As we look ahead to a Leaf playoff appearance, on being right...and wrong

Before I get into today's post, any younger Leaf fans who may enjoy a flashback to the last time the Bruins and Leafs met in the playoffs (and a remarkable goaltending performance) might want to read about a trip down memory lane going back to the spring of 1974...

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One thing is certain:  when you write about anything—including hockey and the Maple Leafs—as I do here at the VLM site on a regular basis and take a public position on a subject, you will likely be wrong as often (or more often) as you are right.  And I don’t doubt that, if I was to review the well over 1,200 columns I’ve written here over the past three and a half years, there have been times when I was simply off the mark when assessing the Leafs, or projecting how certain things and situations might turn out.

That, after all, is part of the fun in hosting a site like this.  And also why I always try to invite feedback, opinions and other perspectives—even if they may conflict with my views.  As those of you who visit here somewhat regularly know, I enjoy and even look forward hearing to conflicting views.  If they are presented in a thoughtful and respectful way, it makes this experience all the better as the host of a  forum like this one.  I like to think that approach to “blogging” has made this site one where Leafers (and hockey fans in general) can visit, relax and enjoy reading various points of view- without rancor and vitriol or put-downs.

So yes, I have been wrong at times, for sure.  I didn’t like Kulemin’s play through the beginning of the season, though many thought he was just fine.  I still don’t think he is anywhere near physical enough (not enough big hits) but I concede that the winger (who I consistently supported a ton through his first four seasons in blue and white) is making a contribution and could be a valuable playoff performer.

I’ve not always been a Phaneuf guy.  I’m not sure if I see him as over-rated in the Toronto market, or maybe not the leader I somehow picture Leaf captains to be.  But there is no debating he is playing not only huge minutes, but well, for the Leafs heading into the playoffs.

And I really liked Kostka’s play, even long after others were openly critical of him.  I’m not sure I was entirely wrong, because I still think he could be a valuable contributor in the right slot in the playoffs, but I’m open to hearing that I over-rated him (if you can over-rate someone who wasn’t even supposed to be here in the first place).  And I’ll throw in that I didn’t care a whit that Franson was un-signed just days before the season started.  He has proved to be imperfect, certainly, but immensely important to the Leaf cause.

I was also unimpressed with the McClement UFA signing, and I was very wrong on that front.  However, I won’t go through the full list of “errors” on my part! The above admissions should suffice.

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That said, every once in a while (more than that, in truth), certain views I’ve expressed in this space  have proven to be much closer to right than wrong.  Is that good luck, or years of experience having watched this great game—and this particular hockey franchise and those who run it?  It doesn’t matter, really.  But when it comes to the present Leaf team, as they head to the playoffs, as I look back on posts here over the past while, there are some things I have consistently talked about that I believe have stood the test of time, as it were.

Examples?

• Heading into this season, I noted regularly that the East was wide open, that there were very few, if any, truly “elite” teams.  (That hardly makes me a prophet; I’ve bee saying the East is mediocre for years and I can't be alone in suggesting that…)

• I have said since the early days of this mini-season that the Leafs could well make the playoffs, in part because the Conference was indeed not that strong.  I don’t believe most observers held that position and yet the Leafs have indeed made the spring dance.

• I declared that a number of teams thought to be shoe-ins by experts were in fact "bubble teams" for the playoffs and that proved to be correct.

• I was opposed to the notion of acquiring Luongo, for a host of reasons I’ve declared here many times.

• To go along with that, I maintained my support for Reimer as an emerging goalie who I felt could handle the job as the Leaf netminder.  I did not predict he would become Johnny Bower (see the great old photo of the Maple Leaf Hall-of-Fame legend at right), but I believed he could rebound from an injury-plagued 2011-'12 season.  As this year progressed, I kept saying here that I wanted to see Carlyle essentially make Reimer his 'number-one' guy—even if the coach did not declare it so and make a big fuss about it publicly, as coaches too often do.  In the end, this is exactly where we landed.  Reimer has earned the job.

• Of the many things I’ve posted about young Kadri over the past few seasons (other than my frustration with the organization not simply letting him play regularly with the Marlies without being ‘yo-yo’d’ between theMarlies and the Leafs in the hopes he would be a goal-scoring savior for the big club) is  simply this:  no one can play with a piano on their back.  No athlete can stand being constantly criticized for every little mistake. Just let him play, I said again and again.  This season, Carlyle let him play, and put him in a position to succeed.  Oh, when Kadri messes up, Carlyle will pull him back sometimes, but Kadri has finally been allowed to use his natural creativity and vision.  Mistakes were critiqued, absolutely, but did not lead to punishment—and public abuse—for the young center.

• I also wondered, still speaking about Kadri, why he was playing the wing under Wilson before when he was a natural center.  I don’t think he’ll be playing the wing in the near future.

• I often questioned whether Gardiner, for all his immense skills, would play the kind of hockey that would be effective in the playoffs.  What will be interesting now is whether the young defenseman will be a playoff regular for the Leafs (he sure has the skills that should make him valuable) in the playoffs. It seems to be for the very reasons I discussed here about Gardiner (not being physical enough in his own zone, not being hard enough on the puck, playing too casually when Carlyle demands that his defenseman not freestyle, as it were) that there is even a question as to whether Gardiner will be a mainstay in the playoffs.

• Early in the season I was, admittedly, shocked at the contribution Fraser was making.  But I soon posted that he was becoming a hard-to-replace Leaf.  And I think he has become that kind of player for Carlyle.  When we discuss who will ‘for sure” man the Leaf blueline starting Wednesday in Boston, Fraser is one of the guys I can’t imagine won’t be there.

• I posted often that an environment where the previous GM’s need to talk “me”, “I” and “my” all the time was not healthy for the franchise, and I stand by that.  Whether his presence this season would have mattered at all, how can anyone “prove”?  But I like the environenment around the team much more now, in part because it is indeed about the “team” and not individual hubris and loud, unnecessary proclamations or an ever-changing “vision” about how the team would be re-built.

• Over the past few months, I have often opined that this has been an "experimental" year for Carlyle.  Oh, he wants to win very badly every night.  But this is not quite the roster he wants (not that he would ever say that), and he has been giving lots of players a shot in different situations.  Critics have not liked some of his choices (they want better linemates for Grabbo, Gardiner to play regularly, Bozak somewhere else, etc.), but for me, there's no question he has been planning ahead while still doing everything he can to squeeze wins out of this roster, this year.

So, I guess we could say I’ve sometimes been right, and sometimes been quite wrong about our beloved Leafs.  (By all means share the ways that your Leaf views have emerged as on the money, or not...)  But the point of hosting this site, for me at least, is not about always being right.  It’s about batting around things we all, as hockey fans and Leaf supporters, care about.  It’s about providing a forum for respectful dialogue.

And maybe most importantly, it’s about helping along, in our own small way as “only” fans, the Leaf pride that was built 80 years ago by Conn Smythe and those players, coaches and managers who have built —and in some cases, built upon—a wonderful Maple Leaf hockey legacy.


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Leaf supporters who live in and around the Greater Toronto Area can be on the lookout for a visit from the "Leaf Matters" podcast Wednesday night at Wegz Stadium Bar in Vaughan, Ontario.  Matteo Codispoti, Scott Wheeler, Dante Martella, Mark Rackham, and all the fantastic young folks at We Want a Cup are hosting an event as we do a "live" podcast from Wegs before, during and after the first playoff game in Boston.  Drop by and say hello....

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Monday, we posted Episode #59 of the growing "Leaf Matters" podcast, featuring two of the emerging writers with the popular Maple Leaf Hot Stove blog, Jon Steitzer (who also hosts the Yakov Mironov site) and Michael Stephens as part of our Leaf playoff round-table preview.

Today, we release Episode #60, with a fabulous guest- former Leaf player and longtime coach, Pat Quinn.  Pat talks about his playoff memories behind the Lench bench, and he also shares some thoughts on the current club on the eve of the playoff match-up with the Bruins.  (Historical note- Pat played in the playoffs for the Leafs against the old "Big Bad Bruins" in the spring of 1969.  His hit on Bobby Orr in Game 1 of that series remains one of the most famous open-ice hits in hockey history.  Quinn is a Leaf supporter to this day- not surprising, given that he was a Hamilton boy who grew up as Leaf supporter...

We hope you enjoy the conversation.  You can catch the show on iTunes and also on the PodAlmighty Network.