Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 2.13

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Are the Maple Leafs getting enough out of their defense? It’s a question that has been on my mind since the first few games of the season and now with the Maple Leafs mired in their first prolonged slump of the season, it is one that has been brought to the forefront of discussion. With the Leafs having lost six of their last eight games, now seems like as good a time as any to take a stab at answering this puppy.

In my opinion, the answer quite simply is no. The Maple Leafs have a total of about $20 million tied up in seven players on defense this season. At forward, $20 million is spoken for among thirteen players. General manager John Ferguson Jr. decided to dole out big dollars on defense and hoped to supplement his forwards by going with youth from within the organization. That’s fine as long as your defense becomes one of your strengths as a team. So far in this young season, it has been offense that has been the strength of Maple Leafs, not defense. The Leafs sit sixth overall in league scoring, twenty seventh in goals against. Not near good enough for a team paying their defensemen as handsomely as the Leafs do.

Despite his offensive contributions, Bryan McCabe, at a salary of $7 million, makes about a mistake per dollar in his own end. He is not at the level of Pronger, Niedermayer, Lidstrom or Chara, players who share similar salaries. At that money, McCabe needs to be as dependable in his own end as he is in the other team’s end.

Pavel Kubina makes $5 million per season but so far has not been used like a $5 million defenseman with Kaberle, McCabe and Gill seeming to get the call before he does. At this point it is hard to know whether he is worth that kind of money because he really hasn’t been given an opportunity to strut his stuff.

Youngsters White and Bell have been impressive and are much cheaper options. Soon Colaiacovo and Kronwall will be ready for Leaf action too. Now the question is would the Leafs have been better off to give more of the kids a shot and use Kubina and McCabe’s money to end the roundabouts on Mats Sundin’s wings? But hey, all that was just rigamarole.