For Carl Gunnarsson, the Toronto Maple Leafs' blue line is a very difficult place to be right now. According to capgeek.com, the Leafs have the most salary committed to defense in the league at $28.325 million. Which is an awful lot for what was the league's worst defensive team last season.
Granted the problems were not just with the defenseman, the forwards weren't supporting them much and neither were the goaltenders. With Dion Phaneuf and Jean-Sebastien Giguere joining the defensive core, the Leafs have upgraded in terms of talent and cost.
It is surprising that after almost earning a roster spot with the Leafs after last year's training camp, many journalists, pundits, and fans don't have Gunnarsson among the Leafs' top-six defensemen. Most recently, fellow B/R writer and Hockeybuzz contributor Ken Beckett has deemed Gunnarsson in need of AHL seasoning and has elected to keep Brett Lebda and Jeff Finger with the big club.
At this point I am sure that Finger would just like to play, be it with the Leafs or Toronto Marlies. The Lebda issue is intriguing but at the same time Lebda's best season is almost iden ...
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Article written by Cale Loney
Carl Gunnarsson: An Uzi Deserving Top-Four Minutes For The Toronto Maple Leafs
September 8th, 2010 by Cale Loney Leave a reply »
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