Toronto Maple Leafs Autopsy/Report Card 2007-2008

The Leafs are presenting the usual dilemma in terms of grading this year. On the one hand, they failed to make the playoffs: more than half the other teams didn't. That alone should mean an automatic F, right? Especially since it was reasonable to assume a team that missed by the thinnest of margins last year, which upgraded its goaltending substantially and added a first-line winger touted to score at least 30 goals, would be a good bet to qualify for the post-season this time around.

On the other hand, certain players have met and even exceeded expectations this year and there are flickers of brightness amidst all the underperformers. It's also reasonable to suggest that any one of a number of little things could have improved the team's situation markedly. If Toskala hadn't been hurt; if he'd been handed the #1 job out of camp; if Toronto had any semblance of a special teams coach; if Andy Wozniewski had been benched...woulda coulda shoulda, they say.


Never mind. The team is where it is, and each player has earned his grade.



GENERAL MANAGER John Ferguson Jr. C-; Cliff Fletcher B+


I'm grading Ferguson on this year only. There is some controversy as to whether or not John was actually permitted to run the team. Circumstances suggest he wasn't. Given that, and given the acquisitions of Toskala and Domenic Moore, I'm willing to cut the man a tailor shop worth of slack. I think he did the best he could with the situation this year. If only he had performed better over the past two seasons, he'd probably still have the job.

Fletcher has also been handcuffed through no fault of his own. He went into the trade deadline looking to stockpile picks but was greatly hindered by the refusal of his best assets to waive their no-trade clauses. Even so, he got a respectable return on Belak, Kilger and (especially) Gill. He also signalled further changes, and many of them, which is just what this team needs and what it has refused to contemplate for years.


COACH Paul Maurice D


And that's rather charitable. Paul is exceptionally good at handling the media, but behind the bench he's very nearly clueless. Where to start? Okay...he rides his goalies into the ice; he all but refuses to call a time out, no matter how badly his team might need one; it took him an unconscionably long time to find lines with any chemistry at all. Most damning, his team's power play is mediocre and its penalty killing is abysmal. Granted, these aren't the most talented players, but a good coach makes his players better, and Maurice has by and large failed to do this.


FORWARDS



Captain Mats Sundin A-

You can't fault his effort and you can't dispute his talent. Once again he led the team in scoring by a wide margin and establish more franchise records. His production is remarkably consistent, even at his advanced (by hockey standards) age. Whatever this team's faults, he's not to blame.



Jason Blake C-


Again, slack has been cut, this time due to his cancer: you just can't expect the same kind of year he had last year, not after a diagnosis like that. However, there are glaring flaws in his game. He almost always opts for a low-percentage shot when a high-percentage pass is staring him in the face. Also, he can't play defense to save his life. Some improvement on a line with Tucker and Stajan, but overall? Meh.


Darcy Tucker D


Picked up his game only after the games became meaningless. Another guy coming off a career year and putting up disappointing numbers. Seems to have lost his feistiness, and Darcy with no feistiness isn't much of a player.


Matt Stajan B


Thrives with extra minutes: I hope people noticed that. Give this man three years and a real coach and he'll at least be nominated for a Selke, if not win one outright. Gets my vote for most improved Leaf this year.


Thomas Steen C+



Also improved, and playing with a great deal of confidence as the season winds down. My issue with him is an almost total lack of grit...but this is a team-wide concern. Fairly solid two-way play. Still developing. I don't think he's an adequate Sundin replacement, but he's not bad.


Nik Antropov B+


Finally put it together this year, missing only a handful of games. Uses his size very effectively. He's always had the size and the soft hands, but the knock on Nik was that the slightest knock on Nik would have him injured for twenty games. Hopefully he has overcome this...but I wouldn't quite bet on it. Much better defensive forward than he's given credit for.


Kyle Wellwood D-


Not at all what I expected out of him this year. Okay, he was hurt; but both before and after that injury he's played as if the slightest contact might kill him. He's a wizard with a puck, but that's the only dimension to his game.


Alexei Ponikarovsky C-


In Carolina one night, he found himself with a glorious scoring chance...and fanned on the puck, which was immediately picked up, scooted back down the ice, and deposited into the Toronto goal. It's hockey: it happens. The thing to do is shrug it off and play better next game. Poni didn't. Thirty games later, he still hasn't got his game back. Can be useful down low and has some defensive smarts but will never be more than a role player.


Boyd Devereaux C-


Regressed this year. Still hustles, but hasn't put up points at the same clip he did last season. Another Leaf that missed significant time due to injury. He should rebound next year, but it might not be in Toronto.


Domenic Moore A-


This year's Devereaux: man, has he impressed me. There are nights when he's the best player on the team. Buzzes around like a little bee and creates something nearly every shift. Lacking a bit in finish, but you don't expect your third and fourth line guys to put up a point a game. I hope the Leafs keep him.


Jiri Tlusty D


In fairness, he's a rookie who probably shouldn't be in the NHL yet, let alone on a first line. But I can't help wondering what all the fuss is about this kid. He's nobody's scoring machine and he can't play defense. He's the Leafs' most highly touted prospect and that's a scary thought.


INC--but all D's at best: Mark Bell, Simon Gamache, Kris Newbury, Robert Earl, Alex Foster, Darryl Boyce, Ben Ondrus, John Pohl.


That's quite the platoon of Marlies (save Bell)--and not one of them, including Bell, made any sort of favourable impression.


DEFENSE


Tomas Kaberle B+


Still an upper-echelon defenseman whose chief asset is his ability to skate the puck out of trouble. He's not as good without the disc, though. Very good offensively (sits eighth in NHL scoring among rearguards as I write this) but still doesn't shoot often enough.


Bryan McCabe C-


Season marred by injury, but even taking that into account he took several steps backwards. The team does seem to play better when he's in the lineup, though. Still prone to defensive brainfarts and his one weapon, the low slapper from the point, has been neutralized. Overpaid.


Pavel Kubina C+


Hard to grade, as he's been two different players this year. For two thirds of the season he was average at best, with a propensity to take stupid penalties. Over the last third he's been nothing short of fantastic, exhibiting a bullet shot and playing very well in his own end. As with much of the rest of the team, you have to question where the killer instinct was from October to February.


Ian White D+


Poor man's Kaberle: fair offensive sense but not half as good defensively. There's a reason he was paired with Gill, the only stay-at-home D the Leafs had before he was traded. I believe White is redundant on this team.


Carlo Colaiacovo B


...when he plays. Proudly upholding the Leafs tradition (cf. Wendel Clark, Nik Antropov) of spending at least half of every season hurt. Very good all-round player who throws the occasional devastating open-ice check. But yike, is he ever brittle.


Anton Stralman B-


For a rook, pretty good. Makes the odd mistake and some of them are doozies but he's also got very good vision and one of the best saucer passes I've ever seen. I think he'll develop into a Kaberle type, possibly even better.


Andy Wozniewski F


If there was a G, he'd get a G. For Gawd-awful. Directly responsible for at least five games lost and probably twenty or more goals against. How he managed to stay in the lineup for 48 games is one of life's greatest mysteries. Absolutely zero defensive ability and not much better in the offensive end, either.


INC, but shows promise: Staffan Kronwall


GOALIES


Vesa Toskala A-


Would get a straight A were it not for something of a shaky start as he adjusted to Toronto. Ninth in the league in wins, a very respectable GAA and SV%, and the flashiest glove hand on a Toronto netminder since I don't know who. Has proven beyond a doubt that he is not only a #1 goalie, but one of the better ones out there. Never mind Pogge, I say they ride this man as far as he'll take them. Given any kind of defense in front of him, that should be pretty far indeed.


Andrew Raycroft F


Another G candidate. And the G certainly doesn't stand for glove hand, because Raycroft doesn't have one. No confidence to go with his no talent. You have to wonder what happened to him after he won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year a few years back. Bad goalie. BAD!

------

Much has been written of the culture of complacency that infects the Toronto dressing room. The team's stellar play post trade-deadline suggests two things: one, this team can play the game; two, only when there's nothing on the line. They'll try and spin it, of course, to suggest that everything was on the line, but realistically the Leafs were eliminated on deadline day. Earlier in the season, there were a number of blowouts, but much more disturbing was the number of third-period collapses. The team has lacked a killer instinct pretty much since Doug "Killer" Gilmour.
There's also next to no grit at all. There was a time that teams feared playing Toronto: now, they often start their backup goalies and they know they'll hardly be touched. They can run Toskala all they want without consequence. Nobody sticks up for a teammate. If the Leafs have hopes of improving, this has got to change.
Other things that must change: several years ago, the Leafs decided they didn't need no steekin' defensemen and turned their blueline corps into an offensive juggernaut. Trouble was, this benefitted opponents almost as much as it did the Leafs.
The penalty kill is beyond terrible. It's especially bad when you consider the Leafs (by virtue of not playing defense) tend to take a whole lot of penalties.
Team discipline is lacking: witness the above mentioned third period collapses and the inability to recover from questionable reffing or one soft goal against.
The power play has revived recently because Toronto finally decided to stop playing perimeter hockey and start putting the puck on net with traffic in front. This is powerplay 101--the idea is to put the puck in the net, not pass it all around the zone.
Most of this can be corrected with a coaching change; the rest will be address by means of a great deal of personnel turnover starting July 1.

It'll be interesting in precisely the way this edition of the Toronto Maple Leafs so often wasn't.

Leaf Talk

Sicker than the proverbial dog, lately. (Why "dog", I wonder?) I don't get sick near as often as I used to, thanks (I'm sure) in no small part to the flu shot I get every year. It also helps that I'm not on a rotating schedule--working at 7-Eleven probably shaved years off my life.
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Hockey non-fans will want to skip this.

NHL trade deadline
There has been a small forest sacrificed to try and get inside the head of Mats Sundin, who refused to waive the no-trade clause in his contract and go to a contender. He says he doesn't believe in the "rent-a-player" concept and that Toronto is where his heart is.
The opinions are all over the map. Some people say Sundin is simply exercising his contractual right, and that as a long-serving captain (and, incidentally, the leading scorer in franchise history), he's earned the right to control his destiny. Some admire the man for what they perceive is team loyalty. Others, noting the return Mats surely would have brought had he waived, and considering he could have signed back with the improved Leafs in the summer, believe he's being selfish, and question his will to win. Some have even suggested he be stripped of his captaincy, which would ensure nobody of any worth signed on with Toronto for a generation or so.
About the only opinion I haven't seen written is mine: that Mats is politely extending a huge middle finger to Leafs management. He's reported to have said he's not responsible for fixing management's mistakes (although he vehemently denies ever having said such a thing). If he didn't say that, he should have: the Leafs management has been nothing short of a joke for years. Sundin, who is a sure-fire Hall of Famer, has been saddled with soup cans for wingers nearly every year he's been in a Leafs jersey. He has quietly produced at a point per game clip while the team around him has deteriorated to the point they're within shouting distance of last place overall. No, not Mats' fault. But he could have done something about it yesterday, jetting off to Detroit or Anaheim or San Jose and possibly pushing the team he joined over the top. And he chose not to.
I get it: the man's near retirement...in fact it wouldn't surprise me overmuch to see him retire the summer. Given his burning desire to remain a Toronto Maple Leaf, he will retire without ever having won a Stanley Cup. I'd question the man's will to win if I hadn't seen him pick the entire team up and carry it on his back for long stretches. He's almost the only man on the team this year performing at or above expectations. No, I don't think you can say he likes losing. Maybe you can take his words at face value: that after thirteen years as a Leaf, donning another team's jersey and winning a Cup would feel cheap to him.
I'm less willing to forgive the other members of the no-trade, no-movement club, particularly whichever one of them it was who waived his no-trade clause late Monday night only to change his mind on Tuesday. At this point, nobody's sure which one of Tucker, Kaberle, Kubina or McCabe it was, although conjecture suggests one of the latter two. Kubina's no-trade clause expires at the end of this regular season and I'm thinking he'll be on the first flight out of town.
It's unlikely anyone will take McCabe at his bloated salary; Tucker, who is also grossly overpaid, is likewise unattractive. Kaberle's a keeper anyway, and maybe the only player aside from Sundin who has earned the no-trade clause included in his latest contract.
Ultimately the blame for handcuffing this team goes to John Ferguson Jr, who handed out all these no-trade, no-movement clauses like so much candy. I'm with Brian Burke, the GM of the Anaheim Ducks, when it comes to no-trade clauses. He calls them coach-killers. "Well," says the player, "you can bench me if you want. But I'll still be here next year, unlike you. You can't trade me, neener-neener-neener."
Given the fact Cliff Fletcher went into trade deadline day with both hands tied behind his back, I think he came out rather well. He made three trades, all for picks:

--Wade Belak to Florida for a fifth rounder

I'll miss Wade. He hardly ever played, but when he did, he gave his all and injected a touch of toughness and swagger into perhaps the softest, most passionless team in the league. He got a standing ovation a couple of months ago for scoring a goal. The fifth round pick doesn't sound like much, but it's a good return on a guy who's almost never used.

--Chad Kilger to Florida for a third round pick

Kilger's another guy who tries. Unlike Wade, he's been in the lineup pretty much every night. He hits anything that moves, almost the only man on the team who does. Has a bullet shot but limited accuracy. Swift skater, fairly soft hands, but never seemed to put it all together and live up to the hype of being a first round pick. Kilger and Belak will make Florida a tougher team to play against.

--Hal Gill to Pittsburgh for picks in the second and fifth rounds

Leaf fans have a propensity to single out a guy, usually on the blueline, and boo him mercilessly for no reason. Yes, he's slow, but Gill is positionally pretty sound and he has the wingspan of an Airbus. Pretty handy on the penalty kill and a mentor to our young D. I think he'll be missed. He was the only stay-at-home defenseman on the Leafs this year. He'll be an asset in Pittsburgh.

Fletcher has made his team worse for the rest of this season...by design. I'm sure he would have done more yesterday were there any takers for the likes of Antropov, White, or Stajan. The idea is to nip this winning-when-the-pressure's-off thing in the bud. The last thing this team needs is a heroic march to ninth or tenth place in the conference. Bring on the lottery pick.

Besides, Fletcher has said he's not done: there will be more moves in the summer. It appears as if the Toronto Maple Leafs are finally going to rebuild properly.
Hope springs eternal in the hearts of Leaf fans everywhere: our motto for four decades has been "maybe next year." That hope is, of course, dashed every season. Well, at last I see signs of genuine hope around this team, not for next year, perhaps, but it's coming.

Around the league, I think Pittsburgh and Washington made off like bandits, and Dallas and San Jose both strengthened already strong teams. Hossa to the Pens was a shocker, and it illustrates the kind of return the Leafs might have gotten for Sundin...two legitimate NHL front-line players, a good prospect, and a first round pick. Damn you and your loyalty, Mats!

Funniest. Commercial. Ever.

Fletch Lives!

Q. How many Maple Leafs fans does it take to change a lightbulb?
A. Six. One to actually change the lightbulb, and five to talk about just how good the old lightbulb was.

Pity poor John Ferguson, Jr. Don't pity him too long, though: he'll land on his feet somewhere, and my bet is he'll guide some other franchise to the Stanley Cup while his old team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, is still and forever floundering in the seas of mediocrity.

I really do feel bad for the man, though. He's been so vilified for so long by so many that the disdain I used to feel for him gradually morphed into a perverse admiration. Because, you see, the state of the Leafs today is (mostly) not his fault.

To be sure, he's made mistakes, some of them doozies. Re-signing Ed Belfour; overpaying for role players; throwing around no-trade clauses like so much confetti. And then there's bad luck: hands up, all none of you who foresaw Jason Blake tanking like he has this season. For that matter, when Andrew Raycroft won the Calder as best rookie, who among us figured he'd turn into a sieve in short order?

But how many of John Ferguson's decisions were actually John Ferguson's decisions? Richard Peddie's blabbing all over the media that John had "full autonomy" to realize his vision of the team--on the principle that if you say something often enough, it becomes true. If you believe Peddie, I have a pair of Leafs platinum season tickets here for you. Three easy payments of $19.99. Or best offer.

The fact is, the Leafs are managed by a multi-headed monster. Each head thinks it knows something about hockey. Only a few do, and those heads are quickly devoured and spit up by the others. Peddiehead acknowledged--publically--that it was "a mistake" to hire Ferguson, but for the longest time didn't fire him. How does that feel? Hey, everybody. I screwed up: I never should have hired this putz. But he's such a convenient whipping boy, scapegoat, and, ahem, smokescreen for my own failings--I'm sorry, was that out loud?--anyway, I'll keep him dangling in the wind for awhile, because it makes me feel so powerful.

Now they've reached back into the past, as the Leafs are wont to do, and resurrected Trader Cliff.
I've got nothing against Cliff Fletcher. He was, after all, the architect of the Leafs' last period of respectability, and he orchestrated arguably the most one-sided trade in NHL history, to Toronto's immense benefit. He was certainly the right man for the job then. Is he now? I'm not sold. Frankly, I'm still miffed the Leafs turned down Scotty Bowman last year. Imagine Warren Buffett coming up to you and saying psst! I can help you make money! And you thinking about it for three weeks, coming back and saying ah, thanks but no thanks. You don't turn down a man like Bowman. Unless, that is, you're a man like Richard Peddie.

Fletcher's job is daunting. The first thing he's got to do is somehow convince Mats Sundin to scram for a few months--or longer. Sundin and Kaberle represent the only tradeable assets the Leafs possess...both of them sizeable assets, redeemable for the sort of wealth of young blue-chip prospects and picks this team desperately needs. The kicker is that both have no-trade clauses and are inclined to invoke them.

If I'm Cliff, I waive Raycroft and Wozniewski and throw the doors wide open. Make me an offer. Nobody's untouchable, though you're going to have to offer me a king's ransom for Kaberle.

Then I tell the fans all about the new attitude adjustment. "Making the playoffs and anything can happen" no longer cuts it. This team will contend for the Stanley Cup. Of course, we'll have to take a couple of steps backwards in order to put this team on a solid foundation...but look out for us in 2009-2010. In the meantime, you're going to see effort from every player every night...or they'll answer to me.

And my other priority is to procure six or seven rolls of duct tape and Wade Belak, waltz into Peddie's office, and cordially invite him to stay the hell out of my bailiwick. Inform him politely that if he so much as wiggles one eyelash over the line into hockey ops, I'll lay a Belak on him and then invent several new uses for this here duct tape.

Hockey Blog 2008 (I)

(I meant to do this yesterday, before the season started, but instead had an enjoyable day at the Caledonia Fair, watching my parents handling their miniature horses to victory in virtually every class they entered. Pictures and commentary to follow).

Yup, that's right, the season's started already, and unless you're a fan of the Ducks or Kings you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise. The first game was played in London, England, yesterday (Kings 4, Ducks 1) for reasons that will become clear the same day Steve Downie wins the Lady Byng Trophy as most gentlemanly player.
What is the NHL thinking, anyway? It's bad enough they have the gall to play a preseason game in Winnipeg ("Hi. Remember us? We're just here to tantalize and taunt you with a taste of what you'll never have again, bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha"). Or Hamilton ("and you thought you were getting a team? You'll never get a team. If we give you a team, Toronto might want one, bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha.")
Now they compound this by playing a couple of real, meaningful games in jolly ol' London, England. I would have thought you could fit all the hockey fans in Britain into one pub. Guess I was wrong there: the arena sold out. There's actually a good deal of excitement "over 'ome", though in typical NHL fashion they've done next to nothing to promote themselves. (If there's anything the National Hockey League needs more than a new commissioner, it's a new marketing strategy. Hell, any marketing strategy.)
Eventually, of course, there will be a World Series of Hockey, with the NHL champion facing off against a pan-European champion. But that won't be anytime soon, and so, attendance aside, playing games in London is just one more ill-advised promotional stunt. "See this? Neato game, isn't it? Well, you can only watch more on satellite at three in the morning. Cheerio, then."

Okay, so what's going to happen this year? Ducked if I know, but here goes.

STANLEY CUP WINNER: SAN JOSE SHARKS over PITTSBURGH PENGUINS in six games
LEADING SCORER: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins (that's a slam dunk)
MOST IMPROVED TEAM: Philadelphia Flyers (should make the playoffs, but are likely first-round fodder against those very same Penguins)
TEAM THAT SHOULD MAKE THE PLAYOFFS, BUT WON'T: Toronto Maple Leafs
TEAM THAT SHOULDN'T MAKE THE PLAYOFFS, BUT WILL: Florida Panthers
HIGHEST-FINISHING CANADIAN TEAM: Ottawa, with Vancouver very close behind
LOWEST-FINISHING CANADIAN TEAM: Montreal (oh, they're hurtin' this year)

If I get more than three of those right, I'll be amazed. Last year I was wrong almost everywhere.

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS OUTLOOK:

...is not good. I'm not going to dump on Toskala for what has been a pretty awful pre-season showing: I think he'll be okay, certainly better than Andrew ("if you shoot high glove side, I wave to the puck as it goes by!") Raycroft. But he's going to look bad, because...well, back in San Jose there were these players in front of him, see, called defensemen, and their job was to help their goalie out by doing things like blocking shots, getting people out of the crease, things of that nature. Here in Toronto, we don't have those defenseman thingies. We have offensemen instead. They do a good job from center ice up to the opponent's goal line, but on their side of center they're practically useless. So there are going to be a lot of players skating in on Toskala unchallenged, and unless your name is Roberto Luongo, you're not used to that kind of thing.
Even worse than our smelly D is our downright reeky FO%. Simply put, this team can not win faceoffs. If a Leaf wins a draw, his name is either Sundin or Lucky. So you're going to see a lot of teams getting the puck off the draw and playing keep-away.
Bright spots: I think Blake might steal the team scoring title from Sundin this year. Kaberle will again be an All-Star. And I'm going to go out on a limb and say Kilger will score 20 goals. I don't think scoring goals is going to be too much of a problem. Keeping them out might be. Until Toronto realizes their highly touted "depth" of defensemen is an illusion--as I said, they have offensemen in abundance and next to no defensemen at all--they're going to be on the outside, looking in. Usually into their own net.

It's Coming....

Ahem. Go, Sens, uh, Go

If you go to the Toronto Maple Leafs fan forum and announce, as one unfortunate recently did, that henceforth you are going to cheer for the Ottawa Senators as they make a run for the Stanley Cup, the reaction will be immediate, intense, and unfavourable, to put it mildly. "Don't let the door hit you on...no, wait a second, I hope the door whacks your ass on the way out" is one of the milder things I saw.

You probably wouldn't see this reaction, at least to this degree, if it was any other team. But the Sens and the Leafs have a history. No matter where the respective teams finished in the regular season, we owned them in the playoffs, eliminating Ottawa three times in four years. Then, of course, the Sens completely dominated us two seasons running, one of many reasons we didn't make the playoffs and have a chance at kicking them to the curb again.

And there's been the accompanying soap opera to ratchet up the hatred. For whatever reason, more Leafs seem to get hurt at the Corel Centre/Scotiabank Place than in all other opposing rinks combined. In the course of one season alone, the Leafs lost Bryan Berard, Mats Sundin, Nik Antropov, and Danny Markov--to injuries on Ottawa ice. (Well, perhaps we shouldn't count Antropov, as he gets injured putting on his skates.)

Then there's the "Ratboy" incident. In the final moments of a close game, Leafs captain Sundin snapped his composite stick on a scoring attempt. Frustrated, he threw the upper half of the stick into the stands and was promptly suspended for the next game...which happened to be against the Sens. In that game, with the Leafs losing 7-1, Sens captain Alfredsson snapped his stick in half and pretended to do the same thing, causing an uproar on the Leaf bench. Alfredsson instantly earned himself the eternal enmity of every non-thinking Leafs fan (which is most of them, I'm sorry to admit). He's booed lustily every time he touches the puck.
Me, I found it funny. And considering that Sundin and Alfredsson are very close friends--still--I figure Mats must find it funny, too.

No matter. Ottawa has supplanted Montreal as the team Leaf fans most love to hate. That they are one series win away from the Cup--while Toronto is years away from even contending--has everybody in a real lather.

Well, guess what. I'm cheering for Ottawa, Leafs fan cred be damned.

The alternative is to cheer for the winner of the Detroit/Anaheim series. I predicted Anaheim would win the Cup this year, but I've no real like for the Ducks, especially Chris Pronger, who pulled a Vince Carter on the Edmonton Oilers last year. As for Detroit, I'm an equal unfan of Dominik Hasek, who--talented as he is--likewise suffers from motivational malaise on occasion.

Besides, the last thing we need is another American team winning the Cup. Beyond the team itself and their mothers, it's not as if anybody gives a fart. Even Detroit, which fancies itself "Hockeytown", has struggled to sell out games this year.

I'll admit Vancouver would have been preferable. But I've decided there's nothing to stop me cheering for Ottawa. It's not as if I've abandoned the Leafs. It's more like the Leafs have abandoned me, actually. Whatever their braintrust might say, it's clear they have no real interest in even competing for the Cup. And why would they? The Air Canada Centre is full every game.
Nope. I'll cheer for anyone I feel like. Canadian teams take precedence, of course, and this is the third straight season one's been in the final.

(I do draw the line at Philadelphia, though. I'm not a barbarian.)

GO SENS GO!

Hockey Blog 2007 (II)

Ah, but I did get one thing indubitably correct:

WASHINGTON SUCKS.

Hockey Blog 2007 (I)

I'm writing this an hour before puck drop in the final game of the regular season for my Toronto Maple Leafs. Possibly the final game of the year for them. Or for the Habs, their opponent tonight. Or--depending on what the Islanders do tomorrow against the Devils--for both of them. I can't recall the last time a regular season game was this important. Not for one team (that seems to happen every year for my Leafs: it always comes down to one game) but for two. Simply put, both teams have to win this. It should be an incredible match. Meaning of course, there's a better than even chance somebody's going to get blown off the ice. No, I won't say who. Predictions are a mug's game. They were at the beginning of the season and they certainly are now.
Speaking of the beginning of the season, I made a number of predictionsback in October. Let's see how I did.

1) SORRY, OTTAWA, THIS AIN'T YOUR YEAR EITHER. I'll stand by this and dare them to shock me. They might go one round...maybe even two...but no further. Now, if they had finangled Roberts and Laraque the way the Pens did...
2) THE LEAFS WILL BE LIFE AND DEATH TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS. AGAIN. As our ex-P.M Johnny Crouton was wont to say, "For sures on dat." How much more life and death can you be than having to win your last game and rely on another team to lose their last game?
3) DUCKS-PREDS CUP FINAL. Braincramp! This is, of course, impossible until the League re-aligns. Surprised nobody called me out on this...it would have given me a chance to say Ducks-Sabres final instead...but that'd be cheating, now, wouldn't it?
Mind you, both Anaheim and Nashville are tied with 108 points right now. At least I selected two fine teams.
4) AT LEAST FIFTEEN PLAYERS WILL SCORE OVER 100 POINTS.
Uh...not quite. Only five have that many now; Hossa might sneak into the club, as might Jagr with a hot hand in his last game. I also suggested here that only two goalies would have a GAA under 2.00: Kiprusoff and Brodeur. Neither managed it, though Brodeur came reasonably close. The indefatigable Dominik Hasek came closest, and hands up all one of you who saw that coming.
5) GARTH SNOW WON'T LAST THE YEAR. Here I fell flat on my face in exactly the same way Wang and Snow didn't. I had the Islanders picked to finish dead last. Instead, they're still in the playoff mix with less than 24 hours to go in the season. As far as I'm concerned, Ted Nolan should get Coach of the Year. Again.
6) OVECHKIN WILL BEAT CROSBY IN THE POINT PARADE. Bzzzt. Can I weasel out of this by saying I had no idea Malkin would actually play for the Pens this year when I wrote that? Probably not, since he and Sid the Kid don't even play on the same line. Count me in on the Crosby bandwagon: the guy's amazing. And Pittsburgh looks like a budding powerhouse. Beyond their big three, they have surprising talent and depth. Still a little green in goal, but give them a year or two.
7) BOSTON WILL IMPROVE BY AT LEAST TWENTY POINTS (and probably make the playoffs) Bzzzt again. Take the zero away...they've improved by two points instead.

See? Mug's game. Like I said.

Leaf report card later.

Go Flames Go!

I've been a Maple Leaf fan ever since I can remember. An infusion of blue and white blood came into me when I was three or four years old, sitting on Dad's knee watching Hockey Night In Canada.
Alas, it's been a disappointing and frustrating lifetime in Leafdom. Actually, it's been much more annoying of late. Back in the eighties, you expected the Leafs to lose every night. Every goal was a win; every win was a playoff berth earned; every playoff berth earned was a Stanley Cup. In short, they sucked rocks and you knew it. In fact, you considered yourself that much more loyal a fan the worse your team played.
Lately, it's been hard. Because the Leafs have been pretty good. They've certainly beat Ottawa often enough to gladden the heart. But the consistency hasn't been there, not when it counted. You never knew which Leaf team was going to show itself on any given night. And no Cups...for 37 years and counting.
So every year, when the Leafs fall again, you have to pick an alternate team to root for. This is not as easy as it sounds; there are many different arguments to make here.
One school of thought says that you should start cheering for the team that beat you, on the grounds that if they win the Cup, you're only one squad removed from glory. (How does it feel to be the team that loses to the team that loses to the team that loses to the team that loses to the team that wins the Cup?)
The brain sees the logic in that, and yet the heart rebels. "I'll take a Flyer on that". Philadelphia has done everything it can to cast itself as a team of goons, dating all the way back to the seventies, and it has molded its fans in its own image. One of these years you'll see it: the Wachovia Center Kitten and Puppy B.B.Q.!
So you start looking around the league for other teams. Dynasties are out: too frigging boring. The New Jersey Trapping Devils and their ilk are out as well: too frigging boring. A Canadian team trumps everything, of course (unless it actually CALLS itself the Canadiens.) But so few of those have even MADE the playoffs, much less threatened for a Cup.
As of right this second, there are three teams left in the hunt for Lord Stanley's Stein: Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, and Calgary. Having no further use for the Flyers, we'll discard them, shall we?
Tampa Bay has all the requisites: a young-gun team on the rise, with some of the finest talent in the game, a willingness to take risks (read: play entertaining hockey), and speed to burn. I wouldn't feel badly if they won it all.
But Calgary's Canadian.
Moreover, it's the kind of team that gives Gary Bettman nightmares: a small-market franchise with a comparatively minuscule payroll, based somewhere in the non-Yankee universe, expected to do the decent thing for the American public and not even make the playoffs. Yet here it is, challenging for the mug. How can you not cheer for them?
GO FLAMES GO!!!