Jussi Rynnäs
It is by no means the end of his career, strictly the next step.
On Monday, Nazem Kadri, 7th overall selection in the 2009 draft, was assigned to the Toronto Marlies. The player in whom a whole city had welcomed, became enamoured with and inked into their own starting lineup will not appear at ACC at all… at least not yet. It will prove to be a powerful lesson for the 19 year old, if not the whole city of Toronto; the Toronto Maple Leafs are about winning hockey games, not necessarily selling tickets.
Be sure to check out Nikhil's post-game thoughts from last night.
Tuesday night, September 21st, about 6:40 p.m. I am dancing - yes, dancing, provided you can call a kind of frenetic spasticism punctuated with finger snaps and some twirling hands "dancing" - to no music in my kitchen as I cook our pasta for dinner. I am in a rush, and I am excited, because after a long summer of legal wrangling over the Kovalchuk contract, eternal speculation about Tomas Kaberle's status and apparently endless MSM vs. blogger hissy fits, the puck is finally dropping on the preseason. Don't get me wrong, I know that the preseason sucks. I know it's not reflective or in any way predictive of how the team will do during the regular season - I've been a hockey fan long enough to know that, and last year's brilliant exhibition campaign is still fresh in my memory. Almost as fresh as the oh-and-eight start that followed it, once the games counted.
After the jump, Derek Harmsworth recaps last night's action in the NHL Rookie tournament, including locker room access, and looks ahead to today's action.
Finally the day many of us have been waiting for has arrived. Â The NHL Toronto Maple Leafs rookie tournament kicks off this afternoon in London, Ontario, and for many it's a chance to catch on ice hockey for the first time in quite a while.
Today's action features the Pittsburgh Penguins rookies taking on the Ottawa Senators rookies in afternoon action. Â Also on the bill today, the Maple Leafs rookies will play the Chicago Blackhawks rookies in the nightcap.
Here is all you need to know about today's games.
Midway through the month of July, I had the privilege of chatting with Dave Poulin, Vice President of Hockey Operations with the Toronto Maple Leafs, for an article appearing in Maple Leafs Annual.
Having a professional background in publishing, I was not the least surprised that limitations on available space, plus design and layout constraints, resulted in the necessity to crop certain parts of the interview.
With the Annual due to hit stores next week, I thought I'd share a few of the "lost excerpts" from the cutting room floor in which Poulin offers his thoughts on the progress of the Toronto Marlies, as well as the emergence of the NCAA as a growing prospect pipeline.
Think of it as the equivalent of a "DVD extra" to your copy of MLA.
The Toronto Maple Leafs 2010 rookie tournament is coming to London, Ontario and Maple Leafs Hot Stove is pleased to announce that we will have exclusive, unprecedented coverage of the event!
Just confirmed earlier tonight, I will be in attendance at the John Labatt Centre for the duration of the tournament, providing up to date news from the rookie tournament for the Toronto Maple Leafs, as well as the other competing teams (Pittsburgh, Ottawa, and Chicago.)
As part of our exclusive coverage, I am pleased to announce that we will have game day previews, game day recaps, live blogs, live tweeting, as well as exclusive interviews with some of the Leafs biggest rookies and prospects. [more…]
After stockpiling up on picks during the past couple drafts as well as cornering the European and college free agent markets, the Maple Leafs' farm system is beginning to reap the rewards of unprecedented depth and talent. In the first installment of our MLHS "Prospect Season in Review" series, I'll be taking a look at three of the team's top prospects: Kenny Ryan, James Reimer, and Joel Champagne. [more…]
Administrative note: Can't believe we missed this, but I never activated the registration component of the new MLHS. My sincere apologies to anyone who has attempted to register since the relaunch. You can now do so here. This is also a call out to all of you lurkers to register and get in on the discussion... now that you are physically able to.
For those who are interested, the good folks at capgeek.com have listed contract details for newest Leafs Ben Scrivens and Jussi Rynnas. Details are posted after the jump. [more…]
Some reading material for your weekend enjoyment:
- The boys over at PPP provide us with a nice piece about European free agent goaltender Jussi Rynnas. The 6'5 22 year old is coming off an impressive season in the Finnish Elite League, posting a 2.50 GAA to go along with a league-best 0.929 SV%. For comparison's sake: Mikka Kiprusoff posted a 1.86 GAA and 0.936 SV% during his age 22-23 season in the SM-Liiga. Jussi is in the midst of a five city North American tour, with Toronto not being one of the destinations. However, Burke and Nonis have both made the trip out to Helsinki and later brought Francois Allaire along to speak with Rynnas during his stopover in Montreal. Rynnas is not as highly regarded as Gustavsson was last offseason, and will likely be playing for an AHL team next season. The scouting report on him is that he's a big guy who can struggle at times with rebound control and positioning, much like our own Gustavsson, and his style of play has been compared to that of Nashville's Pekka Rinne.
[more…]
