http
Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager, Brian Burke should have uttered one phrase to explain the situation, one simple little phrase to envelope the reasoning for the Phil Kessel trade;
“Our picks in our vision of where we ended up are overvalued in accordance to the available crop of prospects.â€
But in Toronto, to admit that in what’s deemed as a ‘rebuild’ would have been a PR disaster.
Despite popular opinion, he wasn’t wrong.
The world is no longer flat, it’s round .. like a full-cirle
As many of you are now aware we received this post from one of own Amoroq last nite:
I lost a nephew today, he was 20 years [more…]
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…]
According to the Toronto Maple Leafs official Twitter feed, the club announced today the signing of free agent defenseman Brett Lebda to a two-year deal worth $1.45 million per season.
Lebda spent the last five seasons with the Detroit Red Wings after the organization signed him as a free agent in 2004, picking up a Stanley Cup ring in during his stay in '08.
Lebda's career high in points is 18. Â He had 16 two years ago, but saw his total fall to just 8 points last year, though he did only play 63 games due to a back injury.
Lebda has great pace and puck-rushing ability, though his point-total doesn't necessarily reflect that. The Buffalo Native is thick for his height at 195 pounds, but is a bit undersized at 5'9. He does play a game bigger than his frame would suggest. $1.45 million seems a tad pricey, but hopes will be that Lebda will be able to improve production on a Leafs blueline that doesn't have the type of elite offensive weapons from the blueline like Detroit had in Brian Rafalski and Nik Lidstrom (this providing Kaberle is dealt, and no doubt this seems like a poor-man's replacement). [more…]
From Komi:
"Final chance to get in on the MLHS Playoff Hockey Pool!
Go to:Â http://fantasy.sportsnet.ca/sportsnet/hkplayoff10
It’s free and there are great prizes on the line [more…]
The Torontosaurus Rex for Week 21 is ....
[more…]
Rask gets the start in goal as the Leafs attempt to string together three wins for the first time this season.
As per Darren Dreger Twitter:
"Christian Hanson expected to be called up by Leafs."
http://twitter.com/DarrenDreger:
I think eventually all of Tyler Bozak, Victor Stalberg and [more…]
Watching the Leafs play this season has already clearly demonstrated 3 distinct and separate teams.  Team1 started the season on a dreadful 0-6-1 streak. Team2 surfaced on the teams first extended raod trip, and although losing the opener by the closest of margins in Vancouver, they managed to rally off a string of impressive games, still falling short and losing in extra time or in a shootout. Team3, continued to pick up a point in games and more recently have managed to win their last 2 in a row. But, I was left asking the question, why the turn around? If one was to read the various media reports, 1 man alone was responsible for the Leafs woes early on (Toskala) and now one man alone is the saviour and is responsible for the Leafs turn around (Gustavsson).
The Maple Leafs deserved better in tonight's 4-3 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars. It was frustrating to see another strong effort come up short. The Leafs really need to start pulling out some of these close games if they want to get back into contention.
They can't afford to lose those games "that they deserved to win," because it doesn't seem like they are good enough to win the games "they should have lost." Take a look at the Montreal Canadiens; 5 of the their 6 wins this have come in overtime or shootout. Instead of being 6-6-0, the Habs could easily be 1-6-5. However, they've found ways to pull out those close games. I hate to say it, but it's a sign of a better team. [more…]
You all know the record (0-5-1). However, has the Maple Leafs play thus far really warranted that record? Anyone who has watched all the games will probably say yes, yes it has. But what do the numbers look like? [more…]
