Funny how the kill on the last penalty seemed to turn the tides of the game. The Kings really took it to the Buds but couldn’t score… That resulted in a sudden shot of confidence in the buds. Early in the 3rd, Stajan scored on the PP to tie the game at 1 and then moments later Mikhail Grabovsky scored to put the buds up 2-1 also on a PP. Interesting stat of the game so far to me anyway, with about 9 minutes to go Ian White leads all Leafs in ice time at just over 20 minutes…what a difference a few weeks makes to a career…. With about 8 minutes to go, Hagman tried to give the game away, but for a great save he would have succeeded. Then Finger dropped a guy in front of the net, taking a cross checking penalty. Say you want about Finger, but hand it to him (sorry) he has been very steady. Ron Wilson rewarded Jason Blake with some extra PK time and man did Blake pay him back with some steady play. Finger had a breakaway coming out of the box and made a hell of a move to get around the goalie before running out of runway….Wow- with Nikolai Kumelin and Mikhail Grabovsky on in the last minute
Jeff Finger buried an empty netter to give the Buds a 3-1 lead.

Big road win behind a huge effort by Toskala and the d- core especially on the penalty kill…

Again, this post is not to suggest that the re-build is complete – simply that we are thankfully starting to see a ray of hope and that Cliff has done a decent job.  Over to Burke to do what he can to turn a few other Vets into talent for the future.

Talk about a guy who says all the right things, Ron Wilson continues to impress the hell out of me. Lance (I am still on the Leaf beat) Hornby has in interesting post up on the buds as training camps approaches.  Get a load of these gems:

“I won’t allow the sideshow that sometimes occurs here with (players getting) different messages.They read and hear a lot of things, but we’re the people in the trenches with them.”

“I don’t want separate agendas, like ‘I’m going to get 20 goals’. If you do things right, the team wins and your personal goals will be met.”

“This group is starving for direction. They don’t want to be (failures).”

‘Different messages’ includes outside influences, such as the media and expectations that certain players must reach personal targets according to Wilson.

None of this is rocket science folks, it’s just plain common sense; stuff that has evaded the ACC for a long, long time and it’s very refreshing.  If he can coach half as well as he speaks, then the proper foundation is going to be laid.

Lastly, Wilson has created in his mind an “energy line: Centred by Alex Steen, flanked by Niklas Hagman on the left and Nikolai Kulemin on the right.  Interesting to say the least…

Link is here

I just said to someone the other day how nice it has been since Cliff arrived to not have to hear Toronto’s greatest hockey mind Richard Peddie give us his 2 cents on the ways of the hockey world. I guess then I tempted fate and caused someone like our good pal Lance Hornby to get some nuggets from old Dickie.

and I swear I am not making this up:

“Cliff has made us a younger team and I’m looking forward to meeting (top draft picks) Luke Schenn and Nikolai Kulemin this week at the prospects camp. Sometimes, it’s a sixth-rounder and not a first-rounder that surprises you. But we want to hold on to our young guys.”

“I really like hiring Ron Wilson and both Cliff and I agreed a while ago that Joe was one of the best (newcomers) anyone could get. I think we have one of the deepest front office teams now.”

“But of course, it all depends on what happens during this season.”

I feel so much better now knowing that Richard is actually going to meet Luke Schenn and Nikolai Kulemin. Is he going to get pictures with each to add to his infamous collection in his office? Or just stick with autograhs?

His quote about being surprised by sixth rounders as opposed to first rounders is the work of sure genius.

I am also happy to hear that he and Cliff decided on Joe Nieuwendyk I mean given his track record of hiring guys……

Clearly from Richard all the way down to Joe, the Leafs are now the deepest front office ( I hope you can sense the sarcasm cause I am laying it on pretty thick!)

As for his last comment, what depends on what happens during this season? Come on Richard, we all know very few are really going to be judged based on what happens this season. Cliff has done what others before him wouldn’t (or couldn’t). If this teams competes hard most nights irrespective of outcome, the team will have improved dramatically.

Do us all a favor, stick to what you are REALLY good at, making your bosses lots of money. Let the sports people do what they do best, worry about the on ice/court product…please.

I have been waiting for someone to take a stab at what the leafs lineup looks like as of now…and Globesports has done just that….I am adding in the players age, which I think is pretty important:

Jason Blake 35 ($4-million), Mikhail Grabovski 25 (unsigned), Nik Antropov 29 ($2.05-million).

Alex Steen 25 ($1.7-million), Matt Stajan 25 (unsigned), Nikolai Kumelin 22 ($1.49-million).

Jiri Tlusty 21 ($855,000), Mark Bell 28 ($2.167-million), Alex Ponikarovsky 29 ($2.11-million).

Nik Hagman 29 ($3-million), Dominic Moore 28 ($900,000), Jamal Mayers 34 ($1.33-million).

Defence

Tomas Kaberle 31 ($4.25-million), Pavel Kubina 32 ($5-million).

Jeff Finger 29 ($3.5-million), Anton Stralman 22 ($737,700).

Carlo Colaiacovo 28 ($1.28-million), Jonas Frogren 29(unsigned).

Goal

Vesa Toskala 32 ($4-million), Curtis Joseph 42 ($700,000).

Extras

F Boyd Devereaux 31 ($575,000), F John Mitchell 24($475,000), D Ian White 25 ($850,000), D Staffan Kronwall 26 ($487,500), D Bryan McCabe 34 ($5.75-million)

Total over 48m, leaving some room to get to 56. The nice thing is that the core is much younger then it has been in years.