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Originally Posted by panoo
If it's deserved, that's what I do. This team does nothing to improve itself, and the Toronto fans just keep going to games for a team that hasn't done a thing for 2 full years, and this year doesn't seem to be going any better (so far anyway) I know it's early in the season, but it sure isn't looking to good.
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It's not what you do when you claim that the team is one of your favourites. I'm not a Leaf fan in any respect, but I can at least look at the situation objectively enough to realize that the Leafs have been a successful organization in the past, and that the past 2-3 seasons are a period of struggle that every team goes through at some point.
And what is wrong with Toronto fans going to watch a team that has not had success? I respect fans that are committed to a team through thick and thin. Maple Leaf fans may be hard headed and obnoxious sometimes, but they are arguably some of the most dedicated fans the NHL has. They may harp on their team and their organization, but they have a passion and a love for the game that is commendable, not something to be scorned.
Looking at the Maple Leafs lineup, I don't understand the problems that they are having. It seems to me that the Leafs organization has put together what should be a competitive hockey club. The defense has a mixture of speed and size, yet lacking on true defensive talent. Kubina has not panned out the way the organization expected, but was it a bad move when the Leafs signed him? I didn't think so at the time, because I viewed him as a good 2-way defenseman. You pair him with a solid defender like Kaberle, and things should work out. Unfortunately, things just haven't gone that way, and the McCabe signing just makes things worse, but also seemed necessary at the time.
The D looks bad on the ice, but on paper... things just don't make sense to me. Bad judgement? It would seem to be now, but at the time it seemed like the Leafs were setting up a solid defensive core to work around. So again, we can chalk it up to bad luck.
Colaiacovo was suppose to be a great up and coming defender, and if not for injury he would be. He is better defensively than White, and probably at par with him offensively, so he should be on the team, and he would have quite a bit of NHL experience by now if not for injury. Once more, bad luck, not bad judgement by the Leafs organization.
You look at the young forwards in the Leafs organization in Tlusty, Steen, Poni, Wellwood and Antropov and you start to wonder if the team just might find a way to be productive again. They bring in Blake to support Sundin, which is what many fans agreed was something that needed to happen, and they bring in a goaltender to challenge Raycroft for a starting position by getting Toskala, and bring in a young player in Bell at the same time. Then the Leafs organization is again hit with bad luck. Bell is handed a 15 game suspension for an incident almost a year old, and doesn't handle other cases such as Bouwmeester in the same manner. Bell is coming of a bad year, and I think he will rebound and be productive for the Leafs when he returns. And then Blake announces that he has leukemia, and if you think that isn't affecting his game at least marginally, you don't understand the concept of a life crisis. And now neither Raycroft or Toskala seem to be able to get on their game.
Last year was much the same. Tucker got injured for an extended period of time when he would have hit the 40 goal mark if he were able to play the entire time, Wellwood was out for a good while, and Carlo and Antropov missed extended time. Then they had Sundin out at the beginning of the season, and Kaberle out near the end. Bad luck, bad luck, bad luck.
You can go further and look at the competition that the Leafs have in their Division in Buffalo and Ottawa. These are teams that the Leafs have to play 8 times a year. Thats just plain silly, because these are the cream of the crop in the Eastern Conference. To expect a Leafs team to compete with BOTH those teams at the same time is just not going to happen, so the Leafs lose points right there. But why aren't you making comments about the poor play of the Habs? They are doing just as poorly as the Leafs. They missed the playoffs and did nothing to improve their team, rather they LOST key parts and got worse. So where is the condescending tone toward the Habs organization?
It's easy to tear apart an organization when its down and not doing well, but you have to look past the surface of the matter. This is an organization that has tried to be productive, but have failed. It doesn't mean you need to take whatever pot shot you can at them. I choose to marvel, and yes laugh sometimes, at the teams bad luck. But why rub it in the faces of the fans? It really doesn't accomplish anything. Besides, we're not even 10 games in, and to say the team is doomed to fail already is just ridiculous. Let us at least wait until the 25-30 game mark to decide that.