In my opinion, the Leafs won’t make the playoffs, here are the 5 reasons why not.

1. They did not get the no.1 centre they were looking for. Joffrey Lupul and Phil Kessel need a centre to complete that no.1 line. They cannot play at their full potential with different centres who are technically not supposed to play on a top line in the NHL.

2. The Goalies are inconsistent. Brian Burke reaffirmed yesterday that he still has confidence in James Reimer and he believes Reimer will be the future’s goalie for the Leafs. However, last week he said that it would be dumb not to shop around for a goaltender. I believe he just couldn’t find the goalie he was looking for at the right price, and he is stuck with Reimer and Jonas Gustavsson…at least for now.

3. The remaining schedule. The Leafs don’t have the toughest schedule remaining from now until the end of the season, however the team that are battling with them for the 8th spot have an easier schedule coming up. This could be costly come beginning of April.

4. The seconadary scoring has dissapeared. Mikhail Grabovski is on a cold streak after being so hot, and the rest of the Leafs are not scoring as near as they were a few weeks ago.

5. The defence is atrocious lately. All 6 defenceman, excluding maybe James Gardiner have been awful lately. Dion Phaneuf is not playing up to his potential and Luke Schenn continues to dissapoint. They won’t make it to the playoffs if those defencemen don’t wake up.


Tags: , , , , phil kessel,