With the Toronto Maple Leafs enjoying some time off, pretty much everybody has left the city, except for one man, Leafs general manager Lou Lamoriello. The Leafs GM sits in his snowy office in Toronto while the majority of his players will be enjoying sunshine during quick vacations and with the team sitting in second place, the players deserve it. "If you were to say in September that we'd have 53 points in 45 games, you'd take it. But you pinch yourself and look at the systematic parts of it. We score goals but we're giving up too many at certain times in the game, so you break down your game, five on five, power play, penalty kill, and go back to the decision making process on the ice, when and where to take chances … but overall you feel good about the team, and the best part of it is, I don't feel we are at the level we are capable of. That's the extreme positive for us at this point."
As Lou mentioned, the team is clearly giving up too many goals and most people are quick to point out the teams lack of depth on he defensive end. "I think its unfair for focus solely on the defencemen. There's the defencemen, but there's the forwards, too, the third man high … pinching a puck, and the defenceman gets caught, the third man high (should cover for it), and then you won't get caught on an odd man rush. There's the goalie, and you see a goal go in, then you see the opportunities given in front of the goalie. I think it is everyone together. But I feel overall, our defencemen have done a good job."
What do you think of Lou's comments?
