On July 5, when the Leafs announced the signing of David Clarkson, I was okay with it. In fact, I wrote that "he's a physical player who can score goals and he's a proud Toronto boy".
I will never, ever hold a player's contract against him. That's on the GM, not the player. The term of the contract and amount of money is for others to fret about, I was just pleased a player like Clarkson was coming to town.
51 games into his Leafs career, David Clarkson has been a massive disappointment. With 4 goals and 10 points to show for his efforts, he's not producing and often seems completely out of sync. Something is very, very wrong.
Clearly, Randy Carlyle doesn't know what to do with him, and when he is on the ice, he appears to be trying to do ten things at once, none of them effectively. I'm convinced this is a Toronto boy coming home and trying too hard to make an impact. The result is a hairy mess, regardless of the contract.
My Twitter feed is full of people comparing the goal total of Toronto FC's Jermain Defoe to David Clarkson's, and the point is valid. Clarkson was brought to town to score goals and he hasn't delivered.
But he's not going anywhere. That contract is unmovable. David Clarkson might be a disastrous signing, but he's our disastrous signing, so I'm rooting for one thing and one thing only: David Clarkson's redemption and absolution.
