Toronto Through Two: Maple Leafs Look Terrible, Why All The Shock?

Written By: Mark "The Hard Hitter" Ritter

So, through two games the Toronto Maple Leafs are ranked 26th overall in goals against per game. Where did the Leafs finish in that category in 2008-09? 27th...

With that in mind, why all the hoop-la about the Leafs defense, or lack-thereof? Sure the Leafs did add defenseman Mike Komisarek to the mix, who coincidentally has spent about as much time in the penalty box (17 minutes) as he has on the ice (45:34).

The Leafs also added defenseman Garnett Exelby, who has played all of 12 shifts thus far and they also added veteran defenseman Francois Beauchemin, who has looked slow and owns a team leading -4 rating after two games.

The point is, in order for the Leafs defense to improve, it will have to come from the new additions and, thus far, none of the new additions have been an improvement on last season’s crew.

Up front, the Leafs continue to be a legitimate threat. Currently, with an average of 3.50 goals, the Leafs are ranked 11th overall in goals per game. The 2008-09 season saw the Leafs finish 10th overall in that department.

So, nothing for nothing, it’s status quo for head coach Ron Wilson and his Toronto Maple Leafs, lot’s of “O” and, on the back end, lot’s of “Oh, no”....

Now, two games does not make a season and I suspect the Leafs will make considerable improvement over 2008-09, but Leafs fans need to understand that change/improvement is going to take time, we’re talking 20 games here.

Every Leaf fan from coast to coast is ready throw goaltender Vesa Toskala under the bus. Yeah, two games into the season, with a defense corps that has struggled in front of him, you want to throw Toskala to the fishes? Give your collected heads a shake!

To be fair, if Ron Wilson elects to go with Jonas “The Monster” Gustavsson on Tuesday night against the Ottawa Senators then so be it. Who am I to argue? In fact, from the outside looking in, having just come back from offseason surgery, it would seem as if Toskala is not yet ready to assume the starting role.

That does not mean Toskala should be forgotten or thrown under the bus for that matter. Fact is, Toskala needs to be handled with kid gloves, or, in another words, with a little patience.

Give it some time Leaf fans. As the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day. ”Patience”, my friends, “Patience”....

Until next time,

Peace!