Leafs Rookie Tourney Roster, Interview with TML Central
Notable Leaf participants in the tournament running from September 6th-7th at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium will include Tyler Bozak, Viktor Stalberg, Mikhail Stefanovich, Nazem Kadri, Dale Mitchell, Jonas Gustavsson and Jesse Blacker. Of the Leafs 2009 draft class, Jamie Devane and Barron Smith are also a part of the squad to be overseen by new Marlies head coach Dallas Eakins and his staff. Having attended the last three rookie tourneys, this Leafs’ roster is by far their most exciting entry yet. Check out the roster list after the jump courtesy of MapleLeafs.com:
| Player | Position |
| Alex Berry | Forward |
| Jesse Blacker | Defence |
| Tyler Bozak | Forward |
| Joel Champagne | Forward |
| Jamie Devane | Forward |
| Andrew Engelage | Goaltender |
| Stefano Giliati | Forward |
| Richard Greenop | Forward |
| Carl Gunnarsson | Defence |
| Jonas Gustavsson | Goaltender |
| Christian Hanson | Forward |
| Nazem Kadri | Forward |
| John Kurtz | Forward |
| Simon Lacroix | Defence |
| Brandon Manning | Defence |
| Juraj Mikus | Defence |
| Dale Mitchell | Forward |
| James Reimer | Goaltender |
| Greg Scott | Forward |
| Robert Slaney | Forward |
| Barron Smith | Defence |
| Viktor Stalberg | Forward |
| Mikhail Stefanovich | Forward |
| Adam Wallace | Defence |
****
Peter Morrow of TML Central recently conducted an interview of myself on the topic of MLHS’ upcoming one-year anniversary and the Maple Leafs Annual. Here’s an excerpt:
“Peter Morrow: Thanks for joining me, Alec. I understand you’ve been pretty busy this summer between the new magazine and developing the website. You guys are coming up to one full year of MLHS, any reflections?
Alec Brownscombe: I can say without embellishment that the growth of the site over the course of the year has been beyond my wildest dreams. When you reminded me that our one-year anniversary is approaching, I started flipping through the archives of the site to remember the exact date of our inception (as it turns out, September 3rd), and it was funny to see that the comment numbers were rarely north of ten in the beginning. When I clicked back onto the home page and saw a few of the blogs’ comment figures in the triple digits now, it really registered what we’ve managed to accomplish in a short period of time at MLHS. It speaks to the relevancy and quality of the content our bloggers are producing, as well as the demand for it out there in Leafs Nation. I’d be remiss not to acknowledge the role of the mainstream media’s seeming inability to produce that type of apposite conversation that’s inspired many of our readers to originally turn elsewhere. I’d also be neglectful not to thank fellow bloggers across the Leafs blogosphere for their hospitable adoption into the Barilkosphere community – particularly Pension Plan Puppets who are great at branching out with their daily FTB (From the Branches) linkups and surely helped us get off the ground in the early stages. The Score’s sponsorship was also a major bonus and we’re glad to be a part of the Federation there. To say it’s the blogging team that deserve all the credit would be unmindful of the fact that many readers come for the conversation generated by the blogs, too, which is a testament to our generally informed, passionate and respectful readership base. The amount of responses, compliments and suggestions we receive from our readers is overwhelming in a very good way, and we obviously ultimately owe them a lot of our thanks for their loyalty and interest.”
Check out the interview in full here.
August 26th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
THANKS ALEC
this site rocks
and your welcome as well
August 26th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
@ Alec
I already read your interview and loved it!
August 26th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Kenny Ryan?
August 26th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Wow.. that’s a pretty damn good rookie roster. Personally, if I were Eakins.. my lines would look like this.
Slaney – Kadri – Stefanovich
Stalberg – Bozak – Hanson
Giliati – Champagne – Mitchell
Devane – Greenop – Berry
xKurtz
Blacker – Mikus
Gunnarsson – Smith
Wallace – Lacroix
xManning
Gustavsson
Reimer
xEngelage
August 26th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Very much deserved Alec. Great job. @Ksav – I was wondering about Kenny Ryan too.
August 26th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Awesome Alec. Any word whether the games will be on LeafsTV?
August 26th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
The first game is….
Sept. 6, 7 p.m., Penguins vs. Leafs at the Aud in Kitchener.
Not sure about coverage on Leafs TV. Doesn’t matter to me cause I’m in Oilers country and can’t subscribe. Unless someone does play by play on here I will have to read about it or watch Game in 6 minutes.
August 26th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
@TT
This site often streams leafs stuff online if it’s available.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/TML-Live
August 26th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Where’s Jimmy Hayes? Shouldn’t he be on that list? Also Dido? Still nursing his leg I guess. Also congrats at almost being a year old already.
August 26th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
I can’t wait to see the rooks in action!!
Great job Alec on the website. Keep up the good work. Looking forward to the new forums.
August 26th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
In reference to the missing NCAA’ers (IE Ryan and Hayes) It’s my understanding that Collegiate players cannot partake in these camps and such unless they pay their own way. Thus them being left off the camp rosters.
August 26th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Thanks Burn. I didn’t know that.
August 26th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I totally agree that this new generation of new media saavy hockey fans are turning to blogs to supplement their diet of crappy newspaper reporting. We are better, more clever, great writers, fresh and also fair in our appraisal of the team. Happy anniversary mlhs! You are one of the best
August 26th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Alec, where’s our royalty cheques!?!
August 26th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
@Leafs 23, that would make the Marlies an attractive night out… and I just got my 12 month work authorisation for Canada.
August 26th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
@Alec – Okay so we pay for Leafs Tv and they are putting shitty shows on it… Why would’nt they put on interesting stuff like the sept 7-8 rookie games. Hell I would would estatic if they gave you guys on an hour on Leafs tv to talk about the CURRENT issues, instead of watching re runs of Philidphia-Toronto re runs. Don’t get me wrong I would not mind that at all if it was once in a while but everyday? not even down. SO TO SUM IT UP MLHS ON LEAFS TV FROM 4-5 !!
August 26th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
4 – 5? Who is watching then?
How about replace the patehtic crew they have for game broadcasts. I mean, where the hell did Marc Moro get the idea that he was good on tv!
August 26th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
On another note, I just watched Moro take on Tocchet when Moro was on the Preds.
Not bad…
August 26th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
@ Charlie,
I think Moro isn’t too bad. I’ve seen much much worse.
If we are getting rid of people on broadcasts, lets start with Millen first and foremost!!!
August 26th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
So is Engelage signed? He would make for good depth in the system, ie. at the ECHL level, so that if Toskala is traded he could get promoted to the AHL.
August 26th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Blair, I don’t think that Engelage is signed yet. I’d be nice though. He could take Riemer’s spot in the ECHL and work his way up.
August 26th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
I suggest we send an email to Leaf TV asking them to air the rookie tournament instead of old Leaf games. If you go to mapleleaf.com and contact us you can then send email to Leaf TV.
August 26th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
I also think Engelage should be signed for goaltending depth….
August 26th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
I’ll be in Kitchener watching every game.
Looking forward to it too. This is the strongest roster the Leafs have sent to this tourney in recent seasons. Boston replaced Florida this season.
August 26th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
And Alec, et al. Happy Anniversary. All the best for an even Better year 2!
August 26th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
@ Gus,
Are you going to provide some insight into the Tournament?
August 26th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
I emailed LeafsTV asking what they planned on doing regarding coverage of the Rookie Tournament. I’ll let you know what I hear back. They said They’d respond within 3 business days.
August 26th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
Just a word of thanks to this site. I think it was about 8-9 months ago that I first began to visit this site. For a long time I could never figure out why the mainstream media was so negative and uninformative (is that a word?). I would ask myself the question do these guys ever actually watch a game. Anyway now I have a great Leaf site.
Cheers!!
August 27th, 2009 at 8:01 am
@ Burn
Yes. I’ll be doing something in that regard.
August 27th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Great!! Thanks Gus. Looking forward to it!!
August 27th, 2009 at 9:50 am
I hope they’d cover the tourney on LeafsTV. Like Alec said, I’m sure there would be viewership for it, especially since the LEAFS summer started back in the Spring! Fans are itching for something fast, and with the curiousity of the rookie roster, would like to see what the future may hold.
August 27th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Congrats on the one year anniversary by the way!
August 27th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Anyone know if Stefanovich will be playing centre or the wing?
.
He is a natural centre… but I think he may end up playing the wing at the pro level…
.
Anyone know?
August 27th, 2009 at 11:28 am
My rookie lines would be something like:
.
Slaney – Kadri – Stefanovich
Stalberg – Bozak – Mitchell
Devane – Hanson – Greenop
Giliati – Champagne – Berry
.
Mikus – Gunnarsson
Blacker – Smith
Wallace – Lacroix
Manning
.
Gustavsson
Reimer
Engelage
.
It was either Stefanovich or Hanson move from a top six wing position to third line centre. I figured it’d be nice to see if Stefanovich and Kadri have any chemistry playing together. Also… That third line of Devane/Hanson/Greenop is one big, mean, bad ass line… something Burke would no doubt love as a bottom six lineup.