Troubled Buds hit bottom

So that was that. Not sure what sound effect I should use to illustrate the Buds’ freefall to the bottom of the pack in the East, overtaken by  the Carolina Hurricanes by virtue of their four game winning streak and Toronto’s horrendous collapse last night at the hands of the Canucks. There was irony aplenty just to make the loss more brutal for Leafs Nation.

After pounding 3 past Roberto Luongo in the first period, including 2 from the enigmatic Phil Kessel, the Canucks pulled Luongo to start the second, in favour of….. wait for it….. Andrew Raycroft. So right away, you know this is going to go one of either 2 ways. Raycroft will be, well, the Raycroft we booed out of town. Or, he will suddenly become, you know…

SUPER GOALIE!

So the irony there is Raycroft was bought out by the Leafs. As he was in the Canucks net deflecting pucks like, you know… SUPER GOALIE… his salry was being paid by… wait for it… the TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS.

Wait. Wait. It gets better.

Up in the stands amongst the military guest of honour are a dozen or more scouts from various NHL clubs circling the Leafs like turkey buzzards. One of them is none other than… okay okay okay… ready….. John Ferguson Jr.

I still love the Phil Kessel trade. He’ll pay dividends for quit some time once he gets his conditioning back to where it was and the schedule uncompresses.  I think he’ll see a coaching change soon enough that’ll impact his level of play greatly.

It can still get a little worse. The Edmonton Oilers are still 7 points back of the Leafs for dead last in the league, but of they start suddenly playing like the Carolina Hurricanes or something… well… we have that to look forward to.

Other Links to this Post

1. Raycroft, Sedins and Burrows Beat The Leafs « Canucks — February 1, 2010 @ 1:05 am