And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said “The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sound of silence

“We’re not going to ambush anyone. I’ve done this a couple of times. I’m not going to be able to sneak up on anyone,”
“They’ve seen this movie.”
“We’ll immediately attempt to move up,”
“We’re going to talk to everyone between us and the first pick and see what the landscape is.”
“We’re going to see what it costs and we’re going to try and move up.”

Remember the buzz last year leading up to the draft? Burke was all over the press talking about making moves, moving up in the draft to get Tavares etc….

This year?????

CRICKETS CHIRPING

Amazing how quiet he’s been. Remember how silent he was prior to the Phaneuf and JSG deals? Silence speaks louder than words in Burke’s World……

It’s interesting to read Howard Berger’s latest blog:

“IS BURKE ANGLING TO MAKE THE PROVERBIAL “SPLASH” AT THE DRAFT AND IN FREE AGENCY? This train of thought, in my opinion, is being overblown for the second consecutive year. It is part of the mindset primarily because Burke is Burke: loud, direct and unambiguous. As a result of that – and the yearning of an increasingly anxious fan-base – it is somehow expected the Leafs’ manager will be the star of the show in Los Angeles and beyond. Who knows? It may unfold as predicted. But, the potential for the club to improve isn’t necessarily tied to a grandiose display by double-B. Amid the anticipation of last year’s draft in Montreal – much of it engendered by Burke’s public desire to wrest the No. 1 pick from the New York Islanders – the Leafs ultimately came away with their allotted selection, landing forward Nazem Kadri of the London Knights seventh overall. A trade that would have sent Tomas Kaberle to the Bruins for Kessel was aborted. In the end, Burke made precious little “noise” but it could be looked upon as an exceptional draft for the Leafs, if Kadri is able to apply his enormous skill-set in the NHL. It is also important to remember that Burke was very active during the past season, acquiring Kessel; the team’s new captain, Dion Phaneuf; a Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, while brilliantly purging two of the most un-movable players and contracts in the league – Jason Blake and Vesa Toskala. That’s quite a body of work, and it doesn’t include the college and European free agents the Leafs have acquired in the past year. So, it’ll likely be difficult for Burke to “one-up” himself in the ensuing weeks, though I suspect he’ll grab a headline or two.”

Who is making this claim this year? When Berger says “because Burke is Burke: loud, direct and unambiguous”, ask yourself this, has Burke been any of those these things this year???????

Could there be a starker contrast then the lead up to the draft last year and this year?????

It seems that things are always busiest when they are the quietest…

Get ready for something to happen.

By the way, I think Howard should stick to the feel good stories. His blog post about his father, and his relationships with his kids was good. The piece on Brian Burke was excellent. His writing is much better when his heart is really in it as opposed to the fluff he has been writing for some time.

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

On Fan 590 Tonight

4:10 Dave Perkins, Toronto Star
4:25 Damien Cox, TSN & The Star
5:25 Eddie Olczyk, NBC & Versus
5:45 Wayne Parrish, CEO Of Basketball Canada
6:05 Fred Gaudelli, Sunday Night Football Producer
6:30 Brendan Shanahan, NHL’s VP Of Hockey Business & Developpment
6:45 Michael McKinley, Hockey Historian

On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.:

- Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star on the baseball winter meetings
- Jolly Jonas Siegel from the ACC to preview tonight’s Leafs-Islanders game
- Hockey insider Scott Morrison at 6:10

Show ends at 6:30 to make way for the Leafs pre-game show.

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

It was a night of firsts for the Toronto Raptors last night. The Toronto Huskies paid a tribute to the NBA’s roots, be unveiling their Toronto Huskies retro look for the first of six games this season. Back on November 1, 1946 the Toronto Huskies played the New York Knickerbockers at Maple Leaf Gardens in the first game of the Basketball Association of America. The Raptors beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 94-88, winning their third straight game for the first time this season. Guard Jarrett Jack got his first start of the season, replacing an injured Jose Calderon. Jack filled in nicely scoring 17 points and dishing out eight assists. Tonight Toronto (10-13) is back at it again. They’re in Milwaukee to take on rookie sensation Brandon Jennings and the Bucks (9-11). Milwaukee sits two games in front of Toronto in the East, but the Bucks are on a four game losing skid. Last night they were in Boston and they lost 98-89. If the vote for rookie of the year were today, Jennings would win by a land slide. He’s averaging 21 points per game and just over 5 assists per game. Back on November 14, he lit up the Golden State Warriors for 55.

On the ice, the Toronto Maple Leafs are at home to take on the New York Islanders. On Monday night, the Leafs had five even strength goals in the second period and cruised to a 5-2 win over the Atlanta Thrashers. Now the last time the Leafs played the Isles, they peppered goaltender Dwayne Roloson with 61 shots and lost in overtime 4-3. Don’t look now, but since their horrible start the Leafs have been gaining ground in the East and are only five points back of the eight seed. The Islanders are one team of five teams that stand in their way. New York played last night and they took a beat down from the Philadelphia Flyers, losing 6-2. John Tavares scored his teams lone goals. Tavares leads all rookies with 13 goals and 23 points, but has yet to register a point at the ACC.

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

On Fan 590 Tonight-

John Shannon Co Hosts….

5:20 Brian Cooper, President & CEO Of Sports & Entertaiment in studio

5:40 Joe Womack, Green Riders Director Of Player Personnel

6:06 Keith Law & Jeff Blair

6:30 Wayne Parrish CEO Of Canada Basketball in studio

On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.:

- An interview with a member of the Maple Leafs’ front office

- Bob “The Bear” Cowan with his Monday NFL pick

- Jolly Jonas Siegel from the ACC to preview tonight’s Leafs-Islanders game

- Hockey insiders Darren Dreger & Ray Ferraro at 6:10

Tavares is coming to town!  Let’s see if the Leafs can do to him what they did to Ovechkin on Saturday night.

It looks like Finger’s lower body injury will keep him out of the line-up…Exelby is in.   Is the Wallin project over?  He’ll sit again…Mayers remains in the line up.  Vesa gets the start…some media have reported that the goal is for him to play 2/3 of the games from here on out.  Let’s see if he can earn / reach that goal.

Here’s hoping for a mini streak to begin.

Projected Lines vs. Islanders

Forwards
Ponikarovsky Stajan Kessel
Blake Grabovski Hagman
Kulemin Mitchell Stempniak
Mayers Primeau Orr

Defense
Kaberle Gunnarson
Beauchemin White
Exelby Schenn

Goalie
Toskala
Gustavsson

LT

Poor John Tavares. One rookie scrimage and the media has already started in. Get a load of this headline from wire this evening:

“John Tavares scoreless in first scrimmage”

OH MY GOD- the sky is falling, the sky is falling!

“First overall draft pick John Tavares was held without a point and was a minus-2 on Sunday in the his first rookie camp scrimmage with the New York Islanders.”

No really, what is funnier this crap or the first episode of Entourage?

“Head coach Scott Gordon said the stats are not important in games like this, but effort does matter.

“I wouldn’t read too much into any particular performance by anybody,” he told the paper. “This was a great opportunity for all the players to get their feet wet. I really thought they competed hard. We want players to battle.”

Who do you feel worse for, Tavares, or Gorton, the Islander’s coach?

Man, if that is the type of crap people are writing on long island, can you imagine what would have happened to the poor guy if he was in Toronto? Leave him alone, it’s one scrimmage! Call me when we are 50 games into the season and he hasn’t scored!

“Signing Jonas Gustavsson? Good. Getting Hedo Turkoglu? Better. Seeing Quinton Porter lead the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to a first win in B.C. by an Eastern time zone team since 2004? Best.”

That from Jeff Blair. I don’t know about the last part. It was a good week for those of us who try to dispel the Toronto Sucks crowd out there. Our teams did in fact land a couple of gems off the free agent pile. In both cases the players chose TO over other alternatives. With Turkoglu, his choice was entirely about our garbage filled city. Gustavvson made a hockey decision. Having said that, he was highly sought after and he did choose the Leafs.

So Brian Burke suggested that a team made a sizeable offer for a defenceman not name Kaberle. Does anyone think he would deal one of his new acquisitions?

“It’s not likely Burke would be looking to deal defenseman Francois Beauchemin, who he just signed as an unrestricted free agent. The Leafs traded for hitter Garnet Exelby earlier in the summer, and he might fit the description of what the Hawks are looking for in a defenseman.”

That from the excellent Blackhawks beat writer Tim Sassone of the Chicago Daily Hearld. Sassone seems to think (as do many others) that the Leafs and Hawks both have what the others want. The Hawks looking for help on the blueline and the Leafs for help upfront. Peanut butter to chocolate no? Sassone analyized the Kaberle situation first, however he doesn’t appear convinced that Kabs is the type of player the Hawks would be looking for and he also isn’t sure that Burke will deal #15. Burke has one month and 3 days to get something for Kaberle. The time, my friends is now.

Looks like the Blue Jays have a media critic in…. Calgary:

“Now in his third season, (Jamie)Campbell has staked no claim to the team with either a flair for language or his keen insight into baseball. The genius of Vin Scully is that he tells you from the first pitch that he is the pilot, you are the passenger, and you are to sit back while he guides the ship. Even the lugubrious Chuck Swirsky grabbed the Toronto Raptors’ mike like a thirsty man throttling a pump handle. Campbell still gives the impression of someone filling in while the main guy is on holidays.”

Wow- how do you really feel Bruce?

“After this many games, he still has mighty trouble judging fly balls (watch the outfielders) and a propensity for reading the daily statistical notes as if it were Finnegans Wake . His monotone delivery suits the subway (“Next stop Spadina, Spadina next stop”) more than a pennant race.”

ha ha ha. Pennant what? It’s not very often that we see this type of criticism in our papers. Not sure how justified but WOW…

“Part of this is not Campbell’s fault. Sportsnet likes to grow its own timber and has thrust several people into key announcing spots before they are ready. The results are mixed. When it doesn’t work, the outcome is like a travelling company of High School Musical – you know, “Just wait till they grow up and move to Broadway” Except they don’t grow up. Campbell still seems stranded on first base. If he’s being coached it doesn’t show. Like Jays pitcher Scott Richmond, he’s left out there to eat innings and pray that the penny will finally drop. ”

Them’s poison darts from Calgary no? I watch games here and there. I have never wanted to have root canal as opposed to listening to the guys on tv. Having said that, we have never been really that strong on TV. I miss Buck Martinez myself. Who, does Bruce want instead?

“That’s not happening now with any of the analysts, and the occasional insertions of the eager Sam Cosentino are not much more illuminating. Again, this is an awfully young crew, and it shows. You’d like the think Campbell will eventually improve, but for now he simply leaves you pining for his predecessor, Rob Faulds, who was not exactly mistaken for Red Barber himself. You’d think that as owners of the team and the network that Rogers would make improving the telecasts a priority. But they seem content to allow the televised product to drift the same way the baseball team has slid into mediocrity the past several years.”

Two things come to mind; one, Dowbiggin is never getting a gig at Sportsnet, nor a Christmas card from David Akande. Second, nothing anyone can say would make me pine for Rob Faulds.

Make no mistake, I am thrilled that Bruce is out west and no longer here in TO. Having said that if he has the balls to write stuff like this, then I am going to be reading him a lot more often!

So it seems Leafs Nation loves Joe Bowen. So far over 81% of you have voted against a new radio/tv voice. You have also shown me what the next question should be in the poll

Did anyone listen to Glen Healy on the Fan this am???? If so, would you mind sending me an email torontosportsmedia at gmail dot com

I did happen to catch Nelson Liriano and Jesse Barfield, and you just had to smile (even if Vic Rauter was still on ). One thing I will say about Liriano, man the guy likes to talk…

Anyone read Bruce Garrioch this am? Two interesting thoughts:

“There is talk the Rangers might waive D Wade Redden at the start of next season and send him to the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack to get his $6.5-million salary off the books. New York has tried to deal Redden, but nobody is willing to bite. He still has $32.5 million and five years left on his contract”

Now, do any of you recall a similar “rumour” about Bryan Mccabe last year. We were told that the PA would be all over this and that if Mccabe and others like him were sent to the minors the Leafs would have a very difficult time signing free agents in the future. Where is the same horror and outrage here? I’m just saying.

“The talk is Toronto GM Brian Burke has been trying to entice the New York Islanders, who are drafting No. 1 overall and the Bolts, picking No. 2, to trade their top pick in exchange for D Tomas Kaberle and the Maple Leafs’ No. 7 overall selection. “That’s not going to be enough to get it done,” said one league executive. “Burke is going to have to come up with more. You can’t give a No. 1 pick away. It means a lot to the franchise.”

So, sources tell me that Burke hasn’t talked to Garrioch in ages. In fact a recent quote that he ran from Burke looked, to these eyes anyways strangely similar to a direct quote from Berger’s blog a few days ago. I am not saying Garrioch stole it, but……. As for this rumour? The Islanders or any other team are going to have to evaluate their own needs and what is offered to them in exchange for anything they have. I will say this, with Tomas Kaberle you know EXACTLY what you are getting. There are no guarantees with any kid you draft and we can all list off a good list of first round busts over the year. I suspect that Snow and any other GM will do what they think is in the best interest of their respective franchise.

“Despite all the denials coming out of the Sunshine State, the Tampa Bay Lightning is trying to deal C Vinny Lecavalier. A league source told Sun Media yesterday the Bolts have informed the NHL they intend to spend at the salary floor of approximately $40.5 million next season. They already have $38 million committed to 17 players and have to sign to get to the 23-man roster limit. Getting Lecavalier’s $10 million salary off the books would clear space for the Bolts to sign blueliners. He’s not only the Lightning player being shopped. League sources insist there are others, but didn’t want to give out any names. A proposal deal to send Lecavalier to the Kings for D Jack Johnson is still on the table. Sources say Johnson, who is coming off an entry-level contract, is seeking a four-year deal worth $5.5 million per season. No wonder the Kings want to deal him. They aren’t the only team in pursuit of Lecavalier. Vancouver, Edmonton and Montreal have all made calls.”

Certainly were lots of denials around this the other day. Here is my overall sense of Mr. Garrioch, he is, in my opinion only, universally, amongst his peers anyway, the least credible of all mainstream hockey writers….even more so than Al Strachan. This is my opinion based upon what I have read, heard and seen….for the record my opinion is worth less than the paper this is written on!

Anyone else catch this last night, Jeff Marek called the Cleveland ahl team, “The Fort Erie Monsters”….ummmm, that would be Lake Erie maybe?? Fort Erie home to….the word famous racetrack…..Lake Erie, is Cleveland….honest mistake I am sure… If you saw that then you had to notice the pained look on Scott Morrison’s face each time they do that segment. I happen to like Morrison’s work, but man he looks miserable every time he is on the TV. Could it be having to sit in a tv studio in Toronto while the game is in Pittsburgh????? Man, talk about being treated like Wilner….. ouch!

A kind reader sent me this earlier…enjoy your day TSM

Garrioch is at here

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

On Fan 590 Tonight- thanks to Mike S.

- open phones with Rob Faulds from 4:05 to 4:40
- co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is Jim Kelley
- Dave shoalts
-Jack armstrong
-Pat quinn
-Peter montopoli
-Peter keating

On 640 with Brady and Watters:

440 Josh Bailey, New York Islanders

510 Brian Duff, NHL Network

610 Inside The NHL w/ Scott Morrison

640 Chuck Fletcher, Minnesota Wild GM

This is priceless. No really, this is the quote of the decade!!!!:

“That’s a good question, my future in the NHL, I don’t even know myself,” Sundin said. “Last summer, obviously, I didn’t know whether I was going to play or not and I definitely am going to take my time to make a good decision this summer. Right now, I wouldn’t know what my future is going to be, whether I will play or not.”

The only thing funnier than this would be something like this ” A Sherpa in Sweden tells me that Mats Sundin is going to play next season and return to his excellent level of play of yesteryear. He is going to go to one of the following teams: New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers , Pittsburgh Penguins, Buffalo Sabres, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators ,Toronto Maple Leafs, Carolina Hurricanes , Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche, Edmonton Oilers, Minnesota Wild, Vancouver Canucks, Dallas Stars, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes, San Jose Sharks”

Read more from Mats here

Elliot Friedman was on the morning show with the guys this am and floated this gem:

“Everyone in hockey is talking about this deal and thinks it will happen, Toronto’s pick, which I guess is number seven overall for Tampa’s pick which is number 2 overall, with Toronto taking back Ryan Malone and his lengthy hefty contract and perhaps another contract as well.”

Of course, the second thought on that is that Burke would attempt to somehow get John Tavares (as he said he would) with that pick, either via trade or luck. What he does with the the second pick overall is somewhat immaterial for right now.

Ryan Malone makes 4.5 million through the 2014-2015 season!

Freeing up that type of cash from Tampa makes a ton of sense. However, I for one can’t see how that is enough to get the deal done. Not being critical of the reporter in any way, shape or fashion, however, one has to wonder what, if any impact word of this deal becoming public could have on the deal. Bolts fans are surely to be screaming that this is “just the Toronto media dreaming shit up again”. I can’t imagine how you sell this to a small but VERY loyal fan base in Tampa.

On the Leafs side, they can acquire the guy and then do as they please with him. They aren’t going to buy him out. He could be a Marlie though. One would wonder what the PA would “try” to do about that though…..

Friedman did say that everyone thinks this will happen. I think it is the basis of something, and there is a long time between here and the draft (unfortunately).

Listen to the Chat here