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| Kessel, Connolly, Kadri, Lupul |
It is difficult to believe that the last time Leafs fans witnessed their team in the post-season was before the 2004-2005 NHL lockout. Last year, despite narrowly missing the playoffs, the Leafs were able to take away 2 plus' after a late season run; the Grabo, MacArthur and Kulimen line as well as the emergence of James Reimer. It has clearly been a long wait for Toronto, but with a few savvy moves by Burke, the team looks to have their best chance to make to playoffs in quite some time. Burke acquired the likes of Connolly, Liles, Franson, and Lombardi via trade and free agency while earlier gaining the services of Lupul, Gardiner, and Colbourne during last season. This summer, Burke was also able to lock up Luke Schenn to a 5-year deal and also agree to terms with Clarke MacArthur, keeping the successful trio (Grabo, Kuli, Mac) together for at least another season.
Despite all of this, this current Leafs roster still holds plenty of question marks. Can Connolly and Lombardi stay healthy? Can Connolly develop Kessel into a 40-goal man? Are the Grabo-Kuli-Mac line going to follow up last season with a successful sophomore run? And lastly, can James Reimer live up to the hype, and deal with the Toronto media after only 37 NHL games? With that aside, the Leafs do potentially have the deepest defence in the NHL as well as having young forwards with the likes of Frattin, Kadri and Colbourne to fill up their depth charts; if they did in fact make a run at the playoffs. But realistically, though the team has their best chance they have had in a while; this team can easily be 6th, 7th or 8th in the East, just as easy as they could be 9th, 10th or 11th in an extremely tight conference.
Gardiner and Frattin have impressed during this years camp and preseason, so look for the to be the dark-horses to crack the squad. But one of the best stories of this years preseason is Matthew Lombardi's seemingly remarkable recovery from post-concussion syndrome; now making noise to crack the squad before opening day.
Here is my mock of the Leafs potential opening day roster:
Kulimen, Grabo, MacArthur
Kessel, Connolly, Lupul
Kadri, Bozak, Armstrong
Lombardi, Boyce, Orr
Extras: Frattin, Dupuis
Gunnerson, Phaneuf
Schenn, Liles
Franson, Gardiner/Aulie
Extras: Komisarek
