After a seemingly endless week of postulating, panicking, and debating with the fervent passion that only hockey-starved Leafs fans can display, it is finally gameday. While the prevalent hope amongst Toronto followers is that the winless streak gets broken tonight, there is a veritable maelstrom of other stories convoluting that one simple wish.
Firstly, after days of speculation that Jonas Gustavsson may start for tonight’s tilt with Vancouver, Joey MacDonald has been confirmed as the number one tender. The notion of rushing Gustavsson back was definitely ill-advised, as a tender groin needs to be healed properly, especially in a netminder. Couple that with MacDonald’s honest effort and relatively solid play (I repeat: relatively) thus far and it’s clear that he deserved this one. That being said, Jonas will likely return to action on Monday against the Ducks. On the other end of the ice, the Leafs must hope they can take advantage of a Roberto Luongo that has not been his stellar self so far this season.
The forward complement will look fairly similar to what we saw last week against the Rangers. After a week of answering the same questions from the media, the Toronto scorers know they have to step up tonight. Kulemin and Rosehill will sit tonight and youngster Viktor Stalberg will continue to infuse some life up front for the Leafs. They will have their work cut out for them against a tough Vancouver blueline that includes the likes of Willie Mitchell (poor Jonathan Toews!) and Shane O’Brien. As usual, the players are saying all the right things: they just want to “go out and win a hockey game” (Matt Stajan) because they know that they’ve “hit rock bottom” (Lee Stempniak). This is often the case in the NHL. It’s yet to be seen whether this incarnation of the Maple Leafs can carry through.
On defense, Ron Wilson tossed aside speculation that Luke Schenn would be riding the pine this Saturday by complementing the sophomore’s efforts at practice this week. While the pairings may be swapped around tonight, expect them to have to work hard against a Vancouver team that is missing one-half of their top forward in Daniel Sedin. Players such as Mikael Samuelsson have stepped up in the absence of their star shooter and the team as a whole is desperate to string some wins together.
As an aside, Phil Kessel is essentially in full-practice mode right now. He is able to shoot and go through the motions, but is a bit away from being able to engage in full contact. Ron Wilson has identified November 3rd as a potential debut for the young sniper, but the last thing anyone wants is for our prized asset to be rushed into action ahead of his time. The eagerness of Wilson to get him in will hopefully be overriden by caution. This tough coaching decision has ironically arisen amidst accusations by an ex-player that Wilson is “not a good coach”. It is up to the Leafs as a team to place all of these distractions on the backburner and hit the ice at GM Place with the sole intention of winning.
Here are the lineups tonight as per TSN:
Toronto Maple Leafs
Forwards:
Grabovski – Ponikarovsky – Blake
Stajan – Hagman – Stalberg
Mitchell – Wallin – Stempniak
Primeau – Mayers – Orr
Defencemen:
Kaberle – Komisarek
Beauchemin – White
Schenn – Finger
Goaltenders:
MacDonald
Reimer
Vancouver Canucks
Forwards:
Burrows – H. Sedin – Samuelsson
Raymond – Kesler – Grabner
Bolduc – Wellwood – Bernier
Glass – Johnson – Hordichuk
Defencemen:
Mitchell – Edler
Ehrhoff – Rome
O’Brien – Bieksa
Goaltenders:
Luongo
Raycroft
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October 25th, 2009 at 12:09 am
@kessel & leaf-yeah I know it was a joke obviously.
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charlie-dont know-komisarek was run out of montreal
October 25th, 2009 at 12:09 am
Gotta agree there. Other than Mitchell, Beauchemin has been by far the biggest disappointment. I fell in love with Mitchell last year and thought he could really jump onto a 2nd line if he could hit the net. He shows flashes but for the most part he does nothing. And yeah I’ve been getting a lot of shit from the girlfriend… “Stop swearing it’s a friggin game!”
October 25th, 2009 at 12:13 am
Sorry to say it, but in the end Burke’s love of American players pooched us out of the Hall Sweepstakes.
Hall is not big at 6.01, 185 lbs but he’s still growing – and the dude won the OHL fastest skater competition.
Of course, he has the drawback of NOT being American. In fact, he hails from Kingston, Ontario. Why would the Leafs ever want a local star? Rick Nash-shmash! Hall-schmall! Draft-shmaft!
He is a big game player. And the kid is incredibly poised in his interviews. Someone to build a team around.
We should throw everything at trying to get him. (Not that there’s much there.)
I’m starting to get sick of the Team America that BB is assembling in Toronto, just for the sake of it.
(And an overwhelmed and media paranoid RW is just the icing on the cake!)
October 25th, 2009 at 12:15 am
Who won the machinda- shogun fight
October 25th, 2009 at 12:15 am
@ Jordan:
Isn’t the Machida fight PPV?
October 25th, 2009 at 12:16 am
@ paso
He was only run out of town once he signed with the Leafs. He was actually one of only two players offered a contract extension prior to July 1.
.
In Kessel
I’ll be honest, I don’t know how my wife is going to last the whole season (and the playoffs) with me watching. She’s sick of it already after only 8 games.
October 25th, 2009 at 12:19 am
Charlie
I hear you brother. I finally got her into the Leafs last year after 4 years with her lol. At least last year had it’s ups and downs. If there’s no ups coming, I might just have a girlfriend jumping wagon. Hard to recruit new fans in such an angry environment haha.
October 25th, 2009 at 12:20 am
p.s. I missed that playoffs side note first time around. Well done sir.
October 25th, 2009 at 12:23 am
@ In Kessel
Haha… like it, eh? Truth be told, I watch the playoffs even if they ain’t in it. Which drives her even crazier… “You mean, it’s not even the Leafs playing?!…”
October 25th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Yeah with the season that close to over, you kind of religiously have to watch. Just cannot get into the games at all though. I mean a couple buddies are wings fans so I can cheer against them, but they’ve really got the upper hand on any Leafs fan haha. All I can ever say is 13-11.
October 25th, 2009 at 12:36 am
The problem is when we have a First round draft pick we overachive but when we don’t have one we play like shit.
October 25th, 2009 at 12:38 am
I don’t know why so many of you are expecting Burke to bury his vets in the minors. Just because he said it, doesn’t make it so. He said he was completely comfortable in Anaheim and didn’t want the job in Toronto. Three weeks later, he resigned his job in Anaheim and signed with Toronto a week after.
.
He said he wasn’t going to try to quick fix things. What did he do? He tried to quick fix things…
.
My point is, you can’t trust a word the man says, so why are we all up in arms now that he’s not doing what he said he’d do? He never really has anyways…
October 25th, 2009 at 12:44 am
WOW MACHIDA JUST WON THE BEST FIGHT I HAVE SEEN IN 6 YEARS!
October 25th, 2009 at 12:45 am
I think the big problem is we all bought into it. Every Leafs fan, TSN, Sportsnet, all said this was going to be a better team. This start has caused everyone to question Burke, even though we praised him so often for his pickups. I’m not the only one who thought our defence would be among the best in the league… and I still think it will get there… but without any scoring/ goaltending, we’re going to get exposed every single night. The goaltending was better tonight, lets hope we can build on that. But if we were 8-0 you wouldn’t hear a PEEP about the Kessel trade no? We would be sitting here salivating about how much better we will be with a proven scorer to add that knockout blow in close games… Regardless of what anyone says, this team needs time still. A scoring forward is coming back soon, if we added a legit set up man, the start could do a complete 180. These things take time, the Leafs will turn it around.
October 25th, 2009 at 12:46 am
haha I knew he would win. That guy is insane.
October 25th, 2009 at 12:48 am
It was close though, Shogun could have won and I would have agreed. Rematch %100 for sure. Shogun hurt busted him up good, but Machida was Machida. Fans thought Shogun won
October 25th, 2009 at 12:54 am
@ Jordan
The juice is on!
October 25th, 2009 at 12:56 am
When we traded our two 1st round picks it put to much pressure on this team full of young guys. Last year expectations were’nt high and our guys were able to play there game. This year they have the world barring down on there shoulders, and no shit there not gonna preform. This was a hell of a game for the leafs and we deserved the win, deff something to build on. Its ashame we have to go play the ducks and get lit up against Getzlaf and company.
October 25th, 2009 at 12:58 am
haha, whats your paypal you bastard i’ll send it tomorrow
October 25th, 2009 at 1:02 am
lol jordan that sucks dude…atleast u show pride with your team unlike CHARLIE stupid son of a bitch, just kidding lol
October 25th, 2009 at 1:14 am
The Leafs can go 0-81-1 and I will still be happy cause I’m not a queer Habs fan!!
October 25th, 2009 at 1:34 am
- This game was just an example of what the Leafs can accomplish on a nightly basis if they have good goaltending. Yeah, they lost, but they played an overall good game and were in it from puck drop. If Gus/Mac combo can do this on a regular basis and the “new forward unit” ie. the team who Burke will eventually ice (minus all the pussy peripheral players) can chip in for a goal or two, we would at least be competitive/”fun to watch” every night.
- CBC pointed it out several times tonight; our PK is brutal. They seem to let players walk in and set up with minimal pressure while Leafs defenders collapse on the tender. Confidence issues aside, pressure the player with the puck and force them into making a rushed decision. For fuck’s sake, even god damn house league kids know that shit.
- We badly need a #1 Centre (Kessel). Stajan (too slow) and Grabovski (?) are simply not good enough. Who is going to flank Kessel and Stalberg? Stalberg had a few rookie mistakes but you could tell he was looking over his shoulder half the night for someone to skate with him.
- Stajan is becoming a major liability. Dumb penalties, untimely giveaways, poor mobility; his faceoff ability will only take him so far.
- Happy with the effort tonight. Good things are on the horizon.
GO LEAFS GO!!
October 25th, 2009 at 2:19 am
@ LeafsRyan
“When we traded our two 1st round picks it put to much pressure on this team full of young guys.”
~
I agree and so does RW. And all of us have heard him say it too. Most of us just missed it.
Thats the first thing he said at a post game presser like 4 or 5 games in.
October 25th, 2009 at 2:28 am
@ In Kessel
We, meaning many Leaf fans, bought in, but not many others did.
TSN had the Leafs ranked 25th before the season began (the same place Vegas put them), and ESPN had them ranked 27th.
They finished 24th last year, so that’s actually worse. Sportsnet (Brophy to be specific) had them 19th before the season began, which would have been an improvement, but still out of the playoffs. So, actually, we were the only suckers who bought into the BB gong show.
Playoffs! Playoffs! Don’t talk to me about playoffs! I’ll be happy if we just win a game… Little did we know.
Anybody know what the NHL record for most games without a win to start a season is?
October 25th, 2009 at 3:15 am
we should have offered Kulemin, 1st 2011, 2nd 2010 for kessel and if they said no then they could go fuck them selves because they would’nt have matched an offer sheet. Whatever too late now. This years objective should be to finish out of the bottom 5. I don’t no what I’d even do if the bruins drafted Hall…
October 25th, 2009 at 3:18 am
@ Neverlosehope
This doesn’t answer your question about starting a season but it gives some other stats that the Leafs have a potential of breaking this year. lol
http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/long395.html
October 25th, 2009 at 3:20 am
I find it interesting that MLHS has stopped doing post game re-caps. It’s almost like they’re too depressed to do it.
I would feel the same.
October 25th, 2009 at 3:29 am
Anyone think we will win more than 9 games? LOL It’s so scarry it’s funny. Neverlosehope, you are right about us all overvaluing our team except one or two who have not been fooled. We need to bring up our young guys ASAP. I was under the impression our youth was no wear near as competetive as they showed in camp. I was wrong all the way around about the level of this team. We are much better off going with our youth and waiving at least two vets. I would wave Blake in a heart beat but I’m pretty sure Burke won’t. We need the College Line playing big time. There is no need to keep any of those guys down. They will develope just fine on the Leafs and probably be our best line most nights.
October 25th, 2009 at 3:39 am
no *where* near > I can’t believe I spelled it that way.
October 25th, 2009 at 3:56 am
Peace out in 2010
.
Toskala – 4
Van Ryn – 2.9
Ponikaravsky 2.1
Stempniak – 2.5
Stajan – 1.75
Kulemin – 1.4
Primeau – 1.4
Mayers – 1.3
Exelby – 1.4
Wallin – 0.8
Rosehill – 0.5
.
You will not be missed. We loose 20 million dollars of a cap hit!!!
October 25th, 2009 at 5:48 am
Their pk on the first penalties was great. They were rushing whoever had the puck and giving them absolutely no time or space. It was great to watch, cause they don’t usually kill penalties like that. And when I watch teams who do I always wonder why the Leafs don’t.
October 25th, 2009 at 6:54 am
Does anyone else but me see what RW is doing to Schenn? Here’s a kid that’s supposed to be our future and he’s got him down to 10.21 of playing time. When you have someone with that much talent fighting the puck like he is; there is only one way to get him out of his funk: PLAY HIM. Give him MORE ice time, show some confedence in the kid. If he makes a mistake put him back out on the next shift. With Beauchemin making the kind of mistakes he’s making and getting over 22 minutes a game, what kind of a message is RW sending Schenn?
October 25th, 2009 at 7:39 am
Man oh man…this shit is so funny.
The posts have gone from super deep defense that will intimidate everyone and lead us to the playoffs to the Trade deadline is going to be fun?!?!!?
What the hell….we wonder why our young players never pan out…..WE DONT LET THEM. They pressure and expectations all facets of this teams media are insane.
No one can preform, Poor Kessel…..this kid is going to have to score 60 goals this year or he will be persecuted as a FAILURE and he will have to hear how he fucked the Leafs future.
I know the team sucks right now, and the def needs to be some changes…..I would start buy unloading the likes of Blake and Grabovski…..these guys are simply killing any chance of offense this team is capable of…….
But we are a fan base need to be supportive….they deserve to hear the truth, but the expectation need to be somewhere in the neighbourhood of achievable.
Look at it this way….if the Leafs go 12-8 over the next 20 games (which I think is entirely possible given their schedule)….they will be 12-15-1.
12-15-1 would be right about par with what this team is truly capable of.
October 25th, 2009 at 7:45 am
Man Jakub Voracek is a beast, I woulda taken Kabs for him easy. Voracek-Kadri-Kessel o baby
October 25th, 2009 at 7:50 am
Also gonna make a prediction…Anderson wins the Vezina holy crap is he lights out and yet getting paid 1.2mil or something funny like that
October 25th, 2009 at 8:37 am
That PK is atrocius, and it’s all coaching. RW and his buddies better get their heads out of their ass and watch how the more succesfull teams do it. Put more pressure on the point men you stupid fucking idiots, and move your Godamn sticks out of the way of the shots, and in the passing lanes. Idiots! …and stop taking stupid penalties. If I were RW I would be benching the idiots that take stupid penalties, like that dickwad Stajan did.
October 25th, 2009 at 8:42 am
this is so embarrassing
October 25th, 2009 at 8:44 am
Jakub Vorecek is not what we need. We need to fix the goaltending situation, get Kessel back, then ACTUALLY walk the walk from how Burke said he will send people to the Marlies. If we are gonna lose, let the kids lose.
October 25th, 2009 at 8:58 am
@ diane
Agreed. I think he played a better game last night. But he’s definitely playing better than Beauchemin, yet getting half the minutes? That’s ridiculous. I actually feel bad fr the guy. It must be frustrating.
.
@ JMAC
Everyone here would have no problem with losing if an honest effort was put in. Everyone is supportive of the players that are actually trying. Stalberg hasn’t scored 20 goals in his first five games, yet we’re all supportive of him. What we’re not supportive of is these vets that play worse than my grandmother. And the fact that Burke doesn’t practice what he preaches and send them down.
October 25th, 2009 at 10:19 am
you know its not like we cant create offence its just we cant score decent goals , hagmans goal was a bit lucky and all of our chances get blown buy lousy forwards with no finish. lets hope kessel bring some of that and makes it contagous.
October 25th, 2009 at 10:43 am
When do you think Burke make a trade to shake things up? Do you think that he will actually demote Blake to the Marlies? I mean, he totally deserves to be sent down, but Jesus, if he gets plucked off waivers we’re still paying him 2 mil. for the next 2 years are we not? I can see why Burke is hesitating.
October 25th, 2009 at 10:50 am
Right now, there’s so many forwards playing poorly that the usual demotion to to 2nd or 3rd line/reduction in ice-time punishment tactic isn’t even a possibility: there’s only 3 slots on the 3rd line, but yet there’s 8 or 9 forwards that should be playing there.
One thing I noticed was that, for the most part, the forward unit looking completely unsure of what to do with their rare 5-on-5 time in the offensive zone: so far this year, they’ve either been killing (bad) penalties or turning over the puck in the neutral zone, with the odd PP here and there.
Joey Mac played a great game though — I didn’t hear RW give any kudos to their 3rd string goalie, on a road game, up against one of the best goalies in the league in the post-game.
October 25th, 2009 at 10:52 am
@the nickatolla
We only have to pay his 2mil if we call him back up and he iss claimed. If someone takes him on the way down we are off the hook for good….but it will never happen
October 25th, 2009 at 10:56 am
@Blue Max: yup, and the reverse can be applied to our PP: move your feet and change up the shooting lanes so as not to be so predictable. Kaberle needs another couple of gears: putting the brakes on in the neutral zone all the time and slowing down the play kills our transitional speed; we’ve got a fast team, but you wouldn’t know it half the time.
October 25th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Thanks for clearing that up Jordan…I guess we can only hope huh? A
As for shaking up the lineup, does anyone have any realistic ideas for trades (i.e. do you think we have anything that any other team would want?) I’m hoping Burke can start clearing the decks starting this week.
October 25th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
This team fucking sucks. In my 16 years of Leafs fandom I have never been so dissillusioned with a team as I am now.
October 25th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Burry Blake and don’t bring him up until next year, after he qualifies in the preseason. Then see if that lights a fire under anyone else’s ass…
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