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Leafs’ Clarkson says ‘it’s not a secret’ things didn’t go well

DavidClarkson

To say David Clarkson’s first season with the Toronto Maple Leafs was a bad one would be understating it.

He played in 60 games due in part to injury and suspensions, including a 10-game ban to start the season. When he did play, he wasn’t exactly a game-breaker as he had just five goals and 11 points.

As Luke Fox of Sportsnet shared, Clarkson isn’t hiding from how bad things went last season.

“It’s not a secret, right? At the end of the season, I obviously wasn’t happy,” Clarkson says. “No season goes the same, so you have to find a way to figure things out.”

Clarkson has a lot to figure out going into next season. He’s heading into the second season of his seven-year, $36.75 million deal with the Leafs and after all the comparisons to Wendel Clark, he’s going to need to actually show something to live up to some part of that.

After such a rocky start, just about any improvement will be seen as a positive thing, but the 30-year-old winger is going to need to do it consistently and better than he did last year. After scoring 30 goals for the New Jersey Devils three seasons ago, the ability to cash in around the net is there.

Follow @JoeYerdonPHT