Kyle Wellwood on the third line????
Posted 1:27 AM ET | Comments 0
The Leafs lost to the New Jersey Devils twice in 5 nights, as the Devils reclaimed the top seed in the Eastern division.
Kyle Wellwood logged 11:47 minutes of ice-time as he had ZERO goals ZERO assists ZERO shots on goal and ZERO points. Now it has come to my attention that he had been demoted to the third line playing with Moore and Ponikarovsky.
Last year he was playing on the top line with sundin and tucker (I believe) and was having a breakout year putting up 42 points (12-30) in 48 games before his injury. This year he has 16, count em' 16 points in 50 games (6-10).
Wellwood is an excellent player which apparently Maurice can't seem to tell. He reads the plays well, makes crosby-like passes when paired up with the proper linemates (I.E Sundin, Tucker). Wellwood is one of those exceptional playmakers in the league that can set up finishers like Sundin and Tucker. Last year he was on pace for 70 points.
There's no reason why Wellwood can't reproduce these numbers. In fact he should be surpassing them given the proper chance and motivated correctly. Now I know you're probably all saying his injury has slowed him down or changed him, but that's not an excuse at the NHL level.
Either Paul Maurice opens his eyes and puts him with the linemates he should have been playing with all season or the Leafs should fire Maurice. We cannot have a clumsy coach behind the bench. Especially this late in the season where the Leafs will have to basically win their last 12 games to have a shot at making the playoffs.
I believe that given the fair chance Wellwood could very well become one of the top playmakers in the league. Well that's what I think anyways.
Kyle Wellwood logged 11:47 minutes of ice-time as he had ZERO goals ZERO assists ZERO shots on goal and ZERO points. Now it has come to my attention that he had been demoted to the third line playing with Moore and Ponikarovsky.
Last year he was playing on the top line with sundin and tucker (I believe) and was having a breakout year putting up 42 points (12-30) in 48 games before his injury. This year he has 16, count em' 16 points in 50 games (6-10).
Wellwood is an excellent player which apparently Maurice can't seem to tell. He reads the plays well, makes crosby-like passes when paired up with the proper linemates (I.E Sundin, Tucker). Wellwood is one of those exceptional playmakers in the league that can set up finishers like Sundin and Tucker. Last year he was on pace for 70 points.
There's no reason why Wellwood can't reproduce these numbers. In fact he should be surpassing them given the proper chance and motivated correctly. Now I know you're probably all saying his injury has slowed him down or changed him, but that's not an excuse at the NHL level.
Either Paul Maurice opens his eyes and puts him with the linemates he should have been playing with all season or the Leafs should fire Maurice. We cannot have a clumsy coach behind the bench. Especially this late in the season where the Leafs will have to basically win their last 12 games to have a shot at making the playoffs.
I believe that given the fair chance Wellwood could very well become one of the top playmakers in the league. Well that's what I think anyways.