Game Review: Phoenix 6 - Leafs 3

Well, that didn't go too well. Now I missed the second and third periods in favour of studying; which appears to be a good call based on the score alone. I've heard that the Refs made some bad calls against Toronto, I saw the 4th goal against Toronto and that was just plain BS luck. After that, I think we could all use a good laugh, as well Colin Mochrie and the Whose Line is it Anyway Cast sum up the Leafs performance and some of the refs calls pretty well:

Any questions?

RE: Time to end hockey violence once and for all

This article was written by a Jeff Maguire of EMC Lifestyle, whatever that is. He talks about all things fighting, comparing the NHL to other leagues and wondering why we still allow fighting in the NHL. This is my response:

Dear Jeff,

I'm not sure how much more wrong you could be.

First off, the NHL is a business, and as any good business does, it knows its customer base. If eliminating fighting in hockey would truly make the sport more popular, Gary Bettman wouldn't waste one second in legislating it out of the game. His entire tenure has been about growing the game in the US, and if fighting was truly holding that back, what reason would he have in keeping it? It's not like Bettman is some old-school hockey guy. Remember where the NHL found him? In David Stern's office. So I doubt that Bettman has too many ties to the past that he can't bring himself to eliminate fighting, even though it would improve attendance.

Moving on, I would like you to go watch this youtube video before reading any more of my letter, and please watch the entire thing, there are important clips at the end:

That was Wendel Clark dishing out some retribution on Slava Fetisov for a dirty attempt at injuring Clark. Now, I was just born around the time that that happened, but I'm fairly confident in asserting that Fetisov never again tried that crap on Wendel Clark for fear of having his face caved in. Pretty good deterrent, no? What is more likely to scare guys like that; a 2-4 game suspension or having to face someone on the ice for their actions?

Without fighting, Wendel Clark or one of his teammates may have been forced to do the same thing to Fetisov as payback for his dirty dive at Wendel's knee. I don't know how anybody can think that having people cheap-shot each other is a better method than fighting. At least with fighting you have a chance to defend yourself, and you won't be facing a situation where breaking your neck is likely (hit from behind into the boards).

"This past season Detroit Tigers' relief pitcher Fernando Rodney, in a moment of frustration and anger, threw a baseball into the crowd during an American League game. Luckily the missile didn't hit anyone. The ball fell harmlessly, a souvenir for a fan.

Major League Baseball wasn't amused. They handed Rodney a three game suspension for that little gambit."

Let me explain the difference to you. Rodney put the health of fans in jeopardy, Ballard put his teammates health in jeopardy (and Vokoun has a little something called a helmet, which I doubt that many people wear to baseball games).

Let's look at the infamous 2004 occurrence in which then Vancouver Canucks' forward Todd Bertuzzi was suspended indefinitely by the NHL for deliberately injuring Colorado Avalanche player Steve Moore. Bertuzzi's blindside punch left Moore with a broken neck.

The incident was seen as retaliation for a hit Moore had put on Canucks' star Markus Naslund which left him with a concussion and sidelined for three games.

Blindside hits, retaliation and concussion - broken neck! What are we talking about here? A bar room brawl?

No, this is the modern NHL.

I'll give you that Bertuzzi shouldn't be in the NHL, because what he did was outside of the accepted norm of hockey. If you are going to fight someone, you need to approach them face to face and have your gloves off (I'm pretty sure you are obliged by the NHL rules to have your gloves off). What Moore did to Naslund was dirty, but he didn't deserve that kind of retribution. But that doesn't make that the norm in the NHL does it? By that logic, the NBA is constantly fighting a battle to keep its players from fighting the fans in the arena (it happened once, so why not always?).

Also, Bertuzzi isn't one of those goons you don't like. Up until that incident he was an extremely productive player in the NHL. However, that still doesn't excuse his actions - rather it's just a point.

Now onto some quotes that are truly doozies.

"There is no greater contact sport than North American style football."

There is a greater contact sport, it's called Hockey. Up until recently, it had been perfectly acceptable to target an opponents' head. Now it's a little iffy, but you can still get away with it (see Richards, Mike). Does that happen in the NFL? Not since several years ago. How many football players would be suiting up for action that same night if they were walking down the street and got hit by a car? I can't say for sure, but Brendan Witt of the Islanders has done that recently. In football you can run out of bounds to avoid getting hit. Where exactly can you do that in the NHL? In the NFL you only have to worry about your opponent hitting you. In the NHL you have to worry about your opponent hitting you, and where you are too. There are no boards in the NFL for you to be hit into, and grass is a heck of a lot softer than ice is. How many NFL or CFL players would take something as painful as a stick to the gonads and continue to play? Well, Nik Lidstrom did that last year, and he isn't even considered tough by NHL standards. How many skill players play with broken hands or fingers in the NFL? Probably somewhere between 0 and 1 (and that 1 is probably a blocking-ony tight end). I can think of two people off the top of my head in the NHL who did that last year - Ryan Johnson and Matt Walker. Do you still think that NFL and CFL players are tougher? The only guys in the NFL who play through injuries like that are the non-skill players (O and D lineman) who don't need their hands to perform (can't say that about any NHL player). Heck, even goalies are tougher than most NFL players (Ron Hextall anyone? Patrick Roy?).

"The same is true of the National Basketball Association and professional football (soccer) leagues in Europe."

Why are you comparing a true contact sport to "contact" sports? If you run into anybody in the NBA, someone shoots free-throws. If you come within 5 feet of someone in Soccer, they both go down to fake an injury. The only people involved in these two sports who know how to fight are the soccer fans. Have you ever seen an NBA fight? Those things are an embarrassment to men all over the world. Carmello Anthony was suspended for a knuckle slap (not a punch) against the Knicks. And the Brawl at the Palace (probably the most famous fight in the last 30 years) involved players fighting fans. I've never seen a soccer fight that didn't involve fans, but they are probably as entertaining as a prostate exam.

"For some odd reason many Canadians seem willing to accept this behaviour as part of our national game. It doesn't flatter us I have to say!"

Yes, because showing that you are willing to do whatever it takes to win, standing up for your teammates and confronting those who have wronged you are terrible, terrible qualities that nobody should wish to have. I wish NHL players were more like soccer players; diving at every opportunity and faking injuries for nothing more than a place kick.

One last point I would like to make is that fighting does have a place in the NHL. It is there to serve as a deterrent to those players who decide to cross the line in ways that aren't obviously deserving of suspension. Despite what many anti-fighting people say, it does make the game safer. Want to run our goalie? Pay the price. Want to cheap-shot one of our players? Pay the price. As I said earlier, do you think that Fetisov would go after Wendel Clark like he did after having some readjustments done to his face courtesy of Clark? Probably not. If he did, I'm sure that would be in the back of his mind though. And many people argue that most of the dirty plays and players are goons, there are plenty of examples of star/regular players who qualify for that recognition too; Pronger, Avery, Ott, Gauthier, Havlat (kicker), Alfredsson (swung his stick at Domi), Perry, Richards (if you don't like high hits), etc... All of those players I mentioned cross the line. They don't necessarily cross it in a way that is blatantly obvious and egregious, but they do, and they aren't your 4th line goon either.

Sincerely,

Belligerent Burkie

An Apology to Damien Cox

[ED Note: I meant to post this on Wednesday night, but my computer decided to commit suicide.]

Dear Damien,

On behalf of Leafs Nation, I would like to apologize to you for our latest game. Some people may be wondering where this is coming from, so here's a link for you. In it, Damien says:


"No franchise in the NHL, it seems, struggles more with maintaining a level of decent consistency than the Leafs. Is it because their fans are so easily satisfied?"



Yes, you read that right. The root of the problem of the Leafs struggles can be traced back to the fact that the Leafs "fans are so easily satisfied". Because if you're not being booed relentlessly (ahem, Habs fans), then clearly as a fan base you are satisfied, and then the players don't need to work anymore. Why bother working for your own person pride or gain if the fans aren't booing you? You're collecting those cheques regardless, so as long as the fans are happy, regardless of your position in the standings, why work hard?



So again Damien, on behalf of all of Leafs Nation, I would like to issue our sincerest apologies for our poor showing against Minnesota. For our next game against Chicago, we will do our very best not to go 0-for on the powerplay or have our PK at only 75%* or take penalties while we're already on the PK. And hopefully we'll be able to score some goals early in the game and not have to rely on a 3rd period comeback attempt. And maybe we'll even pitch in with some all-around good defence throughout the game.



I realize that the money that MLSE pays us to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs dictates that we put forth better performances than we did against Minnesota, and I can guarantee you that every Leafs fan will be playing their hardest to get the win against Chicago on Friday and then against Calgary on Saturday. As Leaf fans, we know we owe it to the fans^* to play our hearts out each and every game no matter if we're making Phil Kessel money, or Jay Rosehill money, the fans expect and deserve nothing less than our complete and total effort every game.*^



So in conclusion, I as a representative of Leafs Nation sincerely apologize to you, Damien Cox, for our lackluster performance against the Wild on Tuesday night. We hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive us, and pray that one day, you shall bestow upon us your never-ending knowledge of the inner-workings of the NHL, both in the front office and on the ice.



Sincerely,



Leafs Nation


ED Note:

* Yes, I know it was 1-for-4, but over the course of a season, that's not good enough - for one game, sure; but not for longer stretches

^* That doesn't make sense. Oh right, this is Damien Cox's head I'm living in right now, aka bizzaro-world. Can anybody rescue me? It's cold and dark, thanks.

*^ Well, except in November, then we really have to play; because as Howard Berger has noted, these games matter most.

Once Again, It's Time to Take Out the Trash

Obviously I'm referring to Damien Cox. Yes, the unoriginal blowhard is back at it with another addition of his Thursday mail-bag. Come to think of it, this too might be a weekly occurrence, since there's bound to be a few moronic things said that need to be straightened out.

First off, I'm not trying to avoid Damien by not posting on his site, far from it. I'm just not confident that he fully believes in freedom of speech when it comes to making critical reviews of his work, especially when he has control of the content (i.e. on his web-page). I'll try to post on his site, but I doubt it'll get through - hint: he doesn't like people that disagree with him.

You can find his entire article here for your reference. I implore everyone who reads this to flood his blog and e-mail with your retorts. But keep it at least semi-clean, because Damien doesn't like fighting, so I imagine that bad words keep him up at night too.

So, first point of debate:

There was a question about the Leafs pre-season involving the young guns (guys like Kadri, Bozak and Hanson) and their success - and subsequent failure in the regular season with those players noticeably absent from the line-up.

Damien's response? Well, I bet you can guess what player he mentioned - "If you’re referring to Nazem Kadri, it was clearly the smart move to send him back to the OHL. All you have to do is look at the struggles Luke Schenn is having this season to understand being rushed as an 18-year-old often causes a lot more problems than seem evident at first."

Was Luke Schenn mentioned in the question? Nope. Did the guy ask Damien what he thought about the defence? Nope. But anyways it's a good old fashioned Damien "I hate that Luke Schenn made the NHL at 18, and will probably hold that against him and the Leafs for the rest of my life" Cox comment.

I would like to point out that I agree with Damien that the Leafs made the right move to send Kadri back to London, because if you're a player that's projected to be a top-6 forward, top-4 defenceman, or a franchise goalie; you should only stick with the team after the draft if you will play that role to begin with (as Schenn did last year as a top-4 defenceman, giving him plentiful and meaningful minutes in the NHL against much better compitetion than anywhere else he could have gone).

So what's wrong with that opinion? Well, first off Damien thinks that Schenn needed to go back to the juniors to dominate for a year and then come up. Ok, possibly a valid point. But let's think about it. One of Damien's points that he frequently makes is that Schenn lacks offence, and that going back to junior would have made him into a much better offensive contributor. According to Hockey's Futures (a source that I personally trust for developing players, but can't confirm its accuracy) Schenn "has the potential to become a shut down defender at the NHL level." And they also say (in reference to his last year of junior) "Schenn certainly has not allowed his international duties slow down his play for the Kelowna Rockets, improving upon his points per game average while chipping in a surprising seven goals, although he will never be known as a scoring machine." Now let's say for the sake of argument that keeping Schenn in the NHL last year will hurt his future offensive contributions, but he does become a shutdown guy - wouldn't you want Robyn Regehr on your team? I'd take Robyn Regehr any day of the week. And his career high for goals is 6 (which is actually inflated because it was the first year out of the lockout, and everybody and their grandma was scoring 10+ goals). That doesn't seem like a bad trade-off if it means Schenn will become a better defender with more years of experience playing against NHL players.

I'd also like to point out that Schenn did dominate at the Junior level. He wasn't exactly a player drafted because he could be great with more work, he was nearly there, as evidenced by his physical dominance of the WHL, and the fact that on most nights, he was an NHL defenceman playing in the WHL (much like Doughty was in the OHL). 2 years ago in the World Juniors, he was paired with Thomas Hickey as the #1 shut-down pair. And facing the best U-20 players in the world, he managed to post a +5 en route to winning gold. Not too shabby, eh?

Second point of contention:

This first part is just too funny to not post: "Love the blog and perhaps the only independent view on the Leafs in the city." Haha, independent? Really? I didn't know that 4 or 5 guys writing the same articles for different publishers was known as independent. Moving on.

This is from the same guy as above: "Could they send [Schenn] to the Marlies now and if they keep him their all year, save a year of service time? If so, I have to think that would be the best thing for everyone. The kid is game, but physically and mentally a step slow in the NHL and that is not a knock on him, considering he's 19 and not supposed to be ready. To put him with his peers where he can develop under less pressure this year and get tons of special teams minutes seems like the way to go regardless of whether the Leafs think they can make the playoffs this year. Surely Exelby and/or Frogren can do no worse than what Schenn has shown so far at the NHL level."

Is it just me, or did anybody else feel like they lost about 30 Hockey IQ points after reading that? So, to recap, this person has absolutely no idea about NHL contracts, and he wants a player with plenty of room to improve (who he says is at least as good as 2 veterans, 1 of which he took playing time from last year) to be sent to a league with very few people as talented as NHL top-6 forwards. And that's his master plan. Good luck.

Damien's response? Typical: "Yes, they can send him to the Marlies. But it would still count as a year on his existing contract. See, that’s another problem with elevating 18-year-olds so quickly. They become free agents by age 25."

Is it just me, or does he sound like Harold Ballard if he were a journalist? This is why Damien isn't a GM (but he could sure be an owner with that mind-set), his main concern is money; regardless of what actually turns out to be the best way to cultivate talent. Who gives a rats ass if they become UFA's at age 25? In most cases (for 1st rounder’s that is), they sign long term contracts that take them to about the age of 30 (see Crosby, Ovechkin, Malkin, Richards, Di Pietro, Vanek, Staal, etc...). So what's the difference in starting a guy at 18, 19 or 20 (contract wise), if you're still gonna sing them to long term deals that take them past their first year or two of unrestricted free-agency?

Next point on the same subject by Damien: "So while Colorado, for example, can understandably be excited that Matt Duchene and Ryan O’Reilly have made the grade so early, both will be free agents at 25. How does that help a team trying to build its way back to contention? Moreover, what does it gain? The Leafs weren’t going to win the Cup last year with Schenn and the Avs aren’t going to win it this year with Duchene and O’Reilly. Colorado, at least, has attendance concerns, and so it can argue it needed these young faces to start winning over fans again. But the Leafs have no such concerns. They just did it to try and prove they’d picked well in the June draft by sacrificing picks to move up and grab Schenn. It’s not exactly blowing up in their faces - Schenn is still a very good prospect - but the down side of the decision is now becoming clear. And he’ll be a free agent at 25. "

On Duchene - did he have anything to prove at the Junior level? Not really. Can he play at the NHL level? Clearly. So why on Earth would you keep him down? Is Damien Cox the only person on this planet that doesn't know that the NHL is a young man’s game now? Look at all the best players and how young they are, whether it be the great players like Ovechkin and Crosby, or the really good players like Toews and Kane. There are few players now who are 35+ and still dominant (Lidstrom comes to mind). Now, careers are ending earlier because of the changes to the style of play, and most older players can't keep up. Look how many great players retired within the first year after the NHL lockout.

Damien asks how putting guys like Duchene and Schenn in the league so early helps teams rebuild. Really? Aren't rebuilding teams supposed to be young? Weren't the Kings a rebuilding team the last few years? Weren't Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar, Jack Johnson and Drew Doughty young players? I guess that putting all of those young players into the NHL early completely screwed them for the next decade or so. The Kings would be lucky to ever start a season 6-4-0 and have guys like Kopitar scoring 8 goals in the first 10 games.

Then he concedes that the Schenn experiment isn't "blowing up in" the Leafs face. Which is odd, because everything I've read from him suggest that it is in fact the worst decision that any human has ever made. Ever.

Third point that needs to be addressed:

This next comment is in response to a letter about the atmosphere at Leafs games where the guys says that it's too quiet and boring (unless the leafs are dominating, or it's a serious back and forth game). Damien's response is "It’s another expression of MLSE’s contempt for the customer, but as long as the customer continues to buy, why would MLSE possibly change?"

Apparently, we have all been tricked somewhere along the line into believing that playoff revenue exists, when in fact all the money goes towards the NHL, and in turn gives it to Nashville, Phoenix and maybe Florida.

I've already done a rant on this before, but I feel the need to do it again.

First point:

If the Leafs make it to the Stanley Cup Finals (win or lose, but they make more for winning), they will earn a ridiculous amount of extra cash, on top of the ridiculous amount of cash they get anyways. I saw an interview with Richard Peddie on The Score with Gerry Dee, and one point Peddie made was that the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan earns money from the Leafs, but money isn't their main objective. Since holding the Leafs is an investment, growth is what they're really after. If they make 10 million dollars (for arguments sake) for 10 straight years, it's not the same for them as making 5 mil one year, 6 the next, then 7 and 8 and 9 and 11 and 12 and 13 and 14 and finally 15 million dollars (I left out 10 mil for a reason, do the math, it adds up). In both cases, they have made 100 million over 10 years, but the growth of the franchise improves its value, and if the right deal comes along, the OTPP will be more than willing to deal. The OTPP owns about 2/3 of the shares in MLSE, making them the people with the most to gain from a successful team. The next business that I see to be unequivocally happy to maintain a 0% growth rate will be the first. Especially when it's a pension plan as big as the OTPP with as many people to serve as they do. The more money the better.

Second point:

Leafs TV. If the team sucks, fewer and fewer people will be willing to pay for that service, and will be content to watch the game only when it's on CBC, SportsNet or TSN. They may head out to a bar to watch a game on Leafs TV, but they won't pay for it. So clearly it's in the Leafs best interest to ice a competitive team, like the ones during Pat Quinn's time. For comparisons sake, let's take the YES Network (the Yankees own TV network). According to an ESPN article from August 2007, the YES Network "could be worth $3 billion or more". I'll let you take a second to read that over again. All good? You read that correctly, $3 BILLION!!!!! Are you telling me that MLSE and the OTPP wouldn't want 1 penny of that revenue? The Yankees have missed the playoffs once since the early 90's. So clearly success gets you more money (makes too much sense doesn't it Damien?). You still want to try and convince me that making the playoffs doesn't matter to the OTPP?

Third point:

This is taken from Down Goes Brown, but I feel it needs to be said again. MLSE forecasts that by 2011, ticket sales will account for around 30% of total revenue. Leaving 70% to be made elsewhere (Leafs TV, jersey sales, corporate sponsorships, etc...). So if the Leafs are forecasting that tickets won't be more than a 3rd of revenues, then in order to not fall flat on their face and have a negative growth rate (which the OTPP doesn't want, for those non-business people out there), they should probably ice a competitive team. Otherwise people won't subscribe to Leafs TV (and therefore won't ever be worth the $3 Billion that YES Network is worth), will consume fewer jerseys and memorabilia, and possibly even vacate the arena (there's only so much some people can take, I myself won't abandon them and then show up when they're good like some Pittsburgh band-wagoner).

Well, I'm exhausted. Any questions?

Bold Predictions

Leafs v Rangers round 2. The first game between these two was.........let's just not even go there. 7-2 Rangers, and that's about as much detail as I want to go into for that. It looks like tonight will feature Joey MacDonald and quite possibly Steven Valiquette. I can only hope that Valiquette does indeed get the start over Lundqvist, given the fact that Henrik robbed us of at least 2 goals in the last game.

If Valiquette does get the start, then I'm confident in saying that the Leafs will get off the schnied, and finally post a Win and get this season straightened out before we lose too many points, and our usual March push comes up short.

If Lundqvist gets the start though, look for more of the same from the last game. I don't think the Rangers will put up 7 goals again, but with Henrik in net, I doubt they'll let in more than 2, and they have enough offence to score 4 goals, especially if the defensive zone coverage hasn't improved since this little break.

Since there is a possibility of either goalie starting for the Rangers (according to Yahoo!), this post will be a double prediction - since with a different goalie, there will likely be a different result.

If Valiquette starts:

Look for the Leafs to absolutely pepper him with pucks. Ron Wilson told his guys during yesterday's practice that shooting the puck more is a requirement for us to win, and the more we shoot the puck, the less the other team has the puck in our zone - big plus given the way we've played so far. If the Leafs are really going to improve offensively though, the forecheck needs to be sustained after the initial shot. The Leafs are not going to win if we only get one shot per offensive possession. The forwards need to get in deep, keep the puck away from the defenders, move it around the offensive zone, get Valiquette moving and crash the net after every shot.

If the Leafs can manage that, I think a 4-3 win is within reason.

If Lundqvist starts:

Well, let's just say this one won't go as well. We all know what happened earlier this week, and I'd expect much of the same.

Best case scenario 3-2 win, most likely scenario 4-2 loss.

Outside factor that might improve the Leafs performance:

Brian Burke will be in attendance as usual, but so will Belligerent Burkie, and rest assured to Burkie's are better than 1. So with 2 angry Irishmen watching them, the Leafs will pick their season up by the neck and get a W.

Side-note, I'm not actually Irish, but I will be at the game.

GO Leafs GO

Random Thoughts - and My First Rant

According to TSN, Mike Van Ryn's career is in jeopardy. His doctor has recommended that he undergo an osteotomy, which is where the bone around the knee is cut, and the knee is then re-aligned. You can find the full story here.

I realize that this is all revisionist, but it seems like the Leafs could have gotten a better deal for McCabe than this. Van Ryn has played a grand total of 27 games for the Leafs (and may not play another game, see above), while McCabe is 3 Assists away from having more Assists for Florida, than MVR played games for Toronto (he already has more points). Only worsening the deal is the fact that we had to part with a 4th rounder to get MVR, and while I realize that usually you do that in a salary dump, couldn't we have at least got somebody more durable than a wet cardboard box?

Vesa Toskala is not the terrible goalie that we all think he is. Read that again, please - and no, I'm not drunk / crazy. Below you'll find some clips that basically sum up my belief about Toskala and the Leafs defence........so far.



This shows what Toskala is capable of, a very nice glove save. But did you notice anything unusual? Ryan Callahan, was all alone in front of Toskala - a common theme so far this year.



I think we all remember this goal. Where on Earth was the defence? They both went for the puck, and neither went for the man. And that's usually what leads to a bottom of the barrel PK, and GAA.



I apologize for having to show the entire game, I couldn't find a clip of just the goals. However, here's a breakdown of the Penguins goals.

#1, I thought Kaberle did a great job of screening the goalie on the play, unfortunately he forgot Toskala was on his team.
#2, that was a softie, although there wasn't too much effort made by the D to get out of the way or get the Pens 2 forwards out of the way.

Side-note, my feeling about shot blocking is that if you're going for a block, you need to be damn certain that if you're standing up, there's no way the puck is getting through you; otherwise get down on the ice and take away the low shot - allowing your goalie to see the puck if it gets over you.

#3, great job by Beauchemain on the coverage, smart move to leave Crosby with an easy tap-in.

Watch around the 3 minute mark of the video, where Komo shows how to properly block a shot, Nik Hagman could learn from him (he screened a shot that went in against someone, I forget who, but I remember him doing the kind of shot-blocking I hate).

#4 Again, just awful coverage on Crosby. You can't let someone that talented within 10 feet of the net without someone close enough to be able to turn and be in front of him.
#5, umm, WTF was that? Didn't your coach ever teach you "hard around the boards"? Guess not. I think that was John Mitchell, but I'm not certain.

So by my count, that's 1 goal that was clearly at fault of Toskala, 3 that were the Defence's fault, and 1 that both were to blame on.

So here's my question, how can we expect Toskala to put up the kinds of numbers for us that he put up in San Jose, when our defences is afraid to block shots (except Mike), can't keep track of what players are where, can't clear the zone and are incapable of helping on the PK? Marty Brodeur would struggle to keep his GAA under 3 with that kind of defence. Just plain awful.

Tomorrow will pit the Leafs (losers of 6) against the Rangers (winners of 6 straight). And if we play the Rangers like we did last time, well let's just say it won't be pretty. From the looks of it, we're gonna see Lundqvist vs MacDonald. Is there any amount of money we can pay the Rangers to spot us 4 or 5 goals?

Currently Jonas Gustavsson is our team leader in GAA (according to Yahoo!), with an astounding 3.08 GAA. Wait, 3.08 is bad? Son of a.............

Speaking of the Monster, he'll hopefully be back soon, which is great news. Because if the Leafs can turn their offense, defence, special teams and neutral zone play around, and are still losing, then it will clearly be all Toskala's fault, I'll be wrong (and many people on Pension Plan Puppets will be happy), and Gus will then take over the reins. As much as I like J-Mac as a pro, he isn't the guy who will get us either to or through the playoffs either this year or in the future. That will have to be Toskala or the Monster.

On Damien Cox's Thursday "Mail Bag", he posed this question, in response to another question about Luke Schenn "How many other NHL defenceman do you know who can’t take a slapshot?" Well here's your answer (I'm assuming he means accuracy, because pretty much every D-man can shoot at 80+ MPH, which is plenty if you're shooting low and into a group of players), and it's a long one - Tomas Kaberle (doesn't even know what a shot is), Kimmo Timonen, Filip Kuba, Kyle Quincey, Paul Martin, Tobias Enstrom, Carlo Colaiacovo, Andrew Ference, Rob Scuderi, Adam Foote, Andrej Mezaros, Brian Lee, Anton Stralman, Sean O'Donnell, Shane O'Brien, Anton Volchenkov, Mike Komisarek, Hal Gill, Scott Hannan - really, I could go on for a long time. But the point I'm trying to make is that who exactly thought that Luke Schenn would turn into the next Dion Phaneuf (with better defensive zone coverage)? Would another year of WHL hockey really allow Luke to go from a 2 goal scorer to a 15+ goal scorer? I'd be willing to bet my left testicle that in 5 years, Luke Schenn will be as good offensively as he would have been playing that 1 extra year of WHL and then coming to the NHL the next year. Luke Schenn was projected as a Scott Steven's (when he was with NJD) type player, not a Scott Niedermayer type player. Stop trying to blow yourself Damien, and if I hear you say the word "regression" one more time before the Leafs hit the 15 game mark, my head will explode. Saying that Luke Schenn deserves to be sent to the AHL after 6 freakin games is like saying that Roberto Luongo shouldn't have been the starter for the Canucks after sucking the first 2 games. It's just a ridiculous statement, and a sentiment that you're trying to peddle now because nobody gave a damn what you thought about the Leafs last year when the kept Schenn and he flourished. Just drop it, if it comes to game 20, and Luke is playing at a -20 with less than 5 points, then he should be sent down. But you don't make that call with an important player this early in a season. And that is why you're a journalist, and not a GM.

And, on top of that, there's this little dozy from another article:
"That's not a brilliant group of six, but it's certainly promising. Gustavsson, Kessel and Kadri could be studs." This was after Cox talked about some of the young talent that the Leafs have. Notice anybody from that list? Luke Schenn. The future of the Leafs shut-down defenceman is not a "stud". Really? Come on Damien, was Adam Foote not a "stud" defenceman for most of his career? Is Robyn Regehr not a stud defenceman? Neither of those 2 guys could put up the points like a Zdeno Chara, but they were and are crucial to a team's success; and when you play those kinds of minutes, you're a stud.

Sorry for the rant, but he makes my blood boil, and my head hurt. Oh, and he also says that one of the main things that will keep the Leafs in the gutter is that the fans (us) continue to show up (or as I like to put it, we don't abandon our team when times are rough, I like to think of them as a good friend. would you abandon a good friend when s/he's going through a rough patch?). And therefore, MLSE gets the most amount of money they can get.

WRONG!!!!

First, let's take the simple one, playoff revenue. During the playoffs, every teams tickets go way up, plus, any money that the players get comes from the league, so they don't have to pay their players a dime (unless they have playoff performance bonuses in their contract). And if you can make it even to the 2nd round and play a modest 6 home games, that's a ton of coin. Not to mention the extra revenue you could get from advertising in-game, when sooo many people are watching (although it's not much more than the regular season, since there are few Leaf fans who only show up when times are good........I hope). Really, there are many things that I could list, but if you'd like to read more, head over to Down Goes Brown, and you'll see why that theory is simply wrong.

That's all for today, I'll be putting up another segment of "Bold Predictions" tomorrow before the game, and probably another one of these sometime next week during this nice little break that Gary Bettman was nice enough to give us (for some reason).

Bold Predictions

This one is definitely less bold than the Pittsburgh one. With the Leafs starting 0-3-1 so far, and the Rangers off to a 4-1 start, this doesn't look like the remedy to cure what ails the Leafs. The Rangers have 4 straight wins, while the Leafs are winless in 4. The Rangers have beaten teams expected to be in the Playoffs this year in Washington, Anaheim and New Jersey, with a win over Ottawa as well. The only thing these teams have in common so far is losing to the Penguins. The Leafs held Ottawa to 2 goals and lost, the Rangers held them to 2 goals and won. Therein lies the problem for the Leafs. They can't put it all together for 60 minutes yet. Whether they play well offensively (against Washington) or defensively (against Ottawa), they can't get the rest of the game going.

As much as I'd like to say the Leafs will win tonight, I'm more confident in saying that they will get their first win either tomorrow night against Colorado, or Saturday at home to the Rangers after the Rangers come back from Los Angeles.

The Leafs are in a sad state right now; the defensive coverage is porous (like last season), the offense struggles to do the basics for most of the night against the good defensive teams (the 4 goals against Washington don't count, not when guys like Milan Jurcina are logging serious minutes) and Toskala has no confidence in himself or the team, and the team has no confidence in him.

If the Leafs have any hope of winning tonight, there are a few things they need to do:

1. Stop Marian Gaborik
2. Punch Avery in the mouth (not necessary to win, but it would be nice to see this if they do lose, at least take something away from the game).
3. Shoot high on Henrik Lundqvist.
4. Actually try to contain the opposition in your own end.
5. Establish something that resembles a decent fore-check.

Stopping Marian Gaborik can happen 1 of 2 ways:

First -



Or we have to hope his groin gives out early this year.

Shooting high on Henrik Lundqvist is really the only way to score on him. From the waist down, he's just unbeatable. But go glove side, and you'll be rewarded -



That should have never gone in.

The other two are pretty basic, they just need to execute and stay focused after scoring goals - unlike against Pittsburgh (penalty and allowed a goal after scoring the only 2 of the night).

Barring some sort of major turnaround from this recent trend, I think it's safe to say the Rangers will win this game 4-2, and hopefully Wilson doesn't have an angry press conference. If you're gonna rip the players constantly, keep in the dressing room once in a while.

Here's hoping the Leafs pull out a W tonight, but I also learned my lesson last time - last season doesn't mean a whole lot, especially with this much personnel turnover.

Bold Predictions

This will be a feature that I will try to put out before every Leafs game this year and going forward. This is by no means something to put money on, just a hunch.

So, the 3-1-0 Pens are coming to town tonight to visit the 0-2-1 Leafs. There are many things working in the Pens favour tonight, such as:




and,




and,




And unfortunately for the Leafs, we don't have this for a while:




So things are looking pretty bleak, no?

Well, that is until you look beyond Crosby, Malkin, Fleury, and probably their most important player, Vesa Toskala all being involved in this game. Dating back to last season, the Leafs have won 3 straight against the Pens. And while the Penguins are improved from the last time we faced them, the Leafs have improved equally as much.

Now, on to the prediction. The Leafs will come out with a lot of jump to start the game, mainly because they don't want to have anybody killed by Ron Wilson during the intermission if they come out flat again. The Penguins will come ready to play, but they won't be ready for things like this (even though they've happened before):




and let's not forget:




So in all likelihood, the Leafs will end the first period with a 2-0 lead. During the intermission though, Dan Bylsma will be giving his Pens the newly made Schenn-Flu vaccine, and the Pens come out of the intermission with a ton of jump and are all over the Leafs to start the period. Toskala actually plays well throughout the first portion of the period, surrendering only 1 goal. As per team rule though, Toskala was not given any defensive help, so it will have been a relatively easy 4-on-0 goal. The Leafs play better after that though, but some sloppy play leads to a powerplay, which the Pens capitalize on, tying the game at 2-2 going into the 3rd period.

The start of the third period is much like that of the second, with the Pens dominating the flow of play early on and scoring another goal. This time it's different though, it's the very rare 6-on-0 breakaway (they pulled Fleury for some reason), with an abundance of chances (mainly because Toskala can't squeeze a puck to save his life), and the Pens take an early 3-2 lead in the 3rd.

However, their Schenn-Flu vaccine starts to wear off, and Schenn catches a Penguins forward with a monster hit that spurs the team. In the last 5 minutes, the Leafs get a ton of pressure on Fleury and using their solid forecheck, are able to get the game tied and sent to overtime.

During OT, there are a few chances exchanged, but nothing really happens. So the game goes to a shoot-out. While this reminds Toskala of most of the goals he's surrendered this year, he is happy that he doesn't have to worry about a pass. Crosby scores, Malkin misses and whoever else shoots for them misses. The Leafs shoot second and go miss, score and score to win the game. Leafs finally get their first win of the season, and do so in a shoot out. Don't believe it can happen? Well, we beat 'em in the shootout in the pre-season, so anything's possible.

New Kid on the Block

Hey everyone,

Belligerent Burkie here, but you can all call me James. I'm a hardcore Leafs fan currently enrolled in University. I've created this blog to express everything that I love, loathe and just plain enjoy about the Leafs and the NHL.

I've got to give credit to someone else for getting me started. If you guys love the Leafs (why else would you be on this page?), check out http://www.downgoesbrown.com/ for a hilarious, timely and downright great take on the Leafs, Sens, the NHL and the media.

I want to share with everyone what it means to be a true Leaf fan, as well as share a few good laughs at other team's expense, and perhaps share a few drinks if the drought continues.

First off, this is a test post, I've never done anything like this before, and please give me some feedback and criticism - it's the only way to improve.

Now that that's out of the way, I want to share some personal things, along with great moments in Leaf history with the rest of you (feel free to share your favourite moments, memories, players, whatever, in the comments).

I grew up in Toronto, and never really started paying attention to hockey (as far as I know) until my parents got me into it around the age of 6 or so (I'm 19 now). But once I witnessed my first Hockey Night In Canada game, I knew the Leafs would be my team. I still remember the intro to that game, it's was Mats Sundin talking about how they were going to light up the Red Wings and "have some wings" after the game. I forget what the score was, but I'll always remember that moment. While some people have gone sour on Mats, he's still hands down one of the best players we have ever had the fortune of witnessing play for the Leafs.

I also had the good fortune of attending the first Leafs game at the Air Canada Centre, and boy was that a great time to be a Leaf fan. The Pat Quinn era was in full force, the Leafs were on top of the North East Division, and every year there was hope for Lord Stanley to smile down on us again (oh how I wish we could just somehow clear our memories of Richard Peddie, JFJ and Paul Maurice, but at least we have Ron Wilson and Belligerent Burkie running things now).

But that's beside the point. Anyways, what are your memories from the 1999-2000 season, or earlier than that, or even sooner than that - so help me God if you mention JFJ in a good way.

Now I'll leave you guys with some video clips of great Leafs moments throughout the history (or as much as is available on YouTube).Hopefully I'll be able to figure out embedding, but until then, this will have to do.

Here are some great Wendel Clark clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TanGOJ4eF3w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGRheKlGbq0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heLgDptsyAk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLbY5OPgiK8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lHN9sKEp-M

He was a mean, nasty SOB, and one of the truly great Leafs. If only Burke had a time and cloning machine.

Here are some Sundin clips - mostly snipes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP_SFt6IsTo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxdky7ycccg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sMeC90XQwY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxDoSo-G7K4&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sWnBj012r4&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VNL1qgpjGo&feature=channel_page

Here's hoping the Hall's doors will be open to you one day Mats.

Schenner:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gco4XAa3YdY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lObuSgGWDAA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIoV1B-Oh_A

And other great stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfuBxEfFWvM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b59LxkvpW8Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAi5csJOq8k

I know there's more out there, but I think that's enough. Feel free to post your own favourites in the comments section.

Side note: it's probably a good think I can't embed yet, or this clip would have been reeeeeaaaaaalllllyyyyyy long.