A New Look

Carlyle behind the bench last night against the Canadiens

The Maple Leafs had good leadership with the new Randy Carlyle, and defeated the Canadiens 3-1 last night, with Toronto taking 42 shots at Carey Price, compared to Montreal's 22. Compared to what we saw of Wilson for most of his 310 games, Carlyle was lively, up and down the bench, and did a great job in his first day on the job. Grabovski certainly had a great showing, collecting the game winner, and then his 20^th of the season. Toronto has a legitimate chance of still making the playoffs, though they've got to pass 4 teams in the standings in order to do it, Buffalo, Tampa, Washington, and Winnipeg, who they sit only 3 points behind. It's a tight race.

Gustavsson failing to stop Erik Cole's wide open shot in the first period. Cole scored his 23rd goal of the season on this one.

One thing Carlyle needs to improve first is the play of Toronto's defense, and their recent shaky goaltending. The first few minutes looked like a complete joke last night, not only did Gustavsson slip all on his own against the boards, he tipped the puck right in front of his open net! Had to have been the biggest clown moment of the year, I thought I was already watching SNL at 7:30 or so. If defenceman like Schenn flub their passes, and Gustavsson continues to misplay the puck, or keep falling over, Toronto, as Bob Cole once said, “won't last three games!” (in the playoffs, of course if they make it)

Speaking of Buffalo a minute ago, Vancouver sure looked like a joke in the first period last night, especially for the best team in the league right now. Toronto has to play Buffalo twice more before the end of the season, so they'll have to deal with Ville Leino, of course if he's still scoring like that in a month.

Grabovski scored two goals last night, joining Lupul and Kessel  this season at the 20-goal mark. Clarke MacArthur is next up to potentially reach the mark, currently sitting at 19 goals.

Time for a trade?

Leafs celebrating Wednesday night's win over the Oilers in OT

After looking at a Toronto Star poll showing that 81% of fans think the Leafs need to make a trade before the deadline; I remembered how big of a question this is. Usually, I’m not someone who likes trades in February, taking a player who’s been around all season, and exchanging him for someone new and unfamiliar to the team’s chemistry.

But of course, Toronto has only one victory in their last five, and is only one point ahead of Washington for 8^th place, and only two points ahead of 10^th place Winnipeg. This is pressure time, and not trading could mean a continued slide for the Maple Leafs, and ultimately not making the playoffs for the seventh season in a row. With that, after hearing the Mikhail Grabovski trade rumors, I think it’s absolutely a bad idea to get rid of Grabovski. He’s #3 this season in goal-scoring for Toronto, and even though he would be a free agent this summer, it’s hard to replace him now with that playoff spot looming in the distance. Who says you can't re-sign him anyway?

Kulemin, the Leaf's active leader in games played for Toronto. He has 5 goals and 18 assists on the season.

As hard as it is for me to say, I think if any Leaf HAS TO get traded, it should be Nikolai Kulemin. There are only 3 players left on the Leafs roster from fall 2008, Grabovski, Schenn, and Kulemin; all of whom have spent their entire tenure under head coach Ron Wilson. (Fun fact, Kulemin leads active Leafs in games played, with 291) From what I’ve seen recently, Kulemin hasn’t been making the biggest impact, especially compared to last season. Whereas Kulemin had 30 goals last season, he currently sits at 5 for this season. And with the Leafs’ season 70% done, Kulemin would have 7 goals if he continues his pace until April. A drop of 23 goals? Now that’s something to be concerned about.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Kulemin has been essential to Toronto in the post-Sundin era, and one of the few who has actually stuck around. He is a very clean player, and still manages to score some good goals, and set up some too. (He also one of my favorite Leafs)But with what could be considered underperforming, if anyone’s getting the boot, Kulemin should be the one to go. That being said, I would rather just see everyone step up their game and surge towards a playoff spot, therefore there wouldn’t be inevitable trade talk…Let’s see how the Leafs fair against the Canucks…