You know, I spent a long time trying to find something to write about this evening. The sky is falling only works so often you know. The good news is that the good folks over at the Globe and Mail were able to speak to some Maple Leaf players today and well, that’s all it took.

“As players, we’ve got to believe in ourselves and prove all the doubters wrong.” Matt “Stayon” Stajan

WOW

WOW

WOW

Matt Stajan can’t really be this stupid can he?

Oh, I get it, he’s joking right- he’s a regular John Candy

Doubters?????????

Doubters?????????

Matt- your team stinks.

Look in the standings, look in the papers, look in your dressing room. It doesn’t take a Harvard education to figure out what you got…

“I’m frustrated that I can’t do more,” said Leafs coach Ron Wilson, adding that losing his job is “the last thing” he’s concerned about. “I’m just going to do the best job I can – if I’m not good enough, someone will come down and tell me that.”

Now, on the other side of the island, reality has set in for Mr. Wilson. He can’t do more because his lineup is so devoid of talent there isn’t any coach alive or dead could do with this squad of losers.

“What’s hard to believe about this Leafs team, however, is just how unchanged its lineup has been all year. All of the 21 skaters who played or were scratched in Toronto’s season-opening loss to the Montreal Canadiens are still part of the team, with the only newcomers consisting of minor-league call-ups Tyler Bozak and Carl Gunnarsson.”

Damn straight. I was thinking the other day how our GM- and maybe the others around the league should only work from say March to October. They don’t appear to do ANYTHING the rest of the year. ( I know the f’n cap the owners wanted- killed everything)

“And despite the fact the Leafs sit dead last in team save percentage for the second season in a row, their situation in goal also remains the same – aside from the fact rookie Jonas Gustavsson has wrested the No. 1 role away from Vesa Toskala.”

Hey, even, the oldest, fattest, slowest cat still wants to eat a mouse from time to time. Stealing the number one spot from Toskala is no feat.

“Burke, in other words, cast his lot in the summer, spending up to the cap to add sniper Phil Kessel, a pair of defencemen and Gustavsson in goal, additions that have led Toronto to a worse record (15-23-9) than they had at this point last season (17-22-8) when they finished 24th overall.”

Now that gives us something to really look forward to on draft day- I mean UFA day.

“The Leaf GM’s only cards left to play will involve tearing down this roster after the Olympic break, selling off whichever of his eight unrestricted free agents who prove to have some marginal value and perhaps dealing defenceman Tomas Kaberle to bring in a late first-round pick from a contending team.”

Ah yes the dog days of spring.. I am really waiting for the first interviewer to ask Burke is he ever dreamed/imagined that his team – the one he built this year could finish below his team from last year. Hell, he was PISSED they made the playoffs then….What’s he going to be like this year when they are worse off????????

Awesome piece Mirtle….

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

You watch the video and it’s hard not to be envious of our neighbors to the east. Say whatever you want about the Montreal Canadiens, but they are one classy organization. No one recognizes their veteran superstars like they do. I watched the pre-game ceremony and re-saw it on TSN about 15 times and was just in awe. To have all their great superstar lace em up, put on the jerseys for a photo was pure gold!

This isn’t a knock on MLSE, rather a plea, to consult the Canadiens play book before the next session where we honor more Maple Leafs. The Habs just flat out do it well.

Jonas Gustavsson will get the back to back start as the Leafs try to avoid completely erasing the gains they made prior to last nights Sabres game.

The only line-up change has Jeff Finger in for the inured Carl Gunnarson.

Projected Lines vs. Canadiens

LT

This is the video that he is apologizing for?

Imagine if you will that Vesa Toskala pitched a no hitter, and the Maple Leafs rolled over the Montreal Canadiens 6 love. Bear with me for a second here. Every story tomorrow would have said the same thing, Leafs Nation is already planning the parade route, well here’s the cold water on that good feeling, it’s only one game and besides the Habs suck, wait till they play a real opponent. You know I am right. So you can easily bet on what we are going to get from the press today: Same old Maple Leafs; We told you they will be killing penalties all night; If this continues they will rue trading the number one draft pick; Another OT loss…do I need to continue? They are a predictable bunch aren’t they?

Look, it’s one game. No more no less. It’s no more meaningful than a 6-0 shutout would have been. The teams played their last exhibition game only a few nights ago and suddenly we are in life and death? Sorry I am not buying it. Now, if this goes on for weeks and weeks, well then we will have something to talk about. One game? Yawn. So brace yourself for it Leafs fans, the sharks will be circling tomorrow.

On the positive side, Bruce Arthur continues to show why he is one of the best writers in town:

“Last night, Toronto opened its season against a team built another way – the Montreal Canadiens, whose three skilled free-agent signings, if laid end to end, would be about as long as Chris Pronger’s stick. Toronto, meanwhile, added sizeable glass-mashers like Mike Komisarek, Francois Beauchemin, Exelby, and pugilist Colton Orr.

“It’s a little out of character as to where the NHL’s going,” Montreal general manager Bob Gainey said of Toronto’s path the other day.

Indeed, it’s not quite in keeping with the National Hockey League’s migration towards speed and skill – see Pittsburgh, Detroit, Washington, Chicago, etc. – but it’s in keeping with Burke’s world view, antediluvian or not. And as he did with Anaheim in 2007, he will seek to prove that a big-bodied, physical, crash-bang team can also win a Stanley Cup in the new NHL.

“Time’s going to tell what helps more,” says Toronto defenceman Luke Schenn. “Size or speed.”

Look, team Burke isn’t going to be a bunch of thugs like, as Arthur alludes to, Slapshot. The reality is, at least in my world, it’s much harder to find tough guys who can play than it is the Poni’s of the world. It’s even harder to find the superstars. Burke started somewhere, as we all must when we take on a project. Burke truly believes that in hockey anyways, size matters.

“But it’s not as if Toronto was crack-the-glass physical – they were outhit on the night, and as Montreal’s Glen Metropolit put it, the physicality was “nothing out of the norm.”

“I think that everyone’s getting confused that we’re just going to rumble our way through the league,” said Leafs coach Ron Wilson, an avowed opponent of staged fights. “I want [Komisarek and Beauchemin] on the ice, not sitting in the penalty box.”

Well, that was a bit of a problem. Komisarek was positively Burkean, for good and bad. He chirped with Laraque after a scrum; he added an elbow or a cross-check after every close encounter. And in a telling moment, Komisarek wrestled with Scott Gomez after he ran over Leafs goaltender Vesa Toskala, and jumped in and pounded Moen after the latter did the same. As the new team slogan goes, No Leaf Left Behind”

Hell at least he went after Gomez! These games, especially the early ones are about setting tones,learning teammates tendencies etc. Relax people, it’s one game…breath deeply.

“Sure, this Toronto team isn’t going to the Broad Street Bullies, or the Charlestown Chiefs. As Exelby says with a grin, “There could be a few inner Ogie Ogilthorpes in this room that are waiting to be unleashed at some point, [but] right now we’re just going to try to stick together as a team, and crack everybody when we can as far as finishing checks.”

But this team will have to find a balance between physicality and common sense, and it’ll have to kill penalties, as Anaheim did three Stanley Cups ago.”

Exactly Bruce. You can’t tell whether or not this has happened in the first game, week or even month.

“”I know Burke has said they’re going to come out and play on the edge and play hard, and that’s great,” says Canadiens defenceman Hal Gill, one of the lumbering giants of the old NHL. “Who doesn’t want to do that? But you have to be in control, and in check.

“I remember last year, it was a similar situation where Tampa Bay was really in your face, hitting you. [But] if you moved the puck well, if you executed well, it was ineffective … everyone wants to be physical, but it’s a fine line between going one way too much. You need to make plays.”

Of course, Burke believes in that, too; he just hasn’t had time to properly address it. But in the meantime, the tone has been set. One way or the other, there will be a price to pay.”

Exactly!! How refreshing to get that point of view from a scribe the day after the first game. I mean come on folks- shouldn’t the sky be falling??? Wait till you read Berger’s blog….

Couple of thoughts on the game:

I thought the anthem was the best ever for the ACC
Viktor Stalberg was AWESOME
Passing on the powerplay was awesome
Luke Schenn earning the least ice time of all the D (18 minutes) is quite a difference from last year
Wayne Primeau’s 4 minutes is pretty low; Roshill’s 2 minutes is low but Colton Orr’s 1 minute plus- ouch!
Defense looked lost on faceoffs, have to believe that will be worked in the next practice.

In case you didn’t catch Ron Wilson’s post game presser here is what he had to say:

§ Pleased with the effort
§ Some of the Defencemen had a tough night, poor decisions
§ Forwards played well, lots of shots
§ Need to take fewer penalties and have a better pk
§ Komisarek answered the bell, other defencemen need to do the same, happy with komi’s play…setting a tone…rings a bell for rest of the guys
§ Vesa was fine, nothing he could do on the goals
§ Stajan had a very good game
§ Stalberg was the best forward, smart decisions, consistent play, made some nice plays
§ Grabovsky= good game…getting back etc…
§ Forwards did a great job

read Arthur here

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

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

On Fan 590 Tonight- thanks to Mike S.

5:05-5:30 Brian Burke IN STUDIO
6:05 Dan Shulman, ESPN
6:30 John Ferguson JR, Sharks Pro Scout on the Mats Sundin retirement
6:45 Iain Page, The Golf Channel…

On 640 with Brady and Watters:

- Jean Perron, former head coach of the Habs
- Rod Black of TSN
- Plenty of discussion about Mats Sundin’s retirement
- Hockey insider Scott Morrison at 6:10

Call it the “Sidney Crosby Effect”. Since the Penguins took Sid the Kid first over-all from the Rimouski Oceanic of the QMJHL at the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, the league has developed no less than four first rounders in four of the five years since. Compare that to the six years prior in which the QMJHL had seen no more than three of their players selected in any first round, and it seems clear that the league has returned to relevance in the junior hockey world.

As Sportsnet.ca said in their preview of the ‘Q’, “parity remains the theme in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League [heading into] the 2009-2010 season. Much like last season, where four teams (the Drummondville Voltigeurs, Shawinigan Cataractes, Moncton Wildcats, and Quebec Remparts) all finished the regular season with more than 100 points, there is a great deal of balance among the teams at the top of the league.

However, most of the on-ice and off-ice headlines (at least early in the season) will belong to one man / family in particular. The surname Roy will be bandied around quite a bit, with the senior Patrick remaining behind the bench for the contending Remparts after a summer in which his name was linked to the vacant head coach position of the Colorado Avalanche, which later went to Joe Sacco.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Roy, the son of the Montreal Canadiens legend, faces an October 7 trial date as the defendant against charges of assault. Jonathan, goaltender for the Remparts at the time, was arrested following a beating administered to opposing netminder Bobby Nadeau (Chicoutimi Sagueneens) on March 22, 2008.

But there is some hockey to be played too.

For one thing, the Voltigeurs are back to defend their league title, minus their top two league-leading scorers from last season. Yannick Riendeau has graduated and will hope to catch on with the Boston Bruins, who signed him on the strength of his Q-best 126-point season, while high-scoring teammate Danny Masse is staying in Quebec as a Canadiens signee. Despite the losses, Drummondville should still be a formidable contender with C Chris DiDomenico, a Leafs draft pick and a member of Canada’s gold medal-winning 2009 World Junior team, and 2009 first round draft pick (14th over-all, Florida Panthers) D Dmitry Kulikov.

Following a season widely considered a disappointment, Roy’s Remparts, who Sportsnet.ca has said are “widely regarded as the top team in the league this season,” have reloaded with two key new pieces and will look to topple Drummondville. Quebec is fresh off a 4-1 ouster to the Cataractes in the QMJHL semis last year, which fuelled off-season moves that brought in starting goalie Peter Delmas and agitator / enforcer Danick Paquette. They will contribute defence and grit to a team already stacked with offensive talent, as forwards Kelsey Tessier and Marc-Olivier Vallerand return. In four games this season, Vallerand has already collected four goals and four assists.

The Cataractes and the Wildcats are both coming off of breakthrough seasons, and many observers are curious to see how they follow last year’s performance. The Cataractes fell one win shy of the franchise’s first QMJHL championship, falling 4-3 to the Voltigeurs after climbing back from a 3-1 series deficit. However, amidst the heartbreak, the regular season represented a 35-point jump in their record from the previous campaign.
That improvement was second to the Wildcats’ rise of 45 points between the ‘07-08 and ‘08-09 seasons. Though Moncton did not advance past the quarter-finals, but that could change this year due to the rapid improvement of blue chip defensive anchor Brandon Gormley. Gormley was the only player in the Q on CHL.ca’s list of top five NHL prospects heading into the 2010 draft.

With no single dominant force in the QMJHL along the lines of, say, the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires, there are several teams who could make their mark as the league’s elite.

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

On Fan 590 Tonight- thanks to Mike S.

5:20 Dan Shulman, ESPN
5:40 Peter King, Sports Illustrated… NFL Season gets going
6:05 George Gillett, Canadiens Owner
6:30 Doug MacLean, Now With Jim Balsillie Camp
6:45 Someone from Phoenix courtroom

-On 640 with Brady and Watters:

- Bob Probert

- David Naylor of the Globe & Mail on the CFL

- Mark Osborne

- Sean Baligian

Do you remember this?

We all know what happened next right? Gretzky scored while he should have been in the box and in essence the rest of the series was history, and the LA Kings not the Maple Leafs faced the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Want to tell Kerry Fraser how pissed off you are at him even to this day? OR how much you love his hair? Today is your shot as Kerry Fraser will be the in-studio guest on Leafs Lunch on 640 Toronto. I suspect that you may want to call now as it will be pretty busy to give Kerry @#$@#$@!#$!@

Here is what Grapes said about the call:

Maybe it’s just me but I found an article in the Montreal Gazette quite amusing. It seems that the Maple Leafs signing of Mike Komisarek has set off some nerves in the land of the Habs.

“Among the thoughts that avoided our delete key, posted before and after Komisarek signed a five-year, $22.5-million contract with the Maple Leafs:

- “I really don’t want to hate Komisarek’s guts, but I can see that’s where this is going.”

- “Mike, I wish you all the success the Leafs have enjoyed for the last 40-plus years!”

- “Good riddance, Komi. Welcome to hell.”

A few suggested that Habs heavyweight Georges Laraque should be instructed – ordered, even – to pummel Komisarek, that despicable traitor, during the new Leaf’s first shift against his old team.

A few deleted comments indelicately questioned the marital status of Komisarek’s parents upon his birth, or suggested that he engage in an activity that is anatomically impossible.”

Really? Now, do you think that is any different if he went elsewhere? I would imagine when a Boston Red Sox bolts and joins the New York Yankees similar things occur. Yes, I know the whole Leaf/Habs thing flared up last season with Grabovsky. My question is, do you really care about the Habs? Seriously, and maybe I am in the minority here, but if Sundin (I can’t think of some other life long Leaf) signed with Montreal last season, I wouldn’t have cared. I would care a lot more if he went to Ottawa, but the reality is there are few places a Toronto player could go that would motivate me to go to a newspaper website and post this type of stuff. When Curtis Joseph, one of my favourite Maple Leafs bolted to go to the Wings, one of my most despised teams growing up, I started to root for the Wings (except when playing the Leafs).

Am I alone in this?

I think the time for this type of stuff went out the door when the NHL expanded beyond 6 teams. Did Seinfeld have it right? Do we root for the clothes or the player? I think in most cases it’s the jersey. There are obviously exceptions. Once the puck drops though we want our team to win.

Is it an erosion of the Habs/Buds rivalry or is it that I just don’t care all that much? I don’t get overly jazzed to see the Leafs play the Habs. When they were in the playoffs last season I rooted for them and not because they were a Canadian team. I think that those of you older than me will say that you still despise the Habs, so maybe it’s a generational thing. I suspect that it’s an inferiority complex on the part of our friends up the 401. I mean, Their baseball team was taken from them, they don’t have a basketball team (do we?). All that is left on the MAIN stage is the Habs. The Nordiques were taken from them too. What remains of their age old rivals is Toronto and Boston. Ottawa is closer geographically, would the same hatred be spewed if Komisarek had signed with the Sens? Maybe our team’s failures have dulled the rivalry from this end.

Little TSM has no clue who the Habs are. He knows you boo the Senators, he roots like hell for Crosby and when he plays on his DS or PSP he wants to be the Leafs or the Pens. The only Maple Leaf he can name is Cliff (ya think he listens to his dad talking to LT too much?). Seriously, he couldn’t name one maple leaf, except maybe Cujo.

I find the Montreal perspective amusing. Am I out to lunch or are you like me?

TSM

Follow me on twitter at @yyzsportsmedia

Habs article is here