Mon joueur préféré actuel chez les Leafs est Simon Benoit. Je porte le maillot n°2. Bien sûr, j’aime aussi Matthews et Nylander…….mais Benoit incarne ce que je crois que les vrais fans des Leafs aiment : le cœur. Il joue son poste, lance des coups, quelques coups de poing, et joue au-dessus de sa catégorie de poids en donnant toujours le meilleur de lui-même. Tant de Leafs au cours des 50 dernières années ont porté le numéro 2 qui incarne également cet esprit. Quand j’ai commencé à regarder les Leafs… après Borje Salming… c’était Ian Turnbull en défense qui était numéro 2 et qui jouait avec cet esprit. Lors de la course de 1993, ma Leaf préférée était le numéro 2 Sylvain Lefebvre. La plupart des jeunes fans ont entendu parler de Gilmour et de Clark, mais peut-être pas de Lefebvre… mais ce sont des gars comme lui qui ont poussé les Leafs dans une course en profondeur cette saison-là en jouant leur position et en utilisant leur corps. Il avait le meilleur plus/moins de la ligue… quand il était sur la glace… l’équipe adverse ne pouvait pas marquer. Regardez cette vidéo : https://youtu.be/WiPxTEG2Ax8?si=A10eMlDbXBz42UxO La dernière saison des séries éliminatoires, le gars qui représentait cette philosophie était le n°2 Luke Schenn. Et cette année, c’est Benoit. Quels autres n°2 ont incarné cet esprit pour les Leafs ?
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BobbyAxelrod1
13 Comments
– Wade Belak
– Luke Richardson
I’ll always upvote Simon Benoit appreciation threads, absolutely love how he’s playing and I hope he continues to develop and stays with the Leafs <3
You should check out Brad Marsh (former Leaf/Flyer dman), he’d keep the puck with his tongue if he had too. Though he did not wear 2, Schenn, Carl Brewer, and Garth Butcher did, and they played hard.
Was Ron Hainsey No. 2? He had some solid poise back there, always loved his style.
I’m glad I’m not the only person who gets Sylvain Lefebvre vibes from Benoit. Now we just need Benoit to have a moment that leads to an iconic Joe Bowen call so we can name a blog after it 20 years from now like Lefebvre with Down Goes Brown.
Wade Belak. RIP.
Ikr, Benoit is quickly becoming my favorite leaf and because he can play as the 5th D pretty well despite being a 6th D, I think he’s gonna stick around for a while. Also he’s a very Treliving type of guy and is still an RFA after this season.
Sylvain Lefebvre was Benoit’s assistant coach with the AHL San Diego Gulls and took specific interest in him. They could also speak French with one another. Simon credits Lefebvre with helping him make the jump to the NHL.
Sylvain Lefebvre was a great player on those teams. I was sad when he was traded (although tough to be sad since we got Sundin.) He was what we do not have now – a skilled and tough defensive defenseman.
Love the guy, hope he stays a long time.
But why would he? So he can be the only one to drop the gloves every week because no one else will? For the money that is all tied up? He can get more somewhere else.
Players come in here hot all the time. He will either leave and continue to be that player or get worn down by our baby shit soft team and lose his motivation to play that style.
Sorry facts are hard to hear. Downvote away.
The disrespect to Matt Hunwick
He’s been fantastic compared to expectations, but the reality is a competitive NHL team probably shouldn’t have him playing consistent games.
Sylvain Lefebvre was the quintessential shut down D, he was rock steady for those early 90 Leafs teams. What a difference a player like that would make in this iteration of the Leafs.