Examining the Toronto Maple Leafs for the 2010/11 season
The Toronto Maple Leafs have undergone one of the most extensive revamps in the NHL since last year and are shaping up to be real playoff contenders. As the preseason starts on Tuesday, the pressure is on the Leafs to tweak out any bugs and get their game
in order. It is high time for the rookies to prove themselves and all eyes are fixed on the talented Nazem Kadri.
The NHL is a like a bobby trapped, Minotaur dwelling of a labyrinth for talented new comers who get carried away with trying to score and ignore defence. Nazem Kadri faces the same pitfall. At least Kadri recognizes the nature of the task that lies ahead
of him. In a practice session for the Maple Leafs, the rookie struggled to keep up with defensive play. Kadri would potentially play the centre line and for that he must learn a whole new style of hockey than what he is used to.
“He was allowed to do a lot of things [in junior],” Coach Ron Wilson noted. “You find the better junior players often times don't quite understand the game defensively, it hasn't been hammered into them.” On the NHL level the game they are used to playing
in the juniors just won’t hold up. Wilson further said that centres have to learn to play without the puck. “We'll just see how he develops.”
Centres are generally big and heavy guys but Wilson’s thoughts on the centre would have Tyler Bozak, Mikhail Grabovski and Nazem Kadri make the first 3 lines. “I thought Montreal wasn't very big up the middle, and they got to the conference final,” Wilson
argued. He said that as long as the centre line plays hard, their physical stature wouldn’t matter. Another matter that would have Wilson concerned could be the relative inexperience of Toronto’s centres.
Despite being inexperienced, Mikhail Grabovski was impressive at Saturday’s training camp. Wilson said that Mikhail wasn’t pleased with how the previous season had turned out for him and was determined to leave his mark on the game this season with some
25 goals and 60 something points. “And he can do it,” Wilson added. “If he’s as focused as he is now, that’s good for us and great for him.”
How would Wilson’s designs for the centre line fare on the ice would become slightly clearer as the Maples Leafs face off against the Ottawa Senators. Wilson would be closely watching that game and picking up clues from it to prepare for the regular season
and Kadri would be pressed to prove himself. Kadri doesn’t have unreasonable expectations of his own performance. Sounding a bit defensive after Maple Leaf practice, Kadri said; “I don’t think anyone should expect me to dominate right off the start and just
control the puck like I’ve been in the league four or five years.”
Kadri said that he was still young and learning from the veterans in the squad. He said that the important thing was to continuously get better. The Leafs would be patient with Kadri and give him the time he needs to develop his skills but only if Kadri
can show maturity. Tuesday would be his first test.
Tuesday would also be the first time that General Manager Brian Burke’s latest toy, Kris Versteeg, would play for the Maple Leafs. The former Blackhawk went for 20 goals and 24 assists in Chicago’s Stanley Cup winning season and Ron Wilson would want to
see more of what makes Kris an amazing forward. After the Leafs’ first scrimmage where Versteeg scored twice, Coach Wilson jokingly calculated an estimated 164 goals for Versteeg a season. Though not quite as outlandish as that, the Leafs and their coach are
leaning heavily on Versteeg to turn around Toronto’s low scoring history. “I wouldn't necessarily be heaping that kind of pressure on any individuals, but picking up someone like Kris is huge,” Wilson said.
Overall, the Leaf’s coach is confident that the new roster would deliver a better performance than what the Leafs were able to manage last season. How much of an improvement that would be cannot be known yet.
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