Leafs Regular Season Discussion

[Crowned]

eh...i'm all for having guys develop in the NHL to cut their teeth.
still not sure why you give time to guys like Brown, Dupuis, Rosebum and Orr (the whole 4th line concept always blows my mind...like, teams actively put out 3 untalented players to "shut down" other teams' untalented line. and when i say "shut down", i mean "skate around in such a messy manner that nothing transpires on either end of the ice for 45 seconds") when you have someone with some speed and skill like Frattin who can develop.

bringing Crabby Joe back up makes sense pointwise but not futurewise.

i liked what Frattin showed during his limited opportunities.

on the positive side, having CoBo, Kadri and Frattin playing for the Marlies should give their attendance a giant boost. right? anyone?....

Brown absolutely deserves a spot on the team. I agree about Rosehill, he shouldn't be anywhere near an NHL roster, I've never been a fan. Having someone like Dupuis on the 4th line makes sense, he's solid defensively and logs minutes on the penalty kill. He's interchangeable with other players, but the skills he brings to the table is valuable.

On a side note, Joe Colborne was the AHL player of the month. Phil Kessel was the NHL player of the month.

[_venom_]

ESPN: http://insider.espn.go.com/nhl/features/rumors

It appears the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers have been talking trade.

According to Pierre LeBrun of ESPN.com, a source said Glen Sather's club can be counted among those who have recently chatted with the Maple Leafs. It's not a stretch to assume discussions centered around talent on the blue line -- of which the Leafs have plenty and the Rangers not nearly enough.

Blueliners Cody Franson and Carl Gunnarsson are considered the top candidates to be shipped out of Toronto. Unless severe injury strikes, GM Brian Burke is going to make such a deal happen this season. The only question is, when?

Any idea who we'd be getting back?

The Rangers really don't seem to be a fit trade wise. They're short on D sure but they also can't afford to give up a decent offensive player either. I mean sure they could offer us Anisimov but does he really help us? I personally don't think so. One guy that I would be interested in on the Rangers but I doubt they'd move him is Derek Stepan.

[hsb]

See-saw battle in New Jersey.

[hsb]

Lupul with the natural hat trick in the second. 5-3 Leafs.

Very sloppy game from both sides. Leafs need to skate better and faster.

[ghostinthepost]

Why hasn't marty been pulled? They might be waiting until the end of the period but still its basically throwing away a game.

[hsb]

Yeah, he's been off rhythm the whole game (though he has missed 2 weeks). 5 goals on 14 shots.

[J Dilla]

I open the sports section of the Toronto star this morning and on the first page I see

111 projected end of year points
134 points for Kessel

Like seriously, we're like 10 games into the season and the media is already jinxing the team. All these ready to believe bull comin so early in the season

[LLJ]

^^

Quite sure they're just having a little fun with the current point pace, not a serious prediction or anything.

[Homer Jay]

Its nice to see some talent out there for the first time in a while. I guess Burke finally woke up and realized the Grind 'n Trap era is over in the NHL, and you either skate or die. The team has gone from 2 scoring, 1 checking, 1 goon squad lines to 3 scoring and 1 checking.

I think the team is play-off caliber, and I think in 3-4 years when guys like Colborne, Biggs, Percy, Blacker are up and contributing we could be an outside title contender. It at least it will be the best team since 2002.

[YogiStewart]

i admit that I was impressed with Lupol's game yesterday. but the Devils - and especially Brodeur - looked REALLY bad. sloppy in their own zone.

The Leafs have been blessed with a GREAT (read: soft as hell) opening schedule and some lucky breaks - yesterday was one, when Brodeur played his first game after injury.

the schedule gets a lot tougher come mid-November. Let's talk about the Leafs' record come Christmastime. something tells me they'll be a lot closer to 6th-8th place than they will to 1st place in the East

[s e n s i]

i admit that I was impressed with Lupol's game yesterday. but the Devils - and especially Brodeur - looked REALLY bad. sloppy in their own zone.

The Leafs have been blessed with a GREAT (read: soft as hell) opening schedule and some lucky breaks - yesterday was one, when Brodeur played his first game after injury.

the schedule gets a lot tougher come mid-November. Let's talk about the Leafs' record come Christmastime. something tells me they'll be a lot closer to 6th-8th place than they will to 1st place in the East

the team is 33-20-8 in their LAST 61 GAMES! it must have been a soft as hell 61 games if these leafs that are apparently so hard to give credit to could accumulate 74 points during that span. let's cut the crap for one second and realize that this team competes on a nightly basis and has been an above-average, even home-ice caliber team for nearly a year now.

there was one abysmal stretch last october/november where the team lost 11 out of 12 games and that really put them in the sh*ts, but otherwise since then, whatever the hell happened, this team has been a well-above average hockey club, indicative by their success since last christmas.

obviously they are not a legit contender, but i don't think there is any doubt, with this sort of sizable evidence, that they are a playoff team. their special teams still suck major ass, they have caught a few breaks, but their persistent and relentless play has rewarded them in the win column for quite some time.

the connolly and liles additions only made this team better (not significantly, but better), but it's the exact same team as last year with kessel and phaneuf playing like they need to. burke has actually put together a solid team believe it or not.

[hsb]

What's surprising about the record is the +3 goal differential and league's worst penalty kill.

The Leafs are playing well though; they push hard and find ways to control the tempo.

[YogiStewart]

Scrivens gets the start vs Blue Jackets, apparently.

[5DOM]

#1 in the league

[Crowned]

Yes, Scrivens is the real deal. I've been pushing for him to be up with the big club all year.

[SharoneWright]

Lupul Connoly Kessel
McArthur Grabo Kuli
Lombardi Bozak Crabb
Brown Steckel Dupuis

Colbourne
Kadri
Orr
(Armstrong)

Loving that group. Its funny how Burke's strategy was about increasing the team's "sandpaper" - making the leafs physical and a "tough team to play against"...... when what has really vaulted this group (and people around the league are noticing) is the increased speed of the forward group. Don't get me wrong, I love a little "truculence", but it almost seems the success/composition of the current forward group happened - I won't say as an "accident" - but as the result of small trade-wins that produced an obviously better team, but maybe not according to the formula that Burke had envisioned.

[J Dilla]

Goaltender controversy comin up. Scrivens is for reelz

[Crowned]

Lupul Connoly Kessel
McArthur Grabo Kuli
Lombardi Bozak Crabb
Brown Steckel Dupuis

Colbourne
Kadri
Orr
(Armstrong)

Loving that group. Its funny how Burke's strategy was about increasing the team's "sandpaper" - making the leafs physical and a "tough team to play against"...... when what has really vaulted this group (and people around the league are noticing) is the increased speed of the forward group. Don't get me wrong, I love a little "truculence", but it almost seems the success/composition of the current forward group happened - I won't say as an "accident" - but as the result of small trade-wins that produced an obviously better team, but maybe not according to the formula that Burke had envisioned.

I agree. I don't think you need 'truculence' with the majority of your lineup. If it's spread out here and there, it's more than enough.

The Leafs IMO are sitting at probably 2 key players from seriously contending. I'm not a firm believer in Tim Connolly as the #1 center, and if they can address that issue, we'll be rolling. It's really a shame that we couldn't sign Brad Richards this summer, he would've been huge with Kessel and Lupul.

If they can manage to pick up a top line center (Jason Spezza perhaps?), and address the PK issue, the team would look rather nice.

[s e n s i]

how about we give coach wilson a little bit of credit as well? not only has the team been winning steadily in the last 11 months, but they compete every single goddamn night and it's a pleasure to see after several listless seasons in which this team would get put in the wash on a nightly basis. wilson has been pushing all the right buttons so far, the players respect him and play for him, and on the other hand he doesn't throw his players under the bus and remains loyal to the players who play hard. throwing scrivens into the fire against one of the worst teams this season in columbus was an excellent call, even if they were playing for the best overall record in the league.

[Bankai]

Ben Scrivens has one good game and all of a sudden they are calling for a Goalie Controversy. Typical Toronto Media trying to stir up stuff out of nothing. Lets just have consistency and start Jonas more often than not for the time being. He hasent been bad at all, and 1 game for Scrivens is just a small sample size. I admit Ben looked very good last night, but other goalies in the league doesent have to evenly split times with their backups and their teams do pretty good (I think Cory Schneider is just as good as Luongo but Roberto still plays the heavy bulk of the games). Just let Jonas keep doing his role while Reimer is still out, and try to put pressure off them. If we keep pressuring our teams (Raps, Leafs etc etc) while they look good it tends to blow up in our faces and then they start folding. Let them relax without putting more stuff in their heads.