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LEAFS FOUR NOT SO FANTASTIC |
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First of all, my apologies to everyone for being a day tardy with this post.
You see, my three children came to me yesterday morning with droopy, puppy-dog eyes, bottom lips curled, and begged, nay, pleaded for me to take them to the zoo.
How could I resist?
You sort of give into that temptation, no matter how much you recognize that you really shouldn't. That there are other things that are a priority.
Kind of the way John Ferguson looks at the TorontO Maple Leafs.
You see, much like I ignored any responsibility I may have had to post a new blog on this Web site in order to satisfy my desire to keep my children happy, Ferguson ignored his responsibility as G.M. to help a pourous Leafs defense and committed a lot of money to a more offensive-minded defensive corps, playing in front of a suspect goaltender.
Here's a number for you - 42 percent. You know what that signifies? The percentage of TorontO's salary cap that is being taken up by Bryan McCabe, Tomas Kaberle, Hal Gill and Pavel Kubina.
For the record, all four were minus players a season ago, and together in TorontO that adds up to a bad defensive mixture.
(By the way, I will forever refer to TorontO in type with a capitalized "O" at the end. I figure, if enough of the e-mailers, and comment freaks from the wanabe New York City on the lake do it in an effort to be pretentious, then darn it, so will I. But, I digress...)
Let's look at some statistical trends for a minute featuring the Fantastic Four (and frankly, you might be able to compare them to that Marvel comics quartet...let's give it a shot, shall we?)
McCabe scored 68 points last season, including 19 goals. Career highs in both categories. But, somehow, despite scoring all those points, he was still a minus-1. This coming on the heels of being a plus-63 in his four previous seasons.
Known earlier in his career as a guy who took too many stupid penalties, McCabe actually curbed that flaw in his game a bit last season, but in turn became even worse defensively.
One former Philadelphia Flyer, who played against McCabe in two different playoff series' told me once that players would salivate at the chance to play against him.
"You definitely would get an extra jump in your step when the coach would call your number when he was out there," the player said. "Sure the guy hits hard, and yeah, he's decent offensively, but you can get in his head a bit, take him off his game, and turn him into a turnstile."
Let's call McCabe Mr. Fantastic, because, much like the comic book hero, McCabe constantly has to contort his body in strange positions just to see the forward who just blew past him.
Still, McCabe was rewarded for his lack of defensive skill with a five-year, $28.5 million contract, paying him an absurd $7.15 million this season alone.
Kaberle is probably the most consistent of the bunch, and probably the best too, but he too has issues on the defensive end of the rink.
Like McCabe, Kaberle posted a career high in points with 67, and he too was a minus-1, this after being a plus in each of his first six seasons in TorontO.
Kaberle seemed to struggle defensively adjusting to the newer style of play in the NHL last season, and that's what hurt his defensive production.
In previous seasons, Kaberle was always a Johnny-on-the-spot type of defenseman, the guy who showed up in the nick of time to poke the puck out of harms way.
Not last season, when he never seemed to be around the puck in his own zone. So we'll call him the Leafs equivalent to the Invisible Woman - you know, nowhere to be found when a defensive play is needed.
Oh, by the way, Kaberle is taking up $4.25 million of TorontO's cap space this season.
Gill has always been a strong, physical, stay-at-home defenseman for Boston. Then, last season, much like Derian Hatcher in Philadelphia, he struggled mightily to adjust to the new game.
He was a minus-4 for the season after being a plus-53 in his previous three seasons.
Also, Gill had a career high, 124 penalty minutes last season, as he struggled to be the same, punishing, crease-clearer he was pre-lockout because many of the tactics he used became penalties in the revamped NHL.
Never an offensive threat, Gill is like The Thing, hulking, slow, and grumpy.
However, also like The Thing in a recent endition of the comic book released by Marvel (it's amazing what you can learn on the Internet) Gill also came into some wealth this season, pcking up a 3-year, $6.3 million deal from TorontO, costing the Leafs $2.05 million this season.
As for Kubina, well, it's no secret that he's the Human Torch - as in, he's constantly being burned by the opposition.
This shouldn't come as a surprise, for aside from Tampa Bay's Stanley Cup season, when Kubina was shockingly a plus-9, the defenseman - and I use that term loosely - was minus-90 for his career. Ouch.
And even more perplexing as to his signing with TorontO is his goal scoring drop off from the blueline went from 17 in 2003-04 to just 5 last season.
But, he is $20 million richer, getting $5 million a year from the Leafs.
Simply put, this is not a good troupe. Not even on a good year. But it's going to be even worse in front of Andrew Raycroft, who appears to be a reclamation project of sorts after an utter collapse following his rookie of the year campaign.
Still, as critical as I am about the players, you can't blame them for the money they're getting.
If Eklund was offering me $20 million over four years, I don't care how mediocre a writer I am, I'd take it too.
No, the real blame needs to fall at the feet of Ferguson, who not only did a disservice to his own team and the good fans of TorontO, but to the entire NHL, driving contracts for middling defensemen through the roof.
Someone needs to come in and save the day for the Leafs, the problem is, Superman appears to have gone into hiding (maybe at that same swanky Niagra Falls honeymoon suite from Superman II).
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