The Battle of Ontario Battle

The Ancapistan A's have officially thrown down the gauntlet. The BoOB is on.

Here are the tentative settings which can be changed if demand warrants (note that the same rules were adopted for this past season's Canadian Blog Hockey League, which many of you were a part of):

League ID#: 18182
League Name: Battle of Ontario Battle
Password: godfather
Custom League URL: http://hockey.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/battleofontariobattle
Draft Type: Autopick Draft
Max Teams: 20
Scoring Type: Points Only
Max Moves: 15
Max Trades: No maximum
Trade Reject Time: 2
Trade End Date: March 6, 2008
Waiver Time: 2 days
Can't Cut List Provider: Yahoo! Sports
Trade Review: League Votes
Post Draft Players: Follow Waiver Rules
Max Games Played: 82
Weekly Deadline: Daily - Tomorrow
Start Scoring on: Monday, Sep 24
Roster Positions: C, C, LW, LW, RW, RW, D, D, D, D, G, G, BN, BN, BN, BN, IR, IR
Stat Categories: G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP, SHP, GWG, SOG, W, SHO
Stat Modifiers: G (2), A (1), +/- (.5), PIM (.5), PPP (2), SHP (2), GWG (3), SOG (.25), W (5), SHO (5)

20 slots available, 3 are occupied as of this posting by the BoO admin. Now, I'm not saying our regular readers and smack talkers have to participate, but it sure would be an awful waste not to apply all that valuable hockey expertise in a truly objective forum. We'll be sure to broadcast the weekly leader in prominent place in the sidebar.

A New Home

It is my distinct pleasure to announce that yours truly will be the latest blogger to begin writing for SportsBlog Nation. In their infinite wisdom they have decided to allow me the exposure to a larger audience. It will continue to be called Pension Plan Puppets (until I vanquish the OTPP) except now I get my own URL(!), a funny logo (or obvious if you want to be a dick about it), and the tools to build a community for Leaf fans (how many readers until I am larger than a hamlet).

The main tool at my disposal will be Duff. Just kidding. It's what SB Nation calls a diary which in essence allows members (sign up!) to carry some of the conversation by writing their own blog posts. A more complete explanation and some guidelines can be found in the easy to follow post "Where Am I and What Do I Do Here?".

I'll continue to be a part of the best quartet since the Be Sharps but the thing that makes the BoO so much fun is the community and that's what I hope to replicate at my new site so stop by, sign up, and join in the discussion.

Forsberg and Sundin?

We don't know what the new Leaf jersey will look like yet, but apparently JFJ thinks Peter Forsberg will fill it just fine.

I for one think it's far too risky.

Leaf Jersey Concepts.

TML13 created and posted 3 Leafs Jersey concepts over at hfboards.com.
This is the away jersey from concept #1. I dig it. He did a smashing job.

See them all here.

MLSE will unveil the real TML jerseys September 13th.

Let's All Laugh At The Canucks

More new jerseys are released and dear God are they hideous. The Canucks managed to hit a trifecta of crappiness: disgusting colours, a corporate logo (Go Orca Bay!), and a ridiculous wordmark (Nephrus says it best: I just don't like the "Vancouver" part. We know where from. I feel like a hick now).

Below is what happens when you try to keep corporate (didn't they sell?!) overlords and fans happy while copying the defending Stanley Cup champions:




Check out the local reaction with The Chief Canuck (glove tap for the image), Alanah, and Mirtle. Giggles, guffaws, and actually gagging in the comments as always.

Super Series

Just put the TSN broadband feed on the computer.

FYI - No Sens or Leaf prospects playing.

Schedule:

Date	Away	Home	ET	Network	Encore Showing/Result
Mon, Aug. 27	Canada	Russia	9am	TSN & Broadband	4-2 Canada
Wed, Aug. 29	Canada	Russia	730pm	Local Rogers Sportsnet	3-0 Canada
Fri, Aug. 31	Canada	Russia	8am	Rogers Sportsnet & Broadband	7:30pm local/Rogers Sportsnet
Sat, Sept. 1	Canada	Russia	6am	TSN & Broadband	7pm ET/TSN
Tues, Sept. 4	Russia	Canada	8pm	TSN & Broadband	Midnight ET/TSN
Wed, Sept. 5	Russia	Canada	8pm	TSN & Broadband	Midnight ET/TSN
Fri, Sept. 7	Russia	Canada	10pm	Rogers Sportsnet & Broadband	11:30pm MT on RSW and Midnight local on RSP
Sun, Sept. 9	Russia	Canada	8pm	Rogers Sportsnet & Broadband	1am ET on RSE/RSO, 11pm MT on RSW, 11pm PT on RSP

Potty Mouth Stajan!

The Leafs work out in preparation for Paul Maurice's grueling training camp. The best part is that we now know Matty Stajan is skating is (---) off.

Good for him.

Leafs Suck

'Nuff said

Scheds

Make sure you get the schedules loaded into your Outlook calendars and sync'd to your handhelds with reminders on. You wouldn't want to think the Saturday, November 10th game between the Sens and Habs was at 7pm only to find out afterwards it was at 3pm! Imagine your embarrassment.

Sens schedule here.
Leafs here.

Over 6000 fans to see a 'new' jersey

Pretty impressive turnout.

Erin has a post up with her thoughts.

What I'd like to see is how Forsberg looks in it come December.

Predictions

Last year:
McKeen predicted Ottawa to finish 3rd, and Toronto 10th.
The Hockey News predicted Ottawa to finish 2nd and Toronto 10th.
Ottawa finished 4th and Toronto 9th.

This year:
McKeen's predicts Ottawa to finish 2nd, and Toronto 6th.
The Hockey News predicts Ottawa to finish 1st and Toronto 11th.

You?

Travellin' Stanley!

They're tracking The Stanley Cup's summer vacation on NHL.com.

It includes this photo of Teemu Selanne and his "friends" with the cup in his California sauna...

Yikes.

Mats and Josephine Sittin' In A Tree

Looks like Mats has a new SBP in his life. No, Alfie is not getting traded to the Leafs. Mats is dating new girlfriend Josephine Johansson. A Google Images search has turned up these entries for Mats new plaything (25? Way to rob the cradle Mats!) and I assume that she is the fetching blonde and not the first image. Any confirmation would be appreciated.

Does Vodka make you a better hockey player?

According to this story in the star, Bell has been sober for 347 days since the accident. Going by his numbers on the ice before and after sobriety, one has to wonder?

Going by this NHL DUI RAP SHEET provided by Don a few days ago, top players in the NHL seem to excel, even with a drinking problem. Hmm. I wonder if I can convince my boss that I'll be a better employee with a Jager-Bomb to start the day?

Leafs Still Rule World

Well, the world of the CBC anyway.
Here is a summary of the NHL broadcasting schedule in Canada this season (thanks to the good people at The Globe). Toronto will be the prime time feature on the CBC once again, garnering possession of the Saturday night 7pm slot a total of 28 times (or, all of them except for one).
The CBC will also have six afternoon games this season which is considered a traditionally poor time slot. Ottawa will partake in four of them.

The sad news is that Hockey Day in Canada will not boast three all-Canadian match-ups. The NHL has stopped playing nice scheduling-wise for our National day. Toronto will play Detroit at 3pm while the Canucks will play the Avs at 10pm. Ottawa will have the 7pm slot on Hockey day in Canada versus the Habs, although it's a split telecast with Calgary and Edmonton for some reason? Wow, prime slot on Hockey Day In Canada Ottawa!! That and those baseball caps you won in the playoffs makes for a pretty good haul huh? (insert grin and head pat)

Prison Mark meet Prison Mike

Keeping in mind that Bell might not end up in the clink (sentencing is in October) what can he expect if he does end up serving some hard time? Thankfully, Michael Scott has the answer:

The nutritional value of gruel sandwiches might make it tough for Bell to stay in shape.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Some of these comments on Bell's sentencing show this story needs a separate thread.

So this is why the GM needs an advisor. I joked about the Leafs being charged with crimes before but I didn't think Mark Bell would get convicted. Too bad he's a hockey player in California. They treated him like a normal citizen.

I'd like to think that the Leafs were aware of this considering some sens fans at the BoO (Damn you Notch!) were aware of this at the time of the trade. Needless to say, the denizens of Leafs Nation are up in arms and with good reason. The sentence might not start until after the season but as one friend put it "you think Bell will be able to concentrate on hockey with his new cellmate Tito weighing on his mind?"

Now, there are a couple of ways to look at it:

1. JFJ knew about the pending case and decided that either the odds were good that Bell would not be sentenced to jail time or that he wouldn't convicted. In either case, getting Toskala was worth it in his eyes.
   
   
2. JFJ was completely caught off guard and had no clue that Bell has both a drinking and a driving problem.

Either scenario is pretty grim and this quotation seems to indicate that the truth is closer to the latter scenario:

Leafs' GM John Ferguson had little to say when reached by Sportsnet."I will reserve comment until I can more fully review the situation," he said.

If the team knew then they should have been prepared to deal with any result.

Bell is far from the first NHL player to get in trouble with drinking and driving and some have been able to recover from their mistake to have productive careers (Heatley, McTavish). Sadly, Bell won't even be the first Leaf to have had problems. That article cites Rob Ramage, Jamie Macoun, Tim Horton, and Miroslav Frycer as other alumni that have distinguished themselves as morons.

Hopefully, Bell learns from his mistake as does JFJ although I'd like to imagine that he will be doing his learning in the unemployment office.

Mirtle's take here.

Update: In all of the smug self-satisfaction we should all keep in mind that Bell has yet to be sentenced. Mirtle noted that Bill Watters brought this up on Leafs Lunch. Maybe there is a deal in place that we are not aware of and the MSM jumped on the 6 months in the clink angle too quickly. He could just get community service and a fine.

Old news

We all knew this months ago of course.

Sizing up the Sens

I considered it my duty to try and make a positive passing comment about the Luke Richardson signing (we are truly in the dog days of summer here, kids), while tying in observations about year-to-year dimensional changes in the Senators roster.

If the Sens looked small in their final round loss to the Ducks, it's more likely due to the way they used their available size rather than being objectively deficient in it (see Spezza, Jason and Heatley, Dany).

Looking at the height and weight stats for the top 19 roster spots in the final, Anaheim (the league's new touchstone franchise) averaged a foot taller and a pound heavier overall than the Sens. If you put Eaves in the lineup and Schubert on D (Schubie's a brick shithouse), our forwards were three pounds lighter and two inches shorter on average, with our D being four pounds heavier.





Putting Schubert back up front, our forwards averaged a pound more and a inch shorter than Anaheim's, although the D and overall weight numbers were matched.

Trades and free agent losses to date have had net individual additions of two feet and fourteen pounds in the Schaefer-Donovan deal, while Preissing for Nycholat drops a foot and eight pounds on the blue line. Eaves will see more time in place of the smurfy Mike Comrie (who hit bigger than his size would imply).

So there you have it. In the event of injuries or another grinding series late in the playoffs, at 6-4 215, Richardson bumps that blueline up to an average of 6-2 218.

In much the same way that a, er, boat anchor adds weight and stability.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA*

K-Lowe finally succeeds in his scattergun approach to sign someone and something to big dollars. First it was Souray and now Penner.

I think the title says it all.

Edit: Andy sums up the relationship between the teams best. Krazy Lowe sure is determined to build a dynasty...in Anaheim.

* Direct quote from Chemmy.

RAY vs. VESA

All indications are that Toskala will be the #1 goalie in Toronto this year, and as far as I can tell nobody has done a proper comparison of the BoO's starting goaltenders.
So I did.
Both Emery and Toskala are signed for the next 3 years at an average of just over $3Million a season, and the similarities don't end there.

NHL REGULAR SEASON RECORD:
Emery: (103) 59-27-10
Toskala: (115) 65-28-10

REG SEASON GAA:
Emery: 2.59
Toskala: 2.34

REG SEASON SV%:
Emery: .912
Toskala: .914

PLAYOFF RECORD:
Emery: 18-12 (.600)
Toskala: 6-5 (.545)

PLAYOFF GAA & SV%:
Emery: 2.46 & .904
Toskala: 2.44 & .910


Pretty tight, with Toskala taking the prize in every category except career playoff games played and winning percentage.

All stats were retrieved from TSN.ca.