Playoff Performance Leafs?
The New Leafs: Are they playoff performers?The new Leafs who will see action on the top two lines:
Robert Reichel, Alex Mogilny, and Mikael Renberg.
A lot of questions have been raised as to the ability of the new Leafs to perform well in the playoffs. Many people are under the impression that none of these players have done anything in the playoffs. However, most of these accusations are just blatantly false. The ability of these players to perform well in the playoffs has been documented in the past and is readily available in an easily consumable form-their stats. The playoff stats of these players aren’t mind-blowing, but they’re not supposed to be. These new players have been brought in to act as part of a supporting cast for the likes Sundin, Roberts, Joseph, etc. They’re not going to light up the lamplight each and every night however, more conservative estimates that are based on the expectations that will be placed on them should be used. These players will be expected to produce numbers that are less than what Sundin puts up in the playoffs. A good estimate of what Sundin is expected is one point per game (PPG). Now these secondary players will be expected to put up at least 0.5-0.7 PPG depending on their skill level. Looking at the past stats and numbers of the new Leafs, we can see that they have a chance of fitting into this range quite well.
Robert Reichel
Career Playoff Games: 33 Career Playoff Points: 23 Playoff PPG: 0.7
Alex Mogilny
Career Playoff Games: 85 Career Playoff Points: 62 Playoff PPG: 0.73
Mikael Renberg
Career Playoff Games: 55 Career Playoff Points: 36 Playoff PPG: 0.66
Each of these players meets the requirements of ‘supporting cast’ in my opinion, and although people may say that these numbers are ‘in the past’, the fact remains that these guys CAN put up good numbers in the playoffs, and in the end, that’s all you can ask for. Not many players in the league are a ‘sure thing’ come playoff time, but at least these guys have done well in the past. Add in international competitions, and you’ll see even more, that these guys can play well in games as important as the playoffs.
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