A year ago, the thought of playing the Buffalo Sabres in Buffalo would have given me cold sweats. The Leafs have had a shitload of difficulty winning in Buffalo for as long as I can remember - even when Buffalo was a terrible team. This year - previous loss in Buffalo aside - I'm OK with it.
Buffalo is a struggling team, and look nothing like the dominant team they've been the past two seasons. Their 6-7-1 record is almost identical to the Leafs' 6-7-3 record. So, don't bury the Leafs yet.
With the return of Darcy Tucker and Bryan McCabe, the Leafs' powerplay will be considerably different than it has been. The projected #1 unit is the one we saw dominate (5th in the league until injuries hit) last year - Sundin, Wellwood, Tucker, Kaberle, McCabe. This likely means a #2 unit of Antropov, Poni, and Blake, with Kubina and White/Bell on the point. Yeah, that's right - Mark Bell. His slapshot is McCabe/Souray good, and he's played the point on the PP before.
The Leafs' practice lines yesterday were as follows:
Blake / Sundin / Poni
Kilger / Bell / Tucker
Antropov / Wellwood / Tlusty
Steen / Stajan / Devereaux
Battaglia / Pohl / Belak
Obviously, there are 5 lines listed, so 3 of the players listed will sit. And, there are no guarantees the lines will look anything like this come game time.
Interesting Reads:
-The Leafs again came out on top of Forbes' list of most valuable NHL franchises. They are valued at US$413 million, a 24% increase over 2006, and over 13% more than the next most valuable team, the New York Rangers. Not too shabby, considering the Leafs often play more like a beer league team that is sponsored by the local taxidermist.
-Dirk Hoag (AKA The Forechecker) has analyzed the number of penalties drawn vs. penalties committed by all NHL players. As an example, Scott Gomez leads all players, having drawn 12 penalties and committed only 1. His rating is +11. No Leafs player is in the top 30. The Leafs are, however, proud owners of the #1 (Andy Wozniewski at -11) and #7 (Pavel Kubina at -8) worst offenders. For as much credit Woz gets from respected hockey minds (Bill Watters, for instance), he really sucks the wang sometimes.
-HockeyAnalysis.com has interesting power rankings. Ottawa is #1 - no surprise there - but after the Sens come the Carolina Hurricanes, the Montreal Canadiens, and the Columbus Blue Jackets. Not what traditional power rankings reflect - likely because HockeyAnalysis.com prides itself on digging deeper than most sites - so these rankings may indeed be more accurate. The Leafs are at #11, which is higher than any other current ranking I've seen. Interestingly, they have included a factor called schedule strength, which measures the difficulty of a team's opponents thusfar. According to HockeyAnalysis, Toronto has had the toughest schedule thusfar, kinda like Sly Stallone in Over The Top - and we all know how that ended!
Buffalo is a struggling team, and look nothing like the dominant team they've been the past two seasons. Their 6-7-1 record is almost identical to the Leafs' 6-7-3 record. So, don't bury the Leafs yet.
With the return of Darcy Tucker and Bryan McCabe, the Leafs' powerplay will be considerably different than it has been. The projected #1 unit is the one we saw dominate (5th in the league until injuries hit) last year - Sundin, Wellwood, Tucker, Kaberle, McCabe. This likely means a #2 unit of Antropov, Poni, and Blake, with Kubina and White/Bell on the point. Yeah, that's right - Mark Bell. His slapshot is McCabe/Souray good, and he's played the point on the PP before.
The Leafs' practice lines yesterday were as follows:
Blake / Sundin / Poni
Kilger / Bell / Tucker
Antropov / Wellwood / Tlusty
Steen / Stajan / Devereaux
Battaglia / Pohl / Belak
Obviously, there are 5 lines listed, so 3 of the players listed will sit. And, there are no guarantees the lines will look anything like this come game time.
Interesting Reads:
-The Leafs again came out on top of Forbes' list of most valuable NHL franchises. They are valued at US$413 million, a 24% increase over 2006, and over 13% more than the next most valuable team, the New York Rangers. Not too shabby, considering the Leafs often play more like a beer league team that is sponsored by the local taxidermist.
-Dirk Hoag (AKA The Forechecker) has analyzed the number of penalties drawn vs. penalties committed by all NHL players. As an example, Scott Gomez leads all players, having drawn 12 penalties and committed only 1. His rating is +11. No Leafs player is in the top 30. The Leafs are, however, proud owners of the #1 (Andy Wozniewski at -11) and #7 (Pavel Kubina at -8) worst offenders. For as much credit Woz gets from respected hockey minds (Bill Watters, for instance), he really sucks the wang sometimes.
-HockeyAnalysis.com has interesting power rankings. Ottawa is #1 - no surprise there - but after the Sens come the Carolina Hurricanes, the Montreal Canadiens, and the Columbus Blue Jackets. Not what traditional power rankings reflect - likely because HockeyAnalysis.com prides itself on digging deeper than most sites - so these rankings may indeed be more accurate. The Leafs are at #11, which is higher than any other current ranking I've seen. Interestingly, they have included a factor called schedule strength, which measures the difficulty of a team's opponents thusfar. According to HockeyAnalysis, Toronto has had the toughest schedule thusfar, kinda like Sly Stallone in Over The Top - and we all know how that ended!
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