Beflour's back has Leafs off the track

The nervous fans of the Maple Leaf Nation are starting to get a little antsy about Eddie's chiropractic needs and wants. As Beflour continues to sit on the sidelines and the Leafs continue to lose hockey games, the nervous nellies are starting to speak out.

Mojo radio's post game show was full of apoplectic Leaf fans last night as the Bud's dropped a game 4-0 to that powerhouse Florida panther squad. Demands to pick up Olaf Kolzig, Arturs Irbe, anybody really were heard through the night, the assembled faithful deciding that the Telvquist/Kidd tandem just won't do it come playoff time.

The Leafs skid continues and the fingernails get shorter for Leaf fans. Some of whom last night said it was time to get rid of coach Pat Quinn as "he'd lost the team in the dressing room". Now that's the thing you have to like about the Leaf fan, none of them have probably ever been even within smelling distance of a dressing room, yet they all seem to know how the "room" works. It's to make one shake your head, Quinn has taken a not very good team through the first two thirds of the season and kept them far above where they really should be. Toss in the injuries the team has suffered and you have to wonder how he's doing it. To toss him over the side because of the skid would be ludicrous, if it weren't so funny, so typically Toronto.

The clamor for Belfour to return is getting louder and louder, yet you have to wonder why they want him to rush back. It makes no difference if the Leafs finish first, fourth or eighth, as long as they finish in the playoffs. That's when they need Belfour's back, back if you will. To rush him into the lineup now, is only to invite disaster at playoff time. But for the Leaf Nation there is good news this day, Belfour himself figures he's only a couple of days away, he may even play tonight against the Lightning.

Which will do wonders for the nerves of the callers to mojo. Mind you the noisy throng may be correct on one point; they probably will have to trade for a more reliable back up. Trevor Kidd is going to have the recent losing skid tied to his butt, whether justified or not. So they'll want to move him, if they can find someone to take him on. Finding someone to spell off Belfour and who is able to step in should disaster strike, is the thing the Leafs need to work on now.

The hopes of the Leaf Nation are only a slipped disc or spasmodic twinge away, from being dashed yet again.