Colby's mulligan

Let's call it Colby Armstrong's mulligan. Last season doesn't count. It didn't happen.

The veteran right winger came to the Toronto Maple Leafs with the best of intentions of being one of those grinding, hard-to-play-against guys GM Brian Burke promised to supply Leafs Nation with, but wound up being injured far too often to be a factor in yet another forgettable season.

Now he's teeing it up and ready to make an impact.

"At this time last year I was playing with a broken foot already," Armstrong said, "so my year didn't start off too well. Seven games in I blew my hand apart and had to have surgery and missed almost 20 games. The things started going alright and my eye started bleeding somehow and I broke my other foot at the end of the year. I'm wearing shot blockers now so I hope that cancels out that problem."

Armstrong is healthy and happy. He scored the opening goal in a 4-2 win over the visiting Ottawa Senators at Air Canada Centre Monday night and later added an assist. All things considered, for a pre-season game it wasn't bad.

Armstrong, 28, joined the Maple Leafs a year ago as an unrestricted free agent arriving with a reputation for being something of a shift disturber - the kind of sandpaper player Burke vowed would be employed on his third and fourth lines. Some have suggested $3 million a year for three seasons is a little extravagant for a third-liner, but if Armstrong can stay healthy and find the game that enabled him to score 22 goals and 40 points with 75 penalty minutes two years ago in Atlanta, it will go a long way toward getting the Maple Leafs back to the playoffs.

Oh yeah, the playoffs. Hmm, that's a place where Armstrong has not been to except for once in his pro career. Suffice it to say it eats away at him each spring when he packs his equipment to go home when the real hockey gets underway.

"It's brutal," Armstrong said. "It's tough. I'm not sure what year this is for me; maybe my sixth or seventh, but to have played just five playoff games is tough. It's something that you want so bad. I played against the Senators in my only year in the playoffs and to have that feeling - the butterflies in the ramped up building - it's something that you grew up wanting to experience. It's tough to sit by and watch it every year."

Actually, this will be Armstrong's seventh year in the NHL. Picked in the first round, 21st overall, by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2001, Armstrong spent the first three-and-a-half years of his pro career playing with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League before finally graduating to the NHL midway through the 2005-06 season. He hasn't looked back since.

Teams expect first round picks to be significant contributors. That has not been the case for the personable Armstrong. That said, with the Leafs he has an opportunity to make a difference in what is a very important year for an organization that hasn't been to the post-season since 2004.

Thus far Armstrong has been playing on a line with centre Tyler Bozak and winger Nazem Kadri. Bozak, who a year ago was slated to be the team's No. 1 centre - an illustration of Toronto's lack of depth then - scored two goals against Ottawa. On a night when the Maple Leafs rested their top line of Tim Connolly, Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul, the Bozak-Armstrong-Kadri line played a more significant role. And they passed the test.

"I think the potential is there for sure," Armstrong said. "We got standing around a little bit on our cycle, but through camp the first couple of days our cycling game and our quick game was pretty good. It's something we'll work on and get better at doing.

"Bozak is a great player. He's got speed and he can make those quick plays. I like playing wing with him because he's fast up the middle and can make those quick pop plays. He's got good support, good instincts and he reads the play well. We talked about what we could do in camp and although we're trying not to get ahead of ourselves, if we stick together we'd like to look at ourselves as a line that can win games for us; whether it's defensively or as a third line that can produce, too."

But can you top - or at least match - your career best of 22 goals, set two years ago with the now defunct Atlanta Thrashers? Remember, Armstrong also had seasons of 16 and 12 goals with Pittsburgh previously.

"I think I can do that. Playing with Naz and Bozie I think we'll get our chances," Armstrong said. "The year I scored those goals in Atlanta I was playing with Rich Peverley and Slava Kozloz. That was a pretty good line. I think it's much the same right now with the way these guys play and the little plays they can make and the chances we can create. It's exciting to be starting the season like this."

Toronto coach Ron Wilson isn't convinced Armstrong will expand on his career best in goals. Not that he thinks Armstrong is goal-challenged, but for the coach, it's a little matter of reality.

"That's hard because it depends on ice time," Wilson said. "If you look at our team you'd probably say they are the third line and they'll get somewhere between 14 and 16 minutes per game. To say he should score 20 goals wouldn't be right. The year he scored a lot in Pittsburgh he was playing with Sidney Crosby and he's not playing with Sidney Crosby here. He should be able to get between 15 and 20... something like that."

NOTES: Matt Frattin has taken advantage of every opportunity he has been given to make the Maple Leafs. A finalist for the Hobey Baker Award with the University of North Dakota last season when he scored 36 goals and 60 points in 44 games the 23-year-old right winger looked like a man playing with boys at the team's rookie camp in Oshawa last week. He stood out in the weekend scrimmages and was flying again in the first pre-season game against the Senators. Frattin's greatest attribute in Game 1 was his drive to the net. Another impressive Leafs hopeful was right winger Kenny Ryan who showed an aggressive side and made a nice shot block while killing a penalty in the first period.

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy writes Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday on Sportsnet.ca and appears regularly on Hockeycentral.