the Blue and White
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.Today we feature Luca Caputi, profiled by Garrett Bauman.
The Summary:
One of the Penguins' highest-ranked prospects, 21-year old Toronto native Luca Caputi was acquired by the Maple Leafs on the eve of the Trade Deadline in exchange for long-serving winger Alexei Ponikarovsky.
Caputi's acquisition was another in a long line of moves by GM Brian Burke designed to (a) clean house, and (b) add young players with upside who can contribute immediately.
To Caputi's credit, the early returns have been positive the 6'3, 200lb winger can develop into a regular contributor, although with only 28 NHL games under his belt (19 with the Maple Leafs), it is difficult to gauge on what his ultimate role, or impact, will be. The 2010-11 season should provide a crucial indication of his NHL future.
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. Today we feature Tyler Bozak, profiled by PPP:
"The Summary: Tyler Bozak picked the Maple Leafs over the Ottawa Senators so right away it's clear that he has a high hockey IQ. He signed a hell of a deal that, based on how people react to Mikhail Grabovski, will be tough to live up to. He'll likely get a break because if he costs the full cap hit he'll presumably have achieved some decent points totals. Not to mention, his age and provenenance as a found player in addition to an electric understanding with Phil Kessel likely gets him a free pass. A solid first half season in the NHL certainly bodes well for the young centreman.
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Brian Burke has done an outstanding job of refacing the Leafs organization in a very short period of time. I for one am predicting a very surprising season from the Leafs as early as next year or the year after, once again propelling them into the playoffs and a very respectable playoff drive. The cumulative effort of acquiring several players and prospects that are "NHL ready" is absolutely and positively an impressive feat. Acquiring a player with the pedigree of Dion Phaneuf for almost zero significant cost was sheer brilliance. His relentless pursuit of, and ultimate acquisitions of players like Bozak, Hanson and Gustavsson inspire the type of confidence and hope that has been lacking in this city and in this franchise for almost a decade.
I know, I know, when last we met, I promised you that the next installment in these studies in positivity would focus on Nikolai Kulemin.
Well, I lied. Sue me. Instead of discussing an individual player, I'm going to make some more general team-wide observations. Don't like it? Line up at window 106 between the hours of 1 and 1:05 p.m., fill out the forms in triplicate, be sure to bring your receipt and three forms of photo I.D. and the counter staff will be happy to refund in full the money you paid for these charming and entertaining visits to my mind. Really, though, following Bruce Boudreau's logic concerning the Ovechkin hit on Brian Campbell (and the obvious liability of the end boards and equally obvious innocence of Ovie), it's not my fault that I broke my promise to you; it's your fault for reading that promise in the first place. [more…]
Since posting the parable of Owen the other day, and most especially since reviewing the commentary appended thereto, it has come to my attention that:
- The Tragically Hip suck or else the Tragically Hip are the very Platonic embodiment of the concept of "win".  It is not at all clear which of these two statements concerning the properties of the Tragically Hip inclines towards truth, yet the truth is said to be obvious, immutable and beyond the realm of debate;
- It is a very good idea to proofread what you have frantically typed in a guilty paroxysm of nostalgic reminiscence before hitting the "publish" button. Failure to do so may have the inattentive rookie blogger combining various teams, their nicknames and game results in a charming but utterly abstract and completely fictional goulash of confusion. In the unlikely event this is not the effect one is really attempting to achieve, this little pro tip may help you avoid embarrassment;
- It is quite possible that I am the first person on earth and in the history of ever to reference both the Three Stooges and Waiting for Godot in the same sentence. Now I've gone and done it in consecutive posts! Don't be expecting this level of achievement in every installment, kids, outstanding performances have a way of regressing to the mean;
- My theory of road trips, nascent and ill-developed though it may be, is fertile ground for graduate study. Even more startlingly, the road trip is fertile ground for reality television. How has there not been a Big Brother style reality show centred around the road trip. And no, I haven't forgotten about the Amazing Race; pay attention man, those dudes travel in pairs, not triads. As an aside, I wonder how many other areas of human endeavour are equally of interest to academics and reality TV producers?
- I somehow managed to omit from the story the fact that my buddies and I attended a cocktail mixer at the IMF. Trust me, you don't know from fun until you've partied with international debt specialists in a brightly-lit impersonal and institutional room in the middle of the afternoon; and
- At least some of you are seeing some of the same positive developments in certain Maple Leaf players that I am.
Before we get to the subject of today's post, Luke Schenn, a preliminary word if you will about the title of these entries:Â [more…]
Alec has asked me to add my two cents hereabouts from time to time, and I've agreed to do so with some trepidation.  For those of you who don't know me, I'm Junior, from Heroes in Rehab: the blog.  I don't want to step on the toes of any of the other contributors on the site, so I want to contribute something a little different from the others. What follows is, at it turns out, a bit of a (lengthy, sorry about that) manifesto for what I hope to produce in the coming weeks for you all. Some of it's even about hockey and the Leafs!  I don't really see my self as the Stuart Smalley of Leafs Nation, and the affirmations I offer will be far from daily, but...well, just read, won't you?
One lousy heart-stopping, craptastic win-that-almost-wasn’t against the Thrashers Predators (update: oops, thanks Nights, I'm an idiot. Stupid interchangeable southeastern teams!). One crummy “W†from a five game road trip through the Southeast, the division where NHL hockey goes to die. The Maple Leafs can’t be happy with the way that worked out. When the trip began ten days ago, it seemed obvious that the Leafs were expecting to get pasted by Ovechkin and the Caps (first clue: starting Vesa Toskala); after getting the better of Bruce Boudreau’s squad a couple of times earlier this year, it was essentially a foregone conclusion that the Blue & White would have the least amount of fun in a DC amphitheatre since Abraham Lincoln, and that’s exactly how it worked out. But they had to be hoping for more out of matches against Dixie’s puck-playing tomato cans: Nashville, Atlanta, Tampa and Florida.
Of course we know now that it didn’t work out that way. Much to the chagrin of the local populace, Ron Wilson, Brian Burke and the team have arrived home with only two points to declare at Customs. As far as road trip expectations go, this is the equivalent of a “buddies road trip to Vegas†turning into “an insurance seminar in Peoria.†[more…]
On the heels of a disheartening loss against the last-place Carolina Hurricanes, it could now be concluded that the Toronto Maple Leafs will not be participating in the playoffs this season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs entered the 2009-10 season with lofty expectations set by the General Manager, Brian Burke, which fueled a widespread notion that, despite the team's penchant for mediocrity, the Leafs would at the very least be in the mix for the eighth and final playoff seed.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are ranked third in the Eastern Conference during the last 10 games with a 6-2-2 record, and while that is no major accomplishment, it's an indicator that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
It was a dark night on Friday, and I thought I could accurately predict who will win tonight's game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Washington Capitals. What occurred over the course of the night is nothing short of the truth in a world full of lies. Am I lying about that? Read on for the ultimate truth by drinking my honesty serum with your mind gullet.
It's been suggested several times during the first quarter of the Toronto Maple Leafs' emotionally exhaustive season, but it needs to be mentioned once again:
It's time to bring up the kids. No more excuses. Just get 'er done, Brian Burke.
Phil Kessel, in his short tenure with the Toronto Maple Leafs, has displayed an offensive acumen unparalleled by his teammates. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason the Leafs embody mediocrity.
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