2010–11 Toronto Maple Leafs season
Why the Maple Leafs should make the playoffs in 2010-11â€
By: Joe Cino
Everything that could have gone wrong for the Maple Leafs in 2009-10 did. A combination of cold streaks, underperforming veterans, bad goaltending and a slew of injuries capped off a basement finish. The roster has been fine tuned, with additions like Giguere, Phaneuf and Versteeg chief among them, but by and large most of the roster is the same as last year’s iteration. With so many holdovers from the previous year, are the playoffs a realistic goal for the Maple Leafs? I believe that they are, with Corsi ratings, Goals versus Threshold and the realistic impact of the new Leafs taken into account. [more…]
Great to see such an active group of readers. Here are a couple of FanPosts for your Friday afternoon reading enjoyment with today's theme being youth, youth and more youth. Paul LeMay (B. Leaf) takes an in-depth look at the team's organizational prospect depth while Chuck Johnson compares Nazem Kadri's chances of making the NHL as a 2nd year player with those of previous high draft picks. [more…]
If the Toronto Maple Leafs hope to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs next season, the franchise must now focus on further bolstering the top six.
While the acquisition of Kris Versteeg certainly helps, and Colby Armstrong could potentially step into a top six role to add a physical presence with some offensive upside, the Leafs are still in need of more pure goal-scoring ability up front. Options are scarce in the free agent market, but the likes of Matthew Lombardi (although reports indicate he is seeking upwards of $4 million per season), Alexander Frolov and Ilya Kovalchuk are still available.
It was a quiet Day One at the 2010 NHL Draft for the Maple Leafs, but the team stepped up its game in a big way on Saturday afternoon. The club wheeled and dealed its way into the 2nd round of the draft and through some crafty maneuvering in the later rounds, managed to add seven new players into the organization.
The Leafs were able to significantly upgrade their depth up front, by grabbing six forwards to go with one defenseman. Surprisingly, Leafs' Swedish scout Thommie Bergman had a big day, selecting three players from the Swedish leagues. [more…]
For those of you who missed it, the Leafs were very active on Day 2 of the draft, swung a couple trades, and ended up [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 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.
Since Brian Burke has been at helm, the Toronto Maple Leafs organization has restocked its prospect cupboard and have instilled hope in a fanbase desperate to win.
Leafs fans have witnessed both highs and lows during the 2009-10 season and, although they must watch helplessly as the Boston Bruins select either one of Tyler Seguin or Taylor Hall, there is now legitimate reason to believe the Stanley Cup drought could come to an end.
When? Who knows, but Burke is taking it one step at a time---and, somehow, avoiding the traditional five-year rebuilding plan in the process.
Per TSN, the Toronto Maple Leafs have agreed in principle to a 2 year contract with pending-RFA goaltender Jonas Gustavsson. The contract is said to be worth $2.7 million in total (avg $1.35 million per season).
Gustavsson, originally signed to a 1 year contract, struggled somewhat during the first half of a season marred by heart surgery and the inevitable adjustment period required with not only a new league, but a new culture as well. As the season progressed, so too did Gustavsson's consistency and poise. As his comfort level grew, fans began to witness what all the hype had been about, his performance culminating with a 7-game winning stretch during the month of March (7-0-0, 2.00 GAA, .929 SV %).
For the season, Gustavsson finished with a winning record of 16-15-9, posting a 2.87 GAA and .902 SV %.
Tonight, the Toronto Maple Leafs are looking to even themselves up with a few clubs by securing two points in a win against the Philadelphia Flyers in their final home game of the season. Meanwhile, Philly is trying to keep their playoff hopes alive in a crucial night in which the Rangers, who trail the Flyers by two points, are also playing and looking to oust the Flyers from the post-season picture.
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Lost amidst all the drama of today's Tomas Kaberle situation is the game between the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs tonight at the ACC (7pm, TSN).
Coming off a 3-2 loss to the Atlanta Thrashers, the Leafs will look to reverse their fortunes with a better defensive performance against their rivals, who lead the Northeast division.
The Torontosaurus Rex for Week 23 is fitting and also notoriously absent from the only Leafs extra time loss in the last seven overtime/shootout games. In that loss, the Maple Leafs and Penguins tied a dubious NHL record, one night after the Leafs/Rangers surpassed 100 overtime games in the NHL this season.
