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Path: utzoo!watmath!watnot!watrose!cjsgro
From: cjsgro@watrose.UUCP (Carlo Sgro)
Newsgroups: net.sport.hockey
Subject: Re: struggling Leafs and national question
Message-ID: <7681@watrose.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 17-Nov-85 15:23:42 EST
Article-I.D.: watrose.7681
Posted: Sun Nov 17 15:23:42 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 18-Nov-85 07:26:16 EST
References: <474@bdmrrr.UUCP>
Reply-To: cjsgro@watrose.UUCP (Carlo Sgro)
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 53
Summary: 

In article <474@bdmrrr.UUCP> gates@bdmrrr.UUCP (Al Gates) writes:
>I
>
>It is really sad to see the Toronto Maple Leafs struggle like they are.
>Toronto, home of the hockey hall of fame, and a hockey center, has a
>NHL franchise that is an embarrassment to the league.  What has gone
>wrong with this organization?
>
>Borje Salming has been one of their mainstays for a long time.  He is truly
>one of the better (and lately underrated) defensemen in the league.  
>Unfortunately, once you get past Rick Vaive, Bill Derlago, and John Anderson,
>there is little supporting cast.  The goaltending situation in Toronto is
>atrocious.  Surely there must be some better talent for the Leafs out there
>somewhere!

First a couple of corrections to Al's posting:
1) Bill Derlago was traded three games into the season to the Boston Bruins.
   The player they got in return was Tom Fergus.  Fergus is playing fairly
   well for Toronto, although not up to the caliber of Derlago's usual 
   seasons (this is probably more a function of the Leafs' poor performance
   than Fergus's abilities).  What puzzles me is that the Bruins have 
   Derlago playing on a fourth string checking line.
2) John Anderson was traded in the off season to Quebec for Marion Stastny.
   Anderson is doing extremely well in Quebec while Stastny is skating well
   but not putting points on the board in Toronto.
3) The goaltending is one of the better aspects of the Leafs' season so far.
   Tim Bernhardt and Don Edwards have played adequately, even though their GA 
   average may not reflect it.

The Leafs' problem this year has been that they cannot play 60 minutes of
hockey.  Par for them is to play for 2 periods (usually the second and
sometimes the first or sometimes the third) and have the opposition score
four goals against them in the other period.  The Leafs have not played
badly overall but when they stink, they stink.  This characteristic of 
their play has resulted in them backing into more ties than they have 
wins.  They have played better lately, with their last five games being
(if I remember correctly): tie in Detroit, tie and loss to St. Louis, 
tie against Boston, and win against Chicago.  Their record does not 
reflect their play.  They should be playing about .450 (they're not a 
.500 team yet).  They just have to learn to count to 60.

About their future, they have some promising talent but they have to make
sure that they don't catch the "Falling Leaf Syndrome".  That's why Allan
Bester is down in the minors right now instead of being shellshocked with
the Leafs.  The Leafs will improve this season (they can't get worse :-))
and, if managed correctly, will continue their rebuilding on young talent
like Al Iafrate and Wendel Clark.

-- 
Carlo Sgro
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