TLN Monday Mailbag: October 10th

The Leafs lost three-quarters of their preseason games, the Jays have recaptured the hearts of a nation, the Raptors are about to start back up again and Toronto FC is about as relevant as they’ve ever been at the moment.

I don’t think there’s ever been lower pressure for a non-tanking Leafs team to succeed, and that’s a perfect situation for this kid-infused mashup of players. I’m not going anywhere with the point, I just wanted to throw it out there for your consideration. Anyway, here are some of your questions and my corresponding answers for this week:

*takes extremely large sip of morning Tassimo* Frankie Corrado is a very nice young Italian-Canadian boy, which means a couple of things. When he’s playing hockey, he probably has some extremely gaudy mix of milk and sugar in some arena mix that was brought in from Country Style. When he’s with “the boys”, it’s a late night Timmies run and it’s probably even worse.

But when he’s at home and he wants to make mom and Nonna proud, he drinks a freshly brewed espresso with a real sugar cube and a few pieces of biscotti from the jar that has been out the longest (dipping them will make them soft again).

I’m very thankful that Frank Corrado is in the Leafs organization. Not only because I believe in him, but because I can use him to project the Italian-Torontonian stereotypes of my family, even if he’s more Woodbridge and I’m more St. Clair West.

But again, I also very much believe in Frank Corrado as a hockey player, and I’m also thankful that he’s making two cameos in this mailbag. Especially since everybody is panicking that he might not make two cameos with the Leafs.

The fear is that Mike Babcock will play Matt Hunwick and Roman Polak over him. Disregarding the fact that this idea of playing Morgan Rielly on the right side is certifiably insane, the reality is that there is one thing that Mike Babcock loves more than his pluggers, and that’s winning. Players like Corrado and Carrick aren’t discernibly less “gritty” than the veterans are; they just have to act on it less because they’re so busy being pretty good players.

It might take a few games for Corrado to get regular time, like (to a different extent) last year, but once he’s in, I think he sticks short of a cold streak.

I think if there’s anybody well-suited to take this in stride, it’s him. He’s aware of the big picture in the organization and also knows that he’d be the first guy called up if there was a pressing need for a veteran forward. The reality is that he’s not up to the same speed as much of the team, and while his locker room presence probably has more positive impact than we care to admit, he can probably also provide that to the Marlies.

It is worth noting though that he was still practicing with the Leafs today, which means there’s a possibility that an assignment to the AHL might not happen right away, if at all. If he clears, the Leafs have 30 days to decide what they want to do with him. Getting him cleared during a period of mass player availability might make more sense to them than doing it if necessary two weeks into the season.

I don’t know if I think he’s got long-term aspirations in the organization, but I love watching Eric Faille play. He’s a gigantic puck suck, and averaged nearly two shots on goal a game while playing a limited role as an injury call-up with the Marlies last year. Every time he gets possession, you know there’s a high chance that he’s going to lone wolf it and do something fun.

Does that win you hockey games? I don’t know, probably not. But when Faille goes full Faille, he plays exactly how I imagine I’d play if I were a pro and I irrationally love it.

I don’t think that they are, I think they’re just assignments because the Leafs had a gazillion players up, but boy are they ever in a postion to make a big move today. Especially with guys like PA Parenteau being in the discussion? I’d be all about a reunion at that price.

I guess we’ll see how this all unfolds; waivergeddon is upon us in about twenty minutes.