2009-2010 Toronto Maple Leafs Preview

There is no NHL franchise that is more valuable in terms of finances and more beloved by its fans than the Toronto Maple Leafs. There is also no NHL franchise that has been more poorly run in recent years or more consistently overrated by pundits. Toronto has begun to turn the page from the management perspective by hiring former Anaheim architect Brian Burke but the media glare in Canada’s biggest city means that this team is going to try to recover from a poor season in the brightest spotlight in the entire hockey world.

Looking Back at 2008-2009

Toronto had a ghastly season for one major reason: Their 293 goals allowed was by far the worst in the entire NHL! Despite their defensive inadequacies, the Leafs managed to finish with a 34-35-13 record but missed the playoffs for the 3 rd consecutive season.

The Offseason

Burke was active all summer on the job, starting with a deal that brought Garnet Exelby and Colin Stuart from Atlanta in return for the talented but expensive Pavel Kubina. Burke also upgraded their defense by acquiring Mike Komisarek and Francois Beauchemin. The other major transaction was the high-profile victory in the ‘Monster’ sweepstakes, as Toronto won Swedish goaltender Jonas Gustavsson’s signature after as many as a dozen teams battled for his rights.

But the longest and most drawn out saga of the summer was Toronto’s pursuit of scoring winger Phil Kessel from Boston. After a rumored deal fell through at the trade deadline, Toronto picked up the speedy young winger in mid-September in return for the high price of two first round draft picks.

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2009-2010 Outlook

The only downside to the Kessel deal is that the he won’t be able to play for a few months due to offseason shoulder surgery and the Leafs badly need his 36 goals in their lineup. Aside from Kessel, there is some solid talent like Jason Blake, Alex Ponikarovsky, Matt Stajan and Nik Hagman that should form two fairly strong lines but depth is an issue. This offense has some pieces but it won’t scare anyone until Kessel is back at 100%.

The good news is that the Leafs have a significantly better set of defensemen this year. Beauchemin and Komisarek are great additions to a unit which also boasts the two way talents of Tomas Kaberle and the enormous potential of sophomore Luke Schenn. Ian White, Jeff Finger and Exelby round out a solid group which should be vastly improved from a year ago.

In goal, there are some concerns despite inking Gustavsson. Vesa Toskala is still expected to enter the season as the starter and he needs to perform much better after struggling at times last year. An improved defensive front should help the Finnish netminder rebound this season and there is good depth available but the Leafs needs a top keeper to emerge.

PREDICTION: The Leafs are a much more talented team than last year and should fare much better this season under new coach Ron Wilson. However, the simple truth is that Toronto has an average offense until Kessel gets healthy and their goaltending is still a question mark. The defense should be much stronger this year but I think that the overly exuberant Toronto media has made this Leaf squad out to be a better group than they’re going to be. That means that there will be more discontent in Toronto because I think that they’ll finish last in the Northeast Division and miss the playoffs for the 4th consecutive season.

By Matt Baxendall
DFN Sports & ProHockey-fans.com Staff Writer

Feel your team is underrated? Tell Matt Baxendell why at matt.baxendell@gmail.com

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