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Yesterday Howard Berger wrote that the Leafs 2009-10 season was an unqualified failure. On the surface that seems obvious considering they finished the season second last in the NHL ahead of only the even more dreadful Oilers. But has it really been a complete and utter failure? I am not so sure about that. There is actually a fair bit that Leaf fans can be optimistic about.
Phil Kessel – When Brian Burke traded for Kessel everyone wondered if Kessel would be any good without an elite level center to set him up like Marc Savard did in Boston. Well, Kessel answered those questions by scoring 30 goals, a step back from his 36 in Boston, but a respectable total considering the Leafs had fewer talented players to surround him and also traded away the majority of the teams offensive players prior to the trade deadline. Kessel now has 30 goals in each of the past 2 NHL seasons which puts him in a group of just 13 players to have done that. (Mike Richards, Jarome Iginla, Jeff Carter, Rick Nash, Bobby Ryan, Zach Parise, Dany Heatley, Alexander Semin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Patrick Marleau, Alexander Ovechkin, and Sidney Crosby). At age 22 Kessel is a proven goal scorer and while the jury is out on whether he will develop into a true superstar in the league, we can be confident he is at least a top level offensive talent.
Tyler Bozak – Had Bozak played the full season like he played the final ~30 games he would have been the top scoring rookie in the NHL (ahead of future stars Duchene and Tavares) and would have been in contention for rookie of the year. We have also learned that he is a very good face off guy winning 52.2% of the faceoffs he took. I am not sure he will develop into a true 80+ point first line center but at the very least he looks like a very good second line center and a core member of Leafs future.
Dion Phaneuf – If one year ago Leaf fans were told that they would have both Kessel and Phaneuf in their lineup many would not have believed it. Phaneuf has his detractors and maybe he won’t be the mega-star everyone thought he would be a couple years ago (though he could still get back to that level), but he is an all-round presence of defense and is a perfect player to be an example of the way Brian Burke wants the game played. He will almost certainly be the leader on and off the ice and the Leafs desperately needed that kind of player.
Carl Gunnarsson – This guy won a spot on defense through hard work and solid 2-way play. He is a reliable and cheap player that every team would love to have. Among rookie defensemen only Tyler Myers had a higher time on ice per game (40 game played minimum) and his +8 on this Leaf squad is very impressive.
Jonas Gustavsson – Up until the Olympics there was a huge question mark on Gustavsson but post Olympics he has been very good so that is a very promising sigh for the future because goaltending has been a huge problem for the Leafs. We don’t know what the reason for his post Olympic success (7-2-1, 2.33 gaa, .915 sv%) but maybe all that happened to him early in the season had an effect on the mental side of his game. Having two heart procedures has to put some doubts in the back of your mind and then I think Toskala had to be a horrible role model considering Vesa was horrible and yet supposedly hardly ever talked to goalie coach Francois Allaire. I have change from not having a lot of confidence that Gustavsson is the goalie of the future for the Leafs, or even a good backup, to at least believing there is a chance he could have a bright future as a starter.
Nikolai Kulemin – Over the course of the season Kulemin gained a lot of confidence and significantly improved his all-round game by playing more physical and doing the little things right. He doesn’t sppear likely to develop the offensive tools to be a first line player, but he can definitely be a solid 2-way guy capable of playing on either the second or third line and on both the second PP unit and on the penalty kill. Could be a very solid Ponikarovsky replacement.
Luke Schenn – Schenn struggled early in the season but really picked up his game at the mid-way point (he was +7 since December 1st) and once again showed he should be a solid, physical defensive defensemen for years to come.
Caputi, Stalberg, Hanson – None of these guys developed enough to be able to make any reliable predictions on how their futures will pan out but they all showed things to be positive about. Stalberg scored 7 goals in 21 games after the Olympic break and showed flashes of the brilliant play he showed in the pre-season. In the 19 games Caputi played as a Leaf he exhibited some of what has been so severly lacking amongst Leaf forwards the past several season, the ability and desire to drive to the net and cause havoc for opposition goalies. Hanson doesn’t appear to have the offensive skills to be a top 6 forward but showed some signs that he could develop into a 3rd line energy player.
So that is 10 players that Leaf fans learned a lot about this season (for the positive) and 10 players who may very well make the core of this team for the next decade. Yes, the Leafs ended the season with a pretty dismal record and that is unfortunate, but it was anything but a lost season. In fact, it was a valuable development season for the young players and a season filled with moves that really transition this team from a JFJ team of the past to a Brian Burke team of the future.
Tags: Bozak, Gunnarsson, Gustavsson, Kessel, Kulemin, Maple Leafs, Schenn, Toronto
David Johnson