Editor's Note: pevans hits a lot of the right notes in this FanPost. There are bright spots on this team. There is no doubt of that. But as a whole this team is not headed in the right direction right now.

5-0 to the worst team in the NHL. Shut out, no less, for the sixth time in 16 games, we're now well on our way to shattering the all-time NHL record for a season in that ignominious category. And with apologies to Islanders and Panthers fans, we were blown out by the only other team in the league that's being described as a mismanaged laughingstock -- except they're the ones stockpiling a large pool of young talent, with another injection soon to come.

I thought we'd hit bottom last year. But I don't think we've hit it, even now.

As a team, going into this season, I sort of thought they would be a mediocre team this year. My call going in was that if everything came up best case scenario, they'd be a low seed playoff team. The formula for that happening was based on the D improving (it has, though they're even more overpaid) the goaltending improving (it has, but are also overpaid) and we'd find ways to score garbage goals to complement what few skilled topline scorers we have (we're not.)

Above all, I thought they'd lose to good teams, but if they could beat enough of the mediocre-to-bad ones, they might squeak into the playoffs. Coming up on 1/3 of the season, that's not happening. We're actually on pace for less points than last season, the worst one I have ever experienced in my 20 years as a fan. That's astounding.

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"You pick coach’s brains. Keith Acton has been a long time," plucky Leaf Tim Brent told in-house MLSE blogger Mike Ulmer recently. "He knows the penalty kill. That’s something I am going to key on if I want a job here," he said of the Leafs assistant coach who boasts a stronger survival instinct than a cockroach.

If he's in charge of the PK, I think "tough-actin' Keith Acton's" brain has been picked one too many times.

Toronto Marlies just tweeted: "The Toronto Maple Leafs announced Wednesday that defenceman Mike Van Ryn has elected not to play in the 2010-11 hockey season."

Too bad for Mikey. I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking he was a very nice return in McCabe's salary dump. Just beset by injuries.

At 31 years old, and after not playing for TWO entire seasons, I wonder if his career has to be over at this point.

Mike Van Ryn

#26 / Defenseman / Toronto Maple Leafs

Height: 6-1

Weight: 198

Born: May 14, 1979

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As much as I liked Fleet Fox's cogent piece on why he didn't understand the rationale some Leaf fans have for having strong rooting interest against certain teams in these playoffs, with the Finals about to begin, I find myself wondering how all of this fits into my life as a Leafs fan.

The Flyers/Hawks series hasn't started yet, but one thing we alreay know is that when the dust has settled, a lengthy Stanley Cup drought will have ended for one of the NHL's marquee markets. The Hawks hold the current record for the longest Cup drought, having not won since 1961, but even the Flyers have an ignominious 34-year drought of their own.   Either way, a long-suffering fan base is going to feel pretty good about itself.  

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