z_The Hockey Page - Toronto Star

In comes Tonto

Our good pal Kenny Campbell (treeware division) has a real nice one this morning on Steve Thomas -- the talk about possible contract terms, and the talk from Stumpy:

"I'm just concentrating on doing what I have to do to make this team. I plan on having 15 goals by Christmas, anyway."

Whew. Is that all? This is the new NHL. These guys are supposed to be scoring 15 before the platinums are filled at the ACC.

And about this preseason game tonight, in Hamilton against the Bruins -- keep an eye out for Wade Belak, defenceman. Yup, call this one a training camp experiment. And when do the experiments stop and the preparation begin? (Like, say, cutting some players -- subscription required -- down from an unwieldy 56?) Only Pat Quinn knows for sure.

God love Brett Hull, who has this to say about Ted Saskin taking over atop the NHLPA in place of Bob (Not)Goodenow: "It's like firing the Lone Ranger and hiring Tonto."

Now here's something we mentioned here yesterday: Jason Allison's owie is still bothering him, and he's not playing tonight.

Down in the U.S., they've got hockey fever. Why, the McPaper has a big takeout on Ken Dryden to take care of that.

Down in Miami, Joe Nieuwendyk says he's never thought about retiring.

The Lightning are back, with a win -- and a commitment from their owner.

And a couple more, if you must: The NHLPA is grieving Keith Tkachuk's suspension (Atta go, Tonto!). And no, please -- not another Pavel Datsyuk update. (This time, it's the last one. We can only hope, anyway.)

Colorado, sans Peter Forsberg and Paul Kariya, will count on Milan Hejduk, among others, to score more. His knee injury looks like very bad news. But congrats to Peter Budaj, former OHL puckstopper in Toronto, who appears to have won a job in the bigs. Update: Hejduk will have more surgery and is out 4-5 weeks.

OHL watch part II: Robbie Schremp and Danny Syvret, standouts for the unstoppable London Knights last season look like faves to crack the Oilers lineup.

Tonight, we get a close look at Brad Boyes on Hamilton ice. Most remember when the Buds traded the Mississauga native along with Alyn McCauley in exchange for Owin' Nolan (or 2 playoff goals and a lawsuit if you're counting with Leaf Nation dollars). Says Boyes:

"It's going to be good. I get to play at home and against the team that traded me. I'm definitely excited."

And note to NHL sharks: call Devils GM Lou Lamoriello is deseperate to sell with a club that:

"Couldn't take the ice with a payroll in excess of the cap opening night (Oct. 5)," and that the league would "compel" the Devils to cut salary to comply," according to the New York Post.

Is there a capologist in the house?

Reality bites

Preseason games are right up there with chain letters and the Daytime Emmys on my must-do list. But before we head out to practice this morning for a brunch of warmed-over alibis, some quick observations (disclaimer: I didn't see all of this one, my wife insisting quite rightly on the latest episode of Rome, which sure beat the heck out of watching Jason Spezza skate rings around the home team):

First off, that message on the ice. Something about thanking Leafs fans. A nice sentiment. Nicer would be: cheaper tickets. Players shaking fans' hands as they come through the turnstiles. A run deep into the Cup playoffs. Hockey Night in Canada. I'm sure you can come up with some more suggestions.

Nice, too, was the flow to the game -- at least when they weren't calling penalties. Welcome to the new NHL. Look around this first weekend of make-believe games, and hey, everyone's wondering what's going on. After an 8-6 loss to the Flyers, Atlanta coach Bob Hartley sounded like Dr. Phil:

"I told them not to think about what they can't do, but try to figure out what you can do with the new ways of calling things."

And as Damien Cox notes, the Leafs are especially going to have to adapt, the faster Senators a little quicker study, at least off the evidence of this 5-2 Ottawa win.

Mark Zwolinski calls in this just out -- the Leafs' starting lineup for Tuesday night against Boston (thanks, Zorro):

Forwards: Eric Lindros, Matt Stajan, Kyle Wellwood, Alex Steen, John Pohl, Ben Ondrus, Steve Thomas, Mariusz Czerkawski, Jeremy Williams, Jeff O'Neill, Darcy Tucker, Nathan Perrott.

Defence: Wade Belak, Jay Harrison, Marc Moro, Alexander Khavanov, Thomas Kaberle, Andy Wozniewski

Goal: Ed Belfour, Jean-Francois Racine.

What does this mean? Not much, except that the preseason playing debut of Jason Allison is on hold, apparently because of that nagging hip flexor.

Elsewhere, the Capitals are finally welcoming Petr Sykora.

The Coyotes' opening-night goalie is already set.

The Blues have suspended Keith Tkachuk.

And in the Islanders camp, they're set to name a new captain.

Oh, and starting tomorrow we'll be changing it up slightly around here. I'll be starting up a new all-sports blog, while keeping an eye on this one. And I promise I'll try and post earlier in the day.

First cuts

Mark Zwolinski from the treeware division just called in this bit of breaking news from the Leafs dressing room at Ricoh. The first cuts are in, and they are:

Drew Kivell, defenceman, will return to Lakehead University.

Derek LeBlanc, forward, goes back to Brandon Juniors.

Pat Sutton, defenceman, late of Belleville OHL, going now to Pensacola of the East Coast Hockey League.

Brent Aubin, forward, returns to Rouyn-Noranda of the Quebec Major Leagues.

Line juggling

Through four days of scrimmaging here, the coaches have been trying different line combos but the most established units so far are these three:

Sundin-Tucker-Antropov. Easy to say that Sundin has looked good. In this environment, with little physical play and a fair amount of open ice, he shouldn’t be anything but. 20-year-old Shaun Landolt has spent a bit of time on the right wing here, with Tucker sliding over to play Landolt’s usual spot alongside Alex Steen and Marius Czerkawski. So far we’ve read a lot about Steen getting a shot at playing with Sundin, but it hasn’t happened yet in these practices or games.

Lindros-Domi-Kilger. Truth is they’ve all played with a variety of linemates, but at yesterday’s morning practice involving Team C that didn’t make the scrimmage final, this was the group working together in the dark blues. Kyle Wellwood has also played some with Lindros, but has yet to stand out.

Allison-O’Neill-Ponikarovsky. Since his short opening day, Jason Allison has actually been double-shifting at times in scrimmages, and seemingly doing fine. O’Neill has shown a quick and accurate shot. This is not a No. 1 line, but as a three-man group, I think these guys have worked the best together of all the lines here.

The check, please

It was getting toward the end of today’s championship scrimmage – an oxymoron, yes, but that’s their schedule and they’re stickin’ to it – and just when I thought my eyelids were beginning to feel the pull of gravity, it happened.

Bam! Marc Moro (immortalized mentioned here yesterday as half of the “Later-to-Moro” funny) stood up Matt Stajan with a well-timed, honest check at the blue line that put Stajan on his fanny. Down at the other end a few seconds later, Nik Antropov shoved Bryan Marchment into the post after the whistle blew, and Marchment took a swipe back at him. A couple of shifts later – that’s how long it took for him to catch up, I guess – Marchment was seen telling Nik to knock it off, give or take a few choice words.

And as the clock wound down, that was Steven Later (mentioned here … aw, let’s just leave it alone, okay?) being clipped under the chin by Ben Ondrus against the end boards – Ondrus was actually penalized – and all of a sudden, there was a bit of a scrum and Darcy Tucker came flying into it pushing and shoving.

Well, it’s about time. There’s been a week of pattycake tomfoolery here, but the punnymoon is over. Save for the shootout, that is – the Leafs aren’t practicing ‘em, but they seem to be having ‘em, this being their third of them – and that was Antropov scoring the clinching goal after O’Neill and Sundin had matched goals, and Allison, Czerkawski and John Pohl missed.

Scorers during the game were O’Neill and Martin Sagat for the eventual winners, the latter coming on an Eddie Belfour giveaway when he strayed into the corner and tried a cross-ice pass (he was well over the red goalline extended, so unlike yesterday’s wandering this was a legal, though inadvisable play for him under the new rules).

Khavanov and Sundin scored for the whites, the captain given a breakaway thanks to Tucker’s lovely two-line pass in transition. This might be the kind of play we’ll see a lot of later – the defence turned the wrong way, the puck coming loose just inside the defensive zone, and a quick and heady turnaround going the other way.

Early-morning musing

LUCAS OLENIUK/TORONTO STAR

Mats Sundin and ... who do you want on the ice for the Leafs during shootouts?

"It was a deal, like the American Dream. But now they’re getting shafted … The NHL is reneging – in somewhat spiritual terms – on a promise that it made to these guys."

So writes the always eloquent and provocative Denial in yesterday’s comments, pointing to Paul Hunter’s story in last Saturday’s paper that reports on marginal NHL role players who thanks to the new collective-bargaining agreement are looking to Europe for jobs.

I can appreciate the sentiments -- and reading through the story (three times), it’s a pretty complex beast, this little corner of the CBA -- though I don’t agree with them. In the wake of any labour stoppage, there are winners and losers. And if anyone broke a promise here, it’s the NHL players’ association for their capitulation -- and I have no doubt that the players who accepted that capitulation had little regard or even a passing thought for the possible plight of their younger or less established hockey-playing brethren. As in any pro sports league, a Darwinian social order prevails.

Besides, the NHL, in its greed-driven expansion spree that has marked the past decade and a little more, has done more to create more jobs for young hockey players (and create more bad hockey teams, but that’s another argument entirely). It’s turned marginal players into second-liners – because even on the truly wretched squads, SOMEONE has to score. And of course, the NHLPA has been with them every step of the way on this one – until the lockout forced them to take a stand. And they failed miserably.

In the bigger picture, of course, we’ll all continue to believe in the Canadian Dream – the Scrubs on Skates model, that has the latest Bill Spunska skating with the Leafs in the fall, trying for that last roster spot. But (and again, this is the bigger picture) look around the real world, where we want customer service and are connected to a call centre in India, where we go to the mall to buy clothes made in Indonesia, and on and on. Hockey players from Canada, playing in Europe, and slightly better (or more highly regarded, or CBA favoured) hockey players from Europe, playing in the NHL. Should we really be all that surprised?

Oh, and here’s one more for you to mull over: If you had to pick your five-man Leafs shootout order, what would it be? Besides Sundin and Lindros, that is.

Pun in the oven

Ace colleague Ken Campbell from the treeware division doesn’t miss anything.

"It’s Later to Moro," he said, gazing out at the defence pairing in white. "Get it?"

It did take a while, but yeah -- not bad. Sorta like Bogie and Bacall. Okay, maybe not, but certainly the equal of jock and jill.

Another brunchtime scrimmage out here at Ricoh, where at least there’s no fog on the glass and the quips are crashing harder than Carlo Colaiacovo.

A note about this Alexander Khavanov, the veteran Russian defender who has a spot on the Leafs. He spent most of the game partnered with Bryan McCabe, which made for a nice contrast, Khavanov staying a good 10 or 15 feet back of him. This is his m.o. apparently – a tidy, positional-oriented, defence-first game. He must have been doing his job okay, because I barely noticed him.

But Alex Steen? Oh yeah. Best player on the ice, to these eyes. A real dynamo, and his stamina held up longer than the day previous. Carlo, too, was jumping into the rush with abandon, which is nice for a no-hit scrimmage like this, but somehow I don’t think that’ll wash even in preseason games.

Three days of this and if you’ve been looking in regularly you know our favourites include Steen and Steve Thomas, playing for a job. And yeah, the 42-year-old Thomas didn’t disappoint either. He followed up a giveaway at his own line by hustling down the ice and being rewarded with a loose puck at his feet and the day’s first goal, on a quick snapper high to Eddie Belfour’s glove side.

Thomas is playing a lot with Eric Lindros and Chad Kilger, but slick winger Colin Murphy got some playing time in lieu of Kilger in this game.

(Late update: Pat Quinn on Steve Thomas:

"There's no doubt in my mind the one muscle that hasn't got any lesser in age is his heart. That's always going to be his strength ... Whether the feet, the head, the hands and all the other stuff are still there, we're going to find out, hopefully -- and obviously try to make that decision without the passion for a guy like him, so that you are still operating in the best interest of the team and not just because you like somebody, our job can't be that way. But it'll be a strong pull.")

The only shame of it for Thomas was in the shootout following a 2-2 tie – Colaiacovo scored the equalizer in the final minute; other scorers were Sundin and Tucker – with the crowd of a couple hundred calling out his name, Stumpy was stopped cold by Todd Ford, and his Team A lost the game.

Oh well. This brings us to one thing that the Leafs aren’t doing here: incorporating a shootout in their practices, like some other teams are doing already. Presumably, that comes later.

Other random stuff: Brad Brown didn’t impress anyone with a bad giveaway that led directly to an Antropov breakaway – it wasn’t so much the turnover, as the fact that he didn’t show any interest in giving chase. Tomas Kaberle, who has looked best among the defencemen this week, threaded a lovely long pass from his own corner to the opposite blue line, and Brendan Bell tried a similar stratagem that would’ve worked beautifully if his two teammates hadn’t have collided with each other trying to get it. Some nice stops by Belfour too, during his stint in goal – but he also would’ve been called for a penalty on one play where he came out into the corner to play the puck out of trouble (so far this week, the referees in scrimmages are in most cases only telling the players when they would have incurred a penalty). If the whole point of this is to get ready for the season, why is Belfour bothering with that stuff?

That’s about it for now. We’ll be back Later. Or maybe ToMoro.

They're no hovercrafts

TONY BOCK/TORONTO STAR

Is it Leafs goalie Mikael Tellqvist, or Chris Young and his old-school road hockey pads?

One of the open spots on this mostly closed Leafs roster concerns who’s going to be Eddie Belfour’s standby.

I’m not one to root openly, except to say this: If Mikael Tellqvist doesn’t make the team, I’m really, really hoping they keep his pads around.

This has nothing to do with the new rules (aw – there I go again), especially as they apply to goalie equipment (for a quickie history, check this out).

The inestimable Rosie DiManno has a talk with Belfour about the new gear restrictions in her column today – Belfour bellyaches about his trapper, which is a switch from some of these guys talking as if they're being sent out in nothing more than a jockstrap and a covering loin cloth. (btw, did you know that in women’s hockey, the goalies wear a covering pelvic protector called a jill? I didn’t know that before I read this).

No, Telly has only one issue and it is purely aesthetic. The pads he’s wearing, they look kinda old-school or (EUPHEMISM ALERT) retro if you’re being charitable – and if you’re not, well, they’re homely, the kinds of pads only a mother could love. In fact, they bear a passing resemblance to the road hockey pads my mom picked out for me from Canadian Tire’s 1972 Fall and Winter catalogue. I won’t say any more for fear of dating myself, but the blocker looks like something Captain Kirk would wear for a beam-down to Triskelion (sort of like a road game against the Islanders, that).

The pads also look, well, puny – certainly much smaller than the hovercrafts these fellas were wearing a year ago, and even smaller than the white pads the other three goalies here are wearing. Probably an optical illusion, that, with the boards and the ice also white.

Jennifer Quinn, sports feature writer extraordinaire at the Star, handled the blog's quote-running duties, catching up with Telly on the subject of the pads:

"They kind of looked small at the beginning. After a while you get used to it. They are smaller, so they're going to make you quicker. And I'm a reflex goalie, so they'll be good for me."

Yup, they're old school, he said -- but old school in taking the game back to the '80s, firewagon, Breakfast Club days. Hope he's right there.

But enough of this mumbling. We’ll be back with a posting from today’s scrimmage. You’ll be able to spot me easy enough. I’m the guy in the press box with the Go Pads Go! Go Pads Go! sign.

And oh, a mea culpa from yesterday's late post: Jan Steber got credit for a goal I thought went to scoring machine Jeff O'Neill, and it was on Todd Ford, not Belfour. Must have missed the replay.

So the new guy can score

Another day, another scrimmage. And not a bad one. End-to-end shinny at a much quicker pace than yesterday’s first helping, a few decent hits, our first couple two-line passes -- even a penalty. Hurrah for the new rules!

Who looked good?

I’m quickly beginning to understand why the Leafs like this Alex Steen kid. Good wheels (when he wants to use them, anyway), nice passing touch … perhaps it’s a September mirage, and he did seem to diminish as the game moved along (hey, Alex, there’s this thing called backchecking … ), but we’ll keep watching.

First, some line notes: Sundin-Tucker-Antropov started for the Whites (and was minus-1 early on when farmhand defender Ben Ondrus scored the first goal for the opposites in deepest Maple Leaf blue). Others remained unchanged from yesterday’s workouts: Steen and Marius Czerkawski skated with either Shaun Landolt or Tucker, and Clarke Wilm was with Brad Leeb and John Mitchell.

But it’s Jeff O’Neill in those blues who’s got the early fire going strongest. The O’Neill-Jason Allison-Alexei Ponikarovsky line generated some good chances – would’ve been more on one promising breakout if not for a Ponikarovsky lack of awareness at the opposition blue line.

As it was, O’Neill had two goals, was tidy coming back into his own end to cover any trailing forwards, then skated hard in the ensuing workout. Allison also got some time between Martin Sagat and Ondrus, and looks like he’s going at about half-speed – which is, nevertheless, an improvement over Tuesday’s halted beginning. He didn’t come out for his team’s drills session after the scrimmage – and speaking of that, they’re already chuckling in Vancouver about Allison’s sore hip news.

Bryan Marchment, playing for a job, made his biggest impression on the back of Antropov when he chopped him down from behind in the goalmouth.

Other bits: Marc Moro went off for treatment early after falling heavily into the boards, but came back to action. Marchment and Wilm got up slowly after colliding with great drama behind the net. -- Wilm landed best check of the day honours with a nice open-ice hip check on Ondrus.

Final score was 3-2 for the Blues, with Sundin and Tomas Kaberle scoring for the losers – and Ed Belfour letting in all three of the winner’s goals. And oh yeah, that O'Neill guy? He’s got three goals in two scrimmages, and he scored the shootout winner Tuesday. I could be wrong, but I’d say he’s doing fine.

Meantime, missed this one on the morning links, an ode to Brendan Witt from Tony Kornheiser: "Goodbye. Good luck. Get out."

For a happy ending to this posting let's bid farewell to ex-Leaf and NHL great Ron Francis, who announced his retirement today. Only played a dozen games in Blue & White, and a dozen more in the playoffs, but best wishes to league's third all-time scorer.

Ice Pirates

AP PHOTO

So, Wayne Gretzky, how did your first day go? "I'm very impressed," says Coyote Tyson Nash. Grant Fuhr (in the background) is there too. Hey, isn't Messier looking for a job right now?

A quiet early morning at the Ricoh. But one hangover from yesterday was the griping about the ice. How bad was it, Jeff O'Neill?

"It was so bad, it was hard to keep the puck flat on the ice."

Is it that bad, Jason Allison:

"The ice is that bad – it’s terrible."

Hmm. It’s 30C outside. On Tuesday, it was up over that. Sometimes, the wonder is that there’s ice at all. And I’m still trying to get my head around 43 fans in the stands at 9 a.m. to watch drills, which is oh, about 43 more than I figured on.

As for us media, we’ve been barred from entering the 100 (ice) level, perhaps so we can’t see up close just how terrible that ice is. I mean, what could be in it? Shards of glass? A lucky loonie? A shredded Dash Domi-Tom Jakobek memo?

Perhaps the Leafs got tired of dodging the gauntlet staking out the tunnels Tuesday, and so there was plenty of officially licensed office stationary stuck about bearing the message "Team Access Only". After a year and a half away, it’s nice to know that the Leafs haven’t dropped their usual media-friendly approach.

Okay, the morning workouts had these lines, with the third group (Team C) getting the early stuff on the crap ice, then heading for dry-land training while the other two groups scrimmaged:

Kyle Wellwood between Tie Domi and Kris Newbury; Eric Lindros flanked by Steve Thomas and Colin Murphy; and Chad Kilger and Brent Aubin centred by Chris St. Jacques. Luke Fulghum and Mike Hoffman were in black, jumping in.

On defence, the pairings: Wade Belak and Dominic D’Amour; Carlo Colaiacovo with Pat Sutton; Ian White and Brendan Bell. J.S. Aubin and J.F. Racine were in goal.

Eye catching: Steve Thomas looks pretty good out there - shows you what a little motivation can do. A highlight? Nobody got hurt, least of all from a pen in the eye, say, or a stray notebook.

No hurt feelings either, as we take a look at the happy campers around the league -- at least that's what Alex Mogilny says of his summertime snub from the Leafs.

There was Wayne Gretzky making his coaching debut in Phoenix. We've seen his fine clothing line, but the Great One just looks better on the ice with the big gloves. Put the players through the paces yesterday - how excited are these guys to be playing under a legend?

The training camp oddity du jour has to come out of New York, where young puckstopper Dan Blackburn is tyring to reboot his NHL career - without a catching glove.

We're also watching for news on a Ryan Smyth signing, could be today.

And from the realm of tough guys, check this out. There is only one true tough guy now.

That's it for now, back later after today's scrimmage. Steve Thomas!