Toronto Maple Leafs: Who to Blame for Horrendous Penalty Kill?

In an effort to save time and unnecessary headaches, referees should flip a coin each time the Toronto Maple Leafs take a penalty. If it's heads, the opposing team gets awarded a goal; tails, they go on the power play.

In the 2010-11 season, the Leafs' penalty killing unit operated at 77.4 percent efficiency, good for 28th in the league.

Astonishingly, the Leafs are doing worse on the penalty kill this year, clicking at just 74.3 percent, which is 29th in the league.

These Leafs are a confusing bunch.

They're currently second in the league on the power play. They have the second- and third-leading point-getters in the NHL. They have one of the deepest defensive corps in the league, not to mention one of the deeper prospect pools as well.

On the flip side, they can't seem to win against good teams that are on top of their game. Their best scorers aren't scoring that much, their good-on-paper defense corps is porous and their young players aren't helping out too much.

The most confusing thing with regard to the Leafs' PK is that it was supposed to be much better this year, not because Leaf fans say that every year, but because the roster has dramatically changed since last fall.

The Leafs have a number of good penalty killers, at least on paper.

Guys like David Steckel and Tyler Bozak are good on draws, but even their faceoff prowess hasn't helped much in terms of killing penalties.

Other guys like Mike Komisarek, Philippe Dupuis and Mike Brown are great at blocking shots, but Dupuis is currently the only healthy one of the three.

Let's not forget the shake-up behind the bench.

Assistant coaches Tim Hunter and Keith Acton were canned back in June in favour of Scott Gordon and Greg Cronin.

Things were looking up at first: the penalty killers looked aggressive, they didn't allow easy zone entry, they took away passing and shooting lanes, they pinched effectively and did good work along the boards.

The good times of October, and to a lesser extent November, are but a fading memory here in December.

Despite the dramatic coaching and roster changes over the past year, the penalty killing unit hasn't seemed to change one bit.

Still skating to where the puck was. Still losing just about every puck battle. Still lacking vision and awareness.

It's tough to pin this on Greg Cronin, the assistant coach who handles the PK for the Leafs. Leafs GM Brian Burke clearly saw a change was needed in that department and Ron Wilson sure didn't bring Cronin in because he was a slouch.

The blame should fall on the players.

Yes, goalie James Reimer is a bit rusty coming off his injury, but he is not getting the support he needs.

Right now, the effort simply isn't there.

Players don't just need to be held accountable by their coaches and fans, they need to hold each other and themselves accountable.