Leafs turning a corner, a few players at a time.

By Paul Bruno

It’s time to point fingers. A 1-7-2 record after 10 games is not what Brian Burke and Leaf fans expected out of this crew.

Some Leafs are playing well.

 Others are looking lost.

At least we can finally highlight a number of players in the first category, so let’s start there. 

In goal, Jonas Gustavsson, has played well enough to validate all the off-season hype around him. He has shown great skills and will only get better as he gets more familiar with the North American game.

Ian White has established himself as an intelligent defenseman who is equally adept in offensive and defensive zone responsibilities. This guy just works hard and, for the most part, does many good things on the ice.

Tomas Kaberle is looking more like the effective puckmover and power-play anchor that he has been through much of his career.

Offensively, Lee Stempniak is working hard and getting himself into good scoring lanes, pouring lots of shots on goal. If he keeps that up, he is going to put up some good numbers.

Matt Stajan is showing a knack for good passing skills, arranging numerous scoring chances down low in the offensive end. Phil Kessel is expected to make his Leaf debut and may well start with Stajan as his centerman.

Alexei Ponikarovsky has shown a great willingness to bang with defensemen to gain space in front of opposing goalies.

Niklas Hagman received an early wake-up call, when he was help out of a game, due to his indifferent play. He has responded with a more determined effort and scored a hat trick in the club’s lone win.

That’s the positive side of the puck.

On the flip side, the Leafs have to be concerned with the play of Francois Beauchemin, who looks out of position in the defensive end and has been unimpressive on the attack. He needs to find a comfort level.

Mike Komisarek started the season by running around and trying to do too many things and accomplishing too few.

Luke Schenn has seen his playing time cut down to about 11 minutes over the last three weeks because he looks out of shape an unable to deliver the spirited effort that marked his impressive rookie season. He seems to have worked his way into coach Ron Wilson’s doghouse and will have to work his way out of it.

Jason Blake had not used his speed to his advantage until finally freewheeling in last night’s effort in Dallas, where he scored three assists. He can move out of this list with more efforts like this.

Mikhail Grabovski is playing around the fringes and looking like the fourth-line centre that he was in Montreal as opposed to the impressive and exciting forward that he was in his Leaf debut last season. 

Viktor Stalberg, the star of the Leaf pre-season, has one assist and has found the regular season to be tougher sledding. It seems he lost a bit of will and confidence after receiving a big hit from Ottawa’s Anton Volchenkov.

The rest of the lineup falls into a nondescript middle category in terms of a grading at this point.

Team success will be based on more players making real contributions rather than being passengers. That appears to be the problem in Leafland right now.

At least they can look at three points in three games on this road trip as a first building block on the road to salvaging this season, following that ugly start.

Tags: francois beauchemin, jonas gustavsson, Luke Schenn, Matt Stajan, Mike Komisarek, Toronto Maple Leafs