Yakov Mironov

You Can't Replace Grabbo

2012-01-31T20:38:00.001-07:00

The top scoring UFAs this season:

Name	Team	GP	G	A	PTS
Teemu Selanne	ANA	48	15	30	45
Ray Whitney	PHX	50	15	27	42
Zach Parise	NJ	48	15	25	40
Olli Jokinen	CGY	50	12	26	38
Jaromir Jagr	PHI	40	12	22	34
Ryan Smyth	EDM	49	16	18	34
Dennis Wideman	WSH	48	9	25	34
Jiri Hudler	DET	49	15	17	32
Mikhail Grabovski	TOR	43	16	16	32
Shane Doan	PHX	50	15	15	30
Kyle Wellwood	WPG	50	9	21	30
Milan Hejduk	COL	51	12	17	29
Nicklas Lidstrom	DET	49	10	18	28
Alexander Semin	WSH	44	12	16	28
Ryan Suter	NAS	47	5	23	28
Saku Koivu	ANA	40	9	17	26
Petr Sykora	NJ	48	12	14	26
Tuomo Ruutu	CAR	51	15	11	26
Kyle Brodziak	MIN	49	13	13	26
Todd Bertuzzi	DET	43	10	15	25
Matt Carle	PHI	48	4	21	25
Jason Arnott	STL	48	12	12	24
Chris Kelly	BOS	47	14	10	24
Lee Stempniak	CGY	50	12	12	24
Steve Sullivan	PIT	49	9	14	23

*numbers listed are from Jan 31, 2012 prior to games being played.

This was the UFA scoring race before the start of hockey tonight. Mikhail "Birthday Boy" Grabovski added to his solid totals with a 2 goal, 1 assist night. Good enough to move him past Wideman, Hudler, Smyth and tie him with Jagr, at the time I wrote this. That puts Grabovski 5th in points, and gives him the lead in goal scorers. Olli Jokinen is the only center with better numbers, and Parise is the only player in his 20s with better numbers.

There isn't a replacement for him available this summer, and his offensive numbers are consistent with the players that seem to be deemed star forwards.

In fact here are a few comparisons:
Rick Nash: 17 goals/33 points
Ryan Getzlaf: 8 goals/34 points
Paul Stastny: 13 goals/30 points
Bobby Ryan: 19 goals/31 points

A few other notes from the above table:
1. A lot of those people are really old
2. What the hell is Wellwood doing there?
3. If Grabbo isn't resigned then Ryan Suter better be a Leaf on July 1st.
4. Zach Parise is going to sign a bat shit crazy contract and thankfully it's unlikely to be coming from Toronto
5. Fuck Lee Stempniak
6. I'm going to assume the Sabres make a stupid offer to Hudler
7. Besides Ryan Suter, Frans Neilsen, Barret Jackman, and Josh Harding it's worth sitting out Free Agency
8. Size up front isn't going to be addressed through Free Agency.
9. Semin will be a huge disappointment for someone
10. Lee Stempniak really is an asshole.

Tendencies

2012-01-19T21:36:00.001-07:00

I figured since I was committing to not giving up on blogging completely I better get something up quick to prove it. While driving home from work today I was curious to see what Burke's trading habits have been like since he's joined the Leafs. I found that 58% of his trades have occurred during the months of the season.

His tendency has been towards dealing in March, but with a February deadline this year of course that will be moved up. His earliest "big move" were the Phaneuf/Giguere deals on January 31st and his latest "big move" was the Kaberle deal on February 18th. Again timelines could be moved up with the earlier deadline, but it doesn't appear that we should be on a Leafs trade watch yet.

Interesting is Burke's tendency to make deals on Wednesday, and despite the high numbers on Saturday he has not made an in season deal on that day of the week, so enjoy yourself. Tuesday would be the second most popular day after Wednesday, but these are the days that the Trade Deadline has fallen on in the past couple of seasons as well (though removing that factor these are still his favourite days for dealing.)

Burke has only given up two draft picks in season. Once for Chris Peluso (when laundering a pick from the Skoula trade) and again earlier this season for Steckel. Of course the Leafs have been sellers in each of Burke's seasons so the fact that he has dealt a pick this season already could be most telling.

Burke has dealt with the Ducks 9 times since joining the Leafs (some of this small draft day deals.) Other teams he has dealt with multiple times are the Blackhawks (3), Lightning (3), Rangers (2), Bruins (2), Flames (2), Devils (2).

All of this data was gathered from ProSportsTransactions.com a handy little site for dissecting Burke's patterns.

Dusting Off The Old Site

2012-01-18T19:34:00.000-07:00

Hello again! After a rather quiet exit from Puckin' Eh I have returned to my old Blogspot page to continue blogging. I came to this decision because I was no longer interested in trying to maintain a regular journal of my thoughts on the Leafs and would prefer to just throw up the occasional post when I really feel compelled to write something. Lately I haven't felt the need to say anything hence a month long absence from twitter and close to a two month absence from blogging.

The former doesn't really seem fair to Bloguin who are hosting Puckin' Eh and were relying on me for their Leafs coverage. With so many talented Leaf bloggers out there who could benefit from jumping on their network I figured the right call was to let them know I would no longer be maintaining my site.

For anyone who is interested in blogging about the Leafs over at Bloguin I highly recommend it. Their partnership with Yardbarker/Foxsports will regularly get your material on FoxSports website and it is a chance for you to play off the success of other blogs on their network like Days of Y'orr, The Royal Half, The Pens Blog, etc. The maintenance of the network is top notch, and Ben seems to always be available if you have any questions. In short, if you regularly blog about the Leafs and you're sitting on Tumblr, Blogspot, or Wordpress consider making the jump.

As for me I'm happy to be back here where I can post once a month or less and not feel guilty about it. It also gives me a chance to change up what I was doing. Before whenever something Leafs related happened I felt I had to write about it and sometimes it hard to come up with 500 words on Darryl Boyce being recalled from the Marlies. I also feel that I was creating redundancy in what I was saying. After you've read something at Pension Plan Puppets, The Leafs Nation, and Maple Leafs Hot Stove are you really going to scour the rest of the blogosphere for an admittedly second rate post on the same topic? Probably not, also they have more talented writers on those sites so at best I would be beating a dead horse and doing so in a less interesting, less grammatically correct fashion.

So what else is changing here? Essentially my attitude to blogging. Before I was overly concerned about how many people were reading and enjoying my work. While I still hope that some people will find this blog enjoyable, I'm doing this more about me wanting write than trying to build this into more than it is. So I'm going with no ads, no Google analytics, no attempts make this into a Leafs news site. In fact while the content will always be hockey related it's likely some non-Leafs content will appear from time to time. I'm going back to basics to make this an enjoyable hobby for me rather than a second job like it was turning into. Hopefully that will result in one or two interesting posts a month, which at best was all I was churning out before anyway, it's just they won't be buried under game recaps, Marlie recalls, and the numerous other posts I would throw up that no one would read.

If Google Analytics has taught me anything, it's when I put actual thought and time into reviewing a player that I create a product you want to read. That or quick photoshops, HFBoards videos or trade rumour analysis. So the focus going forward will be on quality rather than quantity. Though I'll warn you that my grammar will never be stellar and I'm not much of a proof reader.

So ends my rambling first post of the reborn Yakov Mironov blog, I hope to be back soon with an actual post about hockey. Thanks to everyone who read my work over at Puckin' Eh.

Top Leafs Goaltender Masks of All Time Top 15

2010-10-25T10:11:00.001-06:00

Continuing the countdown, here are quite arguably the best masks ever worn by Leafs goaltenders. Pretty much all the masks you're expecting to see will be here, and only a couple might be surprises or forgotten masks.

A couple of notable acknowledgements for photos, they were collected through Google Image Search, but more than once Vintage Leafs were referenced, as well as Goalies Archive.

If you missed the previous post of Masks 16-30, you'll find them here.

And now the continuation of the Top Leafs Goaltender Masks...

15. Daren Puppa (left)

The icicle design is a little bit different, and the amount of the mask left white benefits the design. Okay, this one may be a beneficiary of some bias, but it is simple and looks good.

14. Terry Sawchuk

It looks so primitive, like it's made of bone. It's amazing how even when it was new it looked like it was a thousand years old. There's nothing fancy about it, but it is clearly more bad ass than what Rick Wamsley was rocking.

13. Justin Pogge

A name I'd love to forget. Much like Toskala, and Ing, he managed to at least have a decent enough mask. I like the lighter colouring, and the Leafs up the right side look pretty sweet. His name going up the left side also works. Proof that simple concepts can work well. Also proof not to judge a book by it's cover because the quality of goaltender behind the mask is sub par.

12. Jiri Crha

This mask is solid enough if it was left white, but the blue makes it better. The blue pattern in the centre looks a little like the Whalers logo, but that's okay, the Whale were awesome too. The Leaf design on top isn't the best, but the mask is a definite winner.

11. Martin Gerber

A bit of a spoiler alert, if a Leafs mask appears on another mask, it's probably counted higher. Nonetheless, kudos to Martin Gerber for his tribute to Mike Palmateer tribute. The simplicity of the rest of the mask is also a selling point as it includes a Maple Leaf design as well as his number. It makes it slightly more bearable that Martin Gerber was wearing #29.

10. Curtis Joseph

Alright, it's a pretty cool mask, and it does have some inclusion of the Leafs logos along the side. That and it's impossible to hate Cujo. So why only #10 on the list? Joseph is a bit of a victim of his own success. Arguably his St. Louis mask was more impressive, and possibly his Oilers one as well. At this point in the countdown, all of the masks are really quite good, so it's hard to find flaws. I guess I associate the design too much with bad T-shirts to think it's an amazing mask.

9. Don Beaupre

Not a very memorable career as a Leaf, but he did have a sweet mask. Beaupre's Washington days had the Capital on the top of his helmet, when he was in Ottawa it was Parliment, but in Toronto he had Maple Leaf Gardens featured prominently across his mask well including Maple Leafs up the side and on the chin. Any goaltender that pays tribute to the Gardens has done good by me. Unfortunately those who feature the Gardens tend to be awful in net for the Leafs.

8. Michel "Bunny" Larocque

Not the most intimidating of nicknames, but a pretty cool mask. The "Bunny" down the center is more hilarious than anything, but outline of the Leaf as well as the Playboy Bunny hidden in it's piping making it a sweet helmet.

7. Doug Favell

One of the first mask painters had a beauty during his Toronto days. It has a unique shape as well which score it some points. Giguere, Schwab, and Ing have all down the giant Leaf on the head design since, but Favell's is the original, and easily the best.

6. Jonas Gustavsson

I love Gustavsson's mask. He's done something that a lot of other "nickname" goalies in Toronto haven't done, and that's incorporate his nickname into the teams image. His Monster Leaf is hilarious, the terrified puck is great, and as I've mentioned before I like when masks are left white, and the scroll with his number is also a favourite of mine. A lot of elements done right here.

5. Andrew Raycroft

So easy to hate Raycroft, so hard to hate this mask. The Gardens are again featured prominently, and this time it is flanked by the legends of the organization. While I'm not big on the TLM on the chin, clearly a lot of thought, and good intentions were put into the making of this mask. I can't help but think I still would have preferred Raycroft spending the he spent on coming up with a mask design actually learning how to goal tend, but the past is the past, and this is a great mask.

4. Damian Rhodes

This is a really simple design, but it really works well. Rhodes mask featuring a well constructed Maple Leaf on each side deserves to be up here. It overdoes nothing, and is entirely about the team and not his own image. I loved everything about this guy until Ottawa made me hate everything about him.

3. Felix Potvin

From the backup to the starter, Felix Potvin provided the Leafs with their first really cool mask in era that produced some of the most classic designs. While Grant Fuhr and Daren Puppa had solid design, Felix would provide the Leafs with their first truly classic design in over ten years. Despite being all about his Cat nickname, and not having anything to do with the Leafs other than the colours, it was a great mask. The design was not overdone at all, but got its theme across loud and clear. It doesn't hurt that this mask is iconic of the best years the Leafs have given us in the past 40 years.

2. Mike Palmateer

Alright, Potvin's mask is certainly cooler looking, but Palmateer's is the most iconic mask in franchise history. It's so iconic that Gerber's mask was essentially a picture of this mask. The design is fairly simple, but the blue and white cutting across the mask accompanied by the Maple Leaf dead center sell the design. The early incorporation of the number on the mask is also somewhat noteworthy.

1. Wayne Thomas

First things first, the shape of the mask means business. I look at it, and think the S.O.B. wearing this is going to cut my face open with his skate. Secondly, it's smart and simple. Simple blue diagonals with white Maple Leafs, there's nothing to it. It's basic, but it's the best.

Now that I've had my say, tell me where I went wrong. I expect that Potvin, CuJo, and Belfour fans to be particularly disappointed in their placement. Obviously I have certain preferences that should be fairly obvious by now, and I'm sure there are a lot of radically different lists out there.

Top 30 Leafs Goaltender Masks of All-time (#16-30)

2010-10-24T12:04:00.001-06:00

I have no desire to step outside today and weep as the first snow flakes of the season rain down on me, so I've started this mammoth countdown of the top Leafs goaltender masks of all time. I've consulted with a few other Leaf fans I could scrape together in Northern Alberta, but the rankings are essentially my own. As you'll see in the countdown, I was able to avoid some level of bias, as I found it in my heart to place Toskala, Peter Ing, and other Leaf goalies responsible for my prematurely grey hair on the list.

By no means am I presenting this as the definitive list, but instead as a list that I hope will receive some solid debate. In some cases Goaltenders used multiple masks in their tenure with the Leafs, I've tried to choice the best one (in my opinion) whenever possible.

Today's post features Masks 16-30, and the top 15 will be coming your way shortly. All images can be clicked on to enlarge.

Honourable Mention: Ken Wregget

Wregget represents everyone who just rocked the plain old hockey helmet that was most common in the mid 80s. Nothing flashy about it at all, just acknowledging that they were considered. Ken Wregget gets the nod here because there is no way that I'd give the spot to Glenn Healy, and I didn't feel like having the comment section filled with "Where's Ken Wregget?" comments.

30: Rick Wamsley

There is nothing particularly special that sets Wamsley's mask apart from the crowd. Some small Maple Leafs, the basic Blue and White colouring, and in no way any insight into who Rick Wamsley is. There isn't anything bad about this mask, but there isn't anything that makes it classic either. That will more or less be the running theme of the bottom ten of this list.

29. Tom Barasso

Barasso had an interesting Leaf design on his mask that generally failed for me. I'm a fan of the detail in the Leaf, but it looks a little too much like Leaf horns. Points for trying, which is more than I'll give Wamsley, but far from an impressive mask.

28. Jeff Reese

There is a lot going on here. For a late 80s, early 90s mask this isn't too bad. With a few additional shades on the mask this would have popped, but it's team colours, team logo, and somewhat interesting compared to the previous two on the list so it moves up a couple of spots.

27. Sebastien Centomo

All 40 minutes of his Toronto Maple Leafs career qualifies him for this list, and as such his mask was judged. It was however judged harshly. I couldn't find a particularly good picture for him, but essentially from the pictures that were found the ruling is simple. It looks like a road hockey mask you'd buy at Canadian Tire. It's busy, it's trying too hard to be cool, and the logo on the chin makes it look mass produced.

26. Corey Schwab

The first in the series of giant Leaf going over my face series. It's not a bad design, it's just a somewhat common theme in this countdown, and unfortunately this one is the least appealing. The silver Leaf seems to wash out the uniform.

25. Joey MacDonald

I kind of like this mask, but I placed it 25th because I don't know why. It's a really simple design, it's has the self indulgent nickname on the chin, it's still the simple 2 colour model. It does however gain points for the blue and white Maple Leaf hidden in the piping, and basic Arial font LEAFS running down the top. The more I look at it the more I think it should be higher on the list.

24. Trevor Kidd

This is the first entry in the it has nothing to do with the Leafs category. All things considered a Punisher skull is kind of cool, but it's not so amazing that you forget it's completely out of place with the team. There was also a degree of distraction involved as his horrible Maple Leafs pads attempt to overcompensate for the lack of a team theme on the mask.

23. Paul Harrison & 22. Bernie Parent

Both are sporting the basic white late 70's design of mask, and even though it's incredibly simple. It does look incredibly bad ass. This design has a certain intimidation factor that has been lost in favour of trivial things like increased visibility and safety, but this list has a certain older is always better mentality to it, so even without designs these masks are more appealing than those already listed.

21. Ed Belfour

This might be a little unfair to Eddie the Eagle, but a design that was great on a Blackhawks mask is somewhat lacking 15 years later on a Leafs one. The eagle could not have less to do with the team, but that doesn't really matter when the design makes up for it. The first thing I think of when I see this mask is how much better Belfour was on the Blackhawks. If he wanted to stick with the Eagle theme he should have updated the design when changing teams.

20. Scott Clemmensen

Again it's back to somewhat basic design, but I do like the scroll containing the number on the chin, and the Leafs up the side are an improvement over the attempts by Jeff Reese, Tom Barasso, and a few others not on the list.

19. J.S. Giguere

Giguere's mask is similar to Corey Schwab's design of a big freaking Leaf over the face. Giguere gets points for improved colouring as it fits in with the team colours, and looks more impressive in play than it does in it's closeup here. I definitely prefer this to Giguere's other design which looks like a default mask if you create a Leafs goalie in NHL 11.

18. Grant Fuhr

The angry demon thingy in the Maple Leaf on top of the mask is kind of a cool idea, and would certainly have been more impressively executed today than it was in the early 90s. The design is simple, has an intimidating element, and the Fuhr scroll across the chin is appealing. This design isn't exactly up there with his Oilers designs, but is far superior to his ridiculous St. Louis Blues mask.

17. Peter Ing

Another entry to the big freakin' face Leaf collection. Peter Ing executes it pretty well. The colours are extremely basic, but it matches the uniform perfectly, and the large amount of the helmet that is left white allows the Leaf to pop more. This mask might be the one thing that I like about Ing.

16. Vesa Toskala

Speaking of goaltenders who should be hit with a truck, Toskala's demon skull seems pretty cool, pretty intimidating, but most definitely has nothing to do with the Leafs. This suits me fine as it will make it easier for me to deny that he ever played in Toronto. Nothing about this mask seems to fit Toskala's personality, but I guess Swiss Cheese would be an even stranger choice than this skull for a mask design. If this mask was worn by someone who actually new how to play goal it would probably crack the top 10.

Look for the 15 most EPIC Leaf masks coming soon.

The Day Many Of Us Have Feared Has Arrived

2010-10-23T10:58:00.001-06:00

As Per Jonas Siegel of AM 640 Toronto John Mitchell, and Carl Gunnarsson are in for Zigomanis and Lebda. Swapping Lebda out is pretty much a universally approved move, but I don't think too many people are excited to see Mitchell. Zigomanis sitting is even more peculiar since this leaves the team without a faceoff specialist, and one of the most solid penalty killers. If someone had to sit to give Mitchell a game it probably should have been Tim Brent. Hopefully Mitchell will add a bit more offense to the lineup, and he does have a bit more of a mean streak than Zigomanis, so if Toronto is preparing for a line brawl against Philly this move might make sense. I guess we'll be waiting until tonight to see the impact.

Some notes following the 5-2 loss to the Flyers

John Mitchell won 2 of the 8 faceoffs he took, was an adequate penalty killer, and player 13:24 which was more ice time than Kessel or Armstrong saw last night.
Mike Komisarek was a +2, and had his ice time increased to 16:48. He was fourth for ice time among the defensemen. Gunnarsson was 5th and Phaneuf who was essentially benched after the first played only 13:25 and was a minus two.
Oddly enough, Beauchemin who looked horrific saw 20 minutes
Versteeg has struggled to find the net in the past few games, but he regressed even further and looked terrible against the Flyers
Nice job by Colby Armstrong taking a 5 minute boarding major in the last 10 minutes of the game.
Schenn had another solid game, unfortunately he can't play 60 minutes a night
Not Giguere's best effort, but he was not as bad as 5 goals would suggest
Grabovski looked solid on the penalty kill, and was seen backchecking more than once this game. At what point will haters stop hating on Grabbo?
MacArthur and Kessel did what they do best, unfortunately they are the only two Leafs scoring

I'm sure I'll have more about the three game losing streak in the next couple of days, but tonight there is drinking to do.

P.S. Don't Panic.

Nothing To Say, So Watch Instead

2010-10-22T20:15:00.001-06:00

I had a busy day at work and have spent most of the night trying to book a flight to Connecticut to visit my family for Christmas, as such I haven't put any thoughts into a post for tonight. I've been playing around with the Windows Movie Maker on my new laptop making primitive Leaf highlight reels for the past couple of weeks, here are a couple more.

Luke Schenn

Mikhail Grabovski

Slowly I'm learning to use Adobe Premiere, and at that point I'm sure the quality will improve. Until then I'm a PC and I'm 4 years old.

At Least Gustavsson Didn't Suck

2010-10-21T21:36:00.001-06:00

To be fair the loss wasn't his fault. He just sucks.

I guess it had to happen sometime. I wish it didn't come against the team I hate most (after Sens and Habs of course.) The game kind of reeked of a zero effort from everyone with a few notable exceptions. So breaking for the tradition of talking negatives in a loss, let's start with the positives.

Gustavsson, stood on his head for most of the game. He was the victim of several odd man rushes, and had very little help from his defensemen (see: Kaberle on the Rangers second goal). I'm very impressed with how seasoned his game looks, and was worried he was due for a second season disaster (a la Raycroft, Mason). Gustavsson gave the Leaf forwards every chance to get back in the game tonight, and unfortunately he didn't receive a lick of support from anyone.

Exception to the Gustavsson support may be Luke Schenn. He has continued his solid play. In the first two periods he also was one of the better offensive players. Easily the best defenseman, but in all honesty Phaneuf and Komisarek didn't look too bad either. I'd just say I demand more from Phaneuf, and Komisarek may have been pulled down by a lousy partner.

Zigomanis has continued to be a faceoff juggernaut, penalty killer and all round good guy. It was great to see him get a couple of shifts with Kessel and Versteeg as a reward, even it was just to be out there for the faceoffs.

Grabovski continues to lead the offensive charge with his creativity, and I personally think he's responsible for making Clarke MacArthur a better player as well. He started the play that lead to Colby Armstrong's first goal, and drew a penalty late in the third that could have led to better times. It's worth noting that Grabovski draws more penalties than anyone else on this team, so please think of that before bashing arguably the Leafs second most talented forward.

Versteeg played a generally positive game, he's just not getting results, and it's frustrating for everyone. He was noticeable every time he was sent over the borders, and certainly wasn't guilty of not trying.

On the other hand, What The Hell Brett Lebda? I'm not saying that Gunnarsson was playing great, but he definitely isn't as shaky as Lebda. Granted he needs a bit more time with the team before he's ready to contribute, but that needs to come in practice not at the cost of putting him out there in the last five minutes of the game. He seems to want to contribute too much offensively and he's getting caught up there. If Ron Wilson gave Gunnarsson the freedom to make the decisions that Lebda is making, he'd find that he can fill the role much more efficiently. I'll throw this out there, between the top five the Leafs don't need to rely on the sixth defenseman. Lebda needs to be seeing a Garnett Exelby-esque six minutes a night if he's going to be in the lineup. Second PP unit, and when the rest of the D is overtired is the only time we should see him.

Bozak getting benched certainly points to a bad night, and there isn't any argument here. He has the teams two best offensive weapons at his disposal and he couldn't produce. If he wants to be a top line centre he's going to have to deal with the expectations.

Beauchemin, I rag on Beauchemin fairly regularly, and tonight wasn't an exception. He needs to step up his game or he will start getting called out by smarter people than me. He's making a smart first move regularly, but his stick-to-it-iveness is lacking, and second efforts keep on beating him.

What happens now? It may be time for the line juggler to make his first appearance. We saw hints of this with Colby Armstrong playing up with Grabovski and MacArthur, and getting results. We also inexplicably saw Kulemin centering Versteeg and Kessel. I'm not going to count on seeing that second one again, but I'm sure something is in the works to spice up the lines. I don't want to see John Mitchell as part of this shake up, but I wouldn't mind seeing Armstrong find his way into the top six for a couple of games at the expense of Versteeg seeing a bit of time on the third line. On defense, I don't like the idea of swapping partners (it's also why I don't get invited to key parties.), however I wouldn't mind seeing Komisarek paired with Phaneuf, and see Beauchemin reunited with Gunnarsson who worked we together last season.

It's just one loss, but it was a pretty miserable one. I doesn't warrant blowing things up, and mass changes, but it certainly points to the fact that this team will face hardships this season from time to time. Just please spare to Richards to Toronto trade talk for now as it's probably not going to happen.

Since everyone is a little down, here is a quick pick me up. Click Here for the Amazon Customer Reviews of Damien Cox's new book the The Ovechkin Project. Your Welcome. Have a Good Night!

Komi Scare

2010-10-20T07:04:00.001-06:00

Unless you're Lucic. Then he should leave you alone.

There is an increasing number of Leafs fans turning against Mike Komisarek, and not without reason. Two summers ago Komisarek was brought in to right the wrongs of the Toronto blueline and over a year later we're still waiting. I still hold out hope that what we're seeing is not his best product, and he has been given a difficult task to be paired with a second-season defenseman. Like him or not he seems to be the official goat of Toronto's best start in 16 years.
Last year to much fan fare, Komisarek was an alternate captain and proclaimed the front runner to be the next leader of the Maple Leafs. Perhaps under the weight of that pressure Komisarek felt the need to wow his new team and the fan base. Instead of wowing Toronto, he kept the team almost permanently shorthanded. Not exactly what was expected of someone who was brought in to clear bodies on the penalty kill, and hopefully block some shots as well. Instead of calming down and adjusting his game last season, Komisarek was injured and with the exception of a few really solid weeks of play, he never had a chance to make himself comfortable in a Leaf uniform.

Enter season two, five games into the season, and the team, media, and fans are not seeing the "all-star" defenseman that was signed. He's playing an average of 13:28 minutes of ice time a night (lowest among defensemen), and while he is currently fifth on the team in scoring, he is not fulfilling the defensive role he has been asked to fill. It is nearing the point where Komisarek could be receiving a Ron Wilson message as a healthy scratch.

So up to this point I've just summarized Mike Komisarek's disappointing career as a Leafs defenseman. I use disappointing lightly. I am not yet ready to compare him to Larry Murphy, Jeff Finger type failures, but generally you would hope for more from your second highest paid defenseman. The point of this post is to more or less plea for more time for Komisarek. He's a solid defenseman, and despite some fans best efforts to trade him (again here), he's not going anywhere (yet.)

I get that there is still the mentality out there that the Leafs need to move a defenseman. I don't agree with it, but I get it. The assumption is Phaneuf is captain, Kaberle won't go, and Gunnarsson and Schenn cost a kings ransom. That leaves Beauchemin (who seems to get a passing grade from most) and Komisarek who has never had a chance to show his value to the team. This is all well and good for those of you who want to dump him, but please remember he has a No-Movement Clause/Limited No-Trade Clause. So good luck. The second factor is with his value currently being a $4.5 million player recovering from a season ending shoulder injury, and playing 13 minutes in the third defensive pairing, you'll be lucky to get Shawn Horcoff for him at this point (alright it's not that bad). So please give up on this idea. Third is if a team wants him, and his $4.5 million dollar cap hit isn't bad enough, his salary is actually $6 million this year, and $5.5 million next year before dropping in years four and five of his deal.

What are his flaws that are turning us against him? Basically, his positioning. He seems to be having a hard time reading the plays, and knowing where he needs to be. Considering the minimal time he's played with any of his defensive partners it's somewhat understandable that he's lost out there, and being paired with Gunnarsson who is having struggles of his own seems to be digging his grave. Perhaps not the best of pairings, but I commend Wilson on his reluctance to tamper with the success of the other pairings.

The upside seems to be that he is approaching the situation with a more disciplined game this season. Last season while looking just as lost, he resorted to throwing illegal hits at inconvenient times. For his mediocre play this season it's notable that Komisarek has only taken two penalty minutes in five games. While Komisarek did calm down over time last season as well, he certainly didn't show discipline in October when the team needed him the most.

The simple facts of the season for Komisarek are that he hasn't been bad, he just hasn't been as good as the top four. The chance for him to move up in the roster isn't there unless Schenn struggles in his role or possibly Beauchemin in his. Komisarek has had some bad moments this season, but he does have a goal and two assists (last season he only had 4 assists), he's second on the team in blocked shots (proving his worth on the penalty kill), and he has 11 hits in his limited ice time.

The moral of this long and winding story is this. Komisarek has been given a tough role this season, and that is to make the third pairing of defense as tough to play against as the first. While Phaneuf and Kaberle have better partners to help them in that task, Komisarek was given either Gunnarsson (who can't keep up now the there are expectations of the defense, and Lebda who has one exhibition game, and one regular season game under his belt. The same issue of communication that existed with the defense last season now only exists in the bottom pairing as three guys who have never played together try to establish themselves on the team.

So the Leafs are 4-0-1, nine points out of a possible ten. I know as there is a tendency to dissect the negative on this team and demand that under performing players be traded but it isn't that time yet for Komisarek. A night in the pressbox might be beneficial where he can study the way his defensive partner is playing and he can figure out how they can be better together. He hasn't cost the team any games this season, and he's likely to help save a couple later on, so maybe it's time to ease up on Komi.

DAMN YOU ROLOSON

2010-10-19T12:44:00.000-06:00

2 Double Downs, but the Leafs lost. So close to the perfect day

Maybe I’m still riding my Double Down high from yesterday, but I don’t have it in me to harp on the Leafs for their overtime loss yesterday. Instead, I will continue to live in my bubble (sorry, TSN) and look forward to a season that is still providing me some cautious hope and a reason to watch besides following Schenn, and Gustavssons development.

Monday Toronto was bested by Roloson playing beyond his limits (as usual when he’s in T.O.), and though having two goals called back, and a bad penalty call in Overtime certainly stymied the Leafs, don’t forget that it was Roloson’s performance that beat them, not the Refs.

Keeping it relatively brief in the recap, Lebda looked solid right up to his OT penalty. Given the questionable play of Gunnarsson, Komisarek, and I’d argue Beauchemin, there is no reason to pull him out of the lineup, and personally I’d love to see what Gunnarsson and Lebda can accomplish as a pairing.

I’ll spare my attacks on the Leaf forwards as they managed to get off 30 shots, and more or less they be Roloson three times. The top line was as they should be, the top performers, but right through the lineup they were solid, with maybe MacArthur as the exception. Given the previous 4 games, it’s safe to say all is forgiven, but he better score two on Thursday.

Can someone help Mike Brown with his balance when he fights? I love the guy, and he’s quickly becoming one of my favourite Leafs, but after checking out his fight history on Youtube, it appears he takes himself down more than his opponents do. I guess this could be a mixed bag because I don’t want him to stop swinging as wildly as he does.

Looking to the next game, I’m hoping the loss isn’t used as an excuse to put John Mitchell in the lineup. So much of the reason why the Leafs have been better this season is the consistency of the forward lines and defensive pairings. While using Lebda to wake up the defensive unit is useful, I can’t see any Leafs players becoming threatened by the addition of Mitchell to the lineup.

It would also be nice to see the Leafs go back to Gustavsson for this start. No knocks on the amazing job that Giguere has been doing this season, but I’d rather see him up against Philly’s weapons on Saturday, and let Gustavsson take on his hero, Lundqvist, while the Rags offense is still depleted from injuries.

Thursday Night will probably redeem the hiccup faced by the Leafs on Monday, but the game against the Islanders was an unfortunate reminder that there will be loses this season. Hopefully when they do happen, they’ll continue to happen in Overtime.

Countdown To Lebda

2010-10-17T16:46:00.002-06:00

DiPietro's next injury is bound to happen sooner or later.
I'm setting the over/under at the 8:00 mark of the second period.

Is Toronto ready for the Brett Lebda Era? Monday night we find out thanks to Carl Gunnarsson playing his way out of the lineup. It's deletable it should be Mike Komisarek banished to the pressbox, but in all likelihood he'll get his opportunity to sit as well if he doesn't find his "All-Star" level of game anytime soon.

The bigger picture of the evening is the Leafs attempt at winning five streak. With the team firing on all other cylinders (minus the bottom defense pairing) the team returns home to after a successful road trip. The Islanders much like all of the other opponents the Leafs have faced are run down by injuries. No Streit, No Okposo, and John Tavares still getting over his concussion, the Leafs on paper will make easy work of the Islanders. Unfortunately, that never seems to be the case, and likely the Leafs are facing a team that will approach this game with a nothing to lose attitude that will serve them well in season that will see another Lottery Pick wind up in Long Island.

I'm somewhat disappointed that Nino Neiderreiter and Nazem Kadri won't get a chance to again change pleasantries, but Neiderreiter, Tavares, and Moulson are enough of a threat that Toronto's defense can't take them fore granted. Defensively it looks like the Islanders are overly stocked with bottom pairing defensemen, but the upside for them is that they are largely shot blockers and shutdown guys. If DiPietro (or Roloson) are standing on their heads the game it will be a long night even for snipers with Clarke MacArthurs skill.

Marlies Recap
The first Nationally televised game of the AHL season game was somewhat of a bust for the Marlies, in that they lost to the Baby Sens. I'm not particularly disappointed as the game Saturday against Hamilton warrants somewhat of mulligan on Sunday afternoon, but there were a few things worth noting.

First things first, the Marlies scored one goal against an ECHL callup goaltender. Considering Hanson, Caputi, and Kadri were all considered for NHL top six roles I would have expected a turkey shot.

Mueller's "fight" was hilarious, but I'm sure the Patron Saint of Truculence, Brian Burke, was disappointed that his European import was the only one willing to drop A glove to defend his teammates.

Rynnas was solid in net, nothing to really add beyond that. I was a little disappointed that Reimer wasn't playing, but I can't always get what I want.

Jeff Finger wearing an 'A' was a bit of a surprise for me, and I'm not sure he makes sense in this role. I'm hoping this is a sign that he's not disgruntled, but this is also probably a sign that he's going to be settling in for his two year stay.

Most of the Marlies seemed slow, and were not too agressive on attacking the puck, again this is likely a 5-3 battle against Hamilton the day before slowing them down.

It's nice to see Jeff Marek and Elliot Friedman running the show on CBC, let's hope this is a look into near future of HNIC.

Also nice, is the larger crowd at the Ricoh. No one expects the place to be a sellout, but it's nice to see that more people are supporting AHL hockey. You'd assume it would be popular with number of people that were convinced that Kadri would be a 70 point player in the NHL this season, why not check him out.

No Parade Planned, but Ticker Tape Purchased.

2010-10-16T13:07:00.001-06:00

Getty Photo/ Clarke "The Rocket" MacArthur strikes again

Game Recap:
The Leafs take two points the hard way, and while Giguere might not have been the unstoppable force he was in the previous pair of starts, he delivered once again in the clutch.
Kessel returned to form with an important pair of goals, which is exactly the reaction you want after having his ice time cut in the previous game.
Komisarek seems to be doing everything he can to get Lebda into the lineup, but it will likely be Gunnarsson that sits first.
MacArthur seems to be heading into a slump, as his one goal performance is unexceptable after showing us he can score two a night.

Brunnstrom Waived:
With the extra roster spot opened up by Finger's departure, I was happy to see Burke didn't fill it with Brunnstrom. While offense needs to be added to the Leafs at some point, the Leafs can afford to be a bit more picky and get an established player instead of bringing in the next in the series of Leafs Swedish busts (see: Hoglund, Jonas & Wallin, Rickard)

HNIC:
Even if the Leafs sucked to start the season, it seems awfully early in the year to be pulling them off of Hockey Night In Canada. Other fanbases be damned, the CBC should be trying to make money not trying to appease Senators fans who won't even by tickets to see their team play. The Habs are a non-factor since anyone who wants to watch them can flip the channel to RDS anytime they want. Most of us mute Jim Hughson and Glenn Healy anyway, so why does the language matter. Hopefully the Leafs do well enough this year all my saturdays from October to June can be booked with Leafs hockey next season.

Marlies Game Tomorrow:
A rare treat for those of us on the otherside of the country. Since those of you in Toronto can't be bothered to go to games, the rest of us scattered around Canada will pick up the slack and get our first glimpse of the farm this season. Kudos to CBC for doing this, but it's a shame Lehner got called up to Ottawa. I would have loved to see Kadri light him up.

What Can Brown Do For You?:
Mike Brown is quickly becoming one of my favourite Leafs, and as such I've made a brief, and highly amateurish tribute video. Please Enjoy. (Song is Hit Me! by The Sounds)

Site News:

I'll make a bigger deal about this as it gets closer to happening, but the ball is rolling on making this site bigger, better, faster, and of course more truculent. Since I'm expanding, I'm going to pull a Jerry Maguire and see who's coming with me. I'm hoping to add a PodCast into the mix, as well as I could use a few additional writers who want to contribute so instead of posts 5 times a week, it can be a few couple of posts a day at least. If you're interested contact me via e-mail at besterwregget@yahoo.com or on Twitter.

37 Days

2010-10-14T21:44:00.002-06:00

Canada.com Photo/ "Can I Play?"

If the Leafs win Friday Night in New York they will have reached the 4 win mark 37 days earlier than they did last season. This doesn't necessarily mean that Toronto is marching on to playoff glory (though they most certainly will,) but this is a nice step towards making sure that the Bruins will picking in the middle of the first round instead of the top five.

As far as the game itself goes, Lundqvist will be the toughest goaltender that the Leafs have faced this season, and should be a solid test for super snipers Tim Brent and Clarke MacArthur. Colton Orr is apparently healthy enough to go, but I'm not sure whether he's healthy enough for taking on ~~Jody Shelley~~ Derek Boogaard yet. On a much more hopeful note, we might get a Phaneuf vs. Avery battle. Aside from Gaborik the Rangers lineup doesn't invoke much fear offensively, but I guess the same is said about Toronto and Kessel, nonetheless barring a complete defensive disaster the Leafs should be able to contain the awesome power of an Eric Christensen powered attack.

Alas, the game is not televised in the backwards world of Alberta, so I'll be partaking in the internet feed. Feel free to drop me a line on twitter while I curse my laggy internet connection and feel vaguely pathetic for getting drunk at my computer.

Video by HockeyHaven76

We're Number 1!!!1

2010-10-13T21:45:00.000-06:00

Getty Images/ MacArthur on a Rocket Richard Trophy Pace

3 and 0 Baby!!!1

This puts me in an awkward position. I'm really having to learn how to write about a team that's winning. That is not an easy task for a Leafs/49ers fan. Perhaps if I was blogging back in '94 I wouldn't be in this prediciment, but I'll continue to wing it.

The first ten minutes of tonights game is Pittsburgh was easily the best defensive performance of the season. No shots allowed in the first 10 minutes of a game is none to shabby. Of course to keep it really, the defense did take the rest of the period off.

Gustavsson looked shaky as he initially didn't see much work, but by the second period he seemed to return to mid-March form. His clutch performance at the end of the game was reassuring to say the least.

How great is Mike Brown? This guy is pure effort all of the time. When Kessel had his time cut in the third, it was Brown who was taking shifts with Versteeg and Bozak. While I may not agree with Ron Wilsons move, it says alot about way Brown has been playing. Clearly he's becoming my favourite offseason acquistion.

MacArthur, Kulemin, and Grabovski continue to be a solid second line, and MacArthur is now the answer to who scores besides Kessel. Kulemin hasn't taken a shift off all season, and thanks to his limp we now have proof that Grabbo can block a shot.

Despite being knocked out Orr had a solid night, 1 goal, a fight, and +2 in under two minutes. That's making the most of your ice time. Hopefully he's healthy enough for Friday so we don't have to put up with seeing John F-ing Mitchell try to play hockey.

I'm going to sign off so I can go celebrate somemore with my twelve friends from Creemore Springs, hopefully Friday the streak will continue, as I really hate the Rangers.

Chemistry is Overrated

2010-10-13T16:35:00.003-06:00

The Leafs Blinded Me With Science!

The Leafs are two games into the season and the results so far have been quite encouraging. Not only has Toronto come up with a couple of wins(update 3 wins), they've actually looked like an organized unit while they do it. The team is built of young up and comers, last chance career AHLers, a couple of veterans trying to earn their last big contract in free agency, and then Beauchemin, Armstrong, and Komisarek. The team has looked good, they're playing with a sense of urgency and chips on their shoulders. It's been ~~two~~ three games.

The Leafs entered the season with three principles to how the would be managed financially.
1. They added a Claude Loiselle to manage the salary cap closely. I'd assume to allow the team to be as close to the cap as possible without damaging the future of the franchise with bonus penalties and long term contracts.

2. The promise that any players that weren't performing up to snuff would be sent to the minors, no matter how much they make. They have finally delivered on this promise with Jeff Finger being sent down to the Marlies (a year late, but better late than ever.)

3. This is a cap team, if Burke has money to spend, he'll spend it. This has always sort of held true. Maybe the money hasn't been spent wisely (/looks in Colby Armstrong's direction), but if the cap is 59 million dollars, you better believe Burke has been spending it.

Why is all of this interesting? (I assume if you've made it this far you find it a little interesting.) Thanks to Burke finally ridding the Leafs of Finger, the team has a whooping $4.8 Million Dollars to spend, but is now the right time to start trying to spend it?

The short answer is yes. Although the Leafs have the same number of points after 2 games that it took them 10 games to reach last season, the Leafs remain far from a lock as a playoff team. It could also be argued that adding someone new sooner rather than later will give the new Leaf a chance to build some chemistry with the team.

The Leafs roster does not need a radical makeover, instead one additional enhancement make sense. As the lineup currently sits if someone begins to slump, or is injured, the next person into the lineup for forwards in John Mitchell. If history has taught us anything, it's that John Mitchell is not a viable option. What is a viable option is upgrading on forward and Tim Brent, Michael Zigomanis, Mike Brown, and Colton Orr rotate in and out of the lineup based on performance and need.

There is an argument that can be made that giving up a defenseman still makes sense given that Lebda is capable of being an every night player, and Richmond and Lashoff have shown themselves capable of stepping into the 7th defenseman role.

Currently the Leafs have faced Carey Price and Pascal Leclaire. Not the greatest of goaltenders, and as the competition gets tougher the need for a top six forward may become greater.

The fact that a move isn't necessary makes this the perfect time to start looking for a new Leaf. If moves are made out of desperation you wind up trading for Lee Stempniak. The Leafs aren't broke, but that doesn't mean they don't need to be fixed. Hopefully the army of Assistant-GMs are on the case, and Toronto fans will finally have an a consistent answer to who scores besides Kessel (and Grabovski, because you damn well know he's awesome too.)

Follow me on Twitter as I continue my quest for a really good Reuben in Fort McMurray.

3 is a Magic Number

2010-10-13T07:17:00.001-06:00

I don't really know what to say in regards to tonights game against the Penguins other than it will be nice to see how the Leafs do against some real competition. The Habs lineup was depleted and the Sens are naturally garbage so Wednesday night is the first true test of what the Leafs lineup can accomplish.

Schenn gets to visit his favourite rag doll Wednesday

It should be interesting to see how Sjostrom, Brent, and Armstrong shutdown either Malkin or Crosby.

Pittsburgh homecomings for Zigomanis and Armstrong will also be a storyline that I'm sure Pierre McGuire will beat to death within the first 10 minutes of the game. Personally I hope this is the game Armstrong wakes up and actually looks like a $3 million a year forward out there.

By all logic it will be Giguere in goal, and Gustavsson will get the start on Friday.

Other players to watch are the trio of Beauchemin, Gunnarsson, and Komisarek who should all be looking to deliver big games now that there is pressure to sneak Brett Lebda into the lineup soon.

The game gives Toronto a shot at 3 game win streak. A feat only accomplished once last season (to my knowledge.) So grab a beer and follow me on twitter as Schenn puts a Malkin sized dent in the new boards in Pittsburgh.

Finger Gets Cut

2010-10-12T18:02:00.001-06:00

He Sure Does!

Mark today on your calendar boys and girls, October 12, 2010 is the day the Leafs roster became $3,500,000 lighter. While this probably should have happened at this time last season, it serves the same benefits as it would have then, and we have the added bonus of a deeper defensive unit and a buried Finger this season means Lebda, Richmond and Lashoff getting ice time instead of the substantially worse Exelby, Oreskovic, and Frogren. There is simply no reason to endure the ill-fated Jeff Finger experiment (slightly worse than the Alan Parson Project), and now we get to move on to the questions that a post Jeff Finger world creates.

Question 1: Will someone claim Jeff Finger?
There is no shortage of teams looking for defensive help. However $3.5 million for a player who struggled to hold down the 7th defensive spot a 29th place team. Burke prides himself on being a players GM and may have a team lined up (if not now, then on re-entry waivers) I'd be shocked, but maybe a team in the west is convinced Finger can repeat his mediocre success with the Avalanche. Much more likely Jeff Finger will be riding the bus around the AHL for the next couple of years.

Question 2: If Finger goes down, who comes up?
More than likely there will not be an immediate promotion for any of the Marlies. Mitchell, and Lebda are manning the press box nicely, and the youngin's don't need to keep them company. The upside there's always room for one more. This also could mean the Leafs don't want to send Zigomanis within the 30 days after he cleared waivers, and could remain on the team for the season. The extra spot is a nice luxury of having a local AHL team, and will earn keep that cap space available for when the team truly wants to use it.

Question 3: Is a trade imminent?
God I hope not. The team is actually playing like a team, the lines have stayed the same for two games (a Ron Wilson record I think), and no one has played themselves out of the lineup. It is still likely that Burke will use this space, but I'd wager everyone should make nice with this lineup, as this is it (minus injury callups) until the New Year.

Another chapter in the Leafs big book of overpriced busts has been written, and we can at least take comfort in the fact that at least no prospects were harmed in the acquistion or removal of Jeff Finger. Now the countdown to the John Mitchell waiving can begin.

Let's Go Streaking

2010-10-08T22:37:00.002-06:00

I might be getting greedy, but wouldn't it be great if the Leafs could string a couple of wins together in a row. I have a friend who is a Blackhawks fan, he said it's called a "Winning Streak."

With Giggles questionable for tomorrow night, it should be another good opportunity to exploit a beaten down roster, and with either Elliot or Leclaire in net there's no reason why we can't expect a hat trick out of Tim Brent.

Instead of coming up with a proper game preview I've been sitting around playing with the Windows Movie Maker on my new laptop, here is a very rough first attempt at a Video, but if you like watching Senators get punched in the head or think that Tom Sawyer is one of the great songs ever you might like it.

As always I'll kindly ask you to follow me on Twitter as my followers count is how I judge my level in life. If my twitter follower count was a World of Warcraft level, I'd be a Level 8 Troll.

What A Difference No Toskala Makes

2010-10-07T20:38:00.000-06:00

Getty Images/ The first in a series of 41 ceremonies that will involve Johnny Bower this season

Still overachieving, under talented forwards.
Still underachieving, overpaid defense.
Add a clutch goaltender who actual comes up with the saves in the final minute, the Leafs are in the W column.

The Good:

Penalty Killers actually killed penalties
The top six forwards looked like top six forwards
Zigomanis is Yanic Perrault 2.0 (can't compare him to Zezel after one game
Giguere exhibited game stealing ability
Bottom six forwards looked solid in their roles

The Bad:

MLSE's tribute to water.
Beauchemin looked slow, and needs to actually look up when he clears the puck
Gunnarsson would probably like to forget about tonight as well
As good as the puck was moving on delayed penalties, the powerplay was pretty impotent with the exception of the one goal that Price stole in the 3rd.
Neither Orr, nor Brown punched anyone in the face
The Habs were beaten, but not destroyed

Mission One for the 2010-11 season has been accomplished. They've won in October. Time to move onto phase two, a streak?

Top 3 Moments That Gave Me Hope:
3. Colby Armstrong pinching the defenseman on the first penalty kill to knock the puck out of the zone
2. Nik Kulemin draws a penalty, and the Leafs cycle the puck for over a minute on the delayed penalty
1. Everything that Giguere did in that last minute of the game.

On behalf of my fantasy hockey team I'd like to thank Kessel, and Giguere for the points they earned me this evening, and if you're not already following me on twitter please start, I'm like a Tamogoutchi, if I don't receive attention I wither away.

Maple Leafs Play Ice Hockey Tomorrow

2010-10-06T20:11:00.002-06:00

An artist rendering of Montreal's reaction to losing to the Leafs

Can I first say that it's a nice change to be talking about a hockey game that is about to happen instead of debating the merits of Mike Brown as a centre or Ben Scrivens place on the depth chart. It may be a little early to be saying this, but tomorrow night is a must win for the Leafs. First exorcising last October has to happen. If anything resembling 0-7-1 occurs again Ron Wilson would be lucky if he could get hired on with the Danbury Whalers. The second reason this is a must win is the version of the Habs they are facing. With Markov and Cammalleri out, and Hamrlik and Price questionable for tomorrow, Montreal is not that much stronger than the Grand Rapids version of the Red Wings the Leafs defeated last Saturday. Unless Gionta finds a magic mushroom I like Toronto's odds.

Players to Watch/Forwards:
Colby Armstrong needs to make a positive first impression this season. He's being paid $3,000,000 a season to do a job that Jed Ortmeyer could probably be doing at a quarter of the price. If his intangible skill of getting under opponents skin is with the extra $2,250,000 he should probably start by demonstrating it against his new clubs most historic rival. Anyone expecting offense to be part of his game had better temper that expectation until he has more than Brent and Sjostrom to work with.

Andrei Kostitsyn needs to pick up the slack with Cammalleri out of the lineup. He's coming off a gawdawful season, and didn't perform much better in the preseason. Unless this year is serving as a giant audition of Dynamo Minsk he best come out the gates strong as there isn't much difference between him and Lars Eller at this point.

Defense:
Komisarek was guilty of trying to hard in the season opener last season against Montreal, and spent most of the game trying to elbow or cross-check his former teammates into the upper bowl. If a calmer more disciplined version of Komisarek shows up tomorrow night still packing a physical game the newly minted Alternate Captain will give us all a reason for hope this season.

P.K. Subban is looking to kick off his first full season in the league. The upside for the Leafs is that he may not yet know he's a defenseman yet. If he continues to join the rush, and make some obvious rookie mistakes that were evident in the playoffs, it could be a long night for the Habs.

Goaltenders:
Giguere always brings his A-game against the Habs, and there isn't any reason to suspect that the same won't happen Thursday night. The biggest difference for the Leafs of now versus the Leafs of last season is that Giguere is not Vesa Toskala, and unless the team in front of Giguere completely collapses he should be able to fight for the win.

Alex Auld starting is somewhat of disappointment. I wanted the Leafs to be the team that places the explanation point on the fact that Carey Price as a number one goalie is a bad idea. That being said, Auld is fighting for playing time and gets a chance to do so much earlier than he probably thought he would this season. He's going to make the most of it, the good news is that he's not a number one goalie either, so the Leafs need to take advantage.

Predictions: Dumb penalties lead to Toronto getting scored on, but the fast Maple Leaf forwards will take advantage of the slow (minus Subban) Montreal defense, and will set up a shooting gallery at the Habs end of the ice. Mike Brown will also punch Travis Moen in the face. Leafs win 4-2.

I'll be on twitter throughout the game tomorrow whether I'm at a bar or scotchin' it up at home, feel free to follow me for drunken rants about officiating, Gionta's height and Jim Hughson's voice.

Youtube video by Cashflagg13

The Cutting Crew: Rynnas Died In Your Arms Tonight

2010-10-04T13:02:00.001-06:00

National Post Photo

Brian Burke has made his final cuts and it looks like we finally have a Leafs opening night roster. To say it leaves a lot to be desired is an understatement. To say that John Mitchell and Jeff Finger are running on borrowed time is probably also an apt observation, but there is certainly a method to the madness or so I hope.
Who was gone as of today? Kadri, Hanson, Rosehill, Rynnas, Richmond, and Caputi. Who is staying? Besides the obvious, Finger, Zigomanis (waived but won’t be assigned to the Marlies as per Jonas Siegel), Brent, and John ‘effing Mitchell.

Let’s knock off the obvious ones, Kadri played himself off this team a couple of weeks ago, he’s not ready and he’ll have a chance to play key minutes in the second best league before taking a shot at a full time job next season. Richmond is a victim of defensive depth, while the Leafs D has not been particularly great he was never are going to crack the top 6, and Lebda will eventually force Burke’s hand on Jeff Finger and Lashoff. Jussi Rynnas was never really in the running for a spot, but someone needed to play goal while Gustavsson rested his groin.

Here’s where it gets interesting, Mitchell over Hanson and possibly Zigomanis. I agree with this decision in that Hanson did not distinguish himself as the third line centre, and to use him 8 minutes a night on the 4th line stunts his development. He’ll get some key minutes in the AHL, hopefully see some PK time, and take a lot of defensive zone faceoffs, and in a couple of months he’ll likely usurp Tim Brent as the 3rd line centre. Zigomanis on the other hand is a solid faceoff guy, and plays enough of a positional game that he doesn’t cause too much trouble on the 4th line, he’s versitle enough to step up to other lines in the case of an in game injury, and his days of development are over so if he sees time in the pressbox it’s still another day in the NHL for him over riding the bus in the A. I think John Mitchell should inherit Felix Potvin’s nickname, as Mitchell seems to have 9 lives with this organization. This guy has fallen so far down the depth chart that if he was cut from the Leafs he’d at best be the 3rd line centre on the Marlies. Maybe it’s that you can line him up at any forward position and he’ll do an equally poor job.

This one is another case of wanting a young player to see key minutes. That wasn’t going to happen for Caputi as the top three left wingers are pretty much set. Caputi will without a doubt be the first Marlie considered for injury callups, and if he was a centre there is no doubt in my mind he’d still be a Leaf.

Tim Brent as the 3rd line centre. If he was the only AHL journeyman in the Leafs lineup I’d say sure, why the hell not. Unfortunately with Mitchell and Brent in the lineup it has become the leading cause of facepalm in Leafs Nation. Brent has in fact looked adequate in the role, and as Hanson creeps back into the NHL, Tim will be a strong 4th line centre who can be counted on for defensive zone draws and penalty killing duties. Not exactly John Madden, but the 4th line is the least of Toronto’s problems.

I’ll give Burke credit for getting the worst of it over with already. The kids Leafs fans want to see have all been sent down, and he’s left the team with a couple forwards and one defenseman that can be waived without too much remorse (Mitchell, Brent, and Finger). Now it’s time to turn our attention to other teams cuts. The Leafs are sitting with two SPCs from the Blacker and Devane demotions and can take on another lackluster centre if the opportunity presents itself. While I don’t think signing Brendan Morrison is the right choice (and as per Bob McKenzie it’s not going to happen anyway) there are bound to be one or two interesting options that present themselves via waivers.

As it sits today, here are your Toronto Maple Leafs:

Versteeg-Bozak-Kessel
MacArthur-Grabovski-Kulemin
Sjostrom-Brent-Armstrong
Brown-Mitchell(or hopefully Zigomanis)-Orr

Phaneuf-Beauchemin
Kaberle-Komisarek
Gunnarsson-Schenn

Giguere
Gustavsson

With Finger in the Pressbox and Lashoff and Lebda on the IR(?)

At least the Marlies look pretty damn good. I’ll be back with more soon, until then follow me on twitter.

The Case Against Grabner

2010-10-03T14:34:00.000-06:00

Hockey News Photo/ Grabner pondering what his next injury will be

The next few days are going to see increasingly more interesting names appear on the waiver wire. Today's entry Michael Grabner of the Florida Panthers formerly of the Vancouver Canucks. The case for Grabner is pretty much youth and offensive potential. In his past four seasons in the AHL Grabner has averaged .67 Points per game. He's put up a 30 goal season in that time as well. In his 20 NHL games, Grabner has 11 points, 5 of which are goals. Also somewhat impressive, so why should the Leafs pass on Grabner, simply put he doesn't fill a need in a practical way.

Grabner's size doesn't not help an already small top six. At just 6'0, and only 170 lbs. he would be joining MacArthur, Grabovski, Kessel, and Versteeg as smaller forwards. Add in that Bozak is not a physical player, it really only Kulemin is a physical presence already.

Results are not guaranteed. This is kind of the case with an waivers pick up, but he is very inexperienced at the NHL level and from a few games where he was playing on either Kesler or Sedin's wing, it is very unlikely that he'd have same results playing on Tim Brent's wing.

The Leafs have enough scoring winger projects in the AHL at the moment. Caputi, Mueller, and D'Amigo are already competing for future top six roles, and while competition never hurts, with only a couple SPC spaces available for use centres should be prioritized.

Grabner is injury prone. The most games Grabner has played in a pro season was 74, and that was 3 years ago. He missed 21 games with a shoulder injury last season (as per THN.com) and at 170 lbs he's going to continue to be knocked around.

Bottom line is what is so great about Florida's offense that they can let Grabner go? He is a young, fast player with a scoring touch that should have fit easily into their second line (except he didn't have a goal in the preseason). If he can't help them, he's probably not going to help the Leafs either. While it's possible that Nonis wants to give a player he drafted a another chance, it would still be a matter of the Leafs trying to waive him down to the Marlies because he is not ready to be an NHL regular.

Conclusion: 22 year old former first round picks with a scoring upside are intriguing, but it comes down to the team doing the waiving. If it was Washington jettisoning an excess forward you consider the player, but when it's the team that finished 28th in the league, and 29th in Goals For dumping a scoring forward it's safe to say you take a pass.

I look forward arguing for and against waived players for the next couple of weeks, but I think Leafs fans need to make nice with this roster for the next couple of months as Burke tries to make a case for his offseason.

Follow Me On Twitter, and Check out my post from earlier today.

My First Game Review of The Season & Last Call Fantasy Hockey

2010-10-03T09:32:00.001-06:00

AP Photo/ Luke Schenn talking it out

The joy of actually catching a game means I finally get to write a game review, albeit about 12 hours later than I should have. I'll use the excuse of it being a preseason wrap-up in addition to the game recap.

While it is certainly nice to have a win leading the Leafs into the regular season, it would have been a much sweeter victory had the Red Wings roster contained more than 3 NHL calibre players. That being said, there is no doubt in my mind that Michael Zigomanis and Tim Brent both are above the AHL level, but the question still looms if they are NHL players however. In Brent's case he certainly provided a few moments of optimism with solid defensive zone play, and occasional offensive jump.

Tomas Kaberle was playing like a man possessed on the powerplay, but again this was not a team that would be capable of exploiting his errors. Frequently shooting, and moving the puck quickly on the powerplay were a nice change from late last season and 4 of his 6 shots resulted in either goals or solid opportunities for the Leafs.

Speaking of the powerplay, I'm liking the cycling of Phaneuf to the front of the net while Versteeg creeps back to the point. It may be giving up a booming shot from the point, but it is giving the Leafs the man in front they desperately need, and with additional space Versteeg has the opportunity to be creative (i.e. sneak up the far side to shoot on a wide up goal, sweet)

Switching from optimism, to reality, the defense still a huge concern. Solid games from Schenn, and Kaberle were encouraging, but Phaneuf was somewhat lacking, Komisarek was invisable, Gunnarsson struggled, and Beauchemin looked slow. The role Beauchemin is playing on the Leafs is starting to worry me as I'm still yet to see what he's doing to earn top pairing minutes. He has to be clearing the zone with a bit more authority, and actually win a race to the puck once and a while.

Quick thought, and again this is the first game I've seen this year, but what exactly does Colby Armstrong do around here? With the exception of one questionable hit the rest of the game we were treated to a whole lot of nothing. He certainly wasn't any help on the penalty kill, where despite the number of times they were short handed, a 75% kill rate is pretty damn weak, especially when it is Cory Emmerton and Tomas Tatar who are lighting the lamp. I'll give Versteeg and Brown a bit of a pass on the PK, as I can at least appreciate the fact that the Leafs will actually have players pressuring the point this season.

Some other quick thoughts:

Bozak and Kessel look as good as ever together
Giguere looks ready to claim the number one job, and saved his defensemens asses a few times Saturday night
Clarke MacArthur looks to be the perfect replacement for Lee Stempniak, but since he's not being paid like Lee I can accept his inability to consistently finish a little easier
Armstrong needs to fight Abelkader for Schenn plain and simple. It's not as if he had to stand up to Boogard. It was a clean hit, but that doesn't really matter at the time, and Armstrong needs to learn that it is much more important to keep Luke in the lineup than him.
I'm really thinking Armstrong and Beauchemin are my goats this season
Good for Ron Wilson for giving Rynnas another chance, but it seems to confirm that Rynnas is probably more than a year from being ready for any kind of NHL role, and in fact it will probably be Reimer as the Marlies top guy

The Leafs past there final shake down test, and are ready(ish) for opening night against the Habs (minus Cammalleri?)

FANTASY HOCKEY ANYONE???

Being away for all of September I have missed out on most of the best options that Yahoo! Leagues have to offer, so I am starting my own league complete with prizes for the league winner (more details on that as they are determined).

The league is a 16 team, 8 team per division league
It is Head-to-Head with the following categories for points: G,A, +/-, PP Pts, GWG for players and Starts, Wins, Svs, GAA, SOs for Goaltenders
Rosters are 2 C, 1 LW, 1 RW, 2 W, 4 D, 2 G, 1 Bench, and 1 IR slot

Any other questions about League Setup drop me an email or tweet.

Here is the link to the League. The draft is Tuesday at 8:30 Eastern Time, and the password for the league is leafs. The league number is 4460.

Hope to see some of you in the league soon, and good luck at the draft.

Hocktoberfest

2010-10-02T12:42:00.000-06:00

After a month’s absence, today is my half hearted attempt to re-enter the exciting world of Leafs blogging. The past month is somewhat of a drunken haze where the only sports news was about Cricket scandals, and the only sports debate I had was a persistent bartender trying to convince me that Fulham is the greatest Football Club of all time. Since most of you reading this don’t know me I will spare you the details of my vacation, but I will offer one important piece of advice, Make sure you go to Oktoberfest at least once in your lifetime. Beer, Sausage, Beer Maiden outfits, if I had the means this would be an annual trip for me.

I’ve been back for a couple days now, and have slowly been catching up on my beloved Maple Leafs. Thanks to the Barilkosphere I think at least have the basics down.

Kadri- Needs more Time
John Mitchell- Waste of Time
Tim Brent- Gets a shot
Luca Caputi- Improved
Defense- Still more expensive than they are good
At the end of the day this is still the pre-season and neither hope nor dismay should be factored in as NHLers work the Kinks out and AHLers still make up half the opposition roster on any given night. Without having seen a Leafs game yet this year I don’t want to pass too much judgment, but I will say that Tim Brent as a third line centre does concern me. It does not surprise that he is the best option for a defense first third line, but for a team with so many question marks around the forward groups this only adds another. At least he understands his role better than John ‘effing Mitchell.
As far as Luca Caputi goes, I am pleasantly surprised. I have stated before that I was not holding my breath on Caputi becoming a contender for an NHL job, but it looks like he’s at least earning some consideration. When opening night comes around the best thing for him is to start as a Marlie, but he seems cemented in his role as the guy who will be called up first.
OMG!!!1 A 20 year kid doesn’t look like he can dominate in the NHL yet. The Kadri issue is a dead horse, and I’m late to the party, but I’m still going to say that like my ancient blog post of May, Kadri in the AHL makes perfect sense. Also anyone calling him a bust at this point is an idiot. I’d rather see him struggling with taking his game to the next level than putting on a one dimensional pre-season scoring show. Besides, it takes three years after being drafted to become a bust (see: Jiri Tlusty)
The defense situation I admit I am the least familiar with, but most nervous about. I haven’t heard raved reviews, and most comments I’ve read have just been tales of brain farts resulting in bad goals, so this is more of a question than anything else. How good or bad are the Leafs defensemen? And for the love of Wendel someone tell me that they are at least establishing defensive partners this season!
I’m keeping this post short and sweet as I acknowledge I have little to offer at this point, more or less this just the subtle announcement of my return to my quiet corner of the internet. Follow me on Twitter for drunken in game rants, and @BestWorstAdvice Retweets, and if anyone out there is still looking for a Fantasy Hockey League I should finally have my last chance league set up for a draft next week.
Auf Wiedersehen!

Hiatus

2010-09-01T12:52:00.000-06:00

Less than two weeks until the hockey world can turn its attention from Kovalchuk’s contract and depth signings to an actual on ice product. September 11th rookie camps and tournaments start up around the league, but I won’t be anywhere near them. I’m off to Europe until the 26th. I’ve been looking forward to this vacation since we began planning it around this time last year, but after three painful months of sitting at my computer waiting for the imminent Kaberle trade to occur, I’ve become overly invested in seeing what the on ice product will look like with the plethora of new faces in the Blue and White. It will sting to come back and not know why Dale Mitchell is considered a lock for the third line and why Tyler Arnason is in the middle of a tryout contract. Somehow I think these thoughts will seem insignificant while I’m eight beers in to celebrating at Oktoberfest, but dammit right now there is nothing more important to me than finding answers to questions like will Mike Brown play centre?
I wanted my last post for the next four weeks to be one of optimism, and I think that’s been the number one goal of this site is to make myself more optimistic. At the same time avoiding going to the extent where it borders on stupidity. That’s why my optimism is not built on the playoffs, but instead having a season of enjoyable hopeful hockey. The Leafs, are not as bad as the team that finished dead last in the East last season, but it still remains a challenge to name the seven teams they will be better than and thus it may be too early to be preaching of hockey in May. The upside is that the waters of the East are muddied with so many question marks there is a hope that makes this season exciting, and at to some extent, competitive.

Looking around the conference you have the Panthers, Thrashers, Islanders who the Leafs looked to have moved past in talent. Not a huge accomplishment, but had Phaneuf, and Giguere been Leafs for a full season last year they would have already beaten these teams in the standings. Next comes the group of bubble teams, and that’s where the Leafs have the chance to truly gain ground this season.

The New York Rangers are possibly beginning the slow death march to the basement that I’ve always wanted to see them take. Last season they were blessed with Marian Gaborik being healthy for a whole season. Can this happen twice in a row? What happens if it doesn’t? And for that matter how long can Lundqvist continue to be relied on for carrying a lackluster defense on his shoulders? At the end of the day as goes Lundqvist so go the New York Rangers, but with an offense that looks eerily similar in design to the Leafs, and not having as solid a defensive unit (with the exception of Marc Staal) it will come down to the battle of the Swedish goaltenders on who finishes higher in the standings. Advantage: Toronto, the North East is a slightly easier division.

Tampa Bay Lightning: New GM, New Coach, New Top Six Left wing, upgrades on defense, upgrades in goal, a ton of smart signings. The problem is that it seems like this happens with the Lightning every other year, and the results always wind up the same. I however agree with the masses and think that the Lightning are that good. With smart upgrades across the board, a coach, a GM, and an owner who are all competent, add Stamkos coming off a breakthrough season, it would take a huge disaster to sink their playoff hopes. That huge disaster will probably take the form of goaltending as Mike Smith clearly isn’t the guy yet, and Ellis has been overrated by a lot of people forgetting that he lost his starting gig in Nashville and was playing in a much more defensive system there. Advantage: Tampa will in all likelihood finish at the top of the bubble team list, either 6th or 7th in the conference.

Before it looks like I’m going to dissect every team in the East let me state that I think Pittsburgh, Washington, Philadelphia, Boston, and New Jersey are locks. They won’t get looked at here. Boston may not win the division this season, but I still do not think they are capable of falling below eighth in the East.

The Carolina Hurricanes are a bigger mess than most people are giving them credit for. A lot of this may be coming from my confusion with their love of Paul Maurice, but much more likely beyond the two franchise pillars of Cam Ward and Eric Staal, I don’t see the pieces that make this a playoff team. Samsonov, Jokinen, and Cole are all headcase scorers that may or may not contribute. The youth movement in the forward ranks is strong, but unfortunately the defense still looks like the dogs breakfast. If the two stars can drag this team kicking and screaming into the playoffs I’d be shocked, and possibly out of ignorance, I think the only way this team can have success is due to the amount of games they play against Florida and Atlanta. Advantage: I truly believe the Leafs are better than the Hurricanes in every way (minus Staal being the top player of the two teams). While neither team may be ready for the playoffs, the Hurricanes do not have the quality of defense to cover youthful mistakes. The Leafs do.

Aw, the North East. A division where you could see only one team in the playoffs or you may see four. For all of the beatings the Leaf fans have taken in the past few seasons from our division rivals, I don’t think as many of them should be as cocky as they are. Buffalo is likely a safe team, and possible division winner, but it’s all due to Ryan Miller. With lousy defense (minus Myers), and smallish, none physical forwards, this team is one lower body injury away from potentially acquiring lottery pick. The number of skilled unemployed goaltenders floating around makes even a Miller injury not the end of the world, but resting the team on Lalimes shoulders could be what Toronto needs to make up the difference of 9th to 8th place.

The Habs. Starting the year with an injured Markov is not a good sign. Add to that “Undisputed Number One Goaltender Carey Price” is far from a sure thing, even if he does sign. The Canadiens last season struggled just as much as Toronto to find the back of the net, and the difference between the teams was essentially a Jacque Martin defensive system and Jaroslav Halak. Unless Price proves people like me wrong, and Toronto faces another Epic defensive meltdown this season, I think it’s fair to say the Leafs can move ahead of Montreal in the standings.

Finally, the Senators. I might just be blinded by hate here, but this is not a team that invokes fear in the opposition, at least now that Volchenkov is gone. Goaltending is a question mark at best. Defense took a hit, but Phillips and Gonchar certainly are in impressive 1-2 punch, and Kuba and Karlsson aren’t too shabby either. The edge still goes to Toronto on the back end. Up front the questions are plentiful, and make or break the success of the team. The one-two punch of Spezza and Alfredsson still rules the roost, but with Kovalev and Michalek being huge injury liabilities you are again left with Mike Fisher and Nick Foglino as secondary scoring. Compared to Toronto, the edge still safely goes to Ottawa. At the end of the day it may be these two teams fighting for the last spot, and it’s still hard to justify the Leafs as being sure shot Sens killers here. If the Clouston honeymoon is finally over then sayonara Ottawa.

The success of the Leafs can only rely on the failures of our rivals so much. An obvious statement, but a true one. The Leafs will need to rely on almost the entire roster playing at their career bests, or close to them. It’s easy in the summer to sit around talking about Versteeg being capable of 70 points some day, or Kessel could be a 40 goal scorer, or maybe Phaneuf can put in 20 goals from the point. All of these things could realistically happen, but all at the same time, and all this season is where my hope becomes grounded in reality.

Goaltending, is it realistic, to expect it to be better? Yes.
Should we expect our starters to have a combined G.A.A. below 2.50? No.

Defense, it has to get better right? Probably.
Should we be comparing it to the best in the league? Let’s focus on not being the worst.

I think I can fore go generalized inflation of hopes for Toronto’s forwards, but despite the fact they will be improved do not expect the following:
Kadri will not win the Calder
Kessel will not score 40 goals
Bozak is not Marc Savard

I could go on, but I was generally going for being up beat with this post, and I can see it snowballing away from that.

At the end of the day this is what we started with for forwards last season

LW C RW
Hagman Stajan Ponikarovsky
Blake Grabovski Stempniak
Wallin Mitchell Stalberg
Rosehill Primeau Orr

And today (hypothetically)…

LW C RW
Kulemin Bozak Kessel
MacArthur Grabovski Versteeg
Caputi Kadri Armstrong
Sjostrom Mitchell Orr

Now that’s far from an awesome lineup, but it seems a hell of a lot better to me. Moustache love aside, the defense has also seen a huge upgrade by swapping out Ian White for Dion Phaneuf. There is now depth associated with the defense as well, and after taking a step backwards, Schenn has continued to develop, and Gunnarsson unexpectedly jumped in as another reliable, youthful defender. Asking them all to stay healthy all season might be a stretch, but currently on the outside of the top six Jeff Finger, Brett Lebda, and Matt Lashoff can be brought in as experienced NHL defenders, and the youngin’s on the farm (Aulie, Holzer, and Mikus) will all be looking to make a jump as soon as possible. Maybe competition will make players try harder? Hmmmm.

Goaltending. Sigh. Breathe. I think it’s safe to say the worst of it is over. Gustavsson 2010 is much better than Gustavsson 2009, and unless he goes Steve Mason/Jim Carey on us, life is good. What is also good is no more Toskala. Seriously if the Leafs other Goaltender was a lamp post that’s an improvement, but instead of that we have an accomplished goaltender at the crossroads of his career. Given what has happened to goaltenders in this past free agency, you can probably bet your ass he’ll be playing his off. Hell, even if he doesn’t, he’s better than Toskala. I’ve been training myself to set low expectations for goaltending in Toronto since the lockout, so I’ll start with I’d like to see the Goals Against Average around 2.9 in the first half, and hope that in the second half it’s around 2.75. Baby steps.

So, are we looking at a Playoff Team? There’s an outside chance of it. Will Toronto be an exciting team to watch? Absolutely. My low bar expectation for the season is mathematical elimination from the playoffs in the final weekend of the season, not March. I can deal with another year outside of the playoffs, but not another season of hopelessness and despair.

At the very least there will be some interesting stories to watch:
-Can Kadri emerge as a top six centre?
-Will another Marlie defenseman step into the roster full time?
-Can Kessel actually score 40 goals?
-Will Gustavsson become a defacto number 1 goalie?
-Will I continue to enjoy an lousy product because I was able to witness Colton Orr punch someone’s soul out of their body?

The next post on this site will come in the heart of the pre-season, and all of you will be deep into analysis mode while I’ll still be catching up on 3 week old Down Goes Brown articles. I look forward to rejoining the Barilkosphere rested, relaxed, and ready for the most exciting eight months of the year. I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who take the time to come here and read my ramblings, and hope to offer you an increasingly better product when I am back in Canada with a clear head (Amsterdam should be good for taking care of that.)

Until next time, enjoy the beginning of training camp, and I’ll talk to you all in the hockey season.

Please check out Leafs Linkage for some of my favourite sites that are currently pumping out new content. And please add me to twitter, your google reader and your RSS feed so you’ll know as soon as I’m ready to provide you with more Grade 8 writing littered with grammatical errors and typos.

Someone Left The Cake Out In The Rain

2010-08-28T13:03:00.007-06:00

(The Title was a MacArthur Park reference in case you're too young)

Clarke MacArthur has been signed by the Maple Leafs to a 1.1 million dollar contract from one season. (Leafs TV via Derek Harmsworh of Maple Leafs Hotstove) The official Maple Leafs press release is here

This puts a real damper on the what will the Leafs do with their available roster spot post I was going to write later this afternoon. If it's any consolation, Clarke MacArthur was going to be one of the three options I would have suggested (the other two were Bill Guerin and do nothing at all.)

With MacArthur the Leafs get a borderline top six talent that eliminates the need to rely on D'Amigo, Caputi, or Mueller before their time. It should also be worth noting that MacArthur did see some ice time with Colby Armstrong, so there is a minimal familiarity that two months of being teammates provides.

Forecaster via The Hockey News:

ASSETS: Is a very industrious forward, capable of playing either center or wing. Has good offensive instincts and NHL speed. Can score goals in bunches.

FLAWS: Needs to add more strength in order to maximize his scoring potential at the NHL level. Takes shifts off, so he must bear down in order to become more consistent from game to game.
CAREER POTENTIAL: Inconsistent scoring forward.

MacArthur lacks the size that you'd hope for in a very small top six group, he's only 5'11, but at 191 lbs he's at least filled out for that frame. It's also worth noting that the Leafs continue to get younger and more Albertan, as the Lloydminster native is just 25 years old.

Stat Pack (via Hockey Reference):

Last season, Clarke hit his career high in points (35), time on ice (14:42), game winning goals (3). His 17 goals were one off his career best of the previous season, and for the Leafs adding a 15-20 goal scorer isn't a bad start, but probably not a cause for great celebration either. It's also worth noting his -16 +/- rating flags him as a bit of a burden in his own zone. Most of his defensive blunders came from his time with Buffalo and not Atlanta which to me is even more worrisome.

So where does MacArthur fit on the Leafs? Odds are he's not going to be a top line winger, and instead it will be Kulemin taking on that role for additional size. I would instead expect MacArthur to be on a line where Hanson, or Armstrong will be his accompanying winger and more than likely MacArthur will not see a huge increase in minutes over what he has seen in the past unless he learns to consistently find the back of the net.

Why is this a good deal for the Leafs? MacArthur was the safest bet of the remaining free agent wingers. He's young, he doesn't have injury issues, and he's a natural left winger. If he gets better he's a steal, if not he hasn't cost the organization that much.

Why is this a bad deal for the Leafs? Size still hasn't been addressed, and a player that is forecasted as being inconsistent provides little reason for optimism. On a team that struggled in there own end much of last season, it doesn't look like a minus 16 player will help too much with back checking. It is also arguable that if Caputi, Mueller, or D'Amigo played in a similar situation that MacArthur will play in they'd accomplish just as much offensively.

Why is this a good deal for MacArthur? Simply look at the Leafs current left wingers. If MacArthur can improve his game he can build a name for himself this season, and maybe earn that $2.4 million payday that the arbitrator suggested for him.

Final Thoughts: I went to a Sabres/Oilers games a couple of seasons ago, and watched as MacArthur helped light up a very soft Edmonton team, and much like then teammate Drew Stafford, MacArthur has the ability to look like an incredibly dynamic forward on occasion, but at the end of season you look at his stats, and they are mediocre at best. I'm not expecting too much from MacArthur, but think he'll fit well getting third line minutes. This also looks like a nail in John Mitchell's coffin, unless he's capable of putting together a great camp. At the very least it will be hard not to love someone named Clark(e) wearing a Leafs jersey, just don't give him #17.

Well Played Burke. Well Played.

2010-08-27T17:48:00.005-06:00

The Leafs have pulled off a minor, but in some ways major move today by acquiring defenseman Matt Lashoff from Tampa Bay in exchange for Alex Berry and Stefano Giliati who both seemed bound from Reading this season. As a hockey trade this works for the Leafs. Gone are two players that are struggling to hold down AHL jobs never mind compete for a NHL position. In is a decent sized defender, with a mean streak and some scoring capability. Granted, Lashoff is also not likely to be gainfully employed by the big club, but he could see a call up when injuries inevitably happen. Remember five years ago the Bruins saw enough in this guy to draft him 22nd overall, he’s only turning 24 in late September, there are worse players to have then this.

This however was not a hockey trade, it was a business one. And what was accomplished today was the Leafs now sit with 49 players committed to contracts instead of the league maximum of 50. Hello, Bill Guerin? We’ll get to that later. The deal also works from the Lightning perspective, instead of paying Lashoff his one-way salary of $575,000 this season, they will now be paying Berry and Giliati $62,500 and 65,000 this season respectively (all numbers from Capgeek.com). Another thing of note that may have played a factor in the deal is that Lashoff is no longer exempt from waivers. While the Lightning may have hoped to lose him to waivers for the savings, it was not a guarantee. The Leafs on the other hand have already gained one SPC from this trade, and could free up another if a team puts in a claim, which could be likely given the sad state of the defense in places like Anaheim.

Certainly the question now is how will the new found SPC be used? I'm sure this will cue a whole new round of trade and free agency speculation which should occupy us until training camp starts.

Fehr Mongering

2010-08-26T18:20:00.004-06:00

Article 11 Section F Paragraph 3: Each Player shall receive his own birthday cake and will not have to share one as part of a Birthday Month

From a fan perspective, I think the players association being closer to a new leader is good news. There was no advantage to the Players Association being this disorganized . While they have managed to shoot themselves in the foot before under questionable leadership, Donald Fehr has a strong history of organizing Athletes, their egos, and their indifference, and moving their agenda forward. Thanks to the extension of the CBA for an additional season, Fehr has two years to re-build the crumbling union, and develop a function relationship with the NHL. It will not be an easy task, but if the disruptive elements of the two previous regimes are removed the players can then enjoy representation focused on what is best for its members instead of the petty grudges of the past.

With regards to his approach, there is a fear of strike. While I don’t agree with much that Marc Spector of Sportsnet wrote, he is right that Donald Fehr is not afraid to pull the players off the field or ice. While I’m sure this reputation will serve him well as he fights for leverage against then never-bending* Bettman, there has to be a realization on both sides that a quarter of the teams in this league will not survive another work stoppage, meaning a quarter of the players might as well ship off to the KHL. I’m not going to attack the teams that could be effected, (obviously I think MLSE can afford the work stoppage) but with the last lockout there was a surplus to prevent contraction from happening, and we are still seeing annual rumours of relocations, and numerous team sales each season. I’m not opposed to contraction, but not at the cost of a year of hockey, and I’m sure the players association would prefer not to lose almost 200 members.

I certainly wouldn’t describe myself as a labour guy, but it seems that Fehr is going to have specific targets when he takes charge and from a fans point of view they seem to be fair concessions, although I tend to over simplify. The first is Olympic participation, the players want to go, they have been going, and at the end of the day it’s good for the sport. Of course it’s better for ownerships pockets when the games are in North America, but this is clearly a respect issue, and it’s about time the league gave it to the players and fans who don’t call North America their home. It also wouldn’t kill the league to extend the occasional olive branch to the KHL and IIHF, but I’m not holding my breath for any form of diplomacy from Bettman.

The second target in Fehr’s sights has to be Escrow. Again, this is over simplifying, but in the real world businesses do forecasts to see what they can realistically afford to spend for the next few years, they then develop budgets that take multiple factors into account that prevent them from making poor fiscal decisions, and at no point is withholding paycheques for work provided a suitable option. Unfortunately if times go bad unexpectedly you have to let some good people go (waivers, trades, buyouts, etc.), but at the end of the day the organization is still standing and the player gets his chance elsewhere. Again, I’m not a Union guy, but it seems like a fair concession, especially when the league continues to openly speak about record revenues.

At the end of the day, Bettman and Daly seem open to working with Fehr, and that's not a bad start. From a Leafs perspective Fehr has received the endorsement of Mike Komisarek so theres that. Perhaps the most optimistic thought on the Fehr situation comes from Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal: "With talk that Don Fehr means work-stoppage in NHL, ppl shd remember this: MLB has not had work stoppage since 1995, but both NHL & NBA have." The NHL/NHLPA relations could be turbulent for the next couple of seasons, but given Fehr's track record he seems to be capable of coming up with long term solutions.

Being two years from the end of the CBA it's far too early to hit the panic button on a work stoppage, especially since Fehr isn't even officially on board. Hopefully the out of touch NHL Ownership as well as the NHLPA will acknowledge what is at stake and we won't all need to pick Swedish Elite League Teams to follow.

*unless you’re NBC

Kessel and The Other Guys

2010-08-25T17:30:00.002-06:00

Who knows how to play centre?

In the past couple of days I’ve pieced together what I think would be interesting lines for the bottom nine forwards in Toronto. I didn’t really mean to do this, as frankly I normally find this practice kind of annoying considering that the pre-season hasn’t even started yet. The first post was done under the good intention of showing that the Leafs could have a great two-way line. The second post was done to show that Mike Brown could have a role of increased importance, and that Sjostrom didn’t have to bring down a scoring line. The third post on the Kids line was more or less when this actually turned into actually projecting lines, but I think the combination still makes sense. Today is the post that makes me worry most as a Leafs fan. The top line.
Without a doubt this line is the Phil Kessel show. To his credit he seems comfortable with the spotlight, otherwise he wouldn’t be publicly stating that 40 goals this season is an attainable goal. For what it’s worth, I admire his enthusiasm, but I am not expecting it to happen. This won’t be for his lack of talent, it is due to the competition he will face every shift he is on the ice. And it’s because of the defense he will be facing that Kessel requires two very specific kinds of linemates. One is a player who is creative with the puck, and can create opportunities that other forwards would not be able to find. The second is someone who is going to clear bodies. Milan Lucic was a great linemate for Kessel because of this, and at the sacrifice of some offense, the Leafs need to entertain the idea of placing a tank out there with Kessel to screen goalies, take defenders out of the play, and police anyone who dares take a run at the Leafs offensive golden boy.

Of course when it comes to creative playmakers the Leafs are lacking a true star. There is potential in Bozak, but he isn’t to the point where he is the proven guy. I’m sure I’ll hear differing opinions on this one, but at this point Mikhail Grabovski is the team’s top centre. He is the most proven playmaker of the group, and while Bozak and possibly even Kadri could pass him in that regard this season, as of August 26th, 2010 he looks like the best option. Bozak and Kessel developed some chemistry last season, but that is not to say the same could not happen with Grabovski. Due to his injury Grabbo never really had a full audition with Kessel, and we could find that after a full training camp, and pre-season schedule the top winger and top centre make sense together. The other thing worth noting about this pairing is that together they will unquestionably always be offense first, and the two of them are likely to force other teams into a more conservative game.

Sigh. This is the hard (sad) part. Who gets the role as the first line left wing? I am still holding out hope for a new acquisition. With a surplus of defensemen that can be moved, and 2 additional SPCs that will be re-acquired when Blacker and Devane are reassigned to the OHL, it is likely that this position could still be addressed in a proper manner. For the sake of living in the now let’s assume the situation is not addressed, and the Leafs will begin the season with the players that are as of this moment under contract with the organization.

In that case there are two candidates I wish would raise to the occasion of first line left wing. Marcel Mueller, or Jerry D’Amigo. With all due love and respect to Jerry D’Amigo I think he is the third horse in this race. And with all due respect to Mueller his lack of experience in North America will probably have him starting the year with the Marlies as well. I could be wrong in this regard, but the likely candidate is Luca Caputi. Caputi doesn’t really fit the bill of being a Lucic type player, but with his size he’ll been looked to play a Johan Franzen role of raising hell in front of the net, and given the size of his linemates he’ll be fighting for pucks in the corner. I don’t see him filling the role of a protector, but he brings a novice version of other power forward qualities to the line. So much of why Caputi is here is because of philosophy of spreading the talent around. With Kessel and Grabovski being as offensively gifted as they are, they inherit a slightly less qualified player to ride shotgun, though after Kulemin he would be the next natural left winger on the depth chart.

Why not Kulemin? To some extent I’m just trying to stay loyal to post I did at the beginning of July before I was looking at the forward unit as a whole. That’s my cop out. Kulemin has played well with both Grabovski and Kessel in the past, and is unquestionably the best left wing on the team. He also exhibits most of the qualities that Mueller does but with some NHL experience to back them up. So why will I stand by Kulemin not being on this line? First, I’m against overloading all of the Leafs top talent onto one line. It’s just not that overwhelming, and the best bet is to spread it out. Secondly, where I think Kulemin might be better in the corners than Caputi, I think Caputi will ultimately learn to be better around the crease than Kulemin. He’s a decent sized player and he’s not likely to be moved too easily. While he might not often be the goal scorer, Caputi is going to be responsible for increased goal totals from Kessel and Phaneuf as he should be filling the need for someone screening the goaltender for them. It should also be worth noting that there is no reason to believe that Burke isn’t still trying to upgrade this position, since that has been what he has preached all summer long.

So what have I proposed as the Leafs forward lines:
Caputi-Grabovski-Kessel
Kulemin-Versteeg-Armstrong
Kadri-Bozak-Hanson
Sjostrom-Brown-Orr

While it leaves a lot to be desired, it gives all of the lines an element of speed, an element of physical play, and potentially three lines that can find the back of the net. Like I’ve said above the argument is pointless until we see these guys play together, and with 3 guys who have never game as a Leaf, 3 others that are still classified as rookies, and only 2 guys entering their 3rd season with the Leafs (3 if you include Hanson) a lot of shuffling will take place. It’s also rare that all four lines will remain intact through an entire game coached by Ron Wilson so it’s always difficult to care about these combinations anyway.

If shockingly these aren’t the lines being used by the Leafs, I would not be surprised if these are the opening night forwards. John Mitchell does not have a defined enough role to usurp any of these players, but he makes a solid addition as press box forward. His ability to play average hockey of any style makes him an asset the same way that Jamie Lundmark was, but if time permits I’d still prefer a Marlies player be called up instead of playing him.

The other option for the Leafs to start the season might be to dress 7 defensemen and 11 forwards. Given the lack of capable forwards, and the plethora of capable defensemen it may become hard to justify scratching Brett Lebda in favour of Mike Brown. The seventh defenseman approach would make sense if one of the defensemen was filling an enforcer role, but that’s not the case. It would also make sense if the one could be utilized as a forward, and as of this moment none of them make sense in that role either. So at the end of the day we’re probably looking at a skilled defenseman sitting in the press box while a lesser forward plays 6 minutes a night.

Follow me on Twitter, and check back here for a week of Leafs preview posts before I begin my 24 days of European Fun. VACATION!!!1

Kids Incorporated

2010-08-24T12:39:00.000-06:00

A while back, I did this post, talking up the benefits of a Kulemin-Versteeg-Armstrong line and my belief that it could be one of the Leafs strongest lines. Last weekend I posted about my belief that Mike Brown should be a fourth line centre and Sjostrom and Orr should be his wingers. The benefits were more geared towards developing Brown as a penalty killer, and providing an option other than John Mitchell. Today I’m going to continue looking at forward line combinations with another combination that makes sense to me, the difference on this one compared to the last two is that instead of wingers playing centre, this one has centers playing wing. I can’t say that any of these lines are based in any particular science or statistics, like most of my posts it is based more on my casual observations of how these players play and who looks like they’d work well together.

I’m going to jump past the top line for now, and focus on what I guess can best be defined as the secondary scoring unit. Two thirds of my top line will become obvious through this post anyway. This line has a physical component, a speed component, a playmaking component while maintaining respectable three zone play. The line is definitely inexperienced, but at least two of the players on it are capable of playing at a high level with potential to be future top line players. Perhaps a poor comparison to this line is the Oilers kids line of a couple of seasons ago, where Cogliano, Gagner, and Nilsson briefly had success (before tanking for the next couple of seasons.) It might also be worth noting that at the beginning of the summer I wouldn’t have placed two of these three forwards on the Leafs opening night roster.

Christian Hanson, Right Wing. I’ve been down on Christian Hanson all summer. Most of the times I’ve talked about him have been about his inability to sign a contract, or what his future role on the Marlies will look like. I’ve been changing my tune of late now that it appears help my not be on its way, and also because of the lack of size of the Leafs forwards. Hanson brings an important forechecking element to this line that creates opportunities for the skilled linemates who will hopefully cycle the puck until an opportunity presents itself. With a bit more comfort with the NHL game, and a chance to play right out of the pre-season Hanson might develop the confidence to play an aggressive game against tougher opposition. I can’t say that I’ll ever expect big things from Christian, but this line really lets him play to his maximum potential. When I reviewed the Leafs roster last month I had a hard time believing that Hanson was capable of getting over 20 points this season. With the opportunities this line will generate, it’s possible his linemates could bounce 20 pucks off of his body into the net over the course of the season.

Tyler Bozak, Centre. Here’s where I’ve lost 95% of you. How dare anyone suggest that Bozak not play with Kessel? Who else is capable of playing with Kessel? That will be addressed in a future post, but for right now here is the Bozak side of things. First off, Bozak has always played well along side Hanson as well. Where Kessel will probably do well despite not having Bozak as his centre, Hanson probably specifically needs Bozak on his line. Bozak needs to prove that he makes those around him better, and that it’s not just Kessel making him better (Anyone who has seen Bozak’s highlight reel from last season should already know this kid has talent.) There is also an argument for not putting all of our eggs in one basket. While it’s intimidating to roll a top line of your three best offensive players, it probably worth noting that with the Leafs top three offensive players on the same line they still won’t overwhelm most teams top defensive pairings. If the Leafs are going to have success scoring this season they are going to need three lines that can do it, and that likely means that Bozak will need to be independent of Kessel except for the powerplay.

Nazem Kadri, Left Wing. This definitely would not have been my favourite option a month ago. The lack of additional bodies on offense definitely points to the fact that Kadri, Caputi, Mueller, or D’Amigo will have the opportunity to make the team out of camp. It’s also worth noting that they probably won’t be limited to 11 minutes of spot duty either, and the NHL jolt may spark them to succeed quicker than they would seeing similar ice time in the AHL. Kadri of the four players listed is the best fit for this line with the possible exception of D’Amigo. Nazem’s blinding speed, and finishing ability will compliment Bozak nicely, and his tendency to carry the puck would be redundant if he was placed on a line with either Versteeg or Grabovski. I know I’m not the first to suggest that Kadri be moved from centre, but for his first look at the NHL it might be a smart decision. My biggest concern with Kadri has always been the potential for neutral zone turnovers that are synonymous with puck carrying forwards, and as he becomes familiar with NHL defensemen, it makes sense to limit potential disastrous situations by limiting those mistakes to one side of the rink. The youthful nature of this line also allows Kadri to be more free to do his thing, and the offensive system used for this line will largely be based on his abilities, and opportunity he would not have on a line with Kessel or possibly even Versteeg.

Really this line is the Frat Pack from last season with Kadri instead of Stalberg so it’s not overly inventive, or outrageous a suggestion. If anything despite Kadri’s lack of size compared to Stalberg, he probably makes the line grittier, and tougher to play against. He’s also an upgrade in the skill department.

I will have my final line combinations post up later this week, I don’t want to spoil it too much, but it will likely include Grabovski and Kessel.

The Lines So Far
???-???-???
Kulemin-Versteeg-Armstrong
Kadri-Bozak-Hanson
Sjostrom-Brown-Orr

What Brown Can Do For You

2010-08-21T14:40:00.001-06:00

Since the Leafs roster has more or less become set heading into training camp my mind has started wandering towards line combinations. This is at best completely pointless speculation as there will be a minimum of three players (Brown, Versteeg, Armstrong) or as many as five players (add Mueller and D'Amigo) that haven't played a game for the Leafs yet.
I'm going to hold off on getting to in depth with assumptions, and scenarios, but at first glance it looks like the top three lines should all be offensively focused. With Kessel as the only purely offensive phenom on the team, it is probably necessary to rely on scoring by committee. With that approach the nine players best suited to be mixed and matched around are Kessel, Kulemin, Bozak, Versteeg, Armstrong, Grabovski, Kadri, then 2 of Hanson, Caputi, J. Mitchell, Mueller or D'Amigo. Leaving Orr, Sjostrom, and Brown as the fourth line.

Now scratch that previous paragraph and think more about what Burke has historically preached. A top six that can score and a bottom six that will "truculate." The top six will probably take the form of Kessel, Bozak, Versteeg, Kulemin, Grabovski, and one of Kadri, D'Amigo or Mueller. The bottom six will for sure include Orr, Brown, Sjostrom, Armstrong, and unfortunately the centres would probably consist of Hanson and Mitchell.

I guess the point I'm trying to get at is not so much the question marks in the top six or nine, but instead the gaping holes at centre in the bottom 3 or 6. In the bottom six scenario I am more than comfortable with Christian Hanson getting a shot as a third line centre, but I think he's a waste as a fourth line guy. His primary purpose this year is still to develop and fill a role of greater need. If he's buried on the fourth line it is clear that the Leafs organization has given up on him.

John Mitchell on the other hand, I'm not sure I understand why he's still here. I think if he has a set role on opening night that is the sign of the Leafspocalypse. I am more than happy to see him fill in at any point when injuries arise, or someone needs a night in the pressbox to receive a message, but even as a fourth line centre I think the Leafs can do better.

What I have slowly been trying to get to is that I believe Mike Brown warrants consideration for fourth line centre. While this maybe isn't as drastic as Kaberle to centre, I think it deserves to be put out there. The line of Sjostrom-Brown-Orr makes sense in that it removes Sjostrom from the top nine where he wouldn't be contributing offense, it gives you a very solid energy line, and gives two of your penalty killers (Brown and Sjostrom) a chance to build chemistry.

Obviously, not everyone can learn centre, and it's not as easy to pick up a position he may not have played since Midget, this is the fourth line that the Leafs would be gambling on. Brown has some speed, which already gives him an advantage over guys like Irwin and Hanson. He's defensively reliable which gives him the advantage over John Mitchell. I'm simply arguing that it's worth a test.

A smart fourth line of Sjostrom-Brown-Orr combined with a defensively responsible offensively capable third line like Kulemin/Versteeg/Armstrong or Mueller/Kadri/Hanson gives the Leafs a greater chance at offense, while improving the penalty, and carrying one of the best energy lines in the league. My final point is that a developed face-off ability will also benefit the Leafs if Mike Brown is to be a penalty kill regular. The Leafs lack a centre who fits the role of a penalty killer, and PK face-off duties are likely to fall on guys like Versteeg or Brown.

Update: The '67 Sound did a great post at Pension Plan Puppets on line combinations and how Burke built the Ducks. It worth reviewing by anyone considering doing a post on line combinations as it is a move away from Fantasy and towards how successful teams are actually built. Glove Tap to Curt S of Blue Chip Prospects for sharing the article with me.

A First Look At NHL 11

2010-08-18T17:11:00.002-06:00

Since it’s the middle of August and the Leafs most valuable asset is staying put, I am once again faced with the joy of trying to find things to write about. Thankfully the NHL 11 demo came out last night, and the problem was temporarily solved. It also has the benefit of killing two birds with one stone, since I now have a shiny new video game to play when I’m bored.

After attempting to upgrade my existing account to Gold, I gave up when it refused to let me change my location to Canada, and I set up a new Xbox account. So if anyone is ever looking for an easy win in NHL 10, look to see if YakovMironov is online. So attempt number two of downloading the demo lead to the discovery that my former roommate had filled my Xbox with demos of every game that came out in 2008, again hindering my ability to download the game. After clearing space I was ready for attempt number 3. Success, and now if this pointless opening paragraph hasn’t put you off reading the rest of the post, here are my first thoughts on NHL 11.
First, a disclaimer. By no means am I a video game aficionado. This will probably be the only game I buy this year. I have purchased the EA NHL titles since ’93 and would buy this game even if it was a complete mess.

· Appearance wise, the game continues to get a little crisper every year. By no means was this year a giant leap forward.

· Hitting, last season I thought the game had been designed by Damian Cox with the lack of hitting in it. This year it seems that hitting is back, but there do seem to be too many big hits from players you wouldn’t necessarily think would be throwing them, though it is fun to crush Pronger with Patrick Kane.

· I’ve heard a lot of people complain that sticks breaking happen way too often. I’d didn’t really experience this, but that’s probably because I play a Kaberle type game on EA. Unless my defensemen were going to break their sticks throwing soft passes back and forth I wasn’t going to notice. FYI I typically have 6 shots a period.

· Playing without a stick. I really love this. Players running to get a loose stick, or heading to the bench are great, but I especially loved having one of my penalty killers out blocking shots without his stick.

· Directional passing. Fantastic feature. It has the potential to get annoying as it sets up great long bomb passes to speedy wingers, I think between Keith passing up for Zetterberg I was able to get 3 goals in a game doing this. The other interesting thing I noticed with this is that I can burn you nicely too. In overtime I was frequently dropping the puck to the point to find that I did not have a defenseman there.

· The other new feature that is demoed is the Hockey’s Ultimate Team mode. I looks to be much more elaborate in the actual release, but it seems like a cool idea that I’ll probably never play. The idea is you start with a random assortment of players, jerseys, logos, skills, and arenas and you build your most effective lineup. Along the way, you add additional hockey cards that improve your team (new players, better arenas, etc.) For a demo this was an awesome idea, I loved having Kadri, Vikingstad, and Brayden Schenn in Leafs uniforms. In practice I can’t see this replacing Dynasty Mode or Be A Pro mode as one of my main ways of playing. What it definitely seems to be an upgrade over is Fantasy Draft Modes, and Create A Team Modes. If those are your cup of tea than this will be fantastic.

· The new face-off mode is interesting. And by interesting I do mean better, but I haven’t mastered it yet. Highlights have included my centre taking a shot on goal right off the draw on an offensive zone faceoff, lowlights include where it looks like my centre is trying to hump the opposing centre.

· Junior Players, this is effin’ brilliant. My apologies go to Kenny Ryan, as during my Spitfires game I may have beaten him senseless with Mark Bell, but it’s a great new element to the game, that is going to make the dynasty modes and be a pro modes even better. What I’m not looking forward to is that at next year’s draft people will be made stupid by this. The same way that the NHL series has spawned idiotic trade proposals, I’m certain we will hear Brian Burke should draft player X because he was rated a 72 in NHL 11, and was drafted in the top 10 in their dynasty mode.

· Another small point of praise goes for the addition of a Two-Way Forward player type. It’s nice to move away from the purely Grinder title. Maybe next year they can add a plumbers player type.

As much as I’m excited to play this full version, there were a couple of things that really leaped out as odd to me. First is that Mark Bell has an overall rating of 76 while Nazem Kadri has a rating of 71. I’m not suggesting so much that Kadri should be higher, as much as I’m suggesting that Bell be lower, but then again European League players have had inflated values in this game for a while. The other interesting thing about Kadri is that he’s listed as Sniper for his player type. I agree, the kid can shoot, but I don’t think I’m wrong when I say he’s probably a playmaker first. I’m really interested in seeing what the player ratings look like on this edition, because I was equally surprised to see that Pascal Dupuis is a 79, while elite defenders like Chara, Lidstrom, and Keith were listed at 85.

All and all it looks like another win for EA, and once I return from vacation this will be my way of getting pumped for the regular season. Go Virtual Wheat Kings!

Updated Player Profiles

2010-08-17T08:43:00.002-06:00

I have updated my 2010-2011 Leaf Player Profiles now that Tomas Kaberle will spend another season with the blue and white. The two new additions to the profiles are Kaberle (of course) and Jerry D'Amigo. Given Burke's statement on the Fan 590 this looks like it will be the team that enters training camp together. Please enjoy these 30 pages, 15,000 words on the team that will be fighting for eighth in the East this season.

Acceptance and "What Happens Next?"

2010-08-16T12:21:00.002-06:00

It’s been slept on, and now I finally feel comfortable weighing in on the non-deal of Kaberle remaining a Leaf. While I’m ultimately still disappointed that Burke was not able to land a top six forward, there are worse things in life than being stuck with a perennial All-Star defenseman.

While I’m sure there were deals on the table that 95% of us would have accepted, I’m also sure that 99.9% of us are not capable of building an NHL team, sorry HFBoards user your four team trade will never see the light of day. What makes Burke a great GM is ability to make the unpopular decisions, and somehow build a team for the future while preaching that it is all about now.

The obvious question that comes from Kaberle not being moved, is “What happens next?” On the Kaberle front, the Leafs need to commit. After Rick Curran’s calms down, and Kaberle cancels his moving truck, it’s time to work on an extension that locks Tomas in as a Leaf for the next five seasons. Let’s own the fact that he hasn’t gone anywhere, and instead make him a Leaf for life. It is a rare occurrence for a player to do this, and even rarer if that player is a Maple Leaf. There are worse things than locking in with a player who has been a model of consistency.

The next thing to look at is the fact that the Leafs have 8 NHL defensemen, if you count Jeff Finger, which you should, he’s that bad, just incredibly overpaid. As it sits right now Brett Lebda, who came to Toronto in search of more ice time will be sitting in the press box opening night, and Jeff Finger will likely have his Marlies fate sealed. While I can see all of these defensemen going into the pre-season as Leafs, something is going to have to give by the start of the season.

So let’s start new exciting speculation. The most likely candidate to be shopped now would appear to be Francois Beauchemin. I won’t hazard a guess at what he could land the Leafs in return, but if it’s a top six forward the deal would likely involve either another player being included or the Leafs taking on some salary.

The next options are unpleasant ones, so I’ll just label them as bad ideas. Trading Carl Gunnarsson or Luke Schenn. Admittedly I could change my mind on Gunnarsson if the right deal was done, but the future of the Leafs defense should be more important than adding a forward now.

The next option is Komisarek. Again it’s probably not going to happen, he does have a No Trade Clause, his contract certainly is not a selling point, and lastly I think the Leafs really want to keep him. With last season being a wash for him, Burke will still want his biggest defensive acquisition of last offseason to get his chance to shine.

Lastly, and I don’t even want to say it is Kaberle can still be moved, but it is now on his terms. Like I stated above, I would prefer he is now a Leaf for Life, but if too much damage has been done in the relationship between the Leafs and Kaberle, he could still go to a team of his choosing, most likely a contender in the East.

The math of the Leafs defense is very interesting. Already sitting on 8 NHL defensemen, the team also has Aulie, Blacker, Holzer, and Mikus waiting for the their chances to play in the next couple of years. This is the level of competition you’d hope to see for such an important position, but points again to fact that the Leafs can reasonable sacrifice one or two defensemen for improved offense.

End of the day, keeping Kaberle was not a bad move. Most of the names that were thrown around (Malone, Riberio, Clowe) were not worth it. The deal was only upsetting if the Leafs were going to pull off some form of robbery by acquiring Neal, Ryan, etc. and realistically their names were probably never uttered by rival GMs.

It's The Final Countdown!

2010-08-14T10:23:00.000-06:00

It's past the point of speculation, no one wants to hear anything other than details of the trade. It's time for Leafs fans to relax. I will stick to the Leafs theme of the weekend I will be getting belligerently drunk on Czech Pilsner. This will probably not bode well for my Canuck fan friends who are in for a night of Truculence and Pugnacity.

I'll be back as soon as the deal is(n't) done, in the meantime enjoy a look back on some previous Kaberle posts that have brought us closer together.

Stay or Going? Either Way, Thanks Tomas!
Kaberle Trade Speculation Part 1/Part 2/Part 3/Part 4
Top Five Kaberle Throw In Players of 2009-10

I hope the Leafs trade for someone you like and I'll be back soon. In the meantime follow me on Twitter for what I'm sure will be a weekend of Kaberle, English Premier League, and drunkness.

What Was Wrong With The Leafs: Part Three: Centers

2010-08-12T12:58:00.026-06:00

I’m sure this won’t be the last time I pick on the forwards from last season, and as of this dreary afternoon on August 11th, it looks like it will be another season of frustration with the offense, but instead of lumping them into one equally rushed post, I’ll focus on why the pivots made me cry myself to sleep last season.

What makes the centre situation last season a bit more bearable than say the defense was our starting point. When you begin the year with Matt Stajan, Mikhail Grabovski, John Mitchell, Wayne Primeau and Rickard Wallin down the middle you don’t set your expectations too high. The biggest kick in the pants was after strong training camps Kadri was sent back to the OHL, and Tyler Bozak was sent to the AHL. After a summer of hoping that one of the two young centres would fill a top six role, we were instead left with Grabovski, and Stajan, both who are at best acceptablish as a second line centre.

It became clear early on that Rickard Wallin was not going to bring anything to this position, and his role as the outsider who would swoop in to steal a top six position was instead replaced with the role as the outsider who would swoop into the lineup when ever Primeau, Grabovski, or Mitchell was injured. Which were frequent enough occurrences.

Primeau’s year was an interesting one. While he definitely didn’t upset me in his role as a fourth line role player, he proved himself too old and slow to still be useful on the penalty kill, and as the team’s “faceoff specialist” he could have performed better losing key draws in his own end. At the height of desperation in the season, Primeau saw time as the second line centre. This promotion was based on the small window of time during season where he actually put up a couple of points and was not injured. At the height of Primeau’s career he never warranted this role, so filling it in what could be his last season in the NHL shows that the Leafs were doomed to failure.

John Mitchell took every possible step in the wrong direction this season, and the same way he was able to play himself onto the Leafs roster last season he may have played himself off of it. I still wonder what compromising photos Mitchell has of Ron Wilson that helped keep him from the Marlies, and instead earned him powerplay time, and my personal favourite, his appearances as the extra attacker when the goaltender was pulled. Unfortunately I do agree with Ron Wilson in that if Mitchell is going to stay in the NHL he needs to be a scoring forward, but it doesn’t halt the embarrassment of watching him try to play at a level he’ll never reach. The same way that Edmonton new to cut ties with Robert Nilsson, Toronto needs to do the same with John Mitchell. He has a long career of being a dynamic forward in the German Elite League to look forward to, who are the Leafs to hold him back?

Mikhail Grabovski takes more crap than any other Leaf minus Jeff Finger. I personally think a lot of it is unwarranted. For the sake of this argument let’s talk about where I agree with the crap flingers. He isn’t a two way player. He’s never going to be. The second the puck enters the Leafs end you might as well send him to the bench for a designated centre. The second thing that is frustrating about Grabovski are his turnovers. It’s nice to have players who want to carry the puck across the blueline instead of dump it in, but somewhere between his blueline and his opponents blueline Grabbo’s brain shuts down, and he instinctually throws the puck away. His injury situation did not help his cause last season either, but unlike those mentioned above him I remain hopeful for him, as he is a dynamic offensive player and he has taken great strides in improving his faceoff abilities.

I don’t think anyone in the Leafs organization was happy with the idea of Matt Stajan as the default number one centre. The upside of putting him in the role however was that the Leafs were at least able to convince Darryl Sutter that he was legitimate. If there was one thing that sealed Stajan’s fate and guaranteed he’d be moved from Toronto it was his complete inability to play on a line with Phil Kessel. The fact that John Mitchell looked better in the role than Stajan proves that of the Leafs were in need of a major overhaul.

So how’d the Leafs do with fixing it? Bringing Bozak up to play with Kessel looks like it will help with part of the problem. Tyler’s 27 points in 37 games certainly gives some hope for the next season. Statistically speaking Bozak should be a suitable replacement for Stajan. His chemistry with Kessel is a nice bonus as well. Factor in that he can win faceoffs and isn’t allergic to defensive play, and the Leafs a versatile player who could play his way into a permanent top six position this season.

Aside from Bozak, there wasn’t any relief last season. Hanson when moved to center was a ghost. Lundmark is at best an afterthought, and performed the role as well as any fringe NHLer would. Irwin does not possess the speed to be an NHL center, and barely possesses the speed to be an NHL Zamboni, and Kadri’s one game audition is a reminder that being a star in the OHL doesn’t necessarily mean NHL ready.

So have the Leafs done enough to improve over last season? It’s debatable. I will make the bold assumption that Bozak is an upgrade over Stajan, and a healthy Grabovski is an improvement as well. A shaky, learning the ropes Kadri is still an upgrade over John Mitchell in the top three lines, and if he’s not a Leaf at the start of the season, John Mitchell fighting for his job is better than whatever that was that John Mitchell was doing last season. The fourth line centre role in likelihood will be where Mitchell lands, but if he finds himself with increased responsibilities I would certainly prefer someone like Tim Brent, Michael Zigomanis, or Alex Foster on the fourth line than stunting the development of Christian Hanson or Brayden Irwin.

The other wild card in the improvement of the Centre position is Kris Versteeg. Most naturally a winger, Versteeg has spent some time at centre, and has a strong two-way game. His speed is right for the position, but his Grabovski-like neutral zone turnovers raise some red flags. There isn’t really a reason to take this step unless Wilson has a similar view to my own, and thinks that Grabovski needs to be moved to the wing as a priority.

The long and short of this is that the problem the Leafs have faced since Sundin left still exists. Our best options are still plagued with question marks, and even if everything works out to the best possible result there is still a lack the size and grit that would be most coveted. If I were to offer solutions to the problem Marc Savard, Ribiero or a similar centre would probably not be my answer. This is what the Leafs are trying to develop with Bozak and Kadri and bringing in someone that they’d be playing behind for the next five years does not make sense. Unfortunately what the Leafs need is someone more hardnosed along the lines of Getzlaf, Thornton, or Mike Richards. Of course those are the extremes of this category, but more realistic options like Legwand on the Predators could be a risky, but intriguing option, if he’s even available.

Aside from pipe dreams of a top six centre with size the Leafs are left with the options of adding size to the wing (not a bad idea anyway), and addressing what can be done with the 3rd and 4th line centres. As rough as Bozak and Grabovski look in the top six, Mitchell and Hanson look equally as bad in the bottom six. Affordable stop gaps like Eric Belanger, Brendan Morrison, and Jeff Halpern are still available, and are all capable of consistent solid play in the bottom six, and can fill in as needed in the top six as well.
Given the mess that is the centre position on the Leafs, it unlikely we will know what Toronto has until opening night. It could be a youthful group that takes the league by storm, or it could be a repeat of past couple of seasons in which the Leafs haven’t necessarily suffered because of this position, but haven’t drawn strength from it either.

Actual News (if you love entry level contracts)

2010-08-11T16:56:00.001-06:00

Just a few quick Leafs thoughts since there was a bit of news today.

D’AMIGO

So here I am writing about Jerry D’Amigo for the fourth time in just over a week. Not that I mind, I clearly like the guy, but today he has signed his 3 year entry level contract(as per official release), and so begins his potential journey to LeafDom.

Fun Fact, A week ago, I was worried I was overrating this kid, but I am quickly learning that I was not the only one. It seems that even lovable, huggable Damian Cox is tooting D’Amigo’s horn. I would love to hear more from him about this excitement since he was so adamant that Schenn should have been in the AHL this season, and more or less is in favour of Kadri being a Marlie this season (I don’t necessarily disagree with him on the last one.)

The thing is, it’s up to D’Amigo at training camp. Depth on the wing is absent from the Leafs, and I’d assume the spot is his as long as he can play his way past Luca Caputi and Marcel Mueller. While I fully expect Jerry D’Amigo to be either a Toronto Marlie or much less likely a Kitchener Ranger, I’m a big fan of the youthful competition that will be occurring this September for the Leafs.

BELANGER

Where it originally came from I’m not certain, but I first read it on Maple Leafs Hotstove, so let’s source it there, Eric Belanger could potentially become a Leaf. If there ever was a deal I was 75% behind, this is it. About 25% of that is because he’s not Raffi Torres.

The short synopsis of how the Belanger rumour came to be is that Belanger had told a French language newspaper that he was all but signed by a ‘mystery team’ and the only hold up was that the other team had to make a deal before his could happen. I guess Toronto falls into the category of a team needing to make a deal, since Player Contracts are now maxed out, thanks to Mr. D’Amigo.

I’m not going to go into it too much since nothing is certain on this, but Belanger is absolutely what Toronto should be looking for as a third line centre. He’s another penalty killer, and he is capable of spurts of offense similar to Colby Armstrong’s. He would be another player who fits the bill of Burke type player, but probably more importantly, he’s a Ron Wilson type player. And possibly more important than that, he’s a great reason to get rid of John Mitchell.

SPC’s
As mentioned earlier, D’Amigo was the last available contract to hand out, at least to my understanding. The Leafs are sitting on a few potential spaces by sending Blacker, Devane, or D’Amigo to their junior teams, but
that cannot occur until training camp.

Thought number one, can we start jettisoning garbage? Names like Alex Berry, Stefano Giliati, Robert Slaney, and Richard Greenop could be tacked on to larger deals to earn a couple of extra SPC spots.

Thought number two, can John Mitchell, Brayden Irwin, or Christian Hanson be dealt for conditional picks? With better options out there on the free agent market, can some of these excess fourth liners/healthy scratches be moved for additional contract space?

Thought number three, it doesn't really help, but can we acknowledge that Zigomanis, Crabb, and Richmond weren't the best signings given the time in which they were acquired? It really seems foolish to be adding three contracts worth of AHL depth before addressing the gaping holes on the NHL roster.

KABERLE
He's still here. He'll probably be here tomorrow too.

I have a couple of other new posts written and ready to go up here in the next couple of days so be on the look out for those, and expect an updated copy of my 2010-2011 Player Profiles to be completed early next week.

In case you missed it, here is a link to my latest LeafsHQ post (also about Jerry D'Amigo)

Mount Puckmore: 100th YakovMironov.com Post

2010-08-07T11:08:00.002-06:00

Before getting into the actual post itself, I would like to thank everyone who has become a reader of this site over the past four months. You are obviously capable of looking past typos, poor spelling, and grammatical errors, and for that I thank you. I'd like to think that quality, and content has improved over that time, and I'm looking forward to actually blogging during the season. I'd like to thank everyone who has linked to me during these first 100 posts, as with out them none of you would be reading this and I probably would have given up writing in this space.

Now for the actual post.

My Maple Leafs Mount Puckmore,

Of course this post stems from the Puck Daddy series on each teams 4 legends who best represent the history of the franchise. With the recent discussion on Pension Plan Puppets on who they will select, I decided I'd offer my humble suggestions.

The first thing about the Mount Puckmore series is that it is not a personal. It is not meant to be a collection of the four players have been your favourites, our about your personal history with the team, it is about the shared experience of the players that have become legends within the organization. If this was meant to be a personal list my list would probably be Frank Mahovlich (my fathers favourite player), Bobby Baun (my father's favourite hockey story), Dave Andreychuk (my first favourite Leaf), and Doug Gilmour (the player I continue to idolize). I think it is safe to assume that despite his strong seasons with the Leafs Andreychuk doesn't make it too far into anyones consideration. The Gilmour argument might hold water as he has a Captaincy, Selke, the Team's best single season point total, and amazing playoff performances that make him considerable. Bobby Baun while being a solid defenseman he is considered purely as the hero of the 1967 Cup Finals, and since we'll likely be hearing about 1967 for a few more years Baun is a strong argument. Mahovlich was not a player I originally considered before this post, but when you see 4 Stanley Cups, Rookie of the Year, Hall of Famer he warrants some consideration. Can you hold Mahovlich's two cups in Montreal against him? I probably will.

The second thing about the Mount Puckmore series is that it's infinitely more difficult for Original Six Teams. We've seen it already with Jack Edwards piece on the Bruins where he left off Phil Esposito, Eddie Shore, and Johnny Bucyk. No matter who is put on the list for the Leafs, every other Leafs fan will likely have issues with the inclusion or exclusion of at least one name. The one name that seems to be universally coming up by Leafs fans is Conn Smythe. I'll admit, the first time I made a list off the top of my head, his name was the first to come up, and unquestionably he has done more for this franchise than other man, but given the volume of amazing players over the history of this franchise, I am leaning towards a players only monument (Though I will always find room for Harold Ballard on my Mount Suckmore)

The criteria I've chosen for my Mount Puckmore is relatively simple, but I think justifies my selections whether you agree with them or not. I think it turns the argument more towards my criteria than it does to my actual selections.

The Criteria is as follows:
1. When you think of this person, do you unquestionably think of them as a Leaf first?
2. Do the people on this monument inspire? Since that was a criteria for Mount Rushmore, why not here as well.
3. Mount Rushmore had individuals that embodied Unification, Leadership, Birth of A Nation, A willingness to fight against tyranny, and Victory. As such my Mount Puckmore will include the same qualities
4. Indisputable Excellence. This is a Leafs monument but it needs to stand up to the criticism of other organizations. Does its membership include players with credentials that garner the respect of other organizations.
5. The Folk Hero Factor. This is an important one, and I'll avoid using a Leafs example here since it plays a large factor in my selections, but simply try making the argument to a Canucks fan that Trevor Linden was an average player, and did not accomplish anything noteworthy in his career.

So who makes the mountain?

Hap Day: Here is the George Washington pick of Mount Puckmore. With all do respect to Bert Corbeau who was technically the first captain of the Leafs, it was Hap Day who wore the C in the first full season of the Blue and White. He'd keep that C for 11 seasons (second only to George Armstrong) and was the first person to hoist the Stanley Cup in a Leafs uniform. Add 5 more Stanley Cups as the coach of the Leafs, Day represents the birth of the franchise, and was responsible for some of the most successful years of the team.

Johnny Bower: Johnny Bower is here for alot of reasons, most of which have already landed him the Hockey Hall of Fame, earned him a spot on Canada's Walk of Fame, the reason he has a postage stamp with his face on it etc. Bower represents the great history of Leafs goaltending, so apologies to Broda, Potvin, Sawchuk, Palmateer, and Bester? fans, for longevity Bower is their representative. For the fact that Bower will rapel from the rafters of the Air Canada Centre at the age of 84 he deserves to be on Mount Puckmore. Of all of the Leafs legends, Bower has remained the ever present face of the Alumni, and given the falling outs with Keon, Sittler, and others Bower has shown that he is a Leaf for life. Oh yeah, Vezinas, Stanley Cups, 87th Greatest player of all time, yada, yada, yada.

Bill Barilko: I did say Folk Hero aspect was important to me, and Barilko is Leafs folklore in a nutshell. One of the greatest stories of sports legend (homer bias) how does he not earn a spot on Mount Puckmore? He has one of only two retired numbers in Leafs history, he had 4 Stanley Cups, and scored an overtime goal to win the Stanley Cup over the Habs. If there wasn't a captivating story of disappearance, he would still be a contender for this honour, but honestly that's what moves him ahead of all of the other worthy individuals not on here. Personal bias, Barilko is part of the reason why I have always worn the number 5.

Wendel Clark: Yeah, I know, no cups, no Hall of Fame, not really any hardware to speak of. Wendel is kind of the Theodore Roosevelt of the Mountain, his accomplishments aren't on the level of the others, but was unquestionably an accomplished leader during his time. Wendel Clark is the answer whenever you ask someone under the age of 40 to name the first Leafs player that comes to mind. That counts for something. Clark is also largely responsible for exorcising the ghost of Harold Ballard from Maple Leaf Gardens. Clark presided over the Leafs during the best years of the franchise post-expansion, he left the entire Norris division bloodied, and beaten before taking his act to the North East. While I confess I've always been a Gilmour fan first, Wendel is what embodies the Leafs, and he exemplifies what the Leafs are going to be as well.

So there are my choices, flame away. I don't think there is a way to get this 100% right given the history of the organization, but with the exception of the 70's most of the Leafs history has been covered with these selections. Originally I was thinking of doing this as a FanPost on Pension Plan Puppets, but changed my mind as I wanted my 100th post here to be more reflective than the usual "where is Kaberle going today" post that will inevitably follow this one. I look forward to reading future PuckMore articles, and appreciate any comments you have on mine.

Toodles.

Little Jerry: Why I (over)Value Jerry D’Amigo

2010-08-04T19:08:00.002-06:00

"Little Jerry ran from here to Newman's in under thirty seconds!"

First off, thanks to Curt S for asking me about this. I have been running on fumes for ideas of what to post for a while. If you haven’t already, check out Curt’s blog, Blue Chip Prospects.

The initial question stems from my post on the top 25 players in the Leafs organization under 25. Here is the excerpt on D’Amigo:
9. Jerry D'Amigo: Little Jerry looks to be a star. Hopefully he's a college dropout too after this season. D'Amigo has already dominated in college, and the World Juniors, and if he can keep it up for this season he'll be ready to at least get his shot as a Marlie. His speed and finishing abilities are why he's this high up on the list, but with the amount of hype, and the possibility that his game won't transition to the pros could make him the biggest bust on this list as well.

Nothing too crazy there right? Though I can see the argument that It’s odd that I’d rank him ahead of Brad Ross, Korbinian Holzer,Jussi Rynnas, and Mikhail Stefanovich (who is projected in a similar way). We’ll try and address that now.

Before we look at what is right about D’Amigo, let’s look at what is wrong with me (besides my hatred of proofreading my writing.) I am part of that well known group that overvalues performance at the World Juniors. It’s safe to say that I am currently under the impression that Jordan Eberle is a Calder candidate, and John Carlson will be a top four defenseman on the Caps this season. I don’t defend my stance on this, it’s an affliction that causes you to believe that Boyd Devereaux could be a 30 goal scorer in the right situation . It’s an ugly condition, and it’s the reason that Justin Pogge is still employed. The other part of what’s wrong with me (when relating to this specific situation) is that I randomly fall for young Leafs potential. Alexander Suglobov was going to be the face of the franchise by now. Before that I had a history of Todd Warriner and Jeff Ware infatuations. Not a great track record. In fact, maybe Little Jerry should be traded now before the stink of my approval ruins him.

Me Likey Future Goal Scorer

"If there is a poster boy for Maple Leafs prospects, it just may be forward Jerry D’Amigo." -Rob Longley of the Toronto Sun

Let's start with where my appreciate of D'Amigo began. The World Juniors. It's already impressive that he made the team, as you'd assume as a 6th round pick he would face an uphill battle. For Jerry to then take over the tournament for Team USA and put up 6 goals and 6 assists in 7 games is even more amazing. Having a goal and an assist in the overtime win over Canada is what had me thinking he was the real deal, and being named one of the top forwards in the Tournament clinched it. D'Amigo should that he can dominate against the best competition in the World in his age group, and he proved that he can be a clutch scorer in that circumstance as well.

The effect that his performance from the Juniors had on me was that I needed to follow his stats more closely. The result was learning that not only is D'Amigo a point a game scorer, it's that he is such a consistent scorer. Ending the season at a point a game, there were few times that his totals spiked or declined. Ending his rookie season with 10 goals, 25 assists in 35 games is a great first step for 19 year old kid playing against 23 year old competition. Factor in that D'Amigo was seeing freshman ice time for a good chunk of the season, the numbers are even more impressive. It is no surprise that D'Amigo was named ECAC Rookie of the Year beating out Habs first round pick Louis LeBlanc in the process.

If D'Amigo can improve on his last season in the NCAA it's likely that he could face pressure next season to leave school and join the Leafs organization. While he's understandably a couple of years away from being a Leaf, it would be great to give him a season in the AHL and still have in a Leafs uniform before his 22nd birthday.

It has been confirmed this week that Jerry will return to Team USA to help defend their World Juniors Championship title, and should face additional pressure this go around as the team will be looking to him as a leader, and he will no longer be able to take the competition by surprise.

In closing, Hooray for teenage growth spurts, because the 5'10 player the Leafs drafted is now a 6'0 200 lb. potential power forward. While I'm not suggesting the Leafs wait 2 years to fill this need, it is certainly nice to have a strong forward prospect in the pipeline who will one day fill a top six role. I certainly think that from an organizational stand point there are few prospects greater than D'Amigo's raw scoring talent.

Top 25 Under 25

2010-08-03T11:21:00.002-06:00

Granberg did not make the top 25

Credit for the concept of this post belongs to The Copper & Blue Oilers Blog. They have been running a series of the top young Oilers for almost a month now and it's been fantastic. Maybe it's because of my proximity to Edmonton that I love Oilers blogs so much, but I stand by the fact they are some of the most interesting hockey writing out there.

Anyway, Instead of running my list as one player a day, I'm going to knock off my entire list in one post, of course sacrificing some detail along the way. This list is a mix of current performance and potential. Notable is the fact that I do have a bias towards players who are already in the NHL, or close to earning a full time role. We can re-watch highlights of D'Amigo in the World Juniors until the cows come home, but as much as I like him I can't justify him ahead of Luca Caputi who I remain on the fence about.

So without further adieu, the top 25 under 25

25. Ben Scrivens: I don't pretend to know too much about Scrivens, but any goaltender who shows up wanting to learn from Francois Allaire can be counted on as a prospect. Scrivens played in a system known for being defense first, and he excelled. Ultimately that is what Ron Wilson wants the Leafs to look like as well. At present time I think he's still a year or two away from even seeing significant time on the Marlies, but goaltenders are unpredictable at the best of times.

24. Brayden Irwin: Brayden essentially makes this list because the Leafs thought enough of him to sign him as a free agent, and immediately give him a couple of games in the NHL. I personally don't know why, as he managed to look completely out of place, but if he adds some weight to his frame, and can prove that he can beat Jason Allison in a foot race then he might have a shot as a Leaf.

Moustache Power: The Next Generation

23. Dale Mitchell: I should have put him higher up the list for the moustache alone. At 5'9 he's a question mark, but at 200lbs he's solid. He has enough speed that he can keep up with the game, but while he's been relied on for offense in the juniors, he will need to transition himself to more of a plugger role at the pro level. His outlook for the Leafs is uncertain, but it would not surprise me to see Mitchell as the captain of the Marlies in a couple of seasons.

22.Jerome Flaake: The first of three Germans on this list, Jerome has never been a guy to put up huge numbers. The fact that he is staying in Germany for at least another year is hugely disappointing as if he is going to be an impact player in North America he needs to come over and learn the North American game. Since he could have been buried in the CHL this season, it does make sense for him to continue to play against men, but if he's not in the AHL for the 2011-12 season I think it may be time to forget about him. The game Flaake could bring to the Leafs would be as a speedy defensive forward that fits the mold of Fredrik Sjostrom.

21. Mikhail Stefanovich: Some answers should finally be coming on Stefanovich this season. The Leafs can no longer ship him back to the juniors and he'll get every chance to prove himself in the AHL on one of the Marlies scoring lines. With the quality of goaltending in the AHL improving every season, if Stefanovich can put up 20 plus goals in his first year in the league the Leafs could have a legitimate goal scorer. He has the same inconsistency warnings that seem to plague every Belarussian in the NHL.

20. James Reimer: Maybe Reimer is a bit far down on this list, but alot of that stems from durability. Last season he proved he can stop pucks with the best of them in the AHL, but being limited to 25 games is a bit of a drawback. I'd assume given his familiarity to Francois Allaire he'll be given 55% of the starts this year, but with Scrivens and Rynnas waiting for their chances he'll have to fight to be the number one guy. If he can put up last years numbers over a 45 game stretch this season, he could be potentially considered for the Leafs backup role in the near future.

19. Kenny Ryan: It's not that the Windsor Spitfires will be a bad team, but with Fowler, Hall, Mitchell, and others off to their professional careers Ryan should get a chance to play in the top six on a still very good team this season. While Ryan should still be considered as a solid third line guy for the Leafs organization in the future, this season will be a nice audition for if scoring forward can be considered part of his duties.

18. Greg McKegg: On name alone McKegg is awesome, but already putting up big numbers in the OHL for the Otters, McKegg is one of the few guys that the Leafs ever draft that is with scoring in mind instead of another need. The nice advantage with McKegg is that he's already at NHL size, and could be a very durabile centre in the style of players like Jason Arnott.

17. Juraj Mikus: I should know alot more about this guy than I do. My favourite recent comment on him is from Dallas Eakins stating that it was a toss up between whether Mikus or Gunnarsson would go to the Leafs because they were both ready for their opportunity. Juraj should be first on the callup list this season ahead of Holzer and Aulie, but given my lack of knowledge about him, I'm not sure whether he tops out at the same level.

Best Goalie Moustache since Hextall?

16. Jussi Rynnas: Continuing with players I know nothing about, here's Jussi. Rynnas didn't come over from Finland to play the next couple of seasons in the AHL, he's here because he is close to being NHL ready. I wouldn't credit him with being as good as Gustavsson, but if he develops well this season the backup position for the Leafs will belong to him.

15. Christian Hanson: Perhaps Hanson is too far down on this list, but I admit to having a bias towards defensive prospects and World Junior's stars. Of everyone on this list, Hanson is the only one who is facing his last chance to make it. In his 31 games with the Leafs last season, Hanson could not earn a regular shift, and until Ron Wilson reunited him with Stalberg and Bozak he was invisible. If Hanson doesn't show the Leafs something soon he'll have a productive AHL career to fall back on.

14. Bradley Ross: Ross was one of the top 5 guys I wanted the Leafs to draft if they could get up into the top 2 rounds. They did, and now it's time to put him under the microscope. He will be in Portland again this winter, but as an invitee to the Canadian World Juniors Camp, we may get a chance to see what he can do against the best young players in the World. Within the next three seasons I have no doubt that Ross will be a Leaf. It's just will he be an agitator like Tucker or Ott who can play a regular shift, and put the puck in the net? Or will he be more along the lines of Patrick Kaleta or Adam Burish and just raise some hell for 10 minutes a night?

13. Jesse Blacker: Alright, I may have overrated Blacker. He hasn't really done anything to warrant being this high on the list, but his raw talent, and Toronto's recent development of defensemen lead me to believe he'll be a success. He has shown some dedication to improvement, as he has shown that he would rather be a top defenseman on a mediocre team, than be buried in the depth of dynasty team. After one more season in the juniors, Blacker will probably still need a couple of years in the AHL for development, but at the end of this the Leafs investment should pay off.

12. Korbinian Holzer: Another from the late round defense category for Toronto, history says that Holzer should pan out nicely. His Olympic and World Championship experience make me place him high on this list, as he frequently looked like Germany's best defender (minus Christian Ehrhoff). I don't want to put expectations of him to repeat Gunnarsson's success, but other than spending sometime getting the feel for the North American style of play, I don't think Holzer is too far off an NHL career.

11. Marcel Mueller: The last of the Germans on this list, Mueller could spend some time with the Leafs this season. While I'm not sure where Burke is coming from with his top six talk about Mueller, I think he has has the potential to be a great third line fit that would chip in the occasional point. Mueller looks like he's here to fill the void of the big body in front of the net on the powerplay. Let's see if this guy can deflect a puck, because that will be what decides his North American hockey career.

Possibly A Top 10 Guy because
he was a Wheat King

10. Keith Aulie: Keith Aulie is a fucking giant. For that reason alone Keith Aulie is the greatest defensive prospect in my mind. Depending on the Maple Leafs injury situation Aulie may see a game or two with the big club, but this year is mainly about development for him so he can be ready for the Leafs next season. The prospect of Aulie with Schenn or Komisarek as a shutdown pairing is huge, and Toronto will have some tough choices in the next couple of seasons on who stays, and who goes on the blueline.

9. Jerry D'Amigo: Little Jerry looks to be a star. Hopefully he's a college dropout too after this season. D'Amigo has already dominated in college, and the World Juniors, and if he can keep it up for this season he'll be ready to at least get his shot as a Marlie. His speed and finishing abilities are why he's this high up on the list, but with the amount of hype, and the possibility that his game won't transition to the pros could make him the biggest bust on this list as well.

8. Luca Caputi: I am not the biggest fan of Caputi, and I have strong doubts that he will pan out as a top six winger. I hope I'm wrong on this, but the game we want Caputi to play and the game he has played his entire career are two different things. Caputi, despite his size, has always played a finesse game, and the role of a natural finisher. At the pro level he's going to need to win battles in the corners and drive the net. While he is talented completely rebuilding him will take some time. Maybe we should accept his Ponikarovsky type existence that would come more naturally to him.

7. Nikolai Kulemin: Kulemin marks the increased optimism in this list. If Kulemin is number 7 that means that a third of our roster core is under the age of 25. Kulemin can be one of the best third line players in the league or a reliable second line winger. If the Leafs are to be taken seriously, he is not a first line guy however. He improved by leaps and bounds last season after a rookie campaign that left a few questions. With the team improving around him, and his ability to be dropped in anywhere and have success, Kulemin should continue to be one of Toronto's top forwards

6. Carl Gunnarsson: Last season was great, but can he do it again? If he can the Leafs have a solid top four defenseman who can play the powerplay and eat 20 minutes a night. If he can't, the Leafs at least have a guy who can specialize as a power play quarterback. Anyone who was disappointed with Burke for trading Anton Stralman immediately forgot about him once Gunnarsson dressed as a Leaf. Hopefully he can continue to perform now that expectations are attached to him

Like it or not it's Kadri Time

5. Nazem Kadri: Although he has played one game as a Leaf, Kadri is still a prospect, not a Leaf, and as such it is impressive that he's this high up on the list. There has been talk of him getting at least 20 games this season, and given the lack of talent up the middle for the Leafs, he could see more. I stand by the fact that AHL development makes sense for him, but I think I'll concede defeat on this one, as it is much more likely that Kadri will bounce between the pivot role on the top three lines.

4. Tyler Bozak: Bozak as of this moment is the defacto number one centre on the Leafs. That is kind of scary. He looked the part last season, but maybe because I watch a lot of Oilers games living in Alberta, I'm cautious that we could see a production nosedive a la, Gagner, Nilsson, Cogliano. Bozak seems to have no problem rising to the occasion, as he owned the role last season without problem, but when a lot of us are counting on him for 60 points next season, the pressure could get to him, and he'll try to do too much. Missing from a lot of writeups on Bozak is that he is a responsible two way player, so a slumping Bozak could still be a reliable third line centre.

3. Luke Schenn: While Gunnarsson had a better season last year than Schenn, there should be no doubt that Schenn is still the best young defenseman in the organization. Schenn was bounced around a lot last year, being paired with Finger, Exelby, Beauchemin, Gunnarsson, Phaneuf, and Kaberle throughout the season. He was being treated as a veteran ahead of his time, and really could have benefited from some consistency. I don't think that changes this season, and it would be nice to see him lining up on the right side of the ice with the same partner throughout the year.

2. Kris Versteeg: I need to watch my expectations on Versteeg, but I am damned happy he's here. He establishes some level of legitimacy to the Leafs second line, and should help an ailing penalty kill. Reasonably he should do slightly better than Bozak in the points department, and he'll be pushing twenty minutes a night because of how versatile he is. A lot of what I expect Kadri to be, Versteeg already is, so the two of them together could be interesting.

1. Phil Kessel: Is there any surprise that he's the top under 25 guy? The fact that he's gunning for 40 goals this season is reason enough. Any other Leafs forward would probably admit to being happy with 20. The combination of speed, and accuracy of shot make him Toronto's one true scoring threat, and if there was someone out there making room for him he could really put up some amazing numbers. Kessel is far from perfect as there are no additional elements to his game beyond offense. Any hit he has ever thrown was purely by accident, and defensive zone play waved bye bye to him long ago. The hope is that he's not even reached his full potential, and before long 40 goals won't just be a target.

Leaf Player Profiles

2010-08-02T10:15:00.010-06:00

Click Here For the 2010-11 Player Profiles

Originally the plan was for this post to go up after Kaberle had been traded, and the new players could included as well. Obviously that has not been the case and those updates are going to happen after the fact. The are likely some player profiles that will reflect the looming nature of a trade, as well as a hope that another top six forward will somehow be added to the Leafs.

It is reasonable to expect that this will be updated to stay as current to the roster before the season starts as possible. I certainly will be adding Kaberle if he is still a Leaf after August 15th, and would add any other players that would be added up until September when I am on vacation for 3 weeks.

Notable absences from the profiles are Jussi Rynnas, and Juraj Mikus. I do not feel that I know enough about these players to do a writeup on them. Rynnas because I have only seen Youtube footage of him, and Mikus I don't really have a good excuse for, other than televised Marlies games in Alberta are rare.

Let me know what you think of the profiles

Thanks for reading!

Is this a farewell or an I’m happy he’s staying post? Either way Thanks Tomas!

2010-07-31T10:02:00.005-06:00

The Result of A Rare Shot

I've made a decision this morning. Based on the excitement of a potential Kaberle trade, I will probably not put this post together after he has been moved. It will be non-stop New Leaf time, and Kaberle will just be dust in the wind. The thing with Kaberle is that he deserves better than that, and as much as we wish he was Jeff Carter and a 1st, or Cody Hodgson and a first he was been a 4 time all-star for the Leafs, and was a significant cog in two Conference Finals runs. If he is on the move his time with the Leafs warrants a proper eulogy. If he stays with the Leafs, there needs to be some acknowledgement of what he has done for the organization, and will continue to do. So here is the first of several Kaberle retrospectives I'm sure you'll read this summer. Enjoy!

Kaberle is part of a proud legacy of great European Defenseman found by Toronto in the later rounds of the draft. Taken 204th overall Kaberle reported to his first Leafs training camp with all the pressure and expectations that we currently place on Eric Knodel. Little did we know that Kaberle thrives in a no pressure environment, and as a result he found himself playing for the Leafs two seasons after being drafted. A quick development time for any defenseman, let alone one taken in the eighth round.

Tomas Kaberle as Goose

If there was anyone who benefitted from the near blinding of Bryan Berard, it was Tomas Kaberle. Much like Gunnarsson proving himself this season in Komisarek’s absence, Kaberle was bumped into the Leafs roster fulltime, and put up 22 points in 57 games (.38 ppg). With the exception of the ’03-’04 season, this would be his lowest points per game season. Instantly the Maple Leafs could count on him as a powerplay quarterback, and rely on him to play in a top four defense role.

Kaberle had the attention of the league by his third season, and he was named an All-Star the first of 4 times (much more impressive he represented the Leafs in three consecutive years in 2007, 2008, 2009) What makes this first time special is that it came when the Leafs were actually a good team, during the last conference final run of his tenure as a Leaf.

Kaberle has essentially been the star defenseman of the Leafs decline. While he has always had support (unlike Sundin) not until Phaneuf’s arrival has he ever been outplayed by another Leafs defender. It’s not that you can label him as purely an offensive defenseman either. While he is not an imposing force in his own end, he is a smart player. His positional intelligence, and ability to move the puck out of the zone efficiently has served him well. Only those expecting physical from him should be disappointed. It is not that Kaberle is a bad defensive defenseman, it’s that he has had some terrible goaltending behind him since the lockout. Toskala, Raycroft, and the late years of Belfour have made all Toronto defensemen look pitiful in their own end, when in fact it should be acknowledged that Kaberle is not one to over commit on offense, and is one of the faster defensemen for getting back into play when he is out of position.

Kaberle vs. Jokinen

A generation of Leafs fans have never had to ask who will quarterback Toronto’s powerplay. Kaberle has always been the answer despite his fear of shooting the puck. While it is frustrating to watch him play catch with his defense partner for half a powerplay, Kaberle’s assist totals prove he knows what he was doing. In fact the Leafs powerplay of McCabe, Kaberle, Tucker, Sundin and Miscellaneous were the high points of the post lockout world for Toronto. Up until the midpoint of the 2009-10 season you could argue that this was the one thing that wasn’t broke on the Leafs. I think our desire to see him shoot stems from his accuracy shooting victory at the All-Star game in 2008 were he accomplished what only Roenick, Messier, and Ray Bourque had done before, and hit all four targets on his first four shots. No small feat, but unfortunately something that never materialized in game scenarios.

In closing Kaberle enters the 2010-2011 season second all-time in defensive scoring on the Leafs, 18 points away from his 500th career point, and with a Career ppg of .59. He is a unique player the Leafs will not be able to replace, and has quietly been one of the league’s top defensemen for over a decade. Well you can never define him as a locker room voice, Kaberle is leader through his consistency and calm demeanor. Best of luck Tomas, and thanks for your many productive years as a Leaf.

Tribute by KesselNLeafs

I'll have a post coming up this weekend that is a tad lengthy. I told myself I'd post it after a Kaberle trade, or on August 1st, and it looks like it will be going up on August 1st. Don't forget to follow me on twitter so you'll know when these typo filled gems are posted.

The Week So Far

2010-07-29T21:57:00.001-06:00

Are You Still Here?

Check Out My New Post Over at LeafsHQ

(it actually had some thought put into it)

Now for some quick thoughts on this week in the world of Hockey

Ponikarovsky signs in L.A., not a horrible addition for them, and although I'm glad he's not a Leaf anymore, I wish him nothing but the best.
Frolov in New York. I'm not surprised by that, but I am surprised it was a 10 year 50 million dollar deal. One year at $3,000,000 is a perfectly good stop gap, and the Leafs might have missed out
Mason Raymond signing for $2.45 million was a huge deal for the Canucks, and it was unlikely he would be a Leaf. Recent deals like Kulemin's have made the comparables for young forwards lower than usual. Blake Wheeler, and Gilbert Brule also went for much less than expected. I kind of wonder what the arbitrator found so great about Clarke MacArthur.
Defensemen storys equal Kaberle speculation. Grebeshkov going to the KHL equals one less puck moving defensemen floating around the league. The fact that nobody signed him is might point to teams being less interested in offensive defenseman they we want to believe. In other news Matt Greene is out for three months in L.A. since the Kings were already rumoured to be interested I doubt this changes anything. Teubert or Hickey should finally get a chance to play while he's out
The Niemi arbitration happened today, and the dollar amount should be known by Saturday. If it's more than $2.5 million the Hawks need to walk. Doesn't really effect the Leafs other than the fact it should get another round of Chicago/Atlanta trades going.
Della Rovere was traded from Washington to St. Louis for one dimensional goon D.J. King. It's time to move Jay Rosehill for Brandon Kozun.

I certainly hope my work slows down enough that I can write more thoughtful posts during the work day, or something big happens that warrants days of analysis. I have been sitting on a large post that has been 95% done since the middle of July. I've been waiting for the Kaberle trade to go down to finish it and post it, but I think it's probably going up on August 1st regardless.

What Was Wrong With The Leafs Part Two: Goaltending

2010-07-26T22:12:00.006-06:00

Because no one should have to play 60 minutes

So here's another look at wasn't working for the Leafs last season, and much like the last one, this one is mainly finger pointing at Toskala. The goaltending situation was a complete mess, and unfortunately everyone just wanted to believe that Toskala had a lousy season the year before because he was injured. In fact, he's a lazy self important prick who could be bothered to work on his craft. The Leafs felt the need to start him 23 times last season, and were rewarded with a 3.66 GAA and 87% Save Percentage. Believing it was the right idea to have a veteran to aid Gustavsson in his development Toskala was to be that player. Toskala failed in this role as well.

Toskala has now been upgraded to Jean-Sebastian Giguere. Certainly a step in the right direction as he had a 92% save percentage, and 2.49 GAA in his 15 games with Toronto. He's also appeared willing to mentor Gustavsson, while he wants to revive his career, he's a team player and wants to see Gustavsson succeed as well.

As much as I love Gustavsson, his inexperience was part of the problem last season as well. Given Toskala's incompetence, Gustavsson was thrust into a number one role instantly. When you factor in that he was adjusting to North American rules and ice, a new goaltending coach, two heart surgeries and the loss of his mother, he did pretty damn good. That's not to say that he didn't have room for improvement. At the begining of the season his rebound control was non-existent. He would let goals get to him, he would over commit at the wrong times, he struggles protecting one goal games, and his shootout performance wasn't much of an improvement over Toskala. By the end of the season the rebounds were certainly looking better, but he still needs to become more comfortable in net to help workout his other issues. Sophomore slumps have plagued goaltenders, but other goaltenders do not have Francois Allaire to help them work through their issues.
This season the Leafs will also benefit from some increased depth. Reimer has proven himself to be a worthwhile prospect for the Leafs, and the addition of Scrivens and Rynnas will force everyone to improve. Gustavsson will need to protect his number one role from Giguere. Giguere is trying to prove he can still be a number one goaltender in the league next season. Rynnas and Reimer are auditioning to be the Leafs backup for next season, and earn their right to overthrow Gustavsson as the number. Scrivens is trying to fight his way out of the ECHL in all likelihood. The biggest advantage in the Leafs goaltending this season is the competition, and everyone has something big to lose. The Leafs will not have a Vezina winner this season, or even an All-Star goaltender, but if the team can average a save percentage of 91% or greater the state of goaltending is strong.

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The Fishing Trip Is Over

2010-07-25T11:19:00.000-06:00

Much like last summer, the most painful time of the Off-Season was Burke's fishing trip with Nonis. This time has now come to end as the boys report for duty tomorrow and have 21 days left to move Kaberle if that is in fact the plan. There isn't any reason to believe that this week will be any different than the last couple, as Toronto is tight to the cap, has one contract space left, and Kovalchuk's situation is still holding the league hostage. The other thing that Burke is likely to wait out at this point is the results of the arbitration hearings. While this will keep Kaberle a Leaf until at least August 6th, I can understand the delay because at least the 5 players below will have hearings that will effect how teams should proceed.

Mason Raymond: This is an interesting case, because he's likely to also set the market for other RFAs like Bryan Little and James Neal. The other fun thing about this hearing is that once a dollar amount has been reached it will push Vancouver to the maximum they can go over the cap during the pre-season. Depending on whether Salo is put on LTIR or Bieksa is traded the Canucks will not have wiggle room to add Cody Hodgson to their roster this season. In the highly unlikely situation that the Canucks walk away from Raymond he can expect offers from over half the league, including the Leafs.

Anton Stralman: What makes Stralman's hearing worth paying attention to is that if his settlement is too high, Columbus will walk. If they are already wanting to upgrade to a better offensive defenseman, losing the one they do have creates a sense of urgency. An improved offer on Kaberle could be coming after July 28th.

Antii Niemi: Pretty much anything about Chicago and the salary cap is interesting. If Niemi is awarded over $3,000,000 which it probably will be, the Hawks will likely have to move at least one more player. If they have the good sense to walk away and fill the role with an affordable veteran, the Niemi signing sweepstakes may cause a butterfly effect of other moves if a goaltending starved team like the Flyers get involved.

James Wisniewski: Wishniewski really holds the key to a lot of what is about to happen in Anaheim. It's likely he'll be brought back regardless of the dollar amount, but once Wishniewski and Bobby Ryan are taken care of, will the Ducks be willing to spend much more to address the other holes in their lineup? If Wisniewski is allowed to walk by the Ducks, their need for defensemen becomes a lot more urgent. While they have been looking for at least one solid guy already, they will reach a new level of desperation if they don't want to pay Wisniewski the $3.5 million plus that he will likely be awarded.

Blake Wheeler: Pretty obvious one to be on the look out for. Regardless of what happens here, at least one of Strum, Wheeler, Savard, Ryder or Thomas will not be back in a Bruins uniform next season. While it's probably Ryder, if an overly generous Arbitrator thinks that Wheeler is a $4,000,000 a year forward he's probably walking. Neely is a fan of Wheeler's however, so it is much more likely that this will start another round of Savard rumours, or the much more likely waiving of Ryder, and placement of Strum on the LTIR. No matter what the Bruins are about to become handcuffed as they will be near the 10% over the cap limit.

There are other names of interest out there in Andrew Ladd, Matt Moulson, Ian White, and Thomas Fleishmann that are worth paying attention to as well, but with the exception of possibly Fleishmann, they will not impact Toronto. With what Atlanta gave up for Ladd they will be signing him. With the amount of cap space the Islanders have Moulson will be signed. Ian White will have to be signed in Calgary if Sutter wants to save face for the Phaneuf trade, and Fleishmann is only going to be taking a one year deal to take him to his Unrestricted Free Agency, probably not a problem the Leafs are looking to inherit.

So sit back, enjoy another week of Kovalchuk, and hope the NHLPA doesn't grieve his contract, as that should drag the Kaberle situation right up to when his NTC kicks in. At the very least we'll have a week of analyzing Arbitration settlements to look forward to, and maybe Christian Hanson will sign.

Until next time, follow me on Twitter. I promise I'll actually try and use it this week.

Zombie Chelios

2010-07-24T23:15:00.004-06:00

Braiiiiiiiiiiins! (Click on image to enlarge)

Another slow day around the NHL, and the weather is less than spectacular in Northern Alberta (shocking), so it's been a day to play on the ol' iPad. My fiancé was showing me an App called Zombie Me and I could only think of one use for it. So please enjoy the product of a lazy saturday evening.

I've also found an iStalin app, so you can see the PaulBizNasty quote here.

What Was Wrong With The Leafs Part One: Penalty Killing

2010-07-21T20:35:00.004-06:00

In the spirit of summer I'm probably scaling back the number of posts from now until the start of the season. I've tried to do a post a day, and it's resulting in some garbage I'm less than proud of. I've been meaning to move away from trade and free agent rumours for a while so I thought today I'd focus on the penalty kill in a short but sweet post.

Last season the Leafs had an embarassing penalty kill that ranked dead last in the league. This combined with goal of playing more physically would lead to a disastrous combination. Fortunately for the Leafs their game was far from physical and were not hit with an excessive number of penalties (8th fewest penalties in the league), unfortunately they still managed to give up 73 goals while shorthanded(most in the league). This resulted in a kill rate of 74.8%.

What were the problems?
1. Vesa Toskala
2. Key Penalty Killer Mike Komisarek injured for over half the season
3. Inability to move puck out of own end (unskilled penalty killing forwards)
4. Stupidity of the passive box penalty kill

The first problem has definitely been removed, but that leaves us with Gustavsson, and Giguere. Are they that much better? The short answer is yes. I don't pretend to know too much about Giguere's weaknesses, but Gustavsson's overcommitting will still be something that needs to be addressed on penalty kills. He also still seems unprepared for any kind of deflection. Giguere as a butterfly guy who's lost a step, I assume will have problems with these as well. The goaltending situation has been upgraded at the very least, and wouldn't rule out this alone moving the Leafs out of the bottom 5 penalty killing teams.

The second was the lack of Mike Komisarek. To say that he'll be 100% healthy this season can't be done, but I think it's more about what he does on the penalty kill that needs to be done by other Leafs. Last season the man in front of the Leafs goal was often left unattended, and there were no attempts to make life difficult in anyway for them. This is a difficult area, and you can't really beat them stupid like you used to, but Komisarek would walk the fine line, and not until Phaneuf showed up did another Leaf do the same. Schenn needs to be a body mover, and to a lesser extent Beauchemin needs to take on this role as well. The other thing that was missing was shot blocking. Komisarek maybe sacrifices his body too much, but the rest of the Leaf penalty killers need to step up and do the same.

Penalty Killing Forwards, last year it was in the hands of John Mitchell, Rickard Wallin, Christian Hanson, Wayne Primeau, and Nikolai Kulemin. With the exception of Kulemin, none of those players belong out there. Primeau 3 years ago maybe, but not what we saw last season. The forwards were often completely out of position, and while the defensemen would fire the pucks around the boards frequently enough, the Leafs forwards would never chip it out, and the opposing defense would get a free shot on a sleeping Toskala. This year the Leafs have proven penalty killers in Sjostrom, Versteeg, Brown, and Armstrong. It stands to good reason that the situation will improve. Unfortunately the Leafs are lacking in faceoff specialists for the frequent faceoffs in their own end. Still miles ahead of last season

Finally the passive box, I don't pretend to know one tenth of what Ron Wilson knows about hockey, but I do know that the passive box doesn't work so well when you can't wrestle guys in front of the net to the ice. With teams now so dependant on the point for running the powerplay, you could argue that you should put some pressure out there. Instead teams were given unlimited time to set up their plays, and move the puck without a sense of urgency constantly pulling the Leafs out of position. The Leafs have alot of speed in their forward group, and maybe it's time to challenge the point and have the opposition worried about giving up shorthanded chances. This will at least force some errors, and force the puck behind the net and in the corners for some of time, and not make everything such a clear shot. The other option is that forwards actually block shots when in the passive box.

So we can definitely say that the players on the penalty kill have improved, but the approach to penalty killing is still debatable. I'd put money down that the Leafs will not be the worst in the league this season, but without changing the approach, it will still be for from the best penalty kill.

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Kovalchuk And Gagne Are Soooo 2006 Anyway

2010-07-20T20:12:00.009-06:00

I got home from work, took my dogs for a walk, did a little thinking, and I've come to the realization that although Kovalchuk and Gagne are two premier snipers, neither one fits with what Burke is planning for Toronto. While the top two lines are there to score, adding one of these two players to an already small, non-physical group might help Toronto in the regular season, but would see the Leafs bounced almost immediately in the post season.

Interesting Note, as I'm writing this, the NHL has voided the Kovalchuk signing. I'm going to stand by the first paragraph. I wouldn't be disappointed if Kovalchuk magically became a Leaf out of this, (not going to happen) but I can no look past the goals to see what Burke is doing.

So with Burke passing on two top goal scorers, he's increased the pressure on himself to find that top line left winger who can hit to hurt, and still put the puck in the net. The obvious name that comes to mind is Ryan Malone. If he still is part of the Lightnings plans, only Yzerman knows. He fits well with what Burke wants to do, but in my opinion he would be an underpayment for Kaberle. The other option that has been floated around quite regularly is Ryan Clowe. If this is your first time on the blog, "Hi, my name is Jon, and I fucking hate Ryan Clowe". I believe the Leafs need size up front, but not at the expense of stupid penalties, slow feet, and an overly generous contract. He's kind of like the reverse Byfuglien, you notice him in the regular season, but in the playoffs he's invisible. Only his regular season was pretty much the same as Byfuglien's too. Unfortunately we're not going to land Brendan Morrow for one year of Kaberle, but I certainly hold the bar higher than Clowe and Malone.

I guess the other thought I had while out walking the dogs was a simple one. No more Free Agents! There really isn't a good reason left for the Leafs to look at the UFA market. I realized this when I was rationalizing Raffi Torres. If something better the Clarke MacArthur is made available via arbitrations, then I'll change my tune. It's fun being a hypocrite. Until then, there is nothing that helps us anymore than what we already have. Really, is Torres that much of an upgrade over John Mitchell? (actually, yeah, but dammit Mitchell might get better) The Leafs would be wise to keep that one contract open for now in case something really great falls into their laps.

I'm going to keep this one short, as I'm now completely in love with what is happening on LA Kings and New Jersey Devils message boards. If you want to bail on this site and check them out I understand. Catch up with me on Twitter, and share a laugh at New Jerseys expense.

UPDATE: Here's a gem from twitter on the Kovalchuk situation. That's Paul Bissonette of the Phoenix Coyotes, even though it reads more like two parts Iron Sheik, one part Jose Canseco.

Remember That Savard Guy?

2010-07-19T22:04:00.003-06:00

Just a quick post before I go to bed and have wonderful dreams of Kaberle being traded for Rick Nash. Most of my thoughts on Monday's transactions can be found on LeafsHQ. I figured I'd take a different approach here, and start pining for a top line centre again by revisiting the Marc Savard rumours.

Marc Savard is in no way the ideal top six forward to add to the Leafs, but then again neither were Kovalchuk or Gagne, and they certainly were worth considering. Ideally the Leafs should be looking for power forward who can compliment Bozak and Kessel on the top line, but again that's for the Kaberle trade to solve. If we've learned anything from the Gagne trade today, it's that no matter how good your player is, if there's an injury history, and he's expensive, you're not getting much in return. Edmonton you might as well take Souray out back and shoot him now.

The difference between the Savard and Gagne situations is that, no one is going to be as stupid as Paul Holmgren was, and make that kind of rushed poorly thought out trade. With Boston, you'd have to assume they'll want more than a 7th defenseman and 4th Round pick, after all, he's staying in the division. The Flyers were also trading from a point of weakness, as they still need to bring in some form of goaltending (given recent history it will either be Esche or Cechmanek), and they still need to sign a couple of depth forwards. Boston just needs to clear room for RFAs, and with the ability to spend 10% over the cap, they can take care of it at anytime.

The similarities between the Gagne and Savard situation is the No Trade Clause. I don't know how many teams Gagne provided to the Flyers, but it sounds like he really wanted to go to Tampa (what Quebecer doesn't want to spend the winter months in Florida?), Savard has really only provided Ottawa and Toronto, giving both teams a chance to deal from a place of strength, much like the Lightning had with the Flyers.

So what does Toronto have to offer Boston given that they don't want to take salary back? Out of principle I'd hope that Toronto is done with offering picks to the Bruins, but it would still have to be something worthwhile. The biggest difference between the Gagne and Savard situations is that Boston has other options. They can be shopping Thomas at the same time (likely to less of a return than they'd get with Gagne), they can add Marco Strum to the Long Term Injury Reserve to buy themselves a few more months of cap space, or they could waive Michael Ryder, and bury him in the minors, which as much as I do not like Ryder, if he hits the waiver wire I'd debate his merits.

Moral of this story, on day's when the Leafs miss out on two 40 goal scoring left wings I become reactionary. There are a lot of reasons why Marc Savard is not a great option, but undoubtably he is an upgrade over the current situation on the Leafs. The biggest problem of top six toughness would remain, and there is the added need for it since there would be another injury prone scorer being targeted on the Leafs. The Gagne trade was a shock to the system, more so than the Kovalchuk signing, and either the Leafs will need to be more willing to hop on these salary dump situations, or I need to sit back and realize it takes time to build a team that works. Somehow I think the latter is the case.

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5 Fighting To Be Leafs

2010-07-18T15:02:00.002-06:00

Consider this as a bit of a follow up to the past couple of posts. Kind of a lazy way of summarizing prospects if you will since the two with the best chances of making the Leafs are probably Nazem Kadri and Marcel Mueller. That's not to say that there aren't others looking to impress, and play their way onto the Leafs in the pre-season. Here are 5 guys with a legitimate shot at making the Leafs.
Christian Hanson: Kind of obvious, I know, since he's appeared on the Leafs already, but I think it's worth noting that he is far from a lock to start the season in the NHL. Hanson didn't really get a chance to play on the big club until Ponikarovsky, and Stempniak were jettisoned at the deadline, and with the exception of every game except the last, he certainly didn't look like he belonged. It seems like Christian Hanson has spent his entire life to be his own hockey player, and not his dad, and it could cost him. With a physical element Hanson's average skating could be overlooked, and he could become the pivot on the third or fourth or better yet he should be developing for a crease crashing role coming off the wing on the second line. Starting the year on the Marlies probably makes more sense, as he's not likely to surpass any of the right wingers, and could realistically only earn the fourth line centre role. If we're excepting that as his career ceiling, welcome on board, but if there is still any hope of him becoming a true power forward, this guy is unlikely to be a Leaf. As of this moment, I don't really care if he re-signs or not. I think I'd rather have the extra SPC.

Luca Caputi: I could almost write word for word the same story as with Hanson. He lacks speed, and for a guy projecting as a power forward, he gets knocked off the puck way too easily. The difference is his left handed shot, and natural left winger position, which are in shorter supply on the Leafs. If Caputi shows up to camp with some extra meat on his bones Caputi will be ready to take over the left wing on either the second or third line. He's still got some learning to do, and it might be best accomplished in the AHL, but given his contract being up at the end of the season, I wouldn't doubt that Burke wants to learn what he's got in Caputi as soon as possible.

Keith Aulie: Call him a long shot, call me crazy, but then again, who say Gunnarsson making the Leafs last season. Aulie makes a tough defense tougher, and a youthful shutdown pairing of Aulie and Schenn would probably give most of Leafs Nation a semi. The reality is much more likely that Aulie is probably playing to be the injury call up for Schenn, or Komisarek if they go down. With the lack of offensive output that would come from the blueline when Kaberle gets traded, it's much more likely a two-way defenseman will get the nod as the 6th or 7th guy in the lineup. With Aulie being out for the season shortly after joining the Marlies, it's probable that Burke will want him to work with Eakins and his staff before trying him in the NHL

Korbinian Holzer: Having a bit more of a two way game than Aulie could play Holzer on to the Leafs. Still primarily a defense first defenseman, Holzer has a couple of advantages. The first is that he can move the puck without it looking painful, and he has the experience of playing against the best in the world at the Olympics, and to a lesser extent the World Hockey Championship. Holzer is another one that I'd peg more as an injury call up, as his adjustment to the North American game isn't going to happen in 9 pre-season games. If there is one position were European hockey and North American hockey are diferent, it's on defense. It certainly creates an interesting scenario if Finger is immediately sent to the Marlies. With Aulie and Holzer both having the potential to be a little ways off, who starts the year as the 7th defenseman, or do the Leafs bother carrying one at all? I'm starting to think Danny Richmond gets the position by default.

Brayden Irwin: This is just more of a sad statement about how the NHL capable prospects drop off for the Leafs, but lets look at Irwin anyways. More pylon, than player, Irwin seems built for the AHL. His speed eliminates him from being considered from a centre position on any kind of respectable team. The only other place you could put him is on right wing, but the if we're considering him there, I think Stefanovich has a better chance of making the team. Irwin really doesn't have a place on the Leafs unless the forward core is decimated by injuries right from the start of the season. He's Jason Allison without the scoring touch. Without a mean streak, he's a goner.

I'd have to assume that of these five plus Kadri and Mueller, at least two will be Leafs. A Kaberle trade will create some solid competition in training camp as it will give the young defensemen a healthy shot a depth defense role, and will not leave so many holes on offense that Irwin gets a top six role by default. As a betting man, I'd put money on each of these players seeing sometime in the NHL this season (minus Brayden Irwin), and a couple might earn spots later on. As of today, the thought of any of these players being in the opening night lineup seems a little worrisome.

Thanks for all of the comments on the Kadri post (both in the comments and on twitter) It seems to be one of those fun issues that has Leaf fans divided, and for me personally it's one of those weird times I 100% percent agree with Damian Cox.

The Long Overdue Kadri Post

2010-07-15T19:52:00.002-06:00

The word on the street is that this Kadri kid is pretty good. Behind the Hall/Seguin scoring race in the OHL, here is the third horse. The Yzerman to your Gretzky/Lemieux if you will. Even more importantly, Kadri put up 27 points in 12 playoff games. Clutch scoring anyone? These things considered, it seems Ron Wilson is ready to through Kadri into the lineup on Day One. A lot of people out there seem to agree with this, and although I'm 90% sure it's going to happen, I completely disagree with it.

Ignore the fact that I just compared Nazem Kadri to Steve Yzerman in the preceding paragraph. He's not Stevie Y. He's not that natural a talent that he'll dominate at every level. He's an excellent prospect, and if you dropped him into the NHL tomorrow he'd probably follow a career path similar to Mikhail Grabovski. Kadri's game last season was based on fooling 17-18 year old kids who have never faced a player of his skill level. Against tougher competition he'll struggle to move the puck through the neutral zone. For a player whose game and confidence is based off of putting up numbers on the scoreboard, it would be crushing for him to fall to a 30-35 point season. A year in the AHL getting used to playing against men, and developing a more refined finish would do Kadri a world of good. It will give him a chance to develop some chemistry with other top six hopefuls like Caputi and Stefanovich. This will probably increase his upside to something similar to Scott Gomez (the New Jersey years.)

The other thing you won't get if Nazem enters the NHL this season is a complete player. If Kadri is a Leaf the season will be spent finding his game at a pro level. If instead he is a Marlie, he will be a steady offensive contributor by his own merits, and under Dallas Eakins guidance, Nazem will face less of a trial by fire, and gently be bridged into a top tier pro that will not just have an improved offensive game, but make him defensively responsible so he can be utilized where ever the Leafs need him in 2011.

The AHL option will also give Kadri a chance to improve his discipline. Kadri has spent the past season taking bad retalitory penalties. While a game with an edge is appreciated, his throat slashing gestures and questionable hits are not going to play in the bigs.The other step Kadri is going to need to take here is embrace his assignment to the Marlies.It was disappointing to watch him sulk after being assigned to London last season. If Kadri can hit the ground running with the Marlies, and show up with the right attitude, it's a realistic possibility he could be promoted early in the New Year.

So, if he's a Leaf, what do they get? I think the spectrum would range from the high end of Grabovski's first year as a Leaf to the low end being John Mitchell's rookie season. Neither are horrible alternatives, but he is likely to be streaky, and his long term development will be stunted. I don't think too much stock should be put in his pre-season performance, as these are essentially just AHL teams wearing NHL jerseys. Instead take it as a sign that he will dominate on the Marlies. Embrace another year of development, and be assured that the Leafs will have a budding star when the first puck drops in October 2011.

It's Mueller Time!

2010-07-14T18:33:00.006-06:00

As per a press release from the Maple Leafs, the Leafs have signed Marcel Mueller to a two year entry level contract. So a couple of questions come to mind, first who is Marcel Mueller, and secondly why are my nipples so hard? Here's a little background on Marcel to answer both of those questions.

First some stats, last season playing for Cologne in the German Elite League, Mueller scored 24 goals and put up 56 points in 53 games. Not too shabby for a 21 year old (this is not Rickard Wallin we're talking about). So there is some offensive upside, and in his role as a left handed shooting left winger, he will get every chance to prove he belongs on the Leafs in the pre-season. He has the size advantage over Caputi, currently his main competition, as he is 6'4 and 229 lbs. I think the hope here is that Mueller becomes the Leafs Johan Franzen and will be a sour pain in the ass in front of the net.

Secondly, to his Elite league numbers, and perhaps the most important thing he'll bring to the Leafs is his complete game. Mueller is not afraid to finish his checks, and I think we all learned that from watching him play in the Olympics. The thing that may not have shown up on TV, but was clear to everyone at the games was how great he was at shadowing top players. For much of the German game against Canada Mueller was glued to players like Heatley, and Perry, and despite the outrageous run up score, he was clearly was a thorn in Canada's side.

The last couple of notes on Mueller are that both of his points at the Olympics came against Team Canada, so he is capable against NHL level goaltending. He also saw his time on ice go up in that game as well. All things considered this guy left the toughest tournament in the world averaging 0.5 points per game. While he is far from a lock as a Leaf next season, he has a tremendous upside, and was a smart addition by Brian Burke.

Brace Yo' Self Fool: It's Time For More Kaberle

2010-07-13T18:54:00.003-06:00

Thank you Doug Wilson, and Elias for giving me a reason to beat a dead horse. There really is no sense of urgency for bringing up the Kaberle trade again, with Burke on vacation this is not going to happen anytime soon. In that time more teams are likely to enter, exit, and re-enter the Kaberle sweepstakes, so most daily arguments will be null and void by the time Burke shocks us all and trades Kaberle to the Phoenix Coyotes. Since Kaberle+Trade is a great way to get hits for this site, I'll consider what is happening with San Jose, and New Jersey, and add some fuel to the fire. It's also a much easier post to write than to finish up my post on Kadri that I've been trying to complete for the past three nights.

So first up San Jose, and their offer sheet to Hjalmarsson. Clearly this shows some intent on their part to add another defenseman, but I don't think Kaberle is the priority. First, Hjalmarsson is 9 years younger than Kaberle, he'd have been somewhat cheaper, and he wouldn't have required giving up a roster player. Not a good start for those thinking Kaberle to San Jose. The next factor is that is was more a shot across Chicago's bow than an earnest attempt at landing another defenseman. While the Sharks most definitely had interest in Hjalmarrson, they are just as content to watch the Hawks play Sophie's Choice between Niemi and Sharp. The Sharks will certainly add another defenseman, but Hjalmarsson more or less set the maximum that they are willing to spend, and that's a 1st Round Pick and a 3rd Round Pick. Anyone who is sniffing around Setogouchi or Pavelski will be turned away rather quickly, or redirected to the overrated, overpriced Ryan Clowe. I think the Sharks will probably target Bieksa instead, or go the free agent route for someone like Brian Pothier. If I'm wrong on this, and Burke is dealing with the Sharks, I'd love to see him target Setogouchi, Couture, or as a pipe dream Pavelski. Again, I said Pavelski as a pipe dream, I can't imagine what it would take to pry him out of San Jose.

The other team that has re-appeared, but never really left the Kaberle talks in New Jersey. This was brought back to our attention thanks to Patrick Elias commenting on how much he'd love to play with Kaberle. That has some interesting trade proposals coming from New Jersey fans, most centering around Danius Zubrus and Bryce Salvador. In all seriousness, this is a place where Kaberle makes sense, but definitely not for that garbage. If the Devils are tight to the cap this year, you can bet that Salvador will be demoted to Albany. Zubrus, I'm not sure what his deal is, but I wouldn't rule out a similar fate. I just always find it interesting to see how other fan bases continue to undervalue Kaberle (certainly a large portion of the Leafs fan base overvalues him, i.e. Kaberle, Kulemin for Dustin Brown & Brayden Schenn, which I have read too much lately.) The truth is probably somewhere in between. So sorry Leafs fans I don't think barking up the Zajac tree will get us too far, and as much I like Clarkson, I don't understand why any GM would ever want to trade a young player like that, and other than that, who on New Jersey is of interest? This is a team that is looking to win it all this season, and if they don't land Kovalchuk, they need all of the offensive parts they already have in place. Given the relationship of Lou and Burke, something can be worked, they're both creative GMs, but I don't see how it's done unless Zajac or Clarkson are on the move.

So that's your Kaberle nonsense for the night. In the worst case scenario we have only 33 more nights of this crap.

My 5 Plans for the NHL Season

2010-07-12T20:42:00.003-06:00

With the regular season just under 3 months away, Burke on vacation, and all trades, and signings on hold until one plucky Russian chooses his home, I started to think about what to do for live hockey this winter. One of the many downsides to living in Fort McMurray is that I'm a four and a half hour drive from the nearest NHL arena. While I'm sure I'll find my way to a handful of Oilers games this season, I like to have one or two great hockey trips planned as well. Last year I found my way to the Olympics, this year it could be any one these destinations.

5. Bridgeport Sound Tigers Game: This one should be an easy one for me, but it just hasn't happened for me yet. Every year I go home to visit my parents in Connecticut, and I never plan it around seeing a Sound Tigers game. I know it's weird to want see the Islanders, let alone their farm team, but this is more or less a hometown team, and I've never seen them play at home (I once caught a road game in Winnipeg). I moved out of Connecticut there year they were founded, and would love to check out their arena. I might also check out a Danbury Whalers game too. Federal League games seem like they'll well worth the price of admission.

4. Leafs vs. Oilers : I get one shot a year to see the Leafs in Edmonton, I missed it last year (one of the Leafs worst games of the season), and I won't let it happen again. The year before I drove down from Fort McMurray in a snow storm to get to the game, and was almost run off the road when a trailer rolled. In a hockey city like Edmonton, where people are wearing Oilers jerseys 365 days a year, it's awesome to see Leafs fans take over their home arena.

3. Any Playoff Game: This could be the most difficult on the list since I live in Alberta. The Flames seemed destined to only get worse, the Oilers will improve, but they're too young, and it's too soon to expect the world of Hall, Eberle, and Ctrl+V. My dream scenario is to be going to a Leafs post-season game somewhere, but maybe it's too soon to be talking like that. I think it's going to have to take the form of a last minute airline ticket sale to the cheapest place to see hockey.

2. Game At the ACC: True Story, I've never been to the Air Canada Centre. When I lived in Toronto we had this place called Maple Leaf Gardens. There is a crushing guilt that I live with that I've never been to my teams home arena. While I've seen plenty of live Leafs games since I left Ontario, I have not seen a home game in 14 years. Since my fiance has never been to Toronto, I think it's time right two wrongs.

1. Heritage Classic: This is my big one for the year. The downside is that I hate both teams in the game. Doesn't really matter. Somehow I think I find myself drunk and cheering for Hagman out of habit. As gimmicky as it may be, outdoor games work, and I've never been. It's time to make it happen, and it's only a road trip away.

So hopefully those are my plans for the winter. Feel free to post your lists in the comment section, and hopefully something actually happens soon that is worth writing about.

Let's Try This Again: Leafs Pounds per Inch

2010-07-11T09:39:00.002-06:00

Last week I put up a post listing the Leafs by Pound per Inch. It took until two days later when I intended to do a follow up post before I realized I had used centimetres instead of inches, causing the numbers to be insanely low. I've since re-done the table for the Leafs, and you can find it here. I also chose to use a new source for the data, and the heights, and weights are now based off of the numbers listed on the official Maple Leafs website.

The reason I started looking into this in the first place was become of Brett Lebda. At 5'9 I had a hard time understanding why Burke would consider him, when I saw what his weight was (195lb), I became interested in seeing how his Pound per Inch size would compare to other Leafs defensemen. It turns out he is just under the average size of the Leafs NHL defensemen. The average pounds per inch were 2.898, and Lebda is 2.826. This number is pulled down by Gunnarsson who has the PpI of 2.649.

For the most part, the numbers lend themselves well to certain assumptions. Punishing hitters like Komisarek and Orr are right at the top. Kaberle, has a high PpI as well, which can explain his durability despite the fact he does not chose to hit. Most of the top six forwards have lower numbers, and in where Leafs defensemen averaged 2.898 PpI, the forwards only averaged 2.764.

The table is also a great measure of how younger prospects need to add some size to be effective. Both Hanson and Caputi have numbers in the 2.6 range, and illustrates why both struggle to win battles for the puck, and claim space in front of opposing goaltenders. Amazingly though Colby Armstrong has a PpI lower than either of them, and arrives in Toronto with the reputation of being a solid checking line winger. While I don't doubt that he hits, I'm now less convinced that the hits are too punishing.

Here are some notable players from around the league, and their Pounds per Inch numbers:
Crosby: 2.817
Ovechkin 3.041
J. Thornton 3.092
Byfuglien: 3.280
Pronger: 2.743
Chara: 3.148
H.Gill 3.165
St. Louis 2.565
Gionta 2.611
K.Wellwood 2.571

Interesting to see that for the most part the punishing hitters, and unmovable objects are all well over 3, but I was surprised by Prongers number. I know he's not a heavy guy, but I would have still thought he would have been a bit heavier, and averaged better than guys like Lebda. It's also interesting to see that Wellwood has such a low PpI, and I'm surprised he's still in the league. When you consider that St. Louis has almost identical numbers and is muscular, he falls just into the range that you start seeing finesse forwards be listed at, Wellwood would probably be around 2.4 if his gut was gone, and would have a number lower than all Leafs prospects other than Sondre Olden.

So, these numbers are pretty simple, but I think they do a nice job of standardizing what NHL size is.

Here once again is the link to the table

You Can Go Your Own Way

2010-07-10T13:02:00.005-06:00

It's Saturday Morning, and it's time to kill some rumours. That was apparently the thoughts of one Darren Dreger who had the decency to end the Bobby Ryan rumours once and for all. Dreger did us all Leafs fans a great service with this, as it will ground our expectations for this summer in some sense of reality. I stand by the fact that any talks that Burke is having with Anahiem is much more likely centered around the Ducks wanting to move Lupul's contract for a defensive upgrade.

Last week Dreger also killed a rumour about the Leafs being interested in Zherdev. For good measure he included Jordan Staal. Consider the Staal rumours first. After adding Martin and Michalek on defense the Penguins have no interest in Kaberle, who was never equal value for Staal anyway. While the Penguins are in the hunt for wingers, the Leafs are not exactly equipped in that area to make Shero give up a Selke candidate centre. Anyone who thinks that Kulemin makes sense in Pittsburgh because of his history of with Malkin isn't completely out to lunch, but he's nowhere near Staal in value, and Kulemin could not be the centerpiece of that deal. If Kulemin was ever moved to Pittsburgh, it would be much more likely for Eric Tangradi, who might be untouchable as well as he's likely being groomed as Crosby's long term winger.

Back to Zherdev. After signing for $2,000,000 I'm shocked how many Leafs fans believe that he wasn't worth taking a run at. Don't get me wrong, this guy is red flag city, but I'd be willing to cut him some slack on his return to North America, and would think he's much more likely to be receptive to coaching, and could develop a full game. There was the possibility he could've developed chemistry with the other Russian-speaking Leafs, and formed a productive second line, taking the pressure off of Kessel. At the end of the day Zherdev probably isn't worth the second thought, but I'm hoping that reason he's not a Leaf is because it would have prevented a much better Brian Burke move from happening.

Sticking with the theme of Doug MacLean disasters, the Columbus Blue Jackets have come full circle and are back in the Kaberle hunt according to the Columbus Dispatch. I haven't heard any thoughts on who would be coming the other way, but the usual suspects of Voracek, and Filatov are sure to come up. I think it's safe to say that if Burke did not have interest in Zherdev in free agency, or Kabanov at the draft, he's not going to have much interest in Filatov. I think Scott Arniel's run and gun style will have the Jackets more likely to keep players like Filatov and Voracek anyway. While Voracek might be of some interest to Toronto fans, I think his lack of physical play rule him out as well. That makes possible bait on the Jackets Umberger and Brassard. Brassard is the age the Leafs are looking for, but has one disappointing season, and one injury plagued season under his belt. He's also making over $3,000,000 a season which is a lot to pay for someone who is an unproven commodity. Umberger on the other hand is 28 years old, so he might not be older than the Leafs want to go, but he fits the other categories on the Leafs wish list in that he's a big bodied top six player, with the bonus of being a centre. Umberger does have the down side of probably not progressing anywhere past his current numbers. He was originally drafted into the league by Burke, so there is little doubt that he has some appreciation for him. This rumour could mean nothing, as they are also interested in Souray (can be had for a song), and Bieksa (they won't be giving up roster assets.)

The biggest holdup on any kind of transaction bigger than the Lebda signing continues to be the Kovalchuk saga. Whoever misses out on him will be determined to make a splash, and the Kings have to do something to show they are moving forward. If Kovalchuk lands anywhere other than L.A., they are sure to be in on Kaberle, Gagne, Souray, or any other big name player floating around the rumour circuit. As for the Leafs, I am now convinced that Kaberle is not the only deal in the works. I don't think that Schenn will be (or should be) moved, but I wouldn't be surprised if Beauchemin is being shopped as well.

One last piece to this post, is that Bill Sweatt may never become a Leaf. The Toronto Sun is reporting that his agent, while impressed with the Leafs offer, may choice to take his client to Free Agency. Sweatt will not be returning to the NCAA this season, and will be limited to his entry level contract constraints. He's either going to be looking for someone to offer him the max bonuses on his contract or he'll be looking for some reassurance of playing time in the NHL. If a deal cannot be completed by August 15th, Toronto could potentially be out of luck. Personally, I think it would suck to watch Toronto's already shallow prospect pool get drained a little more, but I'd rather see that happen than Toronto get handcuffed by someone who projects as a thirdliner. I'll just hold out greater hope for Kenny Ryan and Bradley Ross as the future of Toronto's checking line.

I'm going to make the rather bold assumption that we can all walk away from our computers this weekend, and that Burke is going silent until next week. Hopefully Kovalchuk's future gets decided soon so we can start writting about what has happened instead of what may happen.

UPDATE: I have pulled down my Pounds per Inches post as the math is way off. It was done as pounds per centimetres. When I did it correctly comparing the Leafs to other teams, and players, this hit me like a ton of bricks. Look for the revised post on Monday, and in the mean time have a cheap laugh at my expense, because the numbers where wayyyyyy off.

What the Hell is Wrong With The NBA

2010-07-08T19:30:00.005-06:00

Without a doubt everyone is sick of the Kovalchuk situation. It's gone on too long, and he's only alienating one time supporters with his indecisiveness and the speculation that he's doing nothing more than chasing a buck. Luckily Ilya is not stupid enough to put on a one hour special paying homage to himself, and celebrating the fact he's about to get even richer when most of his fans have to budget to afford seats to his games, and purchase his jerseys. While Kovalchuk is holding several franchises hostage, at least he isn't stupid enough to announce his decision as if he's winning powerball numbers.

Of course the jackass I'm speaking of is Lebron James. Someone who is fortunate enough to make a mint while playing a game most of are happy to play for free in our spare time. I am not saying that he hasn't worked hard to get to where he is, but I worked hard to get to where I am, and even if I made $20,000,000 to create business forecasts, given the option of doing that everyday or playing basketball everyday, I'd probably choose basketball. Now deduct pretty much all of that $20,000,000 and then imagine how arrogant it is to flaunt success like this.

No one has ever denied that this is his decision to make, and he can go where ever he wants. He has earned that right in his sport, but he is ignorant to think that this is only effecting him. What happens to the Cavs? They are far from a big market, and they certainly will not be a destination for other free agents without Lebron. What prevents them from going the way of the SuperSonics, Grizzlies, etc? What happens to the Knicks front office? A failure to land Lebron is probably enough to cost some jobs in New York. I'm not saying that GM firings are not always warranted, but these are still people about to lose their jobs that will be largely because of decision that Lebron seems to be treating as a joke.

So congratulations Lebron, you are about to become incredibly rich, have a shot at a championship, and have a new legion of fans who will treat you like a God. You have managed to turn Sport to Business to Bad Reality TV. This reassures me that ESPN and the NBA are run by idiots, and I'm glad I'm not subjected to their coverage, and I really don't want to know (or care) where Lebron goes as I have no intention of ever following the NBA again. My only hope is that this leaves a bad taste in enough mouths that we'll never have to watch an athlete pull this crap again.

My First Thoughts on Brett Lebda

2010-07-07T18:45:00.002-06:00

Sigh! Has anyone told Burke that it's okay to offer players under $1,000,000? It's especially true if they're 5'9 defensemen who have never played in a top four pairing in their career. That's what our fearless leader has done today, as many of us prepare to embrace the mediocrity that his two NHL-level free agent signings provide.
This is contract number 48 out 50, so at best we can expect two new faces to fill three holes up front (haha, fill holes). Of course there is the Kaberle trade that will provide us with an offensive weapon, which Burke has gone out of his way to ensure must happen, and must be for a player that will get the fan base back behind his moves. I am still largely in favour of the direction he's going in, but I can't see why Armstrong and Lebda would be prioritized over a serious run at Kovalchuk. I can't see why there is more competition on the Marlies roster than on the Leafs. And I can't see why you wouldn't low ball guys like Lebda and Armstrong instead of throwing top dollar contracts their way.

Lebda fits the age range Burke wants with this team, he's a puck mover so after Kaberle leaves it won't just be Gunnarsson relied on for passing the puck. He's bound for the second power play unit, and as a sixth defensemen he's an upgrade over Finger and Exelby, and amazingly he's also cheaper. I guess what I'm saying is that although I don't understand this move, I still trust that Burke is better at building a hockey team than me.

Since I was initially upset by this move, Here is Lebda getting sucker punched
by Daymond Langkow

If you feel like reading a more optimistic view on Brett Lebda, please check out Raskofalltrades post on LeafsHQ. It also features a great video of Colton Orr murdering Brett Lebda.

One Team To Be Excited About

2010-07-07T09:22:00.007-06:00

If there is one thing I’ve noticed in the past week it’s that Burke is committed to building a winner in Toronto. Unfortunately for Leafs fans his focus is on the Marlies. As reported by CapGeek, the Leafs have now re-signed Tim Brent to a two-way deal. Since he has down nothing to warrant being a Leaf, this is purely a Marlies move. Add that to the other Marlie specific signs of Joey Crabb, Danny Richmond, Michael Zigomanis, Ryan Hamilton and Alex Foster, Burke seems devoted to Marlies appearing in the AHL playoffs this year and possibly taking a run at the Calder cup.

I’m not slamming Burke for doing this, and in fact I can find huge benefits to younger prospects (especially Goaltending prospects), but at this point the Leafs have 12 contracts (out of a maximum of 50) committed to players who will likely never get more than a cup of coffee in the NHL, and some of them are grasping to the AHL for dear life. Currently the Leafs appear to have 3 contracts available (also via CapGeek) for additional signings (assuming Christian Hanson re-signs), and there is arguably a need to bring in at least 3 forwards, and possibly 1 more depth defenseman. By comparison the Marlies forward depth will have at least 3 players on their way to the ECHL and one goaltending reporting to Reading as well.

Since it makes perfect sense of me to be telling Burke how to do his job, I’d like to humbly suggest taking advantage of the buyout period later on in the summer. The Leafs need to jettison a few never-will-be’s, and buyout Stefano Giliati, and Alex Berry. Both would be cheap buyouts, and those two contracts could be useful if the Leafs want to add anyone via waivers or the equally likely scenario of dealing draft picks for roster players.

So here is the sunny outlook on this situation, and it’s the current Marlies roster. I’ll make the assumption that of Hanson, Kadri, and Caputi, Kadri makes the Leafs this year, and I’ll assume that they found reason to bury Finger in the AHL. As of today, the Marlies are rolling a deep lineup that can compete with the best in the ‘A’.

Caputi/Zigomanis/Hanson
Crabb/Brent/Stefanovich
Hamilton/Foster/D.Mitchell
Rosehill/Irwin/Boyce

Holzer/Aulie
Mikus/Finger
Gysbers/Richmond

Rynnas

Reimer

If I lived anywhere near an AHL team I’d be buying up tickets to check out a Toronto game, as it looks to be a great year for the Marlies. Now let’s just get the Leafs figured out soon.

I've Got Nothing

2010-07-06T21:44:00.001-06:00

My story is a short one. I actually had to do my job today at work, and it was followed by a few hours of drinking. It looks like I chose the right day to ignore the NHL as the news seems to be limited to the Halak signing, and the Canucks opting to change their arena name instead of their jersey's this season. Since I've got nothing, here are some Aki Berg highlights from the Finnish Elite League. Hopefully tomorrow will be a more inspired day.

A New Week, Same Speculation

2010-07-05T19:59:00.002-06:00

Well, for a day that was to have at least one answer, we wound up with none. That is unless you really wanted to where Brett Clark was going (Tampa by the way). After years of living in the New York suburbs, and being trained never to believing what you read in the New York Post, I fell for it. I can't help but think I've let my father down. The big news, was of course, that Kovalchuk had made up his mind and decided to stay in New Jersey. While that remains a possibility, it certainly was far from a final decision. My thoughts are that Kovalchuk likes the final offer from Jersey, and could accept it, but isn't sure it's what he wants to do yet.

The Kovalchuk situation forced the issue of coming to terms with Kovalchuk not becoming a Leaf, and although it's disappointing, surely life will go on. The fact that the Leafs were taking the long weekend off, and Kovalchuk isn't announcing where he is going in their absence is more than likely coincidental, but if you want to cling to some hope that's it.

I give the Leafs brass credit, when they say they're taking the weekend off, they truly do. There was nothing new in the way of rumours on the Toronto front on Saturday, and Sunday, and Monday was merely a re-hashing of some of the lower profile items of last week. The Afinogenov, and Zherdev to Toronto speculation is based on the fact they are the two best offensive guys available who have not previously worn a Maple Leafs jersey. While both would be appealing at bargain basement prices, the fact that Zherdev's agent is chasing $4m a season is more than enough to kill that signing. Afinogenov is probably hunting for a $3m a season deal, and I don't think that Burke is going to handcuff himself from further deals on him either.

Arguably, that points us back to trades for Toronto's top six concerns. The feeling here is that Kovalchuk is holding up any Kaberle movement. It's hard to believe that lands Kovalchuk could be the team that is also interested in Kaberle, but that could be the case. The other side of that is Kaberle is a consolation prize for the loser of the Kovalchuk sweepstakes. It seems that it is Los Angeles or New Jersey mentioned in the same breath on both, and that's fair, but a trade will be hard to swing with either. When you're adding a player like Kaberle for a big one year run, are you going to give up your best pieces of your lineup for him? The teams I'd expect to see trade for Kaberle are the ones that have essentially done nothing to improve their rosters this offseason (Washington, San Jose, Buffalo, and yes I guess L.A. falls in this category too).

There are of course some other rumours floating around the league, the first is that Simon Gagne is available. In fact he's very available as he has waived his no trade clause. Let's acknowledge the fact that although he has an injury history, he will not be available for a James Reimer/ Dale Mitchell package. Holmgren has never built his teams for the future, he stuffs the roster full of now players, and will be tight the cap doing it. He's going to want to save money, but still be looking for roster players in return, I can't see anyone on the Leafs making sense that wouldn't be an over or under payment. The other rumour is tied in closely to Kovalchuk to New Jersey. It's that New Jersey needs to move salary to sign the Russian star. The preference would be to move ill-advised contracts like Zubrus, Salvador, and Rolston, but if it needs to be done quick, Lou will probably half to float Elias, Langenbrunner, and Zajac around the market place, and all could be of varying interest to Burke.

The week is also bound to include some more lukewarm signings. The names most recently attached to Toronto are depth defensemen. Andy Sutton, Willie Mitchell, Jay McKee, and Freddy Meyer have all been mentioned, and of those options I'm leaning towards to Freddy Meyer with right in votes of Pothier, and Corvo. I wouldn't rule out a true checking line/fourth line/ face-off specialist centre being part of the plans as well. The top six seems like it will be addressed via trade, and that is probably the smartest decision.

Before I leave you for the day, a couple of important thoughts. First if you haven't already, please check out Bruce Arthur's thoughtful article on Brian Burke paying tribute to his son Brendan. It's a beautiful, but sad story about Brian Burke's commitment to his son's memory. Finally, I leave you with a classic fight from one of the Leafs great rivals, R.I.P. Bob Probert.

My favourite thing about Probert fights is he'd always let his opponents up

A Little Help?

2010-07-04T10:47:00.003-06:00

Yesterday I did a post focusing on what I believe will be Toronto's strongest line if the season were to start tomorrow. Today, in honour of our friends to the south, I thought I'd focus on what the Leafs can do to help out Toronto's favourite American.

The most widely speculated help the could be on it's way is that of a playmaking centre in the form of Marc Savard or Mike Ribeiro. Both of these players would be an immediate upgrade over what Toronto would presently put out there with Kessel. There is some chemistry with Bozak, Grabovski is a creative player, and Kadri has the potential to be best solution in the long term, but none of them would match what Ribeiro or Savard would do for Kessel next season. So am I advocating a move for a playmaking centre? No, absolutely not. If Toronto needs to add anything to help out Kessel, it is a linemate with size, whether it is a winger, or a centre, they need someone who is not going to be easily knocked off the puck, and create some room for smaller linemates.

Hoping to fill this need internally will not bode well for Toronto. While I think Kulemin is great, if Toronto wishes to use him as a top line winger again this year, the Leafs are committing to at best a low playoff seed, and early playoff departure. Kulemin is best used in a situation that can nurture his two-way game anyway. Another internal option is Luca Caputi. At this point Caputi has not shown the ability to hold down an NHL roster spot, let alone be placed on the top line. Here's hoping he establishes himself this year, and he can be looked at as a long term solution to size up front. Brayden Irwin, and Christian Hanson, I'll just say no to. At this point both look like fringe NHLers, and both lack the speed necessary to ever be effective linemates for Kessel. John Mitchell is also a joke. If he realized he had size, and played his game accordingly, he could have a real shot as a temporary fix to this shortage, but honestly, it's not going to happen, he's a depth player and much like all of the options other than Kulemin, I shouldn't have even bothered mentioning him.

So what are the free agency options to fill this need? Really there aren't any. If I had to force options, we're looking at Freddy Modin, Ruslan Fedotenko, Scott Walker, and Bill Guerin. The running theme of those names are broken down old bodies, and fringe top six guys (not to mention some of them play the same wing as Kessel). If the position isn't filled by September it might be worth revisiting this list as a last resort, but to be considering them answers in July makes this seem like an Islanders or Blue Jackets blog.

What is possible on the trade market right now? This is where the sunny optimism kicks in. Feasibly Joffrey Lupul, Erik Cole, Blake Wheeler, Ryan Malone or Thomas Fleishmann could be available. While not all of those names are the most appealing, they certainly would give the Leafs a bigger body that would not look out of place on the top line. None of them are the be all to end all answer for the Leafs, and with the exception of Fleishmann, who is the least likely to be available, none of them can play centre. However each will be good for 20 goals (except Cole is risk) and would force defenders to watch someone other than Kessel when he's out on the ice.

Hopelessly Optimistic. That is what I'll remain whenever I look at the following years free agency class. If history has taught us anything, the chance is next to nothing that either will be available (so much for optimism), but I'll float two names as Toronto's answers. Joe Thornton and David Backes. Thornton is an obvious one to look at if he's made available. He answers the size, and playmaking questions in one signing. He's progressed away from the can't play in big games rep he used to have (we've since learned it was all Nabokov's fault) and although he is older, he will still provide Toronto with some solid years of service right when the team is ready to seriously compete again (yes, I'm already in wait until next year mode). Backes on the other hand, does not have the top level game that Thornton has, but is completely in line with what Burke is trying to build in Toronto. He's not Ryan Getzlaf, but if he doesn't resign in St. Louis, he'll be the best power forward to hit the open market in years. I already see with Giguere's six million cap hit coming off the books, here's who the money will be thrown at. He can do an excellent job of holding down the fort until Burke takes a run at signing Getzlaf in 2013.

Leafs Might Have One Really Great Line

2010-07-03T18:55:00.003-06:00

Thanks to the Leafs being shutdown for business until Tuesday, I have a chance to look at something a little different than trade or free agent speculation, I can switch back to good old fashioned line combination speculation. I'm going to forget about the defense for now, and really I'm only looking at one line in particular. It involves taking a leap of faith, and not considering the line I'm showing you as a scoring line.

Brian Burke has made three major transactions this week, the Versteeg trade, the Armstrong signing, and Kulemin's re-signing, and because it's so obvious to look at the three of them together, that's what I did. What it looks like is a really great shutdown line that can still probably pot over 50 goals a season. Both Versteeg and Kulemin have solid two way games, and default to Toronto's top six, but instead of throwing them on a line with Grabovski which makes them a little less predictable, why not move Versteeg to centre (which has played) and throw Armstrong on the line. He not only makes the unit more defensively reliable, but gives to scoring forwards someone to go fight for the puck in corners, and get under the skin of opposing goaltenders. He was not a slouch in the goal scoring category last season with 15, and with linemates that embrace his style he has the potential for more. Kulemin in this equation will have the chance to learn from his linemates and improve his already solid defensive game, while benefitting from Versteeg's creativity which is comparable to Grabovski's anyway. The player that is having the most asked of him in this combination would be Versteeg, as moving to a role as a full time centre is a change for him, and although in the past he has been a sound two way player, it is much more difficult to fill that role down the middle.

Another question that comes from what I'm suggesting is how much more can we water down our scoring lines? That puts us back in the scenario of relying on Bozak, Kessel, Grabovski as the primary weapons. Burke is very close to the cap at the moment, but when you consider there is currently enough room for one more top six guy on the payroll, and if Kaberle is traded for a forward of similar cap hit, the Leafs have a full roster. If just one of Hanson, Caputi, or Kadri show the ability to fill a role up there as well, this team could be very hard to play against, and it would provide 3 lines that have the potential to be scoring threats, and one line of murderers that don't really fit into this discussion (except for wondering who is the 4th line centre).

Definitely not a bad start to the summer, and as you can see, the Armstrong signing has grown on me. The additional depth that he has signed on the Marlies (Crabb, Richmond, Zigomanis) proves he thinks some of last years young Marlies talent has a great chance of making the roster out of camp, and has their backfill ready. We're one week into summer, and the moves so far seem pretty sound, I'll spend the next couple of days resting up, because Tuesday should be a huge day for the Maple Leafs.

Frenzy Day 2: The Electric Boog-a-loo

2010-07-02T07:36:00.027-06:00

I will keep on summarizing throughout Day 2 of Free Agency with short little blogs thrown in between signings

10:24 PM ET: As per Nick Kypreos, John Mitchell has re-signed for 725k. This is probably his last chance and will likely be the 13th forward as he lacks a role that he excels in. Word is there will not be trade talk until Tuesday. This seems pretty irresponsible if it's true.

COULD IT BE A RED DAWN IN TORONTO?
7:23 PM ET: Back to bust some mad rumor in your eyes. Dmitri Chesnokov is suggesting two North East division teams are looking at Zherdev. Pierre LeBrun is saying the Leafs are kicking the tires on Afinogenov. I haven't been given a say in the matter, but I don't find either options horrible, in fact I'd go so far to say I like the idea of Zherdev. Afinogenov is a bit more risky, small and fragile. Afinogenov has the possibility of being Kovalchuk bait, and also Afinogenov played on a line with Kulemin at the Worlds, so there is that to think about. Pickings are slim, don't close the door on either of these players, as they are two of the last 20 goal scorers out there. (Stempniak, Ponikarovsky, Frolov, and Kovalchuk are the others)

4:53 PM ET: Matthew Lombardi signs in Nashville (as per Darren Pang.) Not a bad move for Nashville, it's a nice splash after seeing alot of last seasons talent leave. Lombardi was too big a risk for Toronto and he's not really an upgrade over Grabovski (cheaper) or Bozak (hopefully better)

4:46 PM ET: As per Pierre LeBrun's blog go out and enjoy this summer weekend. Kaberle isn't being traded until after the long weekend. If you're a pasty S.O.B. like myself and plan on staying inside, check out this Puck Daddy article featuring Versteeg highlights. I know he's not the best player, but dammit, It's been a long time since I've been this excited about a new Leaf.

4:18 PM ET: It's a full on run on crap! Jeff Marek has Brandon Prust re-signing with the Rangers, and the Coyotes are reporting they've signed Andrew Ebbett, who might be one of the top ten centres available if you want to put it in really depressing terms.

4:15 PM ET: A couple of minor signings, Steve McIntyre in Edmonton (as per Ryan Rishaug) and Brad Winchester in St. Louis (as per Darren Pang) McIntyre keeps with the retro-signing theme of Alberta. We waived you last year, but we're sure you'll be great this season.

4:00 PM ET: Kulemin has re-signed for $2,350,000/yr for 2 years (as per Dreger). No complaints out of me. Good player, and this is almost exactly where I'd price him. Now lets get our Kovalchuk on.

3:49 PM ET: Since we are now all Isles, all the time, Zenon Konopka has signed in Long Island (as per Katie Strang). He can now look forward to getting his ass kicked by Boogard, and Shelley on a regular basis. Tough division, Lou is going to have to pull Oliwa out of retirement for the Devils.

3:13 PM ET: Back from lunch and it looks like Eaton, Parenteau and Jurcina have signed with the Islanders (as per Katie Strang). Really?! How is this team ever going to improve with shit moves like that? As earlier reported Higgins signed on the dotted line with Florida.

1:15 PM ET: Still can't get into twitter. Now following free agency on Puck Daddy's chatterbox feed. Cody McCormick re-signs in Buffalo (as per Darren Dreger), and Chris Higgins is close to signing in Florida, (as per Pierre LeBrun) seems like everyone from Long Island moves to Florida eventually. Leafs fans can breathe a sigh of relief that he's soon to be off the market. I actually wouldn't have minded him in T.O.

FIVE THE LEAFS SHOULD LOOK AT TODAY
1. Joe Corvo: If the Leafs are wanting to move defensemen for forwards here is an affordable guy to fill in the holes and replace Kaberle on the powerplay.
2. Codey Burki: He's still young, but has had a rough time after the WHL. I have a soft spot for Wheat Kings, and would chance him since he could be a solid bottom six guy.
3. Robert Nilsson, affordable top six filler who could explode after a change in scenary. I think the Islanders will sign him, but wouldn't count him out in Toronto
4. Ruslan Fedotenko, not the best option, but he could be one of the cheaper ones. Not bad filler for a year while prospects develop and we wait for a better free agency market
5.Freddy Meyer, more cheap defense back fill, but more responsible in his own end then Corvo.

12:18 PM ET: Just got out of the shower to see two things, 1st the twitter fail whale (the reason I took the shower in the first place) and 2nd that TSN.ca is reporting that Souray is on waivers. This leads me to believe Kaberle is not happening today, as Souray can be had just for taking on a bad contract, not sacrificing a top line forward. Obviously Souray is more injury prone and not quite up to Kaberle's level at the best of times, but this will probably delay deals until this is sorted out.

11:42 AM ET: Oilers sign Richard Petiot and re-sign Jason Strudwick (as per Jeff Marek) This is what passes for news on day two. Jason Strudwick is a really solid 7th defenseman, but that doesn't solve too many of the Oilers problems (errrr sign a Goalie perhaps?)

COMING TO TERMS WITH COLBY
I have to stand by the fact that I'm not a fan of this signing. In fact, Colby Armstrong was #10 on my list of Top Ten Head in the Oven Signings. My reason was based on two things, the first is money. I stated at $2,000,000 a year I'd love to have him, but I didn't think would happen (it didn't). I still think that it is too much for a 3rd liner and I also believe it will sour the negotiations with Kulemin. The second thought was that he would be considered a top six player, which to Nonis's credit, he's killed that thought right away and stated Armstrong is a third line guy. While I will never be comfortable with how much was paid for him he improves the penalty kill, will hopefully screen goalies on the second power play unit, can throw some punishing hits, and is responsible defensively. He can also be counted on for 15 goals, clearly he's not horrible. So welcome to the Leafs Colby, you actually improve the team significantly.

9:35 AM ET: Czech dog food (Pavel Kubina) signs in Tampa as per @forechecker.

Signed On The First Of July

2010-07-01T08:46:00.052-06:00

Follow Me On Twitter Today For More Free Agent Fun

12:10 AM ET: Apparently the Leafs signed Danny Richmond (as per Cap Geek) Just Marlies depth, but worth noting because this deal uses up a contract. Maybe Burke has a deal in place that will challenge defensive depth.

7:21 PM ET: Recap so far: Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh are winners, Calgary, Ottawa, Rangers are losers. I think Armstrong was overpaid, and makes it so the Leafs will have to trade Kulemin or pay him $3m/yr, and really Crabb is depth signing and may never wear a Maple Leafs jersey. If it's any consolation, Bob McKenzie approves of what Burke is doing.

6:39 PM ET: The best (first?) garbage ex-Leaf signing of the day, Raycroft to the Stars (as per Bob McKenzie). With Lehtonen as their starter, it's gonna be scary how much he plays. Nieuwendyk should know a lot better than this.

6:35 PM ET: Back from the store, the major signings that I've noticed were Matt Cullen to Minnesota (a/p Russo), Koivu re-signed by Ducks (Bob McKenzie), Adam Burish to Dallas (Bob McKenzie), and Jackmans and Ivantis to the Flames (Kypreos). Nothing too overwhelming, but I guess that's been the theme of the day. Just a thought, but I think Garth Snow believes it's June 31st today.

5:38 PM ET: I've been ordered to go pick up groceries, odds are everything is about to go down now.

5:26 PM ET: Johan Hedberg in New Jersey (as per Jay Grossman). He can look forward a productive year of ballcap wearing.

5:24 PM ET: Another page from the big book of bad ideas, NY Rangers re-sign Vinny Prospal (as per Larry "Redden to Everywhere" Brooks)

5:20 PM ET: Pierre LeBrun just speculated that the Kings may be announcing a trade for Kaberle. I'm sure twitter is about to explode. I have my doubts.

5:12 PM ET: Jordan Leopold signs in Buffalo( Pierre Lebrun.) Way to make a splash. Seriously, I think Grebeshnov is the last defenseman available who scored a goal last season. At some point Kaberle talks will have to start. I am worried that it's going to be with San Jose around Ryan Clowe. For the Love of God, don't trade for Ryan Clowe.

5:07 PM ET: As per Jonas Siegel, the Leafs are done for the day. Kings are announcing something big soon, might as well keep this going until then. I feel like having my Kovalchuk dreams shattered.

4:42 PM ET: Couple of big fat trades waiting to be closed, Andrew Ladd to Atlanta for a 2nd round pick and a Vishnevsky (TSN) and possibly Bieksa to Columbus (as per Garrett Bauman.) It would be nice to hear that something is happening on Kaberle, but nothing left to do but trust Burke.

4:27 PM ET: Let your retard flag fly, Olli Jokinen to the Flames, done. (TSN) Sutter is going to be fired for sure. Also of interesting note, Atlanta signs Chris Mason dirt cheap (as per Michael Aldred). I hated him at the Worlds, but this is a good signing for Hotlanta

4:25 PM ET: Jeff Tambellini signs in Vancouver (as per Justin Bourne), will play (be a healthy scratch) against his dad's team 6 times a season.

4:21 PM ET: Volchenkov is now a Devil (as per Millard). The Defense market is dead. Now lets open up those phone lines Burkie.

4:13 PM ET: Let the Kaberle bidding start, TSN is now reporting that Dan Hamhuis has been signed by the Canucks. Only defensive d-men left to sign. Other defensemen on the trading block are Souray, Bieksa and possibly Brent Burns. Kaberle is still probably the best option of those players if you're looking for offense, and want to avoid injuries.

3:57 PM ET: Michael Aldred is now reporting that Kurtis Foster is on the Oilers, and Henrik Tallinder is on the Devils. Love the move for the Oilers, and think this is a huge mistake for the Devils. It's pretty much down to Mitchell, Hamhuis, and Volchenkov then the D-Market has dried up. Things to note, Sabres haven't done a thing yet.

3:48 PM ET: Back with more, Ray Whitney signs with Coyotes for 2 years (as per NHL twitter) Good move for both sides, but more amusing is that Sutter is trying to re-acquire Jokinen in Calgary. This is the most epically stupid move since DiPietro's lifetime contract. Congratulations Milbury, you're no longer the worst GM in history (Doug McLean it could still be you.)

3:00 PM ET: Toni Lydman signs in Anaheim (as per Bob McKenzie), the watering down of the defenseman market continues. That was a long gap between signings. I guess everyone took a late lunch. I wouldn't think that this would prevent the Ducks from being interested in Kaberle. They need more than one defenseman.

2:37 PM ET: Derek Boogard signs with the Rangers (as per Dreger), I don't know the terms, but I assume it's a 6 year deal for 6.5 million a season, with a NMC. Also, how awesome is it whenever TSN interviews Bryan Murray?

2:30 PM ET: As per Jeff Marek, Paul Martin is on the Penguins, now lets get Hamhuis a home so the Kaberle sweepstakes can begin!

2:22 PM ET: Keeping with the acquiring of players with novelty names, Joey Crabb (as per Bob McKenzie)has signed a two way deal with the Leafs. Don't know much about him, but it's a depth signing (a la Tim Brent)

2:17 PM ET: Ellis is a member of the Lightning (as per Millard). It's okay to like this guy again. Yzerman is definitely the winner so far today. Also Bob McKenzie is reporting Jody Shelley is on the Flyers, because they needed another asshole to take stupid penalties, right?

1:58 PM ET: Derek Morris is re-signed in Phoenix. This pulls one of the settle for him defensemen off the market which will ultimately help the Kaberle situation. I think I would have let him walk, and paid the ransom for Michalek instead.

1:52 PM ET: Manny Malhotra signs in Vancouver for 2.5m a season for 3 years with a NTC (TSN). A bit steep, not Armstrong steep, but steep. Nucks look set down the middle.

1:43 PM ET: Sean O'Donnell on the Flyers (TSN), Holmgren doing his best Tallon impression with their pending cap situation. Joel Perrault signs in Vancouver, everyone take note. That is a smart bottom six forward signing.

1:35 PM ET: Colby Armstrong is a Leaf (as per TSN). I don't like the price, but the player isn't bad. In my mind he's a third line guy, not a top 6. I'm sure he'll prove me wrong, but today, I don't like this. I still love Versteeg. Also Nittymaki is a Shark (TSN), who cares?

1:28 PM ET: Alex Auld to Montreal (as per James Duthie), Leafs Nation laughs. This is a goaltending tandem comparable to Toskala and Raycroft. Payback is a bitch Habs fans.

1:12 PM ET: Pittsburgh pay through their ass on Michalek(as per TSN). Apparently they want Martin as well. Fantastic. The more they stockpile, the more other teams are going to be desperate for Kaberle. Once Michalek, Mitchell, and Volchenkov are gone, the Leafs might get some calls on Komisarek as well.

1:01 PM ET: Martin St. Louis re-signs with the Lightning (as per their official twitter), I'm sure this will cause Eklund to believe that he'll be traded to Montreal later today. So far Yzerman is looking pretty good as a GM. Paul Martin is very close to signing in Pittsburgh. Someone will need to do a eulogy for the death of Jared Staal to Toronto rumours.

12:50 PM ET: As per Millard, Alexander Steen signs a 4 year deal to stay in St. Louis (as per Andy Strickland). In related news, Lee Stempniak is a piece of shit.

12:32 PM ET: Nothing new happening, but I love the Sens fans reaction to the Gonchar deal. It seems like the sky is falling in the capital today. Also worth noting, it will probably only take the signing of either Martin or Hamhuis now to kick off serious offers for Kaberle.

12:18 PM ET: Schergei Gonchzar stchigns in Ottawa for 3 years 5.5m/yr (as per TSN), Tanguay back to Calgary for 1.7m. Perfect place for Gonchar to go, we can watch his game go down hill 6 times a year. Nice to see players Burke probably had no interest in going early.

12:03 PM ET: Marty Biron signs with NY Rangers (as per TSN), seriously!? Bust Sather for tampering! Also Paille is back with the Bruins. Too bad he could have been a nice addition to the Leafs bottom 6.

11:55 AM ET: Strong possibility of Regehr for Marc Savard (reported by Millard). Another stupid Sutter move, but really shows why Grabovski for Savard was a stupid rumour.

11:50 AM ET: Slow morning, but Philly just traded a 2nd Round Pick to Tampa for Meszaros(reported by Dreger). I guess Holmgren hates the draft more than Sutter and Burke. Yzerman really looking like a genius GM. Now make the same deal with Toronto to dump Malone.

10:25 AM ET Starting up the Live Blog a bit early this morning, but I'm doing so in honour of my first FAILWhale of the day. I could always just tweet from my iPad, but it still takes me about 4 minutes to type out 140 characters on it.
My expectations are a bit lower for today as I think Burke may have done his best work last night, but I don't doubt that he'll surprise me. If I didn't say it last night on twitter I love that the Versteeg deal did not include Gunnarsson, as I figured any deal with Chicago would have to involve him.
A couple of thoughts for people on Twitter today. Please don't bother with re-tweeting Bob McKenzie, Darren Dreger, Kevin Allen, or Pierre LeBrun. If people care about free agency or trades, people are already following them, but do remember to include the source of the deal when you tweet a new trade, since there is a strong possibility you didn't break the deal.
Not much on the go at this point in the day, Gonchar, Hamhuis, and Dan Ellis seem like they will hit the market, and Z.Michalek may get a deal done in Phoenix. Hopefully defensemen go early so we can see a Kaberle panic this afternoon. It's a great day to overpay on Czech Blueliners. Oh yeah and one more thing, Rob Longley of the Toronto Sun is floating the idea of Toronto being interested in Brayden Schenn. Given their desire to make a splash today, keep an eye on Los Angeles.

Question of the Morning (since we're all just killing time) Kadri for Brayden Schenn, would you do it?

One More Sleep Until New Leafs!!!1 (updated with Versteeg Trade)

2010-06-30T20:13:00.006-06:00

Oh Boy, oh boy! It's like Christmas eve tonight. All this anticipation of what our presents will be. I've been asking for a power forward, but I haven't been that good this year, so I'd be happy with a Russian 40 goal scorer instead. Other than that, I think it's not what you spend, but the thought that counts. Hopefully there will be a few guys that fit the mold of what is needed on the Leafs. Here are 5 needs, and the best candidates to fill them. Since a wise junkie once told us that we can't always get what we want, I've included a few runners-up for filling in the roster.

True First Line Talent: I want Kovalchuk, since in reality he is all that there is out there that 100% defines this wish. I don't believe in half-assing this, and ultimately this is the only way the Leafs are going to add someone of his talent. Since there are 30 teams in the league, and only one guy like him, the best runners-up (that I'd want the Leafs to take) would be Robert Nilsson or Alex Tanguay (pretty sharp drop off)

Power Forward: Good luck in this category. The best bet available here would probably be Chris Higgins, although he is more of a third line checker now. If he returns to his 27 goal ways of a few years ago that would be awesome, but he's an interesting option and good friends with Komisarek. The runners-up for power forward would be Ruslan Fedotenko, and the broken down body of Scott Walker.

Top Six Centre: What a mess this category is. By default I have to say Matthew Lombardi is the best available, (sorry MapleStirup) he does have spend, and has shown signs of improvement. Worst case scenario, he's an upgrade of Stajan and like Grabovski he can be moved to the wing when something better comes along. The runners-up for top six centre are pathetic, we're talking Olli Jokinen and Jason Williams.

Truculence!!!1: This is a surprisingly deep category (actually not surprising at all). My personal favourite is not so friendly giant John Scott from Minnesota. He'd immediately bring the defensive units average hit up to 6'5, and he adds some defensive zone truculence that Exelby struggled to provide. My runners up are the equally good Adam Burish and Arron Asham. Such a deep area I'd be happy with any of them, but I respect Burish's stupid comments that get under people's skin and Asham is by far one of the guys I hate most in the league, so he definitely does his job well.

Penalty Killing Forward/Defensive Specialist: If he's bought out, I'd love to see Jay Pandolfo bring his experience to this role. While I lived in Connecticut I went to alot of Devils games, and I really respect what this guy does in his own end. He's probably not a Burke type player, but he is 100% a Ron Wilson type. This is another deep area that could provide the Leafs with either Dan Paille or Steve Begin.

Bonus, The Best Defenseman so we can trade another one of our current Top 4: Dan Hamhuis would be a terrific addition to the Leafs, he eats minutes, he can play any situation, and he wants a bigger role with more pressure. He's probably going to price himself close to what Komisarek got last year, and that's fine if Toronto moves Komisarek or Beauchemin. Runners up would be Paul Martin or Kurtis Foster.

So now that the dead horse of who the Leafs should look at is complete here are some quick guesses at what happens to some ex-Leafs as they enter free agency.

Garnett Exelby: Affordable Depth Defense in Dallas

John Mitchell: Becomes an un-truculent fourth liner in Detroit

Wayne Primeau: Is off to Vancouver to replace Ryan Johnson

Alexei Ponikarovsky: I'm going to say the Rangers, probably because most unreliable scorers wind up there sooner or later

Jamal Mayers: If he gets signed, probably Carolina

Jamie Lundmark: Some cap tight team will take as a utility guy, I'm gonna say Philly

Vesa Toskala: Brian Burke purchases him so he can hunt him for sport.

That's all I've got until the big day. Check back here tomorrow for a live-"ish" blog, and be sure to follow me on Twitter so you watch me snap if Raffi Torres or Fernando Pisani sign with the Leafs.

MEGA UPDATE!!!1 LEAFS ACQUIRE VERSTEEG!

Toronto Acquires Kris Versteeg and Bill Sweatt for Viktor Stalberg, Chris diDomenico and Phillipe Paradis (as per Pierre LeBrun). This is an awful lot to give up as I love all three of these young players, but Versteeg is an amazing addition to the Leafs. Much more to come tomorrow. Now excuse me, I have a Versteeg jersey to order.

Slow News Day

2010-06-29T20:11:00.002-06:00

So, the news of the day is Nashville removing one of Montreal's cancerous 'tits.' Sergei Kostitsyn was traded to the Predators for the rights to Dan Ellis and Dustin Boyd, both UFAs. Both sides also swapped future considerations, depending on who signs where. Immediately, this has been a good deal for the Canadiens since they now have one less problem child. Ellis and Boyd, if either one sign will also be nice additions to the Habs. How does this impact the Leafs? Really, not at all. It's depressing that Montreal will probably have one of the better UFA goaltenders signing with them, and Dustin Boyd is a player I would have liked to see the Leafs target, but July 1st is going to be deep with goaltenders and depth forwards, so nothing lost.

Oilers throw away some players today. Patrick O'Sullivan, Ethan Moreau, and Robert Nilsson are a day away from being bought out. How does this effect the Leafs? We can go rummaging through their garbage. Why would the Leafs want the garbage of the one team that was worse than them? In Nilsson's case, it's a hope that a change of scenary will get him back on the path to becoming the player the Oilers thought he could be. In O'Sullivan's case, I wouldn't chance him at all. He's a sad story, but Leafs fans shouldn't be paying for him being a headcase. Ethan Moreau is the player that makes the most sense to the Leafs. He's a penalty killing, defensive minded forward who will drop the gloves. His leadership would also be a nice asset, but if the Oilers think he's struggling to play at an NHL level his career is in jeopardy.

On The Trade Front it's pretty much become a lock that the Leafs are running silent until July 1st. Darren Dreger has commented that nothing is doing until players start getting signed up, and based on what we've seen so far from Burke, I think he's right. I'm just left hoping that it is not going to be the middle of July before anything happens. I agree that Kaberle (and others) value will go up as players are signed, but Burke will have to be mindful of teams will not be able to take on salary later in the summer, and it will be harder to get a quality player in return as they will not be able to replace them through free agency.

Hopefully, I can string some words together on something more interesting tomorrow.