Wishing for a Christmas Karel

Karel Pilar. I just got used to pronouncing his name, and now he's going to be out till the New Year, and perhaps longer?

We'll get more details today, presumably, but it looks like Pilar is on the shelf with heart problems -- a recurrence of the viral myopathy that has interrupted his career twice before. Tim Wharnsby has a story in today's Globe, following on a report out of the Czech Republic, with confirmation from Pilar's agent:

"If everything goes well, around Christmas, Karel should put his skates on and start training again. The specialist from Montreal is optimistic."

Good for the specialist. Leafs fans wouldn't know optimism if it stood on the corner and asked 'em for a bowl of soup. Let's hope Pilar gets better, for his own sake. But for the Leafs, with two weeks until camp opens, what else can go wrong? They've got head cases. They've got back troubles. Now they've got a pain right in the heart, from a guy who was looking more and more like a solid contributor, after those earlier problems?

So what now? Will Carlo Colaiacovo step up? Is there anyone else in the system, or outside of it, who can fill the void? (If Chris Chelios can still play, and Scott Stevens might, has anyone bothered to ask Borje Salming?)

Elsewhere, the usual thin gruel. Ken Hitchcock has been given a one-year extension with the Flyers, and you have to like the way he's talking in this Hitch quote from the Philadelphia Daily News:

"In my opinion, management has done a terrific job at giving us the parts of a very, very competitive team and come training camp it will be my opportunity to see what I can do with it. And if people think that we have a championship-type team, then that's great because that means that people will come to watch us. I love that responsibility."

I guess Hitch has been looking at the early Stanley Cup odds.

Felix Potvin -- remember him? Sure you do -- may end up in Atlanta.

Then there is Shane Doan, rustler and cattle puncher (okay, I really don't know if he's ever punched a cattle). Nice piece from Dan Bickley in the Arizona Republic on the Phoenix captain, including Doan noting the time Johnny Cash showed up on his ranch. Wouldn't you love to have been there? Yeah, but right now, I'd settle for Karel Pilar back, and soon.

Comments

[Matt]

In response to Pilar being out I believe that it is unwise to believe that he might even be healthy enough medically when he comes back. The heart as we all know is the engine of the body and Leafs' doctors aren't going to chance Pilar's life on bringing him back too soon.

On a positive note I have a sizeable amount of faith in Carlo Colaiacovo. I think that he should have been a regular Leaf more last season the Leafs and the NHL were up and running. I am in no way comparing the two as they are respected in their own but I feel that the leafs have to stop relying on the self fullfilled prophecy that their injured players are going to magically return from a heart condition as the sound of a bell.

Plan ahead Leafs; think smart for the now and the future of the
Leafs organization.

Good luck Leafs!

[denial]

I represent the cattle punched by Shane Doan, and my client has agreed not to press charges against Mr. Doan in exchange for seasons tickets to anything but the Pheonix Coyotes.

I wish I shared Matt's expectation that leaf doctors wouldn't clear Pilar to play unless he was 100% healthy. I don't. Hopefully Pilar has enough sense and a sane support system around him. And maybe a kid or 2 to remind him that there's more to life than trying to live up to the standards of leaf own zone protective excellence set by Todd Gill and Larry Murphy. Those shoes can't be filled by merely 1 man, heart or no heart.

I personally don't want my medical specialist to be optimistic. Realistic would be my preference.

Would be nice to see Carlo Colaiacovo do well. Toronto media and boosters (it's hard to tell the difference sometimes) are obsessively searching for a saviour that will lead this team to the promised land. I think it's partly unconscious, which is why nobody talks about it. The problem with this, is that as soon as a player shows some spark -- especially a local young kid like Colaiacovo (ah, thank God for copy and paste...), the press can coronate him pretty quickly and send him into an 'elite' zone that he doesn't want to go in; not yet.

The best thing that the Leafs can do, aside from sending Quinn and Domi to Pheonix for a punched cattle, is import a bonafide superstar who won't get phazed by the media; in fact, such a person -- obnoxious, arrogant, larger than life, cocky, you name it -- would actually use that attention to become even more engaged in winning. Such a player, of course, is Jeremy Roenick. I personally would never wish to hang out with Jeremy Roenick; BUT I would bring him on my team and expect him to win, because that's what he is. Watch what he does in Los Angeles; and I don't mean watch the points in the standings. Watch what he does to that team; watch the Yankee-ish swaggar that he will infuse that entire organization with.

Hey, whatever happened to Lonny Bohonos (b-o-ho-nos)? I'm quite certain that I recall Bob Cole call him a "dandy" in the playoffs a few years ago. And we all know that Bob doesn't throw THAT word around a lot.

I'd love to see Felix Potvin end up in Atlanta. I'd love, even more, seeing Roberto Luongo end up in Toronto.

I would still pay to see Borje Salming play.

[flimflam]

That Karel Pilar has a heart condition sucks and I hope the man recovers for his own sake. That he can't play hockey for Les Leafs this year only highlights the fact that the Leaf blueline is weak. Not the worst in the league or what have you, this ain't Buffalo yet, but by no means is it the finest either.

Worrying whether or not Pilar is there for opponents to skate around en route to blasting one past the Old Hen(TM) in net is irrelevant.

Colaiacovo ought to make the team this year, the kid has got the skills. The problem is he won't have a coach if he does, he'll have Pat Quinn and Rick Ley. Folks, anyone who hires Rick Ley to do anything beyond brewing coffee is out to lunch. Ley can't even be trusted to write down his players' surnames properly on the game sheet.

I agree w/ Denial. JR would have been perfect on the Leafs, and he would have repeatedly told Domi where to go, which I suspect is what is required in the Leafs dressing room more often than not.

Likewise, I'd pay to see Borje Salming play hockey again. Name a defenceman the Leafs have had in their lineup that even compares to Salming since they shuffled him off to Detroit to retire years ago.

Felix the Cat in Atlanta? It might just work.

[Rob Trosino]

I think Karel Pilar is the next Dmitri Mirinov. Good or Bad, and I don't know if that requires a fully functionable heart. I think he is a solid six or seventh defenceman, but Borje Salming he isn't so the fans should just hope he gets better at his own pace and not pin any hopes of Cup Grandeur on his comeback timetable. At least he's not the next Fred Boimstruck, I spared him that shame. Get well Mr. Pilar.

[denial]

It's even hard for me to tell when I'm not being scarcastic, but I'm almost certain I mean it when I say that I really liked Dimitri Mirinov. He was an outstanding bodychecker, and took about as much abuse as Yuskevitch did.

Who can forget those few seconds of graceful, ballet-like space when we knew -- as did Yuskevitch -- that he was about to get RAMMED, I mean RAMMED into the end boards behind Curtis? Yuskevitch never flinched, never freaked out, never stuck out his elbow. He just took it, shook the sweat off of his eyebrows, and skated back into the play. It's as if he was missing a both a pain and a mean gene (no not that mean gene). And then when he called Don a clown, my God, I almost felt like having children so I could name him, or her, Dimitriyuskevitch (that would be the full first name).

If anyone out there is bored (I mean besides me), check out that odds link and see what you think -- would you put Pittsburgh that high up the list? I mean, yes, we all know they're retooled, but it's really theoretical at this point, right? And Tampa isn't even cracking the top 10, I think...ouch.

I hate to say it, but I think Ottawa has a great chance this year. Philadelphia has too much testosterone, they always do -- it works in the regular season, but in the playoffs they go cold because playoff hockey is so nerve wracking and one bad penalty can cost your team the whole series, in some cases... and the big boys on the Flyers seems to freeze up. I think it'll be Ottawa and maybe Dallas. Turco is very good when he's good, and that abominable Dallas ice in the spring is severe home court advantage. Red line or no red line, to play hockey in Dallas when its 90 degrees outside, you can't make passes more than 20 feet, so the ice surface turns into about 10 different zones. That's Bohonos! No wait-- bananas, I mean bananas.