"You know what your problem is?"

That's a question, asked of a Leafs fan in reference to the (mis)fortunes of the Toronto club, that will be answered with:

a) "No." or b) "There is no problem."

Well, THM has the answer to that question and it lies in the subject of this next quote:

"He brings a tremendous amount of experience and I know that he will make an immediate impact [...]," said Burke.

Now whom was Burke speaking of?

Ok, let us, for a moment, forgive the failings of the Swiss cheese defense, the one-man offense, and moonlighting* coach who can't be fired until March. What is left to address?

Goaltending. But what, specifically, about the goaltending? We've talked plenty about the thus-far undeserved praise about twice-ablated Montster Jo' and the overpayment of Toskala but we've completely ignored the one guy common amongst all goaltenders (aside from playing for the Teacher's recreation squad).

"Francois Allaire" would be the answer to the above queries. Thus far untouched, I think it's time to look at what this guy has produced: two 3+ and one 4+ GAA goaltenders with a combined total of 8 wins in 28 games played. He, himself, is credited with 20 games played in his career.... in Thetford Mines. That's not even the AHL.

He's said to have been the reason Roy won two Cups. Roy was a natural talent. Good on FA to take the credit. He's said to have been the reason JSG was stellar... for a year and a half.

According to Wikipedia,

"The 'Allaire style' stresses sound positioning, getting down into the butterfly, and taking up as much net as possible. He has encouraged his goalies to wear the biggest allowable gear."

What, exactly, did goalies do prior to the 'advent' of 'sound positining' and 'taking up as much as the net as possible? And biggest allowable gear.... maybe the guys aren't comfortable with that. Maybe, instead of presenting a stationary wall, they'd like some mobility. You know.... that might be useful in the 'new NHL'.

You want to see the team stop letting in goals? Dump Allaire.