Born again Maple Leaf?

Yes, Mr. Domi, did you have something to say?

"He looks like a kid again. He's flying out there."

So says Tie Domi, the Maple Leafs winger who's been known to work out with Steve Thomas, fan favourite, 42 years old, and hungry for a championship. Thomas says the team hasn't contacted him, but he's ready to go if needed. And just to be clear:

"I think people know by now that this was my favourite place to play."

Toronto, that is. And so we wait and see. Yesterday, we asked if you thought signing Thomas was a good idea and reaction was weighted to the negative side. The word 'desperation' came up more than once. Thomas might have to to, with fan choice Anson Carter expected to land in Vancouver today.

Ex-Leaf report:

Sorry 'bout all that Alexander-Mogilny-is-going-to-Florida talk. Must've been that Gary Roberts/Joe Nieuwendyk hangover. Mogilny, one of the most skilled players to wear the Maple Leafs jersey returned to New Jersey with a $7 million, 2-year deal. Cha-ching! The Devils even went over the salary cap to get him. If he's healthy like he says he is, he just might be worth it.

"The Devils were my first choice," says Mogilny.

Ouch.

Also, all signs point to Curtis Joseph playing in Phoenix this year.

More buzz:

Steve Moore's lawsuit against the NHL is pending in a Denver court. He expains the suit to the Denver Post and updates his recovery.

"My hope is that one thing that comes out of this is something that could prevent something like this from happening again, so people can't say hockey didn't learn from these incidents that kind of mar its image," he says.

Meanwhile, Todd Bertuzzi continues to receive support in Vancouver. But it's a different view in Denver.

The Islanders still don't have goalie Rick DiPietro under contract. Under the new CBA, the Isles are only required to pay him the league minimum. This could get ugly. The door is also open for another team to sign the rising star to an offer sheet, forcing the Islanders to match, or lose him.

"It would have to be one hell of an offer sheet," says GM Mike Milbury.

In Tampa, they're feeling relief at having Vincent Lecavalier locked up, now the highest paid player in team history. Still,

"We believe we got the home-team discount," says GM Jay Feaster.

Finally, with cap room shrinking and some big names requiring big contracts, the Ottawa Senators are reportedly shopping defenceman Wade Redden.

Comments

[denial]

...it's a shame that the generations of rage that lay at the heart of almost every leaf fan (which, lets face it, was forged mostly via geographic broadcast limitations) is going to unleash itself on the man that harry and joe are regretably going to call 'stumpy' for the forseeable future...anyway, it's like this. the leafs have had very good regular season performances (more or less) for the last handful of years, but utterly sucked in the playoffs. This is because Pat Quinn doesn't apparently like to play boring hockey, and the NHL playoffs are, by far, THE most boring games all year. I know, I know... those HNIC Canada horns and the high production values can make it seem like good hockey, but we all know that if you just watch it -- take away all of the smoke and mirrors -- and it's teeeeedious stuff. Do you remember what it was like after a team took a TWO GOAL lead in the playoffs? Lights out. Geez. 15 years ago, even in the snorris with the 60 point leafs taking on the 66 point dynamo that was the Minnesota North Stars, 2 goals was nothing. 2 goals was the warm up. Now, 2 goals in the first period of an NHL playoff game and you might as well start picking the player of the game....my point is this: Stumpy? What kind of nickname is this? My other point is probably this: the leafs make the playoffs because it's not possible not to make them. I can make them. But they won't win unless they play tedious hockey. Pittsburgh won't make it past the first round. Watch and see. New Jersey already has their second round tickets half-printed. So do the other mind numbing teams. this is the state of the NHL and it'll stay this way until they make the season shorter and the playoffs less than 400 games. it's a grinders league.