| NAME: |
Carlo Colaiacovo |
| NHL/AHL: |
Toronto Maple Leafs / Toronto Marlies |
| POSITION: |
Defenseman |
| HT: |
6-1 |
| WT: |
185 |
| BIRTHDATE: |
Jan 27 1983 |
| BIRTHPLACE: |
Toronto, ONT |
| MLN FAB50 2005 |
9 |
| LAST AMATEUR CLUB |
Erie Otters (OHL) |
| NHL DRAFT: |
Toronto: 2001, 1st Round, 17th OA |
| SHOOTS: |
Left |
It isn't the easiest thing in this world, being anointed as a No. 1 draft choice of your hometown team. Especially if that town is Toronto, which is nothing short of mad about its Maple Leafs.
Yet that's exactly the lot that was faced by Carlo Colaiacovo back in 2001, and he's spent the last five years shouldering the burden with varying degrees of success.
Young defensemen generally take longer to ripen, and when Leafs' management opted to keep Colaiacovo around for the first part of his rookie year, where he sat for most of the first month. He only got into two games before being sent back to junior.
He might have been poised to make his mark as a Leaf regular last year. The lockout put a damper on his and many other careers in transition.
After starting this season with the Toronto Marlies, the broad shouldered blueliner was brought up to the big club, and stepped into a regular role.
His impressive play gave reason for Leafs GM John Ferguson feel that Colaiacovo had finally earned his NHL stripes.
"He's right there," Ferguson said, then. "We're really encouraged with his development. He had a great off-season in the weight room. He's really increased his lower body strength, and he's ready to help."
Then came the off-balance collision on Jan. 23 with Ottawa's Vaclav Varada, which sent him into a gruesome, face-first dive into the boards.
That left him with facial lacerations and severe concussion symptoms such as headaches and mood swings.
The cuts and bruises have long since healed, but symptoms remain, putting the rest of Colaiacovo's season in jeopardy, and leaving him with one more hurdle to scale.
Start with the basic talent, add in a dash of strike to retard his rise, beat severely, add a dash of last year’s broken bone behind his ear when he was struck by a slap shot in a December 2005 game, and you have the recipe for a two-slot drop in his stock on the MLNFAB50 Hockey 2006 from 9 to 11, sliding behind D-man Braydon Coburn (MLN FAB50 Hockey 2006 No. 9) to the second best defenseman in the fifty.
