Leafs News

Lots to talk about here, so lets get started.

As the Toronto Maple Leafs prepare for their game in Raleigh, North Carolina tonight to face the Hurricanes, yesterday afternoon Cliff Fletcher met with captain Mats Sundin about his future. From the news, Cliff Fletcher seems to be on the same page as Mats Sundin about him wanting to stay in Toronto, and it looks as if Mats won't be going anywhere unless we get offered a mass amount and he agrees to waive his no-trade clause for the sake of the team.

The Leafs are back on the same track as before, calling up the incompetent Ben Ondrus yesterday, as well as already having Kris Newbury on the team. Okay, I understand we are going through a bad stretch of injuries with Bryan McCabe, Alex Steen, Mark Bell, Alexei Pokihonsky, and call-up Darryl Boyce all being injured. But seriously, how many chances are you going to give these goons Ondrus and Newbury? As well as already having two fourth lines on our team with Moore-Wellwood-Belak. I say this has to be the end of the line for these goofs who have already shown they aren't the right type of player needed for the new NHL.

Boyd Devereaux and Chad Kilger did not make the trip with the team to Raleigh, but I think they should be giving different players from the Marlies their shot at the NHL (ie. Robbie Earl, David Ling, John Mitchell, or even give Jeremy Williams another shot) over Ondrus and Newbury.

I also don't like how Jiri Tlusty, with just 3 goals, 3 assists, and a minus-7 rating in 28 games played for the Leafs gets to play on the first line with Sundin and Antropov. Yes, the team has many players injured, and sure Tlusty probably deserves a real shot at proving he is NHL calibre, but there are better players that could be put with Sundin and Antropov in a time like this. If I were Maurice, I would try to snap one of Tucker, Wellwood, or Blake out of their slumps by playing one of them on the big line, as something has to give soon with these guys.

Salmon-Head Tony: Today, the Toronto Maple Leafs placed forward Tony "Alphabet Soup" Salmelainen on waivers.

That's Quite Enough Woz For My Liking: My favourite news of late with the Leafs is that Andy Wozniewski has officially lost his spot on the team as their last line defenseman. Great news for the Leafs, with McCabe coming back in two or three weeks, lets see if Colaiacovo can stay healthy for a few days long enough to get rid of Woz, who has proven he is too slow for this NHL, and every play he is involved in he is two steps behind the play and not in the right position.

Around the League Leaf Rumours: I am hearing that Antropov and Raycroft could be going to San Jose, as well as Bryan McCabe with the possibility of going to SJ or LA. SJ makes more sense because LA is already dealing with a pretty hefty blue-line with the likes of Rob Blake and his roommate Jack Johnson, Lubomir Visnovsky, Tom Preissing, and Brad Stuart, while SJ has a very weak blue line, lead by Craig Rivet and Matt Carle.

Earlier, Sundin was rumoured to be heading to Calgary, but that seems very unlikely now after the secret Fletcher-Sundin meeting, along with Phaneuf about to be signed, them signing CuJo (Raycroft was supposedly involved in the Sundin deal), talking with Olli Jokinen, as well as the imminent return of Peter Forsberg.

Justin Pogge: Can someone please update me on the Justin Pogge situation? I haven't heard any news of him being sent down to the Marlies, and if he is still watching the Leafs games from the press box, who is or was backing up Clemmensen in the Marlies while he was or is still up.

Tonight's Game: I'm not sure what to think of the Leafs anymore. Are they aiming to gain those 6 points, hop over 6 teams and squeak into the playoffs to get tossed out in the first round just to sell some tickets? Or are they now aiming for a great lottery pick in the draft? In any event, the Leafs faceoff against the 'Canes tonight, who lead their piss-poor division but are only 6 points ahead of the Leafs. This Carolina team has shown that they are much better than the Leafs, with John Grahame proving he isn't worse than Raysoft, along with them beating us 7-1 in October, and the turn-around game in December where they came back to win it in overtime after the Leafs blew up a late lead. The Leafs recently played Carolina on January 15th, beating them 5-4 in a fairly interesting game.

Looking Forward: The Leafs next game is back home this Saturday, February 2nd against the Ottawa Senators. The Sens will be without Dany Heatley, and their captain Daniel Alfredsson for this game. Maybe for once the Leafs could beat the Sens in the regular season so I can shut up all of the band-wagon Sens fans I know.

Back Without A Bang

The Leafs returned to the ACC after the All Star break only to lose to the lowly St. Louis Blues. And by lowly, I mean pretty fucking terrible and almost certainly out of the playoffs...but still much better - both this season and going forward - than the Leafs. The Blues were on a seven game losing streak before last night. They rolled into Toronto and scored on their first two shots, but to be fair, one of those was impossible to stop.

The game ended up being fairly exciting. The Leafs made it interesting and there was no shortage of end-to-end action, especially in the third. I have no idea why David Backes' game-winning goal counted, and Mats Sundin's near goal in the last minute didn't. Aren't they the exact same play? Moreover, wasn't the whistle blown much later on Backes' goal?

Random Game Notes:
- Carlo Colaiacovo returned from injury again last night to play just under 15 minutes. He had been out a month with a sore vagina.

- Cliff Fletcher has hired ex-Phoenix Coyotes scout Pat Conacher for the rest of the season.

- 16 NHL teams had scouts at the Air Canada Centre last night.

- Dom Moore has looked pretty good in the Leafs' lineup. He fits right in and does his job as well as anyone. The problem with that is Moore has been waived by about half the teams in the league. That is, he hasn't been good enough to keep his job elsewhere. But in Toronto he looks right at home. This should be a good indication for those typical Leafs fans still holding onto playoff aspirations that the Leafs are in no shape to do anything other than rebuild.

Just a thought...
I hate Andrew Raycroft's goaltending as much as the next guy. Probably more. But playing Raycroft every other or every third game for the rest of the season will virtually guarantee the Leafs a top 5 draft choice. Can anyone tell me why that's a bad idea? After so many years of not winning, why can fans not deal with a couple of months of losing? It's actually the best thing for the team.

The Good News:
Cliff Fletcher is getting ready to dismantle the Leafs. Paraphrasing David Shoalts' article, Fletcher said the team is making a plan (to sell at the trading deadline) and that will change only if the Leafs' play improves dramatically.

Not that this is a surprise to me, but isn't it refreshing to hear a MLSE executive let the fan base know of his plans? And isn't it refreshing-and-a-half for those plans to be reasonable (for once)?

Finally, we aren't talking about trading away our upcoming 1st round pick for some aged veteran so as to sneak into the playoffs. No, we won't see an Owen Nolan or a Brian Leetch this year. Fletch is making plans to draft and develop such talent, rather than rent it when it's far past its 'best by' date.

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Brian Burke Campaign STARTS HERE!

As I read Howard Berger's blog today on 'Leafs and Their Fans Must Think Big', I started thinking big. ENORMOUS.

He talks about how Brian Burke is the #1 guy for the Leafs GM spot. Burke is the perfect guy for it, he would supply a quick fix and also long term prospering for the Leafs.
Of course Brian Burke says he doesn't want to leave Anaheim, they are an incredible team, they are Stanley Cup Champions, he is bringing back Neidermayer and Selanne and he is heading for another cup run. So what next? He stoops under the radar once again after the baseball season starts again in California.

If he comes to the Leafs and does this, he will be forever remembered as the GM who resurrected the best franchise in the NHL.

So if Burke doesn't want to leave Anaheim, that doesn't mean he won't come to Toronto. I say they throw incentives at him, give him the big bucks, and let him run the show. MLSE is too much of a fairy organization to do this, so we as the fans have to DEMAND that this happens. I'm thinking on the same page as Howard Berger is, Leaf FANS have to come into action.

I say we at the Blue and White create a campaign to get everyone to come to our site to vote for Brian Burke to come to the Leafs. It will be a Toronto epidemic like the websites that featured Fire John Ferguson and Fire Richard Peddie. This one will be even better. I am going to email Eklund and Howard Berger and TSN, whoever I can get a hold of. We will start up a thing on the site where you can vote to bring in Burke, write your name and comment on a link on the page, and the Blue and White will be remembered by everyone!

The fans didn't have a say in the firing of John Ferguson Jr., nor could they influence it.

If Howard Berger believes that the fans can do something to influence MLSE to bring the greatest hockey executive in the world to Toronto. Nobody else will make a stand, they will go to their trailer parks and local pub and debate with their loser friends that the Leafs need a guy like Burke in Toronto. Rather than debating, soon you will be able to come here and vote. We will tell our friends, then their friends tell their friends, and their friends tell their friends, until we have hundreds of thousands of votes, and The Blue and White will be talked about on the intermission of the Leafs game just like the Fire Richard Peddie site, and ultimately we will bring Brian Burke to be the Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager. So lets start it right here. Let's start the campaign.

Kabbie Snipe Show

The All-Star weekend festivities began on Saturday night with the Skills competition. Representing the Toronto Maple Leafs was the lone Tomas Kaberle.


Kaberle only represented the Leafs in one event, the Shooting Accuracy event. In the first round of the Shooting Accuracy shots, with the targets in each four corners of the nets, Kabbie went 4 for 4. He advanced to the next round where it was just him and Nashville Predators' centre Jason Arnott, representing the West. In the second round they both finished a 3 for 4, and one single shot each would decide the winner. The single target was the top right corner. Arnott went first and missed by a foot, then Tomas "I don't shoot the puck enough" Kaberle sniped it and won the event for the Eastern All-Star team.

Kaberle finished off his Shooting Accuracy event a 8 for 9, and the one he missed was very close. You gotta imagine when he makes the flight back to Toronto for the Tuesday game versus St. Louis, Paul Maurice will be asking him to shoot the puck much more.

Amazingly and surprisingly, Kabbie was only the fourth player in NHL history to go 4 for 4 in the Shooting Accuracy event in All-Star Skills Competition. He joined Ray Bourque (who has completed the feat twice), Mark Messier, and Jeremy Roenick. That's some pretty good company there Kabbie.

In related news, Kaberle's name is all over the Leafs trade rumours and, behind Sundin, can probably has the most trade value. I really would like him to stay in Toronto, but MLSE will do what MLSE has to do to turn the Leafs around, even if it means trading arguably our best player. With the addition of winning the Shooting Accuracy event, this adds to being one of the best passers in the league, a great powerplay quarterback, and how he sets up insane plays.

The reason I love Kaberle so much is his ability to fool any player he is facing on the opposing team with his passing, and how he is always in the right position to make or be a part of the play.

What's your reason?

Andrew Raysoft

Many times, all of you have seen "Rayzor" not come through for the Leafs at various times. Leaf fans who love Raycroft always recall back to last year when he had 37 wins for the Leafs, but when you play 72 games thats a pretty average record.

This year, Raycroft is a 2-8-4 (2-12) with a 3.94 GAA (53 goals on 421 shots in 14 games started and 2 others) and a .874 SV%. Right now the league GAA for all goalies started this year is an average of 2.64, with an average of .907 SV%. Raycroft is miles off average, and possibly a change of scenery would work for him. TSN and Eklund have both reported over the past couple months that Tampa Bay is interested, as well as the New York Rangers, and recently the San Jose Sharks. Apparently, the Leafs are trying to move Raycroft in the Sundin deal, because nobody else wants him.

As I fell asleep last night, angry at the impotent Leaf shots late in the game last night when they had handfuls of times to tie it up, I started thinking of the Leafs record. If you factor out Rayzor's 2-8-4 record from the Leafs 20-23-8 record, you know where we sit? Most definitely in a playoff spot, with a 18-15-4 record. Of course we would still need a backup goalie to play the games Vesku missed or back-to-backers, but this guy is almost single-handily bringing the team down.

Still, the Leafs would be 18-19, and then the backup goalie would've started the 14 games Raycroft did and undoubtedly have a better record, resulting in the Leafs only being one or two points out of a playoff spot and still have a realistic chance, but no, they are 6 points out, with no chance.

Interesting fact about Raycroft: He is 0-7-2 in his last 9 games with a 4.83 GAA. He has not won since his 30-save shutout against Buffalo when they beat the Sabres 3-0 on November 9th.

Blame It On The Rain?

You may have heard of this 'story' already. As reported by Howard Berger of The Fan, there exists video evidence that Richard Peddie was mouthing the words to Cliff Fletcher's introductory speech on Tuesday. That is, Peddie knew exactly what Fletcher was about to say, and was lip synching it.

I gotta say, I don't see this as the big deal Berger made it out to be.

I watched the press conference on Tuesday, and did notice Peddie's lips moving with Fletcher's words. To be honest, I didn't think much of it...I thought so little of it, in fact, that I didn't even bother to mention it in my post about the press conference.

Anyone that thinks Fletcher's speech wouldn't have been passed around to MLSE brass before he went in front of the media is totally fucked. I mean, the worst case scenario here is that MLSE wrote the speech for Fletch. Am I missing something terrible here?

Here's the thing: Cliff Fletcher is a man of integrity. He has 50 years of experience in professional hockey management. He was already under contract (with Phoenix), which means he was being paid for doing nothing. He has nothing to prove, and doesn't need the job with the Leafs. What that all means to me is that Fletch isn't about to be forced to read a statement he didn't believe in. The man just returned from a vacation with his wife when the press conference was held. If MLSE wrote his speech for him -likely because Fletch didn't have adequate time to prepare his own - so fucking what? Fletch would have approved any speech he was to give, and vetoed any bollocks therein. It isn't as if he has MLSE's collective hand up his ass.

In any event...if you want to check this video out yourself, I've placed it below. The part you are interested in is about 4:45 in.



The Leafs did play a game last night, beating Washington 3-2. The newish first line of Steen / Sundin / Antropov provided 2 of the Leafs' 3 goals, including the game-winner with 30 seconds to go. They looked very cohesive as a line, and will certainly stick together so long as they keep the play up.

This just in: Matt Stajan is circling the drain. He's been taken off Alex Steen's line, so he no longer has talent playing with him to make him look like an NHL calibre player. Last night, Stajan played over 3 minutes less than newcomer and career 4th liner Dom Moore. His PP and PK time have been cut. He was a team-worst -2 last night - which means he was on for all of Washington's goals and none of Toronto's - had zero shots on goal, zero hits, a team-worst 2 giveaways, and won only 3 of 11 faceoffs. Please, Fletch, do not bring this guy back next year. He's a sopping vag!

Alexei Ponikarovsky was injured on a hit from behind from Steve Eminger. He left the game in the first period and didn't return. Coach Maurice estimated his return will be in 'weeks, not days'. Poni's injury may hurt the Leafs, as he is an important part of their secondary scoring, and has been hot of late. The good news is that this season is already a write-off, so scoring a few less goals really means nothing.

Next up are the very same Capitals. The Leafs head to Washington tonight to complete the home-and-home series.

The Leafs have won 4 of their last 5 games - their only loss occurred the game that Andy Raysoft played over Vesku - and I really wish they'd stop winning. All that a winning streak is going to do at this point is give the typical Leafs fan hope when there is none. It will only prolong the acceptance of mediocrity in Toronto. My vote is for a total 9/11 of a season*. Finish in the bottom 4 or 5 in the league and pray to Jeebus that you land a top 3 draft choice. That, in addition to all of the rebuilding Fletch does before the trade deadline, should be enough to change the fate of this team.

Lastly, to anyone feeling sorry for JFJ after his firing, read this. Yeah, his firing was too public, but if I employed someone that fared as poorly as John did, I'd have fired him publicly and kicked him in the ass on the way out.

* To all of you that give me gears about using 9/11 references, fucking stop it already. It was 6 1/2 years ago. Get over it. 'Twas an inside job, anyhow.

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The Leafs Now Employ A Hall-of-Famer

I wanted to run with a headline that gave reference to the kickass series of Fletch movies starring Chevy Chase, but effin' Sportsnet already did that. TSN ran with the comically lame The 'New' Boss. Who knew that TSN's floor mopper / headline writer could be so witty?

Further to my previous post, it's now official: JFJ is no longer employed by the Toronto Maple Leafs and Cliff Fletcher is the new (interim) general manager. Fletcher signed a 19 month contract (a seemingly random period of time) to guide the team through the trade deadline and the entry draft. It seems likely that Fletcher's replacement will be on board before the start of the 2008/09 season.

"I'd like to thank my wife, as well as all of the fine young men that I've had the privilege of working with over the years. Oh, and vodka. I'd like to thank vodka for getting me through the tough times, and for making my face this red."

The Press Conference
Fletcher and Peddie sat together at the press conference and answered questions, as is the custom. The sly bastards that they are, they dodged almost all hockey questions. Peddie deferred all hockey questions to Fletcher, because 'the GM should be the one addressing all things hockey related'. Methinks this was part of Peddie's attempt to show how transparent he is with respect to day-to-day operations...even if the truth is he's a meddling bastard. Then, when hockey questions were directed at Fletcher, he put up his guard and said something along the lines of, 'it isn't fair for me to comment on anything hockey related because I haven't met with players or team officials yet, so at this point I'm still basically an outsider." So the hour long press conference (that I watched on my work computer screen while listening via an iPod headphone that only reached about as far as my knees) was a long, drawn out piece of shit that told us only what was obvious: JFJ is gone.

The press conference was shit, that is, until the floor was turned over to reporters. It was an absolute zoo. Some of the faces / voices I recognized: Elliotte Friedman, Pierre LeBrun, Steve Simmons, Howard Berger, Paul Hendrick, Damien Cox, Mike Zeisberger, and Cory Woron. In addition to those swingin' dicks, there were several faces I didn't recognize. The room was packed with the same writers and reporters that often bitch and moan about how much media attention is given to the Leafs. Simmons and Cox even got a little catty with Richard Peddie, refusing to accept his corporate speak about the direction of the team and his general managers having full autonomy over hockey operations. Good on them for that one. Yesterday, the two biggest failures in the history of Toronto newspaper sports writing were the voice of the Average Leafs Fan.

Going Forward
It's interesting to me that the only real information offered up by Cliff Fletcher was that Paul Maurice will stay on as coach, at least for the remainder of the season. After all the talk about how he won't comment about hockey stuff just yet, he gave Maurice the vote of confidence. This seems to be a pretty clear indication that the coach has the support of the board, and that the motive for replacing the general manager at this stage of the game was that he was thought of as incapable of making reasonable personnel decisions to improve the team.

Damien Cox asked Fletcher what the profile of the new GM would be. Fletcher gave two characteristics of the man he is looking for to replace him: [1] a great track record, and [2] success in the NHL. The men that possess those characteristics are all employed by other teams, and the Leafs' only opportunity to land such hockey minds is during the summer when their contracts expire.

The next big question is: why the fuck would a successful GM want to take over this trainwreck?

A Personal Letter From Richard Peddie
OK, not really personal, but as a Leafs 'Insider', I was sent a letter from the CEO...complete with spelling mistakes! It even had my name on it. At this rate, I think Peddie will let me go up his shirt by next weekend.

Anyway, if you're interested in reading the letter - despite the fact that it's longer and more boring than a Peter Jackson movie - it is below:

Dear MR. BONE,

Tuesday we made a difficult decision for our hockey club. We announced that John Ferguson's contract as vice president and general manager, which expires June 30, will not be renewed and as a result he has been relived [sic] of his duties effective immediately.

These decisions are always difficult from both a professional and personal standpoint. John is as fine a man as you will meet. He's a man of the highest integrity, who withstood often unfair public criticism with dignity and class. He represented our organization and our community in a first class manner. We will always be grateful to John for his passion, dedication and commitment to
putting a winning team on the ice. We wish him well in what we expect will be a long and productive hockey career.

But after thorough consideration of the Leafs situation, it became clear that change and a new direction is needed. Regrettably, we didn't win enough games and reach our goal of winning the Stanley Cup. Our record, and our opportunity to be a playoff team and compete for the Stanley Cup, has fallen short of what is expected.

The process highly-regarded by Leafs fans and by hockey people around the world. We have reached out to Cliff and his 50-plus years of hockey management experience to serve as interim
general manager of the Leafs.

Cliff will have the autonomy and responsibility for all hockey matters with a focus on establishing a foundation from which the next general manager can build. He is the ideal person to lead this transition. Cliff will join prominent sports attorney Gord Kirke and me on the search team that will recommend to our board of directors the best person to serve as the next general manager of the Leafs.

We believe that being general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs is the top job in hockey. The person who fills this job will be both a long-term builder and a short-term fixer who has an established track record of success on the ice. Along with the foundation of knowledge in the areas of drafting and identifying talent in the professional, amateur and international ranks, he will work effectively with the media and be comfortable within the intense scrutiny that characterizes the Toronto hockey market.

To those of you new to Leafs Nation, Cliff served the Leafs as team president, chief operating officer and general manager between 1991 and 1997, guiding the team to the conference finals on two occasions. There's no better man in hockey to lead us successfully through the upcoming trade deadline and toward the draft and free agent signing period. His expertise affords us the opportunity to conduct our search without the constraints of time deadlines in order to bring the best general manager to Toronto.

This has been a difficult season for all of us - fans, players, coaches, and staff. While the title on my business card reads president and chief executive officer, I'm also a fan. I share the frustrations we all have felt that come with falling short of our expectations. I believe every member of our organization, myself included, can look inside themselves to find things they might have done differently to alleviate the situation we find ourselves in.

I am fully confident that we will achieve both the short-term and long-term success we all desire. And I believe the results of our efforts will bring the Stanley Cup home to Toronto where it belongs. That is the number one priority of every member of the Leafs organization.

On behalf of our entire organization, I thank you for being a valued member of our team.

Sincerely,

Richard Peddie
President and Chief Executive Officer
Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club

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JFJ is Toast!

I was away for the weekend - in balmy St. Catharines, Ontario - without access to internet or television, so I barely caught any of the Leafs 4-2 win over Buffalo on Saturday, or their 3-2 loss to New Jersey on Sunday. I could try to give you a rundown of the games from boxscores, but that's not really fair to you, or the Leafs.

The real reason for this post is the news that JFJ is no longer the GM of the Leafs. All of The Hockey News (where I saw the story first), TSN, Sportsnet, and the homeless natives at the corner of Bloor and Spadina are reporting the story. I can't imagine the story isn't true with so many sports news sources giving it top billing. It's not like Eklund is the only one reporting it. Moreover, the fact that this story broke about the same time that Cliff Fletcher returns from vacation likely means he is the new (if interim) GM of the Leafs.

"No, Mr. Lowe, I won't give up Alex Steen to land Chris Pronger; I just won't. My team has a great young core of third line talent and I don't want to break it up. Later, doctors will tell me I have an IQ of 48 and I'm what some people call 'mentally retarded'"

While I am thrilled that the trading deadline apparently won't be handled by Ferguson, I'm not convinced that Fletcher is the deity he's being made out to be. The Leafs have already fired Fletcher as their GM once, after all. He has a history of trading draft picks for veterans, and that's pretty much the opposite of what the Leafs need this year.

More to come...

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Back-to-back games

I was going to just put a comment on the recent post, but nobody ever responds to them, so I will do a short post on tonight's game and tomorrow's game.

Tonight the Leafs face off against a team who was winless in 10 games going into last night, where they absolutely laid a beating on the Atlanta Thrashers and won 10-1. Tonight can be one of two things, it will be the Leafs win their 3rd straight game due to a tired Buffalo team who is coming off a bad losing streak, and we get to face Mr. Jocelyn Thibault. Or, Buffalo gets right back on their former President's Trophy pace from last year and hands it to the Leafs.

The rare Sunday game for the Leafs sees them heading down to New Jersey to play the Devils. My main question is this: Paul Maurice and JFJ have already spoken publicly about Raycroft's poor play, not being on his game, needing to improve, along with the rumours of him being put on waivers or being traded. THEN- They call up Justin Pogge to big club, who has yet to be sent down to the Marlies, and is sitting up in the press box every game while Raycroft is on the bench. So tomorrow, do they return back to the Raycroft they don't have confidence in, do they dress Pogge and put him between the pipes, or do they start Vesku* once again?

Either way, Leaf fans all around including myself are waiting for Raycroft to be shipped off, Pogge to play a game, or for fucking MLSE to make up their god damn mind.

* - See I wasn't making shit up, that's his actual nickname there Mr. Bone. It is mandatory in Leafs Nation to have a nickname for their goalie (ex. Felix the Cat, CuJo, Eddie the Eagle, Telly, Rayzor - or as we like to call him, Raysoft)

What The Fuck Is A Winning Streak?

The Leafs won their second straight game last night, beating the Boston Bruins 3-2 in a shootout. This is the Leafs' first winning streak in over a month, as the last time they won two in a row was December 10th and 14th.

Noteworthy from last night's game was that it was Vesa Toskala's first career shootout win. As I mentioned in a previous post, he is the worst goalie in the history of the shootout. I imagine this win had to feel good for Vesa.

The guys that I love to hate the most - Matt Stajan and Alex Steen - provided all the offense for the Leafs last night, despite playing on separate lines. Good for them! I want nothing more than for these guys to succeed, I just don't think they will in the long run.


Random Game Notes:
- Don't look now but Anton Stralman played more than every Leafs defenseman not names Kaberle or Kubina. Normally, Stralman challenges Woz for least playing time. Moreover, Matt Stajan and Ian White were both well over their averages. I think Paul Maurice is finally doing some coaching and rewarding good play. Would have been nice in October, Paul, but this is a step forward.

- When I saw Darcy Tucker laying on the ground after being high-sticked by Andrew Ference, I thought to myself, 'Even if Ference didn't cut him, Tucker is coming up bleeding". See, Tucker knows as well as anyone that his contribution to the team has been about as meaningful as Rihanna lyrics - ella ella ella, ay ay ay - and if drawing an extra 2 minute penalty with only 2 minutes to go in the game is what he can do to help the team win, well, I believe that Tucker is the type of man that would do that. It's interesting, but the replay showed where Tucker was hit with the stick and it didn't seem to be where he was bleeding from. Just sayin'.

- I've read a few comments online about Pavel Kubina's 'boneheaded' penalty near the end of regulation. The bad play on that shift belonged to Mats Sundin, who gave Kubina a shitty pass. Kubina was then trapped and had to take a penalty to prevent an exceptional scoring chance for Boston. At that point in the game, especially when your team is up a man (thus taking a penalty isn't really hurting the team), a smart player takes that penalty every time. So, typical Leafs fans, blame Mats, not Pavel.

- The Leafs OT powerplay was vegetarian. After Pavel Kubina left the box, the puck came right to him. Naturally, he played it. But the end effect was a 4 on 3 powerplay wherein the Leafs had 3 fucking defensemen on the ice. Not only that, Kaberle and Kubina were on the wrong sides of the ice. When OT ended with no goals, I assumed the Leafs would lose - because they are especially bad in shootouts - so I put together a profanity-filled paragraph to describe the overtime powerplay that should have ended the game. But instead, I'll just say it was typical of the Leafs' powerplay.

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Leafs Win!

Well, I had a whole post written out, then ScribeFire kicked me in the junk and the post is gone. So, the short version of it is this:

Leafs beat Canes, 5-4. The vast majority of Canes were playing with the flu, so let's not plan the Stanley Cup parade yet..or the 25 win parade. The Canes came to town at the right time, and Toronto scored its first regulation win since Bryan McCabe went down...over a month ago. Fuckity fuck that's some bad hockey.

Anton Stralman was the balls last night. Pick any of the Chuck Norris facts, and they applied to Anton Stralman last night. In only 14 minutes of icetime, he made several fantastic outlet passes, a few flashy end-to-end rushes, and a couple of stellar defensive plays - not to mention being named the first star. Joe Bowen had a good point when he noted how much Stralman looks like Tomas Kaberle did when he broke in. Stralman is shaping up to be just like Kabbie, except more physical. Boner!

Matt Stajan scored a goal last night to tie Alex Steen in scoring. Both are now 2 points ahead of the high-scoring Hal Gill. In fairness to Gill, Stajan didn't touch the puck until it was already over the line. The goal should have been Stralman's. Stajan and Steen really need to sort themselves the fuck out. Both are restricted free agents at the end of the season, and I really don't care to see Stajan back. Steen is on my last nerve, but I think he still has some upside that is held back by Stajan's uselessness. But if Steen is rewarded with anything other than a nominal raise, I will headbutt the general manager that gives it to him.

Some Plagiarism:
Mike Toth never struck me as a smart hockey mind - in fact, he struck me as a total fucking retard - but the fact that he's the fill in for Bob McCown on Prime Time Sports means Bobcat has faith in him...and that's more than enough for me. If Bob McCown told me that eating hair elastics was nutritious, I'd stock up on the little fuckers.

In any event, Toth wrote an article for Sportsnet and it contained a great paragraph. It is below:

With Tucker and Blake on the sidelines [because the Leafs should rest them as they are playing through injury and/or cancer], bring up some of the Marlies (Ondrus, Newbury, Earl, Boyce, etc.) to see what they can do. Why waste your time with the Dominic Moores of the world, a la JFJ's recent signing? The Rangers, Penguins and Wild all cut Moore loose, so what do the Leafs know that they don't? If you're not going to give the guys in your organization a shot, there's no point in even operating a farm club. It's no surprise that since Moore was brought in, the Marlies have hit their worst skid of the season. Players talk and right now they're saying, "What's the point of busting my hump down here if I'm not gonna even get a chance?"

Really great point by Toth. I disagree with the players he lists as potential call-ups (I think we all know what Ben Ondrus and Kris Newbury face a huge uphill climb to become anything more than 4th liners), but the point is well taken. Dom Moore is a non-factor. Why can't one of our beloved Marlies be the non-factor?

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Everything (Very) Old Is New Again?

This looks to be it for John Ferguson Jr.

Every major media outlet is now reporting that Leafs brass is actively searching out - and attempting to hire - JFJ's successor. Bob McKenzie dropped the biggest bomb with his story, which stated the team had offered the job to Cliff Fletcher. I hate Bob McKenzie's reporting as much as the next guy - his shitty writing is somewhere above the level of The Toronto Sun yet somewhere below an infant's plastic bath book (See Bob eat. Eat Bob eat!), his opinion is often way off to the point of being embarrassing, and he insists on stroking Sidney Crosby's cock at every opportunity - but the one thing you can't take from Bob is that he is well connected. I'd go as far as saying that Bob McKenzie is the best connected media man in hockey. When Bob writes a story like this, go shout it on a mountain, because it is true.

When asked whether the team had contacted Fletcher, the best that Richard Peddie could do - in an attempt to hide the obvious fact that the team had - was, "As I have said to everyone I am not talking about management changes. If and when they happen I will talk to the media then."

Soooo, has Cliff already moved into JFJ's office, or is he still waiting for him to clean out his porno collection (mainly Asian, with a few Roman Shower fetish vids) and empty vodka bottles (see his complexion for proof) from the desk drawers? Not a thickly-veiled comment, Peddie. The least you could have done for your man is continue your lie about JFJ being the GM of the team going forward.

I detest the job that JFJ has done as GM of the Leafs, but this is one thing for which I feel sorry for him. Richard Peddie, his strongest (only?) supporter within the ranks of Leafs upper management, has thrown JFJ under the bus and completely left him out in the cold. Peddie's distancing of himself from JFJ is so blatant it makes MSNBC's firing of Don Imus look friendly. I mean, fer fucksakes, he called JFJ's hiring a mistake - in public! Translation: Richard Peddie is a heartless fucking cockroach who'd likely kick his mother down the stairs to make MLSE's stock rise a quarter of a point.

All that aside, I for one am patiently awaiting JFJ's firing. MLSE should hold a contest, the winners of which get to be the few lucky Leafs fans that run him outta town. JFJ won't be allowed back in Toronto ever again. Should he break try to sneak back into the city limits, he gets hit with a balled up sock inside of another sock. It's a formidable weapon - kinda like a Nerf version of a morningstar...but it stings like a bitch!

With JFJ behind us, the Leafs can begin to move forward. Cliff Fletcher - or whoever else ends up getting the GM job - need to begin a rebuilding process that should start with the captain being traded on or before February 26. Bones it!

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