TMLsHockeyBlog

Joffrey Lupul's facial expression says it all.Leafs lose 4-3 in overtime on Tuesday night PHOTO: TMLsHockeyBlog The Maple Leafs played 60 hard minutes in Toronto tonight. It has been a while since I have seen the team put in a complete effort like this. They are on the wrong side of a losing skid and barely in a playoff spot, mostly due to the Washington Capitals struggling just as much as Toronto. The Leafs started the game with a ton of effort and speed, but it was the Devils that scored first as the Leafs defenders left Petr Sykora wide open to tap in his own rebound. From there, Jonas Gustavsson would take over. He let in two bad goals through the five hole that seemed to zap the Leafs of any momentum as they were pushing back to take the lead in the hockey game. Down 3-2 in the final minute of the third period, Phil Kessel would slide the puck past Brodeur and tie the game, but in overtime the Monster struck again. Mark Fayne's point shot was going wide, but Gustavsson stretched to stop it anyway. The puck would hit Gustavsson under his left arm and bounce into the net. The Leafs would lose 4-3 in overtime. This is the final straw for the goaltenders in Toronto. Enough is enough and something needs to give. I can't imagine Gustavsson will get another start for a while. To say the Toronto's playoff hopes are in jeopardy is an understatement. They need a goalie that can make the simple saves, and sometimes make a big save. As it stands right now, neither of the goalies on their active roster, James Reimer or Jonas Gustavsson, have proven to be a number one goaltender. The starting role has bounced back and forth for a while now. You would think that one of the goalies would take the opportunity and run with it, but that hasn't happened. So, the pressure is on Leafs GM Brian Burke. With the trade deadline less than a week away, Burke needs to decide once and for all what to do with his goaltending. Is there anything better out there than what Toronto currently has? You would have to assume so, because it is looking ugly for the Leafs night after night. Rick Nash has been on the Leafs radar for a while, but the price is apparently too high for the Leafs, who are unwilling to give up Jake Gardiner, amongst others. With the added pressure on Burke to get the Leafs into the playoffs, he might be tempted to pull the trigger on a deal. There are some suggestions that the Leafs should try to get Steve Mason as well as Nash out of Columbus, but such a deal would have a pretty large price tag attached to it. Next on the chopping block is Leafs coach Ron Wilson. With six loses in the Leafs last seven games, many are pointing the finger at the coach. Wilson was given a contract extension in December that is expected to have him coaching the Leafs until at least the summer of 2013, but with the recent string of loses, he may not be Toronto's coach for much longer. Expect a ton of trade rumours involving the Leafs, from now until the trade deadline next week. Also, expect James Reimer to start in net for the Leafs on Thursday night, when they host the San Jose Sharks. Source

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QF0g_ONLYps/T0EEFpmRI-I/AAAAAAAAAH8/MjOQl-huJss/s320/reimer+gustavsson.jpgLeafs goalies Jonas Gustavsson (left) and James Reimer (right) as Reimer was pulled from the net in Saturday's game PHOTO: mapleleafs.comThe Toronto Maple Leafs are in a really bad whole and can't seem to climb out of it. They have just won win in their last six games including last nights 6-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks shed some light on truly what kind of team the Leafs can be against a top team in the league. The answer on this night was a skilled offensive team with terrible defensive zone coverage, and two goalies who, rather than play really well to prove they want and have earned the starting goaltending job, end up getting the start moreso based on the other goalie's struggling efforts. The game started out bad when the Canucks scored in the first off a mis-timed pinch by Keith Aulie. We've seen too many of those come back and end up in the back of our net. Aulie needs to gage when is a good time to pinch, and when isn't. Once in a while you will make mistakes, but you would think after being burned by that play so many times, he would be more hesitant to pinch. It's tough to blame James Reimer on many of the goales the Canucks scored on him last night, but on the flip side he didn't go out there and make any big saves to help the team. If you're a bubble team like Toronto you need your goalie to step up and make some big saves every game. I'm not deflecting away from the issue, which is absolutely awful defensive zone coverage, but a big save from Reimer would have been nice last night. Jonas Gustavsson came into the game in relief of Reimer, and did not look any better, in fact I would say he looked worse, but I wasn't really paying attention, tuning in and out at that point. Nikolai Kulemin scored a late goal in the third period. His first in a while, and only his sixth on the season. He celebrated a little too much for someone who scored the second goal for in a 6-2 defeat, but I don't think he deserves the criticism. He has struggled lately and it's nice for him to get on the board. The Leafs miraculously still sit in eigth in the East. The Capitals also lost last night, to the Lightning, so they remain one point behind Toronto. Suddenly there are more contenders for the last playoff spot though. Will all the Leafs and Capitals loses lately, the Winnipeg Jets find themselves only two points out of a playoff spot. The Leafs will have to be careful. Toronto will have to put a better effort forward as a team heading into a four game home stand. They play New Jersey on Tuesday, San Jose on Thursday, Washington on Saturday and Florida the following Tuesday. Three of the four games are against teams that higher in the standings than Toronto, and two games are against teams that are close to them in the race. A fair goal for the Leafs to set is to win either of the first two match-ups, and then win both games against the Capitals and Pathers.

Leafs goalies Jonas Gustavsson (left) and James Reimer (right)as Reimer was pulled from the net in Saturday's game PHOTO: mapleleafs.com The Toronto Maple Leafs are in a really bad whole and can't seem to climb out of it. They have just won win in their last six games including last nights 6-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks shed some light on truly what kind of team the Leafs can be against a top team in the league. The answer on this night was a skilled offensive team with terrible defensive zone coverage, and two goalies who, rather than play really well to prove they want and have earned the starting goaltending job, end up getting the start moreso based on the other goalie's struggling efforts.The game started out bad when the Canucks scored in the first off a mis-timed pinch by Keith Aulie. We've seen too many of those come back and end up in the back of our net. Aulie needs to gage when is a good time to pinch, and when isn't. Once in a while you will make mistakes, but you would think after being burned by that play so many times, he would be more hesitant to pinch. It's tough to blame James Reimer on many of the goales the Canucks scored on him last night, but on the flip side he didn't go out there and make any big saves to help the team. If you're a bubble team like Toronto you need your goalie to step up and make some big saves every game. I'm not deflecting away from the issue, which is absolutely awful defensive zone coverage, but a big save from Reimer would have been nice last night. Jonas Gustavsson came into the game in relief of Reimer, and did not look any better, in fact I would say he looked worse, but I wasn't really paying attention, tuning in and out at that point. Nikolai Kulemin scored a late goal in the third period. His first in a while, and only his sixth on the season. He celebrated a little too much for someone who scored the second goal for in a 6-2 defeat, but I don't think he deserves the criticism. He has struggled lately and it's nice for him to get on the board. The Leafs miraculously still sit in eigth in the East. The Capitals also lost last night, to the Lightning, so they remain one point behind Toronto. Suddenly there are more contenders for the last playoff spot though. Will all the Leafs and Capitals loses lately, the Winnipeg Jets find themselves only two points out of a playoff spot. The Leafs will have to be careful. Toronto will have to put a better effort forward as a team heading into a four game home stand. They play New Jersey on Tuesday, San Jose on Thursday, Washington on Saturday and Florida the following Tuesday. Three of the four games are against teams that higher in the standings than Toronto, and two games are against teams that are close to them in the race. A fair goal for the Leafs to set is to win either of the first two match-ups, and then win both games against the Capitals and Pathers. Source

Hal GillPHOTO: mapleleafs.com It must be really difficult to manage a team when the ownership keeps you on a really tight budget. Such is the problem in Nashville. That is why in the off-season the Predators traded Cody Franson and Matthew Lombardi to the Maple Leafs for Brett Lebda and Robert Slaney. The only reason the Predators gave up an asset like Franson is because they wanted to get Lombardi's contract off their books. Nashville would end up letting Lebda go and keeping Slaney, until today.The Predators traded Slaney along with Blake Geoffrion and a second round pick to the Montreal Canadiens for Hal Gill and a conditional draft pick. Gill, who is 36 years old, is in the last year of his current contract and will be an unrestricted free agent in the summer. With not much money left to pay to Gill from now until the end of the season, the Predators add some depth to their defense as they prepare for the playoffs, at a very minimal cost. Looking back at the those two trades, there isn't much return for what the Predators have given up. They did manage to save the 3.5 million dollars per year, for this year and next year, that Lombardi would have been paid, but have given up quite a bit for not much in return. Compared to last years roster, out of Nashville is Cody Franson, Matthew Lombardi, Blake Geoffrion, and a second round draft pick, and in return is just Hal Gill, who is likely just a rental player until the end of the season. The limited funds in Nashville have really handcuffed the management of the team, despite that though, the Predators are currently fifth in the West. They are also in one of the hardest divisions in the league. The Central Division also has the Red Wings, Blues, Blackhawks and Blue Jackets. All of those teams except Columbus are in the top six in the West, yet the Predators have a record of 13-2-2 against teams in their division. Indeed, the Predators are a model NHL team to follow. I'm sure they would much rather have Cody Franson on their team right now, they may not have had to trade for Gill if Franson was still there, but they keep on doing what needs to be done. They are a new team compared to others in the league, and there really isn't much going for them, yet they almost always seem to manage their way into the post-season. So thumbs up to the Predators for this trade given their circumstances. Source

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3fG9HqpLSP4/Tz65LVyRoAI/AAAAAAAAAH0/tAyy2ctdwgc/s1600/gill+small+pic.jpgHal Gill PHOTO: mapleleafs.comIt must be really difficult to manage a team when the ownership keeps you on a really tight budget. Such is the problem in Nashville. That is why in the off-season the Predators traded Cody Franson and Matthew Lombardi to the Maple Leafs for Brett Lebda and Robert Slaney. The only reason the Predators gave up an asset like Franson is because they wanted to get Lombardi's contract off their books. Nashville would end up letting Lebda go and keeping Slaney, until today. The Predators traded Slaney along with Blake Geoffrion and a second round pick to the Montreal Canadiens for Hal Gill and a conditional draft pick. Gill, who is 36 years old, is in the last year of his current contract and will be an unrestricted free agent in the summer. With not much money left to pay to Gill from now until the end of the season, the Predators add some depth to their defense as they prepare for the playoffs, at a very minimal cost. Looking back at the those two trades, there isn't much return for what the Predators have given up. They did manage to save the 3.5 million dollars per year, for this year and next year, that Lombardi would have been paid, but have given up quite a bit for not much in return. Compared to last years roster, out of Nashville is Cody Franson, Matthew Lombardi, Blake Geoffrion, and a second round draft pick, and in return is just Hal Gill, who is likely just a rental player until the end of the season. The limited funds in Nashville have really handcuffed the management of the team, despite that though, the Predators are currently fifth in the West. They are also in one of the hardest divisions in the league. The Central Division also has the Red Wings, Blues, Blackhawks and Blue Jackets. All of those teams except Columbus are in the top six in the West, yet the Predators have a record of 13-2-2 against teams in their division. Indeed, the Predators are a model NHL team to follow. I'm sure they would much rather have Cody Franson on their team right now, they may not have had to trade for Gill if Franson was still there, but they keep on doing what needs to be done. They are a new team compared to others in the league, and there really isn't much going for them, yet they almost always seem to manage their way into the post-season. So thumbs up to the Predators for this trade given their circumstances.

Mikhail Grabovski, 84, Toronto Maple LeafsPHOTO: mapleleafs.com When asked about Mikhail Grabovski on Insider Trading, Thursday night, TSN analyst Darren Dreger had this to say: The Leafs will only trade Grabovski if they feel a contract will not be figured out by the trade deadline on February 27th. Toronto does not want to let him go to a free agent market without getting anything in return. Ideally though, Maple Leafs General Manager, Brian Burke, wants him to remain in the blue and white if the two sides can agree on a deal. As it stands now, the offer of a prospect and a second round draft pick is a bit weak for Grabovski. There is no indication on how good a prospect is on the table, but unless it is a very good prospect, with a ton of NHL upside, I don't think the offer is enough to get Burke to pull the trigger. If in fact Grabovski is to be traded before the trade deadline, he is likely to get a better offer in the next week and a half. Grabovski takes up a big role on Toronto's roster. He is slotted as the center of the second line, but is Toronto's best centre. He is the glue that holds the second line together, and on nights where Phil Kessel and the first line aren't getting it going, he is the go-to guy for coach Ron Wilson. If you take Grabovski out of the picture, there is going to be a big hole that no one currently in the organization can fill. Tim Connolly will likely take the spot on the second line if that is the case, but he has not been meeting the expectations the Maple Leafs thus far this season. If Grabovski does get traded, the Maple Leafs hopes of making the playoffs this season will be a far more difficult tast than it looks to be at the moment. He has a lot of chemistry with Clarke MacArthur and Nikolai Kulemin, and although Kulemin's numbers are down this season, the second line comprised of those three players is rather effective. In games this season when MacArthur has not played with Grabovski, his contributions to the team have declined rather significantly. If Grabovski goes, so does the chemistry of the second line, and so does a good portion of Toronto's secondary scoring. There are quite a few fans that don't mind if Grabovski goes because they claim that Joe Colborne will take his spot and succeed just as well. I don't think there is any indication that the Leafs will have Colborne on the second line at any point this season or even next season, unless his development accelerates rapidly. He is a good prospect, but not NHL-ready at this point in time, and is still a few years away from being an effective top six forward, if he even meets that goal at all. I believe Grabovski is looking around the five million dollar per season amount over a term of approximately five years, or so. One could argue that compared to other contracts around the league, and compared to similar contracts the Leafs have offered players, Grabovski is one of the most talented players for that price range. In my opinion, the only way Grabovski gets traded out of Toronto is if he no longer wants to play here, or if he is asking for too much money. That being said, there is no indication that Grabovski wants to leave Toronto, in fact he has stated many times that he wants to remain a Maple Leaf. As for his expected salary, I don't see Grabovski getting more than six million dollars per season in the free agent market, so it may be in his best interest to stay in Toronto for around five million per year. At the end of the day, I would be surprised if the Leafs traded Grabovski, due to a differing view during contractual negotiations. I believe both sides want to get the deal done and will make strong attempts to do so before the trade deadline. I also don't see Brian Burke accepting the best trade available when February 27th rolls around, however, if a team does offer him a trade that far exceeds his percieved value of Grabovski, I don't think he will hesitate to pull the trigger. As it stands now though, a prospect and a second round pick is not enough. Source

I agree that trading for Nash handcuffs the team given their current cap situation. They would need to find a way to get some money off the books. Find some team to trade their some of the 15 million that they are shelling out in overpaid, underachieving players. Komisarek - 4.5 Connolly - 4.75 Lombardi - 3.5 Armstrong - 3 All of these players are under bad contracts and can easily be replaced with players making a fraction of what they are and the team will be just as good, if not better. I don't know many teams with almost a quarter of their salary cap used on players that's they are afraid of playing more than 11 minutes a game, with the exception of Connolly.

the final straw was on a powerplay with 5 mins left last night and he was beside the offensive net and wouldnt take two strides to pressure the D man from clearing the rebound out of the zone. He just stood there. Can't handle it anymore. I'm all for giving guys the benefit of the doubt, but at least look like you're trying out there...

Rick Nash, #61, Columbus Blue Jacketsphoto: mapleleafs.com News broke on Tuesday that Rick Nash is willing to waive his no-trade clause to go to a short list of teams. Rick Nash is under contract until the end of the 2017-18 season. His cap hit is $7.8M per season. The list is suuposedly 5 teams or less, and as for Canadian teams, it has been reported that the Canucks, and the Leafs, are somewhat in the run. The problem for both teams is that they are right against the salary cap. The price the Blue Jackets have put on Rick Nash is 3 or 4 good young players. According to TSN, a deal that would move Nash to the Maple Leafs would invovle Jake Gardiner and another 2 or 3 good young players. The problem is that the Maple Leafs don't want to "mortgage their farm", or trade away all of the good young assets that they have drafted and acquired over the last few seasons.So, Maple Leafs General Manager, Brian Burke, must ask himself a few important questions. Are there sufficient players available on the Marlies that can jump up to the NHL level and play in an opening that might be created by trading for Nash? Will the Leafs have to trade away salary to have a manageable amount of cap space to make the trade? Is it worth it to trade away a handful of good young talent for Nash? The Leafs have played 19 different forwards this season. These include their usual starting line up, but also others in the Marlies. Such as Matt Frattin, Nazem Kadri, Joe Colborne. Jay Rosehill and Colby Armstrong have been a healthy scratch the last few games, and Philippe Dupuis is in the Marlies as well, but he wasn't much help to the Leafs when he was up here. The Leafs have also used eight defensemen this season. Including Phaneuf, Liles, Schenn, Gardiner, Gunnarsson, Franson, Komisarek and Aulie. They are very deep in defense as they also have Korbinian Holzer, Matt Lashoff, Jesse Blacker, and Simon Gysbers in the Marlies. Blacker is still very young, and not ready to be put into the NHL, but the other three might be able to pull it off. Lashoff has previous, although limited, NHL experience with the Leafs as well as with the Lightning and Brunis. The Leafs wont have to trade much to fit Nash under the cap for the remainder of this season. They will only need to shed a little over 1.8 million worth in a yearly salary. That is the equivilent of David Steckel and Mike Brown. Next year, however, they have to resign some quality UFAs and RFAs (such as Grabovski, Kulemin and Franson), and won't have enough space under the cap with Nash on the team unless they trade away a good chunk of salary. Toronto would likely have to get rid of the about 7 million dollars off their cap (almost equal to the $7.8M cap hit Rick Nash brings. We've established thats it's possible, but is it worth it? I'm not a big fan of trading away a lot of young players with potential for one player, but Rick Nash is only 27 years old and have plenty on NHL in front of him. He's the big skilled body that the Leafs are looking for that would fit in their top 3. I think it is possible, and it is worth is at the least have the depth to support the trade, and they've proved it with all the different players that jumped into the line-up due to all the injuries earlier in the season. So, how would you go about trading for Rick Nash? I would start with shopping Tim Connolly for anything. Connolly is a cap hit of $4.75M and hasn't shown much more than a guy like Matt Frattin, who makes a lot less money this year, and is an RFA next year. If the Leafs can get Tim Connolly off their books, it will already equal nearly 2/3rd the amount of salary needed to cover Rick Nash's salary. Tim Connolly is only signed through next season, so it is not a long-term gamble for any team considering taking on this salary. I'd say its proposterous that anyone would trade for Connolly, but the Habs traded for Gomez while he was in a terrible slump and in a much worse contract in New York. According to capgeek.com, Tim Connolly has a motified no-trade clause, but it does not elaborate anything beyond that. Assuming Jake Gardiner is a must, and Columbus wants another three good young players, is it not worth it for the Leafs to try to get this deal done? Let's say the asking price is Gardiner, Kulemin, Kadri and Colborne, is that too much to ask? What about Horbinian Holzer, Keith Aulie and Luke Schenn? Is Clarke MacArthur too old for Columbus to take him in a package deal? Brian Burke doesn't traditionally like to make any big deals at the trade deadline, he is known to make his trade weeks or months prior to the deadline. This year is going to be different though, because the Leafs are so tight to the salary cap, and as the trade deadline approaches, he will have a little more wiggle room. Brian Burke and his management staff will have a lot of decisions to make heading towards the trade deadline. Source

Tim Connolly #12, Toronto Maple LeafsPHOTO: mapleleafs.com So, the Leafs lost again, their fourth straight in regulation. Jonas Gustavsson was in net tonight, and although he let in 5 goals, he looked pretty good aside from a penalty shot goal against. Although, one could argue if Phaneuf didn't get lost on the play there wouldn't have been a penalty shot after all. Kiprusoff was the key to the Flames holding a 3-1 lead until late in the third period when the Flames added two more goals as the Leafs had pretty much given up. The lone goal scorer for Toronto was Tyler Bozak. Leafs defensive zone coverage was a disaster, the slot was open all night and the Flames were ripping them at the Monster from close range. The final score was 5-1 in favour of Calgary.After three straight loses and an injury to Gunnarsson, the Leafs had to juggle their lines heading into tonight. I don't disagree with the decision to juggle the lines, but I can't say the same for the players Ron Wilson decided to promote. Tim Connolly was jumped up to the second line, where he played the wing with Grabovski and MacArthur, and Mike Komisarek started the game on the first defensive unit with Dion Phaneuf. You would think with the salary spent on these two players, over nine million dollars per season combined, they would deserve their new assignments, but if you've watched many games this season its quite the opposite. In Komisarek's defense, he wasn't playing on the top defensive unit for long. He finished the game with over 15 minutes of ice time, second lowest of the six Leafs defenders. Mike Komisarek has a no movement clause, so unlike Jeff Finger, the Leafs can't bury him in the minors and take his salary off the cap. That being said, he clearly isn't capable of playing in the NHL. Toronto has to suck it up, eat the money, and put the best guys on the bench and on the ice. I would much rather see Keith Aulie or Korbinian Holzer playing. At least if they make a mistake, you can justify it in many ways that you can't for Komisarek. They're young, they don't make big money, they have a good future in front of them. Komisarek has none of those things going for him. And now, the main attraction, Tim Connolly. "Cheap man's Brad Richards", "Plan B", or as I like to call him, "useless". His lack of effort is sickening. I can't handle watching him coast around the ice and exerting no visible effort. Lately I've seen a "skating top speed" radar on TV broadcasts, they should do the same for Connolly to see how slow he's skating. He's a waste of talent, and he has quite a bit of it. He's has exceptional vision, and was supposed to be the top line center. He was supposed to be playmaking with Phil Kessel. Hard to imagine that as Kessel would be in the offensive zone and Connolly would still be at the defensive zone face-off dot, coasting up the ice. But hey, at least he doesn't make over seven million dollars a season, like Scott Gomez. I must say though, he is definitely in line to take over where Gomez left off when he scored a few days ago. If there's any justice in the Leafs organization, he should be benched until he comes out to play hockey. Nazem Kadri gets benched for rookie mistakes and lack of effort, yet Tim Connolly, a veteran in the NHL, gets promoted to the second line to play like crap... He's junk, wasted money, teach him a lesson and bench him! It's nice to see the fourth line work their ass off and average around nine minutes of ice time a game. I wonder what Darrly Boyce thinks to himself while he's warming the bench watching Connolly glide around offering no help in the defensive zone, let alone the offensive zone. Boyce and Brown go hard on the forecheck, cycling the puck and finishing their checks and they get minimal ice time. Ron Wilson needs to start rewarding effort and benching players who aren't trying. By letting Connolly play 16 minutes, including power play ice time, you send a message that you tolerate lazy players with no drive to compete. You're looking to discourage that type of play, but your action are in turn encouraging it. If Wilson can't get these guys going, then its about time Wilson gets going. The Leafs are in Edmonton tomorrow night. A fifth straight loss will cripple their playoff aspirations. The Leafs have thus far been lucky that Capitals, who trail the Leafs for that last playoff spot, are in a losing slump as well. The Maple Leafs are the only team in the top eight in the Eastern Conference with a losing road record (12-14-2). They need to get things in the right direction tomorrow with a win over the Oilers. Source

Carl Gunnarsson celebrates with Jake GardinerPHOTO: mapleleafs.com Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Carl Gunnarsson left practice this morning after suffering an injury due to a collision with Jay Rosehill. It's sad enough that Jay Rosehill gets to practice with the team and collect an NHL salary, but now he could be on the bad side of many Leaf fans if in fact Gunnarsson is out for a substantial period of time. Apparently Rosehill and Gunnarsson collided during practice and Gunnarsson was helped off the ice. He seems to have injured his leg and Ron Wilson suggested that "an image" would need to be taken and reviewed before the team can correctly evaluate the injury. It sounds like he's definitely going to miss some time, but hopefully its not a long-term injury. Despite the fact that the Leafs have quite a bit of depth on defense, they have some big shoes to fill. Gunnarsson has arguable been the Leafs best defenseman this season. He's a steady defender, who also has some offensive flare. Any replacement the Leafs put into the line-up will not be as good as Gunnarsson has been this season. Mike Komisarek, who has been a healthy scratch for the last handful of games, will likely return to the line-up if Gunnarsson misses time. Next in the depth charts is probably Keith Aulie, but I would like to see the Leafs call up Korbinian Holzer to actually play a game or two so we can truly evaluate him in an NHL setting. There has been a lot of talk that Holzer is "NHL ready", but he has yet to play in a game this season despite being called up several times. On the heels of a three-game losing streak, things aren't looking good for the Leafs, but they have to simply play through their injuries, like every other team in the league. The teams playoff hopes have fallen from near certainty to being on par with the others fighting for a spot. Toronto needs to win tomorrow night and get at least 4 points in their next three games. They are currently on a three-game road trip against western Canadian teams with a few days off between Wednesday and Saturday's games, but the schedule doesn't get any easier for them down the stretch. There are few rest days and the Leafs have back-to-back games six more before the end of the season. The Leafs also have big games against the teams they've been fighting for a playoff spot with. They play the Florida Panthers, Washington Capitals, and New Jersey Devils twice each. They also have one more game against the Ottawa Senators. Two regulation wins against either of those teams might be enough to bury one of them by the end of the season. The Leafs (28-22-6) are in Calgary tomorrow night as they play the Flames (26-22-8). Puck drop is at 9pm EST. Source

After a good week of hockey where the Leafs won all three of their games from last Wednesday to this past Monday, the Leafs have struggled badly. They most certainly are making the playoff race interesting, but not in a good way if you're a Leaf fan. They have lost their last three games and have played progressively worse in each game. It was Mats Sundin's night tonight. His jersey number 13 was honoured and raised into the rafters accompanied by ceremony where Sundin would be cheered for the majority of the 20 minutes of his speech. That was about all the cheering the Leafs would get as the next three segments of 20 minutes would be filled with boos from the stands. The Leafs were flat again tonight. Reimer let in two questionable goals, one through the five-hole and another that fluttered between his arm and squeaked into the back of the net. Luke Schenn attempted to stick handle the puck in the defensive zone, which is usually not a good idea, and turned it over to Montreal for another goal. Dion Phaneuf let Lars Eller walk around him for the fourth goal and Reimers night was done. Gustavsson would come in the third period and would let a goal in on his first shot against, which was a breakaway for Montreal. Along with their terrible performance was a lack of luck for the Leafs. They hit a couple of goal posts including one where Kulemin hit both posts and the puck rolled along the crease. This was definitely a game to forget for the Leafs. On the plus side though, the fourth line played very well. They were extra physical, and even at the end of the game Mike Brown went after PK Subban, who was jousting with Kessel earlier in the period. Brown took a minor penalty, but at that point the game was over and it was good Brown to stick up for his teammate. As bad as the Leafs played today, they deserve better goaltending. I don't care how bad your defense is playing, your goalie has to not let in bad goals, and most goalies for a playoff team will make some big saves on plays that should've been goals. Reimer was simply not good today. Not good at all. The Leafs thought their goaltending problems were over last week when Reimer came back getting two shutouts and playing solid, but since he has shown a lack of consistency. But its tough to thrown Reimer under the bus without a few friends. No reason he should be lonely down there because Phaneuf, Schenn, Connolly and many other, if not all, Leaf players looked bad today. Brown and Boyce may have been the only exceptions as they played hard, finished their checks, and pressured on the forecheck all game long. The Capitals didn't play tonight, so for now the Leafs still hold the eighth and final playoff spot, but they will need to shape their game up because the Caps have two games at hand on Toronto. With 26 games left in the season there isn't much time left for playing like they did this week. Toronto needs to go hard down the stretch. Toronto gets back at it on Tuesday as they start a western Canadian road trip in Calgary. Then they head into Edmonton on Tuesday and Vancouver next Saturday night.

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The NHL made it official yesterday. The Winter Classic for next year would be in Detroit at Michigan Stadium, which is more commonly known as the Big House. The Leafs would visit the Red Wings in front of over 110, 000 fans. This isn't big news as this was a poorly kept secret, the rumours had been around for nearly a month. Assuming HBO does a 24/7 series on the event, like they have in the past, it will be a very exciting month leading up to the Winter Classic. Two Original Six rivals will be going at it in front of an NHL record breaking audience. Leafs GM Brian Burke said, "It's Hockeytown against the center of the hockey universe", when describing the event. The Winter Classic is expected to break the NHL record for largest attendance at a single game, but there are also plans for a series of events to build up to the game around the city. Rather than calling the entire plan the "Winter Classic" its being dubbed the "Hockeytown Winter Festival". The Winter Festival is set to include far more than the outdoor game between the Leafs and the Red Wings. As per tradition there will be an alumni game played at Comerica Park, but there is expected to be far more. The Great Lakes Invitational, which is a tournament of Michigans four college teams, is also to occur during the weeks leading up to the outdoor game. There is also going to be an AHL match-up between the Maple Leafs affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, and the Red Wings affiliate, the Grand Rapid Griffins. Two OHL games, high school games, youth hockey games, and public-skating sessions are also to be arranged at Comerica Park. Lets not forget about HBO's 24/7 series. A series of four episodes that shows footage of what really happens behind closed doors with these two teams. This will be the first 24/7 series showcasing the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs fan base is a very off-the-wall fan base. It seems everyone thinks they're a better GM or coach or player than the ones currently employed. Brian Burke and Ron Wilson are criticized after every game, lose or win. In the past, these rather opinionated, and often uneducated, fans would call in on radio shows and voice their thoughts. As technology advances, avenues such as twitter give an open shot to everyone to say speak their mind, regardless of how vulgar or indecent their thoughts are. It's sad when someone creates a twitter account solely for the purpose of retweeting the stupid things that other people tweet to Brian Burke. If you want a good laugh and you're a twitter user you should follow @AskBrianBurke. The reason I decided to bring this up is because the 24/7 series will show an in-depth look at how Brian Burke works, and how Ron Wilson and his assistant coaches run the team. There are a ton of people that say the Leafs should have fired Wilson, but they have never seen the team in practise. They have never seen what he tells the team to do, and how the players react to him. A coach loses his job when the players stop playing for him, when they don't try because they're fed up, and once the team stops listening to the coach, there's no reason for him to be there. There's no evidence that the Leafs have ever stopped playing for Ron Wilson, and based on what I have picked up from interview of both the coach and the players, the relationship seems to be a very strong one. That being said, I could be completely wrong. The point is that I just dont know, and neither do most people. That is why it will be interesting to watch the 24/7 series and get a look at how Ron Wilson chooses to coach the team and on where the respect level is for both him and the players. The bad news is that all this news broke almost a calendar year before the event is set to take place. So everyone just needs to sit tight in anticipation for the next few months... Source

lol obvious omission... decided to leave that out. like statistics.... THIS TEAM has won 9 of their last 11 games! - but they lost 6 in a row before then.... ..... nobody needs to know... plus who says hamilton turns out to be something.... if hamilton and knight turn out then compare, but right now you're comparing seguin and kessel and thats a pretty fair trade off most nights...

Name: Brian Burke Trades Category: Maple Leafs Date Added: Feb 10, 2012 - 12:54 PM Submitter: TMLsHockeyBlog Short Description: Will he make another approaching the deadline? Here's a secret look at some of his trade tactics View this video and 100s of others in the Hockey Video Section

Flyers beat the Leafs 4-3PHOTO: mapleleafs.com The Maple Leafs schedule is starting to get the better of them. The team suffered its second consecutive loss after playing their third game in four nights. Things dont get better for Toronto as they have very few rest days over the next handful of games. The Leafs came out really flat in the first period and for the most part James Reimer held the Leafs in it until Hartnell batted a bouncing puck out of the air and through Reimers legs. The Leafs would answer back several times in the game, but ultimately lose 4-3. Tyler Bozak had a very strong game, he scored twice for the Leafs in the losing effort. Toronto picked up their game at some points through the second and third periods but ultimately made one too many mistakes in front of James Reimer tonight. When you're playing a quality team like the Flyers, you cannot make as many mistakes as the Leafs did, but you could somewhat justify it with the packed schedule and players being tired. James Reimer played well again tonight. Unfortunately some crazy bounces and redirected shots made their way behind him asides from Claude Giroux sniping one into the top corner after a giveaway and bad defensive zone coverage. What I liked about the two loses is that the team didn't stop competing. Sure, they came out flat and didn't really play a good game in either of the loses, but they gave it their all until the final whistle. You can tell that this team really wants to make a playoff run and doesn't take losing lightly. The worst news came after the Leafs game had finished. All the teams who played today that are around Toronto in the playoff race earned at least a point. The Capitals gave up a late lead on a bad goal from a shot taken by Bogozian from outside the blueline and would lose in a shootout. The Devils would also lose in the shootout to the Blues. Ottawa and Florida won their respective games in regulation. At the end of the day the Leafs drop to eighth spot as the Sens jump them, but the Sens have played two more games than the Leafs. The win for the Panthers put them back in third and send the Caps to ninth, but the Caps have a game at hand over the Leafs. The Leafs play the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night in Toronto. Toronto is a much better team at home and hope to get back to the win column as the playoff race intensifies. Source

 Gustavsson lets in a soft goal vs the JetsPHOTO: mapleleafs.com  After Kessel opened the scoring to give the Leafs an early one goal lead, a familiar face came to see the Maple Leafs in their efforts against Winnipeg tonight. It was another really bad goal against due to goaltending that simply isn't up to the task. Jonas Gustavsson lets a really soft backhand from a near impossible angle get by him and the Jets would tie the game. Winnipeg would later score again to make it 2-1 and held the lead through the rest of the game. For it being the second game in back to back nights, the Leafs put together a very honest effort. The team as a whole worked hard throughout the game, and maybe didn't deserve to win, but at the very least it should have been a tie game through regulation. The Leafs were hesitant to shoot the puck, often electing to make one more pass for the perfect goal that just didn't materialize. That being said, they didn't deserve the fate they walked away with tonight.Up until James Reimer took back the number one starter job in the last few weeks, those watching the Maple Leafs were all ready to watch an awful goal make it's way into the net behind a blue and white jersey. Joe Bowen's excited voice saying "he would like that one back" would ring in my ears game after game. I had almost forgotten the feeling altogether for the past few weeks as Reimer backstopped the Leafs to a few wins with some very steady goaltending. Coming off a six game streak where they went 5-0-1, it was almost inevitable that the Leafs were going to struggle to get any points in tonight's game. I will consistently reiterate that I don't think Gustavsson is a terrible goalie, he does make some big saves every game, but the fact that he lets in an absolutely terrible goal almost every single game is unacceptable. He will not be the goalie that will take the Leafs into the playoffs or beyond as the year progresses. I would expect him to get only a handful of starts from here to the end of the season as the Leafs battle for the post-season. The only good news around the East for the Leafs is that the Senators lost again against the St.Louis Blues. The Devils beat the Rangers 1-0, the Penguins lost in a shootout but managed a point. Washington played Florida, so from a Leafs perspective as long as that game didn't go into overtime they'd be fine, and the Capitals beat the Panthers 4-0. So the Leafs still hold the 7th spot with one point over the Senators and two games at hand. The Panthers drop to 9th as the Caps take the division lead, but the Panthers have only played 52 games, two less than Toronto and four less than Ottawa. Source

Reimer making one of his 49 saves tonight en route tohis second consecutive shut out PHOTO: mapleleafs.com James Reimer had a spectacular game tonight as he recorded 49 saves for his second shut out in as many games. In his last two starts he has stopped all of the 74 shots against and likely has taken back his position as starting goaltender for the Maple Leafs. The Leafs picked up an easy 5-0 Victory over the Ottawa Senators, who have really fallen off the map lately. Phil Kessel and Tyler Bozak each picked up a goal and two assists, while the back end pitched in for the other three goals. Dion Phaneuf, Luke Schenn, and Cody Franson all scored as well tonight. The 5-0 win for the Maple Leafs caps off their fourth win since losing to Montreal two weeks ago. The Leafs only loss was in overtime on Tuesday after a late game collapse versus the Penguins. So they have 9 of a possible 10 points in their last five games. The 5-0 loss is terrible news for the Sens, it extends their losing streak to 6 games. They have recorded just one point of a possible 12 in their last six games. Ottawa does have a 3 point cushion on the 9th place Washington Capitals, but the Capitals have four games at hand. If the Sens don't change things soon, they could find themselves on the wrong side of a playoff race rather quickly.Reimer struggled earlier this season after returning from an neck injury, or as the doc calls it "not a concussion", and found himself on the bench for a good chunk of last month. He was given his an opportunity to take back his crease in two important games to close out this week. One against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night, and again tonight when the Leafs squared off with the Senators. He was perfect in both games and with the two victories the Leafs has jumped up to 60 points, eight games above .500. For the Leafs to finish with 93 points on the season, a number many suggest will be necessary to make the playoffs, they will only need to go 11 games above .500, only 3 games above .500 for the rest of the season. If you pro-rate the current Leafs winning percentage over an 82 game season they are on pace for almost 95 points. The other good news is that finally the Leafs injury problems are behind them, at least for now. The last of the injured players, Liles and Armstrong, returned to action earlier this week. James Reimer returned earlier this season, but didn't seem like his old self. He was written off by many who exulted Gustavsson and crowned him the Leafs' savior. But tonight Reimer gave those critics something to reconsider. He was great last year down the stretch and the Leafs were hoping for much of the same this season and although things haven't quite gone as planned for both the Leafs or Reimer, they look to be making a turn for the better. Reimer's excellent performance tonight is hopefully a sign of things to come in the next few months. His play showed that he is not only capable of being steady enough to get wins for the Leafs, but good enough that he can steal a game for the team as well. Granted, it has only been two games and that isn't a good enough sample size to take to the bank, but its a really good place to start. The Leafs have a busy few weeks ahead of them. They have four games in six nights next week. Monday they host the Edmonton Oilers, Tuesday it's Winnipeg on the road, Thursday they head into Philadelphia and Saturday they come back home to welcome Montreal. Then, after two nights of rest, they will be embarking on a western Canadian road-trip that starts with back to back games in Calgary and Edmonton and ends in Vancouver on the 18th of February. Of those seven games, only two of them are against opponents with a better record than the Leafs, the Flyers and the Canucks.Source

Cody Franson #4 - Toronto Maple LeafsPHOTO: mapleleafs.com When the Leafs traded Slaney and Lebda for Franson and Lombardi everyone thought the key to the deal was Franson. The Leafs would take on the extra salary from Lombardi but in exchange Nashville had to give up a good young defenseman. Cody Franson, who is 24 years old, had 29 points in 80 regular season games, and six points in 12 playoff games last season. The Leafs weren't just getting a prospect in return, but an NHL ready defenseman who makes a mere 800k this season. Everything seemed to be going well until the season started and Cody Franson found himself a healthy scratch. On top of that, he publicly made known he felt that he deserved to play on a regular basis for the Leafs. This caused a bit of controversy, and suddenly things didn't seem as bright as they were in the off-season, which is when the Leafs made the trade.Franson would be patient over the next half a dozen games or so until he finally got a shot to play, but he didn't look all that impressive and was in and out of the line-up until Toronto suffered some injuries on the back end. As Franson continued to play more he became more steady in the defensive zone, cutting out those little mistakes that a coach hates, and he showed his offensive skills as well. Franson has a really hard shot, but also knows when to take a softer shot and get it through the traffic on the net. Leafs defenseman have struggled many times with actually getting a shot on the net, often times they shoot the hardest slap shot they can muster and the puck sails over the net or wide of the post. Franson has somewhat cemented his role on the team. He usually gets powerplay time on the second unit, and has seen his production grow this season. Through 36 games he has three goals and 11 assists for 14 points. Those stats are respectable, but not great, until you do some further research. And I took two key points to research how his offensive numbers could be in the elite class of players this season. The first is the amount of games he didn't play due to being a health scratch behind players that many consider him to be superior to, and the second is his ice time per game. Firstly, if Cody Franson had played all 51 games for the Leafs this season, he would have 20 points thus far and be on pace for over 30 points by the end of this season. Secondly, this season Cody Franson had played on average 16 minutes and 13 seconds per game, which is the least of any defenseman that has dressed for the Leafs. Hypothetically speaking, if Cody Franson played about 21 minutes per game, which is a respectable amount for most defenseman, his production would increase even more. Franson has played roughly 583 minutes this year (16m 13s x 36 games). If you divide that number by the amount of points he has, which is 14, you would get 41.7. This number represents the average amount of time he plays in comparison which each point he gets. So, if Franson wasn't scratched earlier this season, and plays 21 minutes a game, he would be in the top 20 in points by a defenseman thus far in the season, and he would be on pace for over 40 points by April.Now, I'm not saying Franson is getting the raw end of the deal here, and these above hypothetical stats are all based on "what ifs" which probably wont occur, but one has to wonder... I was just as unhappy with Franson's play early in the season as Ron Wilson was, and although I wouldn't go as far as justifying playing Mike Komisarek over him every game, I didn't mind the coach's decision to sit Franson. Since then, however, he has proven that he deserves to be a regular in the line-up. Now you're probably annoyed of reading hypothetical stats and how he played last season and blah, blah, blah. So, where am I going with all of this? Well, with all the talk in Toronto being about Mikhail Grabovski and his contract expiring this off-season, little has been mentioned that Cody Franson's contract is ending as well. Other players with expiring contracts include: Nikolai Kulemin, Joey Crabb, Darryl Boyce, Jay Rosehill and Jonas Gustavsson. Below is a chart of Toronto's pending unrestricted and restricted free agents. The Leafs already have over 51 million dollars in player salaries tied up for next season. That 51 million includes nine forwards, six defenseman, one goaltender, and the one million dollars they are still paying for buying out Darcy Tucker. There really isn't much room for signing the key players with expiring contacts, who in my opinion are Grabovski, Kulemin, Franson, and Crabb, let alone improving the team going forward. Brian Burke and his team will have to crunch numbers and find out exactly what the plan for next season is. If the Leafs are unable to unload some of their currently signed over-priced players, such as Tim Connolly, Matthew Lombardi, and Mike Komisarek, they may have to trade someone with an expiring contract before the deadline, or let them go to free agency. Grabovski, Kulemin and Franson would likely be getting the most interest. I would assume Grabovski would sign for between 4-6 million a season for a five year term, and Kulemin would sign for a similar contract as the one he currently has, which is between 2-3 million a year. But where does Cody Franson fit? It's hard to say at this point of the season how much Franson would ask for next season, but it could be anywhere from 2-3.5 million a season. Obviously anything over three million sounds like it's coming out of left field, but if Franson is still unhappy with the amount of ice time he is getting and his state with the team overall, he may push it a bit. You can couple this with the fact that Luke Schenn is making 3.6 million this season and you could argue that Franson has been the better and more consistent of the two. That being said, I don't see him signing for much more than 2 million dollars, but you have to consider every angle. So comes the decision to trade Franson at the trade deadline later this month, re-sign him in the off-season, or if he doesn't want to re-sign for a price the Leafs are comfortable paying given their cap situation, trade his rights as a restricted free agent in the off-season. If the Leafs will end up trading him they would want to do so at the deadline as opposed to in the off-season as his value will be much higher at the deadline. That being said, the Leafs are in a playoff push and trading Franson may hurt their chances at the post season and beyond. I'm not sure what teams are offering for Cody Franson, or if Brian Burke is getting any calls at all about him. In my opinion if the Leafs decide to trade Franson, rather than trading him for a pick (likely a second or third rounder) or a prospect, the Leafs would be better off trading him as part of a bigger trade for a top 6 forward they have been looking for. Either way Brian Burke and his management staff have some decisions to make.Source

James Reimer celebrates after a shutout victory overthe Pittsburgh Penguins PHOTO: mapleleafs.com After a humiliating defeat to the Penguins two nights ago, where the Leafs blew a three-goal lead in half a period, the Leafs started James Reimer last night. The game was rather dull compared to Tuesday night, but there were more than a few good points to take from it. The most important being that the Leafs jumped to 7th spot in the East with 58 points. Also, Clarke MacArthur, who has seen his role increase since being put back on the second line with Grabovski and Kulemin, is back to putting up the type of number he did last year. MacArthur scored the lone goal in this game last night as he deked around Johnson and slid the puck into an open net.John-Michael Liles and Colby Armstrong returned to action last night. The Leafs send Nazem Kadri and Keith Aulie down to the Toronto Marlies in order to free up roster spots for the two returning players. Both played exceptionally well, given their respective roles in the line-up, it looked as if neither had missed a single game. James Reimer was perfect last night as he stopped all 25 shots thrown his way by Pittsburgh. Granted, he did get a little help from the goal posts and crossbar on more than one occasion, but he settled into the game rather quickly and was steady as the game progressed. He recorded his second shutout of the season and held the one goal lead for the Leafs. I've mentioned before that in order for the Leafs to have success down the stretch this season, they need to be playing with James Reimer in net. He is the better goaltender, period. This is not to knock on Jonas Gustavsson, who played well when given the opportunity, but he is not a number one goalie in any organization at the moment. Reimer was a bit out of sorts in the first few minutes of the game last night, which is expected for a goalie that has barely played in nearly a month, but he managed to settle down quickly and make all the important saves. That's the difference between him and Gustavsson. Jonas Gustavsson is prone to letting in that one bad goal each game and no matter how many miraculous saves you make, once you let in that bad goal you deflate your team and usually lose the game. I'm interested to see who Ron Wilson will choose to start in net on Saturday night when the Leafs play the Senators. It's a very important game for Toronto as Ottawa is just four points ahead of them in the standings but have played two more games than the Leafs at this point, and will have played three more games by Saturday. The Senators are currently on a four game losing streak. There were two other games in the Eastern conference last night. The Rangers beat the Sabres in a shootout after going 65 minutes without either team scoring a goal. The Panthers also edged the Capitals by a score of 4-2. Michal Neuvirth really struggled as he let in two goals from long range, one that was from just inside the center ice line and another that was just inside the offensive blue line. There are only five teams in the Eastern Conference with more goals for than goals against, and the Leafs are one of them. This really isn't a very useful stat, but the old saying goes "it's hard to win games when you don't score" or in this case when you're being outscored. The Panthers are -12, the Senators are -4, the Devils are -6, and the Capitals are -4. Only a handful of teams have made it into the playoffs with a negative goal differential in recent years, so if the Leafs can keep their pace going the future looks bright. Source

Grabovski has been red-hot for the Leafs in January,but despite his efforts the Leafs lose in Pittsburgh PHOTO: mapleleafs.com The title could also be "Leafs blow a three-goal lead with half a period to go", either way works. The Leafs started off with all the energy tonight as the Penguins were flat for probably 55 of the 65 (overtime included) minutes of play. Tyler Bozak scores a goal just a few minutes into the game which is disallowed by the referee because he deemed goaltender interference. As the replays would show, however, Michalek bumped into his own goalie and goal should have counted. The refs call on the ice stands and the game is still 0-0. The Leafs would continue pressing well into the second period until Dion Phaneuf would pinch and find Mikhail Grabovski for the first goal of the game. Grabovski has been red-hot lately for the Leafs and he continued to put up the big numbers again tonight. He would score his second on the night with a beautiful shot through traffic into the top corner for a 2-0 lead. Matt Cooke would redirect the puck pass Gustavsson to cut the lead in half before the end of the second period.Then Penguins had picked up their game late in the second period and the Leafs needed to come out strong for the last 20 minutes to secure the victory. Quite a bit of back-and-forth hockey was played in the third period, showcasing Marc-Andre Fleury with some spectacular saves. Tyler Bozak would blast one past him on the powerplay six minutes into the period and 19 seconds later MacArthur would score on a beautiful feed from Grabovski. The Leafs now led the game 4-1 with just over 13 minutes remaining, almost sure they'd had a victory. Two minutes later Jake Gardiner fell at the blue line and Steve Sullivan came roaring down the wing and beat Gustavsson with a slapshot over the glove. Then with five minutes left in regulation, Gustavsson tried smothering a loose puck, missed it, and Vitale put it into the net and the Pens were back within one. With just twenty seconds left Grabovski frantically worked the puck to the center ice where it was thrown back towards the blue line by the Penguins. The pass was taken inside the blue line while Pittsburgh players were off-side and the play should have been blown, but wasn't. The play would continue and James Neal would shoot one on net which hit Malkin in the leg before going in with just six seconds left in the third period. The overtime would show us no change on the scoreboard despite many quality chances from both sides. The game went into a shootout where Evgeni Malkin completed the comeback with the lone goal in the shootout. The Leafs give up a three-point swing against a team they're chasing for a playoff spot. Instead of getting two for a win and the Penguins getting nothing, the Leafs only got one point and Pittsburgh got two. The blame can be placed somewhat on Jonas Gustavsson who let in a terrible third goal. The second Penguins goal wasn't too nice either. But then again if you're follow the Maple Leafs game after game you should be expecting the goalie, regardless of whether its Reimer or Gustavsson, to let in a terrible goal or two. Another good portion of the loss can be blame on really inconsistent refereeing. Take a look around the NHL on any given night and you will find far too much questionable refereeing. "It's a fast game" is not an excuse for terrible call after terrible call. If the refs cannot keep track enough to make the right calls then video review needs to be expanded to overruling referee's decisions that lead to a goal. Giving the coach the ability to challenge a play could have been used for either the waved off first goal, or the off-side that led to the tying goal by the Penguins and the Leafs would have won the game in regulation. If I had a nickel for every absolutely terrible call made by referees this season, not just the slightly bad ones but the absolutely terrible ones, I think I could purchase the majority of the Phoenix Coyotes. There have been so many inconsistencies. The Maple Leafs went the entire month of January with only 17 penalty calls against them. Although part of that is due to more disiplined play, a larger chunk is due to the referees simply not making the calls on several plays. I'm completely unbiased with my view of the referees, because frankly they have been terrible many times in favour of Toronto. But the lack of consistency, the straight-up missed or wrong calls, and the fact that the NHL hasn't let video review override certain decisions or provided a challenge option to the teams, is simply frustrating. There must be a solution to the problem. There must be something better than having to deal with the fact that a terrible call is going to be made twice a night. A terrible call that may cost your team the win, or one that might give you the win on a silver platter. I can't understand how the referees are allowed to gather and converse over a delay of game penalty, yet they can't, or choose not to, over a goaltender interference play, or a high-stick play, or an off-side play that leads to a goal. Mikhail Grabovski was once again the best player on the ice, he scored twice and added an assist tonight. Tyler Bozak also played a good game. For most of the first and second periods he was skating hard, creating chances and making good plays in all three zones. I would expect James Reimer to get the call in net in tomorrow nights rematch. Reimer hasn't played much lately as Gustavsson has taken the starting job, but in my opinion Reimer is the better goalie. He needs to play a near perfect game tomorrow to gain an opportunity to take back the starting job for the Leafs. If the Leafs make the playoff it will either be because of Reimer's solid play in net or it will be despite Jonas Gustavsson's on-and-off play in net. There is some good news behind the blown lead for the Leafs. The Boston Bruins rattled back three unanswered goals to beat the Ottawa Senators 4-3 in regulation. The winning goal for Boston was taken from center ice as Anderson simply missed the slap shot that was dumped on goal. The Washington Capitals would also lose 4-3 in a shootout against the Tampa Bay Lightning. On the flip side, The New Jersey Devils beat the New York Rangers 4-3 in a shootout and the Winnipeg Jets beat the Philidelphia Flyers 2-1 in a shootout. At the end of the day the Leafs jump into the eight and final spot in the East, but only because the Florida Panthers didn't play. The Senators sit at 60 points in 53 games, the Devils have 57 points in 49 games, the Capitals have 56 points in 49 games, and the Maple Leafs have 56 points in 50 games. From the outside looking in are the Panthers with 58 points in 49 games and the Jets have 52 points in 51 games. The Leafs are back in action Wednesday night with the Penguins, however, this time the game is in Toronto. Then they play the struggling Ottawa Senators on Saturday night in Ottawa. Source

So we all watch the All-Star weekend, but if you're like me, chances are you walk away from it asking yourself why you wasted all that time. I say that to myself year after year and yet I still get sucked into watching everything, from the fantasy draft all the way to the All-Star game, which looks like a game of gym hockey sometimes. I'm not completely ripping the All-Star weekend, but someone definitely needs to cut the fat. FANTASY DRAFT The All-Star fantasy draft was a decent idea, but the execution of it is terrible. First off we have James Duthie hosting the show and attempting to make jokes that aren't remotely funny for an hour and a half. I have nothing against James Duthie, I think he's done well for TSN, but the only time I laughed all night was when he said the giant key could be for Chara's car, and even then it wasn't much of a laugh. The fantasy draft also didn't begin for about 20 minutes. In that time we saw a few clips of James Duthie and what seemed like a million commercial breaks. We get it, the entire all-star weekend is a cash grab, just please don't throw it in our faces. By about the third round of draft pics I was completely out of the loop. I have no idea who was drafted or when, I spent all my energy waiting for a decent camera angle of those two blonde girls bringing out the jerseys. Don't get me started on all the boring player interviews, I don't think there's ever been a room of people that shy with a microphone being forced into one face after another. James Duthie asking Tim Thomas about the Obama stuff was really not the brightest thing to do either. SOLUTION TO ALL-STAR FANTASY DRAFT They should cut the length of the program to 30 minutes instead of 90 minutes. Nobody wants to sit through the entire thing. Either that or replace some of the commercial breaks with decent camera shots of the jersey girls. I mean it's all about trying to make extra money anyways, right? A little sex appeal never hurt anyone. SKILLS COMPETITION Was it really necessary to see an endless amount of shooters in the shootout? Thank God Carey Price had a mic, he was the only saving grace for the entire program. They should really just have the actual skills and not the rest of the crap in the competition. It's all fun and games watching Patrick Kane slide stomach-first on the ice throwing the puck around with his glove, but really how long can you milk that for? The rest of the shootout attempts were boring, some even terrible. If people want to see some creative shootouts, the NHL and CBC would be better off just showing clips of Kyle Wellwood doing shootout attempts in practise. SOLUTION First off, can someone please get Glenn Healy out of there. I cannot stress this enough... How about we actually have skills in the skills competition. More events like the hardest shot and most accurate etc. I really don't want to watch Carey Price make a save facing the glass, although that was the probably the most entertaining part of the shootout competition. ALL-STAR GAME Is there any way of making the game itself actually competitive? Understandably nobody wants to get injured so there isn't much hitting and such, but if I want to watch a full game lacking effort or contact I'll watch a Habs game... Maybe we can give the players some incentive for winning... Maybe the players on the winning team all get a car, preferably something nicer on the eyes then Honda's odd looking station wagon. I'll give them credit though, the front end of the car looks really nice, so if you plan on running over someone, they'll think you have a pretty nice ride. I don't really have any ideas for a solution to this one, but surely someone somewhere on the Earth can think of a way to make this entertaining. Someone get Shanahan on it, he clearly isn't doing any better with administering suspensions. It's been the same inconsistencies year after year. Maybe next year they'll consider twice before suspending Ovechkin for three games for a boarding hit and letting Milan Lucic off with a warning for running over Ryan Miller. If Lucic was a Honda Crossover though, you see where I'm going with this? Maybe Miller wouldn't have been so pissed... FINAL VERDICT Is anyone actually reading as I ramble on? I would like to hope not, but then again this just proves that the NHL doesn't have to do anything with the All-Star weekend. Some people, myself included, are just way into hockey... Normally thats a good thing, until you realize you wasted half a dozen of hours on the All-Star weekend. Now you feel ripped off... Oh well... Source

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Liles defending against the CapitalsPHOTO: mapleleafs.com John-Michael Liles signed a deal with the Maple Leafs where he would make 3.875M per year for the next four seasons. Shortly after hearing the news today, I learned something new. Apparently 30 is the new 50 and somehow I never noticed. There's a lot of backlash with Leafs fans about signing Liles to a four-year extension. Liles is 31 years old and so when his contract ends he will be 35. Apparently that's far too old for many Leafs fans (yeah, cause you wouldn't all kill to have Lidstrom in a Leafs uniform). Not to say that's a fair comparison, but that's why Liles signed to under 4 million dollars.The Leafs are one of the youngest teams in the NHL, with an average age of about 26 years. Contrast that with the model hockey franchise, the Detroit Red Wings, who are over 29 years. Why so many fans are upset about signing a player in his 30's to less money than he made this year, when he was already being underpaid in my opinion, is beyond me. Great signing on Brian Burke's part as well as the rest of the Leafs management. I gathered a list of NHL players who are older than Liles and would have a larger cap hit next season. Those players include: Brian Campbell - 32 years old - 7.14M until 2016 Zdeno Chara - 34 years old - 6.91M until 2017, 4M cap hit in 2018 Dan Boyle - 35 years old - 6.66M until 2014 Wade Redden - 34 years old - 6.5M until 2014 Kimmo Timonen - 36 years old - 6.33M until 2013 Andrei Markov - 33 years old - 5.75M until 2014 Lubomir Visnovski - 35 years old - 5.6M until 2013 Sergei Gonchar - 37 years old - 5.5M until 2013 Tomas Kaberle - 33 years old - 4.25M until 2014 Ed Jovanovski - 35 years old - 4.125M until 2015 Mark Streit - 34 years old - 4.1M until 2013 Robyn Regehr - 31 years old - 4.02M until 2013 Marek Zidlicky - 34 years old - 4M until 2013 There are only a couple of these players I'd rather have on my team and they have twice the cap hit Liles will have next season. Now there is a valid argument that at this point, if the salary cap doesn't change for next season, the Leafs will have just over 11M cap space next season. Aulie, Franson, Rosehill and Kulemin are all RFAs. Grabovski, Crabb, Boyce, and Gustavsson are all UFAs. It seems there's barely enough money to sign the key players for next season, and if that happens the Leafs will be the same team next year as they are this year. The flaw in the argument is that one would assume the Leafs wont make a trade or buy out a contract or do something to free up any extra cap space they need. By some peoples logic you should not sign one of your best players because other under-performing players are on your team taking up all the cap. Sounds pretty stupid to me. Liles is a great puck moving defenseman. We've seen the difference in the Toronto's powerplay when he is in the line-up as opposed to when he's not. He's not a defensive liability like many other powerplay specialists in the league. He brings experience to a very young team, he's a hard-worker, he leads by example on the ice and he's a leader in the dressing room... Any GM that wouldn't sign him is a fool and should be locked up in a room with John Ferguson Jr. Source