Mike Komisarek: Eight Minutes for $4.5M

Last night’s game revealed an awful lot about the Toronto Maple Leafs’ defensive group. Their TOI and quality of competition leader, Francois Beauchemin, was shipped out of town and rookie Keith Aulie was pulled up from the Marlies to replace him.

A safe bet would have seen Aulie, Komisarek and Lebda sharing Beauchemin’s minutes as both Lebda and Komisarek average close to 10 minutes a game. Instead Keith Aulie took almost all of Francois Beauchemin’s minutes and Mike Komisarek played his regular eight minutes.

Twelve shifts. A contract that goes until June 30th, 2014. What gives? Ron Wilson has more faith in Brett Lebda than in Komisarek. Keith Aulie comes out of the AHL and plays 22 minutes in his first game since the callup. Last week I considered Komisarek unmovable, not because of his horrid contract but because he wears an ‘A’ on his sweater.

Burke moved Beauchemin to make the Leafs better in the future; is a Komisarek move coming?  Unlikely, but Leafs fans can only hope that he becomes good friends with Jeff Finger next September. Once a Hab, always a Hab.