The Toronto Maple Leafs

The week that was for the Toronto Maple Leafs

So if you are interested in sports or look for sports news information on the web you will already be aware of the Toronto Maple Leafs and their hot and cold performances. The week started well as the Leafs hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins last Saturday at the ACC. Doug Gilmour was the guest of honor and had his number raised to the rafters. Gilmour, another one of Don's Kingston Ontario boys was not a Maple Leaf for that many years but while he was here, did he ever produce. Gilmour holds the Leafs single season record for points with 127 and was a spark plug for offence every time he was on the ice. We need a guy like him today.

The Leafs ended up winning the game 5-4. Toskala was not sharp in the Leafs net as he kept loosing his angles and positioning. The saving grace was that Mathieu Garon was just as bad at the other end. Luke Schenn played against Crosby and Malkin for most of the night and got into a fight with Tyler Kennedy after giving Malkin a rough ride into the boards by the Pens bench. Schenn played great against the Penguin stars and earned a star of the game as well as special mention from Don Cherry after the game.

Don Cherry on "Coaches Corner for Doug Gilmour's Jersey Retirement had a segment on Cal Clutterbuck or as Don calls him Buttercup. This is exactly what I was talking about in my previous post, about fighting with a visor on. I should have been clearer. You don't go looking for a fight when your wearing a visor. The tough guys don't where them and your wearing it for safety. Who is Clutterbuck fooling anyway, he fights with it on but takes his helmet off going to the penalty box. Just gutless.

The Leafs then played the Florida Panthers at home last Tuesday. Nik Hagman scored the Leafs first goal and it was a beauty, he stick handled in a phone booth to get around three Florida defenders before putting it in the net. The Leafs let a 3-1 lead slip away in the third period and Florida tied it up with about one minute left in the game on a power play, the only penalty Toronto took all night. Then in overtime a slap shot by Brian McCabe eluded Toskala for the winner and the Leafs fell 4-3. The goal was very weak and Toskala would have wanted that one back.

In Buffalo last Wednesday Justin Pogge got the start and he was rewarded with the rest of his teammates not showing up. Pogge played well in a 5-0 loss but none of the goals were his fault, the rest of the team were not moving their feet and the Sabres were all over them. The Leafs seemed totally disinterested and should have not even bothered to get on the bus because they just did not show up. Vanek scored a natural hat trick for the Sabres and Drew Stafford deked Van Ryn out of his jock strap to score a great goal.

"No Guts No Glory"

Walt Webb

Hi Everyone, well I was going to write something on Mr. Betman today but my frustrations on my team, the Toronto Maple Leafs ( I know hold the snickers, you can't say I 'm a band wagon jumper) have put a burr in my saddle so to speak. You talk about a Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hide as far team play is concerned. Last Saturday they play the 1st place Ottawa Senators at home and take the game 4-2, then just a mire 48 hours later they come out and get their butts kicked by the lowly Florida Panthers to the tune of 8-0. Last night again 48 hours later they go into Montreal where the Canadians have been playing great lately and right on Ottawa's back for 1st place in the East and hand them a 4-2 loss on home ice. Who would have thought that would happen. These guys have more ups and downs than the "Top Gun "ride at Canada's wonderland. I feel sorry for Paul Maurice, the guy must be beside himself and I am surprised he still has his hair and has not pulled it all out. The leafs have the Detroit Red Wings (the best team record wise in the league) in Toronto on Saturday. It will be interesting to see which team shows up. Based on their up and down play all season long, the red wings will hand them their butt's in a basket. The leafs have shown flashes of being a very good team but in the end a couple of bone head mistakes that a midget hockey player would get benched for happen and the game is lost. They are the epitome of what happens when you play 55 minutes of hockey when the game is 60 minutes long.
Toronto's problems go much deeper than the on ice product. John Ferguson Jr. had no idea how to manage the salary cap for one and signed guys that were ok players but not worth near what he paid them (are you listening Pavel Kabina). So he had no cap room to improve the team and could not bring in anyone even if he wanted too. The board hired Ferguson because he came cheap and would be a yes man for Petty. Then when things get dicey, Petty jumps ship and stabs him in the back, saying maybe he should not have hired him. Wow what a stand up guy you are Richard. No real hockey man will work under Petty without total autonomy on all hockey decisions. That won't happen with Petty as the CEO. Hopefully Cliff Fletcher can sort things out but here again he does not have much wiggle room. The front office is a mess; you have a board of directors headed by Richard Petty that think they are hockey men. I have news for you guys, just stick to being a fan and let the real hockey guy's like Cliff Fletcher run the hockey end of things. The first thing petty talks about when asked is what a great job he has done for the share holders (read the teachers union) well big deal there Rick anyone could make money with the leafs, it is right up there with taxes as a sure thing. It would be nice if the teachers union got out of the sports business because their #1 objective is to make the pension money, putting a product on the ice is secondary.
The bottom line here is that Cliff needs to clean house even if it means that he has to pay part of some of the player's salaries to play somewhere else.
Well that's enough venting for now and the opinion's expressed here are just my own.
Walter Webb
http://sportingnews.ning.com/

Feb 10 2008

Who would have thought it, the leafs actually playing to good games in a row, (be still my beating heart). I have to give the boy's in blue and white credit; they played a very disciplined game against the number one team in the league last night with Vessa (their goalie) leading the way. He was great and the two goals Detroit did score were both deflections that he had no chance on. The leafs never quit and scored a come from behind 3-2 win.
So let's recap, they beat the #1 team in the east (Ottawa), then loose 8-0 to Florida who is in the same position they are, then go into Montreal and beat the 2nd place team in the east. Then to top it off beat Detroit on home ice which is the best team statistically in the league. So they have proved they can play some really good hockey at times. That in a nut shell is the problem. The league is so competitive with the most parity of any of the professional sports teams that you can never take a night off or even for that matter a couple of shifts off. The leafs know this all to well as they have likely let 15 points get away from them this year just by having a brain fart for 1-2 minutes during a game. We would not be talking about any playoffs if they had held onto leads they have generated over the season schedule. Even now with all the bad games they have played they are only 6 points out of the last playoff spot. The trouble is there are about 5 teams they would have to leap frog in order to get in which is very doubtful. A math professor at the university of Waterloo who's name escapes me at the moment did a probability study on the leafs playoff hopes. His findings were ugly and painted the picture of the leafs playoff hopes at a measly 3%. That has likely gone up a bit after the two resent wins. Anyway hold onto your hats as the last 20 games or so could be a bit of a wild ride. My heart says I would like to see them make it in no matter how lean those hopes appear to be but my brain is saying for the long term good of the franchise they should go into the toilet and get a very good lottery position this year. The draft year this year is quite strong with the top five players all worthy of being a player of which you could build a franchise around in the future, Stamkos or Tavares would look really good in a leaf uniform.
Well that's it for today and these opinions are purely my own
Sincerely Walter Webb.
http://sportingnews.ning.com/

Hi everyone well the leafs were back to their old ways last night at the ACC. They played a very lethargic game and seemed totally disinterested in taking two points from the New York Islanders. They started the game one point behind New York and needed the win to move ahead of one team in the pack. With the loss Toronto is now dead last in the east, which could be good for the lottery on the Steve Stamkos, who by the way has always dreamed of playing for the 'Blue and White". He is a home grown product (Unionville) and as far as I am concerned is something the leafs lack which is more Canadian talent. The two teams that played for the prize last year, namely Anaheim and Ottawa had one thing in common, a very high percentage of Canadian's who know how to play in the tuff sledding, something a lot of Europeans just don't understand. The Stanley Cup playoffs are the toughest grind in professional sport, so you better have game every second night if you want to go anywhere.
This is the leafs biggest problem, they have no team toughness and although they have one of the biggest teams in the league, they play like a bunch of figure skaters with an egg in each pocket that they don't want to break. Look at the likes of Alexi Ponickerofski (sp). Here is a guy who is six feet 4 inches and over 200 pounds but plays like he is 5' 4" and 130lb soaking wet. Get rid of the guy as you will never win anything with the likes of that patrolling your wing. He sure does not instill any fear into opposing defensemen that are clearing the puck. Last night was a prime example of him doing his invisible man routine. Hell if I played on Mats Sundin's wing I could score 20 goals a year. Just a note here, guys like Sundin, Forsberg, and Lidstrom are great players in any league and do play with a Canadian take no prisoners attitude.
Anyway enough for now and these are purely my opinions

Well here we go again. The script is starting to look the same again. You know the one. Let's start to play hockey and get some wins once our backs are pushed right against the wall. We'll make a desperate run for a playoff spot and since we played inconsistent hockey for three quarters of the season will come up just short. The outcome will be no playoffs and we will play just good enough to screw up any chance of getting a good pick in the lottery draft in June.

First off thanks Mats, I know it was your right to refuse a trade but for the long term good of the franchise you should have let yourself be traded so the club could have got some good young prospects for you. Then if you felt so inclined you could have signed on for another year with the team in the summer. What's wrong do you not care if you get the chance to play for the Stanley cup, is your summer cottage in Sweden calling to you that much that you need to get there in April. I mean even in the years that you did make it to the big dance you seemed to come up lame and could not dance much. Usually as a playoff performer you were just a shadow of your former self anyway. Do you not care about the Stanley Cup, is it not something that drives European born players the way it drives Canadian youth. Don't give me that crap that you are not in agreement with the whole rent a player idea, come on that is the nature of the whole business and it always will happen. I did not see you on your high horse there a few years ago when the leafs gave up the farm in order to get Brian Leech for the stretch run and the playoffs. If I remember correctly you seemed to think it was a pretty good idea at the time. If you truly cared for the franchise the way you say you do, you should have allowed yourself to be traded for badly needed youth. Hey Mats did you ever think that maybe they could have used the pick they got for you to get a quality winger which you could have played with if you decided to come back next year.
Now all the other guys with a no trade clause in their contract are saying they don't want to go either. Just great now were stuck with overpriced vets that will play just well enough to miss the playoff's by a couple of points. News Flash guys, you're just not good enough, sooner or later someone will make a bone head play that will cost the game and chances are it will be the difference of being in or not. Even if you did the unthinkable and made the playoffs, how deep do you think you would go into them? You lack team toughness and now your toughest guy will be lining up against you tomorrow night because he got traded to Florida today.
Good work by John Ferguson here too, not only did you sign guys for more than they were worth but then gave them a no trade clause so they can hang around. Not that many other GM's in the league would be interested in them anyway with the contracts they were given. No it is a sorry state of affairs when the interest starts and finishes with Mats Sundin. Mats may end up being known more for crippling the franchise he loves than for being the all time leading scorer. Cliff Fletcher's hands have been tied for trying to get the organization out of the mess Ferguson and Petty have put them in. Things will remain bleak until Ferguson's contracts run out or the guys he signed start to play at the level with which they are being paid. Frankly I can't see that happening.
Well leaf fans stay patient as it looks like we are going to have a few more rather bleak years in the near future before this leadership stench can be washed away.
Just to update Cliff Fletcher did trade Wade Belak and Chad Kilger to Florida for a 5th and 3rd round draft choice. He also sent Hal Gill to Pittsburgh for a 2nd round choice. Gill was Toronto's biggest and likely toughest defenseman, so I think the team toughness issue took another hit. This cleared a little bit of cap room but not much. The culprits are the ones with the no trade clauses. Maybe they should look in the mirror and realize the team is not going anywhere with them on board.

Sincerely Walter (Webbontheweb)
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