What 2010 brings

Oh… the fortunes of Leafs Nation. They do rise and fall on a daily basis – just like the Jekyll – Hyde personality that is the Toronto Maple Leafs these days. You never know what you’re going to get. Don’t know what was dancing in their heads in Edmonton but sure as eggs is eggs it was something more akin to sugar plums than a playoff spot. But hey, Pat Quinn needs some relief as well. I’m sure he’s close to taking away everyone’s hockey stick and providing them with Samurai swords to fall on.

The countdown to the end of the Toskala era in Toronto continues. How quickly will it be forgotten? Never. It’ll be another equivalent of someone scraping their fingernails down a chalkboard. Wanna hear that sound?

Okay. Here you go:

Andrew Raycroft for Tuukka Rask.

The list of Leafs becoming UFA at the end of this season gives a hint of a major shakeup in Leafs Nation. I think Burke will likely trade some away, and let some skate away:

Lee Stepniak
Alex Ponikarovsky
Matt Stajan
Wayne Primeau
Richard Wallin
Jamal Mayers
Mike Van Ryn
Garnet Exelby
Jonas Frogren
Vesa Toskala

I think Stajan and Frogren stand the best chance of being in blue & white next fall. Some are destined for better things, just not in Toronto. I don’t know that Toskala will fair much better on another team. Like Raycroft, I think he overachieved for a season or 2, got big money, and crashed back to earth.

It was nice that Kessel finally found the back of the net. That boy’s making toothpicks out of his hockey sticks – he’s gripping them so tightly. The Leafs are heading into Calgary tomorrow night. The Flames wnt on a bit of a bender in December but are finding their way around the win column again, giving up just 1 goal a game in their last 3, including 2 wins in a home-n-home with the Oilers.

Eight of the next dozen games are on the road, including a swing up and down the eastern seaboard in th middle of the month.

GO LEAFS GO!!!

Blake, White save the day

I didn’t look like it phased the Leafs one bit, bing in town to play the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins a night after losing to arch-rival Montreal on home ice. If their game-plan was to hem the Penguins in and make them fight for 200 feet of ice – nice job.

Watching Blake play last night reminded me of his Islander days. He played that hard, grinding, pesky hockey that you hated when it was played against you. If ever there was a Leaf playing to save his job, it was Blake and it was last night. What a game he had.

And Ian White? Wow. He reminds me of Jason Smith just before we cut him loose. Quiet, strong on the puck, wicked laser beam of a shot. Good vision of the ice and able to move the puck safely. Like Kaberle, but with an edge and willingness to shoot.

Toskala looked ok last night, but his days in Toronto are numbered. I bet he can’t wait to get out from under Leafs Nation. My only hope is when they do cut him loose its to the Western Conference. I don’t think I could bare hearing about him vaulting to the higher echelons of goaltending after leaving – and you just know thats going to happen.

I thought the Leafs played well enough to beat Montreal on Saturday but hey, take the point, move on. The Leafs are out west for the next 2 games. For some reason Vancouver was left off that western road swing. They usually play all three out there.

GO LEAFS GO!!!

Kessel, Leafs firing blanks

I think Phil Kessel is the first to admit he isn’t playing up to par. He certainly isn’t where the Leafs need him to be right now – on his game and leading the uphill charge to a playoff spot. By most accounts, it’s starting to look like Hamburger Hill.

Gustavsson is looking good. He kept the Leafs in the game for most of the night. The two that he let in… well, goals like that go in. But when your goaltender is stingy and only let’s in 2 on the night, your team needs to find a way to put 3 in the back of the net. The Leafs looked good against the Islanders for 2/3 of the game. The other 1/3 did them in.

Once again, the basement floor is looming large.

They’re .500 hockey over the last 10 games. They’ve lost 4 in a row on the road, and 5 of their next 7 games are away. Two games are western conference tilts in Alberta. Hopefully they’ll come home, eat some turkey, and find their forecheck wrapped up and under the tree.

A safe and happy Christmas to all.

GO LEAFS GO!!!

Leafs rob themselves in Sabres match

They are the pesky Buffalo Sabres, and they showed exactly the type of team they are last night. Play as well as you like. Play ten times better than them. Then, go ahead… make a mistake. When you flub with the Sabres, it ends up in the back of your net. 

The first flub came with a little over 7 minutes left in a game where the Leafs were the better team. A missed assignment left Jochen Hecht standing unhindered in front of Gustavsson with the puck. Game tied.

The second flub came with less than a minute and a half left in overtime. Another missed assignment, and Jochen Hecht threaded a perfect pass to Derek Roy right in front of Gustavsson. Deke. Boom. The extra point goes down the drain.

Call it killer instinct, opportunism, whatever you like. it’s why Buffalo will challenge for the division and likely the conference this season and the Leafs won’t. Oh, we may squeak into the playoffs – though that seems unlikely. But its that kind of finish that puts teams over the edge. The Sabres have it. The Leafs… not so much.

That all said, Gustavsson is providing the Leafs with a chance to win. He looked great against the sputtering Bruins and looked good last night too. The outcome last night was through no fault of his, and we needn’y be so gloomy about the outcome either all things considered. We took 3 of a possible 4 points against the 2 best teams in the division and teams ahead of us in the conference, so every little bit helps.

The Leafs head to NY to face the Islanders tomorrow night before heading into the Christmas break.

GO LEAFS GO!!!

Monster win timely

It wasn’t the most exciting game to watch, but shutouts are usually like that unless it’s a blowout. The Leafs were the better team last night, which makes you wonder what the heck is going on with the Bruins, who are favourites in the division and expected to do a lot of damage this coming spring. Welcome to Slump City Boston. Feel my pain.

Jonas Gustavsson looked ready for prime time all night long. After Toskala’s meltdown against Buffalo, Gustavsson couldn’t have picked a better time.  Tough opponent. Home ice fans. Must win situation.

Boom.

Every time we play the Bruins it conjurs memories of Raycroft, Tuukka Rask (who played last night), and John Ferguson Jr. What a nightmare deal that was. And it looks like the Toskala deal isn’t going to turn out much better. Funny, that was the first shutout on home ice since November 2007. How long has Toskala been on our roster again? Right.

I wonder if the NHL is going to review the hit on Stajan. It was clearly a hit ot the head, but Stajan’s head was down. And it was clearly an elbow, but Stajan was hunched over so much  Boychuk would have had to kneel to hit with his shoulder. I’m betting the league will look and do nothing.

Now those pesky Sabres are in town for another go.

Betting Gustavsson gets the start.

GO LEAFS GO!!!

Leafs mesmerized by Red Hot Dogs

The Leafs looked like they were having more fun standing around watching an invigorated Coyotes squad dance around the ice flicking goals into the net at will. They certainly didn’t look interested in improving their home ice record to 5 straight wins and ready a slice of the playoff pie. Let’s not take anything away from the Coyotes. Here’s a team that thumbed its colelctive nose at the rumours and legal meanderings of the NHL and decided to play some pond hockey. Result? Well, they’re climbing up the standings in the west – tied for 6th place right now – 2 points back of 2nd and 5 out of 1st place overall. Hey… the Coyotes are the new Red Wings.

Things don’t get any easier back at Leafs Nation either.

 Two against the Sabres wrapped around a rematch with the Bruins.

The boys best get them there skates a-movin’ lest they find themselves in another rut and have their fragile confidence shaken to the core.

GO LEAFS GO!!!

Leafs finding ways

Great game against the Senators – and love the last minute goal getting waived off like it should have been, obviously kicked in. The Leafs are finding ways to win and have almost dug themselves out of that nasty hole they buried themselves in at the beginning of the season. If that wasn’t the worst October ever I don’t know what was.

Jason Blake continues to make a case for himself, day in day out. Burke has to think he can do better for the money Blake is raking in. He’s expensive – by the goal or by the pound. But he’s playing like his job is on the line – which it is – and sometimes thats enough for a short reprieve.

The Coyotes are in town Wednesday before the Leafs head into a stretch of hockey against tough teams. Two against the red hot Sabres and Ryan Miller will be a good test for their character and confidence. Toss in a rematch, albeit on home ice this time, against the Bruins before a 6 game road trip interrupts December and carrys on into January. hey, were it not  for the Panthers kicking the crap out of the Islanders last night Toronto would be tied for 9th place, 2 back of a playoff spot.  As it stands, 5 teams are tied for 10th, 2 back of the Panthers. The Leafs have a better “last 10″ record than the 8 teams directly above them in the standings.

So what about that Toskala? Leafs Nation has been waiting close to 2 years for this guy to pan out. He’s looked fairly solid in the last few games. Is that going to last? Jonas Gustavsson used to be looked on as the future but now has so many question marks buzzing around his head to have to wonder… if Toskala falls back to his old loosing ways and Gustavsson can’t shoulder any load, then what happens? You also have to wonder if Burke isn’t about to sit around and wait for that to happen and start shopping players in search of a real goaltender.

== sigh ==

Sure was alot easier to deal with all these questions when the hole was deep. Now that hope has sprung eternal yet again and a playoff picture starts coming into focus, these questions beg answering. Burke has an awful job to do in the next 2 months. Somehow, he has to take a team that can possibly claw their way back into a playoff berth and tun them into a team that can head into a playoff series looking like a threat. After all, making the playoffs is great but doesn’t count for much when all it amounts to is 4 games.

GO LEAFS GO!!!

Dundas: Hockeyville

Dundas IS Hockeyville. I’m sure if you did one of those “feasibility studies” you’d find Dundas has more hockey per capita than any town on the planet. Ok ok, I’m prejudiced. But Dundas is a fabulous town with great people, and great hockey. Steeped in hockey tradition if you will.

So Barry Forth, a hockey player (surprise!!!) and father of 2 hockey players (shocking!!!) is throwing the Dundas hat into the Hockeyville competition.

You can view their entry here. Got a Dundas hockey story? Tell it!

Are you from Dundas? Did you used to be from Dundas? Proud Hamiltonian? Forget about making it seven. Let’s make it Hockeyville.

Be sure to vote for Dundas when the voting starts. I’ll keep you posted here.

Dundas IS Hockeyville!

GO DUNDAS GO!!!

Leafs pound Caps

Oh what to do on a Saturday night at the ACC… Hockey Night in Canada.

Let’s see…..

Batter the best team in the league. How about some of that? Where do we sign up for some of that? We have that. We have that.

With 8 wins in their last 12 games (those 2 stinkers in Boston already distant memories) and points in 9 of their last 13, the leafs are playing at a .66 clip – the pace the pundits claim was necessary to get the Leafs back into the playoff fold before the end of the season. Well… let’s hang on a bit shall we? Of the next  5 games, even the Coyotes are  a threat. Hell, they’re on a streak of their own and pose a much better record than our Buds. We have the Sens in town Monday, the big bad Bruins are back for more blood, and we have a home and home series with the Sabres making a sandwich out of the Bruins before the game against the lowly Islanders just before the Christmas break.

Reality check coming our way.

Blake still doomed

Would love to start a pool on when Jason Blake gets relieved of his duties as a Leaf and how. In any event, it should be well before the trade deadline and since no-one is likely to queue up for his services, I vote for waivers to the Marlies. Sorry buddy. Thanks for your efforts. Don’t let the door hit….

Two points separate the Leafs from 3 teams sitting behind the 8th playoff spot. Reasonable to think the Leafs will jump over the Flyers soon – Philly is imploding big time. Big prolems there. Bigger than here. With 4 of the coming games against division opponents, the time is now.

GO LEAFS GO!!!

Another stinker in Beantown

All is not lost just yet. Whatever it is that the Leafs are doing to be better, they need to just keep doing it. Pundits say the team is taking 2 steps forward then 1 step back. I can live with that. If they did that for the rest of the year, thats .66 hockey and a 100 point pace.

I can live with that.

Whether Phil Kessel can live with his disaapointment at his performances in these last 2 games against Boston is another thing. When you couple that with the abysmal job  Ron Wilson did with his lines last night it should come as no surprise that the Leafs dropped both games. It’s pure physics. The Boston Bruins are a superior hockey team in every way. It would take something special for the Leafs to draw a point away from them, and that “something special” hasn’t been evident. Good yes. Special no.

So the Leafs are still stuck in 2nd last place overall in the league. Only the ‘Canes are in worse shape – by far to boot. Luckily, Carolina is in the east, keeping the Leafs from hitting rock bottom there. Still 5 points back of a playoff spot. Just 3 points shy of all the teams from 15th to 9th place. Ok, 7 points back of the 6th place Senators.

The Leafs play 5 of their next 6 games in very unfriendly territory – the ACC  – including tilts against some tougher opponents. Washintong is in town tomorrow night. The Senators on Monday. Two against the Sabres (one in Buffalo) sandwiched around another shot at redemption for Kessle when Boston is in town on the 19th.

GO LEAFS GO!!!