Sunday, November 15, 2009

Is it time for Grabovksi to center Kessel?


The Toronto Maple Leafs continue to stink up the joint as they get closer to the 1/4 mark of the NHL season and sit in the 29th spot in the NHL one point ahead of Carolina and four points behind Florida and Anaheim. The Leafs are averaging 2.5 goals per game this season, sit last on the penalty kill and are a league worst 1-6-2 at home. The team on many nights seem to take a little too long to realize that the game is underway and hence fall behind early as was apparent in yesterdays loss to Calgary and on Friday in Chicago. The fans at yesterdays game were just finding their seats when two goals were scored before the game was even two minutes old, coach Ron Wilson called a timeout to let his team know that the game was underway and that they were already behind once again. The coach and his staff continue to shuffle lines looking for a combo that can produce some consistency for more then a few shifts or a game or two. The time has come now for Ron Wilson to place Mikhail Grabovski with Phil Kessel. These two players are the only forwards on this team that actually have the opposing defense back peddling when they are coming into the zone with the puck. Wilson seems to be worried that both Kessel and Grabovski want to carry the puck but from watching this seasons games it looks like Grabovski is thinking pass first before thinking shoot, while Kessel is a shoot first before pass player. Grabovski has taken 35 shots on net in 18 games while Kessel has 34 shots on net in 6 games. Why not place the two together and see what will come from this? The team seems to be concerned with placing the two together, I for one dont see what the problem is? Do we have anything to lose on this experiment? These are two professional hockey players I'm sure they can talk over how much each will carry the puck and any other matters that may arise from playing on the same line. The Leafs need to start winning, these players need to be placed together and maybe a call up to a young Swede in Viktor Stalberg would compliment the duo. The time to try the combo is NOW! Is there anything more to add?

1 comment:

  1. What is it with everyone's love for Grabovski i have been nothing but dissapointed with his play all year and with the exception of mabye Wallin he has been the worst forward on the team

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