Reconstruction project

After a disappointing season, The Building decided to renovate.

At 6-foot-3 and somewhere between 240 and 250 pounds, Mike Komisarek's nickname was both obvious and -- in theory --complimentary.

Tough to move. Like hitting a building. Big. All the good stuff.

But the corollary wasn't thought through perhaps, or at least maybe it was the rare hockey nickname tinged with a sly dose of irony.

Komisarek's a building all right, as in: stands still, hard to go through but easy enough to go around; that kind of thing.

Not necessarily ideal qualities for a defenseman in the go-go NHL.

The Toronto Maple Leafs season-opening winning streak was snapped at three as they lost 3-2 in overtime to the Colorado Avalanche at the Air Canada Centre, but the reconstruction of Komisarek's career continues.

One of the big positives on Monday night? He wasn't on the ice when head coach Ron Wilson's impromptu pairing of Cody Franson and John-Michael Liles (they'd never played together in a 4-on-4 situation) got tied up in their own end and allowed Colarado's David Jones to sneak in behind them to score the winner on James Reimer who was out-dueled by his former teammate and mentor Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

Maybe he should have been out there -- a thought that would have been banished a season ago.

In general, Komisarek's been holding his own on the crowded Leafs blue line, where the fierce competition has put training camp favourite Jake Gardiner in the press box the last two games in place of Franson.

It's a scenario that will remain fluid until someone gets hurt or a trade is made..

Komisarek's 23 shifts and 15:40 minutes of ice time were a far-cry from Dion Phaneuf's game-high 28:04, but it put him ahead of Luke Schenn who lagged behind Leafs defenders with just 14:21 minutes of ice time.

With the Leafs trailing 2-1 heading into the third period, it figured Wilson would turn to his more offensive-minded rear guards and away from Komisarek, or Schenn for that matter.

"You need some offence in that situation," said Wilson. "You're not looking for plays off the glass."

Playing it off the glass is a specialty of Komisarek's, part of the keep-it-simple-style when he plays at his best.

Whether that's great value for a seven-year veteran in the midst of a five-year, $22.5 million contract is another matter. The deal is cited so often as an example of Leaf president Brian Burke's folly that it's become a stand-alone adjective.

Say you're trying to describe a piece of furniture that overfills a room and serves no useful purpose -- just compare it to Komisarek's contract and everyone will instantly understand.

But after four games the contract known as Komisarek is showing some signs of being a hockey player again. The result, he says, of an off-season spent trying to get quicker and smaller.

Sometimes it looked like the renovation had paid dividends, like when he raced the length of the ice in the second period to knock Joakim Lindstrom off the puck as he was in deep on Reimer.

Other times he looked as rooted as ever, as when rookie Gabriel Landeskog raced by him so quickly Komisarek got his feet tangled on his pivot and was on his back about the time that Landeskog was breaking in on Reimer, who made the second-period stop.

His nickname is a little less apt this year, he feels, because he got out of the weight room and onto the soccer fields and running tracks in Long Island this past summer.

"I wanted to get back to being more of an athlete," he said

After skating in the mornings he and a group of local NHL players, college players and minor-league pros would gather behind Hauppage High School for sprints, hurdles, and plyometrics before taking sides for footie.

"Soccer was the first sport I played," he said. "I played indoor soccer; I played year-round. We played a ton this past summer, at least two, three times a week."

And unlike his on-ice persona, Komisarek's not just a thumper in cleats.

"You'd be surprised," he said of his soccer skills. "I can dish it out there."

Among the themes of the early part of the season to date is how Leafs head coach Ron Wilson is going to sort through the traffic jam of defencemen he has on his blue line.

So far Komisarek has emerged from last year's doghouse with regular appearances on the penalty kill and as the steadying veteran hand alongside Franson, who replaced Gardiner in the lineup again on Monday night.

"He's a good player, it doesn't take long to figure out where he's going to move out there and I think we play well together," said Franson.

He's hardly perfect, and as furniture goes he still looks a bit less then you'd expect for the $4.5 million cap hit he represents this season and the next two to come. But Komisarek insists he remains a worthy reclamation project deserving of a place on a Leafs blueline, which remains a group that's still a work-in-progress.

"I want to return to the dominant force I was a few years ago," he says. "I'm definitely not there yet but I want to be key contributor on a playoff team and I feel like I'm headed in that direction."

Michael Grange will provide insight and analysis on all the top stories in sports.