Only ONE weakness? How about only ONE strength? Until the Leafs got Kessel, they were on an elevator with only one direction...down. That one player turned the team around so how can you say that having Markov back in the habs lineup won't do the same for them? And at the moment, the habs also have a goalie problem with Price's inability to keep his concentration up during the game. Yeah, he makes some great saves but seems to find a way to let in at least one bad goal per game and when your team is losing most of their games by one goal, that's one bad goal too many. I think it's time for Halak to have a shot by giving him a decent number of starts in a row instead of 1 ever 6 games or so.
By the way...how's Komi doing?
Sorry for quoting the whole post, but i have to answer each point you've made. The Leafs were playing good even before Kessel came back from his surgery. They regularly outshot the opposition, but experienced a lot of bad luck & a string of hot goalies. But you had to watch the games to believe what i just wrote.
I think a lot of people will be surprised that Markov's return won't have more of an impact on the team. As i've mentionned in other posts, Bergeron was doing as effective a job on offense. Maybe better than Markov would have. Defense is a different story (Bergeron is brutal defensively), but the problem right now isn't preventing goals, but scoring them.
Your comment about Price reminds me of what people are saying about Toskala. He's made some good saves in his past 4-5 games, but always seems to find a way to let in a soft goal, which is demoralizing to the team. Last night's flubber was downright embarrassing not just for Toskala & the Leafs, but to the entire NHL.
If the Habs don't have enough faith in Price, maybe they should give Halak a chance to be their number one goalie. But my personal impression is that Halak isn't strong enough to be a number one goalie. Like Toskala, he is a very good back-up goalie, where you can spot his starts & put the less pressure on him as possible. But who knows....
The Leafs have now unofficially anointed Jonas Gustaffson as their #1 goalie. He'll be put under the microscope for now on until the end of the season. On a one-year contract, that's when the Leafs brass will decide if they offer him another contract, and if he has the goods to be a legitimate #1 goalie. If so, they likely will offer him a nice raise on a multi-year deal. If not.....don't be surprised if Burke doesn't go after Carey Price, who is a restricted free agent at the end of the season & will likely get offers in the $5 million+ range from other teams, no matter how high the price of compensation will be. Most teams are aware that the Habs probably won't have the cap space to match those offers, so either a deal similar to what the Leafs & Bruins did in regards to the Phil Kessel trade will be made, or teams will just decide to bite the bullet & sign him, even if the compensation is 4 first-round picks. The Habs don't exactly have a spotless record when it comes to first-round picks, so the cost might not be as high as some people think. The Habs might also not elect to match (even if they would have cap space) since Andrei Markov is a free agent after the following season, and they'll likely make him one of the league's highest paid players if they want to keep him. If they re-sign Price, he'll be expensive this time around....and they likely wouldn't have any money left to re-sign Markov the following season. Which is also why they'll likely trade (or should) Tomas Plekanec prior to the trade deadline, since the chances of re-signing him are very small, even though both parties would probably want to stay together. The Habs need the cap space to re-sign Price....and if not, Markov.
