Wednesday, August 02, 2006

LEETCH STILL HAS A LOT TO OFFER

Brian Leetch, 38, has a great resume- a Stanley Cup, Conn Smyth trophy, Calder trophy, and 2 Norris trophies. He has 1028 points in 1205 regular seasons, and an even more impressive 97 points in 95 career playoff games.
All this at a $4 million salary. So what gives? Why is he still available as an unrestricted free agent this late in the summer?
One reason is his horrible outing last season in Boston. Leetch had his worst offensive season since his rookie season in 1987/88. Alot of this can be attributed to the amount of injuries he sustained with the Bruins. He had a groin injury in January, which he re-aggravated, a head injury from Daniel Briere's stick,in April, and a strained MCL last November. His health track record is slowly decaying.
Leetch may not be the player he once was, but he isn't that far off either. I'm sure his age worries teams as well, but Leetch is not a slow old fart. He is plenty capable of rushing the puck up ice quickly and effectively. He's a hell of a passer and shooter as well, and can quarterback a powerplay.
And what about leadership? Leetch is not known to be a loud guy off the ice, but on the ice it's a different story. Leaf defenceman Bryan Mccabe has openly stated that Leetch taught him a great deal about playing the point on the power play when they briefly played together in T.O. And look how McCabe's numbers soared the next season, even without Leetch there.
There are reports out of Boston that the Bruins may still sign Leetch after they sign all of their restricted free agents. But at 4 million? They won't have enough room under the cap after they sign their free agents. The same applies to the Rangers, who may also be interested. Leetch's options at $4 million are very limited. Odds are he'll play somewhere in the East for $2 million or less, and incentives could be tied to the deal. I'm sure he will not go West, unless he absolutely HAS TO.
What is really unfortunate is that Leetch's career could be over at 38 years old, with plenty left in the tank. I guess we'll see how much of a cut he is willing to take to stick around.

4 Comments:

At August 3, 2006 at 9:12 p.m. , Blogger Robert L said...

You over rate Leetch. He was captain and so called best defenseman on a team that missed the playoffs seven years in a row. that's an accomplishment. The last two teams who had him , have no interest in him. It is true that Leetch taught McCabe so well, that he imitated his play. His plus/minus plummeted and his team missed the playoffs. Good work! Hope they sign him again. I thought he was done years ago.

 
At August 4, 2006 at 1:04 a.m. , Blogger Sean Zandberg said...

I dunno, you need to watch him a little closer, and he needs to play a whole season. He sure isn't all that much SLOWER, is he?
Missing the playoffs in NEW YORK??? That doesn't count against him when the team was in disarray! Not even Sakic for example, could have saved the Rangers during that fiasco!
But I may over rate him a bit though, probably for nostalgic purposes!

 
At August 4, 2006 at 2:33 a.m. , Blogger Robert L said...

In 1997, he went from +31 to -36 in the space of a season. He played an average of 26 minutes a game. Must be the coaches fault for playing him too much. He is naturally gifted on offense, but defensively he is pffffffffffft!

 
At August 4, 2006 at 8:56 a.m. , Blogger Sean Zandberg said...

Well, it is true he is better offensively.
Plus and minus stats are sometimes deceiving, no? They are due in part to team team as well! Geez, that was when Gretzky played for them isn't it?

 

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home

Waiting For Stanley was created in June 2006.