Look on the bright side

If you believe, as I do, that the Toronto Maple Leafs have turned a corner when you look at the big picture then perhaps you won't feel quite as bad about their current predicament.

True enough, the Leafs have dropped three straight games and are currently sitting outside of the playoffs for the first time this season, but there was really no assurance that they would make the post-season in the first place, was there?

The optimist in me is convinced that this is indeed a playoff team, but with six players currently injured, it has become glaringly apparent the Leafs either don't have enough depth to skate with the best teams in the league, or some of their players are a little too green to make the impact they certainly will down the road.

The pessimist in me worries that the team's schedule - eight of the next nine games are at home - won't be the saving grace it might have been had the Leafs been healthy. Time will tell on that one.

So, as the 2012 portion of the 2011-12 season kicks off Tuesday night when the Leafs host the Tampa Bay Lightning, here are 10 observations on the Leafs; five reasons to believe they are on the right road and five areas of concern.

GOOD: Phil Kessel has arrived. Sure the trade GM Brian Burke made to get him will continue to generate conversation for years to come, but Kessel has found a consistency in his game that eluded him his first four years in the league.

It would be a stretch to suggest he has become a solid two-way performer, but at least he's coming back hard when Toronto loses the puck in the offensive zone. With 21 goals and 44 points in 38 games, he is on pace for 45 goals and 95 points.

One fly in the ointment is the fact he was hit on the foot by a shot from teammate Cody Franson Saturday in Winnipeg and it would not be shocking if he missed time because of an injury.

NOT GOOD: This is rather obvious, but how long can the Leafs continue to have the NHL's worst penalty-killing and realistically believe they can make it into the post-season? To be fair, some of the injured players would probably be seeing penalty-killing duty, but a 72.3 per cent success rate is downright embarrassing. The Leafs either need a new strategy or new players.

GOOD: It doesn't seem so long ago that one major concern about the Leafs was their lack of quality youth. That is no longer the case. Jake Gardiner, 21, and Matt Frattin, 23, made the team out of training camp and both have given strong indications they are here to stay.

Nazem Kadri and Joe Colbourne, both 21, have shown they are ready to compete for full-time NHL duty while Luke Schenn, 22, and in his fourth NHL season, continues to make strides. Fellow defender Keith Aulie, also 22, looks like he'll one day be a solid stay-at-home defender.

NOT GOOD: The Leafs tried to kid everyone they had two first lines at the start of the year based on the strong play of Mikhail Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin and Clarke MacArthur but it sure hasn't worked out that way. Between injuries, a suspension to MacArthur to start the year and inconsistent play, the line has since been broken up. Grabovski has been OK, but is only on pace for 24 goals and 45 points. He had 29 and 58 last season. Kulemin has struggled and is on pace for seven goals and 32 points after scoring 30 and 57 last year. Both players are in contract years.

GOOD: Many were surprised - and disappointed - when the Maple Leafs' big free agent signing in the off-season was centre Tim Connolly. He came to town with a reputation for being injury prone and when he was unable to start the season because of a shoulder injury, there were all kinds of people saying I-told-you-so.

Connolly, however, has been very good. With six goals and 18 points in 26 games he has taken some of the scoring pressure off of Kessel and Joffrey Lupul.

NOT GOOD: You'll never meet two nicer guys than James Reimer and Jonas Gustavsson, but the two goaltenders are not getting the job done. A concussion cost Reimer six weeks of activity and he hasn't been as good since his return. Gustavsson got off to a slow start, but the Leafs seem determined to make Reimer their No. 1 goalie, so he continues to sit.

GOOD: At 28, Lupul has finally arrived. The seventh overall pick in 2002 has been a journeyman through his first seven years in the NHL, but you could make the case he is the most improved player in the league. With 17 goals and 40 points in 38 games, he should easily beat his previous single-season highs of 28 goals and 53 points.

NOT GOOD: The Leafs are too soft of a team to play against; particularly in their own zone. They have big defencemen, but they don't punish the opposition forwards along the boards or in front of the net. With each passing game the teams that will be successful get a little bit grittier. That has not been the case with the Maple Leafs and partially explains why they have fallen to 10th place in the East.

GOOD: Defenceman Carl Gunnarsson has quietly become one of the team's most consistent performers. He'll never crush an opponent with a big body check and he's the first one to admit he fires muffins from the point, but he makes very few mistakes at either end of the ice and when there is a miscue, he usually covers his tracks in a hurry.

NOT GOOD: There are no official records kept on it, but if there were, it would not be shocking if the Leafs led the NHL in clearing attempts picked off by the opposition defence. It's incredible night after night watching them shoot the puck slowly around the boards in an attempt to get it out of their end only to have an opposing defender easily keep it in.

The wheels seem to be coming off from what began as a great season, but I still believe things are moving in the right direction.

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy will cover the Toronto Maple Leafs for sportsnet.ca for the 2011/12 season.