[BE-LEAF-ABLE]

Well, it's the 1/4 mark of the season now, so it's time to see your evaulations of the team and discuss what been going right so far this season for the Leafs, what may be going wrong. It's about expectations and what players are a surprise, which ones are a disappointment, what changes need to be made, and whether or not the team has been satisfying to watch this year.

What about entertainment value?

First thing's first though - the Report Cards. You may grade the team's players individually if you wish, and give a discription of how the team is on a whole in different situations, and maybe a little bit on a player here and there and why you're grading them higher or lower.

Grade the Leafs:

Nik Antropov = A
Jean-Sebastien Aubin = B-
Bates Battaglia = B+
Wade Belak = D- (defence) / D (offence)
Brendan Bell = B+
Hal Gill = B
Jay Harrison = D??? (5 Games played before being a healthy scratch)
Tomas Kaberle = A
Chad Kilger = B
Pavel Kubina = A??? (For now, only played in 4)
Bryan McCabe = C
Jeff O'Neill = B+
Ben Ondrus = D??? (4 Games played before being a healthy scratch)
Michael Peca = B
John Pohl = C-
Alexei Ponikarovsky = A
Andrew Raycroft = A
Matt Stajan = B+
Alexander Steen = C
Alexander Suglobov = C-??? (6 Games played before being a healthy scratch)
Mats Sundin = A
Darcy Tucker = A
Kyle Wellwood = B+
Ian White = B
Andy Wozniewski = B??? (For now, only played 3 games before injury)

Offence: B-
Defence: B
Goaltending: B+
Coaching: B+



Your summary: Overall, as impressive as I think the year has been for the Leafs so far, there's still clearly too much to work on before they could be deemed one of the leagues "elite".

They've definitely gotten the goaltending so far, but defencively they are still making a lot of mistakes. It's true that there is much less work for Andrew Raycroft and Jean-Seastien Aubin to do than there was for Curtis Joseph and Ed Belfour when they were in Toronto, but is it enough to help the team go deep in the playoffs, or at least finish high in the standings at the end of the season (preferably home-ice)?

When it comes to coaching, Paul Maurice has been a definite improvement over Pat Quinn in my opinion, and the work ethic the team shows on the ice is enough proof of it.

Some players on the team continue to struggle when it comes to offence but if they can get going soon, the team will be taking their play to a whole new level.

Your thoughts?

 

[Amanda]

I picked Good. They aren't anything special though , that have definitly improved since last year but havent done anything to really make me think WOW they are really good this year. And now with Kubina back and when Sundin's injury is healed they will be even better then they were before in my opinion. But my overall grade for the leafs would be a B-.

 

[KirshSritharan]

I picked Great because they exceeded my expectations made after this long.

 

[BE-LEAF-ABLE]

Well, I have to cash in here too.

I chose "Impressive. I knew they would be good, but not this good".

Overall Grade: B

Even though I knew they would be much closer to making the playoffs this year than last year, they are still surpassing my expectations. If they can get stay healthy and have Mats Sundin at the same time, they should continue to wreak havok around the league, and keep catching teams that don't expect the work ethic that they have developed, off guard.

They are playing almost to the best they can witthe tma they have now, but not all cylinders are firing. If Steen finally gets going, and Jeff O'Neill steps things up just a tad more, then I'd be giving them an A-.

PM is also making a few questionable calls here and there, but overall he hasn't hurt.