2009-2010 Mike Komisarek

From Beauchemin to Stalberg, we're taking a look at and grading (please read the criteria below) the 2009-10 season for every player who laced 'em up for the Maple Leafs for a significant number of games during the campaign, with an eye towards 2010-11. That means only guys that are still property of the Maple Leafs. We're doing this in concert with Maple Leafs Hot Stove. Next up, Mike Komisarek.

Mike Komisarek

#8 / Defenseman / Toronto Maple Leafs

Height: 6-4

Weight: 243

Born: Jan 19, 1982

Years in the NHL: 7

Became a Leaf: Signed July 1, 2009 as a UFA. Go back and read that post. I was not a happy camper.

Contract Status: Year 2 of a 5 year, $22.5M contract; $4.5M cap hit

Today's Maple Leaf Hot Stove's turn. Alec Brownscombe will be taking the reins.

Mike Komisarek entered the 2009-10 season on a new five year, 22.5 million contract (4.5 per) with hopes that the change of scenery to different albeit analogous surroundings would help restore his ‘07-08 form after a setback of a ’08-09 season. In a year of injury and acrimony (including charges of a lack of focus), Komisarek would sit among league leaders in giveaways and seemed to reach a breaking point in his embarrassing bouts with Milan Lucic in the playoffs. While Komisarek overcomplicated his defensive game and was often caught out of position as a result, the silver lining remained Komisarek’s team-leading 191 hits and top five shot block total.

The hopes were that Komisarek could eat some minutes on a reformed Leafs blueline, add a physical presence, simplify his defensive game and help resuscitate a moribund penalty kill. These hopes are now delayed a season as ‘09-10 became mostly a write-off due to a season-ending shoulder injury that limited the New York native to a 34-game campaign.

Read the Full Profile at Maple Leafs Hot Stove and come over the jump for more.

Audience Participation

Rate Komisarek below on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best) based on his performance relative to his potential and your expectations for the season - if he had the best year you could have imagined him having, give him a 10; if he more or less played as you expected he would, give him a 5 or a 6; if he had the worst year you could have imagined him having, give him a 1.

The Discussion

Komisarek's decision to try to avoid surgery, in a shock to absolutely no one, backfired spectacularly as his season was cut short by a, you guessed it, shoulder injury. This meant that he got no time in front of NHL goalies. It's a shame his season ended because he had started to come around and Chemmy had actually started a good post about how well he was actually playing and how the losing streak was crippling his stats. Anyway, what do we make of Komisarek? Does his first year even count in terms of judging him?

Eye-Candy

How would you rate Mike Komisarek's 2009-2010 season?