from Bruce Arthur of the National Post,

Luke Schenn walked out in a white shirt and a blue tie and black overcoat and he looked directly into the cameras and said, “I got no excuse for it. It’s just a bad play.” The slow start? “That’s obviously my fault,” he said. “One hundred percent, I’ll take the blame for that.” His nose might be perpetually crooked, just around the bridge, but Schenn told it straight.

The directness was jarring, if only because that’s not standard operating practice around here these days. It doesn’t matter that Brian Burke didn’t make a big move at the NHL trade deadline, because almost nobody made a big move at the NHL trade deadline. If you want to criticize the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, then the NHL’s Cold War deadline is not the place to start. Or to finish, either.

But as this season has skidded onto yet another ledge, next to yet another early April abyss, this organization has become an exercise in excuses, in misdirection and in incoherence. Tuesday’s wet cardboard box of a game, a 5-3 loss to the Florida Panthers, gave the Leafs a 1-8-1 record in its last 10 games. There is still time to pull out of the dive, and make the playoffs.

But right now, this team looks doomed. Dumb penalties, frozen hands, wooden skates, and a goaltender who is still not what he once was. As Schenn put it, “We’re embarrassed to go out there and play like that in front of our home fans, and get booed in our own building.”

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