Music: {allcanada} LEAFS' KOMAROV INDIFFERENT TO TAKING CROSBY'S NUMBER

Friday, September 28, 2012

{allcanada} LEAFS' KOMAROV INDIFFERENT TO TAKING CROSBY'S NUMBER

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Sidney Crosby, meet Leo Komarov. The Toronto Sun believes there isn't much similarity between the Penguins star and the first-year Maple Leafs/Marlies checker, except their numbers.

With 87 now solely identified with Crosby in North America, Komarov has chosen it to wear with the farm team, where he finds himself after the NHL lockout delayed his planned launch with the Leafs. That was Komarov's number with Dynamo Moscow of the KHL, where he won the Gagarin Cup last season.

"I don't really care," Komarov said Thursday when the Crosby conflict was brought up. "It's my choice and it's my number. I wouldn't take 99 (Wayne Gretzky), but it doesn't really matter if you've got 87 or 10 or something like that. It's like whatever, dude."

Komarov should be a significant pickup for the Leafs for other reasons. He's got an edge to his game, which he's honed in the six years since the Leafs drafted him, under the watch of previous general manager John Ferguson. He was born in Estonia of Russian stock and raised in Finland, where his hockey style can be compared more to the bothersome Esa Tikkanen than the slick Jari Kurri.

"I don't really like (aggravating), but it's pretty easy to do," Komarov said with a wry grin. "It's going to be my job, of course."

Russian-speaking Leafs teammates Nikolai Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovski have helped his transition to Toronto so far. Unlike those newcomers awed by Hogtown's size and skyline, Komarov says he's seen bigger.

"After Moscow, this is a pretty small city," he said. "When I come here, this is good too, but it feels pretty small right now."