Alex Berry
The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Tampa Bay Lightning have made some minor league moves this afternoon, with the Leafs sending Marlies’ forwards Alex Berry and Stefano Giliati in exchange for minor league defenseman Matt Lashoff.
In Lashoff, the Leafs are getting a young, depth guy who will likely play out the year for the Marlies. A former 1st round Bruins draft pick, Lashoff has some size and offensive skill, but couldn’t translate his ability beyond the AHL level for any extended period of time. In 63 NHL games between Boston and Tampa, he’s tallied 1 goal and 14 assists and is a career -15. Still young at 23, he’ll have stiff competition for a spot on the Marlies blue line and a chance at a fresh start after showing promise in both Norfolk and Providence.
The Leafs lose two foot soldiers on the forward ranks in Berry and Giliati. Meat and potatoes type of players with little NHL upside, they will be missed for the leadership and experience. However, the move offers more opportunities for up and coming forward prospects such as Jerry D’Amigo, Marcel Mueller and Brayden Irwin.
The year was 2005. Â George W. Bush was still in office (yes, somehow Americans voted for him, twice), Hurricane Katrina was doing catastrophic damage to New Orleans, and the vatican was naming a new pope after the passing of John Paul II.
In the sports world, the New England Patrios would win yet another Super Bowl, this time against the Eagles, the Washington Nationals would begin operation as Major League Baseball's newest team, Danica Patrick became the first woman to lead a lap at the Indy 500, and the Chicago White Sox ended a lengthy championship drought, winning the world series in four straight over the Houston Astros.
Oh, and there was this one other thing too. Â NO HOCKEY.
Embattled in a bitter labour dispute, the NHL shut down operations for an entire year in search of cost certainty, something they would eventually get, although the opinion on whether the design is flawed or not is still out to be deliberated.
For fans of the NHL, the June 2005 entry draft was more than just a weekend in June in which young players would be drafted, making their way into the beginning of their National Hockey League careers. Â It was a new beginning for the world of the NHL. Â A new season was about to kick off in earnest.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are now riding a three-game winning streak after defeating the Philadelphia Flyers in overtime on Saturday night by a score of 5-4.
Yes, it's pre-season, but who cares? It's hockey, and we're winning. Enough said.
The Toronto Maple Leafs' rookies, in a very entertaining game this afternoon, lost 6-5 in overtime to the rookies of the Boston Bruins.
The game was fast-paced, hard-hitting, and featured three fights on three consecutive plays (literally within seconds of the faceoff each time). Â Â The good news? Â Jamie Devane looks like a legitimate enforcer and a presence to be feared. Â The bad news? Â His right hand didn't look so good after the fight (had the icebag brought to him in the penalty box) and he wound up leaving the game shortly thereafter with the hand bandaged up. Â Â No word yet on how serious an injury it is.
I won't go into a lot of detail about the game itself, as Alec covered that quite well.
The news, for the most part, was good.  Many of the Leafs' prospects were impressive in their bids to earn a spot on the big club and/or the Marlies.  The following is a quick summation of some of the things that stood out to me from my vantage point at the game.
Jonas Gustavsson's unofficial debut performance is bound to generate some buzz after the Monster stopped 35 of 36 shots in backing the Maple Leafs' prospects to a 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins' youngsters in the opening game of the rookie tournament inside the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium this evening.
With the rebuild process in full effect, the Toronto Maple Leafs are exhausting every single possibility when it comes to bringing quality young players into their system. Dave Nonis, senior VP of hockey operations for the Leafs, was just on the Bill Watters show earlier this hour and discussed a number of topics pertaining to the Leafs, including the team's approach to handling its NCAA prospects as well as possible interest in some of the prized college free agents. [more…]
Hey folks, Alec's traditionally done this in the past, but I'll be taking over for this one as he's been bogged down with work lately. With the way the Leafs have played over the past few years, we find ourselves looking forward to the future, hoping that there's help on the horizon. Well let's take a gander at what the Toronto Maple Leafs are cultivating down on the farm: [more…]
