Chicago
A quick morning update to the Leafs' rumour mill.
Don't forget to join our live chat starting at 10am today! MLHS writers will be dropping in throughout the day; I will be checking in around noon myself. See you all there!
This involves the Leafs, as well as around the league.
TFP: The Los Angeles Kings, Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators are among the teams to have serious interest in Alexei Ponikarovsky. Various reports suggest the Leafs are looking for a first-round pick in exchange for Ponikarovsky, though it's believed Burke is willing to accept a second-round pick and a top prospect."
5:00 PM Update - Mueller, Roloson, Hamhuis, Voros/Lisin.
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Sources (here and here) are floating the possibility of a Jeff Finger trade to Chicago. The Leafs would receive Cristobal Huet and possibly a draft pick in return.
In the end, perhaps the player to best describe the trades is ... Wayne Primeau?
After all, the former Flame has been through this before.
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There's already some discussion going on in the threads, but let's get all of that latest news out on the table:
- TSN's Darren Dreger recently tossed out his list of top 10 candidates to be moved at this year's trade deadline, with Matt Stajan and Alexei Ponikarovsky figuring in at the 4th and 5th spots respectively. He suggests that Stajan would perhaps yield "a decent prospect or drafts picks in return" and that Ponikarovsky would likely fetch a similar price. It's always hard to gauge the trade deadline market as values fluctuate on a yearly basis, but I've got Ponikarovsky pegged as an Antropov comparable (2nd round pick) as a big body and 60 point player while Stajan may compare favorably to Moore (2nd round pick starting price) as a depth centreman who can put up some points in the right situation. [more…]
Submit your GFWE predictions here.
It’s no secret that the Leafs' biggest disappointment amid a conference-second-worst 15-20-9 first half of the schedule is a total lack of progress in the area of goals against and special teams, where Brian Burke focused much of his off-season efforts.
The Toronto Maple Leafs were amongst leaders in 2009 for all the wrong categories. The Buds were the most scored upon team in 2009, playing an NHL leading 13 overtime games (2-11) record, and NHL trailing overtime winning percentage (.154).
Broken down after the jump is how the Leafs fared in the calendar year 2009.
Best Wishes for a Happy New Year to everyone!
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The Pittsburgh Penguins are one of three teams without a shutout this season. They have been shutout four times, allowing 15 goals. They've scored 98 goals in wins and a paltry 12 in losses. Of the 44 goals they've allowed in losses, 15 come by way of shutouts.
The latest takes on it's infamy as the record-breaking shutout by a most deserving, Martin Brodeur.
The New Jersey Devils are one of five teams that have not been shutout this season. Brodeur's three shutouts for the Devils this season set up and then smashed the all time shutout record.
In honour of the new shutout record at 104 - and counting - the following are the to-date shutouts and numbers in the NHL in 2009-10.
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By: Gus Katsaros
Prior to the season starting, I had written about the impact of schedules. In particular, as the Leafs face the Habs tonight after playing the previous night, while Montreal is rested. Interesting enough, the last time this happened, Toronto beat Detroit 5-1.
Schedules make a big difference in the results of NHL teams fates during the season. In some instances, it could be the difference between a playoff spot and a tee time (and I thoroughly enjoy both – FORRRREEEE!!).
I have always believed that a persons real intelligence level is a sum of what they allow themselves to learn from others. Book smarts, education, degrees, etc are all an indication of knowledge - but, nothing adds to a persons real world IQ more then lessons learned. Real intelligent people are able to learn by watching and listening to others rather then needing to learn everything themselves - you know, the hard way (sadly, the path I usually end up taking). I am continually striving to get better at learning from others and gather as much IQ as I can from the experiences, observations and hard knocks others are willing to share with me. As this pertains to hockey specifically, I had an opportunity to watch a Leafs game with Gus Katsaros last week and also the opportunity to meet with and speak to Garrett Bauman. Gus and I had some nice seats for the New York Islanders game sitting at the face off circle in the offensive zone where the Leafs tallied some 50 of their 61 total shots. I had meant to do a post game blog at the time, but, life got busy and I guess it is too late for that now. However, that day yielded several interesting hockey learning opportunities for me personally and I decided that these lessons alone would make great blog material.
- The Globe and Mail explains that thanks to an impressive win over the Capitals, the Leafs' veterans have bought themselves some more time, and [more…]
It's been widely reported the past few days that Leafs' GM Brian Burke is working on at least two trades in an effort to provide a much-needed shakeup to the team.
Sifting through the vast amounts of information, misinformation, and fanboy longing, two teams keep getting repeated over and over ... enough to raise at least one speculative eyebrow.
