With only 2.4% of the season in the books, I know it’s hard to talk about any roster moves this early in the new campaign. But it’s also tough not to notice some of the lineup imbalances the Leafs are currently showing.
Yes it’s like beating a dead horse: there are too many defence in blue & white.
In my eyes, it isn’t so much the boil-over of defencemen Toronto currently has, but much more about the money and lack of minutes to go around. Everyone witnessed it in the first game when Mike Komisarek logged only 12:08 of ice time. For a guy who can easily play 20+ minutes per game, that has to be disheartening. And that isn’t to say he should have been on the ice for any more or less, or even deserved more than another guy.
It just is what it is. The Leafs got the win and that’s all that matters.
In the second game against Ottawa (a 5-1 romp, that is) Komisarek’s ice time only jumped to 13:49, while Carl Gunnarsson played 17:15 as the next lowest total for defenceman.
While Komisarek played reduced minutes, the top four guys like Kaberle, Beauchemin, Phaneuf and Schenn logged considerable time throughout both early season tilts versus divisional foes.
Of course one way to look at it is like this: Komisarek is returning from injury and will be eased into the rotation for bigger minutes. I don’t buy any of it, but even when using rationale like that it still doesn’t address the fact that there isn’t enough time in a game to play all of these guys.
Would Schenn play a reduced role when Komisarek is back in full form? Why would anyone want that? Neither of these guys should be playing 12 minutes a game.
In order for Komisarek (or whoever is in that position as the fifth defenceman at the time) to move into playing huge minutes, someone has to step out of that top four.
With people continuing to believe Tomas Kaberle is a goner come trade deadline day or seasons’ end, you’ve got to step back for a second and realize this: the Leafs defence can’t afford to lose a guy like Kaberle. Sure they’re a tough and physical group, but we saw in the first two games what Kaberle brings (and has always brought) to the table. Nobody on the back-end can change the flow of the game quite like #15.
Call me a Kaberle sympathizer, but the Leafs D-corps would barely be able to wipe their own asses without him.
As for the trade avenues I’ve alluded to in the title, basically it’s as simple as the Leafs needing to balance their lineup. Most hockey analysts still see the Buds as being weak up the middle, and even TSN’s Darren Dreger mentioned on-air before the season opener that the Leafs could look to open up trade talks to offload a defenceman as the season gets underway. That’s not shady E5 business, it’s just common sense.
And to be quite honest, the Leafs don’t look all that weak at forward through two games. But they’re still blocked with defenceman, with Brett Lebda even mentioning that he could be ready to play by this upcoming Friday.
Another way to defend the idea of having fourteen trillion defencemen is “well, injuries happen.” Yep, they sure do. But paying someone like Komisarek 4.25 million (again, these names are interchangeable) to step into the top four in the case of an injury doesn’t seem smart, does it? That’s some expensive insurance.
While folks shouldn’t jump over each other to go check Fraudkeybuzz for Leafs rumors, it’s quite a real possibility that as pro scouts get a look at players’ performances early this season, we could see a Leafs deal to upgrade some holes at forward. And even if not to fill the gaps up front, simply to offload some of that major salary from the blueline.
Kaberle has been stripped of his assistant captaincy but I don’t think that translates into him being prime trade bait. Again, the Leafs would be lost without him. But that bottom pairing needs to start looking more like an actual bottom pairing or else the Leafs aren’t getting much value by paying millions of dollars for a guy (any of them) to log 12 minutes of ice time on a given night.
The Leafs are in Pittsburgh on Wednesday night (TSN-HD) and will visit the Ranger on Friday (SNET-O.) Both games will go at 7PM EST.
I also managed to go through this entire article without mentioning Jeff Finger once. Too late now!
Email ryanfancey@gmail.com and follow on twitter
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Original Story:
http://maplestirup.com/2010/10/as-sea...
