What Will Wilson Do?
Posted 10:11 PM ET | Comments 5
The off-season moves made by the Leafs are puzzling to say the least. The strangest was the hiring of Ron Wilson as head coach. Wilson is a defense first, hard nosed, no nonsense coach. He will be able to install a system that the Leafs have needed for years.
Most of Leafs Nation would like to see the team finish last in order to get the top pick in the '09 draft, myself included. Ron Wilson is NOT a last place coach, and if the Leafs finish last then he will be the reason. He would be the reason because he would not be coaching to the best of his abilities, taking it easy if you will to allow the spiral down. He noted at his presser that the Leafs would be getting worse before the get better. What does that mean? Will he be lax in his first year to allow that to happen and risk losing control of the team and tarnishing his reputation? Or does he take what he has got and run with it?
As a Leafs fan who would like to rebuild through the draft, I have to admit the Leafs are not moving forward that way. If you look at the team now, with a few adjustments they are a team that can compete for a playoff spot which doesn't bode well for a draft style rebuild.
There is a lot of talk right now that Sundin could very well return to Toronto, and McCabe won't waive.....so you really have no choice but to go for it. I mean why finish 9th and pick 12-15 when you could make the playoffs and even with a first round exit you pick 16.
What would you do with the line up if Sundin comes back and McCabe won't waive? Leave me your thoughts and ideas.......mine
Kulemin - Sundin - McCabe**
Steen - Stajan - Tlusty
Hagman - Grabovski - Antropov
Mayers - Bell - Hollweg
Kaberle - Finger
Colaiacovo - Stralman
White - Kronwall (Schenn)
Toskala
Joseph
So what do we do with the excess of players Blake, Devereaux, Ponikarovsky, Kubina? I think Kubina will be moved, also think that Blake is unmovable due to his contract, so he may have to be a Marlie under my plan.
Most of Leafs Nation would like to see the team finish last in order to get the top pick in the '09 draft, myself included. Ron Wilson is NOT a last place coach, and if the Leafs finish last then he will be the reason. He would be the reason because he would not be coaching to the best of his abilities, taking it easy if you will to allow the spiral down. He noted at his presser that the Leafs would be getting worse before the get better. What does that mean? Will he be lax in his first year to allow that to happen and risk losing control of the team and tarnishing his reputation? Or does he take what he has got and run with it?
As a Leafs fan who would like to rebuild through the draft, I have to admit the Leafs are not moving forward that way. If you look at the team now, with a few adjustments they are a team that can compete for a playoff spot which doesn't bode well for a draft style rebuild.
There is a lot of talk right now that Sundin could very well return to Toronto, and McCabe won't waive.....so you really have no choice but to go for it. I mean why finish 9th and pick 12-15 when you could make the playoffs and even with a first round exit you pick 16.
What would you do with the line up if Sundin comes back and McCabe won't waive? Leave me your thoughts and ideas.......mine
Kulemin - Sundin - McCabe**
Steen - Stajan - Tlusty
Hagman - Grabovski - Antropov
Mayers - Bell - Hollweg
Kaberle - Finger
Colaiacovo - Stralman
White - Kronwall (Schenn)
Toskala
Joseph
So what do we do with the excess of players Blake, Devereaux, Ponikarovsky, Kubina? I think Kubina will be moved, also think that Blake is unmovable due to his contract, so he may have to be a Marlie under my plan.
Well, assuming Sundin comes back then, the first line would look like this;Poni - Sundin - AntropovBlake - Steen - HagmanGrabovski - Stajan - TlustyMayers - Bell - HollwegYou can probably sub Devereaux or Moore in Tlusty and/or Hollweg's spot. Cant see the need for Mayers, Bell and Hollweg all on the ice together at the same time all the time.If Mats is gone though, that changes things:Blake - Antropov - PoniHagman - Steen - GrabovskiMayers - Stajan - TlustyBell - Moore/Devereaux - HollwegD on the other hand, if Kubina stays, should look relatively the same. Finger replacing Woz, and Strallman probably getting a longer look in the big club.
What Ron Wilson meant is that the quality of the Leafs roster will be worse and that it will be bad for a while during the re-building process. In my opinion the current Leafs roster has too many holes to be a playoff team, especially if Sundin doesn't come back. I think it's obvious no one wants to finish 9th when they could finish 8th. Of course every team is going to try and push to make the playoffs. That's why the trade deadline is such a big deal. But don't you want the Leafs to re-build? They have tried to "go for it" for so many years and have traded away a lot of draft picks and prospects to do so. But unfortunately they haven't had much to show for it and missing the playoffs has become common place for them. I say they should forget about making the playoffs for a few years (they weren't good enough to make it anyway) and concentrate on rebuilding.
I'm really confused as to what the Leaf plans are. The fact they still want Sundin just makes it more confusing. 3 years of going for it got them the equivalent of an expansion team. Ice a bunch of youngsters and develop through the draft...not in Leaf Land...same old, same old...BTW...the Leafs won't make the playoffs this year, not a chance...
Im with you on the whole Wilson saga. I for one am confident that Ron will not go easy on his players. It's not in him to lay back. In his first full season as coach of the sharks, 2003-2004, Wilson took the 6th worst team in the league the previous year all the way to 2nd in the west. He accomplished such a feat with a 57 point leading scorer on offense, and a game stealing goalie in Nabakov. Now while I dont believe this team is capable of challenging for 2nd, I do see a lot of similarities between the 2 teams. They both had/have glaring holes on offense, they both had/have a goalie that can steal games, and they had/have Ron Wilson. With or without Sundin, those wishing for a tanking season will be extremely dissapointed.
The confusion is my point. Wilson is too good of a coach to finish last even with the team that he has. So if it is true that the Leafs want Mats back and he comes back then there is NO chance of the re-build. I would like nothing more than to re-build a proper team and have 10 years of exciting and competitive hockey ahead. But with the confusion it doesn't seem likely to happen :(