Jeff O’Neill, the TV commentator/analyst, opined that the Leafs has “no pyhsicality’ and that this needed to change or they would be physically crushed in the playoffs. This on the Toronto-Winnipeg telecast last Saturday.
But it’s too late-there is no fix. And please, coach, don’t insert Leo Komarov in again, because he has a “wide body” (his quote) and because he is a defensive presence. The Leafs are a run and gun team and that is our identity. That fourth line with Kapanen and Johnsson on the wings maintains that purity, that blinding speed, the four lines rolled out. How different a dynamic with Komarov in there, I can feel the whole team sag, slow down.
Jeff O’Neill articulates the Leafs looming playoff crisis, can they with-stand the physical pounding as opponents focus on their frailty. A slow ‘wide body’ will do nothing to change that. Nor will Matt Martins presence-the only remedy isthe continued willingness of Marner, Nylander, Rielly, Dermott etc., to take the pounding, or to personify the saying “you can’t hit what you can’t catch”.
I know I don’t have the insider knowledge, I know there is much I am not aware of, and maybe I’m delusional, but is it possible to succeed in the heavy hitting ‘refs let it all go’ cauldron that is the NHL playoffs with the offensive dynamo that the Leafs of late have evolved into?