I was combing various sites looking for interesting Leafs news and/or commentary.  The last couple of weeks has been eventful and interesting but everything stopped today – the abrupt stop was hard to deal with.

I stumbled on a post on Henky’s site from doktordave “Hockey’s Mad Scientist”…I know, I know, what made me go to Henky’s site – well, I was going through withdrawal tonight and couldn’t help myself.  I found a gem that  claims that Mats could return to the Leafs for a farewell tour.  Here is an excerpt – I wont bother to share the link.

“Providing the Leafs can line up the other parts under budget, Sundin would come on board for a minimum price…not sure what that is, but if he likes what Burke has in place, it could set up his farewell year in Toronto…something he’d love to do.”

Who knows if it’s a possibility…and I wont even try to start the debate on whether or not Burke should take a shot at bringing Mats back.  What bothered me about the post is that the writer’s comments sounded as if he had spoken to Mats or a source – just another example of some of the crap that gets posted on Henky’s site which continues to damage the sites credibility.

It will be interesting to see who the first “real” media outlet/writer is that tries to stir up the Sundin-Leafs pot….The only credible outlet that I’ve seen comment on the topic comes from Dan Murphy of Sportsnet…He doesn’t name his source but I’m more inclined to trust the report.  You can read it here.  While I’m sure Mats would prefer to hang them up after having a better season than he did last year, Murphy’s report is likely reality.

Just a late night vent…

LT

On Fan 590 Tonight- thanks to Mike S.

- open phones with Faulds from 4:05 to 4:40
- co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is Jim Downtown Marriott Kelley
- Friday roundtable featuring:
- Michael Grange
- Sam Cosentino

On 640 with Brady and Watters:

Brady is solo:
440 Dave Hopkinson, Senior VP for MLSE
510 Jim Nill, Red Wings Assistant GM
540 Jay Triano, Raptors Head Coach

TSM TAKE:

Yes that is Danica Patrick in the bikini of the day. It is Indy time after all! It’s been a wild week, and yet a slow day. I guess there are still lots to say about the issues dujour, BJ Ryan, Roy Halladay, Raptors moves, Chris Bosh, Burke moves, Red Wings issues. All I can think is TGIF!

Don’t forget, TSM will be live at tomorrow’s ARGO home opener, follow us on twitter at @yyzsportsmedia for in game updates and here for pre, during and post game thoughts.

TSM

It’s only the second week of the season, but there are countless storylines as the Double Blue prepare for to tackle Saskatchewan in their home opener tomorrow.

Are the Argonauts for real, or did they simply feast on a weak Hamilton team on Canada Day?

Will Offensive Player of the Week Jamal Robertson crack the 100-yard plateau again?

Will Arland Bruce deliver an encore?

Oh yeah, and Kerry Joseph is playing his former team. Almost forgot.

Joseph delivered the Grey Cup to Rider Nation in 2007, and was then traded to Toronto in a goodwill move by Saskatchewan after he had elected to take a substantial pay cut to stay in Regina. He couldn’t get a win in his return in week 5 amid cheering watermelon-wearing fans, and despite throwing a career-high five touchdown passes in last year’s season finale, the Argos fell after botching a fake punt after their final drive had stalled.

That was an interesting, yet understandable call by then-coach Don Matthews, what with the Argos having been eliminated from playoff contention. But that was then and this is now. Bart Andrus is the new captain of the ship, and has installed a better, brighter mindset since training camp. That was evident in his comment following last Wednesday’s win over the Tiger-Cats with regards to receiving his Gatorade shower.

“I would never want to do this job if I couldn’t have fun at it and I preach that to the players because I want them enjoying the game again. At some point when they were young they played this game because it was fun and went back the next day and played again because it was fun and we want to keep that part of it,” he said.

If the Argos can keep the momentum rolling, they’d be primed for this season’s best turnaround in the CFL, following a disastrous 4-14 campaign last year. Arland Bruce must be thrilled.

I’ll have updates throughout the game on Twitter (YYZsportsmedia) and postgame with reaction from the teams on TSM.

-Marc Tessier

Here are the lineups for the shows at noon:

On Baseball Show:
Mike Wilner hosting today:

TBA

On Leafs Lunch:

Duff hosts
1210 – Jay Mckee – Pittsburgh Penguins
1220 – Kurtis Foster – Tampa Bay Lightning
1240 – Kenny Ryan – Leaf from rookie camp

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

The Calgary Stampeders only lost back-to-back games once last season en route to the Grey Cup title. Certainly it proves that it’s not the end of the world, but red flags would go up in Cow Town if the Stamps were to fall in Winnipeg tonight. New Blue Bombers coach Mike Kelly should have better conditions to use his creative offense tonight, compared to last week’s downpour in Edmonton — not to mention not having to worry about the recently-released Derick Armstrong.
If you’re more partial to action on the diamond, the Cardinals travel to Wrigley for a pivotal three game set against the Cubs. St. Louis is 3.5 games up on Chicago going into the weekend. Canadian Rich Harden gets the ball for the Cubbies, opposite former Blue Jay Chris Carpenter.

So the Monster takes #50 and his buddy Rickard Wallin is 51..check this tribute out:

It says here that the Barenaked Ladies could sing that catchy tune on opening night, no?

Sportsnet is the only outlet I have seen that is saying he has signed with the leafs. They say it’s a one year deal.

On Fan 590 Tonight- thanks to Mike S.

Rob Faulds and Jim Kelley

Hedo Turkoglu press conference coverage
Paul Tracy
Bart Andrus
Paul Waldie of the Globe
Hedo Turkoglu himself
Dan Shulman
And HOPEFULLY McCown from the Gretzky tourney

On 640 with Brady and Watters:

Greg Brady hosts
440 – adam foote
540 – kerry joseph
645 – david naylor
And joe sakic at some point

TSM TAKE: Wilbur is away, so Brady drives solo. Sakic retires, Foote played with him. It’s almost time for the Argo’s opener so stuff to talk about there too. Raptormania has taken over Toronto. Well not exactly, but man are people singing Bryan Colangelo’s praise. Toronto the smelly is getting PR in the sports world. Let’s hear from someone who chose us and why. The one opinion on the Jays mess I am interested in is Dan Shulman’s. Doc’s a going and BJ’s a gone. Is JP soon to follow? We can only hope! OH and it’s indy weekend for the gearheads- never been to a race, one day would like to go. PAul Waldie is a good biz writer, I could careless about the Phoenix Coyotes ownership situation right now. Mccown a guest on his own show? Believe it when I see it.

Here are the lineups for the shows at noon:

On Baseball Show:
Mike Wilner hosting today:

TBA

On Leafs Lunch:

1210 – perry pern – canadiens assistant coach
1220 – Rich Peverley – thrashers
1240 – Gord Wilson – Sens color analyst

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:
So if Montreal went into McMahon Stadium and waxed the defending champions 40-27, and Edmonton barely squeaked by the Blue Bombers at home in a sloppy affair in week one action, tonight’s tilt between the Alouettes and Eskimos should be a blow out. Or maybe that’s why I struggled with the probability unit in high school math. The teams split the season series last year, and it’s a rematch of last year’s East division final, and as the Als proved last week, revenge can be the best 13th man.

The GM, who many fans had begun to question, pulled an unbelievable move late Wednesday. From Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:

“The Dallas Mavericks have reached agreement to acquire Shawn Marion in a sign-and-trade deal with the Toronto Raptors, league sources said Wednesday.

The Mavericks and Raptors recruited the Orlando Magic and Memphis Grizzlies to help facilitate the deal. The Raptors will get Hedo Turkoglu in a sign-and-trade deal with the Magic rather than signing him outright. They also will receive forwards Devean George and Antoine Wright from the Mavericks.

Marion will receive a five-year, $40 million contract from the Mavericks.

Stackhouse will go to the Grizzlies, who will waive him. Only $2 million of Stackhouse’s $7 million contract for next season is guaranteed. The Grizzlies will receive cash, likely $3 million, to participate in the trade.”

Toronto, which gets to keep its midlevel salary-cap exception, sends a trade exception to Orlando. The Mavericks also will receive forward Kris Humphries from the Raptors.”

Bruce Arthur of the National Post has more details:

“Toronto has regained eligibility for the league’s two exceptions to the salary cap. That opens up slots of US$5.854-million and US$1.99-million, which could be used to significantly bolster the team’s battered depth. This is a remarkable coup for Toronto, which was looking to re-sign shooting guard Anthony Parker and swingman Carlos Delfino, and also looking at Denver’s Linas Kleiza, but was up against the cap after agreeing to a five-year, US$53-million deal with Turkoglu, who will now apparently join the team in a sign-and-trade with Orlando, which will receive a trade exception in return.

Now, the Raptors have conjured up extra money to spend.”

This trade is amazing if you’re a Raptors fan. To sum up the reasons:

1. The Raps now have almost $8 million to spend between their two exceptions. This is huge – Fans were already dealing with the fact that Toronto was pretty much done signing players, having maxed out with Turkoglu and with no exceptions. Now we’ll see how BC spends it.
2. The Raps lose Humphrey’s salary and take on two expiring contracts in George and Wright. Hump’s deal lasted two more years and this clears immediate space for next summer, or can act as potential trade bait later.
3. Wright can start at shooting guard if DeRozan isn’t ready…and that’s a distinct possibility.

This trade was great even without the exceptions – To have that makes it simply unbelievable. As Aurthur writes,

“Now, the Raptors can go shopping in a buyer’s market, even if Parker is off the table. What started as a slow off-season for Toronto has turned into a bold series of moves that have the potential to transform the Raptors from 33-win also-ran to playoff contender. Somewhere, Bryan Colangelo should take a bow.”

Indeed.

-DL

Wojnarowski is here.
Aurthur is here.

NHL exhibition schedule comes out tomorrow. Always exciting ( ). This time with so many new faces, it may actually be. So many players, so few jobs, could be interesting. Also perhaps the Buds have a couple of surprises for the loyal fans….

I am not sure if anyone saw this, I know I didn’t but it’s a great quick clip of the Monster’s trip to Toronto. If others had shown it I apologize, I didn’t see it. It’s awesome- check out the wicked shirt Cliff is wearing!

It’s kind of fascinating to see how the folks in Dallas are reacting to the Monster’s selection of Toronto over Dallas. Couple of intersting articles on that subject today, any Stars fans reading this feel free to chime in on what’s real and what’s, well you know….:

First, the NY Times:

“In today’s Dallas Morning News there is an article headlined “Swedish Goalie’s Snub Stings Dallas Stars.” In it, The Morning News’s Mike Heika tells of anger and disappointment among Dallas hockey fans, and blame pointed at the new G.M. Joe Nieuwendyk. “The shine was off the apple for many Stars fans,” Heika writes, “who littered message boards with doubts about where Nieuwendyk is steering this ship.” Such a reaction is nothing short of astonishing. Even if they were not aware of the admiring comments Gustavsson had made about Toronto and the Leafs in the weeks leading up to his decision, how much chance did Stars fans think there really was for a Swedish player of Gustavsson’s caliber to choose Dallas over Toronto?”

First and foremost let me say one thing, and I don’t mean to be condescending at all, if Dallas fans are pissed that the Monster didn’t sign there, I think that is awesome. No, really, I think it’s hard enough in non-traditional markets to get people excited about players who are there, if folks are pissed about those who aren’t than that is terriffic. I am not going to shit on Dallas as a market, that’s not what this is about. I think it’s great that people there care about a relatively unknown prospect(outside of Toronto anyways). I also think that it’s great that fans are upset with Nieuwendyk for not landing him, for the same reason. Maybe it’s too harsh, but hell I can tell you a lot of hockey markets where the fans don’t care what the hell the GM does or doesn’t do! Personally, I don’t think you make that quick a judgment on the guy but….

“Just as important, there is the question of the elephant in the Dallas Stars’ room: their owner, Tom Hicks, is on the verge of financial meltdown. He took out hundreds of millions in loans that he has been unable to repay to buy half of Liverpool F.C., and now he must take league handouts to meet payroll for his baseball team, the Texas Rangers. Two weeks ago Hicks shut down his sports marketing company, and although he says he intends to keep operating the Stars and their rink, what aspiring player would voluntarily choose to enter so uncertain an economic situation?”

I am not entirely sure that Jonas could have cared less about that. I mean his agent may have, but does a 24 year old actually take that into consideration?

“Gustavsson is a different case altogether. He is already an iconic figure in Sweden, the “Monster” whose flawless netminding led Färjestad to first place in the Elitserien and the playoff championship. He is a big star, looking for a place to be a bigger star. And a hockey player seeking that kind of spotlight goes to a city like Toronto.”

I would love to believe that, but history certainly doesn’t show that. Hell, ask the press in this town where people want to sign and it isn’t Toronto.

“That’s why Gustavsson nixed San Jose fairly early in the bidding process; it didn’t feel to him like that much of a hockey locale (Ontarian Brian Campbell felt the same way after he was dealt there from Buffalo and got out after only four months). And Gustavsson found Colorado in complete organizational disarray, having just fired the entire management and coaching staffs. That left the Stars and Maple Leafs, and when Gustavsson’s Dallas suitors trotted him out to a Texas Rangers baseball game and had him throw the first pitch, that probably sealed it. Ten to one he went back to his hotel room for a Web search of airfares, Stockholm-to-Pearson Airport.”

Now clearly I am an idiot. I didn’t see the forest but for the trees. I asked where the Leafs were going to take Jonas and whom they were going to have meet with him when in fact Burke had the right plan, stick to hockey. The kid wants to play hockey the other shit isn’t going to matter.

“Back in Sweden, everyone was clamoring for Gustavsson to join the Leafs. In the Stockholm daily Aftonbladet on June 28, columnist Mats Wennerholm wrote an article whose promo blurb went like this: “The choice is simple, Jonas: in Toronto, you can become immortal. I would not hesitate a second. It’s the perfect club.”

I don’t doubt the opinions where there, again I don’t think they played any factor at all in his decision. The times goes on more about the financial problems of Hicks and how that is going to make like tough on Joe N. That may be true, but, and call me naive I just don’t see that as a deciding factor in Jonas’s decision.

Now Dallas’s own color commentater Daryl Reaugh had this to offer on his blog:

“But lets get back to the unsubstantiated feedback I’ve dug up in regards to the Stars courtship of Mr. Gustavsson. (TMZ has nothing on me) Word has it that he wanted to come to Dallas. His girlfriend and the Stars Fabian Brunnstrom’s squeeze are best friend’s. The organization, as we all know, is top notch. The goals are championship ones. The city is vibrant. The climate is terrific (except maybe in late July and August). And the opportunity going forward would have been his for the taking. However, now days the player doesn’t always make the final decision. Agents and “representatives” carry a lot of weight. Many of them have their clients best interests at heart, but also their own. Perhaps his reps saw hockey-mad Toronto as a better location for all involved – including themselves? Perhaps.”

Now, this is entirely plausible. Again, I am not buying it. Jonas took a long time. I know, I wrote too many posts about his decision. The tour, the meetings, the times, the waiting. I think he did this on his own and I think he had his own reasons. Agents may give advice and may make suggestions. However a good agent wouldn’t push a kid like this. That’s how you end up with no clients. Push a kid in his first deal and you won’t do his second. The player is the boss, the agent works for the player and not vise versa. Could I be wrong? Of course.

As I am writing this i see the Raptors have pulled off a trade, from the good folks at Yahoo Sports:

“The Mavericks and Raptors recruited the Orlando Magic and Memphis Grizzlies to help facilitate the deal. The Raptors will get Hedo Turkoglu in a sign-and-trade deal with the Magic rather than signing him outright. They also will receive forwards Devean George and Antoine Wright from the Mavericks.

Marion will receive a five-year, $40 million contract from the Mavericks.

Stackhouse will go to the Grizzlies, who will waive him. Only $2 million of Stackhouse’s $7 million contract for next season is guaranteed.

Toronto sends a trade exception to Orlando. The Mavericks also will receive forward Kris Humphries from the Raptors.”

DL will have coverage in the am.

So let me get this straight, Steve McNair’s girlfriend killed him (allegedly), his wife didn’t know about it and Lenny Dykstra’s gone bust. I mean really. REALLY!!! What the hell is this world coming to? You know what I say, collectively speaking no dumber animal on the planet than the professional athlete!

Jeff Blair has some good insight tonight on trading Roy:

“The cold reality is that Toronto Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay is the face of an injury-riddled team with a .500 record. He’s owed about $20-million through 2010 by a franchise with the sixth-lowest attendance in the major leagues this season. And so, general manager J.P. Ricciardi is listening to offers for baseball’s premier workhorse starting pitcher. In fact, he already started listening before saying so publicly. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim GM Tony Reagins sounded out Ricciardi about Halladay’s availability before the weekend, according to the Los Angeles Times. Ricciardi’s statements to the media came as no surprise to Halladay.”

This is no shocker. Releasing of BJ is no shocker either. JP inherited albatross contracts and he will leave the next GM with the same thing. To those who love JP, I promise this, if, when he trades Roy he includes either Vernon Wells or Alex Rios in the deal or both then he will have done a great job. If he can’t trade Roy and get a shitload he is a shitload!

“The dream is over. The club has an interim president and chief executive officer (Paul Beeston), ownership that no longer operates on the whim of one man (the late Ted Rogers) and a more corporate M.O. than before. The club faces a revenue crunch this year and going forward, will be saddled by the lengthy and expensive contracts given to under-performing outfielders Vernon Wells and Alex Rios. In addition, while the Jays cut loose relief pitcher B.J. Ryan yesterday, they owe him the remainder of $12-million in 2009 salary and another $10-million next year. Ricciardi must be thinking about moving third baseman Scott Rolen – whose trade value hasn’t been this high in years – as well as Halladay. Wells and Rios could only be dealt to a panicked and well-heeled buyer (hello there, Omar Minaya). Whether Ricciardi is the guy you’d want to make a big deal is moot – a Halladay transaction would owe as much to the input of assistant general managers Alex Anthopoulos and Tony LaCava. The guess here is manager Cito Gaston gets a say, and in that case third baseman Howie Kendrick would come to Toronto in any deal with the Angels.”

These are the dark days for this franchise folks. Blair is painting an ugly picture. Maybe that is why he has taken on other beats other than the Jays!

Insert tv sitcom joke here:

“Tyler Bozak, Christian Hanson and Viktor Stalberg thought they had seen the last of living in a college dormitory after they each decided to sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs two months ago. But the three 23 year olds have agreed to live in a similar arrangement this summer. On June 1, the top three Toronto prospects moved into a west-end apartment near the Leafs’ practice facility in order to diligently prepare for their first pro season.The idea of the three spending the summer together in Toronto to train under the watchful eye of the NHL team was hatched by the Leafs’ brass. The three youngsters were more than willing to partake in the plan, but rather than living alone, they decided to band together and share living quarters. The average day for the three includes an early morning workout with new Leafs strength and conditioning coach Anthony Belza, and they undergo constant counselling on the proper nutrition. In fact, Bozak and Hanson – with the other prospects at the camp – watched a firsthand cooking display by a chef the other day at the Air Canada Centre. “Of course, we learned about the right foods to eat, but I also learned that it doesn’t take that long to prepare a meal that is good for you,” Bozak said. “I may not be able to chop an onion as quickly as the chef did, but I can get it down to a few minutes.” The three have the afternoons and evenings off to become accustomed to their new surroundings. Bozak and Stalberg are avid golfers, joined a club in nearby Milton and often the pair of five handicappers find themselves engaged in competitive matches against one another. (Stalberg admitted he hasn’t beaten Bozak on many occasions).”

Cue the laugh roll! That gem also from the Globe and Mail.

More tomorrow on what should be another fun day!

TSM

nytimes is here
Blair is here