Everybody Just Relax
Posted 4:45 PM ET | Comments 0
Okay so there seems to be a general panic in Leafs' Nation. From what I understand, this has been cause by the Leafs' inability to acquire a first line centreman. With the likes of Brad Richards and Steven Stamkos no longer available, the monkey working the big red panic button now has to work overtime. But what is Toronto didn't NEED a top line centreman? It now seems more and more likely that it will be centre-by-committee this year for Wilson's squad. And frankly, I don't see anything wrong with that.
Over the last month or so, Burke and his team have been hard at work injury-proofing the depth chart by signing and trading for Lombardi, Connolly, and Franson. The Leafs now have a plethora of what seem to be second-line centres and I am completely OKAY with that. I can think of a couple other teams where this is true, with the most successful of which being, of course, the Boston Bruins. Even though Krejci is turning out to be their number one centre, last year he had flashes of that, who really is the NUMBER ONE centre on that team. That argument can go on forever.
Down the middle right now for the Leafs we have Connolly, Lombardi, Grabovski, Bozak, and possibly Kadri. Not having a first line last year worked to the Leafs advantage because teams didn't know which line to put their top d-line out against. If you put them out against Grabo's line, Kessel's line would do the scoring, and vise versa. Think about it this way, you can't leave Chara on the ice for 45 minutes, can you?
With plenty of depth and scoring ability all around now, I can rest easy knowing that if one line is in a slump this year, TWO other lines can pick up the slack and cause nothing but problems for opposing defenseman. So relax Leaf Nation, the group that Burke and his team has put together will have no problem putting the puck in the net.
Over the last month or so, Burke and his team have been hard at work injury-proofing the depth chart by signing and trading for Lombardi, Connolly, and Franson. The Leafs now have a plethora of what seem to be second-line centres and I am completely OKAY with that. I can think of a couple other teams where this is true, with the most successful of which being, of course, the Boston Bruins. Even though Krejci is turning out to be their number one centre, last year he had flashes of that, who really is the NUMBER ONE centre on that team. That argument can go on forever.
Down the middle right now for the Leafs we have Connolly, Lombardi, Grabovski, Bozak, and possibly Kadri. Not having a first line last year worked to the Leafs advantage because teams didn't know which line to put their top d-line out against. If you put them out against Grabo's line, Kessel's line would do the scoring, and vise versa. Think about it this way, you can't leave Chara on the ice for 45 minutes, can you?
With plenty of depth and scoring ability all around now, I can rest easy knowing that if one line is in a slump this year, TWO other lines can pick up the slack and cause nothing but problems for opposing defenseman. So relax Leaf Nation, the group that Burke and his team has put together will have no problem putting the puck in the net.