Bitter End to a Frustrating Season for Marlies

The Toronto Marlies season ended on a sour note on Sunday, losing 5-2 to the Abbotsford Heat on home ice.

 

The Marlies struggled through injuries and call-ups all season long seeing many faces shuffle in and out of the line-up and certainly hampered the team from developing any kind of chemistry.

“I think it was a pretty frustrating one for a lot of guys here,” said forward Tim Brent. “A lot of adversity happened to this team over the course of the year whether it was injuries or call-ups, so we never really had our team together a whole lot.”

 

Andre Deveaux echoed the same sentiments when asked for his assessment on the Marlies 2009/10 season.

 

“It was an up and down year, a learning year for everybody. We had a lot of young guys, battled through injuries and call-ups, it was definitely a learning process this year.”

 

The Marlies finished the season 33-35-6-6, finishing fifth in the North Division with 78 points, nine shy of the Manitoba Moose for the final playoff spot.

 

Although Toronto crept back into the playoff race in late March, it proved to be too little too late as the team simply could not overcome all the adversity faced during the season.

 

“These guys put it on the line all year,” said Brent. “We didn’t get the result we wanted obviously missing the playoffs, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort.”

 

 

Despite all the struggles, there were a lot of bright spots with this Marlies team.

 

Dallas Eakins handled himself very well in his first season as a coach and managed to develop many young players that were called up to the Leafs and the Anaheim Ducks.

 

“He’s done a good job, especially coming in first year here with the Marlies,” said forward Ryan Hamilton. “We must have had almost 40 players go through the line-up with all the injuries and call-ups. He’s done a great job teaching us on and off the ice.”

 

Hamilton’s praise didn’t stop there – he was also very impressed with rookie Marlies goalie James Reimer.

 

“Reims had a great year, every time he’s in the net he gave us a really good chance to win. He’s a young kid and has a lot of upside, so I’m expecting nothing but good things for him.”

 

Deveaux had a career year and played in all but 8 games to lead his team in scoring with 16 goals and 25 assists for 41 points. But he was disappointed that he was unable to spend more time with the big club this season.

 

“If you told me at the start of the year that I was only going to have one game, I wouldn’t have believed you,” said Deveaux.

 

“But I guess it’s bittersweet, I got the opportunity to lead the team this year in points. I was really offensive down here and helped out my game a little bit. I feel like I have a new set of tools to go to NHL camp next year and show a scoring touch as well, hopefully it works out.”

 

 

As the players pack up their gear and go their separate ways there will be a lot to think about this off-season. For most of the Marlies the future will be uncertain and not everybody is sure they will be back with the team next season.

 

“We have a great group of guys,” said Brent. “I think a lot of friendships were made and you try to take the positives out of years like this. I think a lot of guys grew as players and hopefully people. You have to take a few days off here and start worrying about next year.”

 

With Anaheim slated to get their own farm team next season, a few of Anaheim prospects like defenceman Brennan Evans, could be playing elsewhere next year.

 

“I can’t say enough about how well I was treated here, they greeted me with open arms. But the summer’s going to be interesting, my contract is up with Anaheim, so I’ll be a free agent come June or July 1^st. So who knows what’s going to happen but that’s a long way from now.”

 

But one thing is for certain – everyone will be looking to improve and train hard during the summer to battle for a roster spot next season,

 

“I like to get into the best shape possible,” said Hamiltion. “It’s a little frustrating being injured, so conditioning was a little down, but I’m going to work hard at that. I really want to concentrate on my skating and get a power-skating coach and just be ready for next season.

 

“I would love to be up with the Leafs…the window’s closing and you want to make it up to the next level.”

Contact Aman Dhanoa at aman@oyetimes.com

Photos courtesy of Annandi Merhai of Devi Designs