Stoned!

Great start by Team Canada!

Loved Stone's game but do we really need the comparisons to Tim Kerr and, for the love of Alfie, Phil Esposito! Oh well, its the season for dreams!

Merry Christmas

THM, I know you mentioned something about posting the standings tonight?
Perhaps you forgot. I got your back.

Have a great holiday all. It's going to be a good 2nd half to the season. For one of our teams anyway...

On a roll

I was hopeful I'd be able to write this post with the Sens ahead of the Leafs and in a playoff spot with the Blue team looking up from their traditional 9th place position.

But, Buffalo spoiled my fun and the Leafs may still be in a playoff spot when 2012 comes.

As for Ottawa being ahead of them, I think after tonight's game against the lowly Hurricanes, I may have to put the Eastern Conference standings up here.

Praise Alfie!

Nazem Kadri part V (or is it VI)?

It feels like it's been a century since the confident young kid from southern Ontario was Brian Burke's first draft pick as GM of the Leafs. Since Nazem Kadri's name was called at the 2009 draft, Leaf Nation have went on a journey of glee, hope, disappointment, hope again, frustration, and in some cases, now, indifference.

If you've been keeping track, you've read his obituary too, his 67 games in the AHL providing all that critics have needed to go ahead and carve his NHL tombstone. Just another on a long list of highly regarded Leafs prospects who couldn't morph themselves into a player worthy of the NHL's absurd speed and physicality.

Others argue that Kadri's road to the NHL has been nothing out of the ordinary. They point to the plethora of NHL stars who have needed as much or more time in the AHL before making the leap to the bigs. Ryan Miller, the man who will be tasked with stopping Kadri tonight in fact, played in 170 AHL games. Bobby Ryan played in 70 games for the Portland Pirates. Zach Parise played in 73 for Albany, a river rat for an entire season. All more than Kadri, so far.

Kids develop at different rates. Bryan Murray just made a high stakes bet that Kyle Turris' curve is about to make a sudden and steep incline after years of ho-hum productivity. Turris wouldn't be the only late bloomer if Murray is correct. Not every kid can walk into the NHL and succeed off the hop. But even the most glass-half-full Leafs fan is starting to wonder if Kadri will ever live up to the hype.

Luckily, for the Leafs, Kadri's and the teams development have not been a parallel path. Kadri has struggled to make the team but in the same span the Leafs franchise has vastly improved. Jake Gardiner, Matt Frattin, Joe Colborne and the unexpected emergence of James Reimer has given the restless Leaf Nation something to focus on while Kadri has worked on his game away from the spotlight.

Will tonight be the game we remember as the night Kadri began his assertion into the Leafs permanent fold? Will this be another blip on the radar, or the beginning of the end, or some kind of showcase for the trade possibilities that have become part of the conversation too?

In an hour or so we'll begin to find out. Me, personally, I've tried to implement a new way of looking at the players, prospects and picks who make up this Leafs ecosystem. No player is THAT important in the overall scheme. A great franchise needs to have room for error, room for surprises and a willingness to see past the tree for the good of the maple forest. But if Kadri could become the creative hockey player that had Bryan Murray approach Burke to trade for the chance to draft, or the player that Burke envisioned when he declined, it would be a real treat for Leafs fans.

..reminds me a lot of when Jim Carey was playing...

Ah, to hear those words being spoken about James Reimer is just like an early Christmas present.
McGuire on the radio this morning talking about Reimer's technique and how he's starting to be exposed.

2 pts ahead of the Sens for now.

Turris for Rundblad and a 2nd

Quite the trade on the weekend.

There's been quite a bit of analysis of the trade already and I think it's fair to say that most in Sensland tilt a little to the side of concern. The feeling is that the upside on Rundblad might be higher and there isn't any baggage as Turris brings with him.

Suddenly, the offensive cupboard is getting nicely stocked in the Sens organization. As Steve Lloyd said in his blog, Jim O'Brien was the top center prospect at the end of last year. Yikes.

No doubt this helps the Senators in the short term. Rundblad was close to being sent to Bingo when Gonchar and Kuba returned to the lineup. What about long term? Way, way too early to know of course but I like the idea of having two strong centers (Leafs would love to have one) and with Turris we've got a really good chance of getting there.

Can you see the following lineup up front in a year or two?

Michalek - Spezza - Zibanejad
Greening - Turris - Alfredsson
Foligno - Regin - Silfverberg
Condra - Smith - Neil

That's without Butler, Winchester, Daugavins who is having a nice first season, prospects like Stone, Puempel, Noesen, Petersson, and Da Costa

At the back end the Sens seem to have Karlsson and Cowen as their future top pairing and taking up to 60 minutes a game with Phillips, Gonchar, Lee, Carkner and a guy like Borowiecki looking for a spot next year.

WJC

Two draft picks from the Sens (Mark Stone) and the Leafs (Brad Ross) made the Team Canada selection camp. Sounds like Stone has almost locked up his spot while Ross has battled some injuries which have prevented him from participating in the scrimmages.

Stone's been having a monster season in Brandon - leading the WHL scoring race with 65 pts in 33 games. Ross has 38 in 30 games for Portland.

I know not all the rosters have been released but I`ll try to keep this up to date once they are finalized:

Ottawa:
CAN - Mark Stone, 2010, 178th overall
SWE - Mika Zibanejad, 2011, 6th overall
SWE - Fredrik Claesson, 2011, 126th overall
USA - Shane Prince, 2011, 61st overall
CZE - Jakub Culek, 2010, 76th overall

Toronto:
SWE - Petter Granberg, 2010, 116th overall

Sick day - why the f*ck not? - a *very* brief new thread.

Congratulations Ottawa

You sent some fans down to see the big Hall of Fame game and they didn't leave disappointed. 

BoO Game #3

More importantly, it's the Hall of Fame game and three ex Leafs will be inducted. The most notable for Leaf fans will of course be Dougy. He may have never won a cup here, but as Rosie Dimanno wrote yesterday, he WAS the Leafs while he was here and is a giant pair of skates to fill for any player that has put on the Leaf jersey since. 

One day maybe an Ottawa Senator will get into the hall. I can't think of any right now but maybe somebody can enlighten us. 

The Leafs will be looking to Scrivens to deliver another solid performance, solidifying himself as the permanent #2 on the Leafs. Ottawa will be going though the motions of a hockey game, their league league worst 5 on 5 goal differential a pretty good indicator that a lottery pick is a real possibility this season, maybe even the coveted first overall pick. 

Enjoy the game. Leafs 6 Ottawa 1. I'm going with Frattin for a big game. His first 2 goals of the season tonight?

Leafs @ Senators / Game Day Thread #2

Leafs are the 2nd best team in the eastern conference.
Ottawa's young d-man leads the league in 2nd assists.

Something has to give...

Will Kessel continue to score goals and will Gustavsson keep stopping pucks? Will Karlsson continue to touch the puck moments before a good play is made and get credit for it?

7:30pm. Tune in and find out!

The comparison game. I'll start:

Leafs are in a playoff position.
Ottawa are out of a lottery spot.

Marlies lead their division.
Binghampton are last in theirs.

Toronto's best forward leads the league in goals and points.
Ottawa's best forward is leading the league in next to retire.

Leafs best prospect has the most points in the AHL.
Binghampton's most productive player is a 34 year old journeyman.

Ah, that feels better

A Sens win and a Leaf thrashing.

Have to say things could look even better in a few days with Columbus coming into Ottawa and the Leafs going to play the Habs and Philly on the road.

Also expect we'll see the last of Kessel's ugly mug on the NHL Stats leader page shortly. Michalek (5 goals) and Karlsson (7 assists) are showing up in the leader board btw. Lupul and Reimer are there for +/- and Wins/Shutouts I guess I should say as well.

Interesting note - of the 6 players leading the 8 categories there are no Canadians.

Happy Sunday

On pace for 130 goals. That should shut up the trade critics, at least for a bit. 

Victory

Too busy to put much down on here but I got to the home opener last night. This picture taken after Alfie scored to clinch victory in the shootout is one for blog for sure!

Jim Carey

Is Optimus Reim not taking Burke's advice?

Burke famously told his young goalie:

Jim Carey is one. Steve Penney is one. What I said to James Reimer is ‘Google both of those guys and make sure you’re not one of them.’

Well, Jim Carey came up for Washington in 1995 and went 28-16-8 - a little Reimerish, no? (Reimer was 20-10 last year)

The next year, Carey won the Vezina. Something Reimer should be careful not to repeat lest he be like Carey. In fact, Carey won his first 4 games after his first partial season.

Hopefully for Leaf fans, Reimer won't follow in Jim's footsteps.

15th? As if.

Those jerks that had the Sens finishing 15th in the east this year can shove it. Check this out!

The Canadiens just miss out, placing ninth, while Winnipeg is 11th and Ottawa 14th in the East. Edmonton finishes 13th in the West, just ahead of Calgary.

Oh, wait a minute - it's not all good news. The simulation must be flawed....

The simulation is good news for Maple Leafs fans, since Toronto finishes eighth in the East to make the playoffs.

Alfie

Interesting column from Mendes on Sportsnet here.

It's a good insight to Alfie's frame of mind last winter, this summer after his surgery and talks mostly about his future including on whether he could see himself leaving the club.

At this point, Alfredsson says that's not his intention but the Ottawa captain does leave the door open for a possible trade this season, if it makes sense for both himself and the organization.

"That might change, but as of right now, I have no desire to do that," Alfredsson said when asked if he would follow in Ray Bourque's path. "I haven't even thought about it that way. I'm committed to stay here, but who knows: things could change come February or March. But right now, I'd say ‘no’ to that question."

I don't think I would support moving the captain given this club's short current history but we do need to consider what an Alfie trade could bring to the Senators.

It's hard to say of course as we don't know how #11 is going to perform this season but if he returns to his 2009/10 form of a point a game and strong play then it would seem to me that a top ranked prospect and a first round pick is a starting point. The bigger issue is finding a true match with a contender. Alfredsson wouldn't be dealt to the highest bidder - we know Murray is going to take Alfie's desires into play and I actually think the chances of finding a match for a trade will be very difficult if it ever comes up. One of the few scenarios I actually could see is an Alfie to the Canucks deal involving Hodgson considering they are western conference team, Swedish familarity, and Canucks need for 2nd line RW scoring.

Again, for myself, I don't think it's worth it. Keeping Alfie in a Sens jersey and signing him for another few years would be worth more to this franchise.

Quote of the day

“[Leaf fans] cry about everything [...] ,” said [Chris] Neil.

Toronto: The Worst Sports City in the World

Marche's column in Grantland - a sweet read.

BoO preseason Round 2

Round 1 in the preseason tilt saw the Leafs win 4-2

Tonight in Ottawa it's round 2 with the following lineups:

Sens via @TSNScottyMac:
Greening-Spezza-Filatov
Foligno-Regin-Condra
Hoffman-Zibanejad-Butler
Daugavins-Smith-Neil
Gonchar-Borowiecki
Cowen-Karlsson,
Rundblad-Lee.
G: Lehner, McKenna

That's back to back games for Zibanejad, Greening, Cowen, and Rundblad as the rookies are getting a good look. No DaCosta in for this one surprisingly as he didn't play last night either.

Leafs via @jonasTSN1050:
MacArthur-Grabovski-Kulemin
Lupul-Kadri-Kessel
Frattin-Boyce-Armstrong
Rosehill-Dupuis-Orr/Crabb
Liles-Schenn
Gunnarsson-Phaneuf
Aulie-Franson

Rookie Gardiner gets a night off in a busy preseason for him. Frattin getting a long look up front.

Muscle

Interesting column by Cox today here.

He talks about the choice between Rosehill or Orr to be the Leafs 'muscle'. He has includes these lines:

Nuclear deterrent, is what he likes to call it. The favourite example of the need for such a player you'll hear in Leaf circles is that Chris Neil of the Senators, a frequent opponent, is less likely to be uber-aggressive when there's a big pair of fists waiting for him

Not sure I agree with that.

Sens-Jets game today

A couple of the player tandems caught my eye:
- Zibanejad and Alfie
- Smith and Neil
- Cowen and Karlsson

Go Sens!

Cup odds

Via Bodog

Canucks 7/1
Habs 25/1
Flames 40/1
Leafs 50/1
Jets 60/1
Oilers 65/1
Sens 70/1

The fix is in!!!!

Can't believe it.

Saw on Twitter today a mention of the Sens B2B games and many being against the Leafs.

Well, it turns out all 6 Battle of Ontario games are after a Sens game the night before and only one takes place after a Leaf game the night before.

October 8th in Toronto - Sens in Detroit the night before
October 30th in Ottawa - Sens play the Rangers the night before (Leafs in Toronto against the Pens )
November 12th in Toronto - Sens at Buffalo the night before
January 17th in Toronto - Sens at home the night before against the Jets
February 4th in Ottawa - Sens at home the night before against the Islanders
March 17th in Ottawa - Sens at home the night before against Montreal

Bullshit.

Quick learner!

Exhibition Battle

Expected lineups:

Sens:
Auld/Lehner to split duties
Kuba-Karlsson
Weirchosh-Conboy
Cowen-Runblad
Filatov-Regin-Butler
Michalek-Zibanejad-Stone
Greening-Smith-Neil
Hoffman-Kenopka-Lessard

Leafs:
Gustavsson/Scrivens
Aulie-Phaneuf
Liles-Lashoff
Gardiner-Gunnarsson
MacArthur-Grabovski-Kulemin
Kadri-Bozak-Armstrong
Frattin-Colborne-Crabb
Ryan-Dupuis-Rosehill

The game is on LeafsTV.

Can't wait for the 2015 season!

Hockey Prospectus 2011-12

Leaf players:
22. Joe Colborne, Center
87. Jake Gardiner, Defense
104. Jesse Blacker, Defense

Ottawa players:
17. David Rundblad, Defense
21. Mika Zibanejad, Left Wing
40. Nikita Filatov, Right Wing
46. Stephane Da Costa, Center
76. Jared Cowen, Defense
85. Jakob Silfverberg, Right Wing
90. Patrick Wiercioch, Defense

And goalie prospects:
4. Robin Lehner, Ottawa Senators

New Revenue Sources!

Press Releases
Toronto Maple Leafs
August 15, 2013

Dave Nonis, General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Brian Burke, President and CEO of MLSE announced Friday that the hockey club has signed a multi year agreement with The Bank of Montreal for sponsorship of the hockey club.

The agreement allows the club to sign underachieving defencemen going forward as well as to sign unproven goalies for well into the next decade.

"We will continue the Maple Leaf tradition of overpaying veterans and rewarding career years with highly questionable contracts" said Burke.

"The move is a natural progression of the Maple Leafs move to drive revenue beyond traditional sources that was started two years ago with our Purolator agreement. We are looking for more ways to improve MLSE shareholder value in the future and will look at every opportunity"

Baby Battle of Ontario

It's a game day thread.

Leafs vs Sens 7:00pm

 The winner doesn't get a trophy. But they do win the tourney.

 Ottawa fans, not sure if you can get this on cable TV in your neck of the woods, but this is running on Mapleleafs.com starting at 7:30pm (for some reason giving Rogers cable a 30 minute head start), so anybody, anywhere, can watch it. 

We're less then a week away from our first BoO pre-season match. Lets kick this season off with some venom.

Getting closer...

Rookie camp underway.

Da Costa with a hatty in a Sens 6-5 win over the Hawks Cowick scored two and Lehner got the shutout in the tournament opening 4-0 win over the Pens rookies.

The Leafs rookies also won both of their first two games beating the Hawks 4-2 with Gardiner getting some ink and then they beat the Pens 5-1.

The Rookie Battle of Ontario takes place tomorrow night.


I've been watching some of the Rugby World Cup as well. Check out the Rugby world's concussion protocol here! (go to 44:40 in the video or 37:50 on the game clock)
Ledesma gets knocked out cold from a knee to the head and then he's back out just over a minute after for the next play! Crazy.

Vancouver Canucks former player Rick Rypien deceased

If you haven't heard it by now, read Mirtle at the G&M.  Rick Rypien is dead at 27.  The cause of death is, as of this writing, unknown, but given that he battled severe depression, it could be suicide, alcohol or drugs (purely speculative).

Rypien joins fellow tough-guy Derek Boogaard this year in dying way, way too young.

Why am I posting this story on the BoO?   Consider this:

Rick Rypien:  last NHL fight with Chris Neil.
Derek Boogaard:  last NHL fight with Matt Carkner.

I know Carkner was pretty shaken up after Boogaard's death given that D.B. didn't play another game after Carkner's right hook.  There was a substantial amount of time between that bout and Boogaard's death, but it was his last game.  Neil and Rypien had some good exchanges, but Rypien continued to play several months before taking time off for personal reasons. 

Where am I going with this?  This is where I'm going: Peter Raaymaker's post at SilverSevenSens on the human impact of fighting.

*read that article*

Rypien's death isn't the first time depression, alcohol and drugs have been linked to hockey 'tough guys'.  It probably won't be the last.

Stone hands!

Cool August mornings and upcoming minor hockey camps - soon time to start thinking about hockey again.

Here's a brief article about a Sens prospect impressing.

Kovalev's parting shots.

Ten million bucks doesn't buy you much in the NHL these days. Especially if you spent that money on Alexei Kovalev.
The Russian contributed next to nothing for Ottawa over two seasons on the ice. Fine. He was old and should have never been signed. That's on Ottawa. But now, months after being traded from Ottawa and on the verge of playing in the KHL, he still takes the time out of his day to bad-mouth the franchise.

"In two seasons I still couldn't understand the ideas of our coach Cory Clouston," Kovalev told Sovetsky Sport in an article translated by Dmitry Chesnokov of Yahoo! Sports.

That's the nice part. Wait to you see what he says about the media out there in Kanata.

Read the full story here on TSN.

Happy Hockey Solstice

According to several sources on the Interwebz, including one of our faves PPP, today is Hockey Solstice Day.  What's that?  Well, it's the day in the summer that is equidistant from both the last playoff game and the first pre-season game.  It has been 48 days since the Cup was won by Boston and it will be 48 days the Battle of Ontario kicks off the pre-season. 

But it's an interesting phrase the PPP authour uses to calculate the midpoint:  "[it has been] 48 days since we last saw any playoff action".

We here at BoO would prefer to use a different calculation for the folks at PPP.


Special update for Muppet:


Free Countup Timers at WishAFriend.com

You may now scroll down do thMuppets Twitter posting.  Speaking of Twitter:  follow Don at Don@BoO & THM at StraightFromTHM (lame at the moment, but will pick up in the Fall)

Muppet versus Twitter

@Bozie42 Tyler Bozak - Never an easy morning workout after Vegas. #naptime

I agree Tyler, that's tough. Having to workout after a weekend in Vegas blowing thousands of dollars and not even denting your bank account is one of life's greater difficulties. Enjoy your nap, you deserve it bro. When you wake up do indeed tweet us all, we'll just be here, at our desks, at our jobs, waiting.

@mirtle James Mirtle - Winnipeg woman gets new Jets logo tattooed on her leg: winnipegsun.com/2011/08/01/shi…

This is unfair. This lady gets a mirtle tweet while THM got a tattoo of Daniel Alfredsson's face on his ass cheek and all he got was a crummy 10 likes on facebook.

@MattBarnabyESPN Matthew Barnaby - I've used the phrase " walk like a penguin many times in my life but omg after that leg workout it will be me !! Ugh long 3 days ahead!

#I'mInDenialThatI'mRetiredAndNoLongerRelavant

@NHL NHL - Tell us! What do you miss most about #NHL hockey during the long summer months?

I can tell you what I don't have to miss: lame corporate attempts to create dialogue with your audience based on absolutely nothing of substance. At least tell us you blew out your pecks at the gym or something cool like that. Sheesh.

@FAN590 THE FAN 590 - If they re-locate, where do YOU think the @NYIslanders should move? 416-870-0590, 1-888-666-0590, *590!

Winnipeg. Then we can follow the story of the Winnipeg lady as she weighs whether to get an Islanders logo on her other calf. Now that's content baby.

Screw you Rogers.

This is what I get every time I try and watch video about the Jays on TSN or Sportsnet.
Clearly they black out Jays coverage here in California. For what reasons I can't even begin to fathom. Are folks here worried that Jays coverage might steal fans from the Dodgers and Angels? Do I need to send Rogers money to follow my team here, while at home I can go see live games for a toonie?

I know this blackout to be true, and yet I keep trying. I figure one of these days TSN will mess up and forget to code the blackout for my IP.

I can't wait for hockey to start in October...

Cupboard not bare anymore

Hockey Prospectus ranks organizational prospects...
via Silver Seven Sens
4. Ottawa Senators: The Senators have steadily built up one of the best systems in the league, as they have upside and depth at every position and have a quite a bright future ahead of them. David Rundblad was an absolute monster offensively in the SEL, while countryman Jacob Silfvergberg looked quite impressive as well. I'm not as high on Nikita Filatov as I once was, but he's an elite talent and a great risk for the price he was had at. Jared Cowen looked fine and has his pre-injury mobility back, although I'm not sure I see first pairing potential in his future. Stephane Da Costa was a great pick-up as the best college free agent out there. Patrick Wiercioch underwhelmed this year, but that is a lone sad story in one of hockey's best pipelines.

11. Toronto Maple Leafs: Acquiring Joe Colborne and Jake Gardiner via trade massively changed the dynamics of this system, although a better 2011 draft could have helped take them to the next level. Colborne is a top-end center prospect, while Gardiner is a fine offensive defenseman who has a couple of kinks in his game. Brad Ross showed decent flashes of skill that could give reason to believe he can be something more than a fourth line player, Jerry D'Amigo simply looked okay and Jesse Blacker showed moments of pure dominance while at other times showing he has some work to do. Nazem Kadri has top-end scoring ability, but I'm not that confident he reaches his ceiling and may be more of a second line winger than a first line center.

Hanson gets a job

In Washington.

Christian Hanson was one of those guys you hoped would work out. Huge. Tough. Son of a movie star.

But he just kind of didn't.

You saw the potential. Glimpses of the big power forward just waiting to be unleashed. But the league is full of guys who show glimpses. Heavy on players with potential. Now the Capitals will take their roll of the dice, hoping to be there when this kids A game arrives. I hope it works out for him. Hard working guy. Deserves another shake.

Good luck Christian.

Sens win

Must suck to have the guy with the second worst adjusted +/- in the league!!!

Bringing the battle back

Today's signing should make the 6 BoO games a little more exciting if nothing else. Konopka dominated the PIM standings - and I should note that with only 1 more minor penalty than Grabovski.

Interesting he was a good faceoff guy with over 1000 faceoffs with the Isle.

San Jose (finally) wins Heatley trade

As Andy noted in the comments of the UFA thread, it is being reported that Dirtbag Heatley has been traded to the Minnesota Wild for Martin Havlat.

This feels like a dirty love-triangle in a crummy US soap opera.  

Heatley demanded a trade out of Ottawa as we all know.  He exercised his NMC to avoid a solid trade to Edmonton.  It was said he really wanted to go to San Jose and didn't really intend to permit a trade to the Rangers, the other suitor (too much attention in NY, one would think).  In exchange, the Senators took on Jonathan Cheechoo who is pretty much done in the NHL and Milan Michalek and a second round pick which became - via trade - Andy Sutton (now with Edmonton).

Michalek has shown flashes of offensive brilliance, actually backchecks, and takes a smaller pay than Heatley did (we're still awaiting the greivance on Douchebag's $4M July 1 payout).  When traded to Ottawa, he made a call to fellow Czech NHLer Martin Havlat whom, it was reported, had nothing but good things to say of Ottawa and was excited for his countryman.   Havlat, of course, was one of the favourites in Ottawa having been drafted 26th by the Senators.  What's a little crazy is that the Wild just drafted a Stephen Michalek (unlikley to be related but that would be intriguing)

And so it is now with great irony that Heatley has waived his NMC to move to Minnesota in exchange for Havlat didn't include Minnesota on his 10 'no trade' teams in his modified NMC.  Minnesotia may be an even smaller market than San Jose and perhaps even less 'exciting' than Edmonton as midwest cities go.  Perhaps Heatley liked the fact that Minnesota rotated its Captaincy so he'd have a chance to wear the C.  Well, too bad that ended three years ago and it's unlikely Mikko Koivu will give up that role to the biggest dick in the NHL.

So Heatley now goes from a team that took him to the SCF but deteriorated to miss the playoffs, to a team that was Cup bound but couldn't crack the Finals to a team that hasn't made the playoffs in three years.  Sure, that doesn't sound like a long time to Leaf fans, but they're special and to a real hockey fans, 3 years is a long time.

Well, one more Fuck you to Dany Heatly and I'll be happy to cheer on San Jose in the Final next year after they cruch Vancouver in an earlier round.

Update of intrigue!  Ottawa's home opener is against Minnesota.  This will be a fun night.  However, it will be made even more fun based on the fact that the AHL farm teams for the Senators and the Wild just finished battling for the Calder Cup.  With the big clubs likely to have several players called up or make the NHL squad, it could be an interesting 'rematch'.  Might we have a rather obscure rivalry on the go?

Unrestricted Free Agent Thread - 2011

You all know the drill. Do we need a set-up really?

How's this for interesting:
@tsn_wally 8 former Sens’ goalies looking for work today: Leclaire, Brodeur, McElhinney, Gerber, Emery, Auld, Lalime, Elliott

But hey, don't be nervous about a long-term deal for Anderson, I'm sure he's the exception.

Leafs are after forwards both top and bottom 6.
No idea what Murray has planned.

Should be fun folks!

While you were out, we signed Brad Richards?

Tomorrow, as hockey-agent cell phones light up, as the sports networks gear up for a marathon of camera to blackberry to camera drama, and the blogosphere cranks out a thousand words a minute about trades that may or may not happen, Brian Burke, GM of the Maple Leafs, will not be doing his job.

No exclusively, anyway.

Instead, Burke will spend the next few days in Afghanistan with Canadian troops. Sure, he's a phone call away but for some it will seem strange that he's on the other side of the world doing charitable work during one of the most important weekends of the year for the National Hockey League.

Last time he was away for UFA day we ended up with Komisarek.

Just saying.

Welcome to the future...

...where Leaf fans are still delusional and Burke is beginning Round 3 of "Truculence and Belligerence" instead of "skills that help you score and prevent the other team from scoring".

However, some things do change or improve!

If you've come here from a smart phone, you've already figured it out. If not, fire up that QR barcode reader and have a go of this little puppy.

You'll still have access to the full site via a link at the bottom of each page, but this will help your phone or iSteveJobsMindControlDevice render the pages faster on first approach.   Feel free to copy-post this barcode on any page you're hosting/visiting which may relate to this little blog.

We now take you back to the 3 year losing streak of Ron Wilson.

A non-Brad Richards Leaf post

In an interview on Sportsnet 590 radio, Brian Burke talked about his approach to free agency.

He will be looking for a #1 centerman, so long as the price is reasonable.
He does not have as much pressure to look for a D-man now that Liles is on board.
He will be looking at players to beef up the bottom six.

It's this last point that caught my attention. We all love a superstar signing, but fact remains that success comes to teams that have a complete line-up. Toronto had some very good bottom six players last year that are bound to return, but Tim Brent, Joey Crabb Daryl Boyce and Rosehill are all at risk of losing their job to a UFA signing and so they should be. Hanson wasn't qualified and Caputi looks to be on the bubble, which tells me some experienced muscle could be on the way.


Here are three truculent players Burke could be talking to come July 1st:


BEN EAGER: He's huge, he's mean and he has a cup ring. Put him on the left wing opposite Orr or Army and you have the makings of a devastating punish line. He was also a +4 last year in Atlanta and threw down 7 goals in less than 70 games just for good luck.

CAM JANSSEN: Now before you vomit at the mention of his name, this guy is a beast. He stands tall against much bigger opponents, pisses off everybody on the away bench and while he's on the ice for 6 minutes everybody knows it. I hate him, which is why I would have to consider signing him. Toronto need to get a bit more scary, he would help that along.

TANNER GLASS: He's young, he has size, and he fits the bill as far as adding some fear-factor to the bottom six. My friends in Vancouver are scratching their heads wondering why he hasn't been resigned and Lapierre has been... I think he might fit in well in Toronto.

Obviously I've stuck mostly to muscle here, there are a lot of guys available who could provide scoring in the bottom six, or straight up veteran players who would help add some personality and experience to the Leafs. Michael Ryder is a UFA. Ville Leino is a UFA. Lots of guys who could toggle between the upper and lower lines, although my feeling is Toronto will leave these roles to some of the kids.

Senators, Leafs and THM upgrade

Draft day 1 passes and draft day 2 slowly winds its way down. Both Ottawa and Toronto made moves in the first round with both picking up an extra first founder.  Four in total if one counts the acquisition of Filatov, a 2008 sixth overall pick.  T dot made a nice grab of JML.  But that's about as good as it gets for them.

So what's this about THM's upgrade?. New Android phone with Blogger. So here's hoping this publishes ok. Future postings may be weird for a bit, but at least you'll know why.   

Don: another Blogger page I use allowed me to enable a mobile version of a site. Can you do the same here?

Back to hockey talk:. Clearly Ottawa has a better haul from this draft in terms of prospects. It will be a few years before one can judge the long term results so attention now turns to off season trades and more immediately UFA  day ON July 1.  

One final question on drafting to quell anti Murray sent
iments: who traded up to draft this year's MVP?

Draft day open thread

Ok, so with centre and captain Mike Richards being traded from Philadelphia to the Los Angeles Kings for Brayden Schenn, Wayne Simmonds and 2nd round draft pick, the rights to Brad Richards and the trade value of Jason Spezza went way, way, WAY up. B. Richards and J. Spezza are each worth substantially more to their respective teams that Mike Richards was to Philly in terms of total overall contribution to net team success. (Read the last part before you object, leafers)

Rumours had it that the Blue Jackets were chasing Spezza hard, but Murray wisely said "GFY".

That puts us into an interesting situation come Draft Day Friday. Do the Sens deal Spezza for a major (MAJOR) draft pick haul? Do the Leafs cough up group of quality product (I know... I know... hold it in Senators fans and realists) for the rights to Dallas' go-to-guy?

Whatever the case, there will be much debate about the quality and wisdom of each team's picks. Use this thread to bash the selection of the other team or to admire the adept manipulation of late picks for higher choices.

It should be a little more exciting here than trade day (Dear Unicorn, let's hope so!)

Welcome to the "insert team name" official website.

We all know they are going to be called the Jets, right?

Scroll through the "get to know your team" section. You know all these players from watching Atlanta, but when you see them in a row like that, now in a real hockey market, the potential for a great hockey team is there.

Looking forward to them joining the league!

What would be an impolite way of saying kitty cat?

How about: "Burke".


You were thinking pussy, right? Well at this point the two are synonymous.

A brief synopsis:

Burke's bestie is Wilson.
Wilson coaches the Leafs.
Leafs have been brutal under Wilson.
Burke loves his bestie.

Burke wants to fire someone.
Burke will not fire bestie.

Burke tells bestie to pick who gets fired.

Wilson picks. Burke fires picks.


Really, kids, what kind of coward pulls a stunt like that?

Co-caption contest.

Comments primarily directed to a caption for the combined images. Or to the dumbass-ery of Vancouver fans.

Awesomeness

Tyler Seguin = Cup Champion.

Phil Kessel = chumpion.

Trivia

What do Alfie, Sedin and Sundin all have in common?

Worst franchise in the NHL

The Leafs according to ESPN The Magazine:

According to a press release from the magazine, the list is meant to provide a ranking of 122 teams from NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball "according to how much they give back to fans for the time, money and emotion they invest in them."

The magazine analyzed a team's efficiency in spending fan money compared to its performance on the field, while also factoring in fan feedback in 21 categories.

Obviously this doesn't take into consideration the awesome contracts the Leafs just signed or that Burke will for sure acquire a number 1 center in a few weeks.

Coach MacLean

Globe's Eric Duhatschek:
To sum up, MacLean has a habit of winning wherever he goes; has a history of working well with young players; and should bring the same sort of intelligence and stability to Ottawa that another former Babcock assistant, Todd McLellan, brought to the San Jose Sharks.

The 6ths Sens:
He should eat a bowl of oatmeal at the presser. #wilfordbrimley

Late hits

I often go back to something Dryden wrote 7 years ago about 'finishing your check'. Read it again.

Champs

Binghamton Senators, AHL Champs.

Robin Lehner, MVP

Has to be a good thing....

Bingo is a game away from winning the Calder Cup after winning 4-2 on Saturday night.

I was looking through the list of previous Calder Cup winners and finalists and it is nice to see teams that had success are also competitive NHL teams - Chicago, Washington, Vancouver, Pittsburgh. Hope that carries on for Ottawa.

Good coverage of the Calder Cup on the Silver Seven blog and the Joy Lindsay's twitter feed. Cowen made the trip to Houston she says - no update on his injury sustained in the game on Saturday.

you heard it here first.

Having been effectively 'fired' from the Pittsburgh Penguins (i.e., being told they won't be re-signed) Mike Comrie & Alex Kovalev will join the Leafs this offseason.

AHL Finals televised

SportsNet has stepped up to the plate and will air the remainder of the AHL Finals on Sportsnet Sens.

Game 3 of the 1-1 tied series starts at 7:05 ET on Wednesday.

Don't hold your breath

Can't believe Fraser needs to write a column like this.
They'll be obsessed with it until they get closer than they were that time. In other words, a long, long time from now.

Calder Cup

The Calder Cup playoffs begin tomorrow night in what is a huge first step for the Ottawa Senators.

Despite predictions suggesting Binghamton wouldn't make the playoffos, Bingo has a deeper team set for the Final. Houston, on the other hand, has been a giant-killer and is coming off one of those extremly rare 3-0 deficits almost blowing a 3-0 lead to win a 7 game series. Impressive. Very impressive.

However, if you are a Houston Aero reading this blog, there is something you need to be very cognisant of:

To answer Muppet's question:

Go.....





Lest I be accused of treason, here's my case:

1. Vancouver. The end.
For the daft readers of this site (welcome, PPP fans!) who can't contemplate #1 here are a few other reasons:

2. Chris Kelly. Kelly was one of the top working players for the Senators. Occasionally flashy, he was a solid all-round contributor who never took a night off. He deserves some solid recognition via a silver chalice above his head.
3. The guy needs to be rewarded for having to suffer for so long in Toronto and finally made a wise decision. Fuck you Wilson!
4. Tim Thomas isn't a bitch. Virtually a walk-on goalie, he has never complained or been deemed the greatest. Yet he is. Also, he doesn't have greasy hair.
5. Boston girls are not prissy (trust me). Vancouver men are. A drunken Bostonian lass can cuss like the best sailor out there and in that crazy accent, it's just incredibly hot.
6. Phil Kessel. HHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAH.

Of course, this is severely premature and i'm hoping I haven't jinxed them. If so, there will be a Tampa post to follow :)

Shouldn't make me happy

but it does...

Dany Heatley has been a complete no-show and suddenly seems too slow to keep up with the pace of playoff hockey.

Prospect update.

The top website dedicaetd to hockey prospects, Hockey's Future, has given their Prospect of the Year award to Ottawa's David Rundblad.

Past recipients (it's a short list) are Edmonton's Jordan Eberle and Vancouver's Cody Hodgson.

In other news, the Binghamton Senators await the results of tonight's AHL Western Final game 7 between Houston Aeros (I prefer the minty kind) and Hamilton Bulldongs (you read that right - Montreal is full of dicks, so their farm team is full of them too).

Senator's fans know the ills of a long layoff before the final. Let's hope Bingo learns from the big club's trials.

Awesome

The Bingo Senators swept the Charlotte Checkers last night in the Calder Cup Eastern Conference Final with a Z.Smith faceoff-goal by captain Ryan Keller to land a 4-3 OT win. Robin Lehner played an extremely solid game, stopping 42 shots in the win bringing his playoff win % to 83.3.

Ryan Putolny continued his unreal playoffs with 14 goals (25 points) in 17 games. Who cares if he doesn't crack the big club next year - he's contributing to instilling a winning drive of the prospects.

Late bloomer Kaspar Daugavins had a very pretty SH goal made that much prettier by the ugliest moustache since Muppet's mom rocked one in 1993.

No BoO post is complete without reference to the other BoO team so understand that the Leafs are involved here. The last "Stanley Cup GOLD" goaltending prospect Leaf fans drooled over as late as last year rode the bench. Again. Yes, Justin Pogge missed his chance once more.

Prospect update

Last night was a big night for Battle of Ontario prospects.

Ottawa's group certainly had an impressive showing in taking a 3-0 stranglehold in the AHL semi-finals with a 7-1 win over the Charlotte Checkers.

Robin Lehner stopped 37 of 38 shots fo a 0.974 SV% to follow up his 35-save shutout in game 2. Lehner also scored his first professional playoff point with a short handed assist.

• Leading the scorers was Z.Smith with a hat-trick and an assist on our next player. Highly-touted defenseman Jared Cowen (rather dominant since joining Bingo in the post-season) aided the third.
• Centre Ryan Potulny continued his mind-abusing playoffs with his 23 point in 16 games.
• Bobby Butler potted his 10th of the post season with a really pretty goal.
• Returning to Cowen, he played extremely solid on the PK, shutting down the potent Checkers PP and plays nearly 30 minutes a game on the first pairing.

Highlight video of the game available here.

Turning to Toronto, we all are well aware that the Phaneuf-Reimer combo blew the game for Canada at the WHC, and that the Marlies, with all of the NHL-level depth, were somehow cheated out of a deep playoff run, but I, as a Senators fan and Leaf hater, can readily admit that the Leafs do deserve solid props for these two plays from their highly coveted pick.

Toronto's draft pick definitely steals the night.

Matt Lashoff

Colby Armstrong just tweeted that Matt Lashoff, leaf defenceman, released an album on iTunes.

Here it is.

Now. As you listen to his style of music, watch this video for a truly conflicting emotional experience.

Holy Crap

As far as I can tell this just happened in the Finland/Russia game.

Mark in da ACC?

How did I miss this? Thanks to TDT for sending me a link to this - the Leafs next great can't miss goaltending prospect:

AHL playoffs

Sens off to the Conference final after they won 3-0 (Lehner shutout on 36 saves) in game 6.

Cowen joined Binghamton for this game after Spokane was eliminated.

Not sure where the Marlies are at - assuming they've been given a bye to the final considering that they've got that crazy depth we've been hearing so much about :)

So much awesome.....

Reposted from http://www.silversevensens.com/



Trade rejected. Gold.

The return of Jacques?

Interesting thought.

WORLD HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP THREAD!

As suggested by Andy, lets use this thread to talk world cup or anything else on your mind, like those Stanley Cup Playoffs that are moving along quickly.

In case you need a recap on which BoO players are playing for whom:

Team Canada includes Schenn, Phaneuf and Reimer from the Leafs, while Spezza is the Senators representative. Nonis is the GM.
Belarus is captained by Grabovsk.
Czech has Milan Michalek who I just read about: he scored two goals against Norway.
Germany includes Mueller and Holzner, two Leaf prospects who play for the Marlies.
Russia's roster includes 30 goal-scorer Nik Kulemin, who I heard over at PPP only played 7 minutes in the last game on the 4th line.
Sweden should have Alfredsson, but must settle for Carl Gunnarson for BoO content.
USA boasts Komisarek and Brown from the Leafs, likely to protect featherweight Shannon from the Ottawa clan.

All in all Toronto have 10 players in the tourney while Ottawa have 3. Not sure why Karlsson isn't playing for Sweden but we do know Kessel declined for the USA, which I hate to see. He should have went.

Leafs invest in the fairer sex.

Burke and Leafs form task unit to help support and grow the sport of women's hockey.

I must say, I enjoy watching the women play in the Olympics. I've also played with some women who could skate circles around me and probably knock me on my ass of there was such a thing as full-contact shinny.

Respect.

'the Swedish Mike Green'

If Runblad turns out to be that I'll be more than pleased.

Great interview at The 6th Sens with SEL tweeter steffeG.

Lalime as a backup?

SensChirp.

Toronto future

Muppet and lots of the visitors from PPP seemed somewhat upset about me not including Ben Scrivens in the BoO's NHL goaltender evaluation thread. Ok then. Here's Scrivens in the ECHL playoffs: SV% .825 GAA: 7.07 Definitely the future in Toronto.

Murray knows what he likes...

Bald goalies with similar career stats?

Martin Gerber: 9.11, 2.63
Craig Anderson: 9.13, 2.78

THM's post yesterday, according to his comments is a retaliation at Leaf fans because we love James Reimer too much for him. Allegedly, this is no different than the upside we saw in Toskala and Gustavsson.

Lets just remember, Ottawa, that Pascal Leclaire and Ray Emery were in the recent past glamorized to sickening heights by you. Lets call this a symptom of the sickness we all share, called fandom.

Lets also keep in mind that while Toronto and Ottawa have both had their fair share of pitiful netminders in recent seasons, Ottawa are the only ones still paying one of these former stiffs. Ray Emery is blinging out his Escalade on your hard earned money for another whole season!

Special teams - when your goalie counts

Muppet doesn't like facts. Specifically, he doesn't like the fact that Craig Anderson's SV% and GAA are superior to James Reimer's despite being on a team further down the standings with only three functional veterans. Well, let's look at data set that will give us more information on how the goalies and their respective teams fared following the switch to these two starters.

Here's the data for the power play and penalty kill pre and post All-star game (ASG). Data courtesy of yahoo sports.

Team	PP% pre-ASG	Rank	PP% post-ASG	Rank	PK% pre-ASG	Rank	PK% post-ASG	Rank
Ottawa	16.8	20	18.6	11	80.6	20	88.7	2
Toronto	17.5	18	13.6	26	77.8	27	76.9	27

PP% doesn't rely too heavily on goaltending (we could look at SHs if need be). However, PK is a goalie-centric measure. We have the benefit of viewing the numbers very close to the all-star game around which James Reimer became the starter for Toronto and Craig Anderson became the starter in Ottawa.

However, PP success can indicate the confidence a team has in its own end - the D men can play off the boards, can take part in a PP forecheck and generally be more creative. Ottawa improved an astonishing 8 spots from 20th to 11th following Anderson's arrival. Toronto tanked their powerplay dropping 6 positions to 26th. Recall that Phaneuf was in charge for this part of the season..... But there's less of a link to goaltending than with PK% so let's get to it.

Prior to the ASG, with Brian Elliott in net, Ottawa was a below average team letting in goals on 20% of their kills, ranked 20th. Toronto was even worse at 27th spot allowing almost one goal for every penalty they took.

After the ASG, Craig Anderson arrived and took control of the ice on the PK. An unreal 18 position increase to 2nd in the league, rising from 80.6 to 88.7%. For the last 18 games, Ottawa was better than 90% (according to Greg Carvel) for top spot in the league on the kill.

How about the Reimer backstopped Toronto PK? Recall they were in 27th at 77.8% before the ASG. Reimer changed everything, right?

Um.... no, actually. Things got worse. Well, sort of. They kept 27th spot but saw a slight decline. One thing is definite: Ottawa's special teams became far, far superior with Anderson and Toronto got worse with Reimer. Who loves facts?

Hm.... maybe this indicates a coaching issue. (seguaaaaaaay......)

UPDATE:
In the prior article Muppet challenged the omission of Colorado's numbers from Anderson's personal stats, so here are the numbers for Colorado's special teams pre and post ASG.

PP% Pre-ASG	Rank	PP% post-ASG	Rank	PK% pre-ASG	Rank	PK% post-ASG	Rank
20.8	8	14.1	23	77.7	28	73.5	30

Goaltending: Ottawa v. Toronto

Lots o' flack directed at Ian Mendes for his evaluation so I figured I'd step in and correct some things. Here we go with the goalies.

Name	GP	Record	SV%	GAA
Brian Elliott	55	15-27-9	0.893	3.34
Brian Elliott*	43	13-19-8-3	0.894	3.19
Pascal Leclaire	14	4-7-7	0.908	2.83
Curtis McElhinney	7	3-4-0	0.917	2.56
Jonas Gustavsson	23	6-13-2	0.890	3.29
Jean-Sub Giguere	33	11-11-4	0.900	2.87
James Reimer	37	20-10-5	0.921	2.60
Craig Anderson	51	24-20-4	0.913	2.83
Craig Anderson*	18	11-5-1	0.939	2.05

*record with Ottawa

Brian “1 thru 5 holes” Elliott was traded before the trade deadline in a goalie swap for Craig Anderson. Bryan Murray is a thief. Elliott was never intended to play more than 15 to 20 games a season so it was a rough situation to be put in. We wish him well. Evaluation No longer a factor going forward.(fuck yeah, Bryan!)

Pascal “Hasek Pt II” Leclaire was supposed to be the starting goaltender this year and things started out that way. He was perhaps the only player in the early goings who was effective in his role. He played stellar hockey while the team in front of him failed to yield any support. What was once thought to be a groin injury occurred on a seemingly innocuous stoppage of the puck. It has since been re-evaluated as an extremely difficult to diagnose hip injury. He was playing lights-out until that unfortunate development. Leclaire was waived and has not been offered a new contract. Evaluation: No longer a factor going forward.

Curtis “Even the Irish can’t pronounce it” McElhinney had an interesting route to Ottawa. Traded by the Anaheim Ducks for Dan Ellis in a backups trade then - 5 hours later - waived by TB and subsequently collected by Ottawa as their backup going forward (who paid for him this year??). McElheinney, you may recall, has a little relationship to the Leafs goaltending history in that he was traded from Anaheim to the Ducks in exchange for Vesa “Doctor, I smell” Toastkala. McElhinney played reasonably well in the games he started. He appears to be a capable backup, but has never played more than 14 games. McElhinney is presently unsigned by the Senators and thus this Evaluation Unclear how he will be a factor going forward.

Jonas “The Non-ster” Gustavsson was once proclaimed by Brian Burke as ‘The best goaltender not playing in the NHL’. That’s some awesome vision on Burkie’s part. A Francois “I’m still relevant!” Allaire type goalie, The Non-ster is a questionable backup to a first year rookie. Huge misstep by Burke in signing this guy. Expect him to play portions of back-to-back games when the opponent is not one of Boston, Montreal or Ottawa. Evaluation: Could become the starter if (when) Reimer’s bubble bursts.

J.S. “I (heart) Burkie” Giguere was acquired from Anaheim for Jason Blake and Vesa Toskala. Who was the dumber GM in that situation? Draw. Will Burke’s penchant for signing and keeping his friends on payroll despite abysmal performances (more on Wilson later) keep Giguere as an option in net? Brodeur never needed pads his size. Will Giggy retire? Will he stick around as a completely unnecessary ‘assistant goalie coach’ or will he get a modest 1-2 year contract as insurance. Evaluation: Unknown factor going forward.

Note: I'm ignoring Robin Lehner for good cause: owing to the injuires to Leclaire and the resulting disaster that was Brian Elliott, Lehner was not subject to effective development for most of the year - the regular travel between Bingo & Ottawa prevented actual game-play. He cannot thus be evaluated with confidence.

The Starters

And now we arrive at the main event - the starters. First up is “future Hall of Famer”, “best rookie goalie in, well, forever”, “the Great Mormon Hope”, “It’s up to Him” James “Optimus” Reimer. Ok, he’s got a cool nickname and a pending trademark infringement suit. I admit, I was originally confused by the nickname as I would pronounce it “Ree-mer” and then giggle at the possible connotations. It wasn’t until I heard Kypreos proclaim him the real deal (he’s fuckin’ cursed now) or something to that effect, that I figured out the pronunciation. The same things are being said of Reimer that were being said of Gustavsson in April of last year, and the same things that were said of Toskala leading in to his first season. He does have a respectable SV% & GAA at .921 and 2.60 respectively. Was this just the result of the now-traditional April surge by the Leafs or he a genuine solid goalie from which we can expect similar numbers going forward? Reimer will play backup-backup for Canada at the World Championships. No other Canadian goalies were available. One interesting thing to note: Reimer isn’t a Burke guy - he was JFJ’s work. Evaluation: If he sucks next year then Jesus clearly hates the Leafs.

This brings us to the Ottawa Senators starting goalie Craig “hey Brian, I stop pucks!” Anderson. He was on Murray’s radar for sometime (Murray’s daughter lives in Colorado so Murray would watch him with some frequency) and was an intended July 1 target of the Senators. A 4 year contract at a modest valuation and no NMC/NTC makes him trade-able if things don’t work out but his numbers with the Senators bested Toronto’s All World Rookie Phenom by quite a bit and on a team with practically no quality defensive defensemen (sorry Phillips - here’s hoping for a rebound). As soon as he stepped on the ice, he was controlling the movement of his defensemen by instruction, approaching the bench to encourage/direct players during stoppages in play and making sound positional decisions. Evaluation: solid foundation in net for a multi-year rebuild.

Overall, Ottawa comes out with a solid lead in net.

Coming soon...... Ron Wilson stays, Better coaches fired and a really sweet look at special teams (if The Man continues opening up internet access)!

Hard Knock Life...

Sens move down to 6th yesterday in the draft lottery, won by New Jersey.

That sucks.

I understand the draft lottery exists to dissuade tanking, but the Oilers put out a bunch of 18 year olds and still get the first pick while a team that actually won a few down the stretch and still played hard (you Ottawa), are the team that suffers?

Ah well. I'm sure there will be a decent player around at 6.

Congratulations Ottawa!

According to Ian Mendes, the Ottawa Senators are ahead of the Leafs in their rebuild.

This is amazing!

Must be some kind of record for a GM to pull the plug on the season half way through, announce a rebuild, and then before even making it to his first draft have already passed a team that has been rebuilding for 2.5 years. It must be nice to know that everything and every player is going to work out just as hoped for.

Just think, as soon as Ottawa gets a coach, any coach, you'll be miles ahead of the Leafs since Wilson only won that category because Ottawa don't have a coach. This is objective journalism at its finest folks.

Confirmation from one who knows.

Sloppy Seconds tells us what we all know about Dion Phaneuf from watching him on the ice. He needs balls.

Make that Three (or is it four?)

Reimer, Schenn and Phaneuf all heading to the world's for Team Canada. MacArthur is on standby, meaning perhaps that there are forwards ahead of him who have yet to give a yes or a no.

Kessel was invited to the USA team, but has said no. Sadly for the US, he is the highest scoring US forward available to play but Phil says he needs rest. I have mixed feelings about this, personally. You should play for your country. I would. So would any of you. Kessel won't be the only player to say no this year.

Grabovski and Kulemin both will represent their country's. As will Holzner and Mueller and Mikus from the Marlies.

It's not known if Sjorstrom, Gustavsson, Brown or Komisarek are heading for their respective teams yet, but all are rumoured as possibilities.

That's a good amount of Leafs playing in a pretty decent tourney. How many would make their Olympic teams right now? None from Canada, I'm afraid.

So far from the Sens all I've heard is Spezza. Somebody chime in if you know more than that.

So long Cory

Clouston let go yesterday. No surprise.

Record coaching the Sens: 95-83-20. Does that surprise you?

Leaf Bias?

This story came out today. Rick Nash has committed to Nonis and team Canada for the Worlds.

Further down the author of the piece suggests that James Reimer is expected to be named one of the teams 3 goaltenders. The comments section below the story is not surprisingly polarizing. Leaf fans (and some non-Leaf fans) think he deserves to be there as a 3rd goalie, while other hockey fans furiously disagree (but they don't seem to be able to suggest anybody more deserving either).

Whattya think?

The real story for me is that Martin Brodeur doesn't appear to be in the plans. It's sad to see great players wind down their careers ain't it?

Three More Years!

The man who brought you Pascal Leclaire and Filip Kuba, who just resigned a shut-down defenseman with a league worst -35, who signed Redden instead of Chara, traded Danny Heatley for a bag of pucks and has traded more 2nd round draft picks for ineffective rentals than I can even count, IS HERE TO STAY.

Be honest, a few of you Sens fans are unhappy about this. I know it.

Of course, Craig Anderson deal looks good and Murray has wrangled a few college players as UFA signings lately, taking a page out of his buddy Burkie's book. And he does have a top 5 pick coming, so maybe it't not all bad.

Personally, I like Bryan Murray as a person. He seems like a decent human being. His GM skills however have not been great lately. Proof is in the pudding.

$50! Better than a kick in the nuts?

THM, good to hear from you buddy! Sad to see you are under digital lockdown. I'm wondering if it's the same folks who send me business and relationship and penis enlargement emails in broken english to my Gmail account on a daily basis? If so, I hope you guys get those bastards.

As for the $50, you are a good sport and I'll take the winnings. However I would rather you donated the $50 to a worthy cause than put it into my pocket where I'll just spend it on beer and add to the annual growth of my midsection. Opposite of the ice caps, and fat instead of frozen water. I'm sure many of you know what I'm talking about.

However it just can't be ANY worthy cause. That wouldn't be very BoO of me now would it? I'm hoping you'll donate the money to a Toronto Maple Leafs cause that I found on their website.

If you're willing, please donate the $50 to the LEAFS DREAMS ARTS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM. It helps creative kids who don't have the financial help to follow their artistic craft. It's either they get stimulation there or they end up being a lowlife blogger like us? Lets help them avoid this cursed life!

Cheers

$50 That's what THM owes Muppet from our year long bet. Each team had a $50 playoff/no-playoff bet against them so debt-cancellation comes into effect. However, the Leafs did finish higher in the standings and I lost that one. Phew. Limited damage to the wedding account. Muppet - contact me via email and we'll work out how to get you your dough. I'm writing this from a make-you-stupid phone (a.k.a. iPhone) that I've borrowed from a colleague. You see, the largest departments of the Feds have been under massive cyber attack from citizens of large emerging locales most directly, say, to the left of us on a globe. Ours, and one other department especially. As such, only designated kiosks are available for 'net access for very particular sites and internet usage from home is necessarily also restricted as it's provided by the office. So, now you know why I'm not around much these days. As for hockey. Good on the Leafs for a drive that has them - once again, not making the playoffs by a point or two. It's been a while. As for this Kessel v. Spezza thing, Kessel is 1/4 the player Spezza is. I've had a cursory look at the hard data and it's apparent there has been no player in the NHL better than Spezza these last 6 weeks. Kessel doesn't come close - he's a 30 goal scorer along for the ride. If that guy is worth 2 first rounders, than Spezza would fetch 10. Hall of Fame respect to Alfie, but this is Spezza's team going forward. I wouldn't be surprised if Alfie transferred the 'C' in September. In fact, I'd love Alfie that much more. Also, I'm pretty sure Phaneuf is the biggest pussy in the NHL.

Sens draft position

Silver Seven with a nice post on draft position probability going into this last week. So we still have a 36% chance of picking in the top 3 and 97% chance of picking in the top 5

Battle Game #6 - Dear Sens fans and Hockey Gods...

Has there ever been a game where BoO fans agreed on the same desired outcome? Is this the first time in our vicious history that we actually both want the Leafs to win and the Sens to lose?

A Leafs win keeps our wafer-thin playoff surge still surging.
An Ottawa loss keeps the Sens in the mix for the 3rd overall pick.

Or is it that simple for Ottawa fans? Is there still enough piss and vinegar running through your veins that you would gladly give up a spot or two in the draft just to rip the Leafs and their fans from this fairy tale? Is there enough hate that you would chew off your noses just to spite your own face? Do let us know.

An Ottawa win tonight could mean the 5th overall pick. Not so bad, the Leafs got future Norris-winner Luke Schenn in that same spot. However a loss keeps your chances of moving up two spots to 3rd overall quite alive, with a slim crack at 2nd. I know if I was an Ottawa fan it would be a tough call, but I would make the right one. This season means nothing anymore.

The Leafs on the other hand, could do what no Leaf team has done since 1959, and that is come back from 7 points back with 5 games to play and make the playoffs. That edition of the Leafs won the Stanley Cup. This edition won't. But it would be something else for this team and the city of Toronto to taste playoff hockey featuring our own jerseys again. I won't lie to you - I'm still on my knees and praying for the stars to align.

Leafs win + Hurricanes and Sabres loss.

As I type this last sentence I get down on one knee and pray to the hockey overlords.
Keep the dream alive.

Da Costa Da Man!

Oh yeah Leaf fans - take that!

Elimination Saturday

This Battle of Ontario on Saturday could have a nice ending if Buffalo wins tonight and the Leafs lose tomorrow then at the end of the Saturday's Senator win, the Leafs could be eliminated (assuming Buffalo also beats Washington minutes before the Sens win).

How long has it been since the Leafs played a playoff game anyway? Oh, right.

UPDATE: Buffalo did their job last night. Now for the Leafs to lose tonight....

Win win

Keeping pace with Colorado and hurting the Leafs! Way to go Sens!

Mr Anderson

4yr deal - 12.75mil

Seems like a bit of an overpay to me. Melnyk seems to be letting Murray rebuild this team.

Leafs @ Canes

What else needs to be said really?

Anything short of an regulation win and there's nothing left but mathematics in 10/11 for Toronto.

Leafs 4 Canes 3

Kadri with a goal and an assist because why the hell not...

Kadri and Lashoff join the flickering playoff hope.

Lashoff cleared re-entry waivers today, thanks to a league clause that means claiming any players after the trade deadline deems them unavailable to play on your NHL team, not allowed to report to your AHL club and not allowed to be traded. if somebody had picked up Lashoff they would be able to do nothing with him until next season other then negotiate his next contract.

Lashoff has had a great year on the Marlies with 7G 21A and 137PIM. Surely Toronto would have called him up sooner had he not been a threat to be taken on waivers. He has an edge, he plays on the PP and he'll throw the mitts. After watching Lebda fail to contain even the most average NHL player along his own boards all season long, this has to be an improvement.

Kadri on the other hand seems to be getting another pedigree call-up. Yes, 41 points in 44 games is very good. His improved defensive play and willingness to get physical against bigger players all good signs. Me personally, I would have liked to see him stay down for the rest of the Marlies season and help them get into the playoffs. Not up to me though, and with Armstrong injured for the rest opf the season somebody needs to come up.

I hope I'm wrong about Kadri and he shows he's ready to play in the NHL.

Sens win, no more Afraidsson...

Beat Buffalo today and I will retire the nickname forever.

Whattya say?

Should Ottawa move to Winnipeg if Coyotes stay put?

That's not a real question. I just want your attention. But answer it if you like.

There are two BoO games on tap:

LEAFS VS OUT-OF-TOWN SCOREBOARD
It's not about the Leafs own games anymore. It's about the four or five teams on the cusp each and every night. Toronto host the Flyers, sans Pronger with Boucher getting the start. Boucher has smoked the Leafs twice this season already, so this could be a gift. Horse.
Meanwhile, Buffalo play the Bruins tonight, and tomorrow the Hurricanes play the Caps. As opponents go, Leafs/Sabres/Hurricanes couldn't have drawn much worse.

OTTAWA VS FLORIDA
There are some games you look at in the schedule and you can't help but get caught up in the emotion, the stakes and the tension. This is not one of those games. If I'm an advertiser on sportsnet east I'm calling up my sales rep and asking if they can move my ad over to darts on Friday afternoon instead. As an experienced watcher of games that mean nothing in March, I feel for you Sens fans. This is the price you pay for "rebuilding". It sucks. Come over and watch the Leafs instead.

Thank You Ottawa. Screw you Toronto.

Toronto got the point. New Jersey and Buffalo didn't. In the end, that might be all that matters from last night.

Right now though, as a Leaf fan, I'm stomping mad about how my team played against the Isles.

Wilson already hammered on the top forwards this morning. That is good. But not good enough. We are talking about an entire hockey team that chose to play on the outside, abandon their puck pursuit game and leave their d-men to fend for themselves in the Toronto zone. It's called puck support. It's what got you here.

Smarten the hell up Leafs. You didn't deserve to be anywhere near overtime in that game. It was a bad a loss as I've seen from this team, forget the score. Maybe the gas is running out? Maybe the effects of losing Kabby and Beauchemin is starting to show on the blueline. Maybe this team is still so young and frail that Saturday's loss to a much superior team has damaged their ego's.

All I can say is that if we see any more play like last night this run is over. I think Leaf fans can deal with finishing short of a playoff spot and we pretty much expect it. What we will no longer put up with is efforts like last night.

Get your sh*t together by Thursday.

DEAD LAST

Congratulations Ottawa.

You have now out-sucked even the 2009/2010 Leafs which is a hell of a feat.

I thought I would enjoy this more, I must admit.

I'm starting to think there's something to this...

Dion earns his pay, bigger night ahead.

What a F*cking goal.



But that was last night and this is tonight.

LEAFS AT PHILADELPHIA, 7:30PM

Huge implications for this playoff "race" that the Leafs find themselves in. Not only do Toronto need 2 points out of this game which is a big "duh" statement from here until the end of the season, but Buffalo are in Carolina. The two teams between us and a playoff spot.

Rangers play the Wild too. That one effects Toronto. While we focus on Carolina and the four points between us, the Rangers are a mere 1 point ahead of them, and the Leafs/Canes have a game in hand.

It's complicated. It's unlikely. But it's exciting.

Oh, and the Sens play the Thrashers. Wait, that one is important too, for Toronto, since the Thrashers are right on our ass.

Go Leafs. Go Buffalo. Go Wild. Go Sens.

That's how I'd like to see it play out.