The punchless Maple Leaf offense was being predicted by the media throughout the preseason and the Leafs haven't disappointed in that area. Though it's not necessarily from a lack of offensive skilled players. I see it as a combination of several factors.
A lack of depth has forced to Leafs to play players in roles that they are not suited for. This has been a long term problem for the team that has not yet been resolved by Brian Burke. Think Dominic Moore playing on the second or third line. Too may players are getting ice time that frankly hasn't been earned - Tyler Bozak and Kris Versteeg are the most obvious. But giving the likes of Mikhail Grabovski or Clark MacArthur more ice time is not the answer either.
But probably a bigger factor is the size of the Leaf forwards. For all of Burke's bluster about beefing up the Leaf roster, he picks up Phil Kessell at 5'11", 180 lbs, Tyler Bozak at 6'1", 183 lbs, and Clark MacArthur at 5'11", 191 lbs. The only top 6 forward at over 200 lbs is Nikolai Kulemin at 225 lbs. None of these players are able to penetrate oppositions' defense which means lots of long shots and bad angle shots. No wonder they have been shutout two games straight. Even Vesa Toskala would look good against this type of shooting. It also explains why little used Colton Orr has so far out scored Grabovski and Versteeg,
So why wasn't 6'6", 240 lbs Nik Antropov or 6'4", 230 lbs Alexei Ponikarovsky good enough to play on the Leaf's top two lines?
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