The Good
- The college free agents do not appear to be a bust but are still a ways off from being regular NHL players. The closest appears to be Tyler Bozak has great hands and vision on the ice.
- The gamble to sign Jonas Gustavsson looks to have paid off and he may become a number 1 goalie over the next 2 seasons. The rookie goalie had a lot to contend with and showed a lot of grit.
- The Dion Phaneuf trade was a winner from day 1. Spare parts were moved for a young solid defenseman. Phaneuf may be overpaid but he is a physical presence, has a great shot and a leader - all things the Leafs desperately need.
- John Ferguson actually drafted some decent players. Swedish players Carl Gunnarsson (7th round, 2007) and Viktor Stalberg (6th round, 2006) showed great skill and will be Leafs for many years in the future. Nikolai Kulemin (2nd round, 2006) blossomed into a solid two-way player.
- Although he faded in the latter part of the season, for much of the season Tomas Kaberle was the solitary star on this rebuilding team. He was their leading scorer until March and generated much of their offense. Many believe he has played his last game as a Leaf but if no one offers Burke a 1st round draft pick then he will be back.
- Brian Burke was able to unload to bad contracts in Vesa Toskala and Jason Blake, two contracts I thought would be impossible to move.
- Burke gambled that Vesa Toskala would bounce back and be able to return as their number 1 goalie. The warning sign was the last preseason game when the light-scoring Sabres lit him up for 7 goals. That display of poor judgment killed their season. By the time he was able to replace Toskala the Leafs had dug themselves into such a deep hole they couldn't climb out of 29th place.
- The signings of Mike Komisarek and Francois Beauchemin was supposed to solidify the Leaf blueline. They did not. Both players has poor seasons and Komisarek turned out to be damaged goods and ended his season with surgery.
- Burke's signature trade and one that may yet define his tenure in Toronto is the deal that brought over Phil Kessel. He was so desperate for a player with a scoring touch that he grossly overpaid by sending Boston 2 first round picks and 1 second round pick. He miscalculated thinking he had sent the Bruins 2 middle round picks. He will never admit it but he would love to reverse that deal. He will need to come up with a few more Phaneuf and Giguere deals to make up for this one.
- To me Ron Wilson was a little bit of a disappointment. At times he was able to get a great effort out of his weak lineup and other times they seemed like the same disinterested team of past seasons. But did he really get the most out of his players? Lee Stempniak scored 14 goals in 62 games with the Leafs and then 14 more in just 18 games with the Coyotes. So why couldn't Wilson get that type of production out of Stempniak?
- I was never impressed by Mikhail Grabovski even though he scored 20 goals last season. So I was shocked when he was signed for 3 years at $8.7 million. He plays a similar game as Jason Blake. I predict he will be moved in the future and there is no chance the Leafs will re-acquire the 2nd round draft pick they gave up for him.
- Special teams were abysmal. They were 30th on the powerplay and 30th killing penalties. Bad goaltending was a large contributor to the weak penalty kill. But there is a lot of finger pointing when it comes to the anemic powerplay. The powerplay works the puck around the perimeter and no one wants to stand in the slot. Their go to guy, Kessel, stands along the boards and takes bad angle shots.
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