Leafs vs Bruins II

"All we need now is for Forbes Kennedy to show up tonight and get this party really started." -- Damien Cox, in his column today. To which I can only add: what about Pie?

Yes, it's Leafs-Bruins II tonight, another one of those division rivalry matchups, Tellqvist getting the start for Toronto, Tomas Kaberle and the rest of the Leafs looking for an early sweep and the Bostons smarting after blowing a two-goal lead in Carolina last night. It's a Leafs TV broadcast, so we'll be live-texting the game on our new page (imaginatively called The Game), so drop by if you're trolling around the net and want to crack wise or otherwise.

TONY BOCK/TORONTO STAR

Leafs crash Boston tonight.

We're getting our ankles taped for that one, so it's a links blog this morning -- but the comments section are open if you want to unload along the lines of David Johnson over at Hockey Analysis, heartily sick of the Greg Louganis show unfolding on this postmodern NHL ice.

And speaking of unloading, the always entertaining Jes Golbez weighs in with the NHL's "Evil Index" -- and surprise, surprise, the Flyers are the evilest, followed by Detroit and Toronto, of course. The goodest? Atlanta. (Hey, what about Eric Boulton? Bob Hartley? That jersey?)

Pat Quinn was fined yesterday. And those Nashville Predators finally lost one.

Todd Bertuzzi isn't talking as the Canucks head into Denver for the first time in, well, you know how long. In the Mile High City, Terry Frei figures nothing much has changed while Steve Moore is hoping to some day return.

And Spencer sent me this link yesterday but I misplaced it: Les Seltner has been driving the bus for visiting NHL and NBA teams in Toronto for years, but on Monday in Toronto he was credited with a huge save taking the Bruins to the airport.
(C.Y.)

Comments

[denial]

That evil index is very funny.

Everyone knows that the Islanders are the most evil team in hockey. I mean, come on, how many of you have seen Yashin float by with that black turtleneck and said to yourself -- I mean out loud, maybe while beating on your or someone else's chest -- THAT IS THE DEVIL. THE DEVIL IN SKATES! HE HAS COME TO CLAIM HIS MARKED SOULS!

Yeah, I thought I was the only one, too. Do you want a hug? A picture of Charles Wang signing paycheks? (ooopf, forgot, am writing to fellow-Canadians: pay cheques?).

I burbled about this a few weeks ago before the season started and continue to believe it (though I will gladly change my mind if evidence points to something else). For the Leafs to do well -- and by that I mean finish with between 80 and 90 points and finish 5th in the Eastern Conference) they have to play on the edge of defeat. If I was in charge of the motto that they put in the leafs dressing room, this is what it would be: play on the razor's edge. The leafs have to play semi-desperate hockey the whole season, cuz they can't rely on anything else. The leafs aren't going to out-speed anyone, out goaltend anyone, our hit anyone, or even out-speciality team anyone. But they can outwork the other teams.

This is worth saying because I have a feeling when Mats comes back, the Leaf work ethic will drop considerably (remember this happened in the playoffs a few years ago). Right now, without Mats and his 25 minutes a game, they have to really drive a lot harder as a team, pitching in in different ways. But Mats is so talented and SO much more talented than the other Leaf forward -- it's really remarkable -- that I think once he comes back 6 guys might just exhale and start mailing it in for a few games.

What's wrong with New Jersey? They can't play the trap anymore. They deserve EVERYTHING that happens to them now, including and hopefully missing the playoffs.

What's wrong with Pittsburgh? They have pre-2005/2006 New York Rangeritis (not to be confusd with Darius Kaspiritus, which is a much more severe team problem that requires a shampoo and an exile). The Penguins have too many go-to guys, especially on the power play, that players start trying to "act unselfish"; except that they aren't PAID to act unselfish. They're paid to score and raise their sticks in the air. This is what Jagr is finally doing now. He was paid to be a jerk, and now he's acting like a jerk because Messier isn't around to prevent him from being the point leading jerk that we all know him to be.

This is where guys like Messier can actually do damage. Any talent when put in the wrong place is, at best, pointless, but usually destructive in some form or another.

So what has to happen on the Penguins is that Mario has to retire. Sorry. But it's true. He has to get out of the way, even if he can get 100 points. He's in the way and the franchise "doesn't need saving" anymore. The CBA boosted franchise values up like google stock, and unlike google, it will stay high because profits can be predicted. The penguins are as fine as the Oilers or Flames are. Time to move on Mario and let the boys play, or else you're going to miss the playoffs like the Rangers did (and this year they won't cuz messier is gone).

I don't mind the Thrasher's logo, really. It's better than the Coyotes dog food logo, and the Predator's "there's something wrong with my television" logo. Best logo? Chicago! It'd be worth playing in Chicago just to get to wear that Jersey.

Worst logo? Vancouver. WHAT is that? Is he trying to eat himself?

[Tom Bearse]

Is this analysis correct? Detroit was felt to have relied inordinately on their veteran players and astronomical payroll in compiling a fairly successful record during the course of the previous bargaining agreement. Small market and correspondingly impecunious teams were forced to rely on younger, less-developed players. Less "stars" if you will.

Despite this conventional wisdom or whatever it is, Detroit was falling out of the playoffs in the first or second round for most of the last several years, while more desperate and less well off teams like Anaheim, Calgary, and Minnesota, to name a few, were persevering into the finals.

Under the new provisions of the new CBA, low-payroll teams snapped up the most coveted and expensive free agents, while Detroit was forced to pare its most expensive, least cost-effective veterans in favor of its younger, cheaper prospects. Thus, the CBA, designed to make the poor teams able to compete with the old, slow Red Wings, gave the poor teams the expensive free agents and made the old, slow Red Wings younger and quicker, somewhat like the Ducks, Flames, and Kings teams that had been beating their pants off.

So, is the Wings start this year surprising? I dare say the plan under the CBA has unfolded as it was designed to, but the pundits and commentators who believed the Red Wings would be victimized by having to reduce their payroll completely misinterpreted the effect.

[cy]

"I don't mind the Thrasher's logo, really. It's better than the Coyotes dog food logo, and the Predator's "there's something wrong with my television" logo."
You know the Thrashers logo I mean, denial. looks vaguely like a Rorschach test. when they pan to the crowd in Atlanta, it's the one everyone seems to wear.
We'll do a logo thread, one rainy day, promise. As for Vancouver, that thing they wear now has done the impossible: made their old, original logo look good.
More seriously: interesting stuff, Tom. I saw the Wings play earlier this season, against the Sharks, in one of those hands-off games that pop up now quite regularly. The thing that struck me about Detroit vindicated one view put out during the preseason, the one that said the older guys would benefit from a year off, their bodies would heal, etc. The Wings are the oldest team in the league (at least, I think I saw that somewhere -- I will try and dig it up and post it tomorrow morning if I can find the data), so maybe that's happened in their case. But look at their top three scorers -- they're young, or at least youngish guys (Zetterberg 25, J Williams 25, Datsyuk 27) As for their older guys, I think it might be even more fundamental -- even they're old, they've got talent (Shanny, Lidstrom, Schneider et al). In a league that's gone hands-off, talent becomes more important, no matter what the age.
(But I must admit, like denial, that when i saw Mario whining at the end of the game the other night for taking a penalty, the thought did cross my mind he should give it a rest.)

[Tom Bearse]

cy wrote:

"The Wings are the oldest team in the league (at least, I think I saw that somewhere -- I will try and dig it up and post it tomorrow morning if I can find the data), so maybe that's happened in their case. But look at their top three scorers -- they're young, or at least youngish guys[.]"

Tim Wharnsby wrote in the Globe and Mail last Thursday that the Wings were the oldest NHL team with an average age of 31.3 years. This is in part a function of having truly ancient fossils like Chelios and Yzerman on the team. Nevertheless, I couldn't be talked into trading them for many or most of the young players on some of the younger teams.

However, it's the trend on the Wings, brought on by the new bargaining agreement, that excites me. Williams has toiled in the shadow of much older wingers for years, waiting for the opportunity that wouldn't come. Now, Kronwall, Hudler, and Grigorenko will be the next wave to follow him, Datsyuk, and Zetterberg.

[denial]

Hi Tom,

Your analysis makes great sense to me (which might not be good from your point of view).

It's my ivory tower view that it isn't so much speed itself that is the distinction between old and new nhl success. Yes, teams like the predators have a lot of obvious speed, actual stopwatch "how fast can that guy go" probably can't be the only criteria for success. Even in the "old" NHL -- I mean the one that this new NHL is supposed to be areturn to -- speed was important, but not amazing. Believe it or not, but I remember some horrific, outright vulgar leaf teams of the mid 80s that had a lot of speed...thomas...iafrate.. even leeman could get things into gear if he was in the mood. And anyone who has yet to repress those memories can be reminded of just how awful the team was. Awful.

When your goaltending battle in training camp is a clash of the titans between Tim Bernhardt and Ken Wregget, you know it's going to be a long winter.

so it's not just speed, it's how use it to move the puck. Fast teams that have no brains don't get very far. For instance, if you hit Steve Sullivan while he's at a dead stop, he can pick up speed very fast because there isn't 200lbs of him on top of skates. But if you hit Tie Domi (yes, okay, fine) in stride, he can be as fast as Sullivan. So it's not speed, it's knowing when to hit your guys with the puck.

So come next spring, the teams that do well won't be the fast ones that have 3 guys on the roster who can win the speed thing at the all star game. It will be teams that know how to move without the puck and get into positions to get the puck when they're moving, so that for 5 seconds, they can be as fast as Steve Sullivan -- and that's all they need.

The Red Wings understand this because Babbock is teaching them this. he honed this coaching ability in anaheim. Dave Lewis was a grinder and a fundamentalist (who could coach under Bowman and be otherwise?). Lewis didn't have the imagination to say that any guy can be as fast as the fastest guy in the league if you give him the puck when he's on his way to full stride.

PS: Yes Chris, I know what you mean. The inkblot that looks like Ted Turner after an evening of corporate downsizing.

PPS: Is it just me, or do you wish that home teams would wear white again?

[Arthur]

A couple of things:

1.) It's hard to argue that Lemieux should retire if he puts up five points like he did last night.

2.) Most American expansion franchise sweaters look putrid. The baby-poo Nashville sweater is one of the worst I've ever seen. Ditto for the Blue Jackets (an aside - every time I see an out-of-town scoring update for them on the ticker, the team is abbreviated as the "CBJ." Unflattering, since a lot of people understand that to mean a, "condom bj". Anyway, sorry, that's even more off-colour than the Jackets' jerseys - I just think something should be done about it. Does anyone else think that's a problem?)

3.) Like it's been remarked on above, speed isn't everything, or else Tie Domi (once the fastest Leaf) and Nathan Perrot (the current fastest Leaf, according to the last skills competition the Leafs held) would be top scorers. You need SMART speed, Pentium goal-scoring speed, IBM Big Blue scoring speed, to win this year.

4.) No home-whites; too bland. Love the home darks, it's retro. The solution for people who want the whites: get better uniforms. That's right - I'm looking at you, Ottawa.