The NHL is officially a week away from the NHL trade deadline. Leafs fans in seller mode rejoice. I’ve written before about selling high and selling low, and I thought this would be a good time to revisit that framework due to an expected flurry of trades to happen at some point in the next seven days. I’m not going to write about obvious players on the move like pending UFA Daniel Winnik, but let’s take a look at some players under the Leafs control who are on the block: Phil Kessel Sell Status: Low Thoughts: Kessel had 214 points in his last 212 regular...

A significant portion of modern hockey analytics revolves around Corsi (or SAT% as defined by the NHL), which is really nothing more than looking at which team takes more shot attempts. If you can out shoot your opponent, the theory is that it goes a long way to driving success in terms of out scoring your opponent and ultimately winning games. There is a lot of evidence to support the case that Corsi is a major component of on-ice success. While I believe many people put too much weight on Corsi statistics, I do accept that it is a major component...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZVmzH2wlt8

Bob McKenzie on TSN Drive: Winnik trade: Sill is obviously a component where the contact had to come back the other way. The Penguins not only needed the Leafs to eat half of Winnik’s salary for remainder of the deal -- it’s only rest of this season -- but they also needed them to take Sill, that’s how tight things are vis-a-vis the salary cap. Whether they want Sill or whether he was just an economic consideration remains to be seen; probably an economic consideration. Hey, two draft picks for a guy you signed in the summer for a...

Daniel Winnik spoke to Bryan Hayes about his time in Toronto and what he's looking forward to in Pittsburgh: First thing that comes to mind about the Pittsburgh Penguins: Chance to win the Stanley Cup. With Crosby and Malkin I think you’ve got a chance every single year. I’m looking forward to helping that cause. It used to be my job to try to shut them down. I don’t think I’ve done too good a job of it the past few years. It will be nice to help them score instead of trying to keep them off the scoresheet. Handling the rumours of...

Lots stirring on the Joffrey Lupul front the past few days. The roundup: Elliotte Friedman yesterday on Sportsnet 960: "Thing about Lupul is he is injury prone, but he is two or three years removed where he was among the top 10 players in scoring at the time he got injured at the end of the year. I heard last year that Montreal has asked about him and Toronto may deal him. When I met with Dave Nonis in the summer, I asked him about that. He said there has been interest, but he made a really good point to me. He said,...

Steve Spott hopped on Leafs Lunch yesterday to discuss coaching amid the Leafs' death spiral. Spott mentioned there's been  added emphasis on the amount of time spent on individual development with some of the younger assets on the team, mentioning Holland, Panik and Kadri. On coaching objectives in a lost cause: What we’re trying to do here, we’ve talked about it at length, is lots of individual stuff. This morning I did a session with Peter Holland, Chris Dennis is meeting with Richard Panik. You have your team message, then you have a lot of individual stuff. It’s hard when you have 22 guys in...

An OT win over the Jets, combined with a Carolina loss to New Jersey, means the tank takes a step back, but a Daniel Winnik Gordie Howe hat trick, in front of a potential suitor to boot, and more good stuff from Morgan Rielly in the lead up to the OT winner are nothing but good things. In other news, it's nice to see that, after going ahead with the yearly shutdown of outdoor rinks in Toronto, MLSE sponsored keeping them open at the cost of $4,500 per rink, per week, to be split with waste management firm Green for...

The first period didn't have a lot of even strength action, as the two teams combined to generate just three ES chances. Most of the action in the period happened with a man in the penalty box, including all three goals occurring on Winnipeg power-plays. The Jets dominated special teams in the second, out-chancing Toronto while the Leafs had the extra man, but the teams were close to even at ES, despite a late goal from Winnipeg that re-established their lead. Nazem Kadri got the Leafs level early in the third period, and though both teams had some close chances...

The Maple Leafs hit game #60 of the season tonight - roughly the three-quarters pole - which has Toronto fans going, "there's still 22 more of these?" Storylines: The Jets are one of a collection of teams rumoured to be interested in adding Daniel Winnik at the deadline, for whatever that's worth. The Leafs mustered zero shots on four powerplay opportunities last night and just six scoring chances over the final 40 minutes, as their ineptitude during this protracted slump keeps finding new ways to express itself. Similar to last night's opponent in the Hurricanes, the Leafs have been dominated in this matchup in recent times, losing their last five consecutive to...