Kaberle
One of the reasons that I think the 2009-10 Toronto Maple Leafs are a solid pick to be what the 2007-08 Boston Bruins were — a toughened up team with structure that finally secured a playoff berth to end their franchise’s long drought — is their bolstered blue line.
Last night in preseason action, the pair of Tomas Kaberle and Mike Komisarek already showed how much better they’re going to make the Leafs. With the rugged Komisarek at his side, Kaberle has more room to roam — and that can make any player’s productiono increase.
Said head coach Ron Wilson in The Sun:
“Having a big body, a mean defenceman, stay-at-home type, to play with Kabba … Kabba needs somebody who’s going to stay at home and it’ll open the ice for him. I’ll try to keep them together to see if there is a chemistry and we’ll go from there.”
Add Francois Beauchemin in the mix and the Leafs could put their top three up against pretty much anyone in the Eastern Conference. They’re not going to score much, but they’ll win a lot of 2-1, 1-0 games with plenty of scraps.
Elsewhere around the division:
•With a compacted schedule because of the Olympics, Buffalo expect to give Patrick Lalime more chances to spell Ryan Miller.
•Ottawa rookie Erik Karlsson has moved in with Daniel Alfredsson.
•The Senators are trying to find the right offensive combinations.
Last night at the State of the Bruins someone asked Lucic what he eats for breakfast. He responded with cherrios etc. Someone in the crowd yelled out Komisarek.
Toughened-up to say the least. Even though they traded away Kubina to Atlanta (his 40-points and PP time will be missed), getting that hard-nosed Exelby in return was pretty solid. Between the pipes is where they’re hurting yet again.
Komisarek’s speed and skils have been diminishing at a considerable rate (possibly coincident with the thrashing Lucic handed him last year?). There was no gnashing of teeth in Montreal when he left this off-season, primarily due to his lack of grit, a la Hal Gill with the Bruins. (Of course, Habs fans are about to get a taste of that for themselves.) The Leafs’ dysfunction has not been cured by adding Komi to the lineup. Expect another basement finish for Toronto.