THM's Day of Smugness

This place is dead and has no hopes of revival unless Don recruits new commenters and hands over the keys.  I've got a kid coming in a few months and, aside from that, I'm too old for this shit.

Except when something really great comes along.

Oh hey, something DID!

So for today, start with this link, skipping (if you like) to the 2nd article and its embedded links.

http://battleofontario.blogspot.ca/search?q=allaire

Next, think to yourself: "Wait... Allaire and the Leafs just parted ways.  Must've been Burke being a dumbass GM again and f'ing things up because, as Muppet has said all along, Allaire is untouchable"

Ruminating for a while on that, you'll then move on to read the daily sports news and end up here: 
http://www.thestar.com/sports/leafs/article/1258758--maple-leafs-l-affaire-allaire-turns-vicious-cox

Oh my...

"Allaire’s approach with his goalies hadn’t altered even though rule changes meant his insistence on the butterfly technique wasn’t working"   (h/t to Chemmy of PPP for the easy copy+paste)

No idea how to change out the comment system anymore folks, and I don't have the energy to dig.  Just follow TDT's in the side panel if things don't work.

Important dates

Well, it's a Friday, the day before the traditional day for Hockey Night in Canada (when in season, of course).  So it's significant most weeks between October and June but today, Friday, July 20th, 2012, we have a special event to celebrate. 

What are we celebrating?  We're celebrating this.

Cake for everyone!

Sens need to spend to get to the Cap floor!

Looking at what the suggestions are for the Sens lineup in the fall I used CapGeek.com to pull together the numbers.

FORWARDSMilan Michalek ($4.333m) / Jason Spezza ($7.000m) / Jakob Silfverberg ($0.900m)
Guillaume Latendresse ($2.000m) / Kyle Turris ($1.400m) / Daniel Alfredsson ($4.875m)
Colin Greening ($0.817m) / Peter Regin ($0.800m) / Mika Zibanejad ($1.744m)
Erik Condra ($0.625m) / Zack Smith ($0.700m) / Chris Neil ($2.000m)
Bobby Butler ($1.050m)
DEFENSEMEN
Marc Methot ($3.000m) / Erik Karlsson ($6.500m)
Jared Cowen ($1.265m) / Sergei Gonchar ($5.500m)
Chris Phillips ($3.083m) / Mike Lundin ($1.150m)
Mark Borowiecki ($0.610m) /
GOALTENDERS
Craig Anderson ($3.188m)
Ben Bishop ($0.650m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS
(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $70,200,000; CAP PAYROLL: $53,190,000; BONUSES: $2,025,000
CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $17,010,000


The cap floor is set at $54.2 million.

Mats Sundin: Hockey Hall of Famer

It's been a while since anybody has posted here at BoO. Will anybody even come by to read this?
I sure hope THM does.

You see, THM and I have been arguing for years about the HHOF and whether Sundin or Alfredsson or both (or neither) would or should get in. As expected, I traditionally argued Sundin should and Alfredsson should not. THM argued the opposite.

Obviously the day has come when one side of this argument has been won.

Mats Sundin is in the Hockey Hall of Fame. First Ballot, just to make sure he clearly deserves it. That ends the speculation on one front. But perhaps the argument will never end and in about four or five years we will see if Alfredsson will follow in his captain's footsteps in ways that he never did in his NHL career. My opinion still stands. If it took four years before Pavel Bure finally got admitted, it's going to take a lot longer for Alfredsson. If ever.

Despite the fact that the HHOF has the population of a small town worth of players who have not won a Stanley Cup, many fans out there think that a player should have won the NHL's ultimate trophy for their names to be idolized at Yonge and Front St.. Certainly a Stanley Cup helps, but people forget that there are many names on the Cup who don't deserve to be in the HHOF. So why can't players be in the HHOF who have never won a cup? It's not the Stanley Cup Hall of Fame, for those keeping track.

What it comes down to, for me, is this: was Mats Sundin a special player? Sundin was that, and more.  A trail blazer for his country, the best player to ever come out of Sweden when you tally up all the stats and of course the first taken 1st overall in the NHL draft. Sundin over his career scored more game winning goals than Wayne Gretzky or Steve Yzerman. He is 2nd all-time in overtime goals. He's part of the 500 goal club, 33rd all time in assists (well ahead of many HHOF players), and holds most of the records for one of the oldest hockey clubs on planet earth.

But why am I selling Sundin? He's already made it in.

The only question left now is will Daniel Alfredsson get into the HHOF some day?

THM, in the next decade or so might possibly have his day, like I am now.
Or, as I suspect it, he never will.

Burke WTF

So, here we are at the end of Rnd 1 and just watching LA winning and looking forward to tomorrows game, and for some reason the words of Burke come back to me:

Not to get in in the eighth spot, get your ass kicked 

Brian, how about getting into eighth spot and kicking ass?

A gift from a loyal reader....

King Karlsson

How can you not put this guy in the list for the Norris!

Memories

Remember when Burke was the best executive in the NHL?

Remember when the Leafs' Top-6 was so good Kadri couldn't make the team?

Remember when the Leafs' D-corps was so good the Toronto defense was the deepest in the league?

Remember when Francois Allaire was going to make the Leafs' goaltending tandem the best 1-2 in the NHL?

I remember.  Do Leaf fans?

Notice: registered commenting & an upgrade to the newest blogger template are in the works so things may do some funny things for a while until the bugs are worked out.  Patience is a virtue (unless you're Brian Burke, then you'll make major changes to impress rather than making well reasoned changes to build a foundation for a long-term successful club)

Help me. Help you.

Whattya say we cheer for each others teams tonight?

Hear me out.

Leafs beat the Bruins and the Sens beat the Lightning has implications for both teams.

Toronto passes Tampa Bay and sits in 11th.
Ottawa move within 2 points of the Bruins.
Wouldn't it be nice to win the division Ottawa fans?

Lets make a deal. I'll keep swallowing back my own puke as I cheer for Spezza to score and you do the same for Kessel?

It would also be really nice if the Rangers, Detroit and Carolina could beat the Flyers, Devils and Caps. But if I had to choose one, I would take a Capitals loss which would put the Leafs tied for 9th, with 16 games to go, and still a game in hand on the Jets.

Not that I'm scoreboard watching or anything...

Welcome to the Randy Carlyle era.

Interesting what is coming out now that Wilson is gone. 

Carlyle's immediate assessment is that the Leafs are not fit enough to play to their strengths, which are speed and forecheck. Allegedly, Wilson's practices were quite light, giving the players Sunday off every week so long as there wasn't a game. His gameday skates were optional and about 15 minutes (can you imagine driving to the rink, getting dressed, tying up your skates, for 15 minutes of shoot-around?).

Carlyle cancelled the Sunday "day off" and took the players through a 45 minute hard skating practice. He also wants to change the defensive system, which, according the what I've been reading, under Wilson the d-men were coached to cheat to the outside in order to pick up pucks and transition to offense faster. If anybody was reading, this was my issue with Wilson just days before he was fired, that the d-men seemed set-up to go on offense instead of focusing on defence. Excuse me while I shine my knuckles on my shirt!

Also, Burke admitted in the outgoing press conference that him and Ron Wilson had their differences on how gritty the team should be, that Burke preferred a more rough and tumble style than Wilson, a brand of hockey that Carlyle prefers. It has also been reported that former norris winner Carlyle has focused much one on one time with his defenceman, namely Phaneuf, Komisarek and Schenn. What has been said in those aside scrums, who knows, but if I had to take a shot in the dark, it might be Carlyle reiterating his tough defence-first strategy and asking these players to do what they all do best, which is to play meaner back there. All three of these players have that skill and it would be welcomed by this particular Leafs fan. 

So, the major questions that remain:

1. Does Carlyle have enough time to implement a new system or at least change some aspects?

2. Is Jay Rosehill really enough added toughness to get this team meaner as Carlyle would like?

My 2-cents on those two questions is 1. Maybe and 2. No.

NHL Power Rankings for March 1, 2012

All of the major NHL power rankings are now out; each is the first of the post-deadline segment of the season.

Some surprises!

BoO Power ranking summary (click for larger image)

Yahoo rankings are live and based on fan voting, there appears to be no in-house ranking.

No surprise that Ottawa is held static or improved, though I think Ian Mendes may be in charge at Sportsnet.

What *is* surprising is that ESPN's Pierre Lebrun has indicated that Toronto has improved in the time between rankings.  Sure, he had no idea of what would happen Tuesday or Wednesday night this week, but c'mon.... is he really the only journalist on the planet blissfully unaware of what is happening in TOR?

Here are the links:

TSN
Sportsnet
ESPN
FOX
Yahoo!
CBS Sports

July 21st, 2012

July 21st will be a special day around these parts to be sure. Why you ask? Well, it will be the day that this counter will hit 3000!

Rarely do NHL teams hit such milestones and fans should start to understand the consistency that it takes to make it there! Can they reach the top of this table in a few years? We can only hope.

75/25

Just over 3/4 of the season is over and tonight the teams of the BoO have begun the last 1/4 of their respective regular seasons.  Each is playing their first game after the trade dealine that saw very little action on the actual day.

In Toronto, the 4th member of Hanson, Ashton Kutcher Carter is Mmm Boppin' on the bench somewhere in Toronto (is he a Marlie or a Leaf?) while "the next Pronger" Keith Aulie is happy he has squinty eyes -  Sooo much sun in Tampa.  Maybe he's made the trip to a Ft. Lauderdale bar to watch the Leafs battle from being down 2-0.  2 goals on 2 shots to open the game.   Good work, Mr. Allaire.

Ottawa is currently up 1-0 on Boston, despite Sportsnet starting out the broadcast with a 1-0 scoring for the Bruins. Ottawa's new acquisition, Matt Gilroy, is playing alongside Chris Phillips. New goaltender Ben Bishop has reported to Bingo where he'll right that ship before getting a shot with Ottawa next week (per Murray & Murray).  So far, tough guy Corvo hasn't gone after 38lb lighter Kyle Turris despite threats to do so.

Enjoy the rest of the games, folks.  Sens fans are wondering if Ottawa can beat Boston after losing 8 in a row.  The trending answer (courtesy of self-promoting THM on @StraightFromTHM)

#YesSweCan

Deadline day

It's not like we need another Trade Deadline thread on the internet, but here's a good place to mock each team's pickups or inactions.

One week ago, Leaf's GM Brian Burke indicated that he was very displeased with the Nonster and Jesus's choice in net.  A few days later, Ron Wilson hung out Jo'Gus' to dry instead of reflecting on his coaching abilities.  Leaf Nation finally started listening to THM and wondering if Francois Allaire was culpable in the shit goaltending of the team.  In brief, the answer to that question is "yes".

Across the aisle -- or province -- Ottawa was relatively silent on the trade front and absolutely zero noise had been made with respect to goaltending. 

So the Leafs were vocally in the market for a goalie; Ottawa was not.  Then top BoO goaltender Craig Anderson's dinner bit him back, with a chicken causing him to slice his blocker hand and and lacerate a ligament.  Verdict:  Out 2 to 8 weeks.  Lehner was recalled and the Auld-Lehner era began.

But wait.... the Leafs continued to tell everyone they were looking for a goalie.  The Sens clearly needed insurance in net.

So what happened?  The Leafs still talked.  And talked.  And talked.   Then, on Sunday morning, they still talked.  And while this continued, Brian Murray announced the Senators 2013 2nd round pick was headed to St. Louis in exchange for 6'7" giant goaltender Ben Bishop, the top performing goaltender in the AHL and a consensus NHL ready 'tender.   The hockey world reacted in shock that the Leafs did not appear to have more than a 2nd rounder to send to St. Louis.  One figures Leclaire will be in the blue and white soon.

In response to the acquisition of Ben Bishop, the Senators star goaltending prospect (Calder Cup MVP) Robin Lehner let in a stinker at 0:49 of the game v. the Isles.  Then he proceded to earn the 1st star of the game with an extremely solid performance.

14 hours remain
As of the publishing of this post, there are just under 14 hours left before trade papers can be faxed to NHL headquarters.

Will the Leafs land a goalie?  Will Nash end up in a Leaf jersey and Kadri play out the next several years on another AHL team?  Or will the Leafs take on the projected role of the Senators and start thinking 6/49?  Burke's personal trade deadline has been gone for a while (or so he tells people, as he likes to do).   Are the Senators done moving players or will we see more movement from the only BoO GM who puts his job before his mouth? 

What did Bryan Murray have to do with the Cup Winning Ducks?

Every couple of weeks or so at BoO, some Sens fan reminds everyone that Bryan Murray built the Stanley Cup Winning Ducks team and not Brian Burke. Burkey, they will tell you, simply walked in, poured a coffee,  and watched Murray's roster get him his first cup ring.

I beg to differ.

Here is a look at Bryan Murray's contributions to the Stanley Cup Winning Anaheim Ducks.

THE DRAFT

Bryan Murray watched over three NHL drafts for the Ducks from 2002 through 2004. 

*In 2002 Murray drafted Joffrey Lupul in the first round, who would later be traded by Burke. 

*In 2003, the deepest 1st round of the modern era, Murray picked twice: Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. Then in the 8th round, Shane O'Brien was drafted. O'Brien would play 62 regular season games but zero in the playoffs. No other players in that draft are of note. 

*In 2004, no player drafted by Murray had anything to do with the cup winning team, which may be expected it being so close to 2006/2007. 

Result: Twenty-Five players were drafted by Bryan Murray in Anaheim. Only Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry played a role in the Ducks playoff run. 

TRADES AND SIGNINGS

Bryan Murray made 7 trades during his tenure as GM in Anaheim. Here is complete list of players acquired (for full list of players to go the other way, see Murray's wiki page).  

Petr Sykora, Mike Commodore,Jean-Francois Damphouse, Igor Pohanka, Sandis Ozolinsh, Lance Ward, Rob Niedermayer, Alexei Ivanov, PetrSchastlivy, Martin Skoula.

Result: Only Rob Niedermayer played a playoff game for the cup winning Ducks. 

BRYAN MURRAY SUMMARY

Three years, 10 players added by trade and 25 draft picks, and in the end, of the 28 players who played in at least a game for the Anaheim Ducks in the 2006/2007 playoffs, only 3 of them came from Bryan Murray. 

Do we still think that 3 players out of 28 constitutes "architect"?

Reimer hoping new mask turns things around

I'm not sure he's on the right path but whatever works I guess. Hat-tip to the Globe.

The almost Pronger trade Vs. The maybe Nash trade

Nobody will ever know how close John Ferguson Jr. was to trading Tomas Kaberle and Alexander Steen for Chris Pronger the summer of 2006.

One thing for certain is that many Leaf fans thought the price was too high. An all-star defenceman and a (so we thought) budding NHL star in Steen, the Leafs in the end did not make the rumored deal and I count myself in the group at the time who was very glad it didn't happen. 

How wrong we were. 

Yesterday Damien Cox wrote a story about Jake Gardiner being the player coveted by Columbus as the centerpiece in a trade package. I got that same feeling as I did nearly 6 years ago. The voice in my head:

"We can't possibly trade Jake Gardiner. He's going to be a superstar".

Gardiner right now is the highest scoring rookie defenceman in the NHL. He is giving every indication that he's a star in the making, his minutes and production rising as the season grinds on. I would rather trade any 2 of our prospects together than Gardiner right now. 

From a pure business standpoint, it would be a no brainer to trade Gardiner. You look at asset management and it goes like this. Toronto sign Francois Beauchemin as a UFA giving up zero assets. Toronto then trade Beachemin for Lupul and Gardiner. If you're doing the math, that means Toronto have acquired an all-star forward heading towards 80 points and a bluechip rookie d-man, without giving up any organizational assets (other than some salary for Beauchemin during his tenure).

To then move a package similar to those two players for Rick Nash, you can see that the whole thing is working out pretty good for the long-term health of the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

So why can't I shake this sick feeling in my stomach?

Again. 

Mr Overrated, meet Mr Intimidated.

It's these small things that make life so special.

Mats

Special nights for Leaf fans have come seldom over the past 40+ years. The odd playoff round clincher here, glimmer of hope there, a win to stop us from fully bleeding out.

It's a franchise that has not won anything significant in a long time. And for that reason, tonight's honoring of Mats Sundin is even more important.

On many nights during his 13 years as a Leaf, Mats Sundin was the only thing fans had to cheer about. You could always count on him to do something special. To score a goal when the team needed one. To make a pass with the clock ticking down. To represent the emblem on his shirt and the C over his heart with dignity.

In the past week a lot of media and bloggers have jumped on the greatest  memory wagon to carry them to this Saturday night. I'm going to do the same.

Flames @ Leafs, October 14, 2006. My best friend and I, in the 4th row, right behind Kipper, the game tied. Most know what happened next. But for those who don't recall, Mats Sundin scored his 500th NHL goal. In overtime. The game winner. A hat trick.

Man, did I tell that story to anyone who would listen for the next week.

Whether the highest scoring Swedish player of all-time will one day become a Hall of Fame member, we've had this discussion a million times here at BoO. Personally, I think he will. But for tonight, it's not about the HOF, or whether he's a better captain and player than Daniel Alfredsson, which is where this conversation usually travels on this blog.

It's about the Leafs giving honor to a player who absolutely, without a shred of doubt,  has earned it.

Thanks Mats.

BoO time!!

Man, no time to do this proper but had to put something up before the puck drops.

Both teams are healthy and both obviously need the win! Should be a great tilt!

See you later in the comments...

Kadri v. Turris II

We've already compared failed Cup guarantees from BoO captains (no comment from Leaf fans on that whole episode), so now it's time for an update on Kadri v. Turris I.

A few things to note:  both have slipped in PPG, +/- and FO% (it was too much trouble to segregate Turris' PHX v OTT FO%, so we'll leave it as is).  Turris, however, has increased his category lead count to 8 by adding a goal, and a realbeauty off a feed from Alfie against Boston.

It is going to be very interesting to see the progression of former 3rd overall pick Turris, and guaranteed Calder Trophy winning Kadri (theme!)  over the next few games. 

Oh wait.

We'll do it for Johnny. We'll do it for Johnny!

Read this story.

Made me think of this movie. 

That's all I got. Leafs get 3 points out of a home and home with Pittsburgh. Some will argue we should have gotten four, but fuck it, be happy, we're actually trending* towards making Mr Bower one happy ACC customer. 

*Please understand that this is not a guarantee. Daniel Alfredsson once made a guarantee, and look how stupid Daniel Alfredsson looked? Do I want to look as stupid as Daniel Alfredsson? Hell no! Nobody wants to look as stupid as Daniel Alfredsson did when he said that. Not even Daniel Alfredsson would. If the present Daniel Alfredsson could get into a time machine and go back in time,  he would definitely grab the 2004 Daniel Alfredsson and say, "Daniel Alfredsson, don't say that, you will look really stupid".

THM Correction
 "Nobody wants to look as stupid as Daniel Alfredsson did when he said that [in the middle of the playoffs]"

Except one guy!  Yes, one fellow really looked up to Daniel Alfredsson.  He saw the power of Alfie's leadership and it stuck with him for three long years.   Three long years, that is, in which he did not have the chance to play a playoff game.  So on April 14th, 2007, sitting in a local Toronto diner 9 days after being eliminated from playoff contention and 7 days after his last game played in a Maple Leafs jersey, in a conversation with legendary Sun journalist (yes, they used to have some of those) George Gross, this fellow had to say the following:

"But I will tell you one thing," he said emphatically. "The Toronto Maple Leafs will win the Stanley Cup while I'm still with the team. [emphasis added]

This is like THM guaranteeing he'd win the OFSAA football championship while  still with the high-school team he played for17 years ago.

So who was this guy making the emphatic statement, out of the playoffs and without contract, only to head off to play a secondary role for Team Riot?  If you don't remember his name, drive down to Lakeshore and Lower Simcoe.  You'll find him there. 

Trade Rumors...

It's been 5 days since a real hockey game has been played and I just can't help myself.  Bill Watters tweeted the following hockey trade rumor between the Jackets and the Leafs:

Jackets trade to Toronto: Rick Nash and Kristian Huselius 
Leafs trade to Columbus: Luke Schenn, Mikhail Grabovski, Mike Komisarek and Nazem Kadri.


What's interesting about this trade is that the salaries actually match up. Around $12M from each team, according to Mike Augello. At first glance, the Leafs get the best player in the deal in Rick Nash. That has been a trend in Burke's dealings, which gives this some chance of being credible. Toronto would lose two of their past four first round draft picks in Schenn and Kadri, and Grabovski who is on his way to his second 30 goal season. Komisarek and his $4.5M salary go the other way too.


My take: I love Rick Nash, and moving to Toronto would re-unite Nash with his favorite hockey team growing up, and give the Leafs the size and skill up front they are looking for. Huselius is injured reserve for a few more weeks, but he could be a valuable guy and at 6'2" also brings some size. 


Toronto give up a lot in Schenn and Kadri, as far as controllable and reasonably priced talent. Komisarek I don't think anybody would think about ever again, and if Grabovski is truly seeking the $5M salary that rumors say his agent has kicked off negotiations with, then he might be gone this June anyway. 


If Burke came to me and said "your call, you can make or not make the trade but you have to decide right now, I say make the deal. Rick Nash would look good in a Leafs jersey and he's 27 years old and locked up for 6 more seasons. 

Two months doesn't make a tenure...

In this writers opinion, Ottawa's GM and Coach still have work to do before being considered anything but a struggling franchise with a couple of wins lately.

Leafs ranked 8th and Ottawa 20th.

Thanks to the fine folks at PPP for the link, whom I agree with that the Leafs seem ranked a little high.

All star Battle

The All-Star festivities kick off tomorrow evening with the draft.  The Battle of Ontario has 7.5 participants in this year's edition.

On the undeserving side are Leaf Captain and the leagues most overrated player as voted by his peers, Dion Phaneuf and alleged distributor of hooker DNA Joffrey  Lupul.  There's also some short guy with a fancy car.

On the ridiculously under-represented side, we have:
Underappreciated Milan Michalek and his dashing good looks,
The guy who should have been picked after Jake Gardiner,
The number 1 active PPG centremen over 500 GPs  in Jason Spezza,
Rookie of the Year candidate Nazem Kadri Colin Greening.

In case you are doing the math, that list is missing one name.  But that's ok.  That all-star is Captain, he is omniprescent, he is around us, he is one with us, he is the leader of all things hockey, and hair, and moustaches.  He is what George Lucas based "The Force" upon.  You know who he is.

How will each of these players perform?  Well, amongst all of the other distractions and  political issues  likely to see some airtime, it will be interesting to see how Kessel and Lupul do on a team with more than just two average hockey players.

Lupul named* assistant captain at all-star game

*not via ballot stuffing or home rink politics. Actually rewarded for his play, which has been sensational.

Well done Joffrey.

Rookies

With Greening's two goals yesterday, he moves to a tie for 5th in rookie scoring. Cowen is 1pt behind Larsson for rookie D. Note that Cowen and Greening are 1st and 4th in Hits for rookies too - just another part of the reason the Sens are doing better than expected. Nobody pencilled in that kind of production from these two players.
Leaf fans, you can see Gardiner and Frattin lower down on the page on the NHL site - just ahead of Daugavins.

THM Addition
(sorry Don - didn't want to over-post so I figured it'd be kosher to add to your youngin' post)

In another thread, Muppet commented that Kadri has a higher PPG than Turris.  Over several seasons Turris is running at 0.385 (.39).  Kadri is at 0.4.

What about this season, though, the only one that presently counts?  Let's have a look at a category-by-category breakdown (Phoenix numbers removed for Turris):

SJ perspective

SJ Mercury:

Michalek has helped the Senators to a 26-16-6 record and will be playing in the All-Star game on Jan. 29. And thanks to his development, it sure looks as if Ottawa ultimately got the better of the blockbuster trade for Dany Heatley in 2009.

Hat-tip to SensTown tweet.

Condensed game highlights

All you need to watch is the first 22 seconds to understand how soft the Leafs are.  Z.Smith wasn't even aware someone ran into him.

make animated gifs like this at MakeAGif

Is Dion Phaneuf the Worst Captain in Maple Leaf History?

Yes.

Okay, worst in the last 40 years or so? Don't know much about Jimmy Thomson or Sid Smith.

Hey, Ronnie:

Big BoO

Or as it will be known - the BBOO.

Lineups from Mirtle:
Leafs projected lineup
Lupul - Bozak - Kessel
MacArthur - Grabovski - Kulemin
Lombardi - Connolly - Crabb
Rosehill - Steckel - Brown
Aulie - Phaneuf
Gunnarsson - Schenn
Gardiner - Franson
Reimer

Sens projected lineup
Michalek - Spezza - Greening
Condra - Turris - Alfredsson
Foligno - Smith - Neil
Butler - Konopka - Daugavins
Kuba - Karlsson
Cowen - Gonchar
Phillips - Carkner
Anderson

The Leafs dumped Kadri for this game for Rosehill - a guy that last played Dec 19 - a whole 3:33 of ice on that agaim (again from Mirtle).
Scared about getting pushed around in their own building?

I'm thinking the first goal is an important one in this game - especially if the Sens get one early and get Reimer off to a questionable start.

Man - should just have copied Mirtle's whole Leafs Beat column...
There was a ton of talk about the revival of the Battle of Ontario at the rink, with both teams potentially set to make the playoffs in the same year for the first time since they met in Round 1 of 2004.
No Leafs players are left from those days, while the Sens have Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, Chris Phillips and Chris Neil. Only Sens coach Paul MacLean seemed to feel the rivalry was still going strong. (Joffrey Lupul said he didn't even remember watching any of their previous playoff meetings.)
Doesn't seem right! Bring back Darcy!!

Jets overlooked?

With tomorrow's BoO in Toronto looming, the Sens come home from a very successful road trip playing a beat up Jets team on a slump.

Anderson gets the start again tonight with a few questions popping up on whether the Sens will go to Auld tomorrow against Toronto's pop-gun offense. The Leafs are expecting to start the 2nd leading All-star Goalie vote getter - he must be having a great year!

Just because it's fun

Ottawa takes advantage of soft schedule

First step is defeating the league #1 New York Rangers in a 3-0 shutout with all goals from the non-worthy All Star selections and assists from not-as-good-as-Jake-Gardiner, a.k.a. Karlsson.

But Ottawa's not a good team right Muppet?

If you were a pre-season gambler and bet on the Senator's midseason rank...

...then you could possibly be very rich off a $5 bet.

Ottawa has joined the top 10 power rankings of SB Nation while Toronto sits in 14th.

TSN has Toronto and Ottawa at 13th and 14th place, up from 18th and 17th, respectively.

Finally, Sportsnet ranks the BoO participants closer to SBN with Ottawa rising 6 spots to take 10th and Toronto jumping from 21 to 17th. 

Ladies, gentlemen and Leaf fans....

Introducing your SportsIllustrated/CNN most overrated player in the NHL according to active NHL players, for the 2nd year running, it's Mister......

Welcome to the top 30, Monster.

Normally this wouldn't be cause for celebration, but his 2nd shutout in a week deserves a glove tap. The best BoO save %: Jonus Gustavsson. Who would have thunk it?

The biggest BoO in years

A couple of months ago I didn't think the January 17th game between our teams would have the significance that it appears it will have next week.



The game at Toronto (a rested Leaf team against a Sens team who will have played the night before) will be a good one if the two teams continue to play as they have since the holiday break.

The win last night by the Sens was just another day at the office - 4th time the Sens have come back from 2 or more deficit in the 3rd period this year. Crazy.

This stretch of road games will likely set the tone for the rest of the year. The Sens are 8-7-5 away from home while 14-8-1 at Scotiabank Place.

Mika!

What a game winner by Zibanejad in the WJC Gold Medal game last night. The guy had a great tournament and Sens fans are so excited to see him and Stone do everything that we had hoped they would do.



Love the tweets by Sens players for Mika too:
Craig Anderson: Congrats to #prospect Mika Zibanejad on his GWG for the #wjc12 gold medal.
Mark Borowiecki: @MikaZibanejad congrats on the goal buddy!
Shane Prince: @MikaZibanejad great goal! Congrats on gold!
Robin Lehner: Miikkkaaa ur awesome!!!!!!!!! (His tweet before that one was "Yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhghg!!!!!!!!!")

Sens fans push Kessel out!

Big push by Sens fans in the last days pushed Kessel out of the starting lineup thankfully!

Here are your starters...

Colton Orr waived

Can we say this is the final nail in the 'pugnacity, testosterone, truculence and belligerence' coffin?

2800 days!

2800 days? Wow - that's a long, long time, isn't it!

Something happened 2800 days ago today that hasn't happened since. Wonder what it was?

Check it out!

Welcome to 2012!

Turns out Santa came late!
The Leafs held out longer than I thought they would and it took the last night of 2011 for the Sens to overtake the lowly sad sacked blue team. Boy, and with Stone and Zibanejad shining in Alberta as well I think we Sens fans must have been good this year!
The Wilson extension is like the Leaf fans getting a lump of coal in their stockings!