Toronto Maple Leafs: A New Era?

One of the questions on every ones mind is, "Will Phil Kessel save the franchise?" Much has been made of this offseason signing, right from the time the deal was done.

The first reaction was, "Woooo hooo, we got Phil Kessel, plan the Parade route!" Then a couple of days later, the drugs wore off and people realized the cost and the reaction changed.

Now having realized, the cost, we were all still excited and yet a little tentative as well, "Well it won't matter," we told ourselves. "We'll make the playoffs and Boston won't get nothin'."  So far, the Boston Bruins' GM, Peter Chiarelli, is looking pretty good.

While it would be very easy to fall into the same line of stupidity that we are hearing all over the media when regarding the Maple Leafs , I don't want to.

I'm not going to sit here and tell you that the Leafs are screwed, that the season is over, that they don't have any skill, that they are collectively nothing more than a bunch of third and fourth liners on any other team because let's face it, that's all we hear from anyone else. Besides, I disagree.

The fact of the matter is, there are a number of teams who, as of this moment, are very good teams but are two, maybe three, injuries away from being worse than the Leafs.

The Penguins and Capitals are prime examples.

One of several things that supposed fans of the Leafs seem to have forgotten is that this is supposed to be a re-building team, and I, for one, am excited to know that there is some kind of plan in place.

Kessel wasn't signed to save the team this season. He was signed to help guide the team toward a brighter future.

As of today, the Leafs have collected points in each of the last five games, their goal tending seems to be sorting it self out, the players are staring to learn how to play with each other, and now, Kessel is playing.

Kessel is not the only skilled player on the team despite what the mainstream media would have us believe. Stajan , Hagman , Ponikarovski , Stepniak , Grabovski , Blake, and Kulemin have all shown that they have skill, we've all seen it.

And, for the first time in a long time, there is some un-tapped skill waiting in the wings.

Of note though, both Stalberg and Mitchell have been struggling a great deal to find any kind of scoring touch.

While we all saw the kind of skill possessed by Stalberg in the preseason. Mitchell simply hasn't been effective since the departure of Dominic Moore .

While I'm not a big fan of his style (I wasn't a fan of Haseks either),  Jonas Gustavsson seems to be rounding into form as the Leafs No. 1 goalie. Which will suit Toskala well, because even though the Leafs signed him as their No. 1, he has always played better as a backup.

The long and the short of it is, despite an obvious rough start, this team is rounding into form. The pieces are staring to fit a little better and the future is looking a little better for my favorite team!