Canada’s Debate

There was an interesting (and much better written) column in the Star yesterday which discusses pretty much everything I discussed in my post of the same day; Dion’s ineffectiveness, Liberal disorganization, Harper’s relatively-free reign of the public debate, etc. Ironically, the author thinks that this is the time for silence. He suggests that Dion can use this time to regroup and let Harper catch some heat in the spotlight. This argument relies on two assumptions: that Harper will look bad in the public eye when this is all said and done, and subsequently lose support; and that time away from the spotlight will help Dion and the Liberals.

I can certainly see how he could draw that conclusion, but I believe that this is a case where the media is perhaps having trouble seperating itself from the public. (more…)

Bold words I know, but it’s a fair question to consider. In the last decade the Maple Leafs have employed a series of truly horrible defensive players. Some of them went on to play well elsewhere, some of them were past their prime, and some of them just sucked out loud. I’m thinking of players like Jyrkke Lumme, Phil Housley (who combined with Lumme to briefly form the worst defensive pairing in the history of hockey), Anders Ericksson, Andy Wozniewsky, Aki Berg, Nathan Dempsey, etc.

The time has finally come to add Bryan McCabe to the list. In the past I’ve been willing to excuse his defensive deficiencies to a degree (has trouble reading the play, handles the puck poorly, takes bad penalties) because he provided all-star offensive production, he genuinely gives his best effort, and he was not overpaid. That being said, now that he is being dramatically overpayed his performance quite simply has to improve, especially given the appalling depth at Defense for the Leafs (a defense which is costing over $20 million/year.)

As evinced by last night’s game, that is not likely to happen. To put it simple terms (in case the man himself is reading this), McCabe plays like a 19 year old rookie. Want proof? Look at his tremendously boneheaded cross-ice pass that cost the team the game last night and his post-game comments. He is on record as saying that he was trying the cross-ice touch-pass to set up a one-timer.

There was plenty of open ice and plenty of time. “I just tried to one-tap it to Nik and make the play,” McCabe said.

There are three major problems with that statement: First, a good defenseman NEVER tries a touch-pass without looking up to see if the passing lane is occupied. Second, a good defenseman NEVER tries a touch-pass across the blue line when the receiving player is stationary and preparing to shoot. Third, a good defenseman NEVER tries a touch-pass on a short-handed, or reduced (even) manpower situation. In any of those three situations the touch pass becomes incredibly dangerous; if it’s intercepted the other team is almost guaranteed a breakaway. Experienced defensemen know this… there are ocassional slipups naturally, and sometimes a good player (or a bad one) will break the rule; but they know it is a mistake. To Bryan McCabe, it was just a play that didn’t work, and for someone that’s been in the league for over a decade, that thinking demonstrates an alarming lack of maturity and hockey intelligence.

It also demonstrates why the Leafs need DESPERATELY to trade him, regardless of the short-term fallout for the team’s defensive efforts.

Oh, another question. How on earth does a butterfly goalie allow a five-hole goal in overtime against a defenseman who has trouble shooting the puck?

If you guessed “The Liberal Party,” you are correct.

Ok, I know that’s an appalingly easy riddle, but it seemed like a good way to convey what I am feeling. Every time I see Harper’s commercials about Dion I am incensed, not because it’s a cheap and offensive way to play the game, and not because it’s dishonest, but because there has been no coherent response from the Liberals whatsoever. The Liberal party is broke; I get it… but I find it hard to believe that they are so starved of resources that they can’t mount any sort of visible offensive, on public policy grounds or otherwise. If they are so starved, then that really says more about Dion’s leadership than any unfortunate statements he makes in the House of Commons.

Lets assume for a moment that they are not then, and consider what that means. Everyone is making hay of the fact that the Liberals are only a few points behind Harper, but “close second” doesn’t matter much when social programs are being eliminated and opportunities for action are being wasted, as has happened for over two years now. As near as I can tell, the Liberal inaction is being driven by two things: organizational confusion stemming from leadership tensions, and a “keep a low profile” attitude. The latter is a reflex response to Martin’s “lets air the Liberals-under-Chretien Garbage” approach, which was an unmitigated disaster; and the former is again most likely a result of a lack of strong leadership.

Not having any ties to the Liberal Party (I tried to join in order to throw my support behind Bob Rae, but the party AND Bob Rae’s campaign never processed my seperate applications) it’s hard for me to comment on what is supposedly going on behind closed doors; but I choose to do so anyways. I am not one to simply demand that Dion drop so the Liberals take another kick at the can. Dion is not a loser, I do believe that he is capable of effectively leading the Liberal Party of Canada, but it is clear that he is failing to do so at this time.

“The best defense is a good offense” is not necessarily true in Politics. Dion doesn’t need to be Harper-lite to win back voters (and the Government.) However, he does need to do more than be the loudest member of the Opposition in the House of Commons, right now that’s all that he is; and that’s not what he was elected as leader for.

I have mixed feelings regarding Remembrance Day, and they are invariably tied to the statement above: Lest We Forget. I try to respect and honour Canada’s veterans, and the contributions they have made over the decades, but I am never quite sure how I feel about it. “Lest we forget” is dramatic and an almost tangible statement, but it (like Remembrance Day) is a Monument without context.

Why should we remember, and what lessons are we supposed to take from it? My reasons are personal, but the general “message” can best be summarized as “sometimes fighting for what’s right is necessary; and sometimes that means dying for what’s right.” A noble sentiment perhaps, if an unfortunate byproduct of humanity’s state of affairs. But how is someone without a personal motivation supposed to embrace this reasoning, and more importantly, what lessons can we all learn from it? Aphorisms are nice, but they are catchy for a reason: they are easily digestible and lacking in substance. (more…)

I’ve been avoiding the whole Mulroney-Schreiber scandal for the last week or two, in part because I didn’t feel I was fully qualified to comment. Other (more “read”) bloggers have offered a variety of insightful (and uninsightful, naturally) posts on the subject.

Harper’s decision to open an investigation however alleviates any concerns I may have had about drifting towards demagoguery… This decision is a mistake in every way possible. Not because he shouldn’t open an investigation, but because the timing and optics of it are terrible. Now, why does that sound familiar?

In reality the political fallout from this kerfuffle will be minor when compared to the Gomery inquiry, regardless of how it develops: The Liberals were the majority, Mulroney had no legislative ties to the PC party, and was not lobbying them… the PC Party no longer exists, and none of the current big-name (and visible) Conservatives had anything to do with Mulroney at the time. More importantly, it has nothing to do with Quebec…

Still, one can’t help but wonder at Harper’s timing on this one. How could a level-headed politician refuse to open an investigation into a former mentor and claim his reasons were not political, and finally give in only when that politician’s name is implicated in court papers… and still claim politics are not the motivation? Of course none of this is surprising. This is a politician who has basically created a “cone of silence” around the legislative building to deflect criticism and otherwise prop up his minority.

Of course, none of this would be a problem if anyone on the other side of the hall had any cajones, or the media properly did it’s job…

Whoops… see, almost slipping into irrational raving there! Media and opposition parties checking the power-hungry minority? Pie-in-the-sky optimism that is!

I’m doing something today that I haven’t done in a very long time… I’m writing something out by hand. Granted, I will eventually type this up (and that is presumably how you’re reading it) but for now I’m enjoying a more tangible writing process.

Harper, Stephen Harper,
Head of the Conservative Party;
From the ‘burb of Leaside,
Pretends to be from the Prairies.
If he’s running from the Press Gallery,
Someone probably said “Minority.”
Harper, Stephen Harper,
He’s a douche-bag stone-age Blue Tory!

Continued from yesterday.

The defense has struggled horribly, and the offense[[[link]]] has played at precisely the level you would expect. The goalies are inconsistent and overpriced, and neither is capable of either playing as a backup, or taking a starting job… I guess that just leaves me with management and coaching. It’s tough to fairly assess a coach in the NHL; in the end the players are required to perform on the ice and the final responsibility falls on them. At the same time, a coach is responsible for making sure that their players are ready, and maximizing performance. Based on these criteria, how can we evaluate Paul Maurice?

More than anything, the fact that most of the Leafs players are performing at exactly the level people expected them to certainly suggests that the coach is not the person responsible for their early ineptitude. Raycroft is playing to the exact same level that he “achieved” last year and Toskala is inconsistent and often hung out to dry. The [[[LINK]]]offense is inconsistent and suffers as a result of not having any really dynamic players, and the [[[link]]]defense is crippled by bad decision making.

All that being said, the Leafs are clearly not practicing what Maurice is preaching. They seem to “get it” for a a couple of periods, or even a couple of games at a time, and then all of a sudden it’s like someone stuck lead weights their skates. When the Leafs are playing smart positional hockey (what Maurice was brought in to emphasize) they are an effective forechecking team and reliable defensively, and a promising road-trip last week suggests that Maurice has a strong system in place. At this point the players have just failed to stick to the game plan with any kind of consistency, and it may have already cost them a playoff spot.

Wither John Ferguson Jr? This man is a case-study in bad asset management. So far he is responsible for paying Ed Belfour $11 million dollars to not play a single game of hockey, making Bryan McCabe the highest paid road-pylon in North America and throwing in a no-movement clause just for good measure, and trading 4 draft picks and a goaltending prospect for two backup goaltenders… although in all fairness, for those picks he did also get a suspended alcoholic who will miss the start of NEXT season because he’ll be in jail and is a lock to score 10-15 goals this season.

The truth is that John Ferguson has been a disaster as a GM. At first I was cautiously optimistic, he was young and had no baggage with the franchise; could be precisely what the team needed… Then he displayed an appalling lack of foresight, first by signing Belfour just in time to ensure that he gets paid during the lockout (even though EVERYONE else knew it was coming.) Ok, so he needs a mulligan. Then he signs Tie Domi to a 1.2 million (per year) dollar contract that he eventually has to buy out. Trying to spend his way out of spending problems, he has carried on the timeless traditions of bring in veteran Leafs and washed up greybeards late in the season to help not improve the team, and squander the sort of mid/late round picks which produce the sort of depth players that the Leafs increasingly bring in through free agency and trades. In the last two years the Leafs have actually wasted draft picks on Yannic Perrault, Luke Richardson and even Tyson Nash… not only have these players failed to guide the Leafs to the playoffs, Richardson’s addition didn’t even improve the team’s overall performance, Perrault ended up being benched several times and Nash was immediately sent to the AHL.

When you balance it out, the team has over the last 3 years lost a slew of draft picks and several prospects, and in the process signed long-term deals with players far above their market value, crippling their ability to bring in impact players. Ferguson presumably felt that the market for defensemen was about to tighten, and by signing long-term contracts at high dollar value, he was capitalizing early. Unfortunately his predictions (which nobody else matched) turned out disastrously wrong.

Bad scouting/drafting and management of draft picks is bad enough; when you add overspending on non-impact players and poor salary-cap management you have the current Toronto Maple Leafs. A team that needs to go all out to stay mediocre, with no help on the immediate horizon.

Continued from yesterday.

The defense has struggled mightily, but the offense at first glance seems to have stabilized, right? Despite being near the top of the goals-scored ledger, Toronto’s offense is still a question mark. Beyond the lofty output of Sundin (anyone who thinks he is unaffected by the team’s struggles need only look at his scoring totals) and Antropov (who is finally rewarding me for my continued campaign of solitary loyalty and support) nobody on the team is producing consistently.

Most alarmingly, the team is struggling horrendously on the power play. Powerplay goals on Saturday and Tuesday are an encouraging sign, but hardly a trend… While some would argue that the Leafs powerplay is broken, anyone who has watched this team over the last few years knows exactly what the problem is: Toronto’s two best PP goalscorers are one-dimensional shooters who are unable to create offense. Put simply, Toronto’s two goalscoring options on the PP are Bryan McCabe and Darcy Tucker, and both rely on a single play for their goals. Teams know this, expect it, and can quite easily modify their PK to respond to it. Neither player can reliably play the puck and create scoring chances for others, so using them on the power-play is a make-or-break dilemma. (more…)