Recipe for Leaf Success in the Burke Era

(Photo By Dave Sandford/Getty Images)

A player that can change the course of the game on  his own, and will try to do so, if his team is losing. Again, the great teams almost all have inspiring, Captains, Yzerman, Stevens, Messier, superb individual players certainly, but their ability to motivate and lift others to a higher level was legendary. Maybe at this exact moment there is no real Captain on the Leafs, but as soon as it is appropriate I think Burke should appoint one.

Attack Hockey

With a nod in tribute to the superb defensive first squads that New Jersey has iced, I want to cast my vote for the Leafs to play up tempo, attack hockey—a la this year's Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, or Washington. I believe that to win it all a team must consistently out shoot their opponents. Now this may seem like the most obvious point I could make, however, the Leafs have rarely understood this simple yet essential concept.

 How many nights during our so called glory years at the beginning of new millennium did I watch Joseph and then Belfour stand on their proverbial heads and some how pull a win out for the Leafs—with little to no help from their lethargic team mates. This ridiculous over reliance on the goalie has been going on for a long time, I think it really took root in the 67 Cup run when Bower and Sawchuck basically won the Cup for the Leafs.

To make matters worse, combined with this goalie fixation, the Leafs somehow have in their DNA that they have to have lots of so called veterans, character players (old slow guys)—this is definitely something that Punch Imlach really started- the veteran fixation. And of course these old guys( see 1967 Leafs) although they don't do much during the regular season will help the team sneak into the playoffs and then a a miracle will occur and they will win the Cup (see 1967 Leafs again). Wild concept—worked once really well, and never has again!

I sure hope that type of thinking  has vanished forever from Leafland. What I do know is great hockey teams attack, and they keep the puck in the opposititon's end, and as any true hockey buff will tell you , constant pressure, lots of quality shots,  that's the way to win hockey games.

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