Friday, March 4, 2011

Don't Look Now, But...

The Toronto Maple Leafs are making their move towards the playoffs.  In the past, this would have been the time where I badmouth the Leafs for incompetency.  Not this year, though.  So, why the sudden change in heart?  Let's begin with last year on that fateful day of January 31.  The Leafs unloaded onto the Calgary Flames Matt Stajan, Jamal Mayers, Ian White, and Niklas Hagman and got in return Fredrik Sjostrom, Dion Phaneuf, and Keith Aulie.  Even before the offseason, people were already proclaiming the Leafs winners, and it was easy to see why.  Now, only Stajan and Hagman are still with the Flames, and neither one is prominently figuring into the team's recent push for the playoffs.  Meanwhile, while the Leafs haven't gotten what they wanted out of Phaneuf, who had missed some games due to injury, he is still a central figure in the team's long terms plans, as is Aulie, who was called up recently in the wake of the Francois Beauchemin trade last month.

Other trades that have given the Maple Leafs hope include the Tomas Kaberle trade to Boston and the aforementioned Beauchemin trade.  Also, the emergence of James Reimer in goal has boosted the team considerably, though there is caution to be taken, as it could end up like Felix Potvin, who you will remember as the goalie who backstopped Toronto to consecutive Conference Finals in 1993 and 1994 before a precipitous drop in production a couple of years later.  Phil Kessel is playing like Phil Kessel, but the real surprise is the breakthrough seasons of Nikolai Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovski.  The former looks like a 30 goal scorer who could easily hit 40 with a better team while the latter has been clutch this season, with at least three (from what I see) game-winning goals.  Leafs fans should be excited about this team, now and in the future, especially if they can get a productive player for their second or third line.

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