Andrew Raycroft: The End Of The Line?

All of TSN, FantasyHockey.com, and GoaliePost.com are reporting that Scott Clemmensen will start tonight in place of Andrew Raycroft.

This pretty well has to be the low point of his career, doesn't it?

A brief chronology of his time with Toronto:
June 2006: Leafs trade super-prospect Tuukka Rask to Boston in exchange for Raycroft.

October 2006 - April 2007: Raycroft is the Leafs' #1 goaltender, and ties the team record for wins in a season despite a mediocre 2.99 GAA and .899 SV%.

July 2007: JFJ trades 3 draft choices to San Jose for Vesa Toskala, all but ending Raycroft's run as the #1 goalie.

October - November 2007: Neither Raycroft nor Toskala shine in net - mostly due to extremely poor defensive play in front of them - and as a result, Raycroft is still in the hunt for the #1 goalie position.

November - December 2007: Toskala outshines Raycroft, and Raycroft spends the majority of games on the bench.

December 2007: A groin injury to Toskala opens the door for Raycroft to get starts. He responds with 13 goals against in 3 games, raising his GAA to a season-high 3.86, and lowering his SV% to .876 - the lowest since the first game of the year. His record sits at an embarrassing 2-5-4, or 2-9 if we're being honest with ourselves.

January 2008: Career back-up and current 4th string goaltender Scott Clemmensen starts in place of Raycroft.

Barring an injury to Raycroft (and no such injury is being reported, anywhere), this is rock bottom.

Raycroft seemed to have accepted his back-up status. All accounts had him pegged as a positive influence on the team, a stark contrast to his younger, blacker counterpart in Ottawa.

But this latest turn of events may rock the boat a little. See, if Paul Maurice has no more confidence in Raycroft than Clemmensen, why not waive him and hope another team will pick him up via re-entry waivers? This would leave the Leafs responsible for only half of his (bloated) salary. The move doesn't make the team any better on the ice, but it does make the team financially better. Clemmensen earns $500,000, only a quarter of Raycroft's $2M. This would leave the team with more flexibility to make moves elsewhere - and we all know they need help almost everywhere.

There is also the option of having Raycroft play with Justin Pogge in the AHL rather than Clemmensen. The Leafs would still pay his full salary, but it would be Clemmensen's salary counting against the cap rather than Raycroft's. Assuming the two are going to play at roughly the same level, this is a favourable option, no?

Intro to January

Just wanna say that the recent post by Mr.Bone on the Leafs/Rangers game was the best I have seen yet. I think this because I totally agreed with everything he said about Andrew Raycroft, the announcers, Woz, and Antropov. I think Antropov is finally turning into a fantastic player we all knew he had the potential to be, but never produced so everyone has hated him until this year.

Last month, at the end of November, the Leafs conquered a win over the Trashers, and I was saying how they would turn it around in December. Well, at first they really did turn it around and had their A game on and managed to come out with several wins with the help of Vesku's great goaltending.

Going in to 2008, the Leafs better step up their game if they hope to make the playoffs this year. It is coming up on mid season and the Leafs sit in a familiar last place in the division, and are 3rd last in the East, only 3 points ahead of 15th place.

It would be nice to see Toskala return to action as soon as possible, as Raycroft has once again proved he can not lead this team to even one win. Toskala has missed three games, and in those three games Raycroft let in four goals in each of the first two games, and in the third game he played just over 30 minutes, allowing 5 goals on 29 shots. To further rip into "Rayzor"*, over 11 starts in 13 total game appearances, he boasts a goals against average of 3.85 and a save percentage of .876. Ouuchh.

* - Speaking of razors, Raycoft, how about you shave that disgusting, greasy, pedophile moustache before Hulk Hogan becomes disgraced that he has hair on his upper lip, shaves it, and in turn looks like a darker, older version of his daughter Brooke.

Maurice has shaken up the lines BIG TIME for the next game, and the Leafs look like a new team (on paper). It is unclear whether Raycroft or Clemmensen will get the nod, but Toskala should be in on Saturday for sure. This is what the new line combinations look like.

Blake - Sundin - Steen
Ponikarovsky - Antropov - Devereaux
Tucker - Stajan - Bell
Kilger - Tucker - Belak

Kubina - Kaberle
Gill - White
Colaiacovo - Wozniewski

Anton Stralman was sick and did not make practice. Thank you TSN Ice Chips ;).

Try to stay happy for now Leafs Nation. MLSE wont let you down, even if it means making the playoffs in 8th place with a team full of Doug Weights, Curtis Josephs, and Keith Tkachuks. You know they wont settle for a good draft pick come July 1st.

Upcoming Game:
Tampa Bay @ Toronto. Tuesday, January 1st, 2008. 7:30 on TSN.
Good news for the Blue & White, Tampa Bay is in last place in the Eastern Conference and has a league worst road record at 3-13-1. They are also 2-8-0 in their last 10 games, and their 130 goals against is worst in the East.

A little brotherly bonding:
Right now I am visiting Mr. Bone for a few days. So it is cool being able to share thoughts on the Leafs games, and then afterwards post them.

My Hockey Boner Is Almost Gone. I'm Becoming Hockey Impotent.

I've kinda decided not to do game recap posts until the team gets its head out of its ass. Call it a cop out if you wish, but I don't know what the merit is in going over the same problems that continue to sink the team. In my mind, its blatantly obvious that the current cast isn't capable of playing to the high level needed to do any real damage. Until that changes - that is, until the team makes changes - I'll keep posting about the ups and downs of the team with the knowledge that the Leafs are not capable of achieving anything more than making the playoffs.

With that in mind, here are my random game notes. Slightly different than you're used to - these are word-for-word reproductions of the notes I took while watching the game last night:

- Andy Wozniewski: you get back in the lineup and you respond by taking two bad penalties, one of which resulted in the Rangers' 3rd goal. Tell me this - why the fuck wouldn't Paul Maurice put Anton Stralman back in? You've shown nothing but minor league talent since you've been plucked from the minors.

- Another backup goalie. Another loss.

- I love the fire shown by Nik Antropov when he lost his cool on the bench. Love it. He missed a decent scoring chance - not a spectacular chance by any means - and let himself have it by breaking his stick in frustration soon after. This is more intensity than I've seen from Nik since he joined the Leafs. What this tells me is that Nik expects himself to perform to the level of the 'new' Antropov, and when he doesn't, he ain't happy. And I really, really fucking like that.

- I am fed up with play-by-play men using the "there was no chance for _____ (insert goalie name here) on that play" line when there clearly was a chance to save the puck. It's so overused it might as well be the "I'm not fat, I'm big boned" excuse. The goaltender has a chance on every single puck fired at him - the fact that the puck may have been tipped, or the shot screened, or the scoring chance phenomenal means not that the goalie had no chance - it means his chance to save it was lessened. Not fully taken away.

- Sort of related to the above point - why isn't Andrew Raycroft making himself big on shots that he cannot see? When a 'tender can't see a shot coming at him, the prevailing wisdom amongst goalies is that the best way to save the shot is to spread himself out and cover as much of the net as possible. It's called making yourself big. Raycroft doesn't do it. He goes into the same butterfly crouch that he does on every shot, and the result is generally pretty bad. Did he miss that day in goalie school?

- Another Saturday night humiliation in front of a national audience. This is great news for the change-is-needed-now trade front.

- Raycroft actually looked pretty good on the Rangers' series of 5-on-3's in the second period. But I don't want anyone to forget that he is the reason the team was so frustrated that they took so many penalties. Let's not feel sorry for him. I am so fucking sick of the look Raycroft gives when he lets in a goal - one of these "I can't believe that just went in" looks. Andy, you're just about the laziest goalie ever. If you're so surprised when every goal goes in, why the shit don't you just put a little more effort into the save?

- This is the first game I've ever seen Mats Sundin dog it. But goddam it, he half-assed it. At some point, he has to think to himself: what the fuck am I doing here? Why not let them trade me to a team that might actually win something before the Earth crashes into the sun.

- Kyle Wellwood is absolutely lost this season when not on the powerplay. He's not just lost - he's useless.

Losing The Will To Live

Please excuse my lack of posting. I am stuck in holiday limbo - without the comforts of home at my parents' suburban hell.

A representation of how the Leafs have treated their fans thusfar this year. Look closely. We're the kid middle row left.

I won't do a post-game post today. The team is sliding again and the positives are few and far between. Philadelphia was on a 6-game losing streak before they beat up on the Leafs. The 7-game road trip that concluded against the Flyers - you know, the one that was supposed to make or break their season - ended a disappointing 2-3-2. That's 2-5 in any other league. And simply not good enough in any league, under any circumstances.

The Leafs are now last in their division, despite having played the most games. They're sitting 12th place in the playoff race. Their powerplay is 5th worst.

A few games ago, when Andrew Raycroft started in place of a mysteriously injured Vesa Toskala, I thought that something may have been cooking on the trade front, and that Raycroft was potentially being showcased to potential suitors. I realize it's a very far-fetched theory - Raycroft has almost zero worth on the trade front. For whatever it's worth, this possibility was echoed on Leafs Lunch on Friday afternoon.

If Raycroft's sudden #1 status is anything other than what is being reported (a groin injury to Vesa Toskala), the experiment has failed. Raycroft is again showing that his GAA will always be well above 3, and that his SV% will always be well below .900. If Raycroft had value before, he doesn't now.

On the flip side, there are several media men pondering whether Vesa Toskala's groin injury might be more serious than reported. Howard Berger said it best, via HockeyBuzz.com*:

"Vesa Toskala's groin-strain may be no more alarming than the Maple Leafs are letting on, but this is not a particularly good year to take what the hockey club says at face value. For whatever reason, the Leafs have grossly underplayed their injuries this season. Deliberately or otherwise, the club has been miles off the mark when projecting the return dates of its ailing warriors. From Kyle Wellwood's "minor" groin issue in training camp that required surgery, to Carlo Colaiacovo's "incidental" pain behind the knee that kept him out of the first 37 games, the story-line has been the same. That's why we must all consider, with a grain of salt, the Leafs' contention that Toskala's groin is getting stronger by the minute. Only the goaltender's recovery and performance off the injury will tell the tale."

The conspiracy theorist in me wonders whether Berger (and the others reporting such suspicions) have a little inside info that they are throwing out there so as to bolster their reputations when the actual news breaks.

Consider this: the people that are reporting the possibility of Toskala's injury are the ones closest to the team. They have infinite contacts within the organization. Who is to say that they haven't been given a small nugget of info, and told to keep it on the down low? Casually tossing the information out as if it's a personal theory is a good way to get the message out there without dicking around your source. These reporters are in line to look like prognosticating genii if Toskala's injury is indeed significant.

*Being away for the holidays, I am not on my home computer. After checking hockeybuzz.com (using Internet Explorer, the only browser installed on this machine) I am blown away by the amount of advertising on that site. See, at home I use FireFox; clearly a superior product over IE. FireFox blocks all ads on all sites, which means not only less annoying visual clutter, but faster page loads. If you're still using IE, I have to ask you: what kind of mileage do you get from your horse & buggy? Switch to FireFox. Now.

Blake Returns To Long Island, Hands Game To Former Team

It was a real son of a bitch bastard ending to the game last night. The Leafs fell to the New York Islanders - 4-3 in overtime - thanks to a Ponikarovsky-esque giveaway by Jason Blake.

The majority of the scoring took place in the first period, when Andrew Raycroft and Rick DiPietro tried to out duel each other and see who could allow the most shitty goals in the shortest period of time. You expect this sort of performance from Andy, but not DiPietro - one of the top goaltenders in the league. His flat performance made a little more sense when Wade Dubielewicz* took over in the Islanders net thanks to a knee injury to DiPietro. He'd been playing hurt. Translation: Raycroft was outdone by a goaltender barely mobile enough to play.

(*I tried to link to a picture of Stewie Griffin from the Family Guy Viewer Mail #1 episode - you know, where the family gets into some chemical waste and gain super powers, leaving Stewie with a gigantic bald head featuring veins straining to pop out - but Google failed me. Bastards! But yeah, doesn't Dubie look exactly like that Stewie? I can't imagine he gets any ass, even as a professional athlete. Unless he met a girl with a Family Guy fetish. Or glaucoma.)

Some Facts:

[1] The Islanders are the lowest-scoring team in the league.

[2] Their back-up goaltender played the majority of the game.

[3] The Leafs found a way to lose.

This is getting frustrating, no?

The Leafs have shown flashes of being a contending team, but their continued mediocrity toward the halfway point of the season is a reason to panic. There has been no sustained brilliance by the Leafs. Their inability to string together great play is a dead giveaway that this team is built to be rebuilt.

Random Game Notes:

- The Stajan/Steen/Devereaux line again forechecked the Islanders to their wit's end. Steen had two goals, and was joined by Stajan for some rare powerplay time.

- The more I watch the above noted line, the more I see Matt Stajan as dead weight. I've gone easy on him this season because he started well. But, almost halfway through the season, he's settled into a third line role on an average team, yet still often looks out of place. Matt, why the fuck are you such a floppy cock all the time? You play a sport wherein the best players show a drive and determination that propels them above the pack. Your laissez-faire attitude and impotent gameplay are ensuring you'll always be a non-factor. Spend the rest of the road trip with Darcy Tucker, get into a couple of booze-fueled bar fights, and sort yourself out. Show some balls, Stajan! Fuck!

- Pavel Kubina and Tomas Kaberle belong together. I've been impressed by both since they became a pair - both on the ice and off. Awww, isn't that sweet? Man-love!

Merry Fucking Christmas

I apologize for the late post.

This time of year is always hectic with family obligations that invariably depress me, and crazy schedules that stress me out on top of that. I've never been one to abuse heavy drugs, but during the holidays I fully understand where users are coming from. 'Tis the season for understanding, no?

Almost lost in my grinching was the Leafs' 2-1 overtime win against the Florida Panthers last night. The Leafs broke a three-game losing streak thanks to a Pavel Kubina powerplay goal.


Even before his game-winning goal, Kubina was having a strong game. He led the team in icetime (again), and continued building his two-way game with several solid bodychecks to go along with his top-pairing offensive contributions.

I've heard feedback from some readers about being too 'pro-Kubina'. In other words, I give him too much credit. And I can't say I disagree with that statement. I believe that the shitting on that Kubina gets almost constantly is unwarranted. He is the new Antropov in Toronto. Now that neanderthal Leafs fans can no longer single out Antropov as everything wrong with the team, Kubina bears much of the brunt.

I really think the reason is that Leafs fans are mostly incapable of looking past an ugly skating style and seeing positives. It took Antropov damn near 8 seasons to get any respect - so I don't know why I am surprised.

Sure, Kubina doesn't earn his contract on some nights, but I can't say that's terribly uncommon among $5 million players.

I've also noticed a huge improvement in Tomas Kaberle's game since being paired with Kubina (when McCabe was injured). He has been much more confident with the puck, has made a few highlight reel defensive plays, and has been joining the rush and pinching like it's his job...which it kind of is, I suppose. I refuse to believe that being paired with Kubina hasn't been the single most important factor in Kaberle's recent surge.

Anyway, the rest of the game was fairly average. Vesa Toskala dominated the Panthers, stopping 29 of 30 shots. 'Twas his 12th consecutive start - the longest streak of his career - and he seems to only be getting stronger. It's funny, but I no longer hear anyone in the media questioning his ability to lead a hockey team. You may remember that I never once questioned his abilities. Someone should be paying me for this, at the expense of one of the vacuous toads currently doing the job. Dreger and Millard, I'm gunnin' for ya.

Fittingly, the lone goal that Toskala allowed came as the direct result of a bad Leafs giveaway. Matt Stajan tried to clear the puck along the boards - and I commend him for at least attempting the correct play - but his clearing attempt was about as strong as American beer. Olli Jokinen intercepted and blew the shot past a screened Toskala. Pin the goal on Matt "I can dead lift a ton, but play a weak, vegetarian game" Stajan. Good nickname, huh? I like how well it flows.

Random Game Notes:
- Jiri Tlusty found his way back into the lineup, at Wade Belak's expense. He played just over 10 minutes on a line with Kyle Wellwood and Jason Blake, and even saw a shift on the powerplay. Darcy Tucker, the usual winger on that line, shifted to the 4th line with Chad Kilger and Mark Bell. I don't imagine there is a better 4th line in hockey.

- The Leafs were dominated in faceoffs last night, winning only 41% as a team. The main culprits? Mark Bell (1 of 11, 9%) and Mats Sundin (8 of 22, 36%). Both men are usually far better than that.

- Fair is fair: I have shit on Ian White for subpar play of late, but his play in the last couple of games - and last night in particular - has been top-four defenseman quality. His offensive side is beginning to show again, and that can only be good news for the team.

- It seems I was right about Harry Neale's downward spiral. He has been taken off the national (i.e. Leafs) game on Hockey Night In Canada for most of the season, and sounds like shit during the games he does cover. Last night, he worked the Ottawa game, and sounded as enthused as a Walmart cashier during the holiday rush. So long Harry, it was nice knowin' ya. I'll see you during the Quebec peewee tournament.

Another Loss To A Back-Up Goaltender

It's unbelievable how many points the Leafs have squandered against back-up or third string goaltenders this season. Last night they were beaten 2-1 by rookie Karri Ramo and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Leafs didn't shit the bed as they've done the majority of their blown leads. Last night was just a bit of shitty luck. Late in the game, Pavel Kubina broke his stick trying to one-time a puck in the Lightning zone, creating a 2-on-1 for Tampa. The problem for the Leafs was that it was Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier attacking. Tomas Kaberle made a Lidstrom-esque defensive play (i.e. fucking amazing) and the Leafs looked to be out of trouble. But, the Lightning kept the puck in the Leafs' zone, and with Kubina stickless, St. Louis' pass to Lecavalier for the game-winning goal made it through. If Kubina has his stick there, he intercepts the pass.

I guess there is a positive to take from the game: it took a combination of a fluky play and the best player in the league to steal the game from the Leafs. In reality, they played well and - for whatever it's worth - probably deserved to win.

Vesa Toskala
I am going to say it right up front: I never, ever gave up on this guy. When seemingly every Leafs writer and/or fan in the country was calling for his head - due in large part to an almost 4 GAA - I stuck by him. When JFJ was called incompetent because he traded for a 'previously unproven goaltender', I stood up for him.

Now things have changed. Anyone that's seen a Leafs game since the beginning of November has a semi-permanent Toskala boner. He is consistently making ridiculous saves not seen in Toronto since CuJo. His numbers since he officially took over the #1 job have been in Luongo territory, and the amount of highlight reel saves on his resume this year is astounding.

The Leafs have lost three straight and I couldn't be higher on their goaltending. Bones it!

Synergy
I always find it really, really fucking lame when people say "If you look in the dictionary under the word _____, you'll see a picture of _____." Some examples are impotent/Damien Cox, superhuman/Wendel Clark, and fail/this guy.

The thing about that statement is there aren't any fucking pictures in dictionaries. I have no idea why people believe it to be a clever comment, other than the fact that most people are inherently stupid.

With all that said, if you look in the dictionary under synergy, you'll see a picture of the Steen/Stajan/Devereaux line. Holy fuck aren't these gents playing well? Take the sum of their individual talents and you have the equivalent of one NHL player. Put them together and they have been unstoppable. Their forecheck has been at par with the #1 line's forecheck - although they have nowhere near the scoring prowess - and they are more defensively responsible. They have taken over the #2 line status at the expense of the underachieving Wellwood/Blake/Tucker line. Translation: This line needs to stay together.

Update: Leafs @ Lightning

Just a quick update on the game tonight, that is featured on Leafs TV at 7:30pm.

The Tampa Bay Lightning called up goaltender Karri Ramo from the AHL today, and he will get the start in goal tonight against the Leafs.

Usually not big enough to post about, but this is coming off a brutal loss to the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes where we faced a sub-par backup goaltender. Tonight, the Leafs better come out strong, fire plenty of shots on net, and try to have a man in front at all times, as we have a golden opportunity at a win, facing a third string goaltender. Marc Denis is a healthy scratch and Johan Holmqvist will serve as the backup.

Though Tampa Bay sits in 14th spot, 4 points back of Toronto in 9th, Tampa Bay boasts an Eastern Conference best 11-5-2 home record. One more thing to look out for is Tampa Bay's 6th overall in the league powerplay.

Vesa Toskala will get his 11th consecutive start tonight (must be coming up on some kind of record?) for the blue and white.

Players Not Named McCabe Can't Do Much Worse Than That

Danno covered last night's game fairly well, but I have a couple of comments of my own:

Watching the Leafs' poor powerplay face the Carolina's league-worst penalty kill was painful. It was one big, floppy cock. Impotent versus impotent. The math team versus the chess team in a cage match. The original cast of The View in a hot body contest. You get the point. Technically, the Leafs did get a powerplay goal last night, but it was hardly thanks to their PP efficiency. Tomas Kaberle brought the puck up the ice, dumped it in, chased it down, and scored, all with very little help. It wasn't a powerplay so much as a Kaberle play.

Lost in the dramatic fashion with which the game was lost was that the Leafs failed to hold another third period lead. They'll set some record for late-game futility if they keep it up.

Hal Gill and Pavel Kubina really stepped up in Bryan McCabe's absense. If I didn't know better, I'd have assumed I was watching two of the top defensemen in the league last night. Very well done. 'Tis too bad the game winning goal went off Kubina's stick in OT. A great (and short) article on McCabe came from Ken Campbell at The Hockey News yesterday, basically killing any momentum the Bryan-McCabe-has-played-very-well-lately bandwagon had.

The Leafs dominated the Hurricanes for the majority of the game. Then, Poni's ridiculous 'McCabe' gave away all momentum to the home team. They responded. Their fans responded. The Leafs lost.

Alexei Fucking Ponikarovsky
What is all this talk of goat horns? Both Mike Zeisberger at The Sun and Mark Zwolinski at The Star included some reference to goat horns when describing last night's game, in fairly obvious references to a scapegoat. Here's the thing: a scapegoat is someone punished for wrongs done by others. Not someone that single-handedly fucks everything up.

Alex Ponikarovsky isn't the scapegoat for the loss last night. He was the catalyst for the loss. Calling him a scapegoat means insinuating that he is taking the blame for a collective poor effort. That's a ridiculous way to describe the game. Poni was the only reason they lost. Not only did he Patrik Stefan the puck, he took a brutal, offensive zone penalty in overtime. Paul Maurice put Poni back on the ice in overtime, after his third period mistake - ostensibly to let him make up for his previous gaffe - and he took the opportunity and shit on it. Not even a regular shit, either; the kind of shit one would take after spending fours hours at a $1.99 expired seafood buffet.

Damien Cox constantly berates Poni for taking too many offensive zone penalties, and if he weren't on vacation (at a bath house somewhere, no doubt), I'm sure he'd point it out. In his lieu, I'll do it. Poni, you tripped Tim Gleason. Tim Fucking Gleason. The guy with 0 goals so far this year. The guy that never plays the powerplay. In short, you tripped the player least likely to have an offensive impact. Nicely fucking done. See you Thursday night in Tampa Bay. If you don't score a hat trick, I'm going to set your house on fire.

Ka- BOOOM!!!!

That's the sound of the Leaf game blowing up a game they had in the palm of their hands. Also goes by the term of munsoning or munsoned.

Within the last two minutes of the game, the Leafs exploded BIG TIME. Giving up two quick goals after having a near perfect game. Then, Carolina's momentum carried over to overtime and they finished us off on a two-man advantage to win the game 3-2. A two man disadvantage for the Leafs in OVERTIME? Unacceptable. The refs seemed to be having some fun out there, calling two penalties on the Leafs in overtime, which usually doesn't happen. Both calls, tripping on Poni, and hooking on Antropov, were usual everyday calls, but it doesn't seem quite fair when the Hurricanes committed two of the same kind of plays in overtime as well.

The TSN turning point for the worse for the Leafs, was when there was half a minute left in overtime, Poni crossing the blue line with Antropov with the wide open net. Cory Stillman takes the puck off Poni, takes it down the ice, and the rest is history. Jesus christ Poni, the least you could do was take a shot at the net, even if it is of Hal Gill calibre, or even dump it in the corner. There is only 30 seconds left!!

The Leafs clearly dominated the ice for a full 58 minutes, getting up 2-0 with goals from the help of Devereaux and Kaberle. Im sure the Leafs wish they could take back those last two minutes.

Goaltending:

- Vesa Toskala had a shutout for 58.5 minutes, shutting down the 'Canes stellar offensive strengths, always being square to the shot, and deflecting the puck to the Leafs players.

- Yet again the Leafs faced a backup goalie, this time possibly one of the worst goalies in the league. John Grahame is 3-4-1 this year with a 3.91 GAA and .869 SV%. Far below average, and the Leafs made him look like a #1 goalie.

Game Notes:

- The Leafs played a great defensive game again, with the whole squad stepping up with the absence of McCabe. Kubina replaced Caber's minutes by playing 32+ minutes, along with Gill and White playing larger roles.

- Rod Brind'Amour missed tonights game, and Carolina still found a way to embarass the Leafs. The Leafs went 28/53 on the faceoff dot, not incredible, but it would've gone the other way if Rod had played, as well as the better part of the game.

- Ponikarovsky should be demoted ice time and giving a stern talking to about that game. For onezies, he should have cleared the puck late in the 3rd period and I'd be writing about good things right now. For twozies, he took an idiotic, meathead penalty in overtime right in front of the ref, and pretty much tackled the Carolina player. What do you think Poni? Those aren't new rules, that's a routine penalty.

- Kubina stepped his game up to the big man on the 1st line, as well as 1st powerplay unit, with Kaberle, and made us forget that we were even missing McCabe.

- The Leafs need to do a better job of recovering offensive rebounds, especially when facing a goalie like John Grahame. Many shots on Grahame were juicy rebounds, and the Leafs were unable to capitalize on their opportunities.

All around a very good game by the Leafs, but a once-a-year blow up caused the Leafs to lose the game in disgusting fashion, leaving everybody angered with the sloppy last 2 minutes + overtime, but looking back at the game as a whole, they came out strong.

Next up, the Leafs head into Tampa Bay on Thursday to play Vinny Lecavalier and the Lightning. Toskala and the defenseman will have to step up the play yet again to stop their big 3, and maybe after the game we will get another crazy comment from 'Anonymous'.

Un. Fucking. Believable.

It's 9:20, and the game is still on.

I've just watched the second worst play of the season. Ponikarovsky just Patrik Stefan'd and Carolina tied the game with the goalie pulled. Nice fucking going, Poni. Fag!

More to come...

Trade Rumours. Thoughts.

The day after McCabe suffers a long term injury to his hand, the rumours are swirling already in Leafs Nation.

Some thoughts from Eklund in his latest blog at HockeyBuzz.com, he goes over the rumours that the Leafs are in need of a defenseman, and Raycroft is on his way out. I think it is absolutely ridiculous to believe that the Leafs need another defenseman, just to replace McCabe for the next two months. Seeing how we have one of the most expensive blue lines in the league, with about $20 million committed to them this year. Plus they have depth all the way down to the Toronto Marlies, so a move is not needed.

In his blog, he said:

"The word on the street this morning is that McCabe's injury will REALLY further open the trade floodgates....Derek Morris is a guy to look to and it may come at the expense of Raycroft either being moved or placed on waivers.

The team that would pick up Raycroft on re-entry waivers is likely Pittsburgh...."

Come on Ek, stop spewing words out of your ass, nobody wants to pay $2 million dollars to back up Bryzgalov in Phoenix, and you can guarantee he wont take over the #1 job there. Also, the Leafs don't need to make drastic changes because their mistake-making, 30 minute-a-game defenseman is out. Possibly a smart move by Pittsburgh, but you shouldn't worry about the Leafs taking another d-man under their wing. And as Mr. Bone said, you will probably see Kronwall come up to join the big club once again.

But let's keep our fingers crossed that the Leafs put Raycroft on waivers, because he has shown that he is incompetent of coming through when the Leafs REALLY need him, and I think the Leafs have found their #1 goalie already. He comes in the name of Vesa Toskala. The move would clear up some cap room, and then the Leafs could bring up Scott Clemmensen or Justin Pogge to back up Vesku.

Don't expect any moves soon though, Eklund has 10 rumours a day, and it doesn't even say this one is from sources.