Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 5.15

www.afootinthecrease.com

Well here we are, the final show of 2009, a perfect time to look back at some of the best and worst from the Maple Leafs’ year that was. Unfortunately once again when it comes to the best, we’re still left grasping for small, moral victories with no real team success to speak of. No playoff spot for the fourth year in a row in the spring of 2009 and at this point at the end of the calendar year, no real indications yet that the playoff drought will be coming to an end in the spring of 2010.

For the worst, well there are certainly plenty of options in that category but where to begin. The horrendous start to the 2009-2010 season with no wins in the first seven games and only one win during October is a pretty good place to start. How about the regression of Luke Schenn? Gone is the confident rookie we saw a year ago, instead replaced with a tentative, mistaken prone player whose minutes have been cut to between eight and ten a night. A terrible thought crossed my mind the other day, Luke Schenn is on a dangerous pace to become just like Mike Komesarik…and that is not a good thing.

The play of Tomas Kaberle has definitely been among the positives, as he finally seems to be back at the level where he was before being decked by Cam Janssen in 2007. Until this season, it is not hard to agree that Kaberle just was not the same player after that hit. Scoring at nearly a point per game pace, Kaberle is on pace for a career year and to do something a Leafs defenseman has never done before: lead the team in scoring.

Additionally, the farm system is as stocked now as it has been in many seasons although, so far, it’s too early to determine what kind of returns the Leafs might get on the prospects they’ve invested in. At least for a change you can say this: finally the potential for returns are there. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.