How to fix the Leafs.

As the Leafs try to right the ship against the New Jersey Devils, I'm left sitting here wondering how in the fuck did it get to this? The Leafs are free falling out of playoff contention at an alarming rate and fans (myself included) are left wondering what the hell is going on. On a warm spring evening back in May, I along with tens of thousands of die hard Leafs Nation faithful, gathered in Maple Leaf Square to watch game 7 against the big bad Boston Bruins. The Leafs were taking it to the Bruins like a fired up mother beating her child with a wooden spoon. (Sorry not sorry if that's politically wrong in today's times). What happened next I have vowed to never speak of again. The real question is what in Christ's name has happened to that team? The Leafs of 2013-14 are but a shadow of their former selves. Boneheaded giveaways and lack of effort seem to be sinking in like a plague and there just doesn't seem to be a saviour in sight.

Many Leafs fans will typically look to point the finger with hopes to find sanctuary in blame. Randy Carlyle has been taking a lot of criticism as of late. Some feel that he may have lost the room. Others will point to Kadri and Clarkson will undoubtedly take slack for their lack of production. To me, the difference between this team and the surprise Leafs of a year ago has nothing to do with production at all. It's team toughness. Last year, albeit a shortened year, was the year of the Bloor Street Bullies. The Bathurst Brawlers. The... Ok you get the fucking point. The Leafs led the league in fighting majors and penalty minutes and were generally a tough team to play against. For whatever reason, this season has been the complete opposite. The Leafs are constantly getting shoved around, taken off the puck, and forced into terrible giveaways leaving their goalies completely out to dry. If our goalies hadn't stood on their heads for the first month of the season this could have been much, much worse. So where do we point the finger? Could easily point it at Colton Orr. Orr has been essentially invisible for much of this season. He gets his few minutes on the ice, blocks a couple shots and tries to run a couple of guys and then finds his dent on the bench where he sits for the last 2/3rds of the game. But can Colton actually be to blame for this? It could go deeper than that. It's become pretty evident that fighting is down league wide. I've noticed on a few occasions that Orr has tried to entice opponents into fighting and they just aren't interested. The same could be said for Frazer McLaren. McLaren has seemed to be a little more successful in picking fights when healthy but he has really become invisible at times too.

I find that a lot of nights the Leafs are trying to play the other teams game. Aside from a few recent blowouts, the Leafs have usually been in very close games. It seems that they are seriously lacking identity and this season have very seldom dictated the play. What Leafs fans don't realize is that this might not be a simple fix. Their skill just isn't up to par with the front runners in this league and it is really starting to show. Last season they dictated play with toughness and sucked other teams into the emotion of the game. It seems that this season teams have taken a different approach. There are less enforcers that are willing to drop the mitts and there are fewer teams that subscribe to that style of hockey. Whether Randy Carlyle is trying to change the identity of this team and have them skate in these track meets with teams they have no business skating with is beyond me, but this ain't working. So the question is, how do you fix it? I'm far from an NHL analyst and there are a million cliches that can be tossed around. In my opinion it starts with the leadership. Orr, McLaren and Frasier need to step up and start making their presence felt. Frasier has clearly lost a step since having knee and concussion problems. He needs to get himself game ready and start making a mark on this very undersized defence corps. McLaren and Orr need to start taking the body and trying to antagonize teams much like Clarkson does on a regular basis. The fact is that if you play a tough game and let guys know you are there, it will open the ice for the skilled guys. Sometimes those extra couple of seconds makes a world of difference. To be entirely honest I like the recent call up of Carter Ashton. He brings size and toughness and can potentially add some spark to this dormant lineup.

Everyone wants to point fingers at the skilled guys for this recent slide. In my opinion its not the skilled guys that are our downfall. Its the grit and goons that are letting us down. Being hard to play against has everything to do with success. Some may argue that being hard to play against and fighting are two completely different things and sure, if you wanna split hairs then I will grant you that. But if the Leafs don't start busting some heads and creating more space for their skilled guys, they will be drafting quite high in a draft that is lacking a true superstar pick.