Komisarek would have been good choice, too

Hockey Betting Lines

06/15/2010 - Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fans of the Maple Leafs are a long-suffering sort.

The Leafs now have the longest Cup-less streak in the NHL, having not won since May 1967. The Chicago Blackhawks heaved the weight of going Cup-less since 1961 off their backs last week in Philadelphia.

Every Original Six team has now won the Stanley Cup in the modern era. Boston last won it in 1972; Montreal, in 1993; New York Rangers, 1994; and Detroit, 2008.

Judging by their 29th-place finish in last year's standings, the Leafs are still light years away from ending their silverware-free skein, but there is hope.

The Pittsburgh Penguins finished 29th in the standings in 2005-06 and then went to two straight Stanley Cup finals, winning it all in 2009.

The Chicago Blackhawks tied for 25th in the standings in 2006-07. Last week, there was a ticker-tape parade for the Cup champions.

The Philadelphia Flyers were dead last in the standings in 2006-07 and were two wins from the Stanley Cup this spring.

The Pens, of course, have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. The Hawks have Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. And the Flyers have Mike Richards and Jeff Carter. Note that all of these players are with the teams that originally drafted them.

The Leafs aren't so much into player development - a holdover from the mortgage-the-future-in-order-to-lose-now mentality that pervades the organization. Why develop players when you can buy them?

That is not a bad strategy per se. The Flyers didn't develop Danny Briere or Chris Pronger; the Hawks didn't develop Marian Hossa or Brian Campbell. But in the age of the salary cap, a team needs a core of talent that it has raised on its own, so as to keep labor costs down.

The announcement Monday that Dion Phaneuf was named captain of the Blue and White comes as a surprise to no one. He's brash, he's confident and, since he came into the league in 2005-06, he leads defensemen in goals (77) and power play goals (48). And he's a devastating body checker.

He's what Leafs GM Brian Burke calls "truculent." He's a good choice for captain of a team that has a lot of room to grow.

Let's hope a healthy Mike Komisarek responds well to the news. Before the acquisition of Phaneuf at the end of January, there was a lot of talk about Komisarek becoming captain. Despite his public deference to management, Komisarek would only be human if he had his eyes on the captain's C.

Phaneuf and Komisarek are two pillars of a Leafs team that is looking to get off the mat. For the sake of Leafs fans, let's hope that duo can get along.

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