NCAA
We’ve partnered up with Pension Plan Puppets to bring to you a Player Review series, where we will be evaluating and grading the 2009-10 season for every Leaf who featured in a significant number of games for the Blue and White last season, with an eye towards 2010-11. Next up we feature Christian Hanson, profiled by SkinnyFish.
The Summary: Coming off of a stellar senior year at the University of Notre Dame, Hanson was one of three highly touted college free agents in the spring of 2009. The others being Matt Gilroy and Tyler Bozak. Due to Notre Dame's early departure from the NCAA tournament, Hanson was the first of those three players to sign with a pro club. Discussion was that the big 6' 3" Hanson had 2nd line potential and barring that would be a great 3rd line/checking line center.
Yesterday was a big day in Leafs Nation. Â And I think I speak for all fans when I say it's about time. Â While two teams are currently battling for the opportunity to lift Lord Stanley's Cup, the Toronto Maple Leafs have been forced to sit on the sidelines and watch, bide their time with the other half of the league who wasn't fortunate enough to make into the NHL's playoffs.
And while they have kept themselves busy, and Brian Burke has shown a penchant for rarely letting his team slip into the background, a lot of hype has been leading toward this time of year.
Even without a first-or second-round draft pick, the Toronto Maple Leafs are still making plenty of waves, and it appears Burke is fit to make an impression at the draft, whether he is selecting or not.
Which, although he would never admit it, would be the perfect way to steal the spotlight back from the doom and gloom position of Boston using the Leafs pick to select a potential franchise cornerstone.
Tomas Kaberle, long been rumoured to be on his way out of Toronto, may be inching closer and closer with each passing day. Â As the calendar flipped to June yesterday, and now with the entry draft and free agency now firmly in sight on the horizon, it appears Kaberle's time with the Toronto Maple Leafs is now being measured in days. [more…]
The year was 2005. Â George W. Bush was still in office (yes, somehow Americans voted for him, twice), Hurricane Katrina was doing catastrophic damage to New Orleans, and the vatican was naming a new pope after the passing of John Paul II.
In the sports world, the New England Patrios would win yet another Super Bowl, this time against the Eagles, the Washington Nationals would begin operation as Major League Baseball's newest team, Danica Patrick became the first woman to lead a lap at the Indy 500, and the Chicago White Sox ended a lengthy championship drought, winning the world series in four straight over the Houston Astros.
Oh, and there was this one other thing too. Â NO HOCKEY.
Embattled in a bitter labour dispute, the NHL shut down operations for an entire year in search of cost certainty, something they would eventually get, although the opinion on whether the design is flawed or not is still out to be deliberated.
For fans of the NHL, the June 2005 entry draft was more than just a weekend in June in which young players would be drafted, making their way into the beginning of their National Hockey League careers. Â It was a new beginning for the world of the NHL. Â A new season was about to kick off in earnest.
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…]
Brian Burke has picked up yet another wallet. According to a Finnish report, the Toronto Maple Leafs have agreed to terms on a two year deal with Finnish free agent goaltender Jussi Rynnäs. Jussi is still just 22 years of age, and is coming off a stellar year in the Finnish SM-Liiga in which he posted a 2.50 GAA and a 0.929 SV%. Rynnäs is still at least a couple years away from being NHL-ready, and will start next season splitting time with James Reimer for the Toronto Marlies. Jussi was arguably this year's most coveted free agent goaltender, along with NCAA netminder Ben Scrivens, whom the Leafs had also been linked to over the past couple weeks.
Now that the Leafs' most important pending free agent -- goaltender Jonas Gustavsson -- has been signed to a two-year contract extension, it is time to take a look at their remaining free agent players.
Notably, the list of expiring contracts includes pending RFAs Nikolai Kulemin, Christian Hanson and John Mitchell. Pending UFAs on the Leafs' roster include Wayne Primeau, Rickard Wallin, Jamie Lundmark, Garnet Exelby and Mike Van Ryn.
Prior to the lockout, undrafted college free agents were a rare, straight to NHL commodity. Either serving out their apprenticeships as minor league signees or plying their trade overseas, few players transitioned directly from the ranks of college hockey to the NHL without enduring prolonged development curves. However, in a post-lockout landscape where GM’s clutch their most valued assets and superstars to their clubs with dynasty length deals, and where dollars and ice time are apportioned in equilibrium, graduate aged (or younger) players progressing from the NCAA as free agents are providing comparatively cheap labour in an increasingly scrutinized marketplace.
Not too surprisingly, considering both his hockey heritage as a former captain of the Providence College Friars and his somewhat condensed timetable for rebuilding the Leafs, Brian Burke has been one of the first to plunder the verdant college market in recent seasons, in turn providing a quantum shift from the conventional dominance of the CHL at the junior level. [more…]
Remember Jimmy Hayes? He was the Leafs 2nd round pick in 2008, a burgeoning power forward who struggled last season in his freshman campaign with the Boston College Eagles as he adjusted to the NCAA game.
Consider those struggles a thing of the past.
Hayes was fantastic in the Hockey East Championship this past week as his team captured their ninth tournament victory, an NCAA record. Oh, and you may be interested to know that his 2 goals and 5 assists (in 4 games) led all tournament point-getters.
Leaf prospect Jerry D'Amigo continues to build on a tremendous 2009-2010 campaign, taking home rookie of the year honours for the ECAC Hockey conference. Union College's Keith Kinkaid and Harvard University's Louis Leblanc were the two other finalists. Leblanc was also Montreal's 1st round selection, 18th overall in the 2009 draft, which should give rough idea of the magnitude of D'Amigo's accomplishment. Kudos kiddo! [more…]
Brian Burke has announced that they are on the verge of signing defenceman Simon Gysbers of the Lake Superior State University NCAA team. Once announced, [more…]
- Tim Brent and Jay Rosehill have been recalled from the Toronto Marlies, while Sjostrom and Mitchell are doubtful for tonight's game against the Flyers. Brent is a player Burke knows quite well from his years in the Anaheim Ducks organization, whom the Leafs signed this past offseason. Tim has always been a very productive player at the AHL level who has yet to make that successful transition to the NHL. However, he's only 25 years of age with a strong two-way game and some decent hands, so this may be his chance to surprise. [more…]
While the Maple Leafs struggled through a horrific 3-10-2 record to start the new year at the NHL level, many of the organization's top young prospects enjoyed a very productive month of January on the scoresheet. Jerry D'Amigo (left) continued to build off a strong World Junior tournament, Mikhail Stefanovich seemed to finally turn the corner, while Nazem Kadri took his game up to that dominant level we all know he's capable of. [more…]
