Burning questions

Season countdown at six days and questions....

The Stumpy Meter is dropping like the temperature (high of 14 today!). The Maple Leafs, with two pre-season games left, our only dates with Detroit (until the finals, eh?) and Pat Quinn has yet to ice a lineup with any sort of set line combinations.

Mark Zwolinski takes a nice look at the possibilities today, with an angle to the obvious. Zorro writes:

(Quinn) can't get a look at a proposed line (Jason) Allison, Darcy Tucker and Jeff O'Neill, because of Allison's health.

So today we'll keep it simple - break down the available jobs and candidates and put the question to you: Who makes the cut?

Job 1: One, possible two jobs open on the fourth line. In the mix: Kyle Wellwood, Steve Thomas, Clarke Wilm, Alex Steen.

Job 2: Sixth, seventh defenceman. Andy Wozniewski, Staffan Kronwall, Bryan Marchment, Carlo Colaiacovo, Wade Belak.

Job 3: Ed Belfour insurance: Mikael Tellqvist, JS Aubin.

Here's an argument for the vets. And judging by the reaction at the ACC on Tuesday night and in Chris Young's Stumpython from the other day, that's two more gold stars for Thomas. The Stumpy Meter is actually in a slight state of rising today, but shades of Robert Reichel isn't a good sign. Besides, the shifty Wellwood leads the team in pre-season scoring and has to be considered part of the Leafs bright future.

And if you just don't care, we offer a suggestion from Conin79 via yesterday's posting:

Question of the day for the man in charge is who do you think is going to do better? The Toronto Maple Leafs. . . or the Toronto Marlies?

Question of the day not for Quinn is predicting the Leafs fate. No comment from the boss.

"I haven't looked at all the other clubs yet," Quinn says. "I don't know how we compare. I've been concerned with our team."

Probably a good idea, don't you think Rob Babcock?

Quick with the links before we get ready for Chris's latest crackpot venture. He's celebrating the Sox-Yanks pennant race with a blast from the past - a live retelling their nightmare classic 1978 one-game playoff at Fenway. It's here.

Salary Cap lesson #346: How to get a great player for free. (The Jeff Friesen rule)

The Crosby Show comes to Canada.

Chris Ponger who?

Bruins goalie Andrew Raycroft on the new rules and changes go goalie equipment:

"It's more fun this way,'' Raycroft tells the Boston Herald. "It's more fun to know, even if you're down, 3-0, that you're still in the game. In the past, 99.99 percent of the time, if you're down 3-0, there's no chance of coming back. Really, if you were going to the third period down 2-1, you knew you weren't going to win."

Yesterday, we brought you Sean Avery's comments on the Jeremy Roenick-Gauthier hit and the whole French Canadians rant. Colorado's Ian Laperriere (former Kings teammate) responds (and well):

"If he's looking for a French guy to back things up, I'm the guy. I'm right here."

There's a new Daddy Warbucks in St. Louis.

Lastly (sniff, sniff) a quick gander at some of our favourite NHL legends perhaps making their curtain call.

Comments

[Tyler Brown]

I'm going out to buy a new jersey. I have decided that this training camp warrants new digs. But having said that I don't think it will be a Leaf jersey. 24 years of support has been enough, and really all its doing is adding to this ever diminishing franchise.

I have seen for the last few years this club try to win a cup. And it might have been a long shot, but looking at this team this year, there is no way that they are going to make it. Quinn doesn't know this because:

"I haven't looked at all the other clubs yet," Quinn says. "I don't know how we compare. I've been concerned with our team."

So he has no idea how poor this team really is. (Looking at the scoreboard should give him some idea) But it's only preseason... Still his favorite defensemen constantly get beaten to outside and look terrible, and the kids (colaiacovo) are taking too many penalties. Well here is a thought, Berg has not done anything to warrant a guaranteed roster spot on this team in the last 5 years. He barely belongs in the NHL. Belak surely does not belong in the NHL. Colaiacovo? I can't tell. But what I do know is that at 24 years old, he needs a chance and he needs it now. Another year in the AHL and I would consider Coli a bust.

On the forward lines Antropov and Poni need to get a shot, cause really they are still young. But beyond that its time to start looking seriously. Wilm? No we have Kilger. Perrott? No we have Domi. Players like Stajan, Wellwood, and Steen might all deserve a shot at a 4th or 3rd line position.

Let's take Ottawa for example (who DO have a shot to win the cup), someone like Boshenski impresses, and is guaranteed a spot. Spezza who has been mirrored by Wellwood his whole life is on the first line.

Why do the kids in Toronto not get a shot? Because Quinn would prefer to either:

a) maintain the pipe dream that the leafs need veteran players to make a cup run

b) he is lazy and doesn't want to coach kids

So players like Wilm who spend just as much time killing penalties as they do watching from the box as other players kill their penalties are sure to make the team.

With the risks that Fergusen has taken on Allison, Lindros, and O'Neill it's time to take some on Steen, Stajan, Colaiacovo, and Wellwood.

Until then, I'm not spending a dollar to help this franchise. Because those kids fresh out of the AHL bring something to the table that Marchment and Thomas and Wilm and Perrott and EVEN SUNDIN can't: The possibility of a strong team 4 years down the road.

But of course to do that, they need NHL experience.

[denial]

i'm going to say this once, so that in the future, i can honestly say "if i've said this once, i've said it a thousand times" -- stellick and landry on the Fan are the two funniest people i've ever listened to on the radio. and i'm old enough to remember dr. demento (fish heads fish heads roly poly fish heads). i laughed so hard i drove by the insane people waiting 8 car lengths -- some of them out on the ROAD -- for their morning dose of crack -- er, i mean, Tim Hortons coffee. You know, one of these days a couple of real hard core junkies are going to walk by a Tim's at 8:00am on a workday, and send a letter to their MP because it's just getting out of hand. All of those SUVs grinding to get into position so that they can get a dose of sweet vitamin T.

And if you happen to work for tim hortons and are reading this: oh God, if there was no heaven, it would be created for you. the abuse you take on a daily basis almost makes up for the fact that you never get my order right, and fill up my cup so high that the skin on the back of my right hand has already started to evolve into a kind of perma-coating that resists the burn. You know, i'd happily wait the extra 30 seconds it'll take you to get my order right. I mean, it's not like i do anything valulable with that extra time (case in point).

Oh right, it's a hockey blog. sigh. i hate comformists. but i also hate anti-conformists when i'm around them. hmmmm.

loved flim flam's post yesterday about quinn. i could go on and on about it, but you all already know what i think (and if you don't care what i think, this post hasn't helped my case). Suffice it to say that Quinn is here to stay. So it's now a question of how to win with the stuff he has to work with -- regardless, in a practical sense, of whose fault it is that the leafs have surrounded the best player in a generation -- mats sundin -- with injured reservists and guys with Todd Gill written all over them (generally friendly, no lateral movement, no speed, propensity to give puck away at closest blue line, willingness to score in own net).

Have you all seen the SI rankings? See how high Nashville is on that list? holy moly. the leafs are 20th. Even if rankings are a piece of crap and based on op-ed positions, this is a huge shot to the grandeur that is the leaf organization. 20th! that's Jays country, for the love of Miroslav Frycer.

[denial]

if there's one good thing about Tie Domi, it's that he's too arrogant to be dishonest with the media -- put a microphone near his cranium, and the ugly truths are going to come out sooner or later, despite the fact that he doesn't know what he's saying. the strange, almost craved adoration that he's experiencing from the hero-starved fans of this city has given him a kind of carte blanche to say things that must certainly confuse the genius' in this league. the latest gem?

in talking about the saskin issue, domi confidently said to a reporter that "this is a serious issue, it's about the deal we have now, versus the deal we could have had before the lockout".

Excuse me? Tie? Ummm... before the lockout (i.e. cancellation), that other feller, the one that looked like your elementary school principal, he was in charge. are you saying that this whole episode is a way for embittered players to spank saskin and all future ED's for the most heavy-handed, owner-friendly CBA in the history of professional sports?

yes, of course it is. good. here's a chewy.

NOTE TO NHL PLAYERS (have your kids read this to you if necessary) -- YOU ARE CURRENTLY IN THE PUBLIC RELATIONS EQUIVALENT OF A SOCCER TOURNAMENT PORTABLE TOILET HOLE. STOP EATING YOUR OWN LEADERSHIP. IF YOU WANT TO TAKE HIM OUTSIDE AND BERTUZZI HIM UNTIL HE DOESN'T KNOW WHO SCORED THE OT WINNER AGAINST THE WINGS IN 93, THEN GO NUTS.

But STOP embarassing yourselves by pretending that have a moral leg to stand on. You EXTORTED your employers for the last decade. Shut up and get ready to play. Every time I hear one of you babble on about "following rules", I feel like vomiting. It's not like Saskin is Alan Eagleson. Geeez. Stop it. Whoever is the NHLPA whip, tell them to STOP IT, stop it before someone loses an eye.

[Ken]

What’s with the cynical amount of posts today? Sure the Leafs are in a hole, one deep enough to fit in Lindros but everyone knew it was coming when they acquired the veterans for the playoff runs in recent years. We had our chances, gambled and lost. This season is the transition year where the dues will be paid. I say relax and just enjoy hockey. Hopefully the young guys will prosper; I bet at least one will make a name for himself in a positive way this year with good production. At least the team is moving in the right direction after neglecting youth for so many years. We’ve got a strong fan base, great financial support, one heck of an arena and a team that will be back at the top of things in not too long. Sure the annoying Ottawa fans are heckling us but we’re always the Leafs of Toronto and they are always the Senators of Kanata. I’ll be picking up a sweater and it’s going to be blue and white—GO LEAFS!