Mediocrity, disappointment and lowered expectations have plagued the Toronto Maple Leafs in the NHL's post-lockout era.
The losing ways of one of the league's most storied franchises were further cemented last season after the Buds missed the playoffs for the fourth year in a row. Not since May 4, 2004, has a post-season game been played on Air Canada Centre ice - an eternity in sports years.
Needless to say, the team's ravenous fans - collectively labeled "Leaf Nation" - are as hungry as ever and hope to see the fruit of general manager Brian Burke's labor begin to take shape on the ice this season.
Leafs Plan on Intimidating With Beefed Up Defence
Francois Beauchemin, Mike Komisarek and Garnet Exelby lead the meat parade on the blueline for the new-look Leafs.
The newest additions bring a whole lot of muscle that augments an already brawny and crowded defence corps that includes Mike Van Ryn, Jeff Finger, Jonas Frogren and sophomore Luke Schenn.
Tomas Kaberle, Toronto's dependable puck-moving stud, should benefit nicely from the open space provided by any one of the new hard-nosed d-men.
But aside from the Czech all-star, the Leafs will be hard-pressed to provide further offence from the blueline, especially now that Pavel Kubina, who scored 14 goals with the Leafs last season, has been jettisoned.
The x-factor in all of this continues to be Ian White, who could find himself squeezing into the defence picture or filling a spot on one of the forward lines as he did last season.
White, a diminutive puck-handling defenceman, has proved effective backing the Leafs power-play before. But those minutes could be eaten up by Beauchemin, who will likely assume first power-play duties alongside Kaberle.
Offence aside, keeping the puck out of the net is clearly the main objective for this revamped defence. The Leafs gave up a horrid 293 goals last season and looked lost at times in their own end. The added muscle, if they can stay out of the penalty box, will likely help lower that figure this year.
Finding the Net May Be an Issue for 2009-10 Maple Leafs
While the defensive lineup - on paper, at least - has been vastly improved, the 09-10 Leafs squad will have to make the best of what they've currently got up front, which isn't much.
GM Burke complained last season of the dearth of top-six caliber firepower on his team. This season, Burke has adopted a more optimistic tune, convinced that Mikhail Grabovski, coming off a surprising 20-goal season, is now a bona fide top-six level sniper.
It could be argued that the current Leafs actually have several worthy top-six forwards - Jason Blake, Niklas Hagman, and Alexei Ponikarovsky all showed they belong on the top two lines last season.
The problem is this team continues to lack a true offensive gamebreaker, an issue the Leafs have failed to address since the departure of ex-captain Mats Sundin. That void could soon be filled by 21-year-old scorer Phil Kessel if Burke is able to pry him away from the Boston Bruins.
But for the time being, the Leafs' approach to offence will have to be scoring by committee, a strategy that helped the team to a decent 10th place finish in goals scored last season.
Rookies like Tyler Bozak, Christian Hanson, and first-round pick Nazem Kadri have the potential to be surprise secondary scorers if they all make the team.
Matt Stajan, who some have pegged as a potential candidate for captain, will be under particular pressure to exceed the career highs in assists (40) and points (55) he set during last year's campaign.
Jiri Tlusty and newcomer Rickard Wallin remain the x-factors on offence for the Buds.
The inconsistent Tlusty had a rough start last season but is hoping to parlay the big numbers he put up with the AHL's Toronto Marlies after his demotion into a more consistent performance with the big club.
The 29-year-old Wallin, who has been out of the NHL for nearly five years, makes a return to North America after several seasons playing in Europe.
Leafs Hoping for a 'Monster' Season in Net
The major story in goal this season will be Jonas Gustavsson, the 24-year-old Swedish phenom who was lured away from the Swedish Elite League by the Leafs this summer.
The 6 foot 2 inch netminder, aptly nicknamed "The Monster," has only one mission at the outset of this new season: steal the starting job away from incumbent Vesa Toskala.
"I'm going to try to steal as many games from (Toskala) as I can," Gustavsson said in an interview with the Toronto Sun in July. "I know the best goalie gets the ice time and if I play good I’m going to get the chance."
Toskala, meanwhile, is coming off a career-worst season, one in which he often looked exhausted and unable to shoulder the workload of a No. 1 goalie. He is also coming off a season-ending hip operation.
Like Toskala, Gustavsson's health is a bit of a question mark as the young goalie recently underwent a minor procedure to fix an abnormal heartbeat.
Given they stay healthy, expect the two competitors to battle for the No. 1 job all season. Coach Ron Wilson, as he did in San Jose with Toskala and Evgeni Nabokov before, may opt to split the duties evenly between the two rather than stick with the hot hand.
Either way, both of these goalies should reap the benefits of the heavily beefed up defence unit in front of them.
