The good folks at the Fan 590 summed this one up pretty good today, with respect to the Maple Leafs, there’s nothing left to say. 20 games in and we all know the score. We all know where they stand. We all know what they face ahead. The reality is, this team with 62 games to go are in SALVATION MODE. Yes, it has already come to that. The season is now about small moral victories and good god, positive signs. It’s still only November!!!

Not sure if you heard Barry Melrose on the Fan this morning, but the most recent coaching success of your, Tampa Bay Lightning, forecasted a long, hard, cold winter in Leafs land. He talked about how hard it is to manage and coach teams in February when they are out of the hunt that early…STOP LAUGHING! He basically said that Wilson and Burke are going to want to off themselves.

Meanwhile, Damien checks in with his own commentary on the newless Leafs:

“Two things seem abundantly clear this morning.

One, this notion that sending big-money Leafs to the minors — Jason Blake is the most obvious target — will somehow fix what ails the club is just wrong. Blake may not be much use this season, but unless he is clearly a detrimental figure in the dressing room, just getting rid of him is essentially pointless and probably just symbolic.

Unless you have a replacement, dumping a player isn’t much of an answer.

Two, whatever is wrong with this team, Ron Wilson seems powerless to fix it.

The Leafs were the worst defensive team in the NHL last season and the worst penalty killing team. Today, they are the NHL’s worst defensive team and worst penalty killing team.

Faces have changed. Bodies have left town, others have been brought in. The blueline was rebuilt.”

Them’s fighting words, but true nonetheless. Now, in fairness, new faces doesn’t necessarily mean better faces does it. I mean look at the guys brought it. None have exactly been, ummm, effective save for Phil Kessel. Maybe the problem is Wilson’s assistants. I can think of one for example who has been around along time, and never seen a winning moment as an assistant coach…

“The off-season is when important change is made. Not November.

So Leaf fans can scream all they want, and they have good reason to scream.

But that won’t change much. In terms of the playing roster, the options are almost non-existent.”

Well, in that case, let’s go cancel our subscription to the Toronto Star. If the season’s as over as he alludes to, and there is nothing left to do until the off-season, then why bother reading the paper?

While on the topic of not reading or buying, check out this load of utter crap that Berger has, in all places, the National Post. No really, it’s the Seinfeld sports column, the one about nothing! As Steve Martin says to John Candy in Planes Trains and Automobiles, next time you tell a story, here’s an idea- HAVE A POINT! It makes it so much more interesting for the listener. What they hell kind of crap is this? Hell, it’s more readable when you call Leafs fans morons for listening to the Fan 590 and supporting their advertisers. This isn’t even fluff, it’s total and utter crap. Here’s what the guys at the post don’t get, for every great Bruce Arthur piece, there is utter crap from one Stay At Home Berger.

What a night, 2 paper subscriptions canceled. We are a Gary Loewen column away from a weekend of big savings. If I lower my Rogers bill to the point where I don’t have to get Leafs TV I may be able to afford Directv and get some good old US television. As a recent road warrior, I have to tell you that the US verison of the History Channel kicks the Canadian’s ass.

Tomorrow (today now) is the littlest TSM’s 5th birthday. Hard to believe but 5 years ago my little one was born in Royal Oak Michigan and my family was complete. Almost more amazing is the fact that it has been a little less than 5 years since I relocated the clan to Toronto.

Time flies….

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

here is Melrosebarrymelrose-ms-20091120

Listen to the Chat here

Summer must really almost be over. Howard Berger is back at work. No, his latest blog doesn’t discuss why Tomas Kaberle is still a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs, despite his prediction that Brian would and should trade him, he must think we all used the flux capaciter and moved back in time and forgot that he wrote the piece. Berger’s latest piece, following the good writing of our friends at PPP, is focused on the importance of Francois Beauchemin to the upcoming fortunes of the Maple Leafs.

Berger’s argument (I will summarize, sparing you the pain of reading his blog) is that assuming the goaltending is better this year (and without that assumption there is no point analyzing the Maple Leafs season at all- so says HH) the key player to the Leafs season will be Beauchemin. Given the current makeup of the blueline, HH’s surmizes that Beauchemin is the only Maple Leaf defender who will actually shoot the puck.

Now here are a couple of retorts. First, nothing besides the law of averages guarantees that the Maple Leaf goaltending will be any better this year. Toskala is at best an unknown. He has had one better than average season here and one lousy one which may or may not have been largely due to injury. There is no reason to be confident that he will be any better this year. Hell, his injury may not have been the cause of his problems and if they were there is no guarantee that he won’t re-aggravate the injury or that injury is full healed. As for the The Monster, he is a rookie! Huge potential, no promises. There is no reason to count on him being any better than CUJO- except of course the law of averages.

Secondly, given the team that Burke has put together, I find it very hard to lay the success or failure of this team on anyone player who doesn’t play the position of goalie. Seriously, does anyone really think that there is one player who’s play is so instrumental that their performance or lack thereof will dictate the outcome of the Maple Leafs season? This isn’t a knock on Francois, or any other Maple Leaf player. I just don’t think there is one guy whose play is so vital as to be labeled vital as Berger suggests.

The best part of Berger’s post:

“I was looking to come to a hockey-first city and Toronto was one of my top choices. When Burkie gave me a good deal, it was very exciting.”

What a surprise, when Burke gave him a good deal it was very exciting. You mean he was motivated by the almighty dollar? The shock. Again this isn’t a knock on Francois, I don’t blame him one bit. You don’t get to UFA status too many times and when you do, you had better hit a homerun. Just ask Dominic Moore how the advice he was given last year has turned out for him so far. Think Moore has had a restful off-season? I don’t care if Burke’s offer was or wasn’t the highest offer, read the quote- when the deal was good- meaning when there was a lot of money on the table then I got excited. I have more respect for Francois for admitting it. The truth, JP is always the way to go.

One last thought. Anyone else find it amusing that the reporter who doesn’t watch non Maple Leaf games on tv is in Calgary for the team Canada Kum Ba Yah camp? Can anyone think of one good reason to have this guy there? I mean, he really only covers the Maple Leafs right, and the odd playoff series. In times of economic challenges, I am quite surprised that Rogers spent the $ sending Howie to Calgary.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

Brian Burke was on the morning show on the Fan 590 this am. Yes, despite last nights performance I went back this am. Burke was at his best, to say the least:

He was asked a few questions about the US camp, most notable answer was that no positions (ie starting goalie) will be determined at this camp, it is purely for team building purposes. Furthermore he said that the anti-doping process for players invited to this camp and the 40 others who will be considered is strict, every day from now until the Olympics they have to provide a 1 hour window each and every day where they will be available for a random drug test. So from now until the games each player has to log into a computer and say, every day where they can be found for 1 hour each day. (I wonder if the back seat of a cab in Buffalo works?)

When they got around to issues of the Maple Leafs, Burke was asked if he had interest in a player like Alex Tanguay who has been waiting for a deal all summer and may be forced to take less money. Burke’s response:

“No”

This was followed by a little bit of an awkward silence.

Burke was then asked if he would consider other free agents who are still available and may have to take less money as the season gets closer. Burke’s response:

“No”

After some more silence Burke expanded:

“Alex Tanguay is a good hockey player, but right now we have depth at defence. Yes we have cap space, but our next play will be to trade some of that depth for a forward. That trade will likely involve having to take on extra salary. That is how we will use our cap space, not by adding more free agents.”

So there you have it. No reason to mention team Maple Leaf(is that better than Big Blue?) until camp begins. By all accounts Burke is planning on dealing someone or someones from the blueline for a more expensive forward. Other than that, it’s what you see is what you get.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

Doug MacLean was on the fan’s morning show this am with Don Landry and Gord Stellick. Richie Rich was asked his opinion on Burke’s offseason his response was quite interesting:

MacLean said that Ken Holland, the Detroit Red Wings GM always says that you don’t invest to much money in non point generating defencemen. Brian Burke has brought in multiple non-point generating defenceman. Michael Komisarek signed on for $4.5m/year for 4 years and he has never put up more than 20 points in the NHL. Don’t shoot the messenger, I am just telling you what you have missed on the radio this am. Francois Beauchemin is a little bit better, having put up over 30 points, however, according to MacLean, he did so with some pretty other defencemen named Progner and Niedermayer, Beachemin’s $3.8m /year for 3 years is hefty again for a non point producing defencemen according to MacLean. The same comment was made about Garnet Exelby.

Maclean said that the Leafs (maybe not the fans) are really going to miss Pavel Kubina in that he was a point producing defencman. He also questioned Kaberle’s ability to produce points as the only guy on the team. He said that yes they are tougher, but the pressure on the defence to generate offense (not necessarily in terms of actual points) is going to be great. His point was that guys like Nik Lidstrom, which admittedly are one in a million generate about “200 points a game”. No he doesn’t get that many points, but goals are scored as a direct result of his plays.

This weakness on the blueline, according to MacLean will make it way more difficult for the limited offensively gifted forwards that the Leafs have. They haven’t really added any guns up front who can be counted on to score.

MacLean suggested that the biggest question mark for the Leafs will be in net. Toskala, he said is a number one goalie. Question is, can he play like one. Secondly, until Gustavsson actually plays some games, no one knows how good he will be. As goes the Leafs goaltending, according to MacLean, so to will go the Maple Leafs.

The Leafs, MacLean said may be in the hunt for the playoffs but certainly aren’t a shoe-in to make it. They have to pass a lot of teams including teams like the Senators who didn’t make the playoffs last season. A tall order he suggested.

Of greater interest was MacLean’s take on Nikolai Zherdev. Zherdev, is the reason MacLean got fired. At least, according to MacLean. The contract situation and the fallout from it got him canned. MacLean said that he should have known that Zherdev was going to be a handful when he asked him at the draft after he picked him at 18 years of age what car Zherdev drove and the response was “a Mercedes”. It was interesting that when MacLean told that story, there was silence after the “punch line”. Nikolai Zherdev, according to MacLean is one of the most talented kids he has ever seen. He is also one of the biggest enigmas. MacLean said that he tried literally everything to motivate Zherdev and instill a work ethic in him. He even signed Sergei Federov whom MacLean considers the greatest Russian born NHLer of all time. MacLean took lots of lumps for signing Sergei, but thought if only he could get through to Zherdev… One day Federov came to MacLean and pretty much gave up. Federov said that he couldn’t talk to Zherdev anymore, that Zherdev simply didn’t want to listen. Then MacLean out a real gem. He said that when he went to Zherdev’s place after he was gone, the landord of Zherdev’s place said that he was called to change the locks on Zherdev’s apartment 6 times in the one season he played there! The guys asked MacLean if perhaps Zherdev was guilty of poor judgement, MacLean just laughed and said “ohhhh the book I could write!”

MacLean talked about how the role of the media has made a GM’s job so much more difficult. He said that he has had some time to reflect on his life after being out of the game for a bit. He said that the pressures of the job are one thing, but that the intense media scrutiny on everything really makes it more difficult then in the past.

It was a good interview with MacLean. The problem is, it was the exact same interview MacLean gave only hours earlier with Bob Mccown. As I have said about Bill Watters, you can’t over-expose these guys. No talent is good enough to be on multiple times, especially in the off-season. If you listened to MacLean the other night, there was no reason to listen again today. As I flipped back and forth this am, I heard the same jokes, the same stories and analogies that he used with Mccown. It’s not a knock on MacLean. It’s just over exposure.

In the same vein, have you noticed that Mccown seems to be spending more time with his guests on PTS? Over the last couple of days he has been taking longer, fuller segments with guests and even running later than usual breaks. While he may be driving his producers nuts in doing so, the results, in my opinion anyway are significant. He did it again tonight with Dan Shulman in talking about the Blue Jays. Mccown maybe the only radio host who spends considerable amounts of time on the Jays and seems to think they are going somewhere(and I don’t mean Portland) He made it clear again tonight that he strongly believes that the Blue Jays are not only going to spend the Rios and Rolen money just saved but get to a payroll between $100-120m.

I have to admit, I am not a soccer aficionado, but the Champion League banter tonight on 640 was good stuff too. If only I understand who the hell they were talking about.

Have a good night.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia