I've got to hand to the Silver Fox, he had me fooled. When he was brought in to replace John Ferguson last month he immediately announced that the Leafs weren't good enough to compete for the Cup and that the team needed to be dismantled. A clever ruse.
So he pretends to be a seller on NHL trade deadline day but doesn't unload any of his core players. Instead he trades old slow players for draft picks and replaces them with young swift kids from the Marlies. The man is brilliant. Meanwhile the teams the Leafs need to catch didn't improve so there you have it. Only 6 points to make up in 17 games. But he had a 1st round draft pick he could have traded for someone like Alex Hemsky in Edmonton. Draft shmaft, who needs it?
It's incredible how the Maple Leafs can never get it right. Play lousy for 3/4 of the season and sink to the bottom of the conference and then take a run at a playoff spot in the last portion of the schedule when its too late. The Frozen Five want to prove to the hockey world that can win when everyone has written them off. So while season subscribers give away tickets, the GM is making plans to blow up the team and the coach is polishing his resume, they are going to go out and win. Right now they have taken themselves out of a lottery pick. They can't even tank properly.
Don't get sucked into believing that this group can do it. To make the playoffs they will need at least 92 points which means winning 14 of their remaining 17 games. Their schedules includes 2 games against New Jersey (0-2 so far this year and the hottest team in the East), 3 against Boston (2-3 so far this year) and 2 against Montreal (3-1-2 this year but also hot right now).
12 years ago
