Leafs Alone on Top

Dec 9, 2001
John Lebow

I watched these past two games grinning ear to ear. The Toronto Maple Leafs against the New York Rangers, two of the top teams in the Eastern conference going at it in a home-and-home series. After watching both games, it is a wonder that the Rangers are anywhere close to first place, as they seem to have been carried there against their will on the backs of Theo Fleury, Eric Lindros, and Mike Richter.

Toronto, on the other hand, has been close or near to the top all season, despite not playing well together for the first half-dozen games this year. The Leafs are finally looking great as a team, and there are many reasons for that. Read on and discover the secrets for a first place team.

Goaltending is one, and Curtis Joseph has been Curtis Joseph, and should likely get a very hefty contract extension at the end of the season. The surprise has been Corey Schwab, who has played well in all 4 games he has started, winning two, losing one, and losing one in overtime. Mikael Telqvist, the top goalie in the Swedish elite league was supposed to be the backup due to Glenn Healy's retirement, but did not play well in the pre-season, and Schwab, originally brought in as en extra goalie for fodder in the pre-season, got the job.

The team commitment to defence has shown, and while newcomers Robert Reichel, Travis Green, and Alex Mogilny have been very disappointing on the offensive side of the puck, they are very skilled back checkers and cover players well in the defensive zone. The commitment goes alot further than that, as this years' edition of the Leafs are a lot tougher then last years. Bryan McCabe went on the Gary Roberts' workout program this summer, and now the two dish out more than their share of hits; Roberts on the forecheck, and McCabe in the back end. Captain Mats Sundin turned himself into a force in last years' playoffs, and plays with a lot more grit, and, perhaps coincidentally, is on pace for a 40 goal season. His new linemate, Mikael Renberg has been impressive with his willingness to get down and dirty along the boards. Darcy Tucker and Shayne Corson, the brothers-in-law of destruction keep rumbling through on the forecheck, and I do not think there is a team that forechecks as well as Toronto does.

The fourth line has also been great for Toronto, with Alyn McCauley centering Tie Domi (who needs only 3 penalty minutes to pass Tiger Williams for most in Leafs' history) and Garry Valk has been great. The fourth line isn't looked at to score, but the line does create a great deal of offensive chances, often forcing the goalie to freeze the puck, and having a faceoff in the opposing zone for the Sundin line.

Going back to the defence, Dimitry Yushkevich takes care of most of the dirty work, although he has been able to take a shift or two off, with the physicality of Aki Berg, Wade Belak, and the aforementioned McCabe. Yushkevich and McCauley should seriously look into making titanium shin pads, as those two seem to block almost as many shots as Joseph and Schwab do.

Any team that adds as many new faces over the off-season until this point as the Leafs have (Reichel, Renberg, Mogilny, Schwab, Jryki Lumme and Anders Eriksson) is bound to need some time to make adjustments, and it looks like the Leafs have finally started to really come together.

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