OK — they oversold us. And perhaps we were all a little bit too hopeful, fooled by the assumption that a rebuilding Toronto Maple Leafs that finished 12th in the East on Year 1 of the project, should naturally edge up towards ninth or tenth in Year 2.
Even those who did not see Toronto as a playoff team — and we weren’t as large a group as we should have been — couldn’t have fathomed that they would be THIS bad.
But the Toronto Maple Leafs are, alas, the worst team in the National Hockey League.
So, as Ron Wilson suggests, it is time for a reset.
Maybe we overestimated Francois Beauchemin’s ability to be a Top 2 defenceman, without the Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger security blanket he had in Anaheim for the past four seasons.
Who knew that Mike Komisarek’s toughness would be so misguided, with just one scrap and a league-leading eight minor penalties heading into play Wednesday?
These are two defencemen whose games we love; two of the safest signings GM Brian Burke could have made this summer. And both have found a way to play the worst hockey we’ve seen them play in years, now that they are wearing a Toronto sweater.
It is uncanny.
Mikael Grabovski? Alex Ponikarovsky? Tomas Kaberle — who shouldn’t have seen the ice again on Tuesday after he let David Jones walk right through him to score a debilitating goal with 51 seconds left in the opening period?
It doesn’t surprise anyone that these players have disappeared at crunch time for the Leafs. But what must really confound Burke is that he brought guys like Komisarek and Beauchemin in this summer to smooth the waters during times like these.
There is no more fragile team in the NHL right now than this one. But on Tuesday night, 50 seconds after Beauchemin scored to make the score 2-1 for Colorado, Komisarek was elbowing Darcy Tucker in the chops. Tucker sold the call, but everyone knows that is what Tucker does best. Komisarek should know that, too.
Komisarek should have been nurturing the momentum from Beauchemin’s goal, but crushed it instead. A powerplay goal ensued — by Tucker, no less, after Marek Svatos waltzed around Beauchemin — and the Leafs were down by a pair again.
There is talk now of trading for J.S. Giguere, maybe bringing in a veteran like Brendan Shanahan, moving a veteran to recoup some of the draft pick spent in the Phil Kessel trade, or even firing the coach.
Burke, who spoke selectively on Wednesday (selecting not to speak with Sportsnet.ca), told American web site ESPN.com that his colleagues around the NHL are not offering much help.
“The ones that are calling, it's not a helpful group,” he said, south of the border. “I haven't got anything but anchors thrown at me. We're not in a hurry. If I didn't think this group could get the job done, I'd be more concerned. But I believe in the group.”
As for Wilson, Burke dismissed the subject of replacing the coach.
“It's absurd,” Burke said. “This guy has coached over 1,000 games in the NHL. Did he suddenly forget how to coach? I can tell you this, there will be numerous, multiple player changes before the coaching staff would even be looked at, let alone considered. The players are at fault here. We're not getting it done. It's not the coaching staff. It's the players not executing.”
Numerous player changes?
The Leafs are at that regrettable crossroads of having a bad team, yet being capped out. One is OK. Both, and you are in trouble.
And there aren’t many good teams out here that have the cap space to take a Kaberle in return for draft picks. It is nearly impossible to offload cap hit in today’s NHL.
Then again, we thought it impossible that the Toronto Maple Leafs could be worse in the 2009-10 season than they were in ’08-’09.
When it comes to the term “impossible” and the Maple Leafs, perhaps we should all listen to Wilson.
Maybe it is time for a reset.
