LeafFever
Registered User
- Feb 12, 2016
- 18,890
- 6,178
You're calling something that's true a myth with a myth of your own, because you don't remember what actually happened. McCabes defensive effectiveness took a nosedive when they started calling interference, and it wasn't just about his "can opener" (which was often a penalty even before they started called obstruction, it was tripping). It was about his slow pivot and inability to transition from backward to forward skating to beat a forward to a dump-in, and his tendency to keep a tight gap in the neutral zone because he was used to making up for his slowness with interference.
In the post-lockout season McCabe scored 19 goals and 49 assists, which is almost certanly what you're looking at when you say it was his "best year." What actually happened is that, league-wide, penalties went up enormously that year as all the rule changes came into effect. Remember it wasn't just interference/obstruction, it was the 2-line pass. Of those 19 goals and 49 assists, 13 and 32 respectively were scored on the PP. At even strength he was awful. Don't forget he was the trigger-man on a PP unit with Kaberle and Sundin.
That was also the year that Tucker TRIPLED his previous career high in PP production. Lots of cross-crease tap-ins from Sundin, if I recall.
I watched every game of the 05-06 season. The guy was fantastic. The Leafs could not win a game without him. It is indeed a myth.