J.S. Giguere: Why Is Toronto Maple Leafs Head Coach Ron Wilson Babying Him?

Mark RitterOct 22, 2010

Last night the Toronto Maple Leafs went head-to-head with the New York Rangers, a team that, while missing a few key pieces to their offense, is still a dangerous team.

The Maple Leafs played a spirited game, but as was the case when they lost to the New York Islanders earlier in the week, were unable to capitalize on numerous scoring chances, leading to a 2-1 loss and serving as a reminder that, as good as the early going has been for the Maple Leafs thus far, every game is going to be a battle.

One of the highlights of the Maple Leafs young season has been the play of veteran goaltender J.S. Giguere, who, after four starts, boasts an impressive 1.96 goals against average and a modest .911 save percentage.

Given Giguere’s steady play early on, the fact that the Leafs were well rested heading into their match with the Rangers and the confidence with which the Maple Leafs forwards seem to play in front of Giguere, I, like a lot of Maple Leafs fans, was a little shocked that Jonas Gustavsson got the nod as the starter on Thursday night instead of Giguere.

In Gustavsson’s defense, he too has been fairly solid thus far, but with Giguere playing as well as he has and given the fact that he was well rested, why in the heck did Wilson chose to start Gustavsson?

Now nobody is saying that Gustavsson had a bad outing against the Rangers, fact is Gustavsson had a solid outing, stopping 30 of 32 shots for a save percentage of .938.

That said, with the team losing it’s previous game and knowing that the Rangers were bound to play a spirited game against the Maple Leafs, it just seemed a little shortsighted to start Gustavsson.

In order for the Maple Leafs to capitalize on their early wins the team will have to continue to put up wins. With that in mind, one would think that Wilson would give the team the best chance for a win, which, in my mind, means starting Giguere.

With points at a premium and with the organization and players in need of a boast in the confidence department it says here you need to give the team the best chance to win each and every night, which once again means starting Giguere whenever possible.

It’s understandable that Wilson wants to keep Giguere fresh, but in an era that most number one goalies start anywhere from 55-70 games a season, there was no reason to put Gustavsson between the pipes.

Going forward, the Maple Leafs play back-to-back games against the Ottawa Senators and Washington Capitals on October 2-3, followed by another back-to-back opportunity on October 9-10—this is when you should be looking to give your starter a rest, not on after two days' rest, and certainly not after how well Giguere played against the Islanders on Monday night.

Remember, despite the 2-1 loss against the Islanders, Giguere managed to stop 18 of 20 shots, and the overtime game-winner in overtime off the stick of John Tavares came with Giguere completely screened by Maple Leafs defenseman Francois Beauchemin.

In my mind, after a solid start and a solid game between the pipes against the Islanders you go right back to Giguere—especially in light of how the game ended.

Giguere deserved a better fate that night and, as such, each and every player was likely going to go through a wall for Giguere in an effort to ensure that didn’t happen again.

Wilson needs to show better confidence in Giguere, let him get on a roll and stick with his number one guy.

Ousting him this early sends the wrong message and, in my mind, despite a strong effort from Gustavsson, was the wrong move.