I'm sitting in my room, watching some old youtube videos of the Leafs playoff runs from years ago. Yea, go ahead and laugh. I haven't watched playoff hockey since I was in Junior High - just to put that in perspective - I am now in year three of my post secondary education. I feel like a young kid excited and ready for Christmas, except my Christmas is opening day.
My expectations for the Leafs are high this year. Can they miss the playoffs? Of course they can and there is a good chance that happens. With that being said, the Leafs also have a good chance of breaking 7th or 8th spot in the East. This is easily the deepest Leafs team since the 03-04 team led by such names as Ed Belfour, Mats Sundin, Gary Roberts, Darcy Tucker and many other great Leafs. This teams failure will come down to one person, and one person only - Ron Wilson.
Ron Wilson has been give three different rosters to work with in his time as Leafs bench boss. Three things have remained consistent over that time: Bad PP, Bad PK and no playoff berths. If the Leafs struggle early, Wilson should be fired immediately and replaced by Scott Gordon for the rest of the year. Dallas Eakins should be interviewed at the end of the season and be made full time coach starting next year.
Of course, that is our worst case scenario.
The biggest key for the Leafs this year is a strong start. By Christmas the past three seasons, the Leafs have had no more than 14 wins. That is a huge problem. The Leafs play 11 games in October, and anything less than a 5-5-1 record will be troubling.
Many questions will begin to be answered Thursday. Is Reimer the real deal? Will the Grabovski line repeat its dominance from last year? Will Kessel continue to score at an elite pace, despite the lack of playmakers around him?
Is it Thursday yet?
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