When it was announced yesterday that John Mitchell would remain with the Toronto Maple Leafs while Christian Hanson, Luca Caputi and Nazem Kadri would be released back to the Marlies, you could literally hear a collective million or so jaws hit the floor.
Mitchell, originally drafted by the Leafs 158th overall in 2003 has never lived up to any kind of potential, but what you may ask was his potential?
That is a good question. After all, he was drafted 158th overall. Where did all the expectations come from, better yet, who put them there?
Toronto Maple Leafs fans and Media, that's who.
Defending John Mitchell is not what this story intends, more though to put things back into perspective.
Brian Burke knows what he has in Mitchell, his is a much more educated hockey mind than mine. John Mitchell was never going to be a 30 goal scorer in the NHL, for that matter, a 20 goal season was likely to be a career high, but as we so often do in Toronto, we place almost insurmountable expectations on ever glimmer of hope we see in the hopes that one player, one diamond in the rough, will lead us to the promised land.
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Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Eric Warren
Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke and the John Mitchell Experiment
October 4th, 2010 by Eric Warren Leave a reply »
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