The parade is as good as done

It was a fun night of hockey to watch. Of course I'm being facetious about the parade route. However, there are alot of positives that can be extracted from last nights affair.

As an overall look to the team, you see quite clearly that they will be playing a vastly different style of play. Last season there was many nights where they appeared to be ants scurrying all over the ice in the defensive zone.

The traditional Man to Man hockey defense can appear that way. It can look quite chaotic when players switch off during the cycle, or just stick to the man and chase him around.

Last night, there was the beginnings of strategic, sound defensive zone play. There was still lapses; I'm looking at you Ian White, twice.

Yet, there were many times where their play was thoughtful and with purpose. There was still some scurrying, that will go away with time.

Speed is another area that seemed much improved. I'm not sure if it was the half AHL squad on the other side, however, the Leafs seemed very fast out there. Dom Moore looked liked Crosby when he head faked the pass and just exploded past the defense who bought the fake hard.

There was alot of crisp, quick, tape to tape passes. The transition in the defensive zone to the breakout was very nice to see. A buddy I was watching the game with commented on several occasions that the plethora of blue shirts in front of the net was another dominant theme all night.

It was a fairly sound effort for a first exhibition. Yes, I realize it means nothing in the grand scheme of things. That's quite fine.

It was, however, a true realization that there is real, meaningful change at the corner of Bay and Lake Shore. Last night's team was a drastically different one than we saw play last year. And I'm not referring to personnel.

It may be a tough season ahead, but if they play games all year that resemble what we saw last night, it will be fun to watch.