Happy?

I read today that Toskala is "happy" with his performance and said it was his best start of the year. That is saying a lot about how far Vesa has come since platooning with Raycroft two seasons ago. Raycroft and Toskala were easily the two most deluded goaltenders in the league when they played together. It was never a reflection on them when they lost and they always felt "great" about their performance. If I had that first goal scored against me in NHL 10, I would be emailing EA and saying there was a glitch in the game and could they please fix it. No NHL caliber goalie should let that in. Ever. Seriously, Vesa, they showed us footage of you practicing fundamentals with Allaire in a montage(MONTAGE!) on HNIC. I'm not going on too much about this other than, I hope Jonas Gustafsson learns to love it in Toronto despite losing. He is only under a one year contract and the Leafs are moking it very hard to put him in a situation where the better bid would be coming from the TML office in

How Quickly They Forget

Just one short week ago the Maple Leafs were winless and at the bottom of the league. Well, they are still at the bottom of the league, but have put together three solid games, one win and two OT losses. I'm not sure what part of that modest success would make Niklas Hagman think that he needs to do a pass across the middle of the ice from a prime shooting position with bodies going to the net. There are WAY too many drop passes for a team with maybe 3 players that could be classified as "skill players". Seriously, let's keep it simple stupids. Hit the net when you shoot from a decent angle that doesn't make the puck leave the zone if you do miss. Get somebody over 5'10" in front of the net to pound home some rebounds. I'm not dissing their overall play, but remember what brought the slight return from the basement; hard work and a solid forecheck. That goal with 37 seconds left, short handed, is not going to happen very often this year. As a final note; can the Leafs go ONE game without a power play goal against?(Yes, I know they have had one game without a goal against on the PP, but come on). My last, LAST P.S., does Toronto really have the number 3 powerplay right now? A lot of things change when you play the Anaheim Ducks!

From Out Of Nowhere

One of the reasons it's sometimes hard to be a Leafs fans is the level of expectation that comes with an over-saturation of information. Being a sports fan in general is all about the unexpected things that can happen within an environment bound by strict rules. One thing Leafs fans don't really get to see is something happen that wasn't already thought about, predicted, reviewed, panned or just plain-old bitched about. Other NHL teams have had small surprises, like the Oilers' Sam Gagner on 2007/08. Or huge surprises, like Steve Mason winning the Calder trophy with veteran-like numbers last season. I tried being scientific about finding who the last great surprise in Toronto was, but our spotlight on prospects is a little too bright too. How many teams, in any sport, has a prospect system under as much pressure. Jiri Tlusty can attest to the pressure and the down side of being under a microscope. Back to that last surprise sensation; I would have to say the last stand out that made the camp with little fanfare would be Tomas Kaberle. Some of you may say, "What about Luke Schenn?". I would say that so far he hasn't been an impact player and really won't ever be a gamebreaker in the league. I see Schenn as more of a Adam Foote-type or Robyn Regher-like player that can give some guys some stitches in the crease. But that time hasn't come yet. What's the Leafs next big surprise? I'm, not sure, people like us little bloggers almost make that impossible now-a-days.

Who's The Better Burke Team?

Going into Anaheim, one has to ask which is the better Burke team. Obviously, since Anaheim has a win, they are the better team. I'm not facetious there, either. Coming in at 3-5-1, they still have a better record than the Leafs. Their Achilles heal has also been goaltending, with Giguere not living up to his contract for quite some time. Hiller has matured into a starter, sporting a .921 S% and a 2.72 GA average. This doesn't stop Anaheim from having only 3 plus players on their current roster. Anaheim has 2 bonafide power forwards with Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf. Getzlaf is under-performing and being outscored by Teemu Selanne. Corey Perry is a point-per-game in 9 games but is a -2. Anaheim is currently 24th in the league at 2.33 goals per game, well about Toronto's 1.88. the only team scoring less goals per game than the Leafs is Nashville at 1.70, but they have 3 wins this season. All these stats aside, who has the better chance of winning tonight? Toronto, hands down. Seriously, how can they not win at this point. They made their point that they were the worst Leafs team ever Saturday with the longest opening to a season without a win or a tie. Get ready for a win, Leafs fans!

Take That Vancouver!

The Maple Leafs took their 6 days off and banded together in order to bring their west coast fans something to cheer about; 25 minutes of good hockey. Unfortunately they also brought their atrocious penalty killing and undisciplined play. Almost full ten minutes of the first period was spent on the penalty kill. Not quite full because Vancouver scored twice on the power play. While McDonald was steady, he wasn't brilliant. It did prove that goaltending isn't the Achilles heal that the media and fans have been grousing about. Putting all your eggs in a basket that has 17 NHL wins is sad day for this franchise. So is wringing your hands waiting for a goalie with no wins to come back and play backup. This team has been losing games. Hopefully the 3rd period is something to build on. While Wilson makes his willie-nillie benchings and scratches, this team is feeling lower and lower. Sooner than later Burke has to make up his mind if he has the team he told us he made and if he has the right motivator running the show on the bench.

On Enemy Soil

The Leafs wind their way onto the ice tonight at GM Place. And in true Leafs fashion the game has been scheduled at 4pm PST. I'm sure that the 18,000+ Canucks fans have already started blogs just to complain about the injustice of having to drive in non-rush hour traffic in order to go to a game(updating them live on their iPhones). They'll also have to turn their hydroponic operations over to their third cousins for the entire afternoon which may end up in a bum crop for the year. All truth aside, not being a superstitious man, I will be wearing a Leafs jersey all day and explaining my Beard-in(tm) to everyone I meet to somehow affect the outcome of the game over 27 kms of ocean. I am growing the beard until 10 Leaf wins have been attained. If the Leafs can find a stride on this road trip there is an outside chance that I won't be Santa's doppelganger by Christmas. Barring that I won't be taking any ID pictures either. Popping out now to get pumpkins to smile and slowly rot on our front porch....somewhat like the season so far. Have a great Once-a-Year-Chance-To-See-The-Leafs-in-Vancouver Day!

Random Thoughts And Generally Judging Without Merit

The Leafs last played to a degrading and debilitating loss last Saturday to the Rangers. A game where their early season problems manifested once again. Those being:

• The inability to score first or in the first period
• Forget secondary scoring, where's the tertiary scoring?
• The lack of trust in there goaltender following a soft goal
• Forwards not coming back for defensive coverage
• Not being able to clear pucks over the blueline from 5 feet inside it
• Players being arbitrary healthy scratches
• John Mitchell not hitting the net and being somehow exempt from being scratched
• Jason Blake shooting from 1 degree angles and thinking no one has ever tried a wrap-around and what a great plan it would be

All of this may sound frightfully similar to last year. And the biggest change is that quite a bit of scoring left with Nik Antropov, Pavel Kubina and (not-so-much) Dominic Moore. Not to mention the offense that left with unsigned AHL players that signed elsewhere. Here's a good time to mention that Anton Stralman is looking pretty serviceable in Columbus. Not looking any worse than, say, Jeff Finger or Garnet Exelby. Honestly, the money playing on the back-end is making the people who signed them look horribly inept. The only signing starting to take a little shape is Beauchemin. After a horrid first week, he has settled down and is only turning the puck over at the offensive blueline 2 or 3 times a game. Most of those turn overs are actually a change in the coaching style this season. I've heard that Wilson is asking all(good grief, WHY?) of the defense to stand up on the boards and keep the puck in the offensive zone. This is landed a few of the defense in hot water and a slash in the minus column. The hard part will be watching players that are not already good at this(Beauchemin, Kaberle) trying to get better at it(Komisarek, everyone else). I think that Burke thought this might be a little easier transition that it has actually been. Racking up 7 losses probably wasn't in the Powerpoint Presentation at the opening day meetings. The last thing I want to comment on is the obvious kid gloves being used with Luke Schenn. They constantly have him changing partners and monitor his time. That's all well and good, keep the faith in him. But for crying out loud stop switching sides. Especially when I know that there is an obvious push from within the coaching staff for Schenn to improve offensively.

I encourage EVERYONE to join the beard-in

Oh, the picture I promised of the beard-in is above. I used my cell-camera which is almost as good as a burnt log writing on a flat rock. I know, it's not the camera's fault.