Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 3.30

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Last week, one playoff dream died, while another still has a chance to turn from dream into reality. Despite clawing back into the playoff race after many people including GM Cliff Fletcher had left them for dead at the trade deadline, the Maple Leafs playoff dream came to an end with losses in two key games against the Boston Bruins. In the end, it was simply too much to expect the Maple Leafs to win their final nine games for a shot at post season play. As Mats Sundin so accurately stated after the Leafs were officially eliminated from post season contention, “It's disappointing that we didn't learn from the previous two years, that we need to come up with a stronger effort up until Christmas.” Hopefully now, three failed years of trying to make the playoffs in the final fifteen games will show the Leafs it’s not a very good strategy for success.

Out west though, while the Leafs were fighting and clawing to get back into the race, another Canadian team was mounting a valiant fight of their own. Starting the season laden with players in the early part of their careers, the Edmonton Oilers, after being as many as eleven points back of the final playoff spot in the West, have won thirteen of their last eighteen games to pull into a tie for eighth place with the Vancouver Canucks and Nashville Predators. What makes this run even more impressive is that the Oilers have done it without the likes of Sheldon Souray, Ethan Moreau, Shawn Horcoff and starting netminder Mathieu Garon, key veterans all out with injuries. Instead the team has been led by its young core of Andrew Cogliano, Sam Gagner, and Robert Nilsson.

The hill is still steep with the Canucks and Predators each holding two more games in hand than the Oilers. If their miracle run ultimately falls short, it won’t be all bad though. The development seen by their youngsters in the last twenty games has shown the future of the Oilers is indeed in good hands. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.

Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 3.29

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Just when it was thought the Maple Leafs march to the playoffs was all but over after a discouraging loss to Buffalo two Saturday’s ago, the buds reel off three straight victories last week and now sit four points back of eighth place Boston with…that’s right, two head to head games this coming week against the Bruins. Win those both in regulation time and all of a sudden, the Leafs are tied with the Bruins. The question is, will the Bruins still be the eighth place team at the time or will they have fallen to ninth or tenth by the time the Maple Leafs catch them.

And thus, the issue of not being too far behind eighth place in terms of points but having just too many teams to pass to get there is presented again. With just four points to make up to reach eighth place, the Maple Leafs will have to pass four teams in the process to get there which means even with two wins against the Bruins next week, help on the out-of-town scoreboard will again be necessary to make a serious bid for the final playoff spot.

This is why though it will be so heartbreaking should the Leafs miss the playoffs yet again. For the last two seasons, they have fallen just short, not included in the post season despite being arguably the hottest team down the stretch. If they were to fall out of the race with ten games to go and struggle down the stretch, it would be clear that making the playoffs wasn’t meant to be. The way it’s happened the last two years leaves so much to be desired although better play early in the year would prevent the Leafs from being in such a difficult position. Will it happen again a third year in a row? Two games against Boston this week will go a long way toward answering that question. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.

Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 3.28

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Seventy four points. Nine games remaining. Four teams to pass. Three key players missing. That is the task ahead of the Maple Leafs as they try to claw their way into the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. A tall task indeed but can they do it…not likely. Losing Mats Sundin and Nik Antropov - their top two players in scoring thus far this season – along with Carlo Colaiacovo, who had been impressive since returning to the lineup midway through the season, will certainly leave the Leafs undermanned and without several players who have kept them in the race at all to this point.

Only six points back of a playoff spot is certainly not an impossible hill to climb but it’s the four teams – Philadelphia, Buffalo, Washington and Florida – that must be passed which makes the chore seem that much more daunting. The likelihood of all four of these teams going in that tank over the last two and a half weeks of the regular season is indeed very unlikely.

With just nine games remaining and currently sitting at seventy four points, the Maple Leafs would need to win all of their remaining games to finish with 92 points, the usual threshold for playoff inclusion. In the last five years, the eighth place team in the East has had totals of 92, 92, 91, 83, and 87 points. To reach 92 points, the Flyers, currently holding eighth place with 80 points only have to go 6-3 down the stretch. If they don’t, Buffalo, Washington or Florida will.

The only thing that points in the favour of the Leafs right now is their schedule down the stretch. Twice they take on the Sabres and the Bruins, two teams that are right ahead of them in the standings. Win those games and along with the five others and it could get interesting. But really, is there anyone that would bet for a 9-0 record to finish the season. Didn’t think so. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.

Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 3.27

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Over the past few weeks, the concept of throwing games down the stretch has taken on an official moniker on call in radio shows around the city of Toronto: Tank Nation. These are the people who think the Maple Leafs should purposefully lose games down the stretch to get in a position to draft hot shot prospects like Steven Stamkos or Drew Doughty or Alex Pietrangelo or Zach Bogosian. For those who think a first overall pick will correct the Maple Leafs’ problems in one fell swoop are indeed sorely mistaken.

While getting one of the aforementioned prospects in a Maple Leaf uniform would not be a bad thing, it would only be one small step in turning this franchise around, not a ticket to a Stanley Cup parade in June 09. Take Washington and Alex Ovechkin. Arguably the best player on the planet right, Ovechkin in his third season has yet to propel the Capitals into the playoffs. Not to say they are not a rapidly improving team but since the lockout, the Capitals with Ovechkin could end up making the same amount of post season appearances as the Maple Leafs: zero.

The Leafs need full scale changes in the off season, that which includes trading several players currently on the roster. If players like Ponikarovsky, Antropov, Tucker, Kubina, McCabe and so on float through the remaining games this season showing no professionalism whatsoever, what do you think other general managers will say when Cliff Fletcher picks up the phone in the summer time and offers up one of those players? Encouraging players to lose games on purpose does absolutely nothing to increase the value of your assets as GM’s will look for player who brought it day in day out even when games were essentially meaningless.

If the Leafs scout well, there is no reason a solid player cannot be chosen in the mid first round. If they can’t maybe the first problem that should be addressed is not the lineup on the ice. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.

Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 3.26 - Featuring Bob McKenzie

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In Canada, we have long since grown used to significant issues being ignored with mindless temporary fixes presented as long term solutions by our nation’s capital city. Lately it seems this strategy often seen by our federal government based in Ottawa has been carried over to the decision making of the Senators. Case in point, the firing this week of head coach John Paddock.

Since starting the season 16-3, the Senators have struggled to a 20-19-6 record. Since their nineteenth game of the season, the Maple Leafs actually boast a better record then their provincial rivals going 23-20-5. Just thought I’d throw that in there. Replacing John Paddock with Bryan Murray will not automatically fix the Senators problems as many people are predicting though. This team’s problems go well beyond the man behind the bench.

Since being annihilated at the hands of the much tougher Ducks in last year’s Stanley Cup Finals, Ottawa has yet to address the problems that became oh so apparent last June. When Samuel Pahlsson and company drove the Alfredsson, Heatley, Spezza line into the ground, the Senators were unable to generate secondary scoring. When the Ducks played the Senators far more physically than Ottawa could ever dream of playing, their only response to match up in terms of toughness was Alfredsson firing the puck at Scott Niedermayer. Let’s not even mention the disparity in goal between JS Giguere and Ray Emery.

So far the Senators have only further confused their goaltending situation, acquired fringe NHLer Mike Commodore to solidify an already very porous defense and picked up Martin Lapointe to account for both toughness and secondary scoring. This is a guy who has four goals in fifty four games.

Let’s be honest, if the Senators couldn’t beat Anaheim last year, do we really see them beating the powerful Western Conference this season. Didn’t think so. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.