How Bad Can it Get for the Leafs?
It’s hard to imagine worrying about how bad it might get for the Leafs instead of worrying about how bad it currently is, but they are in a position to have one of the worst starts in history. Currently sitting at 0-6-1, they are in danger of going 0-for-October.
Being winless in 7 games isn’t good. Being winless in 7 game before starting a 5 game road trip starting in Western Canada is downright scary. They play in Vancouver tomorrow (Saturday) night against a team that is starting to come together. Luongo hasn’t been his usual self, but has looked better the last two games, and you have to like the Canucks chances when you have a goalie like Luongo going against what is easily the worst group of forwards in the NHL.
From Vancouver, they travel to Anaheim then on to a surprisingly good team in Dallas. From Dallas they go to Buffalo, a team that is playing very good defensively and Montreal, a team that is starting to move the puck like they should, and one that badly outplayed Atlanta and the Islanders in the last two games.
It’s very likely they could come out of this road trip sitting at 0-11-1, which would cause the city of Toronto to virtually implode. They’ve gotten used to really bad pro teams in Toronto (the Blue Jays never make the playoffs, the Raptors have been terrible the last few years, and the Argos (CFL) have been brutal this year), but for the Leafs to get off to a start like that after optimism was so high after the pre-season would be catastrophic.
It will be very interesting to see what the breaking point is for Leaf fans. How bad does this team have to play before they don’t sell out a game. Personally, I don’t think it’s possible, but one would have to think fans might revolt after a certain point. I know of a few fans already that just cannot watch the team play. As a Blues fan, Tuesday nights game against Pittsburgh wasn’t too enjoyable to watch. Picture that scenario over and over again, and you start to see how frustrating Leaf fans must be. Lots of us went through this in the last number of years, and we saw first hand the apathy that comes with a team like that.
The reasons for Toronto’s start are what make it so frustrating. Burke and Wilson were preaching a playoff spot prior to the season opener, and everyone (myself included) thought their additions on defence would make them very hard to play against. Watching Mike Komisarek and Francois Beauchemin struggle like they have is downright painful. Luke Schenn, one of the few bright spots from last year, and a player that many Blues fans wanted instead of Pietrangelo has been downright awful this year. The goaltending hopes seem to be solely on Jonas Gustavsson’s shoulder, those same shoulders that have 97 minutes of NHL experience.
When you turn an expected strength (Defence) into a big weakness, and you put that on top of your complete lack of a top 6 NHL forward, it doesn’t give the fans a lot of hope in this team turning it around. As a Canadian, with countless Leaf fans around all the time, the longer this winless streak goes, the more enjoyable it is for myself. The analysis that goes into the Leafs up here is beyond extensive and seems to grow exponentially with every loss. The amount of discussion about how the Leafs played dodgeball in practice last week was tenfold of what the Blues would generate from a 5 game winning streak.
Will this misery for Leaf Nation end on this road trip. Part of me believes they have to eventually squeak out an ugly win somewhere, but looking at the road trip I wouldn’t bet against an 0-11-1 start. The one saving grace is the pressure on the opposing team as this streak goes longer. No team wants to be the first team to get beat by the winless Maple Leafs. Carolina players were openly talking about this before the game against the previously winless NY Islanders on Wednesday night.
It sure does look good on Burke and Wilson though. How would the Kessel trade look if Boston lands Taylor Hall with the first overall selection this June.
