So the game after the game is over and Canada won 8-1. The big game is now on Wednesday so let’s see how that goes before we make any decisions or final thought on goalie gate.

As I suspected the piece that Brady found on CTV’s website was indeed written by Damien Cox. The same story ran in today’s Toronto Star under a different headline. This of course led to some more coverage.

Bill Houston picked up on Damien’s column:

“Look, maybe Cox has a man crush on Brodeur, I don’t know. But Brodeur played poorly in Canada’s 5-3 loss to the Americans and, arguably, should have been pulled the first period, when he gave up the puck in a goofy baseball attempt to clear it, which led to a goal, and also let in a softy.

To bring him back against Germany tonight would have been ridiculous and irresponsible. Of course, you make a change. I would have gone with Marc-Andre Fleury, but Luongo is certainly a better choice than Brodeur.”

The article was just so blatantly slanted as pro Brodeur. The comments were so over the top in his defence it’s nearly impossible to ignore.

Brady tore on off of Brodeur on the Watters show today which was followed up with an interview with Cox himself. As far as I can remember Cox has only appeared on this show once before, when Brady tore a strip off the headline writer at the Star on one of Damien’s column.

Brady was courteous to his guest yet he did ask the important questions too. Cox was asked out of the gate whether or not he had spoken to Brodeur directly to provide the basis for his comments on how Brodeur felt. Cox was clearly uncomfortable with the frankness of the question. He said that he hadn’t spoken directly to him but that he “knew how Marty felt”. It’s rather interesting because Cox says that we all know that Brodeur is THE classy athlete and that he would be mad at Damien for putting his feelings out there. Which is kind of odd isn’t it. I mean Cox is patting him on the back, praising him yet at the same time sharing Brodeur’s feelings that certainly paint him out to be at the very best selfish.

To me the highlight of the interview came when the issue of bias came up. Cox said that there were people who were suggesting that Damien is biased towads Brodeur because they are friends and they wrote a book together. Cox took a minor swipe at Brady’s named partner, Bill Watters by saying that there are people who think Bill Watters shouldn’t speak about the Maple Leafs because Watters is a disgruntled former employee! Now, 2 things. One, Cox has already admited to his relationship with him. Although he “didn’t get an exact quote from Brodeur” he does “know this is how Brodeur feels”. He does talk to Broduer’s people regularly. There is no way Brodeur or his people get word out about his feelings without his approval. Cox is biased towards him. Similarly, Watters is biased against the Leafs when it comes to ANY issue that relates to ownership. He is similarly biased against the owners of the Argos who may or may not have dismissed his son. It doesn’t take a genius to know EXACTLY what is going to come out of Watters mouth when it comes to MLSE. He looses all credibility when he does discuss them. Similarly, the more Damien talks Brodeur the less credible he will be.

Let’s hope this is the end of goalie gate, 2010.

From Washington.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

Houston is here

You can find cox and brady here

There is always the debate when a goalie gets hammered when he is leaving the net, is he fair game, or does he live by different rules than all the other players.
Canadiens goalie Carey Price left the net to play the puck Wednesday against the St. Louis Blues. No different than any other night, except for one thing. Cam Janssen of the Blues ran into Price, causing everyone in the hockey world to lose their minds.
Price then proceeded to try and fight Janssen, but a Habs defenceman wisely jumped in and saved the Price from damaging some of his most valued assets…his hands.
The fans love the goalie fights, but there are people who don’t like watching them, they are called management.
For a player who wears larger equipment than the rest of the players do, they’re given special treatment. Why?
The value to their teams? If they are such a large asset, management should tell the goalie, play the puck in and around the net, don’t venture too far out for one simple reason, what happened to Price on Wednesday.
After I watched the hit, I thought Price dropped his shoulder trying to hit Janssen back. If Price had gotten a hold of Janssen and dropped him, he would’ve been standing over top of him, admireing his work, like Manny Ramirez admires a moon shot.
If goalies want to play in the same area, make them play by the same rules.
Place the same interference rules on the goalies that the players have to comply with. Touch the puck, there is a risk you will get hit. After you release the puck, you can’t be hit like everyone else.
Goalies run interference all the time in games, especially in and around the net. They get away with murder with some of the stuff they pull in front of the net, a la Martin Brodeur on Sean Avery when everyone went crazy that Avery was blocking his view with his stick.
I don’t condone hitting goalies, because they face shots all night long. There are certain rules inside the crease with respect to players, so when the goalie leaves the safety of his crease, he should be governed by the rules that are in place for the players.
He wants to skate with the boys, you play by their rules.

Happy Turkey Day..

The Star is the contributor of the Maple Leaf Turkey article of the day, the author Rosie DiManno who clearly is the woman in sports that Mike Toth spoke of months before leaving the Fan and Sportsnet. (Toth by the way is officially gone from the Fan on a permanent basis). DiManno’s column is, in a word brutal. I have no problem with being critical of the Leafs, but at least make sense. They have offered up lots of ammunition to pick on them and she comes up with utter crap.

“Heretofore the difference between crap and craps: The first is played on ice, too many nights, by the Maple Leafs. The second is played with dice.”

Rosie then goes on, and on on the laws of probability. So if you want to bet on the coin flips or dice rolling, read on….

“A rolled dice always has a 1-chance-in-6 of flashing six pips, no matter how often it is thrown. A die doesn’t change it’s, um, spots.

Leaf shooters have been unable to change their luck either, regardless of how many shots they take in a game – like that club-record tying 61 in Monday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Islanders.

Now, clearly there are permutations, hockey-wise, because scoring opportunities have numerous variables. This is what makes it a game of skill and calculation rather than chance and finite odds. But the Leafs have been making a whole lot of journeymen goalies look like Dominik Hasek by shooting blanks or taking low-profit swipes at the puck on the theory that, eventually, some of them have to go in. Ain’t happening.”

No you see, here is where she goes offline. The problem with her theory is that despite odds, in sports there are these things called streaks. This is true in every sport. There are times where even the best of players go into slumps and there are times when the worst of players still tickle the twine, cause, well shit happens. Ask a goalie or a baseball batter about the times when the puck or ball looks either like a pea or a beach-ball. Is it mathematically explainable? Not really. It just happens. Does that mean Jason Blake is going to score 50 this year? No. Does it mean they will shoot at the same percentage all year- hell no! Does the baseball player who goes 5-5 on opening day with 2 homers mean he isn’t going to miss all year and score 2 every game?

“The Leafs, arguably, have just one pure goal scorer in Phil Kessel, who has been exactly as advertised. This was the dilemma in the Mats Sundin era, when so much of the offensive burden was borne by a single player, rarely with proficient play-making linemates.”

No shit dick tracey- this is news?

“”Snipers have a weird sense of where to go on the ice and they always find a way to score,” said Sundin, when we caught up with him on Wednesday, enjoying retirement in Stockholm.

“It’s a combination of natural skill and hard work. The best pure goal-scorer I ever saw was Alex Mogilny. Now, he was gifted, but he also worked hard on his shooting every day.”

Sundin cleaves to the keep-shooting mantra.

“At least you’re giving yourself a chance to score.”

Ok, so you talked to Mats….What is the point of this article???? What does anything that you have written have to do with flipping coins and rolling dice? The Leafs are putting forth an effort, and are at least playing a more competitive brand of hockey. Are they winning? No. Does it matter in the grand scheme of things that they are trying hard- not really. Effort only goes so far. The reality is this team is devoid of scoring talent. I don’t care how hard Mogilny worked- he had a gift; he was extremely talented. Wade Belak looked like he worked pretty hard too- he didn’t score like Mogilny did. Next time Rosie – have a point.

By the way, many people have asked the question, TSM reached Brian Burke this evening and was told that the Maple Leafs self imposed holiday transaction freeze kicks in on December 9th.

TSM @yyzsportsmedia

Rosie is here

Wins and losses right? In the end that is how coaches and mangers in the sports world are judged. There is no good effort, or nice tries, in the end they get judged and perhaps fired for their in ability to win. Seems pretty simple right? What about coaches who are in the most impossible situations, burdened with untalented talent, no real way to win, is it fair to judge those coaches on wins and losses?

Not easy questions in a results oriented game. Look at our beloved Maple Leafs, last year, Ron Wilson’s first, no one was going to judge him based upon wins and loses. The score at the end of a game, certainly at the beginning of the season was almost immaterial right? What about this season? Should it be any different because the GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs said that he expects his team to compete for a playoff spot? Is the fact that the GM made lots of changes to a lineup badly in need of changes enough to change the expectations on that same coach?

Let’s look at the cards dealt Wilson. The goalie who couldn’t stop a puck shaped like a 747 last season has been no better this year. The rookie goalie has played just like one. The savior defencemen brought in to shore up a very weak blueilne haven’t faired anywhere near expectation and the rookie sensation who was the apple of everyone’s eye last year is struggling as many 2nd year NHLers do. His only bright spot so far has been that the guy he benched early last season, Ian White has been his most consistent player and the guy that his GM thought he had traded to Boston to get Phil Kessel is a scoring machine.

Upfront, the team can’t find proverbial water even when falling out of a boat in the ocean. They simply can’t score. Only 7 teams in the NHL have fewer goals for than the Maple Leafs thus far. Only 2 or 3 players are scoring at a pace that will take them close to the 20 goal marker. Kaberle has 2 goals and 19 assists! How incredible is that. Of the goals he hasn’t scored (44) Kaberle has assisted on 19 of them, a whopping 43%. On the powerplay it’s even more all about Kaberle. Of the power play goals that he didn’t score (18) Kaberle has assisted on 12 of them over 66%! Talk about a one man scoring machine.

The powerplay is the only thing that the Leafs can actually feel good about these days. They are tied for 3rd in that department (thank you Tomas Kaberle). I would like to say that we should credit the coaching staff with a successful powerplay, however that same coaching staff is dead last when it comes to penalty kill. That’s as close as we will come to a wash.

Damien points out that under Ron Wilson, the Leafs are a horrid 37-63, certainly not a record that Wilson can be proud of. However, what the hell did anyone expect? As cocky, condescending, or whatever other label we want to slap on Wilson, can anyone really look the guy in the face and say, you should be doing more? From my perspective, Wilson’s job still is not about wins and loses. He is supposed to have a younger team and his job is to ensure that his younger guys are learning to win. His job is to change the culture of a team that has been too comfortable losing for a LONG time. Where Wilson is responsible is those games where his team doesn’t appear to be prepared for the task at hand. What does that mean? To me, it’s when his team looks eerily like the team that used to be coached by Paul Maurice. One game early in Maurice’s last campaign the Buds played Carolina at home in Toronto and got absolutely shelled. That was the look of the team that wasn’t ready to compete. When Wilson and Burke came to power here in Toronto, those were the nights we weren’t supposed to see anymore. Unfortunately, this season we have seen the return of that team on more than one occasion.

In response to Damien, hell yes the honeymoon is over. It’ been over a long time. No, Burke won’t fire his coach until he makes several roster moves. Burke is too loyal to gun WIlson down. He also doesn’t appear too proud to admit that moves he made were mistakes. Unfortunately, as painful and yes uninteresting as the Leafs are so far this season, its probably not going to get any better any time soon. Brian Burke is going to have to pull numerous rabbits out of lots of hats to get this team righted any time soon. I’m betting that Wilson will be around for at least a good part of the ride. The alternative, at least this early stage just wouldn’t be right.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

7 games does not a season make. 7 games may not even be enough for a trend. So Leaf fans, when does it? I mean at what point to your start to worry, or dare I say panic? Clearly the guru’s have told us now is not the right time, so when is the right time?

It seems to me that this week off should be exactly what the doctor ordered. A week of good hard practices where all the things the coaching staff need to work on can be addressed.

If the Leafs don’t show up in their first game back, then I think it’s time to be concerned. If they don’t have the jump, the fight in their game and just plainly get smoked then it would certainly seem to suggest that there is something amiss here with the Leafs.

That is not to suggest that win is a must in the next game. What is necessary is effort from the Leafs. Effort that hasn’t been there in the last several games. Effort that means an attempt to be first to the puck, to win the battles and compete. If that isn’t the case in the next couple of games then I think it is time to be very worried. If those things aren’t present then the coaching staff simply can’t reach this group.

Thoughts?

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

Quick article review and then Ron Wilson’s potential shot…

If you only read one article on the state of the Maple Leafs, make it Bruce Arthur’s column. It really is a fair and accurate assessment of the where we are today:

“Let’s go over the checklist. What general manager Brian Burke wanted was a team that created a fear-free environment for the skill players; what he has is a fear-drenched environment for his goaltenders. What Burke wanted was a team that played an aggressive, no-Leaf-left-behind style of physical play; what he has is a group often reduced to tentative pylon imitation, afraid to take a penalty on a team that can’t kill penalties.
Oh, and this team still needs work on shooting the puck down the ice on the penalty kill – they failed three separate times on Colorado’s first man advantage. No, seriously, they have trouble shooting the puck down the ice.”

That’s a pretty good summary wouldn’t you say??? Seriously. Where the hell is the team that was fun to watch during exhibition season? I mean Kadri is gone and Bozak back on the pharm, but was Jason Allison the gel holding this team together? Seriously what the hell was in the water up at the Deerhurst?

“Throw in the regression of Luke Schenn, the unwise grittiness of guys like Mike Komisarek – who took a boneheaded elbowing minor 50 seconds after the Leafs cut it to 2-1, leading to a decisive Colorado goal – goaltending only slightly better than that provided by a fire hydrant, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.”

It isn’t pretty, that’s for sure. On the Schenn thing, how come I haven’t read sophomore jinx yet? Seriously??? Can someone smarter than me tell me that already this season his minutes are down? I mean why else is this guy choking the splinters out of his stick?? He is playing as if he screws up on a shift he will be send to the Marlies…..

“But panic, frankly, is a perfectly reasonable response to this. Before last night’s game the deckchairs were rearranged, in the hope that it would motivate the entire crew. MacDonald and Tyler Bozak and backup goalie James Reimer were elevated from the Toronto Marlies; Toskala – he of the .812 save percentage after the Monday night massacre – was sent for a rather convenient MRI, which was expected to detect his badly sprained confidence

I am so glad he wrote that. What else do people want from Leaf fans? Apathy? Would the media be happier if people were saying gosh gee wilikers, will get the next time????? It’s ok to see things for what they are.

“We don’t seem to have much resilience,” said Leafs coach Ron Wilson, whose sarcastic condescension isn’t playing so well, just now. “So I think right now getting some younger people in there that don’t carry a bunch of baggage around is the way to go.”

Baggage, six games in? Oh, boy. And forwards Matt Stajan and Nicklas Hagman, who had combined for five of Toronto’s 12 goals in the first five games, were benched. Why them?

“Why not?” answered Wilson. “It has to be significant changes. To sit out guys who play on the fourth line but have given a really good effort makes no sense to me.

“We have to shake things up … It can’t always be like the movie Usual Suspects.”

This team already seems shaken enough, thanks. And it certainly looks like there are a lot of the usual suspects hanging around. For all the talk of change, nine of Toronto’s forwards were here last year, mostly on the top three lines, along with more than half their defencemen. Unsurprisingly, this team hasn’t figured out how to play a Burke style, which makes sense, since they’re not Burke guys.

That’s right. 100 percent right. There is a lot of work left to be done by the GM. Unfortunately he is in a bad spot. There clearly aren’t reinforcements on the farm. If there were, they would have made the team. He can send down some vets, however in doing so he has to replace them. Say he goes and gets more experienced (older) players. Then those players will be taking ice time from the kids. We know the battle cry, we have seen this movie before. There is only 1 thing that solves this, or maybe 2. First, is SOLID goaltending. I don’t care what anyone else says, a team plays differently when it plays in front of a goalie that they trust. If you fear that every mistake is going in you will take less chances and make more mistakes (which do in fact end up in your net). Second is time. WIlson and this group need some time.

Ron Wilson’s Shot?

Now, riddle me this batman. Last night Steve Simmons, during Wilson’s post game press conference suggested that nothing is really going right for this team. Wilson’s response surprised me. His response was “well, your right, that is what happens when you set high expectations.” Now, maybe most people didn’t catch it. Maybe too few in the room were paying attention. From where I am sitting, there is only 1 person that set high expectations and his initials are BB. You can watch the video right here. The media didn’t set expectations. I am pretty sure that Ron Wilson didn’t either. Who else could Wilson be referring to? Maybe it matters. Maybe it doesn’t. I am going to file that under the hmmmmmmmmm column. I think it’s worth keeping an eye on.

One game by itself doesn’t say a whole hell of a lot does it? So I am not going to hit the alarm or panic button as many of the Toronto media suggest we nutty Leaf fans do. However, watching tonight’s game was like going in back in time to when the Maple Leafs were coached by Paul Maurice. They looked totally disinterested in the game, unprepared and unwilling to do whatever it took to win. From my seats at the ACC, it was a sad effort by the blue and white to say the least.

A couple of weeks ago, a Boston Red Sox pitcher plunked Adam Lind with a pitch. The next night Roy Halladay plunked David Ortiz. Payback, the code or whatever else you want to call it. You hit one of ours, we hit one of yours.

Brian Burke said his teams would have: “Proper levels of pugnacity, testosterone, truculence and belligerence” there wasn’t evidence of that tonight.

Viktor Stalberg get laid out by Anton Volchekno and who payed him back???????? I mean every kid who ever played hockey knows that when one of your guys gets hit, someone goes after that guy or another skill guy on the other side. It’s just the way it works. Doesn’t mean you have to kill someone, or injury them. Rosehill, Exleby, Orr, Komisarek were all in the lineup tonight- none delivered. The guys who Burke identified as the plumbers clearly left their plungers at home tonight.

From the stands, and it is one game, 2 things were very evident. First, their is a leadership void so far. The Leafs still lack an identity. They still don’t have the one guy who can pick them up and put them on their backs. They don’t have the guy who can throw the big hit and get them going. Second, for whatever reason, Luke Schenn is wound up sooooooooooooo tight. No idea why but it looks like he is feeling the stress big time. He is clearly fighting the puck, and a result he is turning it over repeatedly.

My overall take away. Despite a lengthy training camp, the new guys aren’t yet comfortable and the team doesn’t yet have leaders. Until those two issues are addressed, it’s going to be difficult to win games like tonight. With Stalberg out, we really had no offensive spark. Gustavsson played well enough to win. The Leafs did look very comfortable in front of him, way more so than in front of Toskala.

A trend? A pattern? Time to panic? No… Something to keep an eye on? ABSOLUTELY. As I said when they acquired Kessel, the pressure on Ron Wilson just got amped up a notch or three. A few more efforts (or lack there of) like tonight and, well you know…..

By the way, little TSM had the time of his life. He soaked it all in and can’t wait to go back. He, of course wants to see the Penguings play the Leafs next time. Anyone interested in a road trip to Pittsburgh???

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

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

Short Maple Leaf update this evening folks. I did have the good fortune to chat via email with Brian Burke today. I asked two simple questions and Burke was too kind to respond to both with prompt efficency:

First I asked Burke if, despite Petr Sykora’s age Burke had any interest in the Stanley Cup winning forward. Burke said that while he had Petr on his team in Anaheim and really liked him a lot, he has no interest in Petr for the Maple Leafs. I am not totally surprised, but nothing ventured nothing gained. Personally, I would love to see Sykora in blue and white. I think he would be a good addition to the forward group as he can put the puck in the net.

Secondly I asked Burke for an ETA on an announcement on the Marlies head coaching position. Burke wrote that he hoped to be in a position to make an announcement next week. it is interesting to note that I checked with a couple of other folks around the league tonight and none had heard anything, much to their collective surprise, about the Marlie job. When I asked the other folks if they had any opinion on the rumored front runner, Dallas Eakins many said that they would be surprised if Eakins got the post but that they really hadn’t heard anything about the next coach of the baby leafs. Eakins currently works for the Leafs and therefore if he were the guy (and we are really about a week away from an announcement) the fact no one is talking may suggest that the candidate is in fact a person currently inside the leaf organization.

I can tell you that Burke is in fact back from his fishing trip and was at work before 6 o’clock this morning! One can only assume that with about a month to go until training camp there is much work for him to do.

Sorry the nightly update is so short.

TSM