When Will the Maple Leafs Win a Game?

Posted by Heather Engel Oct 14, 2009

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. After shoring up his team’s defense via the free agent market this summer, Brian Burke expected his club to be a playoff contender in 2009-10. Through six games so far, the Toronto Maple Leafs have looked like anything but.

Owners of a 0-5-1 record, they picked up their only point of the season in their opening night overtime loss to the Canadiens. A revamped back end hasn’t fared much better than the unit that closed out the 2008-09 season 30th in the NHL in both total goals against and goals-against average. After their 4-1 loss to the Avalanche on Tuesday night, the Leafs sat dead last in the league in both categories, allowing 28 tallies for an average of 4.67 per tilt.

Not helping matters is the time Toronto is spending in the penalty box, averaging nearly 18 minutes per game. They’ve been shorthanded 24 times so far and have seen their opponents convert a league-high 10 times on those opportunities. Far from what defensemen Mike Komisarek and Francois Beauchemin had in mind when they put pen to paper this past summer.

Goaltender Vesa Toskala’s struggles haven’t helped, nor has the injury to back-up Jonas Gustavsson. In his lone NHL regular season appearance so far, Gustavsson stopped 26 of 28 shots against the Senators. Had he not tweaked his groin, there’s a chance the rookie may have been given the chance to unseat Toskala as No. 1. Whether he would have put up solid numbers in relief is a question without an answer until makes his return.

So, what next?

Will Brian Burke Fire Ron Wilson?

The fact that teams can’t fire 20 players typically leads to the head coach getting the axe. But, in an interview with ESPN.com on Wednesday, Burke put the kibosh – at least for the time being – on firing Ron Wilson.

“Well, I think it's absurd,” he said. “This guy has coached over 1,000 games in the NHL. Did he suddenly forget how to coach? I can tell you this, there will be numerous, multiple player changes before the coaching staff would even be looked at, let alone considered.”

Wilson has three days at his disposal before any final decisions on changes are made. The Maple Leafs won’t see game action until Saturday night when they host the New York Rangers, who sat atop the Eastern Conference standings ahead of Wednesday night’s action.

If they can’t get into the win column on Saturday, the timing of a five-game road trip will be almost perfection. Following their matchup with the Rangers, Toronto will enjoy an entire week free of games before visiting Vancouver, Anaheim, Dallas, Buffalo and Montreal.

The next few teams on the Leafs’ schedule aren’t exactly the antidote for their woes. Eventually, though, you’d have to think that something’s got to give over there and they’ll get that elusive win.

When will that be? Your guess is as good as mine. And, with a third string goalie riding shotgun, the prediction is that much harder.

If you want to take a shot, email me at icehockey @ suite101.com (minus the spaces before and after the @). Will the Leafs win a game in October?