Welcome back Viktor Stalberg. Get out the UVM cowbells, dust off the Charley Catamount mascot costume and get ready to root for Viktor as he re-dons the Blue and White. For those UVM fans out there like me, or those who like little TSM who root for Viktor simply because it shuts their father up here is what Viktor has been up to since he left town, I am mean moved further downtown:

19 games 8 goals 13 assists 21 points 18 PIM

Not too bad in the AHL. Let’s see how that translates to the big leagues.

Here’s hoping that Viktor continues to progress and that he is able to perform at the same levels he has in the past.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

The Toronto Raptors (11-15) make their first trip into Miami as they go toe-to-toe with Dwayne Wade and the Heat (11-11) tonight. The Raptors are coming off one their best defensive effort of the season. On Sunday they held the Houston Rockets to only 36.8 percent from the floor, rolling to a 101-88 victory. Hedo Turkoglu had his best performance as a Dino, scoring a season high 23 points, pulling down six boards while adding five assists. Chris Bosh continued to lead Toronto. He had 27. Jose Calderon missed another game with a hip injury and it’s highly unlikely he’ll be in the line up tonight. Jarrett Jack continues to start in his place. Since stepping in as the starter, Jack is averaging 14.8 points and 6.5 assists per game. Miami on the other hand is coming off their worst home loss this season. They got pummeled 118-90 by the Memphis Grizzlies (yes, you read that correctly – Memphis Grizzlies). The Heat are on a two game losing skid and have dropped four straight at home. To make matters worse they’ve lost three in a row to Toronto in Miami.

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

Coming off a huge win in Montreal on Tuesday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs continue their road trip as their in Columbus tonight to take on the Blue Jackets. It will be the only meeting between the two teams this season. Last year this one-time-a-year affair was played in Toronto and Columbus earned a 4-3 shootout win. Goaltender Jonas Gustavsson will not be available for tonight’s tilt. He left Tuesday game with an accelerated heart beat. Joey MacDonald will get the call. MacDonald came in against the Habs in the second period and preserved the shut out. Matt Stajan had another strong game. He notched his eighth goal of the season. In the last ten games he’s scored five and added five assists. Phil Kessel continues to impress. Against the Canadiens he had a couple of helpers and has 13 points in the last 14 games. Columbus got off to a got start at home, but have struggled as of late. They only one once in their last seven. The answer to their recent woes lies between the pipes. Steve Mason has struggled this season and over his last eight games has only won twice. Rick Nash continues to lead the Blue Jackets offensively. He has 15 goals and 14 assists already this season.

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

Going out West has never been easy for the Toronto Raptors. Playing back-to-back makes it even tougher. The Raptors started off strong last night against the Nuggets, but in the end Denver was too strong beating Toronto 130-112. There was absolutely no defence in this game. At half time the teams were tied 64-64 and Denver’s Carmelo Anthony had already scored over 20 points. Anthony ended with 32. Rookie DeMar DeRozan led the Raptors with a career high 17 points and Chris Bosh picked up his seventh straight double-double. Hedo Turkoglu didn’t dress for this one as he’s dealing with a sore hip. Toronto is back at it again tonight and this time their opponents are the Utah Jazz (4-6). Utah hasn’t been all that spectacular this season, but they have beaten Toronto eight straight times. Guard Deron Williams should be back in the line up. So far this season Williams has averaged 20.8 points and 9.9 assists per game. He missed the last couple of games to be with his family while his daughter went through medical tests. A W tonight for the Raps would mean an end to a two-game slide, but more importantly erasing a losing streak against the Jazz that dates back to 2004.

Wins and losses right? In the end that is how coaches and mangers in the sports world are judged. There is no good effort, or nice tries, in the end they get judged and perhaps fired for their in ability to win. Seems pretty simple right? What about coaches who are in the most impossible situations, burdened with untalented talent, no real way to win, is it fair to judge those coaches on wins and losses?

Not easy questions in a results oriented game. Look at our beloved Maple Leafs, last year, Ron Wilson’s first, no one was going to judge him based upon wins and loses. The score at the end of a game, certainly at the beginning of the season was almost immaterial right? What about this season? Should it be any different because the GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs said that he expects his team to compete for a playoff spot? Is the fact that the GM made lots of changes to a lineup badly in need of changes enough to change the expectations on that same coach?

Let’s look at the cards dealt Wilson. The goalie who couldn’t stop a puck shaped like a 747 last season has been no better this year. The rookie goalie has played just like one. The savior defencemen brought in to shore up a very weak blueilne haven’t faired anywhere near expectation and the rookie sensation who was the apple of everyone’s eye last year is struggling as many 2nd year NHLers do. His only bright spot so far has been that the guy he benched early last season, Ian White has been his most consistent player and the guy that his GM thought he had traded to Boston to get Phil Kessel is a scoring machine.

Upfront, the team can’t find proverbial water even when falling out of a boat in the ocean. They simply can’t score. Only 7 teams in the NHL have fewer goals for than the Maple Leafs thus far. Only 2 or 3 players are scoring at a pace that will take them close to the 20 goal marker. Kaberle has 2 goals and 19 assists! How incredible is that. Of the goals he hasn’t scored (44) Kaberle has assisted on 19 of them, a whopping 43%. On the powerplay it’s even more all about Kaberle. Of the power play goals that he didn’t score (18) Kaberle has assisted on 12 of them over 66%! Talk about a one man scoring machine.

The powerplay is the only thing that the Leafs can actually feel good about these days. They are tied for 3rd in that department (thank you Tomas Kaberle). I would like to say that we should credit the coaching staff with a successful powerplay, however that same coaching staff is dead last when it comes to penalty kill. That’s as close as we will come to a wash.

Damien points out that under Ron Wilson, the Leafs are a horrid 37-63, certainly not a record that Wilson can be proud of. However, what the hell did anyone expect? As cocky, condescending, or whatever other label we want to slap on Wilson, can anyone really look the guy in the face and say, you should be doing more? From my perspective, Wilson’s job still is not about wins and loses. He is supposed to have a younger team and his job is to ensure that his younger guys are learning to win. His job is to change the culture of a team that has been too comfortable losing for a LONG time. Where Wilson is responsible is those games where his team doesn’t appear to be prepared for the task at hand. What does that mean? To me, it’s when his team looks eerily like the team that used to be coached by Paul Maurice. One game early in Maurice’s last campaign the Buds played Carolina at home in Toronto and got absolutely shelled. That was the look of the team that wasn’t ready to compete. When Wilson and Burke came to power here in Toronto, those were the nights we weren’t supposed to see anymore. Unfortunately, this season we have seen the return of that team on more than one occasion.

In response to Damien, hell yes the honeymoon is over. It’ been over a long time. No, Burke won’t fire his coach until he makes several roster moves. Burke is too loyal to gun WIlson down. He also doesn’t appear too proud to admit that moves he made were mistakes. Unfortunately, as painful and yes uninteresting as the Leafs are so far this season, its probably not going to get any better any time soon. Brian Burke is going to have to pull numerous rabbits out of lots of hats to get this team righted any time soon. I’m betting that Wilson will be around for at least a good part of the ride. The alternative, at least this early stage just wouldn’t be right.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

From 1981 to 1993 the Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Blackhawks were in the Norris Division and one-time bitter rivals. Tonight in the Windy City the Leafs and ‘Hawks renew the rivalry. Toronto is coming off a tough home loss to the Minnesota Wild. Before that the Leafs had collected points in seven straight including a Saturday night win over the Detroit Red Wings. Much can be attributed to the play of first-time Leafs Phil Kessel and Jonas Gustavsson. Although Kessel was shut out in his first game, he’s scored two goals and added two assists over the last three games. Over nines games, Gustavsson has a 2.77 GAA and a .912 save percentage. More importantly he’s earned the confidence of the players in front of him, making many of the tough stops. Chicago’s won two straight at home and looks to make it three tonight. The Blackhawks have benefited from the return of their captain Jonathan Toews. Toews missed two weeks with a concussion and since his return he’s registered points in both games. Chicago is sitting a top the Central Division in the West. They’re one point ahead of the Red Wings.

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

It’s a battle of the last two President Cup winners in Motown tonight as the San Jose Sharks take on the Detroit Red Wings. San Jose comes into this one on fire. They’re looking for a sweep on their three day road trip and have won six in a row. One of the reasons for the Sharks’ success is the play of their goaltender Evgeni Nabakov. Nabakov was the NHL’s third star last week, posting a 3-0 record to go along with a 0.97 goals against average. They’ve also been getting some pretty good play up front. In his last nine games former captain Patrick Marleau has six goals and ten assists. The Red Wings have been good, but not great. Injuries continue to plague the team and goaltending has been somewhat of an issue. Top defensemen Brian Rafalski and Jonathan Ericsson are battling the flu and are day-to-day, while forwards Valtteri Filipulla and Johan Franzen are on the injured reserve. Starting goaltender Chris Osgood has been decent this year. He’s been especially good as of late. Osgood has only allowed one goal in two games and on Tuesday night he earned his 50th shut out blanking the Boston Bruins. This season he’s started ten games and has a 5-2-2 record with .902 save percentage. The question for Detroit is what happens when Osgood is off his game or needs a rest. Back up Jimmy Howard has been average at best. In five starts he’s 1-2-1 with a 3.42 goals against average.

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

The word on the street was that a certain off season acquisition was to make his Blue and White season debut, but unfortunately that will not be the case. Leaf fans will have to wait one more day to see Phil Kessel play his first game. The Leafs are coming off an unsuccessful five game road trip and they welcome the Tampa Bay Lightning to the ACC tonight. The Lightning are second in the Southeast, but come in losers of their last two. One thing going right for Tampa is the play of Steven Stamkos. Stamkos has scored in six straight games and has eleven on the year. Expect goaltender Jonas Gustavsson to be between the pipes for Toronto in this one. Gustavvson’s last start was in Buffalo on Friday night was good even though it ended in a lose. Defenceman Tomas Kaberle was named the NHL’s first star of the week last week. In four games he had two goals and ten assists. The Leafs will need him to keep it up if they want to get that elusive second win.

Last night’s game with the Ducks was a breakout for many Maple Leaf players. Hagman and Kaberle come to mind as obvious choices. Clearly the monster allowed the Buds to relax a little enroute to 11 power plays. It is not going to be easy if they have to rely on 11 powerplays every night to win a game. I am pretty sure that the Maple Leafs out of the first period were just under 10 minutes in time with the man advantage.

So with a few guys appearing, at least for night to get their game on, there is one guy who just clearly is out of it. His play, for lack of a better word, sucks. That would be none other than whipping boy Jason Blake. Forget for a small second the amount of cash he is earning. Forget the number of years he is playing and just look at the stats through the first several games. Through 9 games he has 1 goal, 2 assists, he is a -7 with 6 penalty minutes and 31 shots on net. At this pace he should be thanking everyone alive if he gets close to 20 goals this year let alone the 25 he had last year. It has become more and more apparent that the guy simply can’t play. He looked totally lost and disinterested throughout the entire game last night. Talk about a guy destined to play for the Marlies right now. I can’t for the life of me understand why Burke hasn’t followed through on his promise to bury guys who aren’t performing irrespective of their contract. Here is a guy who makes big bucks for no, not little, no bang. There has to be someone down on the farm who can produce as well as he can with a small percentage of the salary cap hit.

As demoralizing as it can be for a team to have a goalie let in easy shot after easy shot, it has to be equally as troubling to see a guy as untalented as Blake is get 12-16 minutes per game. Hell Luke Schenn has seen his ice time rocked back under 10 minutes and this clown is nearly averaging 15? Schenn’s a rookie. Enough is enough Brian, swallow hard, bite the bullet and bury JFJ’s wonder boy. Perhaps, not likely you can do something with him on re-entry waivers. Blake is totally ineffective offensively. He is a liability defensively. And to top it off he makes a lot of money.

All of those things to me scream of demotion. So far, in this respect Burke has yet to walk the walk. He has said he would do it. We are just waiting for him to do it. Let’s hope that Blake is the first to go, setting an example of the others who are out there floating.

@yyzsportsmedia

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

The last time the Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers played was December 17, 2008 in LA and the Rangers skated away with a 3-2 overtime win. The Kings and Rangers are the hottest teams in the league and will battle tonight in Manhattan. Both New York and LA lost their opening games, but have combined for nine straight wins (LA four in a row and New York five). The key to New York’s quick start is how well they’ve been finishing games. The Rangers have outscored their opponents 13-5 in the third period. Former Minnesota Wild Marian Gaborik leads all  New York forwards with five goals and four assists. The Rangers have also been getting production from their back end. Their defence has scored ten goals already this season. For the Kings their early season success can be attributed to the play of goaltender Jon Quick. Since letting in six goals to the Phoenix Coyotes on opening night, Quick has only allowed nine goals in four games. Up front, centre Anze Kopitar and Ryan Smyth have been carrying the offensive workload. The two have combined for a total of eight goals and nine assists. The Kings come into this one riding another streak as well. They’ve won the last four of six meetings with the Rangers, including the last three at the Madison Square Gardens. In fact the last time the Kings lost in MSG was Nov. 28, 2000.