You have to pardon my lack of enthusiasm for the good ship Maple Leafs these days. I have to admit that their on ice performance and more so results has got me a tad bit apathetic. More so, the coverage of the team has done nothing to excite me. I know it seems a little bit odd to say it but I miss the days when the Leafs were getting carved for everything they did…

When those who used to bash them all the time, are telling us that things aren’t as bleak as they appear, well, where the hell is the fun in that? I watched a good part of last night’s game tonight and was left with the conclusion that there are 3 players on the Maple Leafs that are potential difference makers.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way, I mean how big an idiot would I be not to mention Phil Kessel? That being said, he is the one guy on the Leafs team who you noticed every time he was on the ice. When little TSM plays, there is always one guy on every team who is eons ahead of the rest of the team. Kessel is that guy on the Leafs. There is no one who compares with his speed of talent- no one close. The hope and I do mean hope is that Kadri resides somewhere in the same zip code.

The second is Gustavsson. He stands tall has a presence and despite only playing in a few games, he has earned the confidence of his teammates. Yes he has made mistakes. What he hasn’t done is let in the crap goal at the most inopportune time as Toskala always seems to manage to do. As Gustavsson’s plays goes, so too will the fate of this team.

Lastly is Kaberle. The guy who I said they had to deal last summer is playing out of his head. He, is eons ahead of the rest of the pack on defence right now. There is no one playing at his level.

The problem is, that the drop off from those three is gigantic. Brian Burke talked about having his skill guys and then his plumbers- a top group and a bottom group. Right now the distance to getting to that point appears to be huge. The fall off from Kaberle to the next defenceman is amazing. What’s more unbelievable is that the next best guy, in my opinion is Ian White! The guy who didn’t dress early next season. Here is a guy who doesn’t have a ton of talent but works his ass off every shift. The drop in forwards is worse. There isn’t one guy right now who can score. After Kessel went 0-10 last night (and I am not knocking him), who is left to score the goals? i have confidence in no one.

A friend emailed me last night that the Maple Leafs are 19 players away. You have to laugh. The alternative is much worse isn’t it? I don’t know why it has happened but the skill level, especially upfront is embarrassing. Grabovsky, Blake, Stajan, Hagman are all, for the most part totally infective. You have to think that at some point relatively soon it will make sense to bring the college kids up and let them go. I mean last year Luke Schenn played well when he was getting tons of minutes. Why not say to Hanson and Bozak (who may or may not have had h1n1 flu) guys, go out there and play as hard as you can and don’t worry about screwing up- I will still throw you out there again. It’s pretty much what Wilson did last year with Schenn. I can tell you this as a fan, I would be much more interested in watching those guys then the aforementioned group now. I watch the current group and I just get angry. At least if they were kids, you would be patient, feel that there is a system in place etc.

So….Burke has a foundation of 3. Kadri, as pathetic as it sounds right now is the great hope to get to 4. It’s no wonder Burke has been so quiet of late, the magnitude of the job ahead has to be incredibly daunting.

You have to love the television business… Sportsnet drew huge numbers for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay Lightning game last night. It was in the top 10 most watched events in Sportsnet’s history. So, what does David Akande say? ““This number proves once again that Sportsnet is the destination for hockey that matters. Whether it is for the pre-game show, intermissions
or the game itself, we are the home for the Toronto Maple Leaf fan.”

Classic! Hell, this game could have been on Rogers 10 and it would have drawn the number. I think what Akande meant was thank you Phill and the entire Maple Leafs training and medical staff for getting him back so early as otherwise we would be shitting bricks.

Meanwhile, one has to wonder about the pressures and limitations on writers for the MSM. I say that because when you read Bill Houston’s blog these days, he is a lot more daring than he used to be while writing for the Globe and Mail. Case in point:

” Don’t take it personally, Bruce. Avery trashes everybody. Besides, you are fat. And if Avery motivated you to lose a few pounds, that’s a good thing.”

No, “Bruce” doesn’t refer to the author of “off the post”, rather it is referring to the head coach of the Washington Capitals. Boudreau was apparently taken back by Sean Avery’s comments about Boudreau’s weight.

Am I alone in thinking that now that Houston is out from under the Globe and Mail he is going to be a lot more candid than he was before. For some reason I just can’t see him calling Bruce Boudreau fat while writing his old column. A refreshing change to say the least. I guess he subscribes to the truth hurts philosophy.

Lastly, I am sure i am in the minority here, however i don’t think it’s that big a deal if some professional athletes got their H1N1 shots ahead of the rest of us. To be honest I kind of expected it. Oh, and I think what David Branch did today took enormous balls. I would have preferred it if he had tossed the Erie coach as well. Branch’s rationale was that players lack the respect and that is why the injury took place (combined with the current health of the victim). Well, if a player skates 40-50ft at breakneck speed and pulverizes another player, one has to think that part of that follows the coaching philosophy of the team. I feel for the kid who got suspended- but not nearly as much as I do for the victim or his family.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

Houston is here

So folks, here we sit on July 14th, with more questions than answers with respect to our teams. All of our teams.

Let’s start with the Leafs:

The easiest question is who plays where and with whom? Assume no more changes(god help us in August) here is how the NHL roster sits:

Goal is the easiest: Toskala and Gustavsson
Defence: Kaberle, Komisarek, Beauchemin, Finger, Schenn, Van Ryn, Frogren, White, Stralman, Exelby
Left Wingers: Blake, Hagman, Kulemin,Collin Stuart, Wallin add Stalberg to the mix
Right Wingers, Stempniak, Ponikarovsky, Mayers and Orr
Centres: Grabovski, Stajan, Tlusty and Mitchell- Add Hanson and Bozak to the mix

So, who makes the big squad, who is on the farm and of course whom plays with whom?

Here is a rough team TSM guess:

Blake Grabovsky Poni
Bozak Tlusty Hagman
Wallin J. Mitchell Kulemin
Mayers Stajan Orr

Kaberle Beauchemin
Schenn Komisarek
Van Ryn Finger

Toskala
Gustavsson

Thoughts, comments, suggestions???

Next question, who fills the off ice vacancies. Last we looked their are openings in the training room, equipment room and oh yeah, the Marlies coaching staff? There has been jack shit in terms of news on any of this stuff, at least that I saw. I thought Hartsburg was a shoe in for the gig but look where that ended. I used to play on of the hockey simulation games on the computer where they actually ranked trainers and staff, so I am always a little bit curious as to who gets those gigs. They are the hardest working guys in hockey after all.

Biggest question is, given the roster at this time, are the Leafs any better? This I think doesn’t have to be an answer about standings or playoffs. I know those are the easiest and most meaningful measures, however given the team on paper, perhaps improvements can be made while not advancing in the standings. We do have to be realistic. It says here this will be a bitch of a team to go into the corners against and to play tight against. Teams that can really score may slaughter the Leafs as the roster as it stands right now is really thin up front. I said to a friend today who expressed doubt in building through size and toughness, the NHL has changed. It’s hard to find big, physical guys who can play the game. Ryan Hollweig has no business being on a roster, but is or was because size matters. Finding the skill guys isn’t as hard as it used to be. I think it will be a better team that barring other big changes will be in tough to make the playoffs. All based on this roster

The Raptors:

Big moves have been made all with the eye on the biggest, dealing with the Twitter Begger, Chris Bosh. The first question is, will the Indiana Pacers match the Jarrett Jack offer sheet that he signed with the Raptors?

“The bigger issue surrounding the Pacers is the Jarret Jack situation since Jones agreed to his deal last week.

All signs continue to point the Pacers not matching Toronto’s four-year, $20-million offer to Jack. The Pacers have until next Monday to decide.

Matching the deal will put the Pacers in a tough position financially to make other moves this summer because they want to avoid going over $69.9 million luxury tax threshold.

Bird answered one question about Jack before shutting down because he wanted the press conference to be about Jones, which is understandable, instead of Jack.

“This is not about Jarrett Jack,” Bird said. “It’s about Dahntay.”

That from Mike Wells in the Indiana Star newspaper. Based on what I have read and seen, we really want this guy Jack to be here. He and Bosh are best friends and apparently he is good off the bench too. I want him here to appear with Brady and Watters every week!

So will the moves the Raptors made make them a playoff team and will Bosh end up staying? I have no friggin clue. Again, that which I read screams yes. They are a better team right now then they were last year. If they aren’t then I think it’s easy to say Bosh is cha cha larue. As the fine folks at PPP tweeted tonight, let’s hope he is preparing for the upcoming season half as hard as he is in growing his twitter empire!

The Blue Jays:

I am truly saddened by what has become of our team. What was once the toast of the league has become a shell of it’s self. This is so much like he Expos to me. I know we aren’t there yet, but the similarities are eerily familiar. The biggest and perhaps the only relevant question is what happens with Halladay? I still say before you deal him you go to him with a blank check and a plan and see if he will sign on. If not you deal him and pray. You pray that you get the deal right and that people will still care. Once that deal is made, what happens the rest of the year is almost entirely irrelevant. With any luck Rolen gets traded and somehow something happens with Wells and or Rios. After the season the question becomes who is running this team? Who is the GM, who is the president and GULP who is the owner, who is going to pay for tickets and sponsorships????? How quickly the mighty have fallen.

Great perspective needed on the Jays:

“They had to think about it. They really did. The San Francisco Giants had to ponder and consider, weigh and debate, the idea of trading for Alex Rios. Giants general manager Brian Sabean left the 2007 winter meetings with the trade on the table. He seemed, in his comments to reporters, to be genuinely torn.

“Everyone sees the merit of both sides of the argument,” Sabean said that day. “That’s what makes it a difficult decision.” Asked by reporters if the issue could continue to twist for weeks, Sabean told the press, “I really can’t say.”

Sorry, Blue Jays fans. You have suffered enough in the last 15 years or so, much less the last two months. This, alas, will not help.

This is painful, of course, because the player coming back from the Giants would have been right-hander Tim Lincecum, who started for the National League opposite Toronto’s Roy Halladay in last night’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game in St. Louis. Lincecum is the best young pitcher in baseball, a genetic freak with unteachable talent. And he remains, at 5-foot-10 and 172 pounds, a Giant.”

That from Bruce Arthur in tomorrow’s post. Love the old saying about the best deals are the ones you never make….

The Argos:

Will this team be able to play with enough discipline to put 4 quarters of football together? The game last Saturday shouldn’t have ended up where it did and one has to believe that Andrus will take care of these issues very quickly. I do, however wonder what the hell Toth was smoking on the Fan this morning. Did anyone catch his CFL rant? I am quite stunned that he didn’t do this when Hogan was around as it would have made for really interesting radio, but in essence Toth said the following:

“They gotta get rid of the import rule. Canadian college players shouldn’t be stuck on a practice squad. It’s not fair to them. And if you want to say “ah come on, that’s not very Canadian”, well then stop shopping at Walmart”…”

That gem was followed up with:

“I spent $120 to watch the Argos take 17 penalties on Saturday”

Is this guy for real? No seriously. This is the guy who takes us to town for watching the WJC but not going to actual CHL games???? What kind of crap is he spewing???? Remember I am not a CFL guy. I am trying to be. If I get offended listening to that garbage I can only imagine what die hards think!

Have a good night and oh PLEASE HELP ME GET TO 50,000 followers on Twitter follow me at @yyzsportsmedia.com

TSM

Here’s your bikini of the day from bikinibeat.org:

On Fan 590 Tonight- thanks to Mike S.

- open phones with Bob McCown from 4:05 to 4:55

- business report at 4:55

- co-host at 5:05 is Stephen Brunt

- Peter King of Sports Illustrated on the NFL

- Paul Godfrey on the 20th anniversary of the Skydome

- executive director of the NHLPA Paul Kelly on the Coyotes situation

- Dan Shulman of ESPN on baseball

- Pat Gillick

On 640 with Brady and Watters:

440 Tony Granato, former Colorado Avalanche coach
510 Christine Simpson, Versus
540 Rex Hudler, Angels Colour Analyst
610 Dreger/Morrison, Inside The NHL
640 Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings

TSM Take: Wilbur and Brady were bashing the Avalanche pretty hard at lunch, so it should be interesting to hear what more they have to say this afternoon. I hope Brady asks Dreger and Morrison more about Vinny and Grabovsky. Granto was on Hockey Central at Noon and was good, I am sure he will be here too. Peter King and Dan Shulman are two of my favorite PTS guests and there is enough going on in both the NFL and MLB/Jays to make these appearances no exception. Godfrey is one of the few guests that Mccown actually goes after when he is on so it is always interesting when he is on. What is the over under on the number of times Mccown asks Gillick about his interest in the vacant Blue Jays presidency???

TSM