A ceiling to Leafs’ mediocrity

One day after their most recent disappointing loss, characterized by yet another (17th time this season) situation where the Leafs fall behind 2-0 in a game this season, some things are becoming very apparent.

Offensive inconsistency is a chronic issue with this club. Though they have a sniper like Phil Kessel, they have other forwards who establishing a reputation for getting lots of shots but not burying their chances.

Consider these stats:

Jason Blake has scored seven goals out of 121 shots, for a 5.8 scoring percentage.

Lee Stempniak has nine goals out of 112 shots for an 8.0 percentage.

Mikhail Grabovski has tallied seven times out of 82 attempts for an 8.5 per cent rate of success.

All these scoring percentages rank among the worst in the entire league, when considering the exploits of so-called ‘top-six’ forwards.

As scoring ability is the most prominent skill for this trio, they are all underperforming, though contributing to the Leafs league-high average shot totals per game.

Although the club didn’t give up a power play goal on this night, the Isles did score the winning goal as a Leaf penalty was expiring. That is a season-long issue that has also plagued this team as they are far and away the worst penalty-killing team in the league, with a pathetic 72.3% rate of success. The league average, for sake of comparison, is around 80 %. It’s also the second straight season that the Leafs are last in the league in this key area.

That is a clear indictment of a coaching staff which boasts three ex-NHLers who are known, in the case of Ron Wilson, as teachers of a disciplined style of play, or were known for their attention to defensive postures, in the case of ex-forward Tim Hunter and ex-defenseman Rob Zettler. Whatever their methods of trying to get the message through to this group of players, it isn’t working.

Finally, the mediocre goaltending of Vesa Toskala and Jonas Gustavsson has been characterized by two major flaws. They both have trouble with the concept of coming out of their crease areas to cut down angles and, particularly with respect to Toskala, a penchant for not keeping their sticks on the ice, allowing too many soft goals between the legs.

So, despite some recent flashes of success, they appear destined to bounce along the bottom of the league standings until they overturn at least two of these areas of chronic concern.

That is the current evaluation of a mediocre hockey team which unfortunately describes the existing state of our 2009-10 Toronto Maple Leafs.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to readers of www.frozenleafs.com

Tags: Jason Blake, jonas gustavsson, Lee Stempniak, Ron Wilson, Toronto Maple Leafs