The Toronto Maple Leafs are lucky that this game is on the road. If it were at the Air Canada Centre then having not one but two major former Maple Leafs would probably cause the universe to implode. Pavel Kubina, like Jeff Finger, suffered from receiving a large contract and then not being deployed properly. He was a third first powerplay defenceman when the team already had two in Tomas Kaberle and Bryan McCabe. I would love to ask Cliff Fletcher but I am convinced that Finger was brought in to replace Kubina but before he could be dealt Wilson was hired and he had wanted Kubina in San Jose so he stayed. Then along came Brian Burke and he had no time for Jeff Finger and that's the story of how poor Jeff Finger never got a chance to succeed with the Leafs.
A heads up before you decide whether to continue investing your time in reading about this game. Courtesy of Puck Daddy:
"How big is tonight's game against the Leafs for the Thrashers? A win increases their playoff probability to 23.3 while a loss drops it down to 8.6 percent, according to Sports Club."
Just take that with a grain of salt since we all know how Toronto fares during really important games.
On to the players I miss.
Back to Kubina, he got a bum rap from fans. He didn't pot 100 points in his first year so automatically $5M was a boat anchor and he was forever a bum. Even when he was tearing things up and earning his contract. C'est la vie. He's been one of Atlanta's best defencemen (old story but he's likely 1 or 2 right now) this season. Kubina's on pace to finish around the 40 point mark which is exactly where he finished his last two years in Toronto and that's despite his shooting percentage dropping by 50% from his last two years. His +/- has incread by 17 but that's mostly a function of not having to play in front of Vesa "Dog Shit" Toskala anymore.
Kubina is 22nd in scoring among defencemen and 21st in salary. In 2008-2009 he was 26th and the year before he was 19th. He was nothing if not consistent. Wonder why the powerplay has dropped off? Pavel Kubina. I understand why he had to go and why the Leafs didn't get too much for him but I just wanted to point out that he got a raw deal in this town. Yes, his stick broke an inordinate number of times and always seemingly at the worst possible moment but you know what? If you hated Pavel Kubina I don't like you.
But no one got a raw-er deal than Nikolai Antropov. If you hated Nik Antropov, then I despise you. If you booed him when he was announced as a healthy scratch then I want to punch you in the face. "Injury prone", "soft", "slow", "bust" were all words used to describe the lanky Kazakh and they were all bullshit. Drafted 10th overall he was imbued with the lofty expectations that come with his draft slot. Nevermind that he did as well as could be expected he constantly suffered from comparisons with the rest of the 1998 draft class.
If not for two major knee surgeries and a bad shoulder injury who knows how much better Antropov could have become. He never complained about the toxic reception he received and always worked hard to recover from every setback. Since the lockout he has scored at a 0.73 pts/gm pace in 333 games (out of 410 of which 53 were missed in the first two years). At $4M Thrashers liked what they were getting and Antro has delivered. He has been the Thrashers' best forward at even strength and sits 32nd in scoring (while setting a new career high) despite having the 115th highest cap hit.
I think that Brian Burke made the right move in moving guys like Ponikarovsky and Antropov to get some picks back rather than seeing them walk for nothing as UFAs. As discussed possibly ad nauseum on our nascent podcast, the best development path for kids is generally to hold them out of the NHL until they are ready to take on top-level competition. If Antropov could have stuck around for a one or two year contract he would have been an ideal candidate to play the role of stop-gap. Unfortunately, he wanted what he deserved and has earned his success. I hope the Leafs win but hopefully it's in overtime so that the Thrashers can get some help to make the playoffs.
Oh yeah, and Jonas Gustavsson is getting the start tonight.
Update: Because 1967ers has a tough job and a house full of rugrats, the Leaf of the Day will take a walk down memory lane
Leaf of the Day Flashback - Pavel Kubina
Leaf of the Day Flashback - Nick Antropov I
Leaf of the Day Flashback - Nik Antropov II
Update 2: From HF10 of Four Habs Fans:
If anyone tells you they hate/hated Antropov, tell them perspective and hindsight are everything. I would have killed to get Antropov out of round 1 in 1998 instead of Eric Fucking Chouinard. Thanks a lot, Reggie Houle.
