cuts
With the pre-season nearly finished, the Leafs roster is beginning to take shape for 2010-11. Similarly, the Marlies are starting to become more defined as major league cuts are shuffled down to the minor league club. What is not so clearly defined on the Marlies is their goaltending situation. There will be a ton of competition between the four goalies in the Leafs minor pro system to get starts this season and those that do will have to seize the opportunity. Let’s take a look: [more…]
One of the more interesting subplots to the Maple Leafs' 2010-11 preseason has been the Michael Liambas situation. Offered a tryout - amidst much fanfare - in time for the team's annual Rookie Camp, the infamous winger was ultimately released on Thursday, during the first round of cuts at the NHL training camp.
Ordinarily, such a move would be regarded as no more than a footnote, a regular or even "to be expected" occurrence which takes place in any training camp. But Liambas' situation was - and remains - anything but ordinary.
Note: If you crave insightful, indepth Leafs' analysis, I highly encourage you to read RSW's excellent article on Victor Stalberg.
This past Saturday, Brian Burke was a guest on "Leafs Lunch" (am 640) and spoke at length about the status of injured defenseman Mike Van Ryn.
Van Ryn, as you know, underwent career-threatening surgery as a result of a structural anomaly in his left knee. The surgery, an osteotomy (known throughout hockey circles as "Steve Yzerman surgery"), is a complex procedure in which the knee is realigned via the removal of part of the bone. Van Ryn has since resumed skating, but whether or not he will be able to resume his NHL career remains, at this point, unknown.
A funny thing happened on the way to Marc Savard fantasy analysis that killed a myth ...
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The final roster for Hockey Canada's 2009 World Junior Hockey team was announced early this morning and here were the final 16 cuts:
Memorial Cup winning netminder Tyson Sexsmith and Jake Allen; defencemen Travis Hamoic - who won gold with the under-18 squad - Kevin Marshall, Patrick Wiercioch, Jarred Spurgeon, Brendan Smith and Tyler Cuma, who suffered a knee injury during camp; forwards Evander Kane, Riley Nash, Jamie Arniel, Nazem Kadri, Matt Duchene, Brayden Schenn, Taylor Hall and Matt Calvert.
