Captain
There are precious few nicknames in sports anymore. At least, few that are creative.
No legendary names are tied to players anymore, no Rocket, no Boom-Boom, no Grapes.
And yet the nicknames add so much character to our heroes on the ice.
Today was the long-awaited day when Brian Burke was finally introduced to the Toronto media and fanbase. Highlighted below are several important quotes that stuck out to me as I listened to Burke outline his plans for building a championship calibre team here in the capital of the Hockey Universe: [more…]
Ed. Note: Richard-Steven Williams, a UK-based NHL and European hockey enthusiast, will be joining the MLHS blogging team.
It's fantastic to have Richard aboard, he's an immense talent.
Here's his piece on Ron Wilson from a week ago.
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What a fantastic game last night. A thrilling third period comeback on Hockey Night in Canada at home against an Original Six franchise. Doesn't get much better than that! We've been seeing a lot of this exciting new hockey lately, haven't we? A great comeback victory against New Jersey on the road, arguably the best game since the Montreal knockout on the last game of the season at home 2 years back, followed by this doozy of a game against the Rangers. Gotta love it!
Let's talk about the guy who kickstarted last night's comeback, John Mitchell. [more…]
Cross-posted: http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=16813&blogger_id=48
I'm approaching the upcoming campaign with a win-win mentality.
Should the Maple Leafs dwell in the bottom five as virtually assured by Toronto media types, the opportunity to import a premier prospect to join Luke Schenn atop the prospect ranks will obviously be a major boost to a re-tooling club in the midst of its youth movement. [more…]
With Cliff Fletcher sticking around for the upcoming season, the Maple Leafs have gone forward in hiring new staff since the start of the off-season. It seems the philosophy among many franchises around the league is to create positions to fill with excellent hockey minds in order to improve their own hockey growth and knowledge above the ice surface. Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment has finally joined in on that idea by adding Al Coates as the Director of Player Personnel, Jeff Jackson as the assistant GM and Director of Hockey Operations in 2006 who focuses primarily on collective bargaining duties and contract negotiations, and an overhaul of the coaching staff other than Keith Acton, who has found a way to stay within the organization after stints under head coaches Paul Maurice and Pat Quinn.
