Archive for September, 2009
With the new season quickly approaching, the Maple Leafs have brought back the old commercial in which fans talk about their favourite Leafs goal of all-time (you know the one, right?). So it got me thinking, what’s my favourite Maple Leafs goal of all-time?
Borschevsky versus the Red Wings in 1993? Nope. Gilmour’s overtime wrap-around against the Blues that same year? No, not that one either. My favourite Leaf goal of all-time is Steve Thomas’ OT winner in Game 5 versus the Senators in the 2000 playoffs. Now the overtime goals by Borschevsky and Gilmour may have been bigger, but I have to put Stumpy’s winner at the top of my list because I saw it in person.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs have sent forwards Jiri Tlusty, Nik Kulemin, and Tyler Bozak, as well as defender Carl Gunnarsson, to the Toronto Marlies of the AHL.
These moves leave the team with a 22-man roster, one under the season-opening limit of 23. That number does not include either of Phil Kessel or Mike Van Ryn, as both will start the season listed as injured non-roster players.
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Per Kevin McGran at the Toronto Star:
On a day a former Maple Leafs captain formally announced his retirement, coach Ron Wilson said the team would again start the season captainless.
Newcomers Mike Komisarek and Francois Beauchemin however will join Tomas Kaberle as three alternate captains.
McGran notes that Wilson suggested the captaincy issue would be revisited in roughly a month’s time from now, at which point the coach will consider whether one of his three assistants should be given the role or whether the team should remain captainless for another season.
Read the full article from The Star
Well, it’s official .. the most prolific scoring Maple Leafs player is officially retiring:
Read the TSN story here
When should the Leafs honor him? Tomorrow night? The 13th game this season? Should they at all?
According to TSN, Stalberg has made the team and even found himself on the top line. Talk about getting the opportunity to showcase your talent. He’ll start Thursday’s opener against Montreal on a line with Jason Blake and Matt Stajan.
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Just a quick update: Joey MacDonald has been placed on waivers with the intention of sending him to the Marlies, meaning that Jonas Gustavsson will in fact, be with the big club to start the season.
Also, Jiri Tlusty, Nikolai Kulemin & Tyler Bozak are not expected to play Thursday versus the Canadiens, according to Ron Wilson. Still no word on who else is going to down to the minors.
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The pre-season Buds may have exuded that truculent belligerence so deeply worn into the modern Toronto fans lexicon, but they rarely looked convincing. Either letting leads slip or being forced to fight back from poor starts, the Leafs managed to scrap their way to a strong 6-3 record. But as the 2008 Detroit Lions will attest to, a good pre-season rarely translates into a successful regular season.
Subsequently, while it is easy to buy into the hype of September hockey after the barren months of Summer, the Leafs will do well to learn from the more lackadaisical moments of their 6-3 warm up before they start lacing up against the cream of the leagues “A” squads. After all, rallying performances aside, the pre-season has done little but affirm that the Leafs own one of the strongest depth charts in the league, not necessarily the strongest team.
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A couple of deals went down today, involving some players you might be familiar with:
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After being released by the team late last week, Theoren Fleury has officially retired from hockey and he did so on his own terms. “I could not sign with another team,” he said. “I retire a Calgary Flame.”
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As I was carefully selecting the sharpest and jaggiest stones for the public sacrifice of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Vesa Toskala, I thought of something.
Pre-season.
Yup, that’s right. It was just pre-season. The reaction the 32-year-old has garnered throughout Leaf Nation might suggest otherwise, but yes, these games were basically meaningless—except for a select few.
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