Following a tough road trip, the Leafs—and their fans—looking for answers that may not exist

After the first few games of Peter Horachek’s tenure as interim Head coach of the Leafs, the consensus seemed to be that the team was playing better overall—certainly better defensively.

Unfortunately, while the focus on defense has been good to see (and let’s be honest, the goaltending has generally flattered the team’s effort in that regard as well, making us look better than we actually are), our forwards have had a difficult time lighting the old lamp, as they say. We certainly saw effort on this trip against some of the best teams in the Western Conference, but not a lot of luck.

So where are these Leafs?

In the standings…not so good. Mentally…likely in a state of confusion.

It feels as though Horachek, understandably perhaps, is trying to re-shape the team’s mentality and approach. Maybe that’s a good thing—though I refuse to believe his penchant for defense is any different, really, than what his predecessor wanted to see. The players simply weren’t able—or willing—to do what Randy Carlyle asked of them when it came to defensive structure.

Ultimately, whatever system a coach employs (or tries to), it all comes down to skill—and “will”. That means you need the talent to make the engine hum, but you need 20 guys who will fight for the puck, block shots at the right times, take a hit to make a play, all the little things that make good teams successful.

We can all hope for Mike Babock or, heck, Toe Blake (right), Fred Shero or Scotty Bowman to show up for that matter, but as important as a good coach can be (and he can be), will that alone do the trick?

It strikes me that every really good team, pretty much throughout hockey history, had leaders who led the way through their ability but also because of their almost obsessive desire to win. The Habs had them in abundance going back to my childhood, with Butch Bouchard, Rocket Richard and later Jean Beliveau, Henri Richard, Yvan Cournoyer and Bob Gainey not only wearing the “C” but leading by example.

The Islanders of the early ’80s had it with Denis Potvin, Bryan Trottier and many others. The Oilers had Gretzky and Messier—their most talented but also their most driven players.

It’s a different world now, I realize, but we still see teams that want to win very badly. We saw that in Boston for years with someone like Chara showing the way.  In LA and Chicago, names Toews, Doughty, Dustin Brown, Mike Richards, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook have been there for years and seem to provide the consistent, inspired leadership by example that makes the whole roster better than it otherwise might be.

The Leafs?  Leadership?

Well, I think Bernier has largely been pretty darn good again this season. Reimer has battled most nights he has been given a shot and done fairly well overall.  We miss Komarov when he’s out (and he’s been out a lot this season) but every team has injuries, eh?

So who are the shining lights who aren’t in net?  The players that you say, hey, those guys are playing their hearts out every night; they may not score goals, but they are doing their job, working hard on every shift, fighting to make plays.

How many Leafs are, say, a 9 out of 10 on the heart and soul meter—guys who show us how badly they hate to lose? Can you name them?

We’ve talked ad nauseum here over the past five plus years about a range of topics, but I don’t know if we have talked about a topic more than these two: leadership and identity. A team needs real leaders, and also needs to establish and play to a legitimate identity.

I don’t think this team has any true leaders, and if we do, then we don’t have enough (as I’ve said here before) good followers. 

As far as identity, I couldn’t begin to describe what it is.

I like Horachek, too, but I don’t se the Leafs necessarily finding that elusive identity soon.  Maybe I’ll be proven wrong, but I think you need to have the long term coaching situation nailed down first too, whoever that might be.

You also need to move some of the roster pieces.  As much as we say the media is hard on the players, by and large, it’s great to be a Maple Leaf.  Playing here can be amazing. You just have to work your tail off. You don’t even have to win. Fans here forgive losing (c’mon, we haven’t won a thing, really, in 50 years almost). But effort resonates with us as fans.

That’s why I always remember names like Bob Pulford, Bobby Baun, Ron Ellis, Dave Keon, Brian Spencer, Scott Garland, Darryl Sittler, Lanny McDonald, “Motor City” Smitty, Wendel Clark, Dmitry Yushkevich, Danny Markov, Tie Domi, (add your own names) etc. Some of those individuals were considered “stars”; others were role players who were't even Leafs for that long. But because, way more often than not, they gave maximum effort, we noticed and we responded with the kind of affection that fans have for only certain players—and teams (e.g. those early ‘90s Doug Glmour-led Pat Burns squads…).

When Roman Polak took a puck in the face a few games back against the Capitals and came back to play that night, how did his teammates react?  By the way they played, I would say “Ho hum” .

I’m sure they were privately in awe, but did it really affect their play? Did it inspire them? That moment alone should have motivated the Leafs, but it didn’t seem to, for whatever reason.

Right now, I feel like Leafdom is in a lull.  The team is neither awful, or terribly good.  We have some nice players who, when the puck is going in and the goalies are standing on their head, will make us temporarily forget we lack the intangibles (and tangibles) that make for great teams.

But the rest of the time, we wait and hope that management can find a way to build a roster that has talent—but also hates to lose.

Because, ultimately, that’s about the only way you will ever win.