GP W L OT PTS GF GA
19 11 5 3 25 69 62
The leafs currently sit 4th in the Eastern Conference. Since the last posting, the Leafs have went from a -7 to a +7 in the goals for/against category. This stat is very telling as to why the Leafs have since won 6 of their last 7. The defense has truly stepped up on both sides of the puck. The most remarkable of which is the play of both
Gill and
White. Their consistency over this stretch has been remarkable, as well as the improvement made by forwards working hard to assist the Leaf D. It was clear this tandem was struggling to find their way, and I believe it is with the improved play of
Ian White that this success has been able to manifest itself. Due to the fact that
White shoulders the majority of the puck handling duties for this duo, his increased confidence, or outside pressures from
Kubina making his return have enabled him to do so in a calmer more affective way. This allows
Gill to put more focus on his strengths which are his defensive zone coverage, and do so without being surprised by turnovers, or being forced to move the puck out and up the ice. Maybe this paring will stick.
McCabe has been finding his way offensively but has still struggled defensively.
McCabe is still prone to making simple errors on the D end that have potential to blow up in the teams face. These mistakes range from poor outlet passing, inability to withstand puck control when being pressured through opposing dump-ins, and most importantly his defensive zone coverage. This play has forced
Maurice to shift the lines somewhat and we have seen
McCabe/
Belak and
Bell/
Kaberle at times during 5 on 5 play. This shift has somewhat awoken
McCabe as he has been far more aggressive in the Defensive end, as a result it has also provided
Belak with many more positive minuets, as he has been more aggressive and confident in taking out opponents (ie. Afiniganov) and improved on what has to be his best asset, his defensive zone coverage. As for
Bell/
Kaberle, I really don’t need to speak on
Kaberle as he has been the Leafs best defensemen since his first OT winner vs. Montréal in his first NHL season.
Bell has been off the radar, which is something that is important as the 5th/6th defensemen. This means his play has been for the most part mistake free, lets hope this continues as he is not as far along as
White in experience yet, but if he continues to play as he has, the experience and confidence will grow and we will be able to see Bell build off of his mistake free, excellent puck carrying abilities and do the things that have gotten him to the NHL.
As mentioned,
Kubina will be making his return this week. This guy is fun to watch out there and in his first 3 games I was very impressed at the size of this guy, not to mention his mobility. At a plus 3 in 3 games, I believe this is a telling stat as to what to expect from Kubes. His hands and puck skills are tremendous; it complements the Leafs coming from one of the big men on D. This is an asset that has been waiting in the wings will improve the Leafs, how much so will be determined on where he is used. Eventually pushing
McCabe out of the top two D is where I see
Kubina going, right along side his countryman
Kaberle. Presently, he will be slowly worked back into the lineup and more then likely start out with
Bell. With 2 gifted players like this, they may play so well that it is impossible to pull them apart. Regardless of who he plays with, this guy will be a tremendous lift to this organization that will only benefit from his enthusiasm, experience, size, skill and most importantly his peskiness. Adding one more figure that other teams cannot stand playing against (
Tucker,
Peca), makes this Leafs squad one of the greatest I have seen.
Antropov, in 8 games, he has racked up 4 goals, 2 assists, and is a Plus 6. As a fan of his since the Draft, watching him excel this way is a truly amazing thing. His shot has to be his biggest improvement as that “laser” he scored vs. Montréal was reminiscent of his goal last year vs. Ottawa in the Leafs last Saturday Night game of the season. This kid is not good but great. Remaining healthy will obviously be key and should be easier as the game has lightened up, and he remains of the pk because of its strain on his knees, his clear physical strength and size increase, and most importantly his experience within himself and the game. At risk of this becoming an
Antropov site Ill force myself to stop writing about him, for now anyway. This guy is our Wild Card; the sky’s the limit for him in 2006/07.
Speaking of
Antropov, in the Leafs last game vs. Montréal, Big Papa
Pat Quinn (huge and maybe other only
Antropov supportor) made an appearance in the ACC crowd. They had his reaction on replay to the first and only Leaf goal against and it was his classic, shut eyes and look to the heavens for answers. It brought back some good memories as I know the man did and still does bleed BLUE and WHITE. For him it must have been bitter sweet watching that game and seeing all the talent he brought to the Leafs excel the way there are doing without him. Although
Maurice,
Killger,
Raycroft,
Peca,
Gill and
Kubina are great talents that were not brought in by
Quinn, his core is still here and a lot is owed to this man for putting the Leafs in position to be able to move forward with the youth in this organization. In can come as no surprise that this great hockey mind was born and raised in the capital of Leaf Nation, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
