Pressure is on with Mats out

By SCOTT MORRISON -- Toronto Sun The question asked most often in these parts over the past few months was could the Maple Leafs be at least as good as last season, or perhaps even better?
The answer most often given was yes, but ...
And the but usually was followed by the same rider, that even though the Leafs didn't make any major plunges into the free-agent pool during the off-season, even though they didn't make any significant transactions, there was no reason to believe they couldn't continue to grow as long as the world continued to unfold without any major complications.
Meaning that everything continued to go their way and that neither of their two key players, captain Mat Sundin or goaltender Curtis Joseph, got seriously hurt.
Well, so much for the best-laid plans.
Four games into the season, Sundin did get hurt. On Saturday night in Ottawa, he stopped a shot with his right ankle and suffered a non-displaced fracture that, the Leafs announced last night, will keep him out of the lineup for at least a month and maybe six weeks.
Sundin was not on the ice last night, either, as the Leafs lost 4-2 to the Nashville Predators, which is hardly a good omen for what might lie ahead.
But if adversity is the breakfast of champions or for teams that consider themselves serious contenders, then the Leafs have their plate full. Now to see if they can stomach the situation at hand. They won't be the only team in this bind: Witness the Ottawa Senators without Alexei Yashin.
Replacing Sundin will not be easy. Responding to challenges issued by general manager/coach Pat Quinn in the summer, Sundin hired a personal trainer and reported to training camp in the best condition of his career. While his pre-season was unspectacular, his limited regular season was outstanding. He was clearly the Leafs' best skater. But now he is gone. So what happens?
The call went out last night to St. John's for rookie Nikolai Antropov, who had an impressive pre-season and likely would have stuck with the big club if not for an excess of players who otherwise could not be moved.
Now, it's too much to expect a 19-year-old to fill Sundin's role, that responsibility will have to be shared. But the Leafs have proved they have the depth up front to survive.
It's interesting, but when the season started, when Quinn the general manager was looking over his roster, he said he wanted Antropov and Kevyn Adams back in Toronto this season, preferably sooner than later. He just didn't want it to happen quite this way.
Although Antropov has the limitations that are common with a first-year pro, the former first-round pick impressed the coaching staff with his knack around the net and his willingness to get, as coaches put it, his nose dirty to get the job done. In other words, he didn't shy away from the physical play and he all but played his way on to the roster.
What the Leafs need, though, is for the other lines to pick up the offensive slack, presuming that Antropov simply moves in between Steve Thomas and Jonas Hoglund.
And they also have to insert tapes of some of their playoff successes last spring to remind them just how well they were able to play as a team defensively, especially on nights when Sundin was not an offensive factor.
All of which brings us back to the other key player, Joseph, whose brilliance in goal kept the Leafs last season from experiencing any prolonged losing streaks. Back in October, they lost three consecutive games, but six times after that they lost two in a row but never a third. Let's just say the pressure is on again.
It's ironic, too, that Quinn had hoped to use some of the assembled roster depth to strengthen his club down the middle, with the ultimate goal of finding a big, first-line centre that would allow them to move Sundin to the wing.
Making a major deal now, when you're not dealing from a position of strength, will be tough. So, to get the job done until Sundin returns, the Leafs have to look at themselves, which is where all good teams turn first anyway.
And if there is a bright side for the Leafs to all this, it's better that the injury to Sundin happened now than in March.

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