team that was expected to do well this season but failed to reach those expectations, at miserable porportions.

If your guess was Columbus Blue Jackets Centre Samuel Pahlsson, you’re correct! If you’re sitting there, going “wait, I thought it was Montreal Canadiens Left Winger Travis Moen!” then fear not, because you were also spot on in this regard. Both players could probably had at a minimal expense and would be a huge boost to a struggling penalty kill. Pahlsson leads Columbus in penalty kill time, whereas Moen is 2nd to Tomas Plekanec on Montreal. Despite the teams they’re on having horrible seasons, Pahlsson has managed to have a +2 at this piont in the year, and Moen’s got a decent enough -1. As well as having the ability to help out now, these two would be fantastic mentors to the ones who will eventually take their place in the position – remember that this is a team with literally zero over-30 presence in the roster. They’ve got their cup rings, and they have a wealth of knowledge. Why not tap in to that for a few months?

Next up is the defence. At first glance, bringing Hal Gill back into Blue and White doesn’t seem like the worst idea in the world, seeing as he eats up some of the top penalty kill numbers in the league (ask Pittsburgh how crucial he was for them after he was sent their way), but with all of that said, he’s anotehr large, immobile defencema, which the Leafs have plenty of. I’d rather have someone who while not offensive, still has a bit of mobility to them. Again, without sacrificing much long term, having them to help out and mentor temporarily before the decision is made whether they’re needed. That’s where Barret  Jackman seems perfect, another solid defensive defenceman who is a pending UFA, but seeing St. Louis’ success this year, I have my doubts that he’d be pried from their hands easily. Willie Mitchell could be another potential target for the same reason, though this would require Los Angeles to fall off in the coming weeks. Similar is the case of Bryce Salvador out of New Jersey. Really, the search for a quality defensive defenceman who doesn’t get in the way of Toronto’s long term plans may be a tough one, with most options either having several yers left on their deals, or being part of teams that would prefer to keep them at this point.

Which leads to to the only big-swing option that makes some sense to me, and that’s Ryan Suter. Suter is a UFA this year, and Nashville has a lot of decision making to make between him and Shea Weber. Unlike the others, he’s a better overall player, and a younger one as well. If there’s anyone who’s worth paying a lot in terms of assets for that could be on the market, it’s him. Rather that supplementing a strength, he repairs a need.

At the same time, though – if the lower cost guys can’t be had, maybe it’s worth holding our breath a little on the defensive core? There’s a lot of talent throughout the system that’s progressing nicely. A playoff push is a luxury at this point, not a requirement, and if it breaks the bank on the teams long term chances, it’s just not worth it.

The last area to look at is in net, but as consistantly inconsistant as everybody has been this year, I think that’s a closer to the deadline issue, after you work on shoring up the penalty kill. Removing the penalty kill from the equation, Reimer becomes a top tier goalie statistically, and Gustavsson remains mediocre – but that’s decent-ish if he’s going to the backup. If a veteran backup could be had at for a low cost (hey – maybe somebody believes in Jonas enough to give a pending UFA of their own up in exchange so they can work on signing him), then it may be worth looking into.

In short, the position the Leafs are in right now is a luxury more than a requirement, when the teams youth is considered. Drastic measures could be disasterous, especially if taken in the wrong direction, which seems to be what going all in on highly paid scoring talent would be. If you have an achillies heel, it makes more sense to protect that weakness than to further strengthen your fists. Not only do people prefer the fist-strengthen strategy, they’re willing to rid of ALL of the leg armour to do it. But forget the metaphors – the point is that acquiring some temporary defensive ability, especially up front is the best chance the team has at enjoying some short term benefit without risking a lot in the the long run.

Then again, Burke is about as predictable as 20 sided dice. I guess we’ll see the outcome in a few weeks.

PS – Dion Phaneuf has mind blowing plumber swag.

First off, the idea of fans having a sway on the game is a horrible one. I’m not saying it doen’t happen – I’m saying it shouldn’t. And I’m not talking in the sense of a good crowd giving an energy boost to the team, because that’s a totally cool thing to have. I’m talking the idea of being able to trick referees into bad decisions part – I would hate for fan-based calls to become a “thing” across the league. So lets not worry about that aspect.

As well, I hate the idea of booing without a back story. Winnipeg did this with Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf – booing them because they can. You should have to earn your boos, as dumb as that sounds. Leave town on bad terms? Get booed. Be the rival teams captain? Get booed. Always destroy the home team when you face them? Okay, that works for a boo too. But being good on a team that has nothing to do with you? That’s pretty lame. Heck, James Reimer is from Manitoba. The local boy even got jeered. It’s nonsense. Both of these are factors I don’t want to see – so I’ll keep the focus on general crowd vibe.

There’s also some simple factors too (example: The ACC sounds quieter on TV due to microphone placement than it actually is), but I won’t go boring you with those.

There’s a couple of misconceptions when it comes to the Leafs crowd. One, that it’s entirely suit-dominated. Two, that changing the prices will do anything. Three, that the current crowd is incapable of being loud.

To understand a couple of these points main roots, you have to look at the crowd that dominates the ACC, and that’s season ticket holders. As you all may know, this is a pretty exclusive club. Not by numbers – approximately 16,000 out of the 18,800 seats in the building are paid in full, but by ratio. Getting on the season ticket holders list now theoretically puts you in line 40 years from now. That’s not a typo – if I signed up tomorrow, I’d be waiting till my 60′s. In theory. In practice, renewal rates are so high that most new holders buy the personal seat licences off of current ones to skip the lines, to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. A few years back, the Leafs had less than 10 people let go of their tickets, which is beyond absurd. Going back to that 40 number, that’s also how long a lot of these season ticket holders have been around for. The bulk have had their tickets since the 70′s, many have had them longer, with some as far back as the 1940′s. These are families that have had tickets for decades, and as such, the people going to games are of two classifications.

• Your “suits”, usually those who work within the businesses they own/operate and will take a client out, getting the ticket from the STH
• Others in the crowd, not with the fan look, but are there every game.

Both of these crowds detract from fan noise, but neither of them are “non-fans” as people complain about.

On the side of “suits”, what you’re wearing and how you act doesn’t mean that you don’t care about the game. If you have someone with you that you’re trying to woo, you often have to act at a professional level. These people are often still very much Leafs fans – it’s just that they can’t overtly show it. It’s kind of like the guys up in the press boxes – they can have their biases, but if you show it while at your seat, it has consequences. Yes, its odd seeing seemingly lifeless people in the crowd, but at the same time, its likely that they care just as much (possibly even the client too, it could be a game of reaction-chicken), but don’t want to flaunt it for their own sake.

Then, you have the others. The ones that are older, come decently dressed but maybe not to the point of the suits, and rarely come out of their shells. But again, there’s a reason for it. It’s not that they don’t care – if they didn’t care, they wouldn’t have decades of tickets paid for with no end in sight. It’s a matter of comparative excitement. Hear me out – the best experience you have at a live game is usually your first, right? Unless they get blown out or something insane like that. After that, things depend on how the game itself goes. Well, put that into perspective. Say someone’s come to 35 of the 41 home games every season, and gives away 6 tickets. They’ve done this for 30 years. You do realize that means this person has been at over 1000 live Leafs games, right? Nothing’s going to sweep them off their feet if it doesn’t truely impress them or have meaning. When a milestone is hit, those people are loud. Amazing goal? Loud. Game against the Habs? Loud. Any playoff second ever? Screaming. Why? Because when anything happens, the reality is, they’re thinking “have I not seen this hundreds of times before?”. I’ve been at almost every Marlies home game since late in the 09/10 season, and I feel the same way. It’s not the same as the Leafs, sure, but I can’t remember the last time I gave a goal more than a quick fistpump and a comment. Usually, I look lifeless myself. I could only imagine if I had 10x that experience.

Now consider that the bulk of the Leafs season ticket holders are like that. Also, the reason why they’re not all clad in jerseys? One, because they probably pull them out for a chunk of the games anyway, but don’t want to look the exact same every night. Secondarily, though, some have been around so long that they remember the entire crowd being a wave of suits and dresses, or at least decent wear. The whole jersey movement didn’t start till the 80′s. Most of these guys have been around since before that.

The people whined about are usually Leafs fans, thick and thin. The people who go there “just to have been” actually tend to be the most obnoxious because they want to have the full experience (trust me, I’ve noticed quite a bit of this). It’s just that they either try to save face by not showing it, or comparatively, the little things just don’t matter as much to them any more. Are they a spoiled crowd? Sure. But they pay thousands of dollars a season to be a spoiled crowd.

The reality is, none of these people would give up their tickets for the world. Like, the concept that dropping prices will get louder fans in? That’s hillarious. The ticketmaster tickets get eaten up by the loud crowd, so that’s not the problem. And dropping the prices on the season ticket holders that are there will just ensure they hav eeven more of a reason to not renew. If anything, the worst case scenario is the scalper can get more tickets out his credit card come sale day, meaning the average fan will end up paying more when all is said and done.

It’s very tempting to look at a crowd like the Chicago Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, and such, and say “why can’t we be like that?”. Minus the fact those teams are winning and the crowds have more to scream about, you have to remember that while there’s chunks that have stuck around, I can’t imagine any of these recent-success teams having more than a handful of people that have been season ticket holders in 1991, 2001, and 2011 with no gaps in between. Even Montreal has a high drop rate that keeps the waiting list no more than a few years. Leafs fans, on the other hand?

If I had to bet, 75% of the Leafs crowd every night is full of those. Probably even higher if you include tickets given to people for the night by those who fit the description.

In reality, our crowd’s flaw is that they’re too used to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Do you want a loud building? You’d have to cancel everybody’s season tickets. Every last one. Start the waiting list from scratch (those close to the front of the line, after all, probably have the cash to buy 10+ games a year from resellers), and do a rush sale. Coincidentally, while it would work, it’s also incredibly stupid.

It also doesn’t help that this city isn’t particularly loud when it comes to sporting events anyway – go to the games of any other Toronto sports team other than Toronto FC and you realize it’s not a ton better.

So don’t go hoping for the days that the ACC boo’s everyone (it happens sometimes anyway – I went to a game a few years ago where Kovalchuk got torched by fans for no reason whatsoever), yells at refs for blatant offsides, and other shenaigans. It’s not going to happen, and as much as it may hurt some of you to hear, you can’t blame those who make it the way it is. If you wan’t this crowd to cheer, you don’t replace the crowd – give them something new, something fresh, something amazing to cheer for.

Besides, comparing to Winnipeg? After 15 years of whining about how they missed the NHL, they better be screaming for the next 15. Just preferably, in favour of their teams instead of against every other thing in existance.

You don’t even want to know the things they would do for it. I mean, granted, when they find out you’re talking about the Leafs, they’ll be pretty annoyed that they have Dion Phaneuf back in town, but that’s besides the point. A lot of other fanbases would take the same thing.

This is something that in theory, should fly in Toronto – after all, you have to look no further to the first couple of years after the lockout. The team was old and going nowhere, constantly floating near a playoff spot but never quite there. The fans were annoyed, and for good reason – there was no hope, no room for improvement. They all declared that they were willing to accept a rebuild and see it all the way through, till the team was ready to shine, at which point they’d accept the rewards.

Eventually, this process happened. Cliff Fletcher stripped down the team, and got rid of most of the baggage (though he added Jeff Finger, which while an atrocious NHL contract, has actually turned out to be a decent mentor for the team’s defensive prospects on the Marlies. Mixed blessing, I guess). The 08-09 team started out out with new talent and returning journeymen, who got weeded out month by month, year by year, and Tomas Kaberle. The team was far from good, and brought the 7th overall pick to the draft, their second top 10 in as many years, and selected Nazem Kadri. The man who made that pick? Brian Burke, who took the reigns as GM midway through the year.

Burke, a bit too sure of the teams success, made some moves that he thought would give the team long term benefit while making them competitive in the immediate. Perhaps trading two first round picks for Phil Kessel wasn’t the smartest of moves, and perhaps Francois Beauchemin and Mike Komisarek getting hefty contracts weren’t the brightest choices he had made. But nonetheless, they happened. Certainly, that set the rebuild back a bit, but he’d begin to make up for things come late winter, acquiring Dion Phaneuf and J-S Giguere.

Amazing how all of those moves looked in hindsight though – Beauchemin was a bad signing, but was converted into Joffrey Lupul and Jake Gardiner, giving the Leafs immediate scoring and a promising young defenceman. Komisarek has improved, though he’s been hurt a lot. Kessel, as good as Tyler Seguin looks, and as possible as it is that Dougie Hamilton becomes a very good defenceman in this league (I refuse to acknowledge Jared Knight as being much of anything unless it actually happens), has become an elite scorer in the NHL, and still has plenty of years ahead of him at 24. Several trades and signings have worked out for the Leafs. I can keep going on about how the pieces of this rebuild came together, but there’s only one more that I really want to stress.

Nikolai Kulemin and Luke Schenn weren’t acquired through trade, signed out of college, or picked off on July 1st. Both were Leafs draft picks, taking the more traditional form of rebuild pieces. They’re also the longest serving Leafs.

Think about that – the longest serving members of this team played the first games of their career on opening night of the 08/09 season. That was three years ago.

Leafs Nation yelled and yelled about how they’d take 5 years of weakness (don’t take back statements now – I’ve never heard anybody give a year number other than 5) if it meant the team looked scary coming out of it.

We’re in year four of that now. The Leafs started off very strong, and have tapered off. Regardless, for the first time in 7 years, they’re in a playoff position at the new year.  Can I just stress how ridiculous that is?

The Toronto Maple Leafs, the youngest team in the league, crippled by injuries that cover core parts of the team (including most of the penalty killing squad, that is needed DESPERATELY right now), are 7th in the Eastern Conference at almost the half point mark in the year. Could they slip out of that spot? Not only can they, it’s actually really likely, but I’ve got a reminder for you.

Teams that are the youngest in the NHL generally don’t tend to do well while they are. Ask the Penguins, Capitals, Blackhawks, and other teams that bottomed out how it worked out while they were the flashy young guns? The typical answer: not very well. Now, before you say “but those young guns were elite talent!”, that does more harm to your point than good – despite the blue chippers, the teams had to crawl their way out and grow. By the time they made their pushes, they weren’t the youngest any more – ranging from young but nearing middle age, to older, depending on who was brought in.

Teams with zero experience that aren’t used to each other don’t tend to maintain full seasons of amazing play. They need to adjust. They need to develop as players themselves. A lot of factors have to come in place. The Leafs just haven’t hit that point.

Now, if the team is in the same boat, with the same core, at upper-mid age 3 years from now, there’s a serious problem. But at this point, expecting immediate success from this team is unrealistic. The saddest part about those who do?

They weren’t doing so in September! Almost every respectable publication had the Leafs finishing between 11-12th in the East. Fans were expecting 8th to 10th. They’re in 7th. People are calling for heads.

There are obvious issues with the team. The Penalty Kill looks terrible. Nikolai Kulemin seems to have forgotten who he is. Some players have struggled. Others have been hurt. It’s been a weird year. But guess what? These are all problems that can be worked on bit by bit. There’s plenty of time to do so, and it makes more sense to do that then to flip over tables at this point.

Calling for Ron Wilson’s head because part of the special teams (that has had its entire core at least half injured most of the year) isn’t working on a team that’s otherwise ahead of expectations, for example. Saying that half the roster has to be sent down to the Marlies mid-cold streak. The Leafs need to trade for (person that plays a position that’s not a problem). You can keep going with what seems to have become memes for Leafs Nation, but they all share something in common – the thought that there is a quick fix, short term solution to the Leafs problems.

Guess what? That’s what got the team into this mess.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. This process is in its midway point – its a flower that’s stem has been built, but hasn’t quite began to bloom, if you will. A book with several chapters left to go before it even gets to the good part. I get that there are Leafs fans who have been watching this team for years upon years upon years, seeing the team not quite make it over the hump – but those are mistakes that have to be disassociated with the now. The Ballard Years sucked, so you want the team to start winning? Alright, cool. You know what else? That time has long passed and has no connection with now. Very little does.

Your five years of patience started when the puck dropped to start the 08/09 season. 90% of this team wasn’t on the ice that night. The coach was there for his first game with the team, but pretty much everybody else on the off-ice management wasn’t around yet. Do you know where most teams are at the 3.5 year mark of their 5 year rebuild?

They’re having their best year yet, but still don’t look quite scary yet. You know what team this applies to?

If the Leafs organization was copied onto, say, the Columbus Blue Jackets, you’d know that it applied to that team. But instead, because of the uniform they wear, because of the demand everybody has for their home team to do well, because it’s the Toronto Maple Leafs and the history attached to make it even more effective, people get so absorbed that they become clueless on how, when, and why this whole process started.

It’s fine to be hoping for this team to be doing the best it can. It’s another to take a bump in the road and declare that no progress has been made. The reality is – in most of the league, such progress would be deemed fantastic. Hope for the best, but don’t lose sight of everything leading up and looking ahead. Trust me, it’s less stressful, makes much more sense, and will be more rewarding when all is said and done.

That said, Ron Wilson is a man who celebrates Christmas. As we all saw on Twitter a few days ago, he had but one wish on what he wanted to receive – a certain piece of paper. That paper would be a contract extension, and he would get it courtesy of Brian Burke, according to the very same twitter, on a different tweet (by the way, follow Wilson if you don’t). TSN was able to confirm that he wasn’t kidding, though not much else on the subject.

There are some people who are excited, some people that are indifferent, and many who are very much against this. Personally, I’m currently indifferent. There’s a few things you have to take in before making a call here.

Personally, I think he deserves to stick around. This is the fourth year of his tenure here, being around since the 08/09 season. In those three years prior, the team didn’t make the playoffs, and was absolutely dreadful. For a team with a solid roster, this is total grounds for the firing of a coach, without even blinking. Here’s the issue though – until last season, this team was one that as much as people would like to argue otherwise, was largely terrible. Scotty Bowman at the peak of his coaching career would have trouble doing damage with the teams, as high as our expectations were for some players. Signings never really panned out, and trades were lateral shifts. Slowly but surely, this team has taken form, and a roster of quality has come into place. And where are they? In a playoff spot at Christmas time for the first time in ages.

Secondly, most people who have an issue with the Wilson can only name one problem – and that’s that the penalty kill isn’t performing up to speed right now. Certainly, that’s fair – it should be better. But is this Wilson’s fault? For one, he doesn’t run the special teams unit. Greg Cronin is the one that takes care of the powerplay and penalty kill, and while Wilson should have responsibility for his assistants, dropping him out, putting a new head in, and keeping the supporting staff won’t do much. Secondly, there just isn’t a ton in terms of top tier penalty killers in the lineup. Up front, you have Darryl Boyce playing fill in, that’s about it. Dupuis is hurt. Brown is hurt. Lombardi is hurt. Armstrong is hurt. Kulemin is having a weak year. Steckel has been worse since recovering from injury. Behind them, Komisarek is  injured. Franson started awful, and while he’s improving, hasn’t been on the PK much. Schenn is having a weak year as well. Aulie hasn’t been around much this year and hasn’t exactly made an impact in his time up. Nobody else really comes to mind when you talk about penalty killers – all fine players, but wouldn’t play the PK on most teams. What I’m essentially getting at, is this is a team without penalty killers. While a style shakeup may me necessary, it’s kind of hard to suggest that it’s a coaching issue when you see the cast that goes out with the instructions.

Third, lets say Ron Wilson is the problem, and at some point has to go. Do you know what that contract extension does to a firing? Absolutely nothing. Ron Wilson could be fired tomorrow, if Burke really wanted to pull the trigger. It’s merely a matter of dollars and cents until the first game on the new deal is played, and this is a team that can afford the extra bucks. So, the crowd that wants to call for his head can call for his head still, because as much as Brian Burke isn’t the type to leave a long term friend with a lack of job security come the holidays, he’s also not the type to let a coach stay around because he has him signed for a while.

Besides, what’s the definition of a while in this scenario anyway? In reality, we don’t know all the details. For all anybody knows, this could just be a one year extension. It could also be five. Until the word is out, panicking or praising the long term direction either way is a little silly.

I like Ron Wilson as a coach, I really do. I think that he still has unfinished business here and that the team can succeed with him. But him getting this shiny new christmas present? It doesn’t mean much. Expectations are still there, and the pressure is still on. It gives a bunch of uninformed people a false sense of security, and Ron Wilson a financial sense of security. It’s the second most intriguing gift he got this year, if his twitter is any indication. No word yet on whether he’s going to let Randy Cunneyworth borrow his new Red Ryder BB Gun to shoot the french-speaking half of the Montreal media with at the next press conference.

As well, he points out that this should be the time to give Kadri a long term look on the team. Though I was against the call up, feeling that more AHL time would be ideal and that Marcel Mueller should’ve have gotten his call up spot, he’s performed well with quality linemates. That would be my condition to him being in the lineup long term- you cant put him on a grinder role like he had given to him before . Putting him with MacArthur and Connolly has done wonders – getting him a game winner against Buffalo, and even tonight, he’s been on the ice for three goals so far (this article was posted during the first intermission). If you can keep him with skilled forwards  he should absolutely be on the team for a long period of time.

But that isn’t the issue with the article.

The issue is the first half – about jersey numbers. More specifically, the suggestion Cox makes – to suck it up, and give Nazem Kadri the #13 of Mats Sundin, that Nazem wore with the Marlies. And you know what? That’s where this argument becomes a dumb one.

For one, I must stress, that I’m not against giving players a retired number. Far from it, actually – I’m of the type that wishes more teams would choose to use the Leafs format of just honoring numbers instead of retiring them. To me, the players accomplishments have nothing to do with their jersey numbers. So by that theory, Kadri taking Sundin’s 13 doesn’t phase me too much. Here’s where it does, though.

First off, he states that it would be a statement of confidence from the Leafs to give him the number. Why? He has to earn it. Not because of the fact it’s Sundin’s number, but because it’s team policy to assign numbers to the younger players until proven that they should have a choice. Now, if he keeps playing like he has for the last game and a third, that won’t take long. What’s the point of giving a player the entitlement of immediately dropping their number? Keith Aulie still hasn’t had his brought down, and he’s played more games, arguably of better average quality.

Secondly though, and more importantly, this article shows how little research Damien Cox did into the whole thing. Why is that? Assuming Kadri earned a number change… why does he think Kadri wants 13? Prior to being in the Leafs organization (which he has little to no nostalgia for, being a Habs fan, so the Sundin connection doesn’t work), Kadri wore numbers 19 and 91 in the OHL. Last year, when it came to choosing a number for the Marlies, Nazem was stuck – Luca Caputi had #19, and Dallas Eakins has a low number policy, meaning he couldn’t use 91 or 43 (Mike Zigomanis got an exception to this rule this year for 93). 13 kept the number low and similar to his Leafs number of 43. 19 has since come available, but changing at this point would’ve been an assertion that he’ll be around for long enough to need a new number, which isn’t a Kadri thing to do.

With all of this said, if Kadri were to “earn” a new number, it would be 19 or 91. Joffrey Lupul has 19, so that won’t happen. As for 91, John Tavares already has that number pre-retired for him for when he eventually makes his way to the promised land. Totally kidding, of course, but other than Grabovski and Kessel, I don’t see many more number changes occuring.

Besides, if any of you follow Kadri on twitter, you’d know of something he said in August. What was that, you ask? Oh, it may have been something along the lines of “Buy your jerseys, I’m sticking with 43 and making it my own”. Actually, lets go through the archives..

In short, Kadri hasn’t earned a number change. If he did, it wouldn’t be #13. And none of this matters, because he wants to be the one 43 is remembered for (because who cares about Darren Helm). The article makes great sub points – but in its main topic, it fails miserably and reeks of a lack of research.

After a lot of thought, my conclusion was Marcel Mueller was the man to choose. After all, he’s had a very solid season with the Marlies, keeping a point per game pace until recently, even. At the same time, he plays a game that can suit the bottom six, more specifically the third line. And he’s young enough to still become something more. With all of that considered, it just seemed like the logical train of thought to assume he’d get his chance.

Of course, that didn’t happen. Darryl Boyce got the call, and I was stunned. Yes, he may be able to help the penalty kill, but at the same time, he isn’t a winger and he’s better suited to the fourth line.

Follow that up with this morning. Suddenly, we saw Nazem Kadri get the call up next. Which startled me even more – he made more sense than Boyce, but why was there a sudden addition? It would come out after that this was to replace Philippe Dupuis, which made both no sense and a ton of sense.

Taking it as “wait, how does Kadri replace Dupuis?” is the wrong direction. You have to consider both moves together and assume the reason that the call ups occurred in the order that they did was something logistical.

Nazem Kadri is a much better fit to Armstrong’s role than Boyce. He’s still not a very good one – I have no doubt in my mind that the right move with him would’ve been to keep him on the Marlies until the Leafs had a top six role available to him, but at the same time, the move has happened and you can’t change that, and only hope that your speculation is wrong, which is what I’m doing right now. I assume he’ll get some powerplay time.

For those who haven’t been paying attention, Kadri has had a spectactular stretch of play since being sent down by the Leafs in late October. After starting slow on the Marlies, the 21 year old put up 6 goals and 11 assists in just 12 games in the month of November. He’d end his stint with a slight cold streak (however, so did the entire rest of the team), but still worked out to a point per game pace. So on one hand, it’s good to see him get a shot with the big club. On the other hand, as stated before, I’m just not sure if this was the right time.

As for Boyce, people are making way too much out of the move. Him replacing Dupuis isn’t all its cracked out to be, in fact, I wouldn’t be shocked if it does worse for the team instead of the significant improvement everyone seems to be expecting. There’s a lot of focus on Dupuis’ 0 points, and not on the fact that he’s a significant defensive and penalty kill asset. “But the penalty kill is awful, so you must be wrong!” is a response I get from a lot of people, but when he’s the only steady PK utility (Lombardi, Steckel and Connolly taking turns being injured, Kulemin being a shell of himself as of late, and even on D, Komisarek’s been hurt and Schenn hasn’t been the weapon he usually is), you can’t blame him for not being able to lift it all on his shoulders. When it seemed like Boyce was coming in for Armstrong, I was optimistic that it would help the penalty kill, no doubt, but now that all the details have come out, I’m pretty sure this is just going to stop the bleeding a little bit.

Overall, these moves were approximately the right ones to make. Boyce likely had to come in to make up for the loss of Dupuis, and while I don’t like him being up here and think Mueller should be up instead, there were worse options than Kadri to replace Armstrong. Besides, it’s not like Leafs management went full crazy and actually listened to Don Cherry’s begging for Mike Zigomanis. But that’s a subject for another day.

Why is it coming to a halt? Because Randy Carlyle was fired by the Ducks to be replaced by Bruce Boudreau, who seemingly hadn’t even cleaned out his office yet in Washington after being cut loose there, leaving Bob Murray realizing that maybe it would be a smart idea to let the team play a few games before shaking up anything and ending his run of casually shopping the 23 year old winger. Yes, casually shopping. As in “We don’t really want to trade him, and he doesn’t really want to go, but anyone have any offers that will shock us? No? Nevermind.”

The way Leafs fans were talking about it, it was the blockbuster of the century and Toronto was the destination no matter what. But this isn’t new with this fanbase, is it?

Just this year, we’ve seen Ryan as just one of many of the players hyped up to be traded. First we heard Jason Spezza rumours, very early on. Then Eric Staal was brought up, as was Rick Nash, as was Paul Statsny. People were even making stretch cases for John Tavares, Alexander Semin, Jordan Staal, and Brayden Schenn (by far the least sense making of the bunch – Luke relation aside, he directly interferes with the philosophy the rumours have).

Heck, if his cold streak of his continues under a new coach, you just know somebody’s going to go full idiot and drop the Ovechkin bomb somewhere.

It’s obvious why these rumours tend to happen – most of the above guys are players who struggling on mediocre teams, and Leafs fans are loving the buy low concept right now. After all, it’s working great with Dion Phaneuf and Joffrey Lupul, what’s stopping this from continuing? Well, there’s more than you’d think.

The Players Roles – First off, people are very prone to thinking that a players role in an organization is completely diminished by their upper management the second the team is on a cold streak. Eric Staal’s had a start to the season similar to a 3rd liner? Well, forget that he’s the captain, that he won the cup with that team, and he’s usually superb, the Canes have obviously given up on them! Or more realistically, as with most of these players, teams aren’t happy with recent streaks but in the long term scheme of things are glad to have them. Nobody really wants them out, even their own fanbases, who cringe at the rumours.

The Salary Cap – Realize that in such a trade the Leafs would likely be giving up younger players, and picks, and are a team close to the cap as it is. Unless your way of getting a team to be convinced they need to get rid of a contract you’ll argue is deadweight is “we’ll throw in Mike Komisarek” (hint: it wont work), there’s probably going to be a cap issue. Looking at the most speculated guys this year – Spezza’s cap hit is around 7M. Nash and Staal’s are about 8. Statsny’s over 6. Ryan’s was the lowest… at a bit over 5 million. That just doesn’t fly, and leaves the Leafs in trouble down the road.

Breaking Up The Duo – I know this ones a stretch, but the reality is, a lot of the guys wanted are wingers, and are obvious first line ones at that. In Toronto, the Leafs currently have the #1 and #3 scores on the league in Joffrey Lupul and Phil Kessel. You either have to argue that this isn’t good enough somehow and drop one of them down, or convince your new star player that as hyped up as they are and as much as they’re getting paid, their way of breaking out of this cold stream is hoping they can outproduce the two hottest wingers in the league by playing on the second line.

Don’t Mess With Success – On that note…are the Leafs not near the top of the league right now? Odds are that wont last, but nothing can ensure that a fluke run of chemistry breeding success will end better than throwing a new player in the mix and giving them a major role. I mean really, why would you possibly want to mess with that? I understand down the road if the team starts to fall off, but in my opinion, there’s no reason to do such a thing now. Especially up front, where the team is first in scoring, and near the top of the league in powerplay percentage. Goaltending? Maybe. Defence? Tough sell but I might bite. But don’t dare mess with the forwards until the team is slipping.

Rags To Riches – And even if the team falls from grace a little and proves to just hit the expectations of a sort of playoff team… can this not be good enough for now? It seems that once the “Leafs are good again” hype got into full gear, fans were sold on absolutely needing an amazing finish to this year. Honestly, instead of starting to sell talent now to get pieces for a cup run, wouldn’t it make more sense to ride it out a little and see where this team stands? You add pieces when your team is legitimate for a year or two to make a run.

Look at the Penguins. When their rebuild clawed back to the promised land, they got swept in their first playoff year. And that was good enough, and the patience shown lead to a cup win wthin two seasons. Chicago didn’t go all in the year they went to the conference finals, they had patience and it worked out for them next season. In fact, the same case can be made for pretty much every cup winner since the lockout, and beyond. If the Leafs prospects develop, they can take a very realistic shot at the Stanley Cup in a few years. Should they be risking the future now to make it happen? Absolutely not.

Yes, the kind of guys that keep getting rumoured are just about to hit prime age, or even before that. So it’s not like we’re talking rentals that will retire soon, but in the end, it’s not a necessarily splash. You never know how the guys being given up can develop – they an hit a stride, and if there’s one thing that Leafs nation is infamous for, it’s freaking out about prospects that do well once leaving, no matter how the return plays.

Overall, I feel like all the hype for getting at top player right now is a bit premature. The team may not be ready, the money isn’t there, the new players may not have a place to play that they’ll like, and it could mess with the team more than help them. And that’s ignoring the fact that teams just aren’t that desperate to get rid of these guys. They’d still take overpayments to make them happen, which can only end in horror judging by prior history.

For once, I say we just be happy with where the team is and enjoy the ride.

Honestly, though? I think it would be an awful idea, at least right now.

First off, isn’t this a fanbase that claims that we’re patient and can accept prospect development for long term gain? I mean, yes, he’s playing dominant in the AHL right now, and generally when players as young as him dominate the AHL, it transitions well into the big show. But at the same time, those players spend a while proving their worth, with nearly full seasons of a dominant pace backing up that they deserve time. Colborne has been lights out for a whopping twelve games. Technically, that’s still at hot streak territory, and not consistent level – he can just as easily fall off.

After all, we’re talking about someone who had just 42 points in 75 games last year – even with 16 in his final 20. He’s got a lot of talent, but the production might not stay consistent. As a Leafs fan, ignoring the fact I watch the Marlies just as much, I’m worried about taking out a guy so abruptly without having a true mark of his consistency. If he can keep up this play for half a season, then you can start calling it the real deal. But twelve games, in a massive statistical abnormality? Patience is key – let him prove himself for more than a deep breath. If you rush him out of it and it doesn’t work, can it deflate him and prove disastrous if he gets sent down again? These are factors you have to worry about.

Secondly, there’s the matter of where you put him. Yes, half the team seems to be hurt right now, but remember that he’s a centre, and one that plays a top six role. Tyler Bozak has been awesome with Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul this year, and nobody wants to really mess with that while Kessel and Lupul are the only forwards doing anything. Tim Connolly, in something that’s confused the entire hockey universe, is one of the few currently healthy players in a team that needs its own hospital, and can’t realistically be put lower than the second line, especially when the person you might want to replace him is a rookie.

This places Colborne on the third line. At that point, what’s the reason of even having him up? To play him in a defensive role because he’s been so good offensively so far? It doesn’t make a shred of sense. He’s not the type that fits in on the wing either, so that doesn’t quite work.

To cap this all off, Colborne is coming back from missing three games to a lower body injury. To rush him up to the NHL after recovering from an injury seems like a really bad idea. If you want to ignore my points about him having to prove himself, and the depth chart not being in his favour, he still needs a few games to make sure that he’s 100% before making the biggest judgement call of his career.

Realistically, there’s better options. If you must add a centre, Mike Zigomanis will actually add a bottom six presence to the bottom six instead of throwing someone out of place (though it’ll also feed Don Cherry’s ego, so jury’s out on if this is a good idea). If you want wingers, guys like Marcel Mueller have been playing well and are further into their careers. You could call up Nazem Kadri again and give him a chance at the second line left wing role, and have it make more sense.

I really like Joe Colborne, and there’s a lot of reason to be excited about him. He’s dominated to start the year, he’s learning how to use his body, and he is showing he’ll some day be an integral player to the Toronto Maple Leafs. But the key word is some day – today isn’t a day where he needs to be that guy, injuries be damned. Give him a bit more time in the AHL before throwing him to the wolves – it can’t do any harm, which is something I can’t say about rushing him.

Amazing.

For the record – I’m happy he started, he was awful, he ended strong, I still prefer him to Gustavsson, and I’m still scared to death about our goaltending until Reimer comes back, and even then I’ll still be scared until we’re sure he’s healthy.

Post game coming in a bit.

Don’t get me wrong – I like Ben Scrivens, a lot. I’ve seen pretty much every game he’s ever played at home in the Leafs organization. I was excited when the Leafs got him, and my excitement for his future hasn’t changed. Same goes for Jonas Gustavsson – I was a fan of his before he was a Leaf. This means I’ve been a fan of his before he was in the NHL, which is true – when the hype train on him first began, I would actually find streams to Farjestad games to check out his play and his progress, and legitimately thought he had the ability to be a superstar goaltender in this league.

Leafs Nation is yet again polarizing themselves  on how to look at these two goalies. Are they busts, that should be vanquished form the organization never to be seen again? Or is it the team that is to blame?

Last night, you could say the team – after all, when you’re scoring just one goal in three periods, you can’t exactly look to the goalie to get you the shutout with absolute certainty. But they didn’t really help the theory out, with each letting in a mixture of average and soft goals to give the Leafs an embarassing 5-1 loss to the Panthers. But what about in general?

In my opinion, there’s no black and white with these two. It’s somewhere grey.

First off, have they both been the biggest detriments to the team in the post-Reimer stretch? Anyone who says no is lying to themselves, lets be real. I don’t care how good or bad the Leafs are or should be, 3.78+0.878 (Gustavsson) and 4.05+0.867 (Scrivens) are some of the most astonishingly bad numbers I’ve ever seen defended by fans. Andrew Raycroft, yes, I’m about to go there, won 37 games and had an 0.894 on the Leafs in 06/07. That team was much worse (If you try to argue that Kilger-Pohl-Devereaux is a better support line than MacArthur-Grabovski-Kulemin, I will disown you) , and he was universally panned as an awful goalie.

When your team has to score five goals a game to bail you out, and the defence hasn’t been particularly bad (Phaneuf is having a banner year, Liles, Gardiner, Gunnarsson have all been solid, Komisarek is playing his best year as a Leaf. Luke Schenn is having a weak year but its not enough to call him the cause), then there’s a serious problem. It’s as simple as that.

That said, is it just their fault that the Leafs have been losing games? Of course not. The team gets very defeatist when they go down by multiple goals. As well, the special teams have been atrocious, and you can’t say that Ben Scrivens is the reason the powerplay can’t put a puck in. Offensively, everyone not named Phil Kessel is starting to slip up a bit, but it’s still not at cause for alarm level yet. There are other issues with the team, I will admit. It’s just that goaltending is the glaring one.

Does this mean you should hate either of the two goalies, and that they should be run out of town with pitchforks or something along those lines? Absolutely not. I mean, we’re still talking about two very talented young to middle age goaltenders, who we all know are capable of so much more than what we’re seeing. It’s not ability that’s in the way of their success. Maybe it’s confidence (either not enough, or too much)? Maybe they’re messing with styles that they shouldn’t be, and are over complicating their play? I don’t know – I can’t claim to be an expert on goaltenders. But just as much as they’re playing awful, these are guys that are capable of doing well. I’d like to see them around for a while. It’s jut brutal to watch immediately.

Two things are for sure – one, Ben Scrivens isn’t an NHL goaltender yet. He’s showing flashes of promise, I will admit. But he’s just not ready at the moment – his numbers are actually the least surprising of the bunch to me. He had a solid first game, but keep in mind that Syracuse, the Jackets farm team, has just about as much offensive ability. Don’t panic on his long term career just yet, but for the immediate future, his departure from Leafs blue and white and return to Marlies blue and white can’t come soon enough.

Secondly, whatever is messing with Jonas Gustavsson’s head must be figured out, or I’m not totally against a panic move (my crazy out there move that could help both teams – offer him to New Jersey for Hedberg and a conditional pick). The man is a good NHL goaltender when his head is in check, but it’s not. Is Wilson helping with the lack of confidence he shows in starting him? Not really. But a solution has to be found.

With all of this said, we have to look to the now. And the now is that the Leafs have a game coming up against the Blues. And I’m sure you’re going to ask – with this bad vs. bad goaltender controversy brewing, what would your game plan be?

Honestly? I’m between kidnapping both of St. Louis’ goaltenders, and starting Phil Kessel in net. Maybe both. James Reimer’s return can’t come soon enough – as long as he’s recovered. If not, it may be time to let the panic begin once again.