Admittedly, it is difficult to point to a document entitled “Barry Melrose Rocks” with a straight face and claim some sort of vindication. Nevertheless, on the subject of Bryan McCabe, I plan to do so. Here is what was recently written on that site concerning the Leaf blueliner:
…Toronto running Bryan McCabe out of town. Look, if they don’t want a defender who has averaged 59 points and a +15 rating over the last three seasons, then so be it. I’m probably not alone when I say I’ll take him on Long Island. Heck, there’s probably a bunch of teams that would find a good use for this guy. OK, so McCabe can be a bit of a defensive liability. I can live with that. We had Tom Freaking Poti all of last year for God’s sake. All I’m saying is that one dumb mistake is no reason to run a guy out of town. Then again, the folks in Toronto may be right. The Leafs will obviously be a much better team without the guy who outscored every forward on the team last year save for Mats Sundin.
And for those of you scoring at home, you have to go all the way back to Denis Potvin to find the last Islander defender to have 59 points in a season.
I would not be the first to observe that the Islanders of recent history haven’t exactly been dynastic, a fact that makes the last sentence admittedly somewhat less emphatic than it might otherwise be. But the above-noted judgement is not devoid of value simply because it emanates from within the (presumably success-starved) Islanders fan camp. No doubt, somebody wearing a Captain Highliner jersey would point out that the Isles beat the Leafs for the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot last year (remember Wade Dubliewicz?). It should also not be forgotten that McCabe played three seasons at the beginning of his career on the Island – though Bryan himself might like to erase those years from his memory banks. The point remains: appreciate the guy for the player he is, and realize that there is often a bit of a defensive price to pay for offensive talent in a point man.
Don’t make me put Tom Poti out there to make you see the difference.