Well, the Leafs have surpassed even my expectations and have lost their first 8 games of the season, going 0-7-1*. It’s the worst start in franchise history and the team looks totally lost on the ice. They’re tied for second last in the league with 14 goals score and have allowed 32, worst in the NHL. Their goaltending has been a horror show even when healthy, and now they’re down to their 3rd and 4th string goalies. Pity poor Jonas Gustavsson, the undrafted Swedish rookie who is soon to shoulder the load of being Toronto’s saviour in goal. The problems don’t stop there, though. Schenn is playing like a 19-year-old sophomore. Beauchemin has not looked good without a future hall-of-famer as his partner, and while Komisarek has tried to bring belligerence, pugnacity, etc, he’s found it difficult to do so from the penalty box. The Leafs forwards don’t even warrant mentioning. They’re an AHL-level group without Phil Kessel, another injured potential saviour. As I predicted before the season started, they fluked their way to 10th in scoring last season but they’ve come back to earth now/
Let it just be said that “small market” is not the only reason to suck in the NHL, and being one of the “original six” is meaningless any more. Where is the pride for Hockey Night any more??
I’ve nothing substantive to say about the topic at hand, but I do have to smile at the trend I’ve created vis-a-vis the ubiquity of these sorts of thread titles. At least I’ve done one thing right in my life, small though it may be.
The Leafs won’t go 0-82 but even I, as contemptuous of Leaf fans as anyone, am surprised that, well, anyone is surprised. On paper this is a terrible team, so why be surprised that it’s bad on the ice? Seriously, look at the roster. Where’s the talent? Their best player is probably Alexei Ponikarovsky (although nobody seems to acknowledge it in the Toronto media) and he’s a good player and all but when Alexei’s the best you have, you have a problem.
They cleared out a lot of the experienced talent to make room for youth, so, really, there just isn’t a whole lot here to work with. The only really big upside player is Phil Kessel and he’s hurt.
But will it hurt them at the ticket booth? Nah. The market here is SO underserved that you could eternally alienate two thirds of the hockey fans in the metro area and still sell out.
As a Flames fan who lives in Toronto (who also has an affinity for the Sens), the Leafs start has surpassed even my wildest dreams. It’s true that they don’t have a starting goaltender and their best player plays on the third line on a top NHL team but they haven’t just been losing, they aren’t even in most of these games. If Phoenix makes the playoffs and Toronto doesn’t, there will be some delicious irony in that considering how most people in this city don’t seem to think Phoenix deserves a team…although I grant you Toronto will still make more money this year.
THe best part? If they stink all year they don’t even get the benefit of the number one pick, BOSTON DOES!! This is gonna be a great season as there is nothing better than a panicky leafs fan on talk radio (except for the small fact that the Flames seem to forget to play hockey once they have a league).
Although I have zero first-hand knowledge, my gut is that even this horrendous performance won’t diminish attendance at Leaf games. This is, after all, the city that sold 8,000 tickets to a practice for an All-Star game.
Okay, a quick Google indicates that attendance hasn’t changed appreciably this year from last. Per the official site, for hockey the ACC has 18,800 seats (which must exclude the boxes, since the Leafs rarely, if ever, have a lower than 19,000 attendance).
Howard Ballard proved that the quality of hockey you put on the ice has very little to do with how many tickets you’ll sell in Toronto. The fans might be there for the other teams, or just to be at a hockey game, but they’ll be there.
I don’t want to talk about it. I’m looking at the 5 stages of grief and I’m a mix of denial and depression. Too sad to even get angry about it.
My Raptors mini-pack came in the mail today. 11 games…23 bucks a game. If they turn into shit, I’ll be in a drunken stupor for the rest of the season. The Jays and the Leafs already have me teetering and things could get real ugly.
In a recent article in the Toronto Star (i think it was Oct18th sunday edition) they had said that leaf tickets that are scalped are going for less than face value. The arena will always be filled but people won’t pay as much to get them. There will be a drop off in attendance, just wait and see.
I don’t think many people would go cheer for a team 0-10 or 0-20 which is possible for this gawdawful bunch put together by the overrated GM Brian Burke.
Here’s hoping the leafs stink it up some more for someone to panic and blow the whole team up. And I was born in Toronto and live in toronto. Like the above poster said, there is absolutely no talent in Toronto. Jason Blake is the biggest name they have that’s not currently injured in the forward position and Kaberle is the biggest name on defense. Luke Schenn the captain of the future is way overrated. Toskala gave up a long time ago and doesn’t care. We have a third string goalie playing at the moment, a porous defense, a lacklustre offence… seriously, it’s pathetic. They upgraded the defense because it was garbage last year and at the moment the defense is even worse. Penalty killing special teams garbage, can’t score with an open net (see this for a laugh http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiMX4Mufcmc), or even make any clutch saves. There is no leadership in the dressing room. I dont even think they named a new captain since Sundin’s departure.
in my opinion the leafs won’t win in october, i hope i’m wrong but they’re on the road for the next five games and being on the road won’t make the crappiness of the team get any better.
I wonder if the Leafs might one day feel the effects of a large immigrant population as well as the wide availability of the NHL Center Ice package. There’s more out there now than just the Leafs and Hockey Night In Canada every Saturday.
we have TFC that are on the brink of making the playoffs, don’t think it’s 100% guaranteed but I think they have a decent shot of playing in the MLS playoffs. But knowing that it’s Toronto, they’ll fail in the last minute of injury time.
I have no intention of hijacking this away from discussion of my beloved Leafs but…
the TFC situation is incredibly complicated when you start breaking down the tiebreakers but to keep it simple: If TFC wins, the combination that would keep it out of the playoffs would be a Colorado win and a Dallas win. If DC wins, too, TFC is out. But if New England wins, as well, TFC makes the playoffs.
