This is big news folks, both from a hockey standpoint and a legal one too. It is not that often that someone charged with a crime agrees to plead guilty and get a lesser sentence only to have the agreed upon plea rejected by a judge.

What has to happen is the prosecutor in the case strikes a deal with the defendant, then the judge who presides over the case has to accept the plea. In this case. The judge said the punishment didn’t fit the crime (it was too soft)…..

Looks like the owner, Henry Samueli could be headed to club fed.

The plot thickens….and Brian Burke’s job….speculation will grow rest assured eh Stu????

The story is here…

Hats off to Stu Hakel over at slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com for getting this up…

“‘He’s interested,’ Gainey said. ‘I told him to make a decision. I said, if you feel like you want to retire, then retire. But if you’re not sure, you should play and the emotion will come….”

Gainey is pretty slick. What a great line.

“‘But do you think he’ll come to Montreal?’ the fan asked.

“The half-smile pushing the outer limits of a real grin this time, Gainey replied, ‘He didn’t say no.’”

Do we think that Sunin got to say goodbye here last week and now is ready to move on?

On another note, Mark Bell has taken Tie Domi’s 28…..discuss amongst yourselves.

Howard Berger

Only back a few days and the genius is at it again. The guy who constantly bashes us Bud fans for our love and ridicuoly ratings of Leaf prospects does it himself in his most recent post.

“Leaf followers are hoping that Russian forward Nikolai Kulemin will be that player, but Kulemin has never competed in North America and may fall into the all-encompassing category of Toronto prospects that have been vastly over-hyped through the years. If he is akin to 95% of Leaf hopefuls since the mid-‘70s, Kulemin will fall short of expectation.”

Fair enough right, hey we all know the stories of the Jeff Wares of the world all too well. We are too involved with our team that we happen to know who is on the farm and in the system (shame on us!)…anyways…. The comment is typical Howard, but a quick read of his crap shows he did the same freaking thing only 1 paragraph earlier:

“By finishing 12th, and garnering the No. 7 draft position in June, the Leafs had to trade up a couple of spots to select Kelowna defenseman Luke Schenn, projected by many scouts to be a stalwart presence behind centre-ice.”
“And though it’s foolhardy to compare prospects to NHL legends, remember the effect Scott Stevens had on enemy attackers during the New Jersey Devils’ championship years [1995 to 2003].”

WHATTTTTT????? Wait a minute asshole. You nail us for thinking a guy might be better then he actually is, now you are comparing a just drafted kid to Scott Stevens??? If it’s foolhardy to do it, WHY DO IT. Here is what makes no sense. As the typical media bashes the blogosphere for lack of (the oxymoron of the decade) Media Integrity, this jackass doesn’t know whether to suck or blow. Howie, you are either a big M Member of the media, or you are a….. You can’t have it both ways. Don’t knock people for talking up a prospect then go compare a kid to Scott Freaking Stevens….

By the way, you are wrong. It doesn’t take 2 kid studs to build a franchise. You need way more then 2. I can name endless numbers of teams with 2 good kids who haven’t won shit.

“Of course, that will come about only after another season of failure in the NHL, but how tough can it honestly be for the Leafs’ legion of followers to suffer through one more year after four-plus decades of futility?”

How do you preach shittyness and then rip on them for being shitty??? Here is an idead HOWIE, why not identify what success would be in your eyes this year. Truth be told, it won’t be another season of failure if they finish dead last. You say they should be really bad, yet you call it failure??!!

“Given that the Leafs are halfway to the current NHL model with Schenn, it’s a rather puny investment in time and angst. And it’s the prime reason GM Cliff Fletcher has obliterated the core of his roster, choosing to avoid anything that resembles a quick-fix for 2008-09. Fletcher sees what is happening around the league.”

No they aren’t halfway to the current model…TWO isn’t the model! Now you are singing the praise of Fletcher????? Do you think before your fingers hit the keyboard or does one of your kids write this crap?????

Howie, the song is about forgetting your heart in San Francisco not your BRAIN….go back please, hey and while you are there, STAY…I am sure the Sharks or Ducks could use a beatwrtier.

Kudos to Stu Hackel at the NYtime for his post showing what a fraud Mr. Hanky is (you can read it here)

“Oh, and have you heard the latest heap being shoveled by the gossip-mongering character Eklund? He’s got info that the Rangers will trade Scott Gomez to the Canucks to clear cap space so they can sign Sundin. “This source is a source I very much trust,” he writes. “Of course, Mats still has to come to play.”

“Staggering what some people will post in their blogs.

“Hey, it’s summer. It’ll make you watch water polo on TV, and make you believe Eklund. You can probably do better things with your time.”

Bang on Stu, the guys is a fraud!

BTW- I am looking for a recent posting of Mr. Hanky’s free agent prediction list. TSM has one from early June, we are looking for one from late June for our training camp Mr. Hanky Ratings…

if you have one please email it leafr1@hotmail.com

thanks