Tyler Seguin, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand. If anybody wants to see some chemistry... look no further. Seggy is playing ridiculously well right now - it's obscene. I think Bergy's going to be back around 70 points this season; he's so underrated offensively, especially his passing.
One's a child and the other lacks confidence and is easily rattled. They both don't belong in the NHL.
The Leafs' hot start was simply down to luck and luck alone. It's November and it's no surprise that the shit is hitting the fan now, as this has typically been the month of despair for the last 4 seasons. They're still last in the league in penalty killing and power play. This shit was supposed to be addressed in the off-season. Burke brought in Philippe Dupuis and David Steckel to shore up penalty killing. As if. This team is still garbage. Get rid of Wilson and his entire coaching staff if you want to salvage anything.
Some of the hot start was luck, some of it was playing weaker opponents with a lot of home games early, a lot of that success started with your goalie.
I guess we have different opinions on some of this, buddy. You're right, forget Scrivens, forget the Monster. Right now Reimer is your only quality NHL caliber goalie, and if he can get/stay healthy I can see the Leafs being in that 7-8 range. Toronto should be seriously considering acquiring a veteran backup, ASAP. Get Armstrong back, get Connolly back, things could pick up again pretty quickly. Steckel was a good signing IMO, but he's obviously not going to instantly solve a terrible PK like Toronto's. He's a solid 4th line center though, proficient in the dot, a little bit of offensive upside for that role.
Wilson has done a terrible job with special teams, no doubt, but I saw a stat a couple days ago noting that the Leafs PK is something like 10-12% better when Reimer's in net. You have absolutely gotta have competent goaltending in the NHL, or you get eaten alive. Teams with weak goaltending quickly become mentally fragile - it's the rule, not the exception.
Guys like Komisarek and Schenn are also killing you. Anyway, I'm interested to see how this all turns out. I actually enjoy watching Toronto play again (especially when it's against my Bruins! I kid, I kid...) and that's largely because there is more quality on that team then there has been in quite awhile. I'm also interested in seeing Colborne make the jump - his stats with the Marlies, last I checked, we're pretty gaudy.
Burke is just waiting for Wilson to completely fail so he can fire him midseason and extend the life of his own job. Living in Toronto all my life I'm really tired of all these "hockey guys" coming in town and telling fans they know exactly what they are doing. Wilson is horrible, MLSE only cares if they keep selling Rib Eye's in the Chairmans lounge are selling and Burke well isn't in tune with modern times if you ask me
I don't think Burke's waiting for Wilson to completely fail. These guys are close friends - he wants him to succeed, and will give him every opportunity to do so. I don't think anybody's getting fired midseason - but I guess we'll find out!