Who's Worried, I'm Not

With eighty-one regular season games remaining, there is a lot of time for the Toronto Maple Leafs to sort out the disorganized attempt that was game one of the season. Various things could be used to potentially explain the reasons for the poor effort and subsequently awful performance the Maple Leafs put forth last night against the Montreal Canadiens; however, none of them should be considered excuses. There is no excuse for lack of effort and disorganization put forth during a home opener on a Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens.

The Leafs spent six days in between their final preseason game and their first regular season game. A lay off of this length at any time during the season is not a good thing let alone when it occurs between the end of the preseason and the beginning of the regular season. Players agree the preseason is too long. Therefore, it could be tough to remain focused for the extra week in between. Nonetheless, this should have given new players a chance to acclimatize themselves with their new teammates and a chance for coach Pat Quinn to work on some key strategies. Obviously, the extra week was not used as a bonus but rather an inconvenience that would lead to a poor first game.

It is also possible that the Leafs may have underestimated the Montreal Canadiens, especially after they were handled quite easily by the Ottawa Senators on Thursday. This tells us two things. The Canadiens may not be as bad as they have been described as and the Maple Leafs may not be as good as the Senators. Regardless, this still does not qualify as an excuse for poor effort.

One of the only positives from last night's game was the play of rookie Matt Stajan. Stajan, one of the best forwards last night, had a number of chances himself and created a number of chances for teammates, none of which could be converted for goals. Stajan looks to be ready to spend the whole year with the Maple Leafs as he showed confidence, maturity, and poise well beyond his years during the preseason and into last night's game as well. He could be the surprise player of the year.

With eighty-one games remaining, the Leafs should be able to figure out their collapse during yesterday's game. The Leafs will be a playoff team this year but finishing as high as possible will be important to help avoid playing a strong team in the first round. It is important that a good effort is put forth against the Washington Capitals in their next game. The team goes on the road for five games immediately after the Capitals game which does not give them time to go blindfolded through the first two weeks of the season.