Alec Brownscombe
We’ve partnered up with Pension Plan Puppets to bring to you a Player Review series, where we will be evaluating and grading the 2009-10 season for every Leaf who featured in a significant number of games for the Blue and White last season, with an eye towards 2010-11. Next up we feature Tomas Kaberle, profiled by Chemmy:
"The Summary: Where to start with Tomas Kaberle? He's a four time all star including the last three times the games were played. He's second all time in scoring for Toronto Maple Leafs defensemen.
Kaberle's scoring was instrumental in the Leafs first win of the season when he had a goal and four assists as part of a hot streak that saw him put up 22 points in his first 20 games. The opposite side of that coin is that to finish the season Tomas Kaberle scored two goals and had seven assists in 33 games; a stretch that saw the Leafs play 93 pt pace hockey. His slump started before the arrival of Dion Phaneuf but our new captain's arrival begs the question: does Tomas Kaberle have a role on the Leafs in the future?
We’ve partnered up with Pension Plan Puppets to bring to you a Player Review series, where we will be evaluating and grading the 2009-10 season for every Leaf who featured in a significant number of games for the Blue and White last season, with an eye towards 2010-11. Next up we feature Carl Gunnarsson, profiled by PPP:
"The Summary: It has become almost comical to hear Brian Burke try to defend JFJ at every turn. I wonder if Burke took the parody twitter account to heart and feels obligated to counteract the impression that he thought that JFJ was 'retarded' when the opportunity arises. He does it whenever Tomas Kaberle's limited no-trade clause is used and he will probably start doing it whenever Carl Gunnarsson is mentioned. I wonder if JFJ might have had a successful career with the Leafs if he had just been in charge of scouting. [more…]
We’ve partnered up with Pension Plan Puppets to bring to you a Player Review series, where we will be evaluating and grading the 2009-10 season for every Leaf who featured in a significant number of games for the Blue and White last season, with an eye towards 2010-11. Next up we feature Christian Hanson, profiled by SkinnyFish.
The Summary: Coming off of a stellar senior year at the University of Notre Dame, Hanson was one of three highly touted college free agents in the spring of 2009. The others being Matt Gilroy and Tyler Bozak. Due to Notre Dame's early departure from the NCAA tournament, Hanson was the first of those three players to sign with a pro club. Discussion was that the big 6' 3" Hanson had 2nd line potential and barring that would be a great 3rd line/checking line center.
We’ve partnered up with Pension Plan Puppets to bring to you a Player Review series, where we will be evaluating and grading the 2009-10 season for every Leaf who featured in a significant number of games for the Blue and White last season, with an eye towards 2010-11.Today we feature Jonas Gustavsson, profiled by Justin Goldman.
The Summary: Back with another guest post is The Goalie Guild's Justin Goldman. Jonas Gustavsson's choice of the Toronto Maple Leafs last summer ended a long period of courtship from a number of NHL teams. The world's best goaltender outside of the NHL's decision to join the Leafs gave the team a goalie of the future. His season was, to say the least, a roller coaster ride that ended with some decent numbers. Brian Burke has built a strong support system for the young Swede and seems to have a bright future ahead of him.
We’ve partnered up with Pension Plan Puppets to bring to you a Player Review series, where we will be evaluating and grading the 2009-10 season for every Leaf who featured in a significant number of games for the Blue and White last season, with an eye towards 2010-11. Today we feature Jean-Sebastien Giguere, profiled by PPP Guest Justin Goldman.
"The Summary: Jean-Sebastien Giguere's arrival in Toronto represented a lot of things. First and foremost, it represented the moment when, after 100+ days of atrocious goaltending, Brian Burke was finally able to change the Leafs' fortunes. It represented the first time since the lockout that the Leafs' defencemen and forwards could be confident that on any given night they were playing in front of an NHL calibre goalie. And it also showed the extent to which Brian Burke was working to put the support network in place to maximize Jonas Gustavsson's potential. So how do you evaluate a goalie? Well, you ask an expert to offer his thoughts.
Sources tell TSN that the Toronto Maple Leafs are expected to name Dion Phaneuf as the club's 17th captain next week.
The team is holding a press [more…]
We’ve partnered up with Pension Plan Puppets to bring to you a Player Review series, where we will be evaluating and grading the 2009-10 season for every Leaf who featured in a significant number of games for the Blue and White last season, with an eye towards 2010-11. Today we feature Jeff Finger, profiled by Alec Brownscombe.
The Summary:
A former 1999 eighth round pick, Jeff Finger came to the Leafs via unrestricted free agency as a 29-year-old who was skating in the ECHL the last time Toronto made the playoffs. After his first steady NHL season with Colorado in '07-08, Cliff Fletcher rolled the dice on a $3 million-per-year raise for the journeyman that will cost the Leafs 3.5 million against the cap annually until 2012. Fletcher obviously thought there was a lot more to come from Finger in his late development as a two-way defenceman, but let's just say on that fateful day in July, 2008, the optics weren't good.
[more…]
We’ve partnered up with Pension Plan Puppets to bring to you a Player Review series, where we will be evaluating and grading the 2009-10 season for every Leaf who featured in a significant number of games for the Blue and White last season, with an eye towards 2010-11. Today we feature Tyler Bozak, profiled by PPP:
"The Summary: Tyler Bozak picked the Maple Leafs over the Ottawa Senators so right away it's clear that he has a high hockey IQ. He signed a hell of a deal that, based on how people react to Mikhail Grabovski, will be tough to live up to. He'll likely get a break because if he costs the full cap hit he'll presumably have achieved some decent points totals. Not to mention, his age and provenenance as a found player in addition to an electric understanding with Phil Kessel likely gets him a free pass. A solid first half season in the NHL certainly bodes well for the young centreman.
[more…]
We've partnered up with Pension Plan Puppets to bring to you a Player Review series, where we will be evaluating and grading the 2009-10 season for every Leaf who featured in a significant number of games for the Blue and White last season, with an eye towards 2010-11. First up is Francois Beauchemin, profiled by SkinnyFish:
"The Summary:
Brought in by his former GM to be a workhorse shutdown defenseman for the Maple Leafs, Beauchemin (aka Happy Trails, aka Not Durno) came with the expectation that he would be the same player who had more TOI than Chris Pronger during the Anaheim Ducks cup run in 2007. The hope was that he would be among the best second pairing defensemen in the league. And while he very well might be just that for the Leafs, this past season brought more angst than praise for Francois Beauchemin.
Pension Plan Puppets' Chemmy has the details on why turn-coating for the Habs for the sake of returning the Cup to Canada is staggeringly ludicrous. Here's why, if you must cheer for someone (a better alternative: perusing Down Goes Brown's youtube Wendel collection for your spring-time fix), the Hawks are your safest bandwagon to board while maintaining some sense of pride and loyalty:
Dave Nonis on his new two-year contract extension with Toronto:
"I'm very lucky. I have more to say about our team than some GMs do," said Nonis of his unique position as Brian Burke's right hand man. "It's not a job that's comparable with other positions around the league."
"If you look at our roster now and compare it to 16 months ago, it's not only different, it's younger and better," he said. "But we've still got lots of work to do. The job is not done by a longshot. There are more pieces to add."
Cox reports that one of those pieces may be 25-year-old center Roman Cervenka of Czech club HC Slavia Praha, perhaps familiar to you from his international appearances alongside Jaromir Jagr on Czech Republic's Olympic side in February.
It's Leafs Nation's tired but pivotal debate that dates back to the trade deadline of 2008: Should the Leafs move Tomas Kaberle?
It seems the debate should now be reframed into a new context considering Kaberle's current contractual situation: Should Brian Burke trade or re-sign Tomas Kaberle?
Give Burke credit for sticking to his word to the point where we should maybe stop questioning it. Since the deadline of 2009, Burke has remained steadfast in his management approach to what he considers an extremely valuable asset: he'll listen to offers, and if one meets his lofty trade demands, he'll run it by the NTC-equipped Kaberle (quite different apparently from asking him to waive). The latter part is no longer relevant. Though it's known Kaberle's preference is to stay, he can be traded without the Czech's consent as of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. What remains relevant is that, ostensibly, Burke still thinks as highly as ever about Kaberle, believing him to be a premium puck-mover and consummate professional, and will only move him for the right price. Shopping Kaberle to the highest bidder is seemingly not in the cards.
[more…]
